After the sound of the gong, the originally noisy mountains and fields became silent. Everyone saw only ninety-nine and eighty-one boys and girls in yellow shirts, holding banners, streamers, flowers, incense candles, and wooden fish.
They lined up side by side to enter, and then stood on the three-story earth platform with their backs to the altar. In this way, the Buddha Mother Dharma Assembly, which originally seemed crude and absurd, became somewhat solemn.
For a time, the altar was filled with incense smoke and Sanskrit sounds. Hundreds of thousands of believers looked at the empty altar with pious faces and eager eyes.
Wang Xian and Zhu Gaochi were filled with worry. They saw that in the inner circle, hundreds of wealthy gentry businessmen, and even local officials, were so obsessed with the Buddha Mother. Then they looked at the more than 100,000 fanatical believers outside the circle.
The two of them looked at each other in fear, and both felt shuddering - if this Buddha Mother has the intention to rebel, Shandong will definitely fall to the White Lotus Sect!
At this time, another gong was heard, and eighty-one boys and girls sang in unison: "The sky is full of flowers! The Buddha Mother is coming!"
As soon as the words fell, countless petals were thrown into the air, forming a flower language that enveloped the altar. The originally empty altar was suddenly filled with white air, and a human figure appeared faintly.
More than 100,000 people in the field stared at the altar without blinking or breathing. Some people shouted excitedly: "This is the appearance of the legendary Buddha Mother!"
At this time, some believers in the audience led the congregants to bow down together and shouted: "Welcome to the Mother of Buddha!" Then more than 100,000 people bowed down together and shouted in unison: "Welcome to the Mother of Buddha!"
Wang Xian looked at the prince and saw that he had no intention of bending his knees, so he had to pray secretly that the eyes of those White Lotus cultists would not be too sharp, otherwise there would be a real show... In order to reduce the target, he pulled Lingxiao and knelt down too.
Coming down, Lingxiao was not very happy and muttered in a low voice: "I don't want to kneel either." However, in exchange for Wang Xian's stern look, she had no choice but to kneel down too.
When the petals fell and the white smoke dispersed, a woman's figure actually appeared on the altar. Wang Xian saw her covered with tulle, wearing a wide white robe, holding a jade purification bottle, sitting cross-legged on a lotus throne.
It’s the Mother Buddha I saw yesterday.
Mother Buddha looked around, looking at the back of her head that was filled with mountains and fields, and she felt infinite pride in her heart. These were her followers, her people. As long as she said a word, these people would sacrifice their lives for her without hesitation.
The Buddha's mother withdrew her gaze and fell in the inner circle. She saw those rich people wearing silk and satin, all with fat heads and big ears. She secretly snorted in her heart. These people probably would not be very pious, but before the White Lotus Sect started to attack,
, we still need their money, so we can only keep them for now!
The Mother Buddha was about to calm down and ask the believers to stand up, when she was suddenly stunned - she saw that some people dared not to bow down!
The prince was already fat and tall, but he stood alone while everyone was kneeling. Naturally, he was very eye-catching, and he was immediately noticed by the Buddha's mother!
"Hmph..." The Buddha Mother snorted coldly and displeasedly, but the children around him felt as if they heard a lightning strike. Their fur suddenly exploded, and they yelled at Zhu Gaochi: "Hey! What a madman! Why don't you worship the Buddha Mother when you see her?
!” The voice was loud and clear, spreading in all directions.
Only then did Wang Xian realize that these were human loudspeakers!
All the believers looked up one after another and saw Zhu Gaochi standing there suddenly. They were all furious and wanted to bite off a piece of his fat flesh: "Damn it!" "Kneel down quickly!" "Take him down!"
"..." Zhu Gaochi's face darkened, and he was about to say something when Wang Xian stood up quickly, supported Zhu Gaochi and said with a smile: "There is really no way, my master has a serious leg disease and cannot kneel!"
"Oh..." After all, most of them are simple villagers, so they felt relieved when they heard this.
Everyone looked at the Buddha Mother to see what she meant.
"Are you believers?" Mother Buddha spoke. Her voice was young and sweet, as if it was filled with magic power. However, Wang Xian couldn't help but be startled when he heard this voice. He seemed to have heard this voice somewhere, but he couldn't remember it.
"Buddha Mother is asking, answer quickly!" Eighty-one boys and girls shouted together.
"Returning to the Buddha's Mother," Wang Xian hurriedly explained: "My master is from the south of the Yangtze River. He has suffered from leg problems for many years. I heard that the Buddha's Mother has excellent medical skills and has come all the way to seek medical treatment." He really did not dare to call himself a believer.
What if someone asks me to recite a passage of scripture? Wouldn’t that make me blind?
"..." The Buddha's mother's eyes fell on Wang Xian. Even though he was separated by the gauze, Wang Xian still felt her eyes darken, wondering where he had said something wrong.
Fortunately, at the next moment, the Buddha Mother moved her eyes away and said to everyone: "Fellow believers, please be free!"
"Buddha Mother orders you to stand up!" Eighty-one human loudspeakers shouted at the same time. Otherwise, it would not be enough to reach 100,000 people.
"Yes!" The believers stood up with a rumble and stood there looking at the Mother of Buddha with pious eyes, listening to her preaching the Paradise Sutra with her tongue shining like a lotus flower.
Wang Xian and the prince listened to a sentence spoken by the Buddha Mother, and the boys and girls repeated it in unison. It was really deafening and heart-shaking! When they listened carefully to the scriptures, at first, they were just some commonplaces about persuading people to do good and about reincarnation as a reward.
, but soon turned into reactionary remarks that made people... at least made them extremely uneasy:
"A great catastrophe is approaching! The sky and the earth are dark! The sun and the moon have no light! Huang Tian is about to die! The sky is about to live!"
"The government forces the people to rebel! The white lotus comes down to earth! The Buddha Mother comes! All people turn around! The world will change!"
To put it simply, what Mother Buddha means is that the emperor has no way and is the reincarnation of the devil. The great power of the Ming Dynasty has been exhausted, and the people have no way to survive and have to endure the pain of purgatory. She is compassionate and willing to leave the Western Pure Land and go to the lower world to save all living beings.
As long as you listen to her, you will recreate the pure land of bliss for the suffering people.
The people were mesmerized by what they heard, and many of them burst into tears. From time to time they shouted long live the Buddha Mother, and some even fainted from excitement.
"What does it mean that the sun and the moon have no light? What does it mean that Huang Tian is about to die!" His Highness the Crown Prince felt extremely uncomfortable after hearing this. He couldn't bear it any longer and gritted his teeth in a low voice and said, "This is a great treason! You deserve to be punished with death!"
"Master, be careful with your words..." Wang Xian shook his head cautiously and looked at the fanatical believers around him. He was really worried that the prince would be beaten to death if he spoke so openly.
At this time, Buddha Mother seemed to feel something, turned her face, and seemed to glance at the two of them. But she might not have glanced at them. Who knows with her veil. After a pause, Buddha Mother continued to preach, and she actually predicted that...
There will be endless karmic fire coming down to burn all the bad karma in the world: "The mud comes from the beginning of chaos, and the white lotus appears and the world is prosperous!"
"The mud comes from the beginning of chaos, and the white lotus appears and brings prosperity!" The boys and girls shouted in unison, and more than 100,000 believers also sang along.
"When the golden rooster sings, the fire from heaven descends! When the heavenly fire descends, the devil's palace is burned!" The boys and girls continued to sing, and more than 100,000 believers also sang along. The sound shook the heaven and earth, making the sun and moon change color.
"The white lotus blooms when the devil's palace burns. When the white lotus blooms, the Holy Mother will come!"
"When the Holy Mother comes, the devil will be destroyed! When the devil is destroyed, the world will be prosperous!"
"Prosperity!" The common people shouted heart-breakingly, completely falling into madness...
After the Buddha Mother finished her sermon, the boys and girls, carrying empty brass basins, knelt down in front of the Buddha Mother one by one and sang in unison: "Please give the Holy Water to the Buddha Mother!"
"Please give holy water to Mother Buddha!" All the believers became even more excited and begged loudly together.
But I saw the Buddha Mother taking out the willow branch with water in the jade purification bottle and shaking it in the basin. A few drops of water fell into the basin.
A miraculous thing happened. When the boys and girls walked down the platform carrying the basins, the believers clearly saw that they were filled with clean water!
"A miracle!"
"It is said that there is more water in that bottle than in the East China Sea!"
"If I could just ask for a few drops of holy water, my mother's illness would be cured!"
"So God?" It was Zhou Yong who asked this question.
"Of course, this is the holy water in the jade bottle of the Buddha Mother!"
Zhou Yong glanced at Wang Xian from a distance, and Wang Xian winked at him.
Zhou Yong nodded, suddenly pushed the person in front, and shouted at the top of his lungs: "Hurry and grab the holy water! It will be gone if it's too late!" After saying that, he and a few of his men squeezed in as hard as they could.
"Ouch!!" Seeing someone trying to grab the holy water, the originally orderly crowd exploded into chaos. People rushed towards the boys and girls carrying the copper basins crazily and began to grab the holy water. The scene was chaotic.
.
"Sir," Wang Xian had been waiting for this opportunity and tugged on Zhu Gaochi's sleeve: "Let's get out of here quickly!" He felt that it would be in danger if he stayed any longer. This was the magical intuition given to him by escaping from death countless times.
The prince had already felt very uneasy, so he did not object this time and went out under the protection of Wang Xian and Ling Xiao.
Unexpectedly, as soon as they arrived at the gate of the infield, they were stopped by several White Lotus cultists with their heads wrapped in red scarves. The leader was a burly man in his forties, with muscles all over his body and high temples. At first glance, he looked like a master of horizontal training.
The master was so wide that he blocked the door by himself. Wang Xian almost bumped into his arms, so he had to stop and said with a smile: "Excuse me, I'll borrow it."
"What, you don't want holy water?" The big man crossed his arms and looked at Wang Xian, who was at least a head taller than him.
"Leave it to the brothers who need it more." Wang Xian said with a wry smile: "Besides, we can't grab it, so we might as well go first to avoid traffic jams when we go back."
"Oh," the big man looked past Wang Xian and landed on the prince. He looked up and down and said gruffly: "Aren't you here to seek medical treatment from the Buddha Mother? Why are you leaving now?"
"My master feels he has lost respect for the Mother of Buddha and does not dare to expect anything." Wang Xian was secretly worried, but his face was full of smiles.
"No, Mother Buddha is compassionate and won't argue with you." The big man grinned and said, "You are lucky, come with me!"
As he spoke, he turned around to lead the way, but his men were still staring at Wang Xian and the others with eager eyes.
Not far away, Zhou Yong and others felt their voices rising, touching the sharp blades in their arms, staring at Wang Xian intently, waiting for a signal from him...
Wang Xian shook his head slightly and signaled his men not to act rashly. Of course he knew that it was extremely dangerous to follow the Buddha's mother. But he also knew that here, trapped among more than 100,000 believers, there would be no escape in the event of a conflict.