The great army wandered around the mountains for two days. After emerging from the mountain pass, Qinzhou lay at their feet. This was already Yun Ye’s third time coming to Qinzhou. The first time he came, he had still been thinking about getting a Buddha head from Maiji Mountain to take home. Now he had completely lost that interest. After giving simple instructions to the Qinzhou Magistrate, he left behind all the pigs, sheep, fine wine, and singing girls—none were wanted. The great army remained garrisoned below Maiji Mountain.

The Qinzhou Magistrate had long since prepared fodder for the war horses. The supplies left by the supply train had been distributed to the officers and soldiers—very abundant, with both dried meat and meat powder. The soldiers roasted the dried meat over fires and ate it with relish. As for the meat powder, it was poured into porridge pots. Adding a handful of salt made it excellent military food.

Very obviously, Yuan Shoucheng had gained the respect of Na Rimu and Wu She. The old fellow ate the Yun family’s specialty canned peaches and praised them endlessly, believing they were even more delicious than fresh peaches.

Seeing them chatting happily, Yun Ye still patrolled the camp accompanied by his personal guards. These things were all taught to him by Old Niu. Long ago, when he and Old Niu had dragged grain carts through here, his state of mind then was vastly different from now. At that time, he would subconsciously want to avoid that wilderness. Now, he only thought about how to dig open that spring and see exactly what reason brought him from over a thousand years in the future to this chaotic Great Tang.

The scenery around Maiji Mountain was beautiful. The mountain ridges were densely covered with green cypresses and dark pines. Even in early spring’s cold weather, they remained verdant and green. Climbing the small mountain and looking into the distance, all four sides were lushly green mountains. One could see thousands of peaks and myriad ravines, layer upon layer of mountain ranges, pines like the sea, waves of cloud and mist—distant views and near objects woven together, constituting a beautiful picture.

“Buddha’s realm is always in scenic beauty. Young man, using beauty to please people, using beauty to bewitch people—this doesn’t only describe women. Mountain scenery and water scenery apply equally. You are a darling beloved by Heaven and Earth, so don’t harbor doubts about it, and don’t feel angry about it abandoning you. In this world, there is nothing that cannot be lost, and nothing that cannot be obtained.”

“I can see your heart is full of anger. In the Great Tang, you get wind when you want wind, rain when you want rain. Even the coldest emperor dotes on you, and the most learned scholars also regard you as a young friend. Under such circumstances, you are still angry, like an abandoned orphan questioning the mother who abandoned him. Forget it. Past lives are like smoke, past events are like smoke—when the wind blows, nothing remains.”

The loose hemp robe on Yuan Shoucheng’s body flapped loudly in the mountain wind, yet his words were clearly transmitted to Yun Ye’s ears. Was this the truth the old fellow had guessed based on known conditions?

“Over ten years ago, there was a young man who saw the countless Buddha statues on Maiji Mountain and wanted to secretly knock off a Buddha head to take home. He had a clumsy companion. Just as they reached Niuer Hall, they were blocked by a black-faced old monk holding a staff. That old monk’s martial arts were very high. The two young men used lies to escape great disaster. Elder Yuan, tell me—can lies really continue for a long time?”

Yuan Shoucheng coughed and said, “This old man rather likes to hear sincere lies. Truth is sometimes extremely cruel—so cruel we cannot face it directly. So you see, this ugly mountain needs green pines and cypresses to decorate it. That great river also needs flowing water to decorate it. Therefore, at certain times, green pines and cypresses are the mountain’s lies, and the ceaselessly flowing river is the great river’s lies. Think about it—how boring would a high mountain be without the lie of green pines and cypresses to embellish it? How ugly would be the riverbed, riddled with holes and wounds, revealed when stripped of the river’s lie of water decoration.”

Yun Ye bowed deeply to Yuan Shoucheng and said sincerely, “Elder’s brilliant insight! In the future, this youngster will strive to make every sentence he speaks sincere, make every sentence he speaks pleasant to hear, and give everything he does heavy makeup and rich colors.”

“Hahaha! The child can be taught! Let us encourage each other!” Yuan Shoucheng seemed to have discovered something extremely interesting. He clasped his hands behind his back and strode down the mountain with large steps. Even the old fellow’s walking posture was so transcendently immortal.

A group of begging monks walked toward the military camp, stopping a hundred zhang away. One of the begging monks walked to the front of the camp and said to the soldier who came toward him, “Please report to the Great General that an old friend, Bianji, requests an audience.”

When Yun Ye heard that Bianji had arrived, he was slightly stunned, then had a soldier bring Bianji over. He hadn’t seen Bianji in Chang’an—not even when he went to chat leisurely with Xuanzang had he seen Bianji. He didn’t expect him to now actually be at Maiji Mountain.

Yun Ye’s central military tent had only a table, a chair, and behind them a screen depicting a fierce tiger descending the mountain. Liu Jinbao found two rush cushions and threw them on the ground, adding a low table in between, thus completing preparations for receiving guests.

Gao Yang probably didn’t even know who Bianji was now, right? Yun Ye was extremely curious what Bianji would be like without worldly temptations. Previously at Shaolin Temple, when Bianji was still a small novice monk, he had been extraordinarily handsome and refined. Now grown up, he wondered how elegantly handsome he would be.

“This poor monk Bianji pays respects to the Great General.” A black-robed monk held an alms bowl in his hands, his clothes ragged, yet he seemed carefree and content. The whole person was black as a coal ball. As soon as he smiled, he revealed a mouth full of white teeth. When he lowered his head, nine ordination scars showed on his head.

Yun Ye smiled bitterly. Throughout Chang’an, not a single monk had burned ordination scars. This should be something from much later—how had Bianji already burned them now?

“What’s with the scars on top of your head? Is there some particular significance?” Yun Ye intended to ask clearly.

Bianji smiled and said, “There is no such saying in Buddhism. It’s just that this poor monk saw in the ‘Brahmajala Sutra’ where the Buddha’s verse says: If one does not burn their body, arm, or finger as an offering to the Buddhas, they are not a renunciant bodhisattva.”

“And from the ‘Great Buddha Crown Shurangama Sutra,’ Volume Six, which says: If there is a bhiksu who decisively resolves to cultivate samadhi and can burn one lamp on their body before the Tathagata’s image, or burn one finger, or burn one incense stick on their body, I say this person can repay all karmic debts from beginningless time in one instant.”

“Moreover, in the ‘Lotus Sutra, Chapter on the Deeds of Medicine King Bodhisattva,’ it says: There was a Bodhisattva Sarvasattvapriyadarshana who burned his body and burned his arm as offerings to the Buddhas. Therefore, this poor monk follows what is good and has made a great vow, willing to burn his body to serve Buddha.”

Conversing with a cheerful monk was extremely interesting. Through conversation, Yun Ye learned that this fellow Bianji had just returned from beyond the frontier. He went beyond the frontier to proselytize to herdsmen and received very good results. He had stayed on the grasslands beyond the frontier for a full two years. Now he wanted to go to Chang’an to seek alms from faithful donors to build a grand temple on the grasslands. He happened to be lodging at Maiji Mountain today and, hearing that Yun Ye’s great army was garrisoned nearby, came over to pay a visit.

“The herdsmen on the grasslands are kind. They are gentle. When they saw us, they were very friendly and deliberately slaughtered sheep to invite us to eat. How could they know we are precept-keeping monks who cannot approach meat and fish? They fear celestial deities but don’t know where their own gods are. They want to worship but can only offer their contributions to mountains and rivers.”

“So you decided you should build them a temple and squat at the temple door every day collecting money, cows, and sheep? This is indeed a good idea. I’ve heard Jianfu Temple does exactly this now—if you want to burn the first stick of incense, you must first see how much incense oil money you’ve added.”

Yun Ye’s reply was quite malicious, but Bianji didn’t care at all. After two years of hardship outside, crawling over ice and lying in snow, he had long since witnessed all types of people. Humiliation at Yun Ye’s level didn’t amount to much.

“Such things always happen—unavoidable. The Buddhist sect cannot be spotlessly pure. When the Buddha preached sutras, it required gold bricks to pave the ground. Worldly monks committing small errors is inevitable. This poor monk has already made a great vow. I want to build a Buddha realm for the herdsmen on the grasslands. I won’t collect money or collect cattle and sheep. We will only wholeheartedly pray for blessings for the herdsmen, opening wide the door of convenience. No matter who, as long as they want to enter the Buddha realm, we will not obstruct them. We allow them to bathe in divine radiance in the Buddha realm. No matter when or where, no matter who wants to obtain our help, we will do so without hesitation. I only wish the Buddha to be compassionate and able to comfort those restless souls.”

When Bianji spoke to this point, his entire person seemed to be glowing. His gaze was fervent, his actions persistent. The alms bowl held in his hands was immediately extended before Yun Ye. Having finally encountered a great wealthy patron, he absolutely could not let this pass.

Bianji achieved unprecedented success robbing the Great General amidst thousands of troops and horses—not only obtaining ten gold coins but also over thirty silver coins, plus a set of jewelry from Lady Na Rimu. When leaving, he even used words to force the furiously raging Great General to write a promissory note for five hundred silver coins. He would go to the Yun family manor to collect the money from the Yun family’s First Lady.

Yuan Shoucheng and Yun Ye stood at the tent opening watching Bianji lead that group of monks into the distance. Yuan Shoucheng said, “Let’s not make judgments first. Let’s write on paper, then take them out together and see our answers.”

Yun Ye deeply agreed. The two men stood back to back, wrote their notes, then unfolded them together under an oil lamp. With a knowing smile, they placed the notes over the oil lamp and ignited them. Watching the notes turn to ashes, Yun Ye asked Yuan Shoucheng, “Is it really alright for us to stand by and watch like this?”

“There’s no problem. Fortune and misfortune have no gate—people bring them upon themselves. We didn’t instigate, didn’t add fuel to the flames, and moreover didn’t harm him. What does his future misfortune have to do with us? Besides, we’re about to head west through Yangguan Pass. There will be no more time to see old friends. Why worry about so many things? First, going to Kunlun is important.”

After the great army ate morning food, they passed through ancient Qinzhou city and once again entered the great mountains. The next time they stopped would be at the banks of the Yellow River. Lai Chuanfeng’s advance troops were already ten li away. Fan Hongyi’s rear guard was still in Qinzhou. This time the number of people wasn’t large—what was numerous were the countless war horses. For this campaign, Yun Ye’s minimum requirement for cavalry was double horses—one warrior needed at least two war horses. Some sons from wealthy families were even equipped with three horses—two for riding, one for carrying loads.

Tang people now habitually armed themselves to the teeth. Several years ago, a single suit of bright armor was still a treasure for a minority of people. By now, one suit of bright armor was not more valuable than two horses.

The reason was that steel had become overabundant—its price had dropped severely. The instigator was the Zhangsun family, who boldly launched a price war. Their family prepared to occupy the steel products market with low prices. Before Yun Ye departed, no one knew how many blacksmith shops in Chang’an had already closed down.