Chapter 333 Potala Palace (I)

"Master, why are you dressed like this?"

Looking at Liu Xunyi dressed as a Tibetan warrior, Tang Cong and Boren both looked surprised.

Liu Xunyi straightened his Tibetan robe and said with a wry smile, "When I got rid of Pingza's guards, the inn was already full of Tsodan's men. They came too fast, far beyond my expectations. As a last resort, I had to knock out a Tibetan warrior and put on his clothes, so that I could pass myself off as the real ones and return safely."

"Then..." Boren asked worriedly, "Brother Liu, can you show yourself?"

"Don't worry, no one saw me from beginning to end." Liu Xunyi smiled, "Otherwise I wouldn't dare to come back."

"That's good!" Tang Cong was relieved and turned to complain to Boren, "Fortunately I didn't listen to you. If I had run away, I'm afraid I would have caused trouble out of nothing."

Boren said aggrievedly: "I am also worried that people from Cuodan will come to my house..."

"Bang, bang, bang!"

Before he could finish his words, there was another knock on the door. The rapid knock was like a heavy hammer, hitting Liu Xunyi and the other two hard in the heart.

Liu Xunyi and Tang Cong quickly hid in the room, while Boren pretended to be lazy, rubbed his sleepy eyes, and walked towards the door of the mansion yawning.

After the door opened, more than a dozen Tibetan warriors rushed in. Boren suppressed his anxiety, pretended to be confused, and took the initiative to step forward and talk to them.

After a while, Liu Xunyi and Tang Cong, both of them looked confused as if they had just woken up from a dream, walked out of the room one after another in disheveled clothes.

Seeing Liu and Tang, the leading black warrior narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at them repeatedly with an unfriendly gaze.

Seeing this, Boren smiled obsequiously, took out two silver ingots from his sleeve and stuffed them into the black-clad warrior's hand without saying a word. Then the two of them chatted in gibberish for a while, and the black-clad warrior led his men away from the mansion.

"what happened?"

"Don't worry, they are not here for the matter of Baozhu Inn. They are just here to pass on the message and send the invitation." Boren explained, "Cuodan has ordered Brother Liu to go to the Potala Palace in half an hour and prepare for the pilgrimage in advance."

"Turns out it was just a false alarm." The three of them smiled at each other, their clothes on the backs already soaked with sweat without them knowing when.

After calming down, Boren couldn't wait to ask, "How is it? Did you get the stuff?"

"Except for the key in Cuodan's hand, the rest are all here." Tang Cong took out seven brocade bags and opened them one by one, revealing seven strange keys shining with golden light.

It turned out that Liu Xunyi and Tang Cong took a desperate risk last night with the purpose of stealing the key to the secret room of the Potala Palace.

"Tang Cong, when you see Cuodan later, you must try to steal the key from him."

"Master, don't worry." Tang Cong promised, "I underestimated the enemy at Baozhu Inn. When we enter the Potala Palace later, I will be very careful and ensure that nothing goes wrong."

"Okay." Liu Xunyi nodded with satisfaction and said, "The seven kings all lost their keys overnight, and they were in Cuodan's territory. I wonder how they should settle this account?"

"If there hadn't been a farce at the Baozhu Inn, they might not have known that their keys were stolen." Boren speculated, "As for now... I'm afraid the seven kings, who were slow to realize the truth, have already rushed to the Potala Palace to demand an explanation from Cuodan. No matter how resolute Cuodan was, he would be in a state of panic as he was attacked by the seven kings."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Tang Cong urged enthusiastically, "The first step of the sect leader's three-step strategy has been accomplished. Now it's our turn to show our skills. Hehe..."

"go!"

……

Half an hour later, Liu Xunyi and the other two arrived at the Potala Palace as scheduled.

Before entering the palace, they had already sensed an unusually solemn atmosphere from the bustling crowd and the guards who were on high alert.

"It seems that there has been a big commotion outside the palace gate just now." Boren looked at the mess on the ground and whispered behind Liu Xunyi, "As I expected, in order to avoid criticism from the people and rumors, Cuodan has invited Pingzha and others into the Potala Palace to discuss the theft of the key."

"This is even better. If they gather outside the palace to cause trouble, it will be difficult for us to sneak in." Liu Xunyi whispered, "Looking at the current situation, if we can't give the Seventh Prince a satisfactory explanation for the theft, I'm afraid this year's 'pilgrimage' will be delayed."

"Probably not." Boren hesitated, "Even though the Eight Kings are arrogant and domineering, don't forget that there is a nominal 'Living Buddha' above them. No matter how powerful the Eight Kings are, they are only the 'Eight Great Bodhisattvas', while the 'Living Buddha' is the first person in the Tantric religious authority."

"Could it be that the Living Buddha has more power than the Eight Kings?" Tang Cong asked in surprise.

"Yes, and no." Boren hesitated for a moment, as if thinking about how to explain to Liu Xunyi, "Compared with the eight Tibetan kings who hold powerful armies and rule their own territories, the Living Buddha is just a symbol with no substance. But don't underestimate this symbol. In the hearts of the Tibetan people, the Living Buddha is always supreme, sacred and cannot be usurped."

Liu Xunyi said thoughtfully: "You mean, in order to stabilize the people's hearts, the eight kings of Tubo will not make things difficult for the Living Buddha? And they will not desecrate the annual pilgrimage?"

"That's right. Every year on the first day of the first lunar month, the first thing to do during the pilgrimage is to pay homage to the Living Buddha." Boren nodded, "The eight kings and nobles pay homage to the real Living Buddha in the Potala Palace, while ordinary people and believers can only pay homage to the Dharmakaya statues of the Living Buddha in major temples."

Boren's words suddenly reminded Liu Xunyi of the monk team that had saved him and Tang Cong in Tanggula Mountain. Their devotion to the Buddha and their perseverance in traveling thousands of miles to kowtow three times and nine times were far beyond the understanding of Han people like Liu Xunyi.

All these things are enough to prove from the side why the Tibetan tribes always insisted on the supremacy of religious authority no matter how they fought and killed each other. The power of faith is so strong that it is unimaginable.

With this in mind, Liu Xunyi couldn't help but ask himself, isn't the "loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness" that runs in the bones of the Han people also a kind of belief?
What is the difference between loyalty to the emperor and loyalty to Buddha for ordinary people?

While they were talking, Liu Xunyi and the other two walked through the crowd and came to the palace gate. Boren handed over the invitation carefully and waited for a while. The three were carefully searched from head to toe by the guards and were allowed to enter the palace only after they were confirmed to be normal.

In the solemn and dignified Sunlight Hall, Codan and the Seventh King were still in a standoff. Both sides exchanged sharp words and refused to give in to each other, and the situation was quite tense.

Although Liu Xunyi couldn't understand what they were arguing about, he could sense a strong hostility from their frowning eyes and ferocious features.

At this time, nearly a thousand people gathered in the hall, but only a hundred or so were qualified to take a seat. They were all leaders and elders of various tribes and alliances, as well as nobles and wealthy people from all over Tubo.

They sat on the ground, forming a circle in the hall. In the center of the circle was a gilded stove filled with charcoal. Liu Xunyi could still clearly feel the warmth coming from the stove even though he was far away.

According to Boren's explanation, the closer one sits to the stove, the higher one's status is, and vice versa. Therefore, the people sitting in the center of the crowd were the eight Tibetan kings headed by Tsodan and Pingzha.

At this moment, except for the eight Tibetan kings and some vassal nobles who were arguing fiercely, everyone else was waiting respectfully around, nodding their heads and lowering their eyebrows, without saying a word.

"What are they arguing about?" Liu Xunyi, who was standing behind the crowd, asked Xiang Boren in the lowest voice possible.

"The Seventh Prince suspected that it was Tsodan who sent someone to steal their keys." Boren hissed, "And Tsodan suspected that the Seventh Prince was working together to cause trouble for him. As for those people sitting around them, spitting everywhere, they were the supporters of the Eight Tibetan Princes, representing different tribes and alliances."

"Where is the Living Buddha?" Tang Cong stood on tiptoe and looked towards the center of the hall with curiosity, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Living Buddha.

"The living Buddha will not show up before the time comes." Boren said with a sneer.

"The eight 'Bodhisattvas' are already arguing fiercely. Doesn't the Living Buddha intend to come out and administer justice?" Tang Cong said in astonishment.

"Even if the Living Buddha is willing to make peace, how can the Eight Tibetan Kings give up?" Boren shook his head. "Moreover, the Living Buddha represents wisdom, so he will not speak without knowing the truth, so as not to change his mind and be ridiculed. According to convention, the pilgrimage starts at Chenshi, so... there is still half an hour."

"Half an hour?" Liu Xunyi asked in surprise, "You mean, after half an hour, no matter how many grievances they have, they will temporarily put them aside and perform the pilgrimage ceremony first."

"That should be the case. However... now that the key has been stolen, I wonder how they are going to get the Buddha Lotus Seed?"

"We don't have much time left. It's not a good idea for them to keep quarreling like this." Liu Xunyi was anxious and whispered, "First, we can't get close to Cuodan. Tang Cong has no chance to get the last key. Second, quarreling is not chaos. Under the current circumstances, we can't get out of it at all."

Hearing this, Boren's eyes moved and he asked suspiciously: "Do you have a temporary solution?"

"Yes, but it's a bit dangerous." Liu Xunyi nodded quickly, "And I need your help."

"Me?" Boren was stunned, as if he was timid, and hesitantly asked, "You...what do you want to do?"

"I want you to shout something in Tibetan."

"What?"

"Prince Wen is attacking the King of Tibet, everyone be careful!" Liu Xunyi looked at Boren anxiously and asked, "What do you think? Do you dare?"

"You..." Boren's throat moved a few times, and a strong struggle emerged between his eyebrows. He stammered, "Brother Liu, what do you want to do? We are in the Potala Palace now, you must not do anything rash. If there is any mistake, none of us three will survive."

"If you don't get the Buddha Lotus Seed this time, you won't survive either." Liu Xunyi reminded, "Even if Cuodan doesn't kill you, Yulong Palace will never let you go."

"You're threatening me?" At this moment, Boren felt the entanglement and pain of being in a dilemma. Unconsciously, he was sweating profusely and shook his head repeatedly, "Brother Liu, this is not a joke. You must think twice before you act..."

"Don't worry, my dear brother. As long as you do as I say, there will be chaos in the Sunlight Palace. When the time comes, the palace guards will rush in and make a mess. We will be able to leave this place without anyone noticing." Liu Xunyi put his hand on Boren's shoulder, staring at him with a pair of deep eyes, and said word by word, "Believe me, I will never let anything happen to you. If we retreat at the critical moment, we will surely die."

"You... you are forcing me to do something wrong..." Boren was anxious and regretful, but he couldn't think of a better way. He swallowed hard, as if to encourage himself, and then asked tremblingly: "When do you want me to speak?"

"Don't worry, wait for my signal."

Liu Xunyi smiled knowingly, pulled out three hair-thin embroidery needles from the edge of her sleeve, and quietly pinched one of them between her two fingers.

Under the indescribable tense gazes of Boren and Tang Cong, Liu Xunyi looked solemn, holding his breath, staring at Cuodan in the center of the hall. At the same time, his right hand holding an embroidery needle slowly emerged from his sleeve, shining with dazzling silver light, looming.

"call!"

"Whoosh!"

His breath suddenly condensed, and he flicked his two fingers lightly. An embroidery needle as thin as an invisible mark, like a nimble silver fox, flashed through the gap between the crowd and shot straight at Cuodan's face swiftly and strangely.

……

　The moon of the third and fifth days of the year should still shine on the north hall. I turned around and lay in the dark, unable to bear to see the round light. The great master is gone, and the world is sad. The younger generation looks south and bows to pay tribute to the master forever!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)