Book 13
The three sat on a grassy hillside, looking south at a grand monastery located on the hill in the distance.
Heaving deep sigh, Kou Zhong said, “After suffering untold hardships we managed to catch Shangguan Long, but without even half a thank you that witch Zhu Yuyan took him away. Thinking about it makes me upset.”
Shaking his head, Ba Fenghan said, “Everything can be looked at from different perspectives. First of all, we still exist in the world of the living like lively dragon and animated tiger; second, we finally fought the top figure in the martial world, and gained understanding of who they are. As long as we are not dead, that was the best training we can get.”
With quite a lingering fear Xu Ziling said, “Just now if we were one person less, the other two would definitely lose their lives. Tian Mo Da Fa’s most formidable feature was that you won’t be able to fathom her method; any foresight, Yi Jian Da Fa or what have you, are going to be useless, so that any power we have will be difficult to utilize.”
Ba Fenghan said, “It was because our mind was disturbed by her demonic noise first. Fortunately you were able to be one step ahead in grasping the direction of her attack; otherwise we would have been finished early on.”
Aghast, Kou Zhong said, “Tian Mo Yin [demonic noise] is practically not martial art at all; it is black magic. How do we deal with it?”
With full confidence Ba Fenghan replied, “You must consider Zhu Yuyan neither a deity nor a demon; in my opinion, Tian Mo Yin is also some kind of martial art. It’s just that its target of attack is our sense of hearing. Were it not for our staunch will, I am afraid the illusion that time would grow out of control.”
Thinking hard, Xu Ziling said, “But how are we going to deal with it?”
Kou Zhong said, “If we send out our true qi to fill the ears, hey! I got it! Tian Mo Yin might be some kind of method affecting the eardrum acupoint. If we can hold fast to our eardrum acupoint, we are not afraid of anything.”
But then he continued dejectedly, “However, how can we hold fast to the eardrum acupoint? This is unlike saber-comes-and-sword-arrives sort of thing; sound is without shadow without shape.”
“There must be a way,” Ba Fenghan said.
Frustrated, Kou Zhong said, “Our man was snatched away, what are we going to do with Yu Yi?”
Ba Fenghan’s gaze fell onto the Dhyana Hall on the distance. “Our hope is in there,” he said heavily.
Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong were stunned.
Ba Fenghan went on, “If Wang Shichong did not lie to us, other than being the Emperor’s symbol of authority, the Jade Annulus of He Clan ought to be also an unusual treasure in martial art training; otherwise those Ci Hang Jing Zhai nuns could not possibly keep it in their monastery, Ning Daoqi would not have the leisure of borrowing the treasure for three years.”
Kou Zhong’s spirit was greatly roused, “Makes sense!” he said.
Turning to Xu Ziling, he said, “When you sensed the Jade Annulus of He Clan’s presence on Qin Chuan’s body, how did it feel?”
With a wry smile Xu Ziling replied, “Don’t be happy too easily! First of all, I am not even sure if the reaction was from the Jade Annulus of He Clan. Secondly, the feeling was not intense at all; I only felt unusual spiritual harmony in my heart. By the time I left the wine shop, all feeling was gone.”
Shaken, Ba Fenghan said, “If the feeling can be obtained only at close range, while in front of our eyes is such a big Buddhist Hall, how can we find it?”
Kou Zhong said, “Don’t forget that the Jade Annulus of He Clan can change continually, sometimes strong sometimes weak. Or perhaps when Ziling saw Qin Chuan’s back, the Jade Annulus of He Clan happen to be in a weak state.”
Ba Fenghan stood up in determination and said, “Thinking too much is useless. While it is still three sichen before daybreak, let us try our luck. Otherwise, if Shi Feixuan came back to fetch the treasure to be given to somebody else, our beautiful dream will come to nothing.”
※ ※ ※
‘Dang!’
The melodious bell chime came from the monastery at the top of the hill.
The three were hiding on a big tree by the temple’s main gate; they all groaned inwardly.
Who could have imagined that the monastery was this big?
When they looked at it from the opposite hill, because the monastery was hidden deep in the woods, they thought it only had several buildings. Now that they were right outside the door, they realized that added together, there were more than a hundred buildings. It did look like a small city, only the residents were all Buddhist monks.
Smiling wryly, Ba Fenghan said, “Just in the middle there are seven big halls. Those must be the Wenshu Dian [Manjushri Hall], Daxiong Baodian [Hall of Great Strength, the main hall of the temple containing the main image of veneration], Wuliang Dian [immeasurable hall], and so on. How are we going to search?”
Kou Zhong whispered in Xu Ziling’s ear, “Any feeling?”
Xu Ziling crossly said, “You are carried away by your wishful thinking.”
And then his eyes lit as he pointed to a building at the back, which, under the flickering lantern lights, looked a lot smaller and less exquisite compared to the other Halls, and said, “That small hall looks very strange, but it appears more important than the other halls, which are ten times bigger.”
Ba Fenghan’s spirit was greatly aroused, “That is a copper hall [not sure if it was called ‘copper hall’ because it was made of copper, or the name of the building was ‘Copper Hall’] that can last forever.”
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were speechless. For the first time they felt that Jing Nian Chanyuan, which they never heard of before, was not simple at all.
Not only this kind of three zhang deep and three zhang wide, and a zhang and a half tall copper hall would require a lot of copper, but it also require a genuine master craftsman to build.
Even the rich Yangzhou did not seem to have this kind of cast-bronze temple.
Ba Fenghan sighed and said, “This time we are in luck. If the Jade Annulus of He Clan is inside the temple, it must be kept inside this copper hall. Only copper can separate the bizarre power of the Jade Annulus of He Clan with the other bald heads.”
Kou Zhong’s eyes lit up; he said, “So what are we waiting for?”
Displeased, Xu Ziling said, “Just a bit more careful, will you? Right now the monks in the temple are starting their evening meditation, at least we must wait until they go to bed before making our move!”
Pointing to a building, which looked prominent among the other halls due to its multicolored ceramic glaze roof tiles, with a large bell tower positioned between two pagodas, Ba Fenghan said, “Since the night bell has already sounded, there should be nobody upstairs. We should go and hide in there first, while carefully examine the situation of the entire monastery. In case when stealing the treasure we are found out, slipping away from there should be a bit more convenient.”
The two boys cheered for this brilliant plan.
Ba Fenghan was the first to leap down to the ground. The two boys promptly followed behind. In the blink of an eye they already leaped over the high wall, and darted in the direction of the bell tower.