The Great Bandit of Journey to the West

Chapter 76 passed in the blink of an eye.

Seeing the leper monk staring straight at him, Zhang Guo approached him and, following the instructions Jiang Feng had given him, asked, "Master, what is so special about your robe?"

Just as Guanyin Bodhisattva was about to speak, she suddenly realized that Tieguai Li had preempted her, so she had no choice but to change her words.

"This cassock is made from silkworm silk, which is then spun and twisted by skilled craftsmen. It is woven by celestial maidens and crafted by goddesses. On it are wish-fulfilling beads, mani beads, dust-repelling beads, and wind-stabilizing beads. There are also red agate, purple coral, luminous pearls, and relics."

Wearing it, one will be secretly protected by the Six Ding and Six Jia, the Four Duty Officers, the Five Directions Protectors, and the Eighteen Guardian Deities.

Zhang Guolao said with great joy, "This is truly a wonderful treasure! Master, you don't know this, but I have loved Buddhism since I was a child. I only became a Taoist priest out of necessity."

"Today, I have the good fortune to see this Buddhist treasure, which has strengthened my resolve to abandon Taoism and pursue Buddhism. If the master would sell me this robe at a lower price, I will shave my head and become a monk today, devoting myself entirely to Buddhism!"

Guanyin Bodhisattva: "??"

That's not right! You're one of the Eight Immortals, destined to become a monk.

Tieguai Li stood there dumbfounded, his mouth agape, unable to utter a word.

What's going on? Guanyin Bodhisattva actually tricked someone into coming right up to him! Does she have absolutely no shame?!

Seeing him in a daze, Zhang Guo smiled and said, "I'm not as greedy as this monk over there, trying to buy a treasure with just five coins. I'll offer ten!"

Guanyin Bodhisattva: "..."

You're not much better than him!

Jiang Feng smiled and said, "If you don't try to bargain, I'll take it as you agreeing."

Having said that, taking advantage of their momentary daze, he snatched the Taoist robe from Tieguai Li's hand, draped it over his body, spread his arms like a large crane, and began reciting poetry.

"Having cultivated a body resembling that of a crane, I sit beneath a thousand pines, carrying two volumes of scriptures. I come to inquire about the Way, but there is nothing more to say; the clouds are in the blue sky, and the water is in the bottle."

The tide rises on the Qiantang River, and only today do I realize who I am. In this life, I shall be—the Emperor of Longevity!

On the other side, Zhang Guo also snatched the brocade cassock and draped it over himself, chanting Buddhist mantras, "Namo Amitabha!"

"@#￥%￥#@……"

Tieguai Li and Guanyin Bodhisattva exchanged a glance, seeing the same weariness in each other's eyes.

A moment later, Guanyin Bodhisattva waved her right hand, and the cassock and the Taoist robe returned to her and Tieguai Li's hands respectively.

Seeing Jiang Feng's dissatisfaction, he said rather helplessly, "I will not sell these two treasures to anyone who is destined to find them. If someone is destined to find them, I will not take a single penny. If they are not destined for me, I will not sell them even for a thousand gold pieces."

Tieguai Li and Guanyin Bodhisattva reached a tacit understanding, and Tieguai Li echoed, "This humble Taoist is the same!"

Jiang Feng sneered, "So what were you two trying to achieve by offering such a price before? Were you just playing us for a fool?"

Guanyin Bodhisattva said, "The reason I offered such a high price earlier was to find someone who is destined to be with the Buddha. Now, the scriptures being chanted by the monks on the altar are all Hinayana Buddhism, which cannot help the deceased souls transcend and ascend to heaven."

Only monks who are wholeheartedly devoted to learning Mahayana Buddhism are considered to have a karmic connection with these two treasures of mine.

Jiang Feng said with a dissatisfaction, "You should have just mentioned Mahayana Buddhism earlier, then I would have known it!"

Guanyin Bodhisattva was taken aback, and asked with some doubt, "You know Mahayana Buddhism?"

Jiang Feng nodded and said, "Mahayana Buddhism takes the Bodhisattva path as its core, advocating the pursuit of Buddhahood through the Bodhisattva practice of benefiting oneself and others, and emphasizing the doctrines of dependent origination and emptiness, and the non-self of both self and phenomena."

Today, the Tiantai, Sanlun, and Chan schools all practice Mahayana Buddhism.

In addition, there is the Yogacara school that I am about to establish, which also practices Mahayana Buddhism.

Guanyin Bodhisattva's pupils suddenly contracted: "You still want to establish a sect?"

Jiang Feng smiled and said, "That's natural. Since childhood, I have thoroughly studied various treatises such as the Yogacarabhumi-sastra, the Hundred Dharmas Treatise, and the Twenty Verses on Consciousness-Only. On this basis, I established the theory of the three natures, the fivefold contemplation method, and the theory of logic."

Master, can you say that what I practice qualifies as Mahayana Buddhism?

Guanyin Bodhisattva looked at him in surprise, speechless for a long time.

Who taught him all this?! He hasn't even gone to the Western Paradise to obtain the true scriptures yet, how did Jiang Feng learn all this?

Could there be a traitor to Buddhism in the Leiyin Temple in the Western Paradise?

Guanyin Bodhisattva calculated for a long time but still couldn't figure it out. She put on a stern face and said, "Our Buddha Tathagata has the Mahayana Tripitaka, which contains the supreme Dharma of transcendence, which is incomparable to the Buddhist teachings of the human world."

"If you are determined to obtain the true scriptures, I will give you the cassock and staff, and the deities I just mentioned will also secretly protect you on your journey to the West."

Jiang Feng calculated the benefits promised by the Bodhisattva. He already had the cassock, the staff, and the privileges of the Six Ding and Six Jia, and the Four Duty Officers. Now, all he lacked were the protection of his three disciples and the white dragon horse.

It seems... still quite dangerous!

He looked at Guanyin Bodhisattva with a resentful expression and bluntly stated the predicament: "Bodhisattva, give me a straight answer. Am I destined to die on the journey to the West?"

When Guanyin Bodhisattva saw that he had identified himself, she did not show much surprise. After all, she had just experienced the incident with Mara. Even if he appeared in a different form, Jiang Feng would remain vigilant.

Looking at Jiang Feng's resentful eyes, he sighed helplessly, "Alas, no wonder you never wanted to go on the pilgrimage; it turns out you already guessed it."

Monks do not lie. It is destined that you will die in the Flowing Sand River on your journey to obtain the scriptures, but the secrets of heaven are now in chaos, and this humble monk cannot calculate it.

If you can safely cross the Flowing Sand River, you will have the opportunity to go to the Western Paradise and meet the Buddha.

"There are still forty days until the end of the Water and Land Dharma Assembly. I'll leave you the robe and staff. Think it over carefully."

If you still refuse to travel west by then, this humble monk foresees that a great event will occur in the human world, a calamity that will harm all living beings.

After saying this, he handed the cassock and staff to Jiang Feng, glanced meaningfully at Tieguai Li and Zhang Guo beside him, and disappeared from everyone's sight.

After Guanyin Bodhisattva left, Tieguai Li said to Zhang Guo with some frustration, "You've heard about Jiang Feng's fate, haven't you? Do you still want to become a monk now?"

Zhang Guo quickly shook her head: "I don't want to think about it anymore, not at all!"

Tieguai Li finally breathed a sigh of relief, then became serious and said, "Eighteen years from now, my Daoist school will flourish. Are you willing to go to Kunlun Mountain to seek the immortal scriptures, and return to the mortal world eighteen years later to spread the Dao?"

Zhang Guo's scalp tingled as he asked, "The pilgrimage to the West? Where will I die?"

Tieguai Li's eye twitched: "You don't have to die."

Zhang Guo patted his chest with a sigh of relief: "That's good, that's good..."

Then, with a look of pity on his face, he looked at Jiang Feng with deep sympathy: "Brother, you're in a much worse situation than me."

Jiang Feng rolled his eyes at him and clicked his tongue, saying, "Even if I die, at most I'll just be bitten a few times by the monsters of the Flowing Sand River, and a few decades later I'll be a good holy monk again!"

But you can't do that. If you want to achieve enlightenment, you'll have to wait at least several hundred years. Don't believe me? Ask this slovenly Taoist priest over there.

Zhang Guo looked at Tieguai Li with great suspicion. Tieguai Li coughed awkwardly, "Ahem, a few hundred years is just a fleeting moment, it'll be over in the blink of an eye."

Zhang Guo: "..."

You think it'll just pass by in the blink of an eye? That's easy to say, but this is hundreds of years with no fixed timeframe! How many blinks would it take me to get through it?!