Late Night Tales Of The Capital - Chapter 133
Chapter 133 The Night the Boiled Snow Temple Shuts Down
You Prefecture was the prefecture located at the far north of the glorious Tang Empire as well as the coldest place in the Central Plain.
Legend had it that the cold was so severe there that snow would easily form in the mouths of those who speak. Even when two people were standing opposite each other, they might not be able to hear what their friend was telling them. They had no choice but to return home and gently melt down the ice in their mouths before being able to talk. This legend originated from a temple in Northern You Prefecture and thus, it gained the nickname of “Boiled Snow” over time. This also became the origin of the Boiled Snow Temple.
The Hall of Great Strength stood tall in the heart of the Boiled Snow Temple, with three gates in front of it. Three golden statues sat inside the hall: Gautama Buddha, Maha Kasyapa, Ananda. Lying in front of the statues was a pale yellow praying mat. Currently, the mat was unoccupied.
There was a small house next to the Hall of Great Strength. Grandmaster Yunxia stayed there all year round.
The skies were beginning to darken and the wind was carrying snowflakes into the hall.
Inside Grandmaster Yunxia’s house, a little pot sat atop a small stove. There were remnants of tea leaves inside the pot. Wisps of steam would rise out of the top of the pot and the sound of bubbling water would reverberate inside. A hand with dry, yellowed skin lifted the teapot and poured out a half-cup of tea, leaving the remaining inside the pot.
He raised the cup to his mouth and took a sip. The tea was bland. It was as if the long boiling process had destroyed all flavor in the tea. Yet he said softly, “30 percent of snow, 70 percent of tea fragrance. This can be considered one of the most exquisite tastes in the Human World.”
The snow was swirling in the air outside. Grandmaster Yunxia slowly drained his tea before getting up and walking out of the house. His pupils seemed to be thick with emotions. He closed his eyes as if he was burying all of his worries in this boundless snow and fog.
“Listening to the wind.”
“Boiling the snow.”
“Recollecting past affairs.”
Grandmaster Yunxia sighed once again.
“When the visitor came more than ten years ago, tea was boiled on a bamboo stove and used to replace wine. What about today? Would the monastery gate open or not? When the conversation is dried up and the tea is drained, what will be left of the future of the Boiled Snow Temple?”
He lifted his foot, entered the Hall of Great Strength, and left the door open.
The wind carried the fallen snow outside the door into the hall. Of the dim yellow lights flickering in the night, four in a row were extinguished.
Grandmaster Yunxia sighed once again. Worries clouded his face as his footsteps wavered.
It took just minutes. When he wanted to leave, he raised his head and saw something unusual happening to the golden statues in front of him!
There were faint bloodstains trailing from the corner of the eyes of the statues: one being a vivid red and the other a purplish black.
Seeing the bleeding golden statues, Grandmaster Yunxia’s face turned even colder. His hands, buried inside the sleeves of his kasaya, swiftly began crisscrossing and calculating. In the end, he heaved a deep breath.
Moments later, all the monks inside the Boiled Snow Temple received the abbot’s handwritten decree: “From tonight onward, the Boiled Snow Temple will close its doors and the mountain will be sealed. Without the abbot’s decree, no one is allowed to leave or enter. Disciples of the temple will focus on their cultivation and enter meditation in exile. For the next ten years, the Boiled Snow Temple will not participate in any matters of the Cultivation World.”
The handwritten decree to the seal the mountain was written using the Golden Cicada Writ, the most authoritative item in the Boiled Snow Temple.
Its contents were also the strictest in the temple. It was only at the worst of crises that it would issue a decree. The current generation of monks couldn’t quite remember a decree to seal off the mountain ever being issued in the past hundred years. Not even when the former emperor died did the temple close down for ten years. Neither had the temple ever rejected participating in the matters of the Cultivation World. That was as good as separating themselves from the Secular World and the Cultivation World. It wasn’t too much to call it an act of isolation.
However, this was a joint handwritten decree from the abbot and Grandmaster Yunxia. The monks of the Boiled Snow Temple must accept it.
Standing in front of the Hall of Great Strength, the abbot of the Boiled Snow Temple looked into the distance and slowly said, “Do you think sealing off the mountain can help us evade the calamity this time?”
Grandmaster Yunxia stood next to the abbot. “That I’m not sure, but I know that opening our doors for guests will surely bring our Boiled Snow Temple to eternal damnation.”
“The bleeding statues have given us a clear warning. We can’t ignore this anymore.” Grandmaster Yunxia sounded downcast when he brought this up. “Senior Brother, did you think I was happy to make this decision? I made deductions earlier and learned that the guest tonight is an old friend of mine. We share an extraordinary karmic link. To close our doors is to cut off our karmic link. Buddhist cultivators like us place the utmost importance on karma. Unless it’s an absolute emergency, I would’ve never done so.”
The abbot turned his head and reached out to pat Grandmaster Yunxia on the shoulder. “Thank you for your sacrifice, Junior Brother. Our thousand-year Boiled Snow Temple must not go extinct in our hands.”
“I understand. That was why I was able to steel myself to make this decision.”
The Boiled Snow Temple atop Mount Cicada at night.
The creaking sounds of gates being locked echoed.
Snow piled up on the path leading up to the mountain. Other than the sound of the clock, it was deathly still.
Ye Que and his group climbed the stone mountains up Mount Cicada, closing into the Boiled Snow Temple with every step. Guan Shuheng continued to carry Lei Tianyou on his back while Red Bean “shamelessly” climbed onto Ye Que’s back. She told him to carry her as an apology and even said she didn’t want to walk because she was drowsy.
These few days, there was nothing Ye Que could do about Red Bean. He could still threaten to hit her before this, but even if he wanted to now, he was likely no match for her. With one realm of difference between them, coupled with Red Bean’s true identity, he had lost all intentions of hitting her.
He also finally understood why Red Bean said she wasn’t as young as she looked. To the dragons, she was indeed a young girl, an underage dragon girl in fact.
To humans, however, her age was close to a hundred years.
Ye Que was no ordinary human either. His physical age was less than 20 years and he was still a young man. His mental age, however, was more than a hundred years. To be exact, he was a complete old man. Mentally, at least.
No one was taking advantage of anyone here. They were both the same.
He had also accepted his fate. It was no big deal carrying her; it wasn’t like she was that heavy. Well, at most, he was carrying a dragon. To a Starburst Realm cultivator who knew a cultivation method of the Divine Book like him, it was nothing difficult at all.
From another perspective, few humans would have such an opportunity.
This was an honest-to-goodness dragon girl!
The mountain path was dark and serene at night. The wild, mountainous scenery meant that when they looked up, all they saw was pitch-black darkness. Ye Que was doing fine, but the young female disciples of the Pavilion of Wind and Thunder were beginning to tremble with fear.
To be fair, for most of them, this was their first outing.
It was their first time leaving the pavilion and they weren’t ever returning at that. This was the most dangerous sort of trial. They were still fine when they first left, but their fear deepened as time passed. Fortunately, Lei Tianyou was briefly conscious during the day and there were also two experts with them. If they only had the only male disciple, Guan Shuheng, to depend on, they might not even dare to keep going now.
“Junior Brother Guan, when will we reach? It’s so dark out. Could we have gone the wrong way?” someone asked in a low voice.
“I find it terrifying too. We can’t even see anything ahead. Did we take the right path?”
“I won’t be able to hold on for long.”
Female disciples were no match for male disciples, after all. Following a long day of being pursued and attacked, they were reaching the limit of their True Energy, physical strength, and mental strength.
Guan Shuheng hoisted Lei Tianyou before carefully observing his surroundings and pondering over it. Only then did he say uncertainly, “Please hold on, everyone. Based on Eldest Senior Brother’s instructions, we should be on the right path. Boiled Snow Temple should be right ahead.”
“Everyone, watch your feet. The road is slippery on a snowy night. Please don’t fall. Everyone, try your best to take care of each other.”
Even though the snow made the path slippery, it was also useful in reflecting light. Even though it was no match for a full moon, it was much better than the faint stars in the sky.
With a goal in mind and out of fear for Lei Tianyou’s injuries, the group of female disciples finally clenched their teeth and once again walked up to the mountain step by step.
Under the cover of the night, more than ten silhouettes made their way up Mount Cicada. The wilderness was still and the night was silent except for the sound of gasping and breathing.
When the female disciples were about to exhaust their strength, an enormous and intricate temple appeared before them. The temple was shrouded in a light coat of white snow but it was obvious that people had taken good care to clean this place every day. There was also a subtle but boundless pressure coming from within the temple.
“The Supreme Formation of the Buddhist Sect!”
The female disciple who took the lead said, “Looks like we’ve come to the right place. The Buddhist cultivators here must be quite strong. Just the monastery gate alone is uncommon.”
“Junior Brother Guan, knock on the door immediately. We’re going to collapse soon.”
After giving his Senior Sisters an apologetic sign, Guan Shuheng hastily ran toward the temple doors. He was tired too, and he was wearier than everyone else. However, he had no choice. He was the only male disciple in the group now. He must take up the responsibility.
“Clang! Clang! Clang!”
Three knocks on the door resounded. The sound was fairly quiet as if Guan Shuheng didn’t wish to disturb others. Perhaps, he also thought that knocking too hard on the door would seem impolite, so he only knocked three times.
Everyone waited outside the door. The snow falling on them was getting heavier.
Moments later, still no sound came from inside the temple.
“Knock a few more times, Junior Brother.”
“Use more force. It’s late at night, after all. Maybe the monks inside are meditating or sleeping.”
Turning around to glance at his Senior Sisters, Guan Shuheng hesitated for a moment. He even pressed his ear close to the door to listen, making sure that there was no sound. He clenched his teeth and banged on the door another three times. This time, the sound was a lot louder but it was still muffled.
The sound of door-knocking reverberated throughout Mount Cicada but it seemed to be absorbed by the snow and disappeared without a trace.
They still heard nothing after waiting for fifteen minutes. This time, even Ye Que looked confused. Coming here with Guan Shuheng was just a whim. He wanted to see these distressed disciples of the Pavilion of Wind and Thunder off to safety before leaving. It seemed that there was another twist in the story.
“Move aside. Let me try.”
Someone reached out from behind Guan Shuheng. It was his Senior Sister finally losing her patience and personally knocking on the door.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
A burst of loud knocking sound rang out. The disciple had used all of her strength in her first go, having harbored no consideration for courtesy at all. How could she worry about that when she was about to collapse?
