Chapter 293 — Why Must We Have Met Before We Meet?
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
Fangzhou was not far from the Great Tingming Temple; a thousand li or more west of Fangzhou lay the temple itself. When they reached Fangzhou, Ling Yuxiu finally saw her brother, and could not keep her eyes from reddening. Clearly these days had been a great strain on Ling Yushu; he had grown much thinner.
Ling Yushu quietly asked her, "Shen the Beast has not done anything to you, has he? " Ling Yuxiu was both embarrassed and angry.
Puffing out her cheeks, she said, "Brother, what are you thinking? The Holy Maiden Xiang is still with us! " Ling Yushu gave a dry laugh. "I was only worried about your safety. Shen the Beast.
. . " Ling Yuxiu glared at him. "He is the Holy Sect Master of the Nether Demon Cult.
He killed the crown prince before you, and that is how you came to your position. You call him a beast, and mind he does not hear it and kill you too, and then I shall be crown prince.
" Ling Yushu said, rather put out, "Not even married in yet, and already guarding your own. You scold even your brother. By the way, the Great Tingming Temple lies just ahead.
I gave the order to take the temple's lands into state ownership.
We are very close to the temple here, so we must be careful; these past days, eminent monks keep coming to beg alms of me. " Ling Yuxiu's eyes flickered.
"They mean to ask for those lands back? " Ling Yushu nodded.
"The lands of the Great Tingming Temple are the finest fields for miles around. The temple rebelled and stirred up chaos, tried to kill Father and set up another emperor. I only took their lands; I did not put them to the sword. Now they come again and again to beg alms, hey.
. . I came out this time to see to the waterworks and the people's livelihood. Everywhere else, I finish the work and go. Only here must I linger a while. " Even as he spoke, a voice outside rang out clearly: "This poor monk has come to beg alms!
" Ling Yushu did not know whether to laugh or cry.
He went out, and Shen Mu went out with him. There sat a tall, thin monk with a sallow face, holding a demon-subduing alms bowl in his hands. Several soldiers stepped up and tried to carry him off, but could not move him at all. "This poor monk begs only one bowl of earth. I beseech the Crown Prince to bestow it," the monk said, lowering his gaze when he saw the Crown Prince come out. "That bowl of yours is the demon-subduing bowl of the Great Tingming Temple's former Tathagata, is it not? " Ling Yushu said coldly, "In any other sect it would be a treasure to guard the faith. One bowl of earth, I fear, overturned, would cover exactly the lands of your Great Tingming Temple, several hundred li of them.
Monk, you are no ordinary monk either, or you could not carry a treasure of that rank. " The monk was about to speak when he suddenly caught sight of Shen Mu, and his brows rose.
"The Nether Demon Cult Master! " Shen Mu smiled and inclined his head. The monk's face turned somewhat ugly. In the battle at the Heaven's Altar in the imperial city, the masters of the Great Tingming Temple and the Daoist Sect had suffered grievous losses; nearly half of their top masters had been cut down by the Nether Demon Cult.
Many eminent monks and old Daoists of the Divine Bridge realm had met their end at the cult's hands, and so the temple's vitality was gravely wounded. Were it not so, how would Ling Yushu have dared take back the lands of the Great Tingming Temple?
The sallow-faced monk said no more and hurried away.
Ling Yushu looked at Shen Mu and said in a low voice, "That monk has gone, and he has stopped begging alms too. Most likely he has gone back to fetch men to make trouble for you. Be careful. " Shen Mu shook his head. "Rest easy.
The Tathagata will not pay him any mind. " The sallow-faced monk rode the wind like lightning and hurried back to the Great Tingming Temple.