Chapter 56: The Passing Monk

  The village head hastily went out to open the door, but found it was an old monk who had come to seek shelter from the wind and snow for one night.

  The old monk is still wearing such thin clothes on such a cold day, with snowflakes stuck to his grayish-brown monk's robe. His gaunt face looks calm and composed, seemingly unaffected by the harsh weather.

  。

  After entering the house, he shook off the snow on his body and saw Qin Feng and others. He quickly joined his hands together and bowed to say: "Several masters, I am Hui Chen from Xinzhou Nan Shan Temple, disturbing you..."

  "It turned out to be a high monk from Wutai Mountain, sorry about that." Upon hearing Huichen's words, Zhou Qin immediately made a fist and returned the courtesy.

  Note: Nanshan Temple is located on Mount Wutai.

  After listening to Zhou Qin's explanation, Qin Feng also hurriedly added a gift. The village chief closed the door and walked in, looked at the many guests who came today, and couldn't help but feel happy, insisting on preparing some food to entertain them well.

  Qin Feng and Zhou Qin sat down with Hui Chen and started chatting.

  "Master, with this kind of weather, where are you going alone?" Qin Feng spoke up first.

  Huě chén looked at the university outside and said with great humility: "The greatest pleasure of a monk is to travel around the world, I think you who learn Taoism should also think so."

  After hearing this, Qin Feng was taken aback, furrowed his brow, and admired Hui Chen's discerning eye in surprise. However, he himself had a good foundation, having learned some skills from his grandfather, but wasn't actually a Taoist disciple.

  However, Master Huichen is indeed formidable. Just this one glance was enough to see Qin Feng's skills. A little later, Qin Feng asked again: "Master, I'd like to ask a question."

  "Benefactor, please instruct, Huichen listens respectfully with a clean ear."

  "In Buddhism, it is said that there is a cycle of cause and effect. If someone has done something wrong and suffered the consequences, how can they be saved?"

  " Cause and effect, good and evil, are just a thought apart. Humans have ten evils and ten goods, we must eliminate the evil and preserve the good, just as your Taoist teachings say, 'the highest goodness is like water', the way is in the midst of filth and urine, it requires starting from small things, accumulating virtue and accumulating morality is the foundation."

  Hui Chen's words were too much for Qin Feng to digest at the moment, and they were even more profound and implicit. Since that was the case, Qin Feng simply asked: "Master, you have traveled extensively throughout the country, I wonder if you can take a look at the patient inside?"

  "What?" Master Huichen was surprised and asked later: "Is there a patient here?"

  Qin Feng nodded and said: "Yes, it's a person who is ill with something very strange. I suspect that he has been afflicted by some kind of retribution."

  。”

  No need to guess, Qin Feng is referring to Zhang Dalei. After hearing this, Master Hui Chen immediately stood up and followed Qin Feng to the inner room, sat on the edge of the bed and took a look at Zhang Dalei's symptoms. But after seeing it, Master Hui Chen was also surprised and shocked, hastily clasped his hands together and muttered "Amitabha".

  Seeing this scene, Qin Feng asked inexplicably: "Hui Chen Shifu, what is the reason for this?"

  Master Hui Chen opened his eyes, furrowed his brow and stared at the pair of eyes that had lost their bright light. He reached out with his hand to touch Zhang Da Lei's forehead, then placed it on Lei Zi's chest, as if searching for something.

  It went on for more than five minutes, and the village chief also stopped his work in a hurry, ran over to carefully watch Master Huichen's movements, and asked: "Master Huichen, what is my son Leizi suffering from?"

  Hui Chen shook his head, followed by a dull and silent sigh. His sparse goatee looked limp and lifeless. After a while, he finally replied: "Ah... your family's child has suffered retribution."

  "Revenge? Master Huichen, what revenge? Our Leizi never does anything bad, this..."

  "What's good and bad is just on the surface, what matters is the inherent goodness or evil. Your son did something that went against reason, so he naturally received the corresponding punishment."

  Here is the translation:

  By now, Huichen obviously knew the truth, but monks like to speak in riddles and not directly. Not only the village chief, but also Qin Feng and Zhou Qin were anxious on one side, with unknown complaints in their hearts. However, despite this, Master Huichen continued to explain calmly: "This child has been like this for a long time, but you don't have to worry, saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda, I won't abandon his life."

  As soon as the village chief heard that Master Hui Chen was going to treat Lei Zi's illness, he became extremely excited and seemed to understand the intricacies of the situation. The village chief immediately knelt down with tears in his eyes and said: "Master, if you save Lei Zi, I will repay you even if it means being a cow or a horse..."

  Seeing this scene, Master Huichen hastily pulled up the village chief and comforted him, saying: "Village chief, don't be like this. Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda. It's just a matter of course."

  。”

  At this time, Qin Feng actually wanted to know the mystery behind it, so he respectfully asked Master Hui Chen: "Master Hui Chen, what do you mean by all these?"

  "Oh, it's like that. People have their own paths, immortals have their own tracks. The hair on his body means he killed something he shouldn't have, and suffered the consequences." Then, Master Huichen said to the village chief: "Your son must have done something that harmed heaven and reason. Village chief, think again about what your son did before he fell ill."

  "What happened?" The village chief thought carefully about the events of five years ago when Leizi occurred, but really couldn't think of anything important. If you say strange things, the village chief did mention one thing.

  "I remember six years ago when Leizi was having a birthday, it was in winter, I went up the mountain with him to catch rabbits. We didn't catch any rabbits, but instead caught a fox. It was the one hanging on the wall. I remember that when we killed it, this fox actually shed tears. At that time, I was quite puzzled, wondering how a fox could shed tears, but later I just forgot about it."

  The village head said here, Qin Feng and Hui Chen master both understood, Qin Feng first said: "You killed Hu Xian, it's strange if they don't come after you."

  It seems it's really a fox spirit.

  "Amitabha Buddha, things have been clarified."

  Master Hui Chen put his palms together and bowed to Lei Zi, then he closed his eyes and silently recited scriptures. The village chief watched anxiously and hastily asked Qin Feng and Master Hui Chen for a solution to save him.

  At this time, Master Huichen opened his eyes and stood up, saying: "You don't have to worry either. The calamity of your family's children is all caused by you. Even if you invest the greatest effort in your children, it will be in vain."

  After listening to Master Huichen's words, Qin Feng finally understood why the village chief couldn't cure Zhang Daren's illness even after traveling all over the country. However, it was strange that he hadn't noticed at first that Zhang Daren was suffering from the revenge of the Fox Spirit, and his symptoms didn't seem like those of a crash guest either.

  Thinking of this, Qin Feng was more and more admiring of Master Hui Chen. Indeed, the Buddha's law is boundless. A little later, Master Hui Chen took out a string of beads that looked like sandalwood from his sleeve and handed it to the village chief, saying: "This is an old monk's blessed Buddhist rosary, with eighteen beads on it. You will grind these eighteen beads into powder, take one bead at dawn, noon, and dusk each day, mix it with water and give it to him to drink. After six days, your child will be basically fine."