The scorching June sun beat down on the ground, and even though the few men standing under the parasol atop the city wall that bore the three characters Panjiang County were in the shade, they were still drenched in sweat.
“Master Han, do you truly mean to let them act this way?” one man asked.
The middle-aged man in official robes looked weary, tinged with helplessness.
“At this point, we have no other choice,” he said.
“This bald donkey grows more and more arrogant!” another man, looking like a petty official, burst out. “Today he dares block the city gate – tomorrow he’ll dare block the magistrate itself!”
Master Han let out a sigh.
“And what of it?” he said, raising a hand to point below. “Which of you can stop him?”
Everyone looked down from the city wall. Below, a dense crowd of commoners filled the space, and from farther off countless more people were hurrying over, one after another bowing devoutly.
In the center of the city gate stood an altar, surrounded by over a dozen young monks. At the very top sat a chubby monk with a kindly, benevolent expression. No one knew what he had just said, but it set the crowd below buzzing in excitement, and then in the next instant they all fell into a wave of prostration.
At this point, if someone were to order that monk to leave the city gate, it was certain that with just a gesture of his hand – even if he commanded them to trample someone to death – the people would carry it out without hesitation, caring nothing for whether the target was an official.
The men on the wall wore expressions of heavy concern and helplessness.
“How did it come to this?” one muttered. “Back when the irrigation canal was being built, we only invited him to perform a simple ritual and gave him a few coins before sending him off. How has he stayed on for a year or two and turned into this?”
“That bald donkey can’t even recite a single sutra properly, yet he’s become a ‘great master,’” another said with a cold laugh. “Truly, the masses are fools.”
“The people are foolish – but it’s our own dereliction of duty that brought this about,” Master Han said with a sigh. “It was my own negligence too. I thought, what harm could a monk do, just chanting a few scriptures? But little by little, he’s gathered strength until it’s come to this.”
“How can we get rid of this old monk?” someone asked.
“Easy to invite a god, hard to send one away,” another shook his head. “This bald donkey now has countless followers here, and he’s raking in gold and silver. Making him leave won’t be so easy.”
Everyone on the gate looked helpless.
“We’ll just have to take things one step at a time,” Master Han said, lifting his head toward the sky.
What had been clear skies now seemed to be gathering clouds.
“Let’s hope the fellows at the Bureau of Astronomy’s Division were right this time. If there truly is an eclipse… let’s see what that bald donkey does then.” He murmured the words under his breath.
The men on the city wall were still sunk in helplessness when suddenly a commotion rose from below.
“What’s going on?”
“Seems someone is trying to leave the city and got stopped.”
They stepped forward a few paces and saw indeed that a carriage had been halted.
“Looks like they’re outsiders who don’t know about this matter. Have someone keep an eye on things – these monks are getting arrogant, we can’t afford trouble,” Master Han quickly said.
One official answered at once and murmured a few words to the bailiff beside him, who then headed down.
The mood below was already turning tense.
“We’re in a hurry on the road – please make things easier for us,” the attendant said. His words were polite, but his tone was not.
The two monks in front of them looked haughty.
“Don’t you understand human speech?” they snapped, now utterly blunt. “Today’s a solar eclipse. Our master is holding a ritual to pray for blessings and protection. You can either turn back and hide, or kneel down here and join in. Don’t be so ungrateful.”
The attendant clenched his teeth, about to retort, when the curtain of the carriage behind him was lifted.
“An eclipse?” Cheng Jiao-niang asked. “Today is a solar eclipse?”
“That’s right – you didn’t know?” the two monks said, turning to look. Mid-sentence, their voices faltered, their eyes fixed blankly on the woman before them.
Such… such a beauty…
“Ah, young lady…” One of them finally regained his wits, hurriedly pressed his palms together, and stepped forward.
The attendant raised his hand to block him, his stance carrying a warning.
“The master only wishes to speak with someone destined – what’s wrong with that?” the monk said calmly, showing not the slightest fear as he looked at the attendant.
The moment those words were spoken, the surrounding crowd immediately began to chatter.
“Oh, young man, step aside! How can you show such disrespect to the master?”
“So this young lady is the fated one? How wonderful – quick, quick, let’s hear what the master has to say!”
The crowd surged forward. Over a dozen attendants hurriedly closed ranks around the carriage, but from the vantage point of the city wall, they looked pitifully outnumbered, a frail cluster swallowed in a sea of people.
“Make way, make way!”
Several bailiffs shouted as they came forward, trying to push back the crowd that had gathered.
The two monks looked at them with a hint of disdain.
“What’s the matter, officers? We’re conducting a ritual here. Master has said that men like you, carrying weapons and reeking of killing intent, must keep away,” they said. “If you disturb the effect of the ritual later… who will take responsibility for that?”
At those words, the surrounding crowd immediately surged forward in uproar.
“Oh, you’d better move back!”
“The time is almost here – hurry, hurry, get away!”
Outnumbered, the few bailiffs were soon reduced to mere specks in the sea of people, jostled and shoved until they nearly toppled over.
Their faces went pale; instinctively they staggered back – straight into the carriage.
“What ritual are you performing?” a girl’s voice asked from inside.
Such audacity – from this young lady! Instead of keeping quiet, she dared to speak up, when she should have lowered the curtain and turned the carriage around.
“Why should I leave? I want to go out of the city. I’m on the road,” Cheng Jiao-niang said, fixing her eyes on the two monks. “Is it you who won’t allow it?”
The two monks grinned as they stepped closer, and the attendants hurried to block them once more.
“Young lady, are you so eager to leave the city?” they asked, their eyes roaming openly over her figure. Though her summer clothes were loose, they could not hide her graceful curves. “It doesn’t look good to us. Why not step down, and let our master take a look – see if it can be done?”
“How dare you!” Ban Qin shouted, stepping in front of Cheng Jiao-niang. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Oh, young lady, the master only means well. Why so fierce?”
“Exactly – what sort of attitude is that? How can you be so disrespectful to the master?”
“To be granted an audience with Master Ningde is a blessing earned from past merit. Don’t squander it.”
The crowd all around began to voice their disapproval, while the two monks exchanged smug smiles.
Ban Qin, both angry and anxious, was about to speak again when a hand rested lightly on her shoulder, giving a gentle pat.
“Very well,” Cheng Jiao-niang said, lifting her foot to step down from the carriage.
She’s really going? Ban Qin was startled, reaching out to tug at Cheng Jiao-niang’s sleeve.
“Miss,” she said urgently.
“You wait here,” Cheng Jiao-niang replied. She cast a glance at one of the guards. “You, come with me.”
The guard answered at once, stepping forward to follow her, carefully keeping by her side to protect her.
The two monks exchanged a look, then grinned as they led the way.
The crowd parted on its own. The monk seated on the altar kept his eyes lowered, wholly absorbed in meditation and chanting, as if he hadn’t noticed any of what was happening – until the two monks led Cheng Jiao-niang up close.
On the city wall, the officials couldn’t help but step forward a few paces, gripping the parapet.
“What is that young lady trying to do?” Master Han said, a trace of anxiety in his voice. “How can she be so reckless?”
“My lord, that bald donkey has already ruined more than a few women…” one minor official muttered. “This young lady speaks with a foreign accent – she’s a stranger here. If something really happens, she’ll have no recourse but to swallow the loss in silence…”
Master Han stamped his foot.
“Quickly – send someone down there at once!” he ordered, pointing with his hand. “Persuade her to come back. Why rush to leave the city now? What harm in waiting a short while? Doesn’t she see how many of them there are…”
He went on and on in agitation, his chest burning with frustration. Looking down from the wall, he saw that the old monk had already raised his head to regard the young lady.
“Benefactress, what matter brings you here?” he asked with a smile. His bearing was solemn, dignified – yet in his eyes flickered a glint of lustful admiration that did not escape the men watching above.
That kind of look – any man would recognize it.
At Cheng Jiao-niang’s side, the guard’s hand clenched into a fist at his side.
“I wish to leave the city – do I need your permission for that?” Cheng Jiao-niang said.
“Benefactress, today’s eclipse is a most inauspicious omen. At noon we must hold a ritual, or else there will be no way to offer protection. Young lady, do not travel – better to stay until the ceremony is done, then you may be on your way,” the old monk replied with a smile.
“Master, I do not believe in Buddhism. Since childhood I have followed the teachings of the sages, and I do not speak of ghosts or spirits. Therefore I fear no such ill omens,” Cheng Jiao-niang said. “I only wish to ask the master one thing: I want to leave the city – do you permit it, or not?”
“Amitabha. Young lady, to show disrespect toward the Buddha is to fall into the beastly realms,” the old monk said, lifting his head, his expression half stern, half pitying.
Cheng Jiao-niang smiled as she looked at him.
“So, Master – does that mean you forbid it?” she asked.
“For one thing, it is for your own good; for another, it is for everyone’s good,” the old monk said. As he spoke, he lifted his hand. At that gesture, the crowd around them erupted in commotion, falling into devout prostrations.
The old monk turned his gaze back to Cheng Jiao-niang.
“We have prepared long and hard for this ritual, all for the blessing of the common people. If we were to dismantle the altar and make way for you, surely you would not put your own desires above the welfare of the masses – would you?”
The attendant could not help glancing around. The monk’s words had already been overheard by those nearby, who quickly spread them to others, the message rippling outward like waves until the whole scene grew restless.
This was a threat.
This was intimidation.
Looking toward the other attendants farther away, he saw that the road they had come by was already blocked by the crowd…
The attendant instinctively shifted to stand closer in front of Cheng Jiao-niang, his hand pressing against the hilt at his waist.
“Master, your talk of praying for blessings is laughable,” Cheng Jiao-niang said. “If there is no disaster, what need is there for your prayers?”
The old monk looked at her, the smile at the corner of his mouth deepening.
This young lady was unlike any other. At such a moment, any other woman would be panicked, or at least already bowing in submission.
Good… good. This was rather interesting.
“And what do you mean by these words?” he asked casually.
Cheng Jiao-niang fixed her gaze on him.
“I imagine you know astronomy and calendar well enough. Then surely you’re also very clear there is no eclipse today, aren’t you?” she said.
What?
The old monk froze, unable to react, when Cheng Jiao-niang suddenly took a step back.
“Kill him,” she said.
At her side, the guard did not hesitate; it was as though he had been prepared all along. He drew the short blade from his waist, crouched low on one knee, and with a sharp hiss of steel, slashed across the throat of the squatting old monk before him.
The old monk’s eyes bulged wide in disbelief. He hadn’t even had the chance to raise his hands before his head toppled to the ground with a thud, and blood spurted forth like a spring.
At that very moment, Master Han on the city wall looked over. His face froze with shock, his mouth gaped open, and even his breath seemed to stop.
Heavens above – what have I just witnessed!
In the next instant it was like pouring a bowl of water into a pot of boiling oil: the crowd at the city gate erupted, shrieks splitting the clear sky.
Master Han’s knees buckled; leaning against the battlements, he nearly collapsed.
What young lady? She was a Vajra Yaksha in disguise!
Oh ruthless Jiao Niang is back😍