A Clash of Gods - Chapter 127

Chapter 127 The Respected Guests
Jingneng just looked cold and his expression didn’t change. He looked like a hot-tempered man, but he patiently listened to Yang Ning till the latter finished his words. As soon as Yang Ning stopped talking, Jingneng finally asked, “Are you done?”

Yang Ning didn’t know if the wounds in his body were cured. Otherwise, he would have turned to leave.

Jingneng continued, “You said something wrong. First, anybody should follow the rules in the Temple of Great Light after entering, no matter if he is a disciple or not. No matter how powerful or honorable you are outside the mountain, you need to forget your identity outside after you enter the temple.” After pausing for a while, he added, “Second, since the Temple of Great Light was established, none of the monks in the temple travels outside the mountain or spreads outside that all people are equal. Can you hear clearly?”

Yang Ning was stunned.

Jingneng stated slowly, “Many monks from other temples travel around the world and spread Buddhist doctrines, but the Temple of Great Light is not included. You said that all people are equal, but can you understand what it means? The Buddhist doctrine in the Temple of Great Light is to cultivate self, and nobody said that all people are equal, so what you said is useless in this temple.”

Yang Ning was astonished. He just knew that the Buddhists advocated that all people are equal and thought that since the Temple of Great Light belonged to Buddhism, it must be not different, but Jingneng said that under the watchful eyes of all people, which surprised Yang Ning.

Jingneng added, “It’s a rule in the temple that the disciples from the Bright Building don’t need to stand in lines to get food. If you want to be the same as them, you can be like this as long as you can enter the Bright Building, so everybody has a chance, but if you can’t do that, you have to stand in lines. Do you understand?”

Yang Ning wanted to argue with the principle that all people are equal, but the Temple of Great Light was weird and didn’t follow it, so he didn’t know how to debate.

“Take him to the Commandment Hall.” Jingneng didn’t say more but waved his sleeves, turning to leave. Two monks came up and tried to capture Yang Ning.

Yang Ning was furious and sneered. Before the two monks approached him, he took two steps backward and asked coldly, “Who dares to capture me?”

The two didn’t say anything but took actions at the same time. They tried to put their hands on Yang Ning’s shoulders from both sides. They were from the Commandment Hall and as soon as they started to move, Yang Ning knew that they were good at martial arts and much more powerful than Zhenbi and the other monks from the Five Cereal Hall, but he was reluctant to be taken to the Commandment Hall like this. He sneered and didn’t think much. Then he strode to one side and flew away, avoiding the two monks’ attack easily.

The two monks were stunned but reacted soon. Then they rushed to Yang Ning again respectively.

Yang Ning strode away with the first step and followed with the second step to slide one side. It was the movement of Easy Travel. The two monks didn’t hit the target again and their expressions changed slightly.

Most of the monks around just saw the two monks moved left and right, but Yang Ning was like a shadow, and nobody could see his movements clearly. Seeing that Yang Ning was like a ghost and a butterfly among flowers under the two monk’s chase, Zhenming was shocked.

All the monks present knew that the two monks were Jingneng’s disciples and their martial skills were powerful, but now the two joined hands yet couldn’t even touch Yang Ning’s clothes. All of them were surprised, and Zhenbi and the other disciples from the Five Cereal Hall were more astonished. They had thought that he was just a common guy who came up the mountain, but this man’s martial skills were so awesome.

They certainly didn’t know that Yang Ning’s martial skills were not good, but he was skilled in the movements of Easy Travel. When he started it, he wasn’t as stiff and dull as before. Although he couldn’t fly like immortals, he could walk with it skillfully.

He was smart and his power of understanding was nice. In the beginning, when he started the movement, he just lowered his head and walked, but now he could raise his head to observe the situation around him.

They had never seen these movements, and every time the two monks almost grabbed Yang Ning, they were just close to him, and he flew past them.

Suddenly Yang Ning heard a low roar and then felt a gust of strong wind overwhelming. He just thought that the strong wind was fierce, and it made him unable to breathe, so he slowed down involuntarily. Then he saw a black cloud covering his head. He was stunned but didn’t panic, and he moved to the left. When he just took one step, he felt that the black cloud in front of him flew to the left of him in a flash.

The other party moved much faster than him, and Yang Ning was astonished. Then he felt that his shoulder was pounded by a palm and huge strength pushed him. Later, he moved backward and then fell on the ground severely.

He felt sick and his vital energy and blood surged in his chest. So he looked up, to see that Jingneng was like a cloud and fell in front of him, looking at him in surprise.

“What’s your movement?” Jingneng asked with a frown.

Yang Ning took a deep breath. After he didn’t feel the blood in his chest surge, he raised his head and sneered. “What? Should I teach you what I have learnt after entering the Temple of Great Light?”

Jingneng was stunned and then sneered, ordering in a deep voice, “Take him away!”

The two monks walked forward and caught Yang Ning. Yang Ning felt remorseful and angry and laughed coldly. “Elder, you are really powerful in martial arts. I am a nobody but you have to bother to defeat me. The Temple of Great Light is really the number one temple in the world.”

He disliked Jingneng a lot. In fact, he knew that he was the heir of the Marquis of Honor, and no matter how mad the monks were at him, they didn’t dare to do anything to him.

He had been grateful because the people in the Temple of Great Light helped him, but he had seen what happened in the Five Cereal Hall today. They were not benevolent like the Buddhists and couldn’t distinguish right from wrong, which made Yang Ning have no good feelings for the Temple of Great Light.

At this moment, he heard loud rings all of a sudden, and it was the sound of the huge bell from the Beigao Peak. The rings were urgent and continuous.

Yang Ning was surprised. Zhenming had said that the bells rang four times every day in the Temple of Great Light, and they had rung three times. For the fourth time, the three bells should ring at the same time, and it was time to put out the candles and go to sleep, but now it was dinner time and the sun just set. It wasn’t dark yet. How would they go to sleep at this hour?

He saw that Jingneng’s expression changed all of a sudden as he stated in a deep voice, “Go to the Brilliance Hall!” He ignored Yang Ning unexpectedly and turned to leave. The two monks also looked serious and let go of Yang Ning, following Jingneng to leave in a hurry.

At the moment, not only Jingneng, but all the monks present also followed Jingneng and walked to the Beigao Peak.

Zhenming had come to Yang Ning and asked, “Ning, are you okay?”

Although Yang Ning had been pounded by Jingneng and felt suffocated in his chest, he was relieved now and there was nothing wrong with him. He couldn’t help but ask, “Zhenming, what happened?” Seeing that all the monks poured to the Beigao Peak like a tide, he asked in astonishment, “Where are they going?”

Zhenming explained, “The ring you heard is the signal to summon all the monks in the temple. All of them go to the Brilliance Hall. It seldom rings all year round unless something significant happens.” The little monk frowned. “Perhaps something happened, so all of us are summoned. Ning, let’s go there quickly. Don’t delay.”

Seeing that all the monks in the Five Cereal Hall left the canteen, Yang Ning was confused. He found that Zhenming walked forward with the crowd. Then he followed them after hesitating for a while.

A group of people walked fast. When they passed a floating bridge on the way, it was shaky, but all the monks seemed to walk on the flat ground. Yang Ning knew that they were used to it.

After walking for a long time, he finally came to the Brilliance Hall with the others.

The Brilliance Hall was the main hall in the Temple of Great Light, and it was magnificent and spacious. Two or three hundred people had gathered in the hall and stood on both sides. Yang Ning stood at the end with Zhenming. The Brilliance Hall was too large. With several hundred people inside, it was still spacious.

Yang Ning saw that under the big figure of the Buddha in the Brilliance Hall, there was a row of golden cattail hassocks. He counted them and found that there were thirteen golden cattail hassocks. He soon thought of the thirteen eminent monks in the Temple of Great Light. He wondered if the thirteen golden cattail hassocks were their seats when they gathered at ordinary times.

But except that Jingneng sat in a cattail hassock on the left, all the others were empty.

Yang Ning knew that ten of the thirteen eminent monks went to the imperial palace to hold the Shui Lu Rite because the emperor of the Chu State had passed away, and few of the thirteen were left in the temple.

More monks still entered in constant streams from outside. In the end, there were four or five hundred people in the hall, but they were in order and none of them spoke. In such a large Brilliance Hall, even the sound of a needle falling on the floor could be heard seemingly.

Suddenly Yang Ning saw another man enter the hall with four monks following him. Yang Ning glanced at them, to find that the four monks had yellow belts on their waists, the same as the monks who got food with wooden buckets. He knew that these four monks might be from the Bright Building.

The disciples in the Bright Building seemed to be special. In front of the Five Cereal Hall, it could be found from the others’ reactions that they were in awe of the disciples from the Bright Building.

The monk in the front was about sixty years old, and his robe was also purple and yellow, different from those monk’s robes as Yang Ning remembered.

This old monk had white beard on his chin and his eyes and brows looked gentle. He was thin. Although he was not young, he walked briskly. When he entered the hall, the head of the Commandment Hall, Jingneng, stood up and put his palms together. As the old monk approached him, Jingneng greeted, “Jingkong!”

The old monk Jingkong also put his palms together and responded, “Respected guests came, but the abbot is still sitting in meditation and can’t come out, and the other brothers can’t return to the temple, so you and I will receive them today.”

He was energetic, and it was silent in the hall. Although Yang Ning was far away from him, he could hear clearly. He thought, “It turns out that some people came to visit the temple, and it appears that the respected guests who came must have extraordinary identities. Otherwise they wouldn’t make a fuss about it.”

Jingkong directly went to a cattail hassock and had a seat. Yang Ning found that his seat was the first on the left in the center. Judging from his seat, he must have a superior position in the Temple of Great Light.

“Invite the respected guests from the Baiyun Island of the Eastern Qi State.” Jingkong’s voice was like a huge bell and spread far away.