Chapter 256 — The Demonic Nature Is Hard to Purge
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
" "I must escort the Demon Cult's Hierarch down the mountain and have no leisure to entertain you. Pray forgive me. " Foxin called the Four-Unlikes over and, leading the beast up, said: "Hierarch Shen, I still need half an hour to finish reading. If you do not mind, let me escort you another stage.
Our Great Thunderclap Temple's Four-Unlikes has heard the Buddha's dharma all its years and is deep in cultivation; it can keep pace with your dragon-kirin.
" Shen Mu broke into a smile: "That is very good. " The Four-Unlikes walked shoulder to shoulder with the dragon-kirin.
Buddha-light appeared behind Foxin's head, lighting the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Sutra, and he read on.
"The Demon Cult's Hierarch?
" The Crown Prince's retainers' eyes lit up. "Which Hierarch of the Demon Cult? " The gate monk said: "Which one should it be? The Dark Demon Cult's Hierarch Shen, who came in such a menacing style and beguiled a good many of the temple's monks into returning to lay life.
These past days monks have been going down the mountain to return to lay life without cease, and even several of my uncles and elders among the monks have done the same. " The men exchanged glances and laughed: "Our chance for merit has come! The Dark Demon Cult killed Sun Nantuo and wiped out Nantuo Temple, and it was the Dark Demon Cult's Hierarch stirring up mischief behind it all.
Who would have thought we would meet him here!
Come, let us go and take this merit!
" The monk said in alarm: "Good sirs, do not sin by taking life! Do not harm the Buddha-son!
" The Crown Prince's retainers laughed: "Set your mind at ease! " Shen Mu sat on the dragon-kirin's back, gazing up at the moon the whole way, his body rising and falling slowly with the beast's stride. It was now the eighth day of the second month, and the crescent was very thin.
Foxin let out a breath and returned the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Sutra to Shen Mu: "This humble monk has finally finished reading it.
It is indeed a classic of the demon path. Why has Hierarch Shen been gazing at the moon all this while? " "In the Barren Ruins there is no moon. " Shen Mu drew back his gaze and lightly tapped the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Sutra; the scroll turned back into a ball of thread.
He laughed: "So each time I see the moon, I find it very beautiful and very alluring.
And besides, I wanted to see where the Great Thunderclap Temple's territory lies. " Foxin was slightly taken aback, and asked curiously: "The Great Thunderclap Temple's territory? " Shen Mu nodded. Seeing the moon in the sky blocked by dark cloud, he leaped down from the dragon-kirin's back; where he landed, one side was moonlight and the other the darkness the clouds had left behind. He laughed: "The Great Thunderclap Temple's territory should be right about here. Look, Buddha-son: the temple's eminent monks have gathered away all the dark clouds within their boundary.
The clouds outside are the clouds of the Kingdom of Jingping, and are no longer under the Great Thunderclap Temple's jurisdiction. " Foxin jumped down from the Four-Unlikes too, looked up at the sky and then at the ground, and said in surprise: "I never knew Great Thunderclap Temple had a boundary. In that case, there should be a boundary stele nearby as well.
" Shen Mu's interest was roused.
He laughed: "Why don't we look for it? " Foxin seemed to have a youth's temper as well. The two young men searched, and after a while came upon a broken cliff: a bare hilltop standing on the ground, cut so that only half of it remained, more than ten zhang high, with the words "Boundary of the Great Thunderclap Temple" graven upon it. Foxin clapped his hands and laughed: "There really is such a stone stele!