Wu Jin Zang. Pang Bei

Buddha has always been benevolent. The Buddha said that there was great manifestation of god where a pagoda was.

      The big bell on the stupa rang, and the prayer flags fluttered. I looked up at the warrior’s statue well armed with armor and weapons on the stupa (The editor’s note: The first floor of the stupa on the Qixia Mountain has two heavenly king’s statues and two strong men’s statues. The one armed with armor and weapons should refer to a heavenly king’s statue. The author might deliberately write the heavenly king’s statue as a warrior’s statue.) The warrior had a heroic bearing, with raised eyebrows and glaring eyes, one hand raised and clenched into a fist and the other stretching forward grasping. His shape resembled a stonemason holding a chisel and hammer. I seemed to have seek Father’s figure, an awe-inspiring figure, a travel-stained figure, and a figure on a galloping horse commanding the army. That figure was going far away. All of a sudden, I could not even remember Father’s appearance.

      Father was still alive in this world at this moment. I tried not to have apprehensions. I prayed silently to dispel these apprehensions. I silently read the prajnaparamita verse on a detached column in the room in the stupa:

      All is conditioned existence ephemeral,

      Like a dream,an illusion, a shadow and a foam

      Like a tiny dew drop or a flash of lightning,

      That’s the way that everything goes.

      The autumn mist was vast and the wind soughed in the pines. Several cries of monkeys were heard in the clouds and mists.

      I was about to turn around and leave, when a voice stopped me. At that time, I was standing under a plum tree before the stupa.

      “Where is Childe Lin going?”

      With a cool wind, the person appeared in a mist, who turned out to be a Taoist priestess with falling hair and holding a sword. The woman priestess looked vivacious, walked sprightly and rapidly. In addition to her crane-like cloak and jade visage, she was like a goddess. She held a graceful jessamine herb in hand. I never met her before, but she knew that I was Childe Lin. “A disaster will befall you! Officers and soldiers were sent everywhere with orders to arrest you. You should hide yourself as soon as possible.”

      She wore a pair of shoes with a phoenix head on top of clouds and had a twin-spike silk ribbon around her waist. The priestess’s eyes were clear and deep, as bright as ripples on autumn water. I stood speechless and perplexed, only taking a look at the graceful jessamine herb in her hand, and then anxiously gazing at the bird on the plum tree. Just now I was looking at the direction from which she came. Behind the stupa was the Thousand Buddha Ridge, but no one was spotted in that direction. I was about to turn around and go downhill when she called me there. But I did not know how she came to appear behind my back. These years, in the imperial college I learned the maxim that a gentleman should be watchful over his words. I did not speak not for preserving the so-called gentleman’s bearing; I did not speak because I was deeply convinced that I should be especially prudent before strangers, let alone in such a critical condition. I kept quiet, only blankly staring at the bage (myna) bird on the tree. (That bird was originally named “quyu”, but as the sound of “yu” was the same as the given name of the king Li Yu, the people in Southern Tang called quyu “bage”. But now I no longer had to avoid it, but rather disdained to mention his name. Now Li Yu was already in the nether world, and I was old and infirm.)

      “General Lin was afflicted with such great suffering, but he will not necessarily suffer from a calamitous disaster.”

      I could no longer conceal my surprise. Obviously this person was aware of Father’s perils, and she also knew that I was Childe Lin.

      On her frock was stuck with a colubrina asiatica leaf. Suddenly I felt an imminent danger. I should inquire about her origin.

      “To rescue Father from disaster, I would shrink from no sacrifice.”

      “I’m afraid you would seek your own doom. This mountain, all the worse, is not for you to stay.”

      I looked afar along her vision at the mountain path where a huge cloud of dust rose, and saw that a large unit of imperial guards had marched to the foot of the mountain.

      “Perhaps the king has some other aims…”

      “We have never met before, how came that you know the incident at my home?”

      “Isn’t to meet is to meet again? There is a great cause for it.”

      “May I ask…your name, respectable priestess?”

      “Taoism does not care about name, or age. I myself forgot them long ago, but people still call me Master Geng.”

      Suddenly I thought of Master Geng during the reign of the previous emperor. She frequented the court and had such an anecdote as refining snow into gold. That should be a past matter over a decade ago. That Master Geng was also a Taoist priestess. I thought that Master Geng was even older. I didn’t know whether they were the same person.

      “I have heard of a Master Geng who can refine snow into gold, but don’t know whether you are that master.”

      “Sometimes I am.” The priestess only smiled faintly.

      Though perplexed, I felt that this person had an unusual background.

      “Master, you said that the king had other aims. I’m wondering what is he after?”

      “I also don’t know, but you have to look for it.”

      “With that thing, can I surely rescue Father?”

      “Perhaps…but not surely…”

      “I’m ignorant, and long for…your instructions.”

      “I see you are quite gifted. Let me say something more. There is a Buddha worship room in the court and before the Buddha is a life light. You should find the treasure before the light is off.”

      “Treasure?”

      “Since it is a secret collection, it must be a treasure. You should find this treasure. Perhaps General Lin has left a clue…”

      “No…Father has left nothing…”

      “So there is indeed a clue? Perhaps a certain kind of secret collection?”

      “It is you who said it…”

      “Don’t you have one with you?”

      Before I reacted, she grabbed hold of my bag. I even did not see how she came near quickly. The moment she stretched her hand, it seemed as if wind was hidden under her sleeves, and a hint of dark red clawfingers was revealed from the cuffs. I retreated several steps alarmed, while she dodged and drew back immediately.

      Caught by a nameless panic, I hurriedly clenched my bag in the front and held it tightly with two arms.

      “But this is not the king wanted, as he has already seen it.” A faint smile swept past her lips. I was worrying that she would grab my bag, when I saw her wave her hands and laugh grimly, “Han Xizai opened a night banquet, but his drinking capacity was of tiny drops! Since General Lin left this painting to you, you should do your best to decode it, but should not resort to others’ help.”

      “I haven’t…”

      “Didn’t you go to the Xu’s Residence just now?” Her eyes were swift and fierce like lightning, at the sight of which I could not help but shiver. “If you don’t keep it confidential, you will suffer yourself. You should watch out each moment. As to that treasure, it is not known whether it has anything to do with Shi Xubai.”

      “Shi Xubai?…”

      That hermit who retired from public into woods, a hermit who walked alone and aspired high, for me, was only a legendary figure. At this very moment, just because of the painting on a night banquet in the Han’s Residence, I was even related to that figure who had long passed away. I knew that Shi Xubai was an old friend of Han Xizai