"Venerable Sir, Ci Nian was captured by that demon!" the disciples said anxiously.
"Amitabha." Venerable Wai still had no expression and calmly ordered: "Seal the city gate and search throughout the city."
"yes!"
The Venerable Master himself went to the palace to report the matter to King Kanishaka.
"What? He is so brave, he dares to snatch away the Buddha girl!" King Kanishaka was furious, "Venerable Sir, why didn't you take him down?"
Venerable Wei said: "Your Majesty, this person has advanced cultivation and has reached the late stage of the Holy Realm. His skills are so weird that the old monk can't defeat him for a while."
"Later stage of the Holy Realm?" King Kanishaka frowned and said, "Two days ago, I felt someone breaking into the palace, and it must be this person!"
"Honorable Sir, we must catch this person. The Buddha's daughter is very important to me, do you understand?" King Kanishaka reminded.
"Amitabha, the old monk knows."
…
After Zhang Beichen captured Ci Nian, he sealed her spiritual power and brought her to his temporary residence.
Ci Nian kept reciting Buddhist scriptures, hoping to keep herself calm.
Zhang Beichen smiled and said: "It doesn't matter how many times you recite it, no one will come to save you!"
Ci Nian said seriously: "Zhang Beichen, you have done many evil things, and you will go to Avici Hell in the future! Why don't you put down your butcher knife and become a Buddha immediately? Buddha will definitely forgive you!"
"Hahaha!" Zhang Beichen asked with a smile, "I have done many evil things, who told you?"
"That's it. How many innocent people died when you helped Emperor Yan conquer other countries?" Ci Nian said.
"Oh, since this is a lot of evil, then the Kushan Empire was originally just a small area of the Kushan Marquis. Now it has conquered the Kushan Empire and killed countless people. In this way, King Kanisaka is also
He has committed many evil deeds, and Venerable Wai helped King Kanishekya and also committed many evil deeds. As a disciple of Venerable Wai, you have also committed many evil deeds?" Zhang Beichen asked.
"No, we are here to save the suffering people!" Obviously, Ci Nian has been brainwashed for a long time and does not think there is any problem with them at all.
"Joke!" Zhang Beichen said coldly, "We, the Eastern countries, have been fighting for hundreds of years, and the people have suffered countless casualties. It was the Great Yan that unified the world, and in exchange for many years of peace, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment. Didn't we, the Great Yan, save the people?
"
"You..." Cinian thought about it carefully, and it seemed that what he said was right.
But she still retorted: "The methods you used were cruel."
Zhang Beichen shook his head: "You little girl has been tortured too much. I'm too lazy to tell you now."
As he spoke, he approached Ci Nian.
Ci Nian's pretty face suddenly became a little panicked, and she asked in surprise: "What do you want to do?"
"Nothing to do." Zhang Beichen strengthened her seal again and said, "I plan to use you in exchange for Lan Xiang and my son. As for you, just write a letter asking for help honestly and I won't embarrass you. Do you understand?
?”
"Amitabha." After hearing his words, Ci Nian said firmly, "I will never do such a thing. I would rather die than compromise with the devil!"
Zhang Beichen looked at her as if she was a ghost and said, "Whatever, I don't think they will agree to it anyway. No one cares about you at all."
"Master will definitely come to save me!" Ci Nian gritted her silver teeth.
"Really? You were captured and no one came to search for you, which proves that you are just a dispensable pawn!" Zhang Beichen continued to undermine her self-confidence.
"Devil, you are trying to shake my mind again. You can't succeed!" Ci Nian simply closed her eyes and silently recited the scriptures.
"Just wait and see!" Zhang Beichen did not continue to push her.
…
[You send a message to King Guishang through Yan State, asking for mercy in exchange for Queen Lanxiang and Zhang Yi.]
[The King of Kushan rejected your request and said he would never replace him.]
"Did you see that King Guishuang and your master refused directly?" Zhang Beichen came to Ci Nian again and said.
Ci Nian felt a little disappointed. She once thought that the best people in the world for her were Master and King Kushan.
But now, they have simply given up on themselves.
"They are thinking about the overall situation!" Ci Nian continued to insist, "I am willing to sacrifice my life to stabilize the overall situation of the Kushan Empire!"
"Silly girl, is it worth it?" Zhang Beichen shook his head and said, "In their eyes, you are just a tool that can be thrown away after use."
Ci Nian closed her eyes again, refusing to listen to his "bewitchment".
…
Zhang Beichen thought, now that Ci Nian cannot exchange for a hostage, and there is no use keeping her, it is best to kill her directly.
But Zhang Beichen promised Lan Xiang not to kill her.
"We, the Yan Army, are at the border and will consume a lot of food and grass every day. If we attack now, the enemy will definitely use Lan Xiang and my son to threaten me and make me throw a rat weapon!" Zhang Beichen thought, "It's best to find a way.
Rescue Lanxiang."
"Now that Lord Wai and King Kanishaka are wary of me, it will be impossible to rescue Lan Xiang as before."
Zhang Beichen looked at Cinian. This little nun had a special status. If he could instigate her rebellion, he might be able to successfully rescue the two of them and conquer the Kushan Empire.
Thinking of this, Zhang Beichen said to Cinian: "Cinian, you said that I am a devil. And you are a Buddhist girl, so I will give you a chance to save me. As long as you can save me, I will
How about asking Yan to withdraw its troops?"
Upon hearing this, Ci Nian was delighted and said, "Is this true?"
Zhang Beichen nodded and said: "It's absolutely true, do you dare?"
"Why don't you dare?" Cinian stood up and said confidently: "As long as you learn Buddhism from me and eliminate your hostility, sooner or later you will be able to see your true self and convert to Buddhism!"
"Okay!" Zhang Beichen did what he said and directly lifted the seal from Ci Nian and said: "Ci Nian, you can move around freely now. If you want to escape, I won't stop you."
"No, I will never leave before I save you!" Ci Nian was very satisfied with this trick. She even felt very excited and said: "I finally understand my mission in this world. My Buddha is to let me
Come and save you, the devil!"
"As long as I complete this mission, my merits will be complete!"
"Whatever you want." Zhang Beichen smiled and said nothing, trying to persuade me, you are still too young!
Ci Nian really kept her promise and did not run away or tell anyone the news. Instead, she followed Zhang Beichen all day long and wanted to teach him scriptures from time to time.
Zhang Beichen said: "I can't listen to scriptures. Didn't you sing Buddhist music to Lan Xiang before? Just sing Buddhist music from now on."
Ci thought, the big devil is like this. He won't be able to accept Buddhist scriptures for a while. In this case, let's slowly baptize his soul with Buddha music.
Therefore, around Zhang Beichen, Ci Nian could be seen singing Buddhist music to him.
This nun's voice was so good that even the elites of the Yan Kingdom brought by Zhang Beichen couldn't help but praise her.
The loving thoughts make my heart even more happy. My salvation is indeed effective. These Eastern people have begun to accept the Buddha's music!
Little did they know that the elites of the Yan army all admired Zhang Beichen.
"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, you are really powerful. That Buddha girl was very stubborn before and would rather die than help us. With just a few words, you have now turned her into your little follower."
"She still wants to save you, but she is afraid that you will be saved by him! Hahaha!"
"Don't worry about her, she's enjoying it now!"
…
With compassion, Zhang Beichen began to operate within the Kushan Empire.
His first stop was to a secret settlement of the Yan people.
After King Kanishekya ordered to plunder the people of Yan state, the people of Yan state had to find a place to live in seclusion in order to escape.
Zhang Beichen brought people here. The houses here are simple, everyone has food, and the women and children are not fully clothed. Most of the men have scars on their bodies, but even so, they are still trying to survive.
When Ci Nian saw them, she felt distressed and said, "How come the Kushan Empire is still such a miserable place?"
Zhang Beichen said: "They are all Yan people or their family members. Before the King of Kushan ordered to plunder the Yan people, they traveled thousands of miles and brought precious porcelain, silk and tea to the Kushan Empire."
"After King Kanishaka's order was issued, they became cattle and sheep to be slaughtered. They have gone through many hardships to survive until now!"
Cinian saw that several children were all missing arms and legs, and they were still working hard to help the family.
Zhang Beichen continued: "The children of the Yan people were all sold into slavery. In order to protect them, their parents had no choice but to mutilate their children with their own hands."
Ci Nian burst into tears and said, "Even if they are from the Yan Kingdom, the King should not treat them like this."
The two of them stayed here. Ci Nian was also proficient in medical skills, so he used medical skills to treat the villagers in the village.
Zhang Beichen contacted the Yan people here. They had lived in the Kushan Empire for many years and were familiar with the terrain here. Soon Zhang Beichen got a detailed topographic map of the place.
After staying here for a month, Zhang Beichen was ready to leave.
A group of children were reluctant to leave, not letting their loving thoughts leave.
"Sister, will you come back?" A little girl looked at Ci Nian with red eyes. She suffered from eye disease, and it was Ci Nian who helped her regain her sight.
"If I have a chance, I will come to see you again." Ci Nian silently recited "Amitabha" in her heart. She lied, knowing that it would be difficult for her to come back.
Amidst the gratitude of the villagers, Zhang Beichen left with compassion.
Ci Nian was no longer in the mood to sing Buddhist music. She whispered: "I discovered that these Yan people are not devils. They are just like the people of the Kushan Empire, just poor people trying to survive."
Zhang Beichen said: "Of course, if you have the opportunity to go to the territory of Dayan. You will find that the people of Dayan are warm and simple, and they do not reject foreigners from the Western Regions or Kushan."
At this moment, Ci Nian's heart was a little shaken.
Master Wei kept telling him that there were many demons in Dayan.
What she saw was that these people were not bad people, but it was King Kanishka's policies that drove them to a dead end.
Zhang Beichen continued to move forward with her.
"I am going to the border of the Kushan Empire. You should rarely leave the capital, so you can see the true appearance of the Kushan Empire and see how the monks live!" Zhang Beichen said.
【You guys keep moving forward.】
On the road, Cinian saw many sights that she had never seen before.
She saw the monks sitting high in the temple, enjoying the offerings of believers. But those believers were whipped and driven away by them, and used as slaves.
She saw that poor people did not work every day, but sat at home and prayed for blessings from Buddha and to become nobles in the next life.
She saw that what was buried under the towering pagoda was not the bones of eminent monks, but the bones of laborers.
She saw gold and precious stones confiscated from various places carved into Buddha statues, with the blood of the poor stained on them, and the souls of the guilty wailing!
All of this is different from what Master Wai taught her.
Ci Nian became more and more silent, and even stopped talking.
Zhang Beichen knew that her faith was gradually crumbling, but this was not enough!
[On this day, you came to a small town. Ci Nian’s expression changed slightly when he saw the small town. 】
Zhang Beichen came to this place on purpose. This is where Ci Nian once lived.
During the conversation, he tricked Ci Nian into telling her that she was born here. After that, Zhang Beichen sent someone to investigate and indeed got useful information.
"Why are you here?" Ci Nian asked Zhang Beichen.
"Just on my way." Zhang Beichen said, "This is where you were born, right?"
Mentioning this, Ci Nian was reminded of his memories and said: "My parents are ordinary people in this city. They work at sunrise and rest at sunset, and they go to worship Buddha when they have time."
"It was just when I was eight years old that they encountered a disaster. Bandits came to the city to rob and kill them. At that time, the Venerable was traveling nearby. It was he who saved me and buried my parents. From then on, I vowed to
Serve the Buddha all your life!"
Ci Nian still remembers that in front of those ferocious gangsters, an old monk walked up on foot. His whole body was spotless, like the reincarnation of the Buddha, and no sword, gun, axe, or ax could harm him.
Under his conversion, the bandits cried bitterly and committed suicide to forgive their sins.
That scene was deeply engraved in Ci Nian's mind. From then on, she believed that only the Buddha could save the world's troubled people!
"Let's go and meet His Holiness's old friends." Zhang Beichen led a group of them into the city.
In the past ten years, little has changed in the small town.
Looking at the familiar streets, scenes of memories appeared in Ci Nian's mind. She also wanted to find her parents' graves, but found that the graves she had built back then were gone.
"What are you doing? This is the land of Qingguang Temple. What are you doing here?" Several monks drove them away fiercely.
Ci Nian was unwilling to accept it, and her parents' graves were bulldozed and used as private land.
She asked the monk: "Who sold this land and who gave you the title deed?"
The monk smiled and said: "All the places around here belong to Qingguang Temple, so what land deeds are needed?"
"I want to see your abbot!" Ci Nian said in a deep voice.
"Who else are you qualified to see our abbot? Get out! If you don't get out, I'll call someone else!" the monk scolded.
Cinian still wanted to argue with him, but Zhang Beichen stepped forward, drew his sword and put it on the neck of one of the monks. His pressure made the monk tremble all over. He threatened the other monk: "Go and kill everyone in your temple."
Call them all out!"
"Okay, just wait, you will definitely regret it!" The other monk ran away and returned to the temple to call for help.