Chapter 40: First Exploration of Tiandao Palace

The New Year of the forty-eighth year of legitimacy arrived quietly.

Starting from the first day of the first lunar month, market shops closed for business, and government offices were sealed for holiday leave.

Every household either visited relatives and friends or stayed in their own courtyards, eating and drinking.

Lin Hansu had no relatives or friends to visit; instead, managers from various industries came to her mansion in an endless stream to pay their respects.

Without needing to leave the mansion with his accompanying guards, Ding Suian unexpectedly had a few days of leisure.

On the third day of the first lunar month, he carried two copies of the “Shurangama Sutra” to the guest room in the second courtyard of the front residence to find Zhisheng.

Upon meeting, he teased, “Great Master, you’ve questioned the case, and the New Year has passed. You’re not planning to stay in the Prince’s mansion indefinitely, are you?”

Zhisheng was not annoyed; he clasped his hands in greeting and said, “This poor monk will leave once West Yamen closes the case. Regardless, This poor monk must bring the news back to my Monastic Sect. If Benefactor Ding has any errands for This poor monk during these days of bother, please feel free to command.”

“Very well, Great Master, please tell me about the differences between the four schools: Rites, Buddhism, Daoism, and Martial Arts.”

A few days ago, Jiang Yuan almost became a human Baidu, providing Ding Suian with a wealth of valuable information to complete his worldview.

Unfortunately, since their last meeting on the twenty-sixth of the twelfth lunar month before the New Year, she hadn’t appeared in the front residence for some days.

“Amitabha. Both Buddhist and Daoist sects cultivate both mind and body; the Rites Sect specializes in cultivating the mind and does not focus on body cultivation; Martial Artists are the exact opposite, cultivating only the body and not the mind.”

Mind cultivation refers to various non-physical Divine Abilities, such as the Buddhist Lion’s Roar, Daoist Talismans, and the Thunder-Guiding Technique.

Body cultivation refers to physical functions, pursuing extreme strength, agility, and physical attack techniques.

Therefore, Martial Artists who purely temper their Physical Bodies and reach the pinnacle of physical prowess are more formidable than the other three sects but also have a fatal weakness: they are extremely susceptible to soul-controlling and mind-capturing techniques.

The Rites Sect is not skilled in combat, but excels in various soul-controlling Divine Abilities, perfectly countering Martial Artists.

Precisely because of this weakness, the Martial Artist community, in the eyes of the imperial court and the Rites Sect, became a knife without independent will, completely subservient.

The imperial court used Medicinal Pills, fame, and fortune to drive Martial Artists, while the Rites Sect intimidated them with soul-controlling Divine Abilities.

The general contempt for Martial Artists among the populace likely stems from the subtle, unconscious influence of the upper echelons.

Ding Suian had already more or less figured out what Zhisheng was saying, though the latter explained it more systematically.

“Great Master, you mentioned last time that the Relic Bead can stabilize the soul and break through illusions, and when using it, one needs to silently recite the body-protecting sutra from the “Shurangama Sutra.” Which section is the body-protecting sutra?”

Ding Suian took out the sutra from his Huai and placed it on the table.

At first, he intended to memorize the sutra directly, but upon finding the Shurangama Sutra, he realized that this sutra contained over sixty thousand characters.

“Namo Satahta, Sugataya, Arhate”

Zhisheng, as instructed, turned to the body-protecting sutra section and chanted it aloud.

On the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, the Vermilion Robe Patriarch’s street performance of ‘subduing demons’ made Ding Suian extremely wary.

The Vermilion Robe Patriarch subduing demons on the street was definitely not done out of idleness. With this performance, the next time he ‘subdued demons,’ it would be even more convincing.

The rehearsal was to establish credibility.

Before the New Year, after the battle at Jintai Temple and meeting Inspector Sun of the West Yamen, two instances of divine consciousness piercing pain made Ding Suian highly suspect that he was immune to soul control for some reason.

Perhaps it was related to his Golden Finger?

Silently memorizing the body-protecting sutra would always provide an extra layer of insurance. If he couldn’t withstand it, he would use the Relic Bead string; if he could, he would still need to make the Cultivator of the State Religion mistakenly believe he had used a Buddhist Magical Artifact.

This was to avoid exposing his secret of being ‘immune to control.’

Constant caution stemmed from insufficient martial power. The Jiang siblings wouldn’t return to the capital until after the New Year, and he couldn’t rely on them to raise his Realm through ‘literary and legal’ paths in a short time.

The feeling of waiting for the opponent to come knocking is very unpleasant.

Ding Suian had never liked passive defense, so mere self-preservation was far from enough; at critical moments, he still needed a means to overturn the situation.

However, at present, he hadn’t thought of a countermeasure.

But ancient sages once said: “The boat will naturally straighten when it reaches the bridge, and the apricot will always find a way over the wall!”

“…A thousand-leaf treasure lotus manifests in the light, and within the lotus, the Incarnation of the Tathagata proclaims this mantra, and the ten directions of Vajra Treasury King Bodhisattvas vow to protect the mantra reciter.”

Seeing Ding Suian listening attentively, Zhisheng was very pleased, “This poor monk observes that Benefactor Ding possesses deep wisdom roots and is fated with my Buddha. If Benefactor can cut off the three thousand strands of worldly troubles and enter the Buddhist path to cultivate—”

“Stop!”

Ding Suian looked at him with a straight gaze. The Buddhist sect was indeed in severe decline! Even a revered monk like Zhisheng was starting to randomly recruit people. “Do you give out eggs?”

“Ah?”

Confusion showed in Zhisheng’s clear, almost foolish eyes, and he subconsciously said, “No, we don’t.”

There you have it!

If you don’t even give out eggs, am I supposed to be attracted by your shiny bald heads?

Ding Suian sighed, speaking in a half-dead tone, “I, this person, love beauty and fine food. I cannot sever worldly desires nor cut off the seven emotions and six desires. Even if I were to become a monk, I would only wish to be a lecherous one. For the sake of Buddhism’s reputation, it’s better not to bring disaster upon you all.”

The next day, the fourth day of the first lunar month.

Towards the end of the mao hour, the sky was faintly bright.

Ding Suian sat before a mirror, first rubbing a thin layer of charcoal powder on his cheeks, then sticking two mud-like lumps on either side of his nose, and finally applying fresh ginger juice evenly over his entire face.

Finally, he attached two strips of beard to his lips.

In the mirror, his originally elegant nose instantly transformed into a fleshy, bulbous one, and his complexion turned sallow. Only his still sharp and clear eyes hinted at the former splendor of the Dragon Guard Army’s Alpha Camp’s most handsome member.

In the battle at Jintai Temple last month, Ding Suian learned from Ruan Guofan that ‘disguise techniques’ were the Shadow Division’s specialty, so he specifically learned them.

At chen hour, he quietly left the Prince’s mansion through the side gate and traveled south.

His clothes had also been changed to a set of gray-blue short coarse cloth with patches sewn on the elbows and knees.

The fabric was unevenly dyed, giving a dirty impression.

According to the customs of Great Wu, all trades ceased before the fifth day of the first lunar month, so the streets were very quiet.

But after exiting the south gate of the prefectural city, it suddenly became lively.

At this moment, the sun rose in the east, and the sky was completely bright.

The old site of Tiandao Palace in the south of the city, due to renovation, had become a massive construction site, with timber and bricks piled up like mountains.

Outside the construction site, there was a clamor of voices.

A long queue of over a thousand young adults snaked for hundreds of steps… In the distance, figures continued to gather from all directions.

The State Religion’s doctrine: Humans are born with sin.

To remove sins, one must accumulate good deeds extensively.

However, there was no quantifiable standard for accumulating good deeds.

In such circumstances, donating ‘atonement silver’ and having the State Religion act on one’s behalf to perform good deeds became the only solution.

Only by paying enough’sin silver’ could one be reborn into the ‘Immortal Realm’ after death.

It is said that in the Immortal Realm, even pebbles are gold, rivers flow with fine wine, rice stalks grow as tall as trees, and the grains they bear are larger than rice bowls.

In the Immortal Realm, there is no scorching heat or bitter cold, no toil, no epidemics or disasters, no pain or worries. Those reborn into the Immortal Realm attain eternal life.

However, for the poor, who barely scrape by, year-round they couldn’t even squeeze out a few taels of silver to atone for sins. How could they have a chance to be reborn into the Immortal Realm?

But the State Religion views all beings as equal and would never discriminate against the poor or favor the rich!

Thus, to allow even the poor to be reborn into the Immortal Realm, the State Religion offered everyone an opportunity: free participation in the renovation of Tiandao Palace.

There was no pay, and tools and dry rations had to be brought by oneself.

Even so, you might not even be chosen if you wanted to work.

Since construction began last year, people from surrounding areas flocked to the site, forming long queues.

However, the State Religion only needed a thousand people daily. For this, some common folk even scraped together a few coins to bribe the overseers, just to compete for what might be their only chance in this life to ‘be reborn into the Immortal Realm.’

At three quarters past chen hour.

The queue slowly moved forward. At the end of the line, a State Religion devotee wearing a pointed green hat sat behind a table, registering information.

“Disciple Lu Sanxiang, lives at Shili Village, west of the city.”

In front of Ding Suian was an honest-looking man. The green-hatted overseer didn’t even lift his eyelids, quickly jotting down Lu Sanxiang’s information. “Go stand on the left, you’ll be removing tiles with the tile craftsman. Next.”

“My name is Wu Yanzu, and I live north of the city.”