Dragon Canon

“How does it feel to watch these people die before your eyes, Lian Xin? I haven’t killed a single one of them—they all did it to themselves,” said Yue Sheng.

By now, over half of the villagers had died under Yue Sheng’s commands. Only five were still alive, and only San Kui was completely unharmed. Everyone else had their legs and left hands broken, though their right hands were left intact—it was so they could wield their knives against one another. Speaking of which, everyone was holding a kitchen knife right now—also distributed by Yue Sheng.

The knives had been procured from the villagers’ own households; Yue Sheng had not touched his own.

The Buddha statue was pitch black and covered in cracks at this point. There was a fissure on its head that had nearly split the entire head in two. Blood was streaming from both of the statue’s eyes, and the young monk outside was already struggling to stay on his feet.

At this point, the few villagers who had survived the ordeal finally realized something and cried out, “The more of us die, the more he can hurt us! The demon king can’t actually kill us! As long as we don’t turn on each other, the Dharma master will find a way to protect us!”

Yue Sheng looked somewhat surprised and chuckled. “Huh, you actually figured that out? Not bad. Kill them, San Kui.”

Looking a little dazed, San Kui shook his head.

“What’s the matter? Don’t you want to be village chief anymore?” Yue Sheng asked.

“If I kill everyone, who will I be village chief for?” San Kui replied self-deprecatingly.

“At last, a glimmer of Buddhist spirit—but it’s too late! Besides, you’re not as useful as you think. Kill him!”

Yue Sheng waved his hand, and a warrior drew his saber and plunged it viciously into San Kui’s back, the tip protruding from his chest.

San Kui looked at the blade in shock, momentarily unable to comprehend why he was going to die. Could it be that he really was as useless as Yue Sheng had said?

Yue Sheng’s face was filled with scorn as he explained, “When you killed my only son, you had the Buddha in your heart. When you lied to escape punishment, claiming that you hadn’t seen my son revert to human form when you actually had, you had the Buddha in your heart. Even when you killed your own wife, you still had the Buddha in your heart because you know the saying, ‘Lay down butcher's knife, become a Buddha on the spot!’

“But the moment you cursed the monk, your Buddhist spirit was lost, and the Buddha-realm no longer protects you. Such is the way of the Dharma—didn’t expect that, did you?”

San Kui died with his eyes wide open. He never found out where he had gone wrong until the very end. Even if he had erred, he would not admit it.

With San Kui dead, the remaining villagers were thrown into a panic. Before they knew it, the warriors had gained the ability to kill them as well!

Yue Sheng merely glanced at them and said, “Do it yourselves. Slaughter everyone besides you, and the last one who remains may leave.”

The villagers exchanged glances, then suddenly raised their kitchen knives at those standing beside them. One man raised his knife but hesitated to strike—he was the first to be killed.

By now, the young monk could no longer stand. He collapsed to the ground, his head drooping like the Buddha statue in the temple.

Yue Sheng sat cross-legged before the monk. It would have been really difficult to speak to him otherwise.

He reached out and lifted the monk’s chin, studying his young, serene features intently. Suddenly, he let out a sigh.

“Why are you so stubborn? All you need to do is turn back, and there will always be a lotus throne for you before the Buddha, and a vast plot of land on the Spirit Mountain waiting for your golden body to be erected. Just why won’t you do it? Look at me—I had to serve as someone’s mount for many years just to earn the chance to tend the lamps at the foot of the Spirit Mountain.”

The young monk finally opened his eyes and replied, “If I turn back, then that lotus throne won’t be mine anymore.”

Yue Sheng was taken aback. He thought about it seriously for a moment before saying, “Surely that can’t be true?”

The monk sighed. “You’ve been a mount for so long—how many times have you actually lit the lamps?”

Yue Sheng fell silent. A while later, he said, “I have a heavy responsibility on my shoulders. I’ve come to pull you back.”

The monk sighed. “You know there’s no way I can turn back, and they know I won’t turn back. Yet they still sent you, and you still came.”

Yue Sheng said, “I just don’t understand why you still persist in protecting these people. What’s so good about them? They’re all ignorant and selfish. After all these years, hardly any of them are even willing to learn to read. You recite the sutras day after day, but do they even know what you’re saying? You’ve spent a thousand years trying to enlighten them, yet one tiny crack is all it takes for me to use them to shatter your golden body. Was it worth it?”

The monk shook his head and said, “You don’t understand.”

Yue Sheng was on the verge of losing his temper. “You don’t understand, you don’t understand! Is that all you can say? Fine! Even if you wish to offer people deliverance, there are billions and billions of people out there. Why don’t you go save them instead of these few dozen people?”

The monk finally answered, “In my heart, the weight of billions are no different from a few dozen. The moment you weigh the importance of saving billions against saving a few dozen, you’ve already placed a price on the masses, and sentient beings are no longer equal in your heart. Though these few dozen are few, they are like a single lamp before the Buddha. Even if the Last Age of the Dharma descends, and the Pure Land becomes empty, as long as this one lamp remains, there is still a final hope.”

“Like dogshit there is! All they’re doing is dragging you through endless reincarnations, and with each cycle, your Ariya-phala and your true spirit are eroded a little more. Even with the Ariya-phala you once had, how many more reincarnations can you possibly endure? Besides, look around you—where is there any light left?”

The monk looked around, but his eyes were bleeding. He could not see anything at all.

“There really is no light,” the monk sighed, and a faint, crystalline glow appeared between his eyebrows. “If the Buddha’s lamp has gone out, then I will set myself ablaze—even that will add a little light to this boundless hell.”

“What good will that do? It will only illuminate a single moment. Is one moment really worth it?”

“It is.”

Yue Sheng slowly wiped the blood streaming from the monk’s eyes, but the amount of blood was only growing with each wipe. He suddenly turned around and shouted harshly, “Go! Slaughter everyone and bring about the Last Age of the Dharma!”

The wolf demons scattered in all directions, while the warriors bowed to the monk before beginning their search.

The escaped villagers couldn’t run fast, and many hadn’t gone far. They were hiding nearby and watching in secret, hoping that the dharma master might still turn the tide. The wolf demons, with their keen sense of smell, quickly tracked down each of these hidden villagers and mercilessly bit through their throats.

Meanwhile, Wei Yuan was busy making preparations on the back mountain. He had sent the girl to observe the situation in the village. After working for a while, he suddenly heard no sound from the girl and turned around. He walked over to her and saw her lying on a rock, peering down at the village with tears streaming down her face. She was clamping her hand over her mouth to stifle her sobs.

Wei Yuan also leaned over to take a look. From this vantage point, the entire village lay spread out before him. After taking in the scene, Wei Yuan remarked, “I see, the monk is about to die.”

The girl glared at Wei Yuan and snapped, “How can you say such a thing!”

“He’s going to die no matter what I say,” Wei Yuan returned to his work, his hands moving as fast as lightning and completely undisturbed by what he just saw.

The girl suddenly grabbed Wei Yuan’s arm and said firmly, “We have to go save the monk!”

“No, we are not going.” Wei Yuan shook her off.

The girl huffed, “Then I’ll go by myself!”

“Oh.” Wei Yuan kept working, hands moving as fast as ever.

The girls ran a few steps down the mountain, but when she saw the blood pooling in front of the temple, her legs went weak. She ran back and said to Wei yuan, “Dharma Master has been so good to us. We have to go save him together.”

Wei Yuan replied indifferently, “What, have you finally realized you’re just going to your death?”

The girl stamped her foot. “You—how can you say that!”

Wei Yuan was looking down and assembling a rather complex contraption. Without even bothering to look up, he said, “If you’re neither smart nor strong, then you should learn how to shut up and obey. Was the Dharma master too good to you all before? Is that why you’ve all developed this sense that no matter what you do, everyone else has to cater to you?”

“N-no, it’s not like that....” The girl recalled the past and suddenly felt a pang of guilt.

“I’m not the Dharma master. Right now, I’m only thinking about how to survive. Keeping you around is already a burden to me. If you’re so set on going to your death, then go by yourself.”

The girl didn’t know what to say for a moment. Although Stone had often argued with her in the past, calling her fat and ugly, he had never been as cold as he was today.

Wei Yuan finally finished assembling the contraption in his hands. After inspecting it carefully, he looked down the mountain.

Looking at the monk with his eyes closed and his head bowed, Wei Yuan let out a soft sigh and said, “A monk is a lamp before the Buddha, meant to illuminate all sentient beings. But perhaps he does not understand that even the brightest sun cannot light up a crow.”