Seeking Truth with a Sword-Chapter 465 - 416 Six Paths

Chapter 465: Chapter 416 Six Paths
Two hours later, the "support" Xing Pengyue spoke of arrived at the Xingzhou City garrison.
There were three people:
Gongsun Changyi, Vice Commander of the Town Patrol Office in Luoyang;
Xiong Tuohai, the temple master of the Haotian Taoist Temple in Luoyang;
and Monk Jianquan, the abbot of the Tiantai Mountain Zen Sect.
Li Ang stood in a corner observing the three men.
Gongsun Changyi had a fleshy face, a burly build, a thick waist, and wore jade thumb rings on both thumbs.
Xiong Tuohai possessed an immortal’s refined air and an upright, imposing figure, with two longswords belted at his waist.
As for Monk Jianquan, whom Li Ang had long heard of by reputation, his physique was lean, and his skin was dark, making him look more like an old farmer than an accomplished high monk.
However, Li Ang did not underestimate him because of his appearance. Monk Jianquan had been famous throughout the world thirty years ago as a leader of both the Candle Cloud Cultivators and the Yu Country Zen Sect. The Emperor had sent envoys to Five Platform Mountain several times, attempting to invite him to the Great Ming Palace to lecture on Zen, but Monk Jianquan had declined all invitations with polite refusals.
His aura seems even deeper than that of the abbots and head monks of the Jialan Sect.
Li Ang silently assessed Monk Jianquan’s strength.
But there’s some irregularity in his breathing? This shouldn’t happen to a Candle Cloud Cultivator. Could he have been injured recently?
"Namo Amitabha Buddha..."
Monk Jianquan chanted the Buddha’s name, closed his eyes, and re-covered the Haotian temple master’s corpse with the white cloth.
Xing Pengyue asked in a grave voice, "Master, do you have any thoughts on the method used in this crime?"
"..."
Monk Jianquan was silent for a moment, then slowly said, "It is indeed the Regret Scripture from Tiantai Mountain’s Esoteric Sect, but it was not done by a monk from Tiantai Mountain."
Gongsun Changyi, Vice Commander of the Town Patrol Office, asked, "Is it him?"
"Yes." Monk Jianquan nodded.
The conversation between the two left everyone else baffled. Xiong Tuohai, the temple master of the Haotian Taoist Temple in Luoyang, explained, "Two days ago, while traveling in Bianzhou, Master Jianquan was ambushed. The attacker was a Demon Monk with half of his head replaced by gold."
Li Ang’s heart skipped a beat.
Half of his head?
He instantly recalled the Shixing Monk from the Pure Thought Sect, who had escaped from deep beneath the Chang’an Ghost Market three years ago.
"He claimed to be Harvard," Monk Jianquan said calmly, "and stated he had a serendipitous opportunity to bestow upon me. I found his face familiar, so I asked if he was the Shixing Monk who died seventy years ago. He dodged the question with a Zen paradox and instead asked if I was willing to help him attain Buddhahood."
Monk Jianquan smiled gently. "He didn’t mean sending him to his death; he said he possessed an ancient Esoteric Sect text from Tianzhu, a thousand years old, called the Six Paths Liberation Scripture. By converting six individuals—representing the Ghost Path, Beast Path, Asura Path, Heavenly Dao, Hell Path, and Human Path of the Six Paths of Reincarnation—according to specific rules, one could reach the Nirvana Realm, attain Enlightenment, completely cut off all troubles, achieve immortality, and transcend life and death."
In Zen, Nirvana does not simply mean dying. Only those who perfect their virtues, extinguish all evil, and achieve the Miao Ming True Heart Realm before death are worthy of the term Nirvana. Thereafter, they completely liberate themselves and ascend to a higher plane.
"The paper of the Six Paths Liberation Scripture in his hand was brand new, clearly freshly made," Monk Jianquan continued. "The handwriting was crooked and sloppy, full of errors—evidently his own mad scribbling. Naturally, I couldn’t believe his delusional rants. Remembering he was a Zen Sect predecessor, I invited him to sit down and debate scriptures with me, hoping to bring him back to tranquility. However, he attacked me. After I wounded him, he fled."
The old monk slightly pulled back his right sleeve, revealing a long scar that stretched along his arm. Strangely, an amber-colored scab had formed on the surface of the scar.
How miraculous. Is this scab color also a special effect of the Zen Cultivation Method?
Li Ang suppressed his curiosity, continued to listen nearby, and pondered whether to reveal his information regarding Shixing Monk.
"I went to Commander Gongsun to discuss this matter and subsequently stayed in Luoyang to recuperate," Monk Jianquan said, letting his sleeve fall. "I just never imagined his so-called ’conversion’ would be slaughter, or that it would happen so quickly and not in Bianzhou. Shixing Monk, or rather the being that once was Shixing Monk, still retains the strength he had in life and is extremely dangerous. Moreover, according to him, he still has at least two more people to kill."
"Gao Fuyun, who pursued sensual pleasures using the Throat Brush, represents the Ghost Path. Huang Yusan, who finds joy in abusing animals, represents the Beast Path. The woman who murdered innocent children and caused her husband’s death represents the Asura Path. The temple master of the Haotian Taoist Temple represents the Heavenly Dao."
Xing Pengyue muttered to himself, "That means the next victims chosen by Shixing Monk, in his eyes, represent the Hell Path and the Human Path."
"The Hell Path representative is likely a heinous criminal," Monk Jianquan asked. "Are there such candidates in the city prison? As for the Human Path, who is the most distinguished person in the city right now?"
Sui Yi’s heart skipped a beat.
Li Leqing!
He subconsciously pushed open the door, only to see Li Leqing, Ji Linglang, and the others still in the room across the courtyard, chatting with the windows open.
"Commander Xiong, Captain Xing, I need to immediately evacuate the students from Xingzhou," Sui Yi immediately said to Xiong Tuohai. "Please allocate a team of guards for me."
"There’s no need to be so tense now. There’s still time if we leave by Spiritual Energy Locomotive," Monk Jianquan said. "In that fabricated Six Paths Liberation Scripture, Shixing Monk detailed the timing for each conversion. There are still about two hours left until the next one."
"Then I will evacuate the common people from the city and have the most heinous prisoner from the jail singled out to use as bait," Xing Pengyue said, breathing a sigh of relief. He was about to leave the morgue to issue commands, but Xiong Tuohai stopped him with a raised hand.
"We can’t evacuate," Xiong Tuohai said, his expression impassive as he stroked the jade thumb ring on his thumb. "We’ll stay in the city and set up defenses around the prisoner."
"This..." Xing Pengyue’s face stiffened. Monk Jianquan had just said Shixing Monk still retained his former strength. How many casualties would a Candle Cloud Realm Cultivator cause if he wreaked havoc in the city?
"It must be so." Xiong Tuohai sighed deeply. "Firstly, if we order an evacuation, Monk Jianquan would notice something is amiss and flee. Then, Shixing Monk would carry out slaughter in other State Mansions, rendering the deaths of the previous victims meaningless. Secondly, if we order an evacuation and all the common people leave the city, you can’t guarantee the true Hell Path candidate is among the prisoners in jail. Evacuation isn’t very useful and would only disperse our defensive forces."
So the nobles can leave, but the city’s common people cannot?
Xing Pengyue, who grew up in Xingzhou, had a rigid expression but couldn’t refute his superior—this was indeed the most rational strategy, consistent with the garrison’s usual approach after weighing the pros and cons.
"I will also stay," Li Ang suddenly said. "Since Shixing Monk would consider the person with the most noble identity as the candidate for the Human Path, then I, holding the highest noble title in the city, can also serve as a second piece of bait."