Chapter 213 — Demanding the Blood Debt

"Jiantang, inform the twelve Protector Elders of the Holy Cult and the eight Inspecting Envoys.

Tell them to go to the bank of the Tujiang River outside the capital.

" Jiantang acknowledged the order and rose to go. Shen Mu summoned Xue Hu'er and the Dragon Qilin and instructed them to stay at the Imperial Academy for the next few days; then he went to the far end of the lane by the Scholars' Residence and found Wei Yong.

"Brother Wei, has the Duke of Wei returned?

" "He came back the day before yesterday, his rebellion-suppression just finished," said Wei Yong.

"Then I must trouble you to go home and tell His Grace that there is a commotion to be seen at the Nantuo Annex. " Wei Yong was baffled, and laughed: "My old man may love a good commotion, but he doesn't chase after just any commotion. If the thing isn't big enough, he'll never go—and if he did go, he'd shout about it till the whole capital knew!

What on earth is it?

" "Just go," said Shen Mu.

"Go, and you will understand.

" Wei Yong, uneasy, went down the mountain with him. Shen Mu parted from him and went straight to the Tingyu Pavilion in Flower Lane. Fu Qingyun hurried out to greet him.

"Cult Master.

. . " Shen Mu raised a hand to tell her no words were needed.

Suddenly a crackling burst sounded from within his body; his bones shifted out of joint, his frame grew taller and taller, until he had become a burly, somewhat gaunt fellow who looked like a barbarian from beyond the frontier.

Fu Qingyun started in fright: "The Art of Creation? Which of the seven chapters of Creation is it? " Faint gold radiated from Shen Mu's whole body.

He changed into coarser, rougher clothing, took the Thousand-Banner Pagoda from the Taotie Pouch—it stood over a zhang tall—and held it up in his hand. The thousand banners revolved without cease, tinkling and chiming, and faint Buddhist sounds issued from within. Dragging the Thousand-Banner Pagoda behind him, Shen Mu strode out of the Tingyu Pavilion, out of Flower Lane, and straight toward the Nantuo Annex.

The Nantuo Annex had originally been the mansion of the Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince. Nantuo Temple was one of the foremost Buddhist sects, second only to the Datingming Temple. After its abbot Sun Nantuo submitted to the court, Nantuo Temple became one of the great sects under the court's name. Sun Nantuo's mastery of the Dharma was profound and his character upright; he hated evil as an enemy, was called an Arhat, and held the office of Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince.

After Nantuo Temple threw in its lot with the court, many other Buddhist temples followed suit as well, and that was a debt owed to Sun Nantuo's merit. After Sun Nantuo converted the Grand Tutor's mansion into the Nantuo Annex, it became Nantuo Temple's most important place of preaching. Many of the temple's young monks came here to hear the sermons, and the wives and daughters of certain princes and ministers, having Buddhist hearts, often came to listen too. Yet such ladies were often deep in the lonely sorrow of their boudoirs, and some came with impure intent: under the pretext of worshipping the Buddha they struck up liaisons with young monks to relieve their loneliness.

Others, their beauty faded, kept young monks for themselves.

Monks coming and going from women's chambers was a common enough sight in the capital. There were also old monks who kept young women, singing and feasting night and day until they were worn to exhaustion, which gave rise to no small scandal. Sun Nantuo knew there were sordid doings among his disciples, but he was busy with official business and burdened with many duties, and had no time to discipline them.

Moreover, the customs of the capital were open and its women bold—even the Empress Dowager in the palace had her lovers—so he had no heart to inquire into it. The Emperor had more than once bestowed a marriage on Sun Nantuo. Three times he refused; the fourth time he accepted.

A monk half in the world and half out of it, he could scarcely bring himself to harden his face and set his disciples' morals in order.

Indecent goings-on occurred at the Nantuo Annex from time to time, and Sun Nantuo turned a blind eye. Yet he still hated evil like an enemy, and showed no favor whatever to officials of the court who came from the demonic path, rebuking them to their faces in open court.

That day a clamor arose outside the Nantuo Annex. The monks of Nantuo Temple came running out one after another, and even many of Sun Nantuo's own disciples poured out, crying: "Someone is selling a Buddhist treasure out there! The Pagoda of a Thousand Banners—of one lineage with our Nantuo Temple's spirit treasure, the Immovable Zen Art—it is the treasure that vanished from our temple several hundred years ago! " The crowd came outside the Annex, and there indeed was the Thousand-Banner Pagoda, the missing treasure of Nantuo Temple.

A great knot of monks had gathered, choking the street so completely that no one could pass, and a number of women were squeezed in among them. In the midst of the crowd stood a pagoda. That pagoda was formed of a thousand banners, each of them carved from jade.

It had seven tiers, and each tier was a cylinder inscribed with sutra texts, able to revolve; when it turned, the sutras upon it burst into light and gave forth Buddhist sound. Within each tier of banners were hidden treasures too: lapis, jade necklaces, relics, lamps, yellow jade, agate, and other precious things. A thousand banners, stacked together, composed one pagoda. This was the famous treasure of Nantuo Temple, the Pagoda of a Thousand Banners, also called the Thousand-Banner Pagoda.

Such a treasure had long since gone missing, lost in a time of turmoil—and now, unexpectedly, it had reappeared in the world.

The monks of the Nantuo Annex looked on red-faced and burning-eared, itching to rush up and seize the pagoda back. But after all, this was the capital; they could not act as they pleased.

The one selling the Thousand-Banner Pagoda was a young man of foreign appearance, standing beneath the pagoda and spurring it into motion. The Thousand-Banner Pagoda had not been tall to begin with; each banner was only a few cun high. But stirred by this young man, each banner grew to more than a zhang, and the pagoda's whole height reached sixty or seventy zhang—a fearsome sight.

The sutra cylinders of the thousand banners revolved, and without cease texts emerged glimmering with light; the Buddhist sounds rolled and surged.

It was a magnificent spectacle.

The barbarian's voice was loud and ringing: "This is my family's heirloom treasure, to be given only to the fated. I come from the grasslands beyond the frontier; I am a shaman of the Golden Palace of Loulan. This treasure was passed down from my forebears. An old monk once saved my ancestor's life, and that old monk gave him this treasure.

This time I have come to the Kingdom of Jingping, wishing to behold the heroes of your exalted land, and to seek out for this treasure one who is fated to have it. " "Brother Yuanjing, is this not our Nantuo Temple's treasure? " a monk asked in a low voice of the handsome, clear-featured monk beside him. Though Brother Yuanjing was young, he was a personal disciple of Sun Nantuo and of considerable standing; having followed Sun Nantuo in cultivation for many years, he knew Nantuo Temple's history like the back of his hand. He nodded: "It is indeed our temple's treasure, the Thousand-Banner Pagoda.

Inscribed upon it is the Arhat Nantuo Sutra, empowered by the Dharma of generations of abbots.

It could not be faked. " Yuanjing's eyes flickered. Suddenly he called out loudly: "You barbarian! This is a treasure of our Nantuo Temple—return it to its rightful owner at once! " Shen Mu glanced at him: "Monk, this treasure was given me by a great monk of virtue. Since it was given to my family, it is mine.