Late Night Tales Of The Capital - Chapter 134 - The Doors That Won't Open
Chapter 134 The Doors That Won’t Open
The ear-piercing sound of door-knocking reverberated throughout the Boiled Snow Temple.
The sound traveled far in the dead of the night, passing through the temple doors to reach the three halls, all the way to the Hall of Great Strength. Naturally, the Buddhist cultivators inside heard the sound but their abbot had just issued a handwritten decree that the temple would be closed for ten years and that no one was allowed to leave or enter.
The knocking continued for a while before finally stopping.
The female disciples of the Pavilion of Wind and Thunder looked flabbergasted. “Could the monks of the Boiled Snow Temple be deaf? Even if they’re dead asleep, how could the noise not wake them?”
“Senior Sister, could the monks be in meditation?” Qian Shuheng guessed.
“It’s not like they’re meditating behind closed doors. Their ears still function! Do you screen out all noise when you meditate?” his Senior Sister retorted.
“Who knows? Buddhist cultivators might meditate differently than we do,” Guan Shuheng said uncertainly. His voice was soft, however. He wasn’t convincing anyone, not even himself.
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The snow was getting heavier. The girls weren’t afraid of the wind or the snow, but the depletion of their True Energy made them no different from ordinary humans. Without True Energy for protection, they would still get cold and eventually freeze to death.
Two female disciples who had just entered the Psychic Realm began to tremble. They kept pacing back and forth to keep themselves warm. The breath of Lei Tianyou, who was lying on Guan Shuheng’s back, was also getting colder despite Guan Shuheng taking off his clothes and putting them on the former.
Red Bean was awake by now, but she refused to climb down from Ye Que’s back. She looked curiously at the enormous temple before her.
“Is this the Boiled Snow Temple that you’re looking for?” she asked softly.
Ye Que nodded. “It’s my first time here, but I think so.”
“This is where Buddhist cultivators cultivate?” Red Bean closed her eyes and started sensing her surroundings.
“The Cultivation World is divided into people who cultivate in the society and people who cultivate out of the society. The Boiled Snow Temple ought to be the latter. Those who take up the Buddhist cultivation tend to roam the secular world and cultivate as they travel,” Ye Que said. “Buddhist cultivators must deliver all living creatures from suffering and teach the ways of the Buddha to the people in hopes that everyone can enter paradise.”
“Paradise?”
“You must be lying!”
Red Bean’s face was full of disbelief. In her clan, there had never been records of being able to enter paradise after death. She had heard of the Road of Yellow Springs and the Reincarnation Bridge for even dragons must enter the wheel of reincarnation after death.
“Why isn’t anyone answering after so long? Are Buddhist cultivators deaf?” Red Bean approached the shut temple doors.
“How would I know? It’s the Eldest Senior Brother of the Pavilion of Wind and Thunder who told us to come here. I don’t think they’ll just turn us away, so something must have happened. Never mind the fact they’re connected. Buddhist cultivators who live in temples have no reason to remain silent on even ordinary humans who knock on their door. Buddhist cultivators place the heaviest emphasis on karma and saving people from hardship. How could they ignore an opportunity that fell right on their laps?”
That was unless they were sure that the karma originated from fiends from hell.
For opening the doors would be inviting calamity in.
“Knock. Keep knocking. I refuse to believe that no one in this huge temple heard us!” the female disciple who banged on the doors earlier yelled. She also charged to the front of the group.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
The sound of door-knocking became increasingly loud and frenzied.
The sound was like a slap; each knocking a slap on the reputation of the Boiled Snow Temple.
Guan Shuheng, who stood next to his Senior Sister, finally lost his patience and yelled, “Monks of the Boiled Snow Temple! We’re disciples from the Pavilion of Wind and Thunder. Devils have invaded our pavilion today and our Eldest Senior Brother is dying from the injuries he sustained trying to fight them. We fled here after much difficulty. We hope you’ll open your doors and save our Eldest Senior Brother.”
No answer came.
Mount Cicada was deathly still.
“Our Eldest Senior Brother is the sole grandson of the Lei family in Southern Yue. He hopes to meet Grandmaster Yunxia!” Guan Shuheng yelled, his voice colored with pain. Right now, even idiots could tell that it wasn’t that the monks didn’t hear him; they were simply refusing to open their doors.
With Lei Tianyou on the verge of death, Guan Shuheng could no longer retain his calm.
“Please open your doors, Grandmaster!” The group of female disciples also began to shout while banging on the doors.
Still, no one responded.
In front of the Hall of Great Strength.
Yunxia and the abbot stood facing each other. Their midbrows were filled with snow.
“So it’s the child from the Lei family in Southern Yue. Will you really not open the doors?” the abbot asked quietly.
Grandmaster Yunxia shook his head and said nothing.
“I heard it’s the old man’s only grandson. If he dies in front of our temple, his death will surely become a demonic hindrance in your heart. It’ll make your realm breakthrough even more impossibly difficult,” the abbot said concernedly.
“I know very well everything you tell me, Senior Brother, but I can’t push our temple to the brink of hell for my sake. These youngsters come carrying the Devil Qi. If we save them, the temple will definitely incur a deadly catastrophe. This time, the devils originate from Northern You. It doesn’t make sense for us to provoke them when we can’t even wait to evade them. I must take responsibility for the lives of 1,326 disciples of our Buddhist sect.” Grandmaster Yunxia smiled wryly with a worried expression.
“Very well. Then I’ll send someone to tell them to leave. We can’t just let them die in front of our temple.”
15 minutes later.
Guan Shuheng and the rest finally heard a faint flurry of footsteps.
“Someone’s here.” The female disciples of the Pavilion of Wind and Thunder were overjoyed. It seemed that their efforts had finally touched the hearts of the monks of the Boiled Snow Temple.
“Benefactors, please stop knocking the door,” said a young and tender voice from the other side of the doors. It ought to be a young monk.
“Hello, Great Master of the Boiled Snow Temple. We apologize for disturbing your rest this late at night. If we have had any other option, we wouldn’t have come at this hour,” Guan Shuheng said, trying his best to sound calm and collected. “Our Eldest Senior Brother is badly injured. I hope you can open your doors, treat him, and shelter us for a few days.”
The little monk standing behind the temple doors waited for Guan Shuheng to finish before replying, “I’m deeply sorry. The Boiled Snow Temple has sealed off the mountain from today onward. For the next ten years, we won’t receive any external benefactors. Please return.”
“We’re not common folk from under the mountain. We’re allies from the Cultivation World.”
“The abbot has issued a handwritten decree: Our temple will not participate in any matters of the Cultivation World. Neither will we open our doors from today onward.”
Guan Shuheng’s heart turned colder and colder as he listened to the little monk. “Our Eldest Senior Brother and Grandmaster Yunxia share a relationship. Can you please invite Grandmaster Yunxia to come out here? Even if you won’t open the doors, please save him at least.”
“Please return, benefactors.”
The voice behind the temple doors paused for a moment before saying, “Benefactors, I’m sorry to disappoint you. Grandmaster Yunxia died a month ago. He won’t be able to come out and treat your Eldest Senior Brother.”
