Early winter, November 14th, 2016.
At four o’clock in the morning, the old abbot opened his eyes. He rose from his bed, feeling refreshed and ready to start his day.
He had poor sleeping quality. It was a side effect he suffered from after messing up his sleep schedule during his younger days. However, ever since he started using the pillow consecrated by Baishi Shū, he was cured. His sleeping quality improved, and he would not doze off in the daytime when he was chanting scriptures.
“By the way, where is Shinsei?”
The old abbot walked around the temple, but he could not find Baishi Shū anywhere. He was not used to his absence during the morning service, and just as he wondered where he had gone, he suddenly remembered that the latter had told him he was going to monitor a yokai organization last night.
“Since Shinsei isn’t here right now, does that mean that he’s already got something? I guess even the yokai didn’t expect Shinsei to be able to monitor them from far away.” The old abbot smiled.
After he washed up, he sat on the futon in front of the Buddha statue.
He was aware of Baishi Shu’s strength the whole time. It was just that he did not point it out.
For him, the most important aspect of being a monk was not about spiritual power or martial arts skill. It was not about knowledge or level of intelligence either. As a monk, one must have a good disposition and a strong, resilient heart. Without power or knowledge, one would only be a fool. However, if one had power and strength unparalleled by others but did not have a good and strong heart to control it, it would become a disaster. Just like his three brothers, all of them were more talented than the last, yet in the end, all three of them ended up badly. The elder brother died, the second brother became a yokai, while the third brother was artificially transformed into a yokai due to overwhelming rage and hatred.
Thump.
The mallet fell on the wooden fish and a pleasant penetrating sound was released into the air.
The world outside was filled with all sorts of cacophonies, yet there was only stillness in the temple. It was far from the madding crowd, and one would be able to find peace here.
…
‘I am super strong?’
This was not the first time that Baishi Shū realized something like this. In fact, ever since he got acquainted with Asada Senna, the reality of him being very powerful slowly began to sink in. It was just that he never expected he would be this powerful!
Be that as it may, he only felt surprised right now. Neither did he feel complacent nor proud of his achievement. He might have had these kinds of feelings during his former incarnation, but after he was reborn as a monk and practiced Buddhism, he was not the same as before. He had become less impetuous.
After all, an impetuous person would not be able to tolerate loneliness, control his desire and laziness, forget the pleasure of the bustling world, and immerse himself in the sea of books and knowledge.
For Baishi Shu, he only felt surprised and nothing more. As for the feeling of complacency and pride…
Have you done your morning service today?
Have you finished learning the syllabus that you should be learning today?
Have you figured out the difference between spiritual power and yokai power?
Have you found the reason why a human turns into a yokai?
Do you already know how to turn a land of grudges into a blessing ground?
Have you already known how to significantly reduce the number of evil spirits in the world?
…
People were still living in difficult and bitter plights while evil spirits and malevolent yokai still roamed the earth. Many families were destroyed because of the interference of evil spirits and yokai, and countless people were dead because of them. With so many things left undone, he did not have time to be complacent, and he felt that his achievement was nothing to be proud of.
At the end of the day, spiritual power was merely a tool. Having only spiritual power was not sufficient enough to save the world. Without knowledge, there was nothing he could do. He could not even save a little girl. Therefore, rather than acting all high and mighty in front of people, Baishi Shū was more willing to return to the temple and school to chant scriptures and enrich himself.
“Erm… Hello?” The four-faced yokai’s voice rang out.
They did not understand why the terrifying monk would be so startled when they told him about how long their boss had been cultivating.
‘What is so surprising about that? Shouldn’t he be more surprised by himself? He’d become so strong in just ten years!’
However, the four-faced yokai and the eight-limbed yokai dare not to speak their minds. They did not even dare to move a finger as they feared that Baishi Shū would send them straight to meet Buddha.
“Oops, sorry, my bad. Next question,” Baishi Shū apologized after he snapped himself out of his thoughts. While he was retrospecting everything, he had another enlightenment and his spiritual power had increased by 200 points.
It would take the yokai at least 200 years to get 200 points of yokai power. Although Baishi Shū felt this was nothing to be proud of, a surge of ecstasy still washed over him. This was also one of the reasons he was so immersed in learning and cultivating after coming to this world.
“Where did you get the soul orb from?” Baishi Shu’s voice turned severe as he asked.
The four-faced yokai and the eight-limbed yokai trembled. Both of them immediately answered, giving two different answers.
“Big Boss gave it to us!”
“It’s crafted by Big Boss and Four! It has nothing to do with me! I’m just a technician who is tasked to deal with computer stuff only!”
When Baishi Shū saw the four-faced yokai’s face turn grim, he knew that the eight-limbed yokai was telling the truth. It occurred to him that this organization had grasped the method of crafting the soul orb, and they were extracting souls from the living to craft the soul orb!
“Is it the tiger yokai that taught you how to craft the soul orb?”
“Yes!” The four-faced yokai nodded profusely.
“Please trust me. I didn’t want to do it! It is all Big Boss’s fault! He made me do this! If I don’t listen to him, he will eat me!” Baishi Shū ignored their explanation and went on to ask his third question, “Then, do you know how the tiger yokai got the formula for the soul orb?”
He was wondering if this organization had anything to do with Tong Ling becoming a yokai. Was this organization behind the destruction of Reimei Temple? After all, the tiger yokai was an 800-year-old yokai and that incident happened about 10 years ago. He was confident that the tiger yokai had been in Tokyo at that time.
However, after he gave it a deeper thought, he felt it was quite impossible. The reason was simple. He just did not think the yokai in this organization were capable of orchestrating a plan of such a degree. As a temple that had existed for more than a thousand years, it would be too embarrassing if it was destroyed at the hands of this group of yokai.
As expected, the answer from the yokai proved their innocence.
“I don’t know about that. All I know is that seven years ago, after Big Boss’s birthday party, he got the formula and taught it to us. I supposed some guests at the birthday party gave the formula to Big Boss…”
‘Some guests?’ Baishi Shū rubbed his temples. It appeared to him that the real perpetrator was not in this organization.
‘This is so troublesome. Can’t they all be a little cooperative and queue up in one line so that I can send all of them to Buddha at one go?’
“Then, do you know who that guest is?” Baishi Shū asked although he did not have much hope.
“I’m afraid I can’t answer this question… Big Boss’s guests are some big yokai, and small yokai like us are prohibited from entering the party…”
“Too bad the yokai that was tasked to serve tea was eaten by Big Boss,” the four-faced yokai added.
Baishi Shū nodded. Then, he asked the last question, “Do any of you know about the incident that happened in Reimei Temple ten years ago? How did Tong Ling become a yokai in one day? The whole incident smells sort of fishy to me. Since you two have been yokai for more than a hundred years, I suppose you know something about it….”
Upon hearing the question, the four-faced yokai and the eight-limbed yokai looked at each other in blank dismay. Then, the four-faced yokai answered, “We really don’t know anything. All we know is that Reimei Temple was engulfed in a fire all of a sudden, and two yokai fought in the air, reducing buildings and structures to the ground in their wake. Then, the two kamis from the Meiji Shrine appeared and quelled the two yokai… I was just a small yokai at that time. I was so scared that I hid behind Big Boss and didn’t dare to go near…”
Baishi Shū thought for a moment, and he believed that the four-faced yokai was telling the truth. After all, if they got involved in the incident, he was certain that there was no way they would be able to survive.
Then, he nodded. “Well, thank you for your cooperation. That’s all from me.”
“So, can we leave now?” both the four-faced yokai and the eight-limbed yokai asked as a gleam of anticipation flashed through their eyes.
Baishi Shū smiled. “Oh? I thought you two wanted to stay for a while and say goodbye to your friends. Very well, then. Since you two are so eager to meet Buddha, let me send both of you on your way right away. It will be a long journey, so I hope you two can keep each other accompanied along the way. Farewell, then!”
With that, Baishi Shū stretched his arm forward with his Buddha Blessing Palm activated. Countless beams of holy light burst out and filled the entire underground basement.
“We…”
The four-faced yokai and the eight-limbed yokai could not even finish their sentences and they were already gone. Looking around, Baishi Shū put his staff down and pressed his palms together. He closed his eyes and began chanting the Rebirth Sutra for the poor souls that were killed by these yokai.
At the same time, he chanted the sutra for the yokai as well. Although they had committed unforgivable sins, they were still living things. He hoped that they could repent in front of Buddha and turn over a new leaf.
“Namo Amitabha.”