Chapter 404 Zhao Duan: Am I the incarnation of a god?
Chapter 404 Zhao Duan: Am I the incarnation of a god?
Zhao Duan was in a trance, as if he saw a series of pictures, which were gradually "refreshed" frame by frame. At first, they were a little sluggish, but then became smoother and smoother.
"Is this... a view of the bedroom? Wait, how can I see these without opening my eyes... And how come this panoramic view is... Hiss, is this the so-called divine consciousness of a cultivator? Because of the blessing of the Azure Lotus, did I gain this ability in advance?"
Zhao Duan's head was groggy, and he was half asleep and half awake as he observed his surroundings from this new perspective.
After discovering that the empress was not in bed, he didn't even react, but just subconsciously continued to spread his divine consciousness.
Gradually, he "saw" the garden outside the door, saw the lanterns hanging in the cold wind in the distance and the bright moon in the sky, heard the sound of the wind at night, and... the sound of water?
Zhao Duan's mind subconsciously followed the sound of water, penetrating through layers of houses without any hindrance, and then...
He saw a pair of familiar eyes.
The pair of eyes "met" him in astonishment, and then surged with thunderous rage, and then, a divine thought that was many times more powerful and vast than his heavily bombarded him.
Zhao Duan's diffused consciousness immediately retracted into his mind. The green lotus shook violently as if it had suffered an impact. Before Zhao Duan could come to his senses, he fainted.
squeak-
The closed door was suddenly pushed open by a pair of hands, and the cold wind rushed into the warm room.
Xu Zhenguan, wearing only his underwear, floated in like a ghost, staring dimly at Zhao who was completely asleep on the ground.
"stand up."
She ordered with a stern look in her eyes: "I want you to get up!"
"..."
"Really asleep?"
Xu Zhenguan frowned slowly, and became somewhat suspicious. After a long silence, she suddenly kicked him, once, twice...
"stand up!"
"Get up for me!"
"...Unconscious? You're lucky."
After a while, the empress, who had failed to be awakened physically, turned around and went back to bed, leaving behind a jade pendant with a dragon pattern, constructed a barrier, and then closed her eyes and fell asleep.
……
There was no words all night, and in the blink of an eye it was morning.
When Zhao Duan opened his eyelids, his first reaction was pain all over his body:
"No... Why do I feel like I was kicked several times again..."
He was a little dazed. He held his forehead and sat up. He looked around the house and found that the curtains had been lifted, the bed in the inner room was neatly made, and the sky was already bright. The sunlight shone through the window paper, illuminating the entire warm room in white.
"How long have I slept..."
Zhao Duan shook his head vigorously, sat on the ground and slowly recalled his memory: "I think I accidentally released my spiritual thoughts last night... released my spiritual thoughts?"
His eyes lit up and he immediately tried to visualize the "Green Lotus" again.
But this time, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't reproduce the state of last night.
"Is it a state I entered accidentally, or... is there no such thing as external projection at all, and it's just a dream I had?"
Zhao Duan began to doubt himself. When he thought of the vague fragments in the second half of the "dream", he felt that this dream was quite vulgar... Well, it must be a dream. It was off the mark...
Zhao Duan put on his clothes with some disappointment and pushed open the door. The bright sunlight made him squint his eyes, and the cold wind blew on his face, and he felt refreshed.
"Master Zhao, His Majesty said that when you wake up, I will lead you out of the palace."
A eunuch came over and spoke in a hoarse voice.
"Huh..." Zhao Duan exhaled heavily and said with a smile, "Thank you, eunuch."
……
Zhao Duan got the horse he rode yesterday back from the guards at the entrance of the imperial city. He felt refreshed and rode home.
Passing by the familiar snack street, he tied his horse to a roadside pillar, walked into the soup and pancake shop, and ordered mutton offal soup and hot pancakes in a familiar manner.
After the food entered my stomach, I finally recovered. I moved my ears and clearly heard some diners nearby discussing yesterday's debate.
Only one night had passed, and there had been no new changes in the outside world. Neither the Shenlong Temple nor the Western Region Buddhist Group had taken any new actions.
However, Zhao Duan did not dare to take it lightly. Apart from anything else, the monks from the Western Regions came to the State of Yu specifically to cause trouble, but they lost the chess game and the debate as well. It would be impossible for him to swallow this humiliation.
Just as he was thinking about what the other party might do next, a figure suddenly sat down opposite Zhao Duan.
Zhao Duan raised his head and looked with some surprise at the young monk in disguise in front of him, who was wearing an ordinary cotton-padded jacket and a cotton hat.
The young monk Danche subconsciously wanted to put his hands together, but put them down in time and smiled:
"Master Zhao, my master wants to see you."
"..." Zhao Duan slowly swallowed the biscuit in his mouth.
At this moment, he was unusually calm. He drank another mouthful of soup without any hurry, then took out a handkerchief to wipe his mouth:
"Where is the holy monk?"
……
Of course it is impossible for a monk from the Western Regions to appear here by chance.
Therefore, he must be just like the old Taoist priest, waiting for him on the road he must take to return home.
Zhao Duan was not worried that these foreign monks would be crazy enough to do harm to him in the capital. In comparison, he was more curious about the reason why the other party found him privately.
After paying the bill, Zhao Duan, led by Dan Che, led his horse to a nearby alley and appeared outside a house owned by an unknown person.
Dan Che calmly opened the door, made a gesture of invitation, and then said:
"Please come in, Lord Zhao."
His feet are outside the threshold, meaning he is not preparing to enter but exists as a gatekeeper.
Zhao Duan took a deep breath, handed the reins to the chess genius, slightly straightened his clothes, and stepped into the courtyard.
The yard was not big, and there was still some frozen snow on the wall. A wooden table was placed next to the stone mill in the courtyard. The house did not look uninhabited, and the doors and windows were closed.
At this moment, an old monk wearing a red monk's robe, a red hat, and a string of white ivory beads around his neck was standing with his back to the door, seemingly reciting scriptures silently.
After hearing the voice, he slowly turned around, revealing his dark-skinned, old monkey-like face from the Western Regions.
The two looked at each other. Zhao Duan was secretly alert, his face was calm, and he smiled and said:
"Zhao has met the Saint of the Western Region..."
Before he could finish the opening greetings, he was shocked to see that the eyes of the eminent monk in front of him, who was highly respected in the Western Regions and the leader of the "Red Sect" among the Five Buddhist Sangha, whose status was second only to the Dharma King of the Western Regions and was known as the "Holy Monk", had undisguised surprise and enthusiasm in his eyes.
Then, the Red Sect master knelt down on the ground with a reverent posture, like a monk from the Western Regions worshipping Buddha, raised his hands high, and chanted:
"Good man, pay homage to the Buddha!"
kindness??!
The smile on Zhao Duan's face suddenly froze, and he froze on the spot, with a strong sense of unreality in his heart.
Wait...what's going on? This script is a little different than I imagined.
Shouldn't you be furious and threaten me, or learn from those high-level players in the court and argue with me about interests... Even if you play a clever trick, it would be considered a normal development, but what is your idea now?
Is there a conspiracy?
Zhao Duan's hair stood on end. His first reaction was that there was a trap. He decisively stepped aside and said seriously:
"Holy monk! Stop joking. You can't joke about gods!"
The Red Sect master was stunned when he saw the terrified and anxious look of the "Buddha's incarnation". He then realized that his behavior was too abrupt and he felt ashamed:
"Good man, I am rude and disturbed the Buddha. I hope the Buddha will forgive me!" Zhao Duanmu said, "Saint monk, please explain it clearly, otherwise I will leave."
……
After a while.
At the table in the courtyard, Zhao Duan finally finished listening to the Red Sect master's story.
His expression became extremely interesting. He stared at the dark old monkey... no, the old monk, and said:
"So, half a year ago, you had a premonition that the Buddha's wisdom would descend upon the mortal world and land in the capital. So, you came here this time specifically to look for that 'wisdom'? Now, do you think that I am that 'wisdom'? Am I the incarnation of the Buddha?"
The Red Sect master smiled and nodded, his expression was like a fan in his previous life looking up at his idol.
"..." Zhao Duan was silent for a moment, and said tactfully:
"Is it possible that this is a misunderstanding?"
The Red Sect Master smiled and said:
"At first, I never thought that you were the embodiment of wisdom, but when you were baptized by the gods at the debate yesterday, it explained everything. I realized that I was stupid before. I just thought that the benevolent gods would not come to the world as the concubine of a treacherous minister.
But I later realized that I had committed the great taboo of clinging to external appearances. It is because of the compassion of Buddha that he bestowed blessing upon you. The changes that you have experienced over the past year are the embodiment of the wisdom and love of Buddha, aren’t they?
As the saying goes, the sea of suffering is boundless, turn back and you will find the shore. If it weren’t for the gods, how could you have changed from a villain hated by everyone to a pillar of the country…”
"No..." Zhao Duan couldn't hold it in any longer:
"Is it possible that I was promoted and favored by His Majesty, and that's why I rose to prominence..."
The Red Sect Master smiled and said:
"You don't have to be so modest. Your views on Buddhism yesterday were a manifestation of wisdom. You also won a great debate with Zhengyang. You are also on good terms with the Taoist Tianshi Mansion. I believe you also have a deep understanding of Taoism.
How can a mere mortal be so proficient in Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism? Only the wisdom of the Buddha can make it happen. "
"..." Zhao Duan suddenly found that he was powerless to refute.
What the other party said made so much sense. He couldn't explain that he was a time traveler... But the incarnation of the Buddha was too much nonsense. Well, unless your god was a time traveler...
My goodness, Princess Wenzhu doesn't believe in me at all, but you, on the other hand, are simply a fanatic, a religious lunatic...
Yes, no wonder I always felt that this guy was weird during the debate yesterday. Instead of stopping me or opposing me, he acted like a professional supporting actor and was unusually easy to talk to...
Zhao Duan felt a little confused. As for deception... he really couldn't think of any reason why the other party would use such a thing to deceive him.
Moreover, what concerned him the most was that the other party claimed that he had sensed his arrival half a year ago...
"It doesn't make sense. How could I not know what kind of god I am? Besides, you said that you sensed it in early summer. With your cultivation level, you can sense it. Then, the Dharma King, Xuan Yin, and even Zhang Tianshi, Wu Xiankui and others also know of my existence, right?"
Zhao Duan made indirect comments.
The Red Sect master was a little anxious when he saw that the Buddha's incarnation did not recognize him:
"When Hui is in the human world, he is a mortal. Before he awakens, he must not know his own identity. You are the wisdom of my Buddha, and Wu Xiankui and the female emperor are warriors. They lack awareness of gods and naturally do not know.
Zhang Yanyi is a powerful Taoist, I don't know whether he has noticed anything, but if he has tried to contact you in the past few months, he might have noticed it vaguely.
Monk Xuanyin's body has been in the capital for many years, but his spirit is wandering around the world. It is natural that he didn't know about it. As for the Dharma King, he was born a warrior monk. In terms of the depth of Buddhism, he is not as good as me..."
Zhao Duan was stunned and frowned.
There was a lot of information in the old monkey's words. Zhang Yanyi had certainly come into contact with him, but Zhao Duan had previously thought that it was because of the golden tablet, and later because he boasted and copied some powerful sentences that attracted Old Zhang's further attention.
But if what the old monkey said is true, then there may be another explanation:
The reason why the old Taoist priest first met him was not because of the golden tablet, but because he sensed something unusual about himself as a time traveler.
The information that Monk Xuanyin was traveling thousands of miles was something he had not known before.
"How can I believe what you said?" Zhao Duan suddenly asked.
The Red Sect master's face was fanatical. He took out a mutton-fat jade Buddha amulet from his arms and presented it with both hands:
"I would like to offer my natal Buddha amulet as a token of my loyalty!"
The title was changed from good man to disciple...it was like hitting the snake with a stick.
Zhao Duan was really surprised this time. He had heard that many Buddhist monks have their own natal Buddha amulets, which are closely related to their own practice.
If it falls into the hands of others, although it may not be fatal, it is also a huge handle that can cut off a person's cultivation.
It was really surprising that the Red Sect master directly offered up his life and treasures.
Zhao Duan raised his hand to take the Buddha amulet. When he touched it, the green lotus in his sea of consciousness swayed. He had a vague feeling that he could sense the connection between the Buddha amulet and the old monk's wisdom. If the Buddha amulet was destroyed, his wisdom would be damaged.
"What do you want to see me for?" Zhao Duan asked after a moment of silence.
The Red Sect Master shook his head and said, "Not for anything else, I am only willing to follow you and practice!"
Good licking...
Zhao Duan always felt that this word sounded familiar, like what he said to Zhenbao... However, if he was really that damn god incarnated, there would be nothing wrong with being followed by such fanatical religious lunatics.
Moreover, it is easy to guess that following a god will bring many benefits in the future. From what the other party said, the incarnation of god can be "awakened" in the future. So if this guy rushes to serve at this time, it is no different from a minister who goes to lick the prince early in order to pursue the credit of following the dragon.
"It's not convenient for me to keep you with me." Zhao Duan shook his head and said, "You should go back to the Western Regions."
The Red Sect Master's eyes lit up:
"Are you going to entrust your disciple to go back to the Western Regions to spread the Buddhism you taught? Your disciple will definitely fulfill the mission!"
"..." Zhao Duan felt a little uncomfortable being licked. He said uncomfortably:
"That's not necessary... First of all, I'll say it again, I don't know what kind of 'Hui' I am, but if you insist on joining me, I don't mind having more subordinates. Secondly, if you really want to, I do need you to do something."
The Red Sect Master was overjoyed and was about to kneel down again:
"Please give me your orders, Lord Buddha!"
"Just call me by my name," Zhao Duan said disdainfully.
"Master Dajing, have you been to your Western Regions?"
The Red Sect Master nodded and said:
"Reporting to Lord Zhao, the thief monk Dajing has indeed surrendered to the Dharma King and should have fled to the Western Regions. I did not know your identity before, otherwise I would have severely punished the thief monk for daring to assassinate the Buddha... Do you want to arrest this thief?
However, I'm afraid I need to convince the King of France first. But if the King of France knows your identity, it will be easy..."
Zhao Duan raised his hand to refuse: "My identity... don't spread it for the time being."
My goodness, he was not sure whether the Dharma King believed that he was the incarnation of God... and if this rumor really spread, it might be good or bad.
After a moment's hesitation, he said:
"How about this, don't make any unusual moves for now. When you return to the Western Region, just collect intelligence for me. As for Da Jing... don't alert him for now. After all, he is a Bodhisattva-level expert. You can't beat him, right?"
The Red Sect Master was ashamed:
"My disciple is dull and has devoted his life to studying Buddhism. He is indeed not good at fighting and killing."
Zhao Duan sighed softly: "Then... let's do this for now."
……
Kevin, I'm thinking about the next plot outline
(End of this chapter)