Under one person: I, Zhang Zhiwei, the arrogant Zhang.

Chapter 648: The Immortal of Longhu Mountain and the Monk's Poisonous Scheme

Wu Man’s fellow disciples in the Sanlun Sect… Zhang Zhiwei looked at the old monk who had just spoken.

The goal of the Three Treatise School's practice is to realize that the five aggregates are empty and the four elements are empty. Wu Man reached the state of emptiness of the five aggregates before his death.

If we use the more popular explanation given by Master.

The emptiness of the five aggregates is actually about polishing the subjective self, breaking free from objective constraints, and maintaining the independence of the subjective self.

Zhang Zhiwei nodded to Monk Mo Lun in response.

The Three Treatise School did not participate, which shows that Buddhism is not a monolithic entity. This time, the journey through the mountains may be much simpler than imagined.

At the same time, ordinary people who were present to listen to the Buddhist teachings also understood something from their confusion, and it was probably that the Taoist priests had attacked the monks.

There is no doubt that the Tiantai Sect truly has Buddhist teachings, otherwise they would not have come. But in comparison, the Taoist priest who descended from the sky riding a nine-headed lion looked more like a god.

They extracted several key words from the abbot's words: Longhu Mountain...Tianshi Mansion...Little Tianshi...

They know about Longhu Mountain, they know about Tianshi Mansion, and they know about Tianshi, but the key is this little Tianshi.

The young Heavenly Master is like a god, how about the old Heavenly Master? Isn't he really a god?
They came to Tiantai Sect to worship Buddha. In the final analysis, they came to pray to God. Although they were pious, they did not see God. And now...

They stared at the back of the tall Taoist priest riding a nine-headed lion in front of them.

They didn't know whether the other party was a god or not, but they had already decided to go to Mount Longhu to ask for advice.

It is the same whether it is the ordinary believers in the audience or the believers of noble status such as warlords, wealthy businessmen, and celebrities in front of the main hall.

…………

Zhang Zhiwei was not clear about what the Buddhist believers around him were thinking. He looked at the old monk who was standing at the head of the crowd. He was wearing a bright red cassock, had snow-white beard and eyebrows, a haggard face, and was holding a nine-ring staff in his hand.

He had read the information given by his master and knew that this was Master Kurong, the abbot of the Tiantai Sect.

Master Ku Rong had a kind and compassionate face. He said with a little apology to the many fellow Buddhists and pilgrims behind him with a smile:
"Amitabha, I am sorry that I didn't take good care of you and frightened you all!"

After that, he took a few steps forward, walked to the railing, looked at Zhang Zhiwei, and said in a deep voice:

"Little Heavenly Master, our temple is holding a water and land ceremony, but you trampled the platform. What is your intention?"

Zhang Zhiwei sat cross-legged on the back of a nine-headed lion and walked unsteadily towards the main hall.

He had already arrived at the Tiantai Sect and crushed their Dharma platform with one foot, so he was not in a hurry to rush over.

After all, there were too many monks there, and he couldn't tell which monk was from which temple. He couldn't just go over and suppress them all.

He is a person who has always been clear about gratitude and grudges. This time he only came for the Tiantai Sect and would never involve others, of course, except for those who took the initiative to attack him.

Zhang Zhiwei said slowly: "The monk Dehong from your temple teamed up with the Japanese pirates to attack me. I asked you to give an explanation, but you didn't, so I had to come to seek justice."

"Justice?" Master Kurong said, "My fellow apprentice Dehong has not returned since he went to Mount Longhu last time. We don't know his whereabouts. We only found a charred arm that was struck by lightning on your Mount Longhu. My temple has not yet asked you for justice, but you are the first to file a complaint."

Zhang Zhiwei laughed and said, "Monk Dehong fabricated something out of thin air and came to Longhu Mountain to cause trouble. It was his own fault that his arm was broken."

"I have evidence, so I came to your Tiantai Mountain to find you. If you have the ability to break one of my arms, then I have nothing to say."

"However, one key opens one lock, one thing is one thing. I came here today to ask you why you colluded with the Japanese pirates?"

Master Kurong said, "Young Heavenly Master is really good at putting accusations on others. Junior Brother Dehong has a grudge against you, and you have a grudge against the Japanese pirates. This is the cause, and they attacked you together. This is the result. In the end, it's just a personal grudge. How can it be elevated to the level of a sect?"

Master Ku Rong's expression changed, his kindness and gentleness were gone, his eyes widened with anger as he said:
"You have already beaten my junior brother to death, and the grudges have been settled. We have not even asked you to settle the score, but you are the first to file a complaint and come to our door to ask us to give you justice with empty words?"

"The little Heavenly Master of the Heavenly Master's Mansion is so impressive and majestic. He is so arrogant before he becomes a Heavenly Master. What will happen when he becomes a Heavenly Master?"

"If you don't like someone, should you go your own way, ignore the rules of the martial arts world, and go down the mountain to wipe him out?"

Master Ku Rong put a big hat on him.

Zhang Zhiwei tilted his head and listened, with a smile on his face. How should I put it? Although the monk was making accusations, he was actually right to some extent.

After Master Ku Rong finished speaking, an old monk standing next to him, who was wearing a Kunlu hat and looked to be in his sixties, with long eyebrows and high cheekbones, exhaled and shouted:

"Brother, what you said is absolutely right. You Taoists are going too far in bullying others. Do you really think that we vegetarian monks have no temper?"

This person is the first Master Dexing of the Tiantai Sect.

The abbot is a position in the temple, usually the successor to the abbot.

Logically speaking, after Master Dehong's death, he should have succeeded Master Dehong as the abbot of the Tiantai Sect.

It’s just that Master Dehong’s death was not very glorious. The Tiantai Sect did not make his death public. On the surface, he was just missing, so Master Dexing has never been able to succeed to the throne.

Not long ago, Zhang Zhiwei said that Master Dehong colluded with Japanese pirates to attack and kill him, but was killed by him. He wanted to come to Tiantai Sect to seek justice.

This also indirectly made public the news of Master Dehong's death.

Since the abbot had died, the chief monk should succeed him, so Master Kurong appointed Master Dexin to take over the position of abbot and convened a water and land ceremony. As soon as the ceremony was over, he would announce that Master Dexin would be the abbot and his successor.

However, the Dharma Assembly had just begun when it was ruined by Zhang Zhiwei who appeared out of nowhere. This undoubtedly made Master Dexing extremely angry, and he criticized Zhang Zhiwei with all his might.

At the same time, on the dark peak of Wuming.

Zuo Ruotong looked far into the distance, taking in everything that happened on Mount Tiantai. He sighed:
"Master, what you said before is indeed true. These monks are really good at speaking and arguing. In just a few words, they avoided the main point and dragged the issue to a direction that is unfavorable to young friend Yu Zhiwei. If Zuo goes there, I am afraid that even if I explain everything, I will not be able to make it clear!"

The Heavenly Master said expressionlessly: "Master Zuo, if reason doesn't make sense to you, don't you know a little bit of boxing?"

Zuo Ruotong smiled when he heard this: "If you can't even reason with me, how dare you use your fists?"

If he dared, he would have killed the Ghost Hand King. Zhang Jingqing shook his head: "Master Zuo is too reasonable. In fact, sometimes, we don't need to be so reasonable. The heart is the way, and the way is the heaven. If you know the heart, you will know. If you know the heaven, the heart is the reason. There is no reason outside the heart. If there is no heart, there is no reason. If you go against your heart, you go against reason."

Zuo Rutong was thoughtful when he heard this. He actually understood what Zhang Jingqing meant. The general meaning was that specific external affairs or the connections between affairs would not produce reason.

Reason is our subjective cognition of objective things or laws, and it is the thoughts in our hearts. Without heart, there is no reason. If we go against our heart, we also go against reason.

When objective truth conflicts with your heart, who is right? And how can you reason?

This path is too difficult and should not be practiced rashly. Perhaps it can be explained with the words of Monk Jigong: "Wine and meat pass through the intestines, but the Buddha remains in the heart. If people in the world try to imitate me, it would be like entering the devil's path."

He looked at Zhang Zhiwei seriously, wanting to know what kind of truth Zhiwei would say.
However, he never expected that Zhang Zhiwei was too lazy to respond. In the end, it would be a waste of time anyway, so he didn't waste his efforts.

As for being persuaded by the monk, that is definitely impossible. Perhaps if it were the master, there would be a possibility.

You know, when the leader of Wudang broke into Longhu Mountain, he was defeated by his master without fighting, and his master's nonsense made him stay in seclusion in Wudang for many years.

When he thought of this, Zhang Zhiwei couldn't help but smile.

At this moment, in front of the main hall, Master Dexing saw that he had been talking so much that his tongue was about to bloom into a lotus flower, but the other party was not moved at all, but laughed instead. He immediately became furious and said:

"Zhang Jingqing is a wicked man, yet he has taught such a lunatic. Abbot, everyone, to prevent him from disrupting the Dharma Assembly and scaring many believers, shall we work together to suppress him directly?"

This is why they invited other sects to participate in the water and land ceremony. They wanted to push Zhang Zhiwei to the opposite side of the entire Buddhist community and first put the blame on the dispute between Buddhism and Taoism. In the face of the dispute between Buddhism and Taoism, the matter of colluding with the Japanese pirates seemed insignificant.

What's more, they can attribute the collusion with the Japanese pirates to personal reasons and throw all the dirty water on the dead Master Dehong.

Sure enough, after Master Dexing finished speaking, several monks immediately became interested and were about to speak in agreement.

But at this time, Master Yuantong, the abbot of Puji Temple who was invited to watch the ceremony, suddenly said:

"Amitabha, no, this little celestial master is indeed arrogant and does things improperly, but the martial arts world has its own rules. If he comes alone to challenge the mountain and we rush in all at once, won't we be laughed at by our peers all over the world if this gets out?"

Then, Master Yuanzhen, the abbot of Fayu Temple, echoed:

"Master Yuantong is right. Buddhism and Taoism have coexisted since ancient times. How can we do such a shameless thing? In my opinion, if he comes alone, we should send one person to take him down, so as to show the power of Buddhism!"

"What the two brothers said makes sense. Without rules, there will be no order. If we rush at a youngster, what's the difference between that and Quan Xing?"

Master Yuanzhi, the abbot of Huiji Temple, laughed.

Puji Temple, Fayu Temple and Huiji Temple are the three major Zen temples located on Mount Putuo.

The three major Zen temples are located in the front, at the top and at the back, supporting each other. They are all Zen sects and even have the same generation names, so they are of the same blood and the outside world generally calls them the Three Putuo Temples.

In the plot, the three Putuo temples once joined forces with the four major families of Longhu Shangqing to plan the Mianshan battle against the Japanese pirates.

There is no need to say much about the attitudes of these three hosts towards the Japanese pirates.

Although they have always known that the Tiantai Sect and the Tiantai Sect of Japan have close contacts over the years, they have only regarded it as an exchange of Buddhist teachings. After all, Buddhism has no borders, so there is nothing wrong with it and there is nothing to say.

However, they did not realize the seriousness of the matter until they learned that the abbot of the Tiantai Sect, Master Dehong, had personally participated in the Japanese pirates' attack on the young Tianshi.

In their view, even though the dispute between Buddhism and Taoism has a long history, it is still a matter of the martial world, and this cannot be a reason for Master Dehong to collude with the Japanese pirates to attack and kill the young Taoist priest.

The Tiantai sect might have been seriously infiltrated by the Japanese pirates. After all, the abbot of a temple was in cahoots with them.

If the upper beam is crooked, the lower beams will be crooked too. How many monks below will go along with the corrupt crowd?
One bad rot spoils the whole barrel, and this is something that they, as fellow Buddhists, would not allow.

Therefore, taking advantage of the Tiantai Sect's water and land ceremony as an excuse, they came uninvited, hoping to find out the truth and see to what extent they had been infiltrated.

Since they wanted to find out the truth, they naturally could not collectively attack Zhang Zhiwei as the Tiantai Sect wished. On the contrary, they had to protect Zhang Zhiwei to some extent so that he could find out the truth.

Even though they disliked Zhang Zhiwei very much, it was a one-size-fits-all matter.

As I expected, the monks had different opinions among themselves... Zhang Zhiwei glanced at the three old monks from the three Putuo temples and silently excluded them in his mind so as not to kill them by mistake when the fight broke out later.

Zhang Zhiwei was happy to see the monks fighting among themselves, so he did not disturb them. He just rode on the nine-headed lion and swayed towards the Main Hall, hoping that before he arrived, the monks could divide into camps, making it easier for him to take action.

In front of the main hall, Master Dexing looked at the three old monks with some displeasure.

He and his senior brother knew the attitudes of these three people towards Japan, so they were not on the invitation list this time, but they came uninvited.

At that time, the first time he saw these three people, he knew that something bad was going to happen.

However, since the ceremony was taking place and everyone was present, they couldn't kick them out, so they treated them warmly and invited them to watch the ceremony. They didn't expect that something would go wrong at the critical moment.

The three abbots of the three Putuo temples have very high status in Buddhism. As soon as the three of them opened their mouths, several monks who were about to agree with Master Dexing suddenly stopped talking.

"This person is very powerful. If we attack them one by one, I'm afraid..."

Master Dexing wanted to speak again, but Master Ku Rong interrupted him with a wave of his hand and said:

"What the three masters said makes sense. Since he came to the mountain alone, our Tiantai Sect will not use the majority to bully the minority. We will send one person to deal with him."

"Senior brother..."

Master Dexing was anxious and used his telepathy to transmit his voice: "This little bull nose is very powerful. He is second to none among the younger generation. Even among the older generation, there are not many who can beat him. Brother Dehong and Guidao Shigeo have failed in their combined attacks. We..."

"Don't panic, Junior Brother!" Master Kurong responded with telepathy, "According to Jianghu Xiaozhan, this little bull nose is ruthless and will not leave anyone alive. There are a few stubborn and pedantic people in the temple, so let him kill them."

Hearing this, Master Dexing's eyes lit up: "Great, great! Senior brother is really thoughtful. He used this little calf's nose to eliminate dissidents. After all those who deserved to die were dead, he could use this Vajra's angry eyes to kill them at all costs."

His telepathy is the transmission and communication of thoughts, which is faster and more secretive than telepathy. The conversation between the two people only lasted for a moment and no one noticed.

Then, Master Kurong said, "Deyun, you are the head of the Discipline Hall. This little Heavenly Master has come to the mountain. You should stop him. He is so aggressive that he smashed the Dharma Assembly platform in front of his fellow Taoists and many believers, bringing shame to our temple. This time, you should do whatever you want and kill him, regardless of life or death!"

(End of this chapter)