Little Benefactor, We Meet Again

Wang Chong asked curiously, "Has Li Miaomiao been rescued?" Li Qingge said, "She was rescued by Wu-Hook Frost-Snow, Lu Yaoniang." As a court official and one of the Three Great Constables, Li Qingge's greatest advantage was her ability to mobilize resources from every quarter—far more efficient than the Chrysanthemum-Killing Alliance, which could only act on jianghu rumor. Wang Chong gave an "oh." He had heard plenty these past two days of the names Wu-Hook Frost-Snow and Chess-Sword Linglong, and he knew this eldest daughter of the Lu family stood as famous as Su Luo Yan and Li Qingge. Her master was formidable indeed—hailed as one of the Five Great Pinnacles of the world: the Dragon-Crowning Daoist of the Taiyi Dao. And just how formidable was this Dragon-Crowning Daoist? His eldest disciple was one of the handful of grandmasters of the world; his second disciple was one of the seven Perfected of the Daoist gate; and yet another disciple was the foremost of the Beggars' Sect's Ten Great Elders... When this old Daoist so much as coughed, some seven or eight hundred people under heaven would take ill in his stead. Wang Chong asked again, "So she didn't kill White Chrysanthemum?" Li Qingge said, "She never laid eyes on White Chrysanthemum. It's said she brought along a junior brother, and this junior brother traded twenty-eight moves with White Chrysanthemum before driving the lecher off with a single sword thrust. By the time Lu Yaoniang arrived, she was only in time to save her." Wang Chong thought to himself, "And this counts as Lu Yaoniang rescuing someone?" He asked, "So we're only going to see Li Miaomiao? Shouldn't we also pay our respects to this Wu-Hook Frost-Snow and her junior brother?" Li Qingge replied, "This young lady of the Lu family holds an extraordinary position. A visit to her must be arranged specially; we cannot treat it as casually as with Li Miaomiao." Wang Chong gave another "oh" to show he understood. Su Luo Yan, Qin Han, and their like were of much the same standing—even Li Qingge had to show them some face, and were she to run into Chu Qiuzi, this constable would be somewhat more courteous still. A few days before, Wang Chong had wanted to go stroll around Jinguang Temple but had missed it because he lost his way. This time, following Li Qingge, he set foot on Mount Yanyun with the greatest of ease. Lu Yaoniang had brought the rescued woman to Jinguang Temple on Mount Yanyun, where she was now lodged in the Ruyi Nunnery, the temple's lower cloister. Throughout the world, nunneries stood as lower cloisters of monks' temples—such was the rule of the Buddhist order. Jinguang Temple was a great temple of the present age, and its lower cloister, the Ruyi Nunnery, was itself quite sizable. As a man, it was improper for Wang Chong to enter a nunnery, so while Li Qingge went to question Li Miaomiao, he took Yu Zao up to Jinguang Temple, halfway up the mountain. From afar he saw the great temple resplendent in gold, a colossal Buddha soaring into the sky—no telling how much of the faithful's money it had consumed, how much labor spent before it rose complete. Its grandeur was overwhelming, yet it left Wang Chong distinctly displeased. But he had come to sightsee, not to sit in judgment on monks, so he entered the temple at his ease, like any ordinary worshiper. Hardly had he entered Jinguang Temple when Wang Chong spotted an "acquaintance." The monk Xuan Gang came out looking utterly reluctant, and at the sight of Wang Chong behaved as if they had never met and did not know each other at all, saying, "Master asks the two of you to come and meet him." Wang Chong was greatly astonished. "Venerable monk, does your teacher have divine powers or something? How could he know I've come to visit?" Xuan Gang answered testily, "A little novice reported it long ago. What divine powers are there in that?" "That thieving bald—" Suddenly a warm, gentle voice called out, "Disciple, do not sin with your tongue. Bring the two benefactors here quickly." Wang Chong was more astonished still, and suddenly remembered that Su Luo Yan had once said this monk Xuan Gang had lately been taken on as a disciple by Kong Chan, the foremost monk of Shaolin. He hastened to ask, "Is your teacher Elder Kong Chan of Shaolin?" The monk Xuan Gang gave a muffled grunt. "You'll know when you see him." Wang Chong hastily straightened his attire, took Yu Zao along, and rounded to the rear of Jinguang Temple. In a small courtyard he beheld a monk in a moon-white robe, his features fine and clear. This pinnacle whose name shook the world looked extremely young. A faint aura of precious light seemed to flow about him, like a lustrous pearl or fine jade, like Buddha-nature made manifest, stirring the heart with longing—almost making one wish to drop prostrate then and there, paying homage as before an exalted one. Seeing Wang Chong, Master Kong Chan smiled faintly and said, "Little benefactor, we meet again." Wang Chong smiled sheepishly, but his heart was vastly alarmed, shaken beyond all telling. He had absolutely never met this one of the Five Great Pinnacles, the unrivaled great master of the present age—yet Kong Chan would not have said it without cause. Who, then, was his original body? The answer all but leapt to the tip of the tongue... But Wang Chong simply dared not ask it aloud. He was truly afraid that the moment he said, "Who am I?" Master Kong Chan would see through him on the spot as a "heavenly demon from beyond the realm" and move to subdue the demon and spread the dharma. "How can I circle around and pry out my own identity?" Just as Wang Chong's thoughts were tumbling, he heard Kong Chan ask, "I have already heard from my disciple Xuan Gang of how you joined hands to kill Sun Yanqi. That man, too, was a lecher—heartless and fickle as well—but he was by no means White Chrysanthemum." Wang Chong nodded again and again, thinking, "This master is rather formidable." Xuan Gang put in at his side, "I can't tell the difference between Ice Soul Finger and the Ice Serpent Divine Aspect. Aren't both martial arts of cold yin energy?" Kong Chan smiled. "The Ice Soul Finger is a Daoist martial art, concerned with the transformations of yin and yang. The Ice Serpent Divine Aspect is a Buddhist martial art, imbued with profound Buddhist principle. You do not understand now, but when your Buddhist cultivation deepens in days to come, you will know at a single glance." Wang Chong asked, "If that is so, then who exactly is White Chrysanthemum?" Kong Chan gave him a long, deep look, his eyes freighted with meaning, yet answered only with a Zen riddle, saying gently, "This old monk is, after all, no arhat, nor yet a great bodhisattva. How could he know all things under heaven? Little benefactor, before long you are bound to learn who White Chrysanthemum is! There is no call to add to your troubles just now. "I have spent half a year at Jinguang Temple only to temper the temperament of my newly taken disciple, and in a few days I shall return to Shaolin. I never imagined I would meet you, little benefactor—it is a rare karmic affinity indeed. So I gift you a word: within the burning house, lust burns most fierce; the sin of the flesh is bottomless; the Five Sacred Peaks could not fill it. I hope the little benefactor will ponder it deeply and keep these words in mind." The words rubbed Wang Chong the wrong way. He bowed, then asked suddenly, "Chan Master, is there Buddhist dharma that can dissolve it?" Kong Chan pondered a long while, then said, "Then I gift the little benefactor a sutra: the Sutra of Mahasthamaprapta Buddha Enlightening the Sea Dragon King to Soar Beyond the Heavens, Attain the True Fruit, and Become a Heavenly Dragon. "The assembly of the Sea Dragon King was one thousand two hundred and fifty, gathered together with many bodhisattva-mahasattvas. At that time, the Dragon King Sagara rose from his seat. Mahasthamaprapta Buddha addressed the Sea Dragon King, saying: There are four supreme dharmas, foremost in merit among the eighty-four thousand treasuries of the dharma, and they are: all conditioned things are impermanent; all is suffering; all dharmas are without self; the stillness of extinction is bliss. The bodhisattva-mahasattva practices profound prajna-paramita, illuminating and seeing that the five aggregates are all empty; the wisdom of the boundless dharma—feeling, perception, volition, and consciousness—are likewise so. Soon one attains the unborn; swiftly one arrives at perfect quiescence. At that time the World-Honored One, and those voice-hearers, the unsurpassed perfect enlightenment; gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, bodhi svaha. The great assembly of bodhisattvas, the great assembly of heavenly dragons, all rejoiced together, received it in faith, and put it into practice." Wang Chong listened once through and recited it back on the spot. The old monk Kong Chan's eyes gleamed with strange light; pressing his palms together, he said, "Little benefactor, your Buddhist endowment runs deep—most rare indeed." Wang Chong pondered a moment, realized this was nothing but a Buddhist scripture and no martial arts manual whatsoever, and—unable to resist showing off in grand style—pressed his palms together and recited the Heart Sutra from start to finish. When he came to "It is the great mantra, the great wisdom mantra, the unsurpassed mantra, the mantra without equal, able to remove all suffering—true, not false," Kong Chan's face registered astonishment; his monk's robe stirred without wind, and he formed a mudra... ...Wang Chong: Damn it, I've flaunted too far—the old monk means to kill me... ...Kong Chan: Demon, today I shall sever the root and sprout of your troubles... ...Yu Zao: My young master is so handsome...