Chapter 403 - Partings And Reunions are Impermanent (4)

Chapter 403: Partings And Reunions are Impermanent (4)

With a smile Elder Peng said, “The snow has been coming down hard, don’t you think?”

The monk in black replied, “Yes, it’s been coming down hard.”

Elder Peng then said, “Come. Let’s go look at the snow.” Having said this, he pushed the door open. The monk in black repeated, “Good, let’s go look at the snow.” Then he got up to go stand side by side with Elder Peng at the door. At this time even though Yang Guo was behind the wall, he could sense that Elder Peng’s eyes were really strange and ominous.

Elder Peng said, “What your master said is right. Murder is wrong in any case. But the power in your body is overflowing. If you don’t let it out, your heart feels very difficult. Is that right?” In a daze, the monk in black replied, “It’s true!” Elder Peng said, “You might as well strike this snow man. Hit him, and you won’t sin.” The monk in black looked at the snowman and lifted both arms, eager to try. By now the two monks had been here for about half an hour, and the thin beggar’s body was thoroughly covered with white snow, even his eyes couldn’t be seen. Elder Peng urged, “Use your palms. Hit this snowman. Hit…Hit…Hit!” His words were soft, filled with encouragement. The monk in black channeled energy to his arms and said, “Good, I’ll hit!”

The white-eyebrowed monk lifted his head and let out a long sigh. In a low voice he said, “Where there is a murderous intention, there is sin.”

But then he heard a crashing sound. The monk in black shot out both of his palms, sending the white snow flying. The thin beggar’s body was struck, his pressure points unsealed, and so he let out a loud miserable ‘ah’ cry, which echoed into the distance. Xiao Longnü softly cried out, her hands grabbing Yang Guo’s.

The monk in black was shocked. He yelled, “There was someone in the snow!” The white-eyebrowed monk quickly came out and bent down to examine the body. The thin beggar was struck by the extremely powerful palms of the monk in black, and thus he was killed violently. The monk in black was all confused and became dully still.

Elder Peng acted like he was frightened and said, “This person was really strange. Why did he hide in the snow? Eh, why was he holding a knife?” Elder Peng had used his “Soul Absorbing Technique”, urging the monk in black to kill the thin beggar. He was very pleased with himself. Still, he couldn’t help being puzzled and thought to himself, “Surprisingly this servant had endurance, hiding very still in the snow. Could it be that the snow was blocking his ears and so he didn’t hear me urging that man to hit him?”

With a dull look in his eyes the monk in black could only cry out, “Master!” The white-eyebrowed monk said, “Such a pity. It wasn’t you who killed this person, yet it was you who did it.” The monk in black crouched down on the snow and his voice trembled, “I don’t understand.” The white-eyebrowed monk said, “You only knew that this was a snowman so you didn’t mean to hurt people. But your palms were wickedly powerful, without restraint. How can it be said that you didn’t have murderous intentions?” The monk in black said, “I certainly had murderous intentions.”

The white-eyebrowed monk looked at Elder Peng with a long steady gaze. His eyes were gentle, yet filled with grief. Simply with just this look, Elder Peng’s great ‘Soul Absorbing’ spell vanished. The monk in black suddenly cried out, “You are one of the Beggar Clan’s elders. It now came to my mind!” The cat-like smile on Elder Peng’s face disappeared in an instant. He frowned and shrewdly said, “And you are Iron Palms Chief Qiu. How did you become a monk?”

This monk in black was precisely Iron Palms Qiu Qianren. Years ago, on Mount Hua, he suddenly regretted all that he’d done and became a monk under Reverend Yideng’s tutelage. And this white-eyebrowed, old monk was Reverend Yideng, who was in the same league as Wang Chongyang, Huang Yaoshi, Ouyang Feng, and Hong Qigong. Qiu Qianren shaved his head and became a monk named Ci’en, following a Buddhist’s path and diligently mending his ways. But he’d done many despicable things in the past, making it very difficult to eliminate the monster in his heart. Facing the many temptations in the world, he couldn’t resist hurting people. And so he’d made a pair of strong manacles so that whenever his mind became troubled, he could shackle his hands and feet, keeping his evilness in check. At this time Reverend Yideng, who usually secluded himself in Hunan, had received a letter asking for help from his disciple Zhu Ziliu. So he and Ci’en were now on their way to the Passionless Valley. Nobody could have expected that they would run into Elder Peng on this remote mountain. Ci’en actually had no intention to hurt people.

In over ten years since becoming a monk, although Ci’en had violated some rules, this was actually the first time he had taken someone’s life. His mind was greatly disturbed, feeling that over ten years of his Buddhist study was all for nothing. He gave Elder Peng a vicious stare, with raging fire in his eyes.

Reverend Yideng knew that this was a critical moment. If one used force to stop him from getting into a fight, his evilness would multiply. Like a bursting flood, once released, there would be no redemption. Having thought this, he only looked at Ci’en with kindness, hoping that his evil thoughts would just melt away when he came to his senses. He kindly stood by him and gently chanted, “Amituofo, Amituofo!” He repeated this several times until Ci’en stopped staring at Elder Peng and came back to sit in the house, breathing heavily.

Elder Peng had known earlier that Qiu Qianren’s martial skills were weighty but he didn’t recognize Reverend Yideng. Seeing the snow-white eyebrows, he mistook Reverend Yideng for a weak monk on the verge of death and paid him no attention. He only thought to use his ‘Soul Absorbing’ skill to control Qiu Qianren and achieve his goal. Who would have thought that as soon as Reverend Yideng looked at him, he felt as if his heart was crushed by a thousand-catty weight, he was not able to use his magical skill. By this time he’d almost wet his pants. He wanted to flee but this Qiu Qianren was also nicknamed “Iron Palms Floating on Water.” His lightness skills were strange; he didn’t even leave footprints on the snow. It looked like he wouldn’t be able to escape so he only hoped that Qiu Qianren would listen to the words of the white-eyebrowed monk, who was persuading Qiu Qianren not to harm him. He shrank himself in the corner of the room, frightened. And as Ci’en’s pants grew heavier, his heart also thumped wildly.

Yang Guo had listened to Yideng telling the three-deer story. Now he thought about how no living things could escape death. Even though that thin beggar was wicked and deserved to be damned, his sudden encounter with this disaster was actually quite shocking. And more than that, he saw that Ci’en’s palm strength was strangely fierce. Who was this monk with such powerful martial skills?

Then he heard Ci’en panting for air and loudly crying out, “Master, I was born an evil person. Heaven wouldn’t let me repent. Although I didn’t mean to kill people, I finally couldn’t avoid taking somebody’s life. I’m not a monk anymore!”

Yideng said, “Sin, sin! Let me tell you another Buddhist tale.” Ci’en rudely retorted, “Why should I still listen to your Buddhist tale? You’ve been deceiving me for more than ten years. I don’t believe you anymore.” With two ‘ge-la’ ‘ge-la’ sounds, the chains on his hands and feet snapped. Yideng gently said, “Ci’en, what’s done is done. You don’t have to get angry.”