Chapter Thirteen: Cleverly Obtaining the Nine Yangs

  More than a month later, a group of over ten people climbed up from the foot of Mount Song and headed towards Shaoshi Mountain where the Shaolin Temple is located.

  The mountain is quite steep, and the path is a long row of wide stone steps. The scale is grand, and the project is not small. It was opened by Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty to visit Shaolin Temple, with a total length of eight miles. In the past, during the prosperous years of the Taiping era, when the incense of Shaolin Temple was flourishing, people came to burn incense and pray continuously, and the mountain path was crowded with people coming and going like a brocade.

  Since the Jingkang incident, the Jin state has been invading and occupying the Central Plains, with war disasters continuing and people's lives not being prosperous. The Jurchen people who ruled the Jin state mostly did not believe in Buddhism, so the incense of Shaolin Temple inevitably declined. It was often the case that no one came for ten days or half a month, and it was rare to see a group of over ten people like this. Therefore, the guest monk of Shaolin Temple discovered this group of people from afar and welcomed them out of the mountain gate early on.

  But what was seen were over a dozen servants, both male and female, the men robust and the women elegant, all dressed in neat and clean clothes made of high-quality materials, even better than those worn by ordinary wealthy families. Several of the maids even wore some gold and silver ornaments, looking extremely luxurious, making it clear at first glance that they were servants from an official or noble family.

  A crowd of servants and bearers surrounded the sedan chair, which was exquisitely crafted and decorated. The bearers were robust and physically strong, lifting the sedan with steady steps and rhythmic pace. Despite climbing up steep mountains, they carried the sedan steadily and smoothly, clearly a testament to their years of experience in this line of work.

  The monk who welcomed the guests at the mountain gate couldn't help but feel surprised and secretly speculated about what kind of person was sitting in the sedan chair, with such a grand procession. At the same time, he also had some hidden expectations. In recent years, the incense offerings to Shaolin Temple have been declining, and the days of the monks in the temple have become more austere than before. Monks who have left home also need to eat, drink, and use things, they can't live on wind and dew alone. If not for the many fields accumulated by the temple over the years, it's feared that they would not be able to make ends meet. Therefore, the Shaolin monks nowadays are like withered crops in a dry field, longing for more pilgrims to come and offer incense and donations, so that their lives can improve.

  A group of over ten people arrived at the entrance of Shaolin Mountain, and a sedan chair was lowered. A young man in his early teens with a noble air about him stepped out of the sedan. He had sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, an extraordinary aura about him that made it clear he wasn't some ordinary young master, and inspired awe.

  Seeing this scene, the monk nodded secretly in his heart. It seems that this young master is not a prince or a nobleman, but also comes from an official family and is by no means an ordinary person. So he didn't dare to be slow, and hurriedly went forward with a respectful face.

  The young man in Chinese clothes was none other than Ling Mu Yun, who had come for the Nine Suns Scripture.

  Ling Yun knew that the Nine Yang Manual was hidden in the Scripture Library of Shaolin Temple, but it wasn't easy to get. After all, the Scripture Library was a heavily guarded place, and not just anyone could enter. Later, Xiao Xiangzi and Yin Kexi used the "hunger strike trick" to sneak into the library, deceiving Abbot Huaiyuan and stealing the Lengyan Jing. Unfortunately, although they managed to steal the Nine Yang Manual, they didn't get to enjoy it, as they were constantly on guard against each other, plotting and scheming, until they ultimately destroyed each other, allowing Zhang Wuji to benefit from their misfortune.

  Ling Muyun was thinking about how to get the Nine Suns Scripture on his way. He thought of many ways, but they were all rejected by him. In the end, he could only use the method written in his previous life's online novel, pretending to copy Buddhist scriptures to deceive the Nine Suns Scripture into his hands.

  Shaolin Temple is not a public service place, and the Scripture Pavilion is even less a public library where anyone can enter. To get in to copy scriptures, even if it's just copying Buddhist scriptures, you need to have qualifications. Where do these qualifications come from? This requires spending money to open doors. So Ling Muyun casually sold his horses at a low price and then spent a lot of money to hire such a team, disguising himself as a young master of a wealthy family to bring money to Shaolin Temple.

  Before coming, Ling Muyun had already inquired about the relevant news and was very clear about the current situation of Shaolin Temple. This also added to his confidence in this trip. If it were during the heyday of Shaolin Temple, as an outsider, he would find it difficult to enter the treasure trove of scriptures, no matter how much money he spent. But with the current difficulties faced by Shaolin Temple, he didn't believe that the monks would be unmoved by his wealth.

  As soon as Ling Mu Yun stepped down from the sedan, a monk from Shaolin Temple hastened to greet him, joining his palms together in respect and reciting a Buddhist mantra: "Amitabha Buddha, noble guest has arrived. We apologize for not welcoming you sooner. May we ask where our benefactor comes from and what brings you to our temple?"

  "Master, I pay my respects." Ling Mu Yun bowed his head and returned the courtesy, with a humble and courteous demeanor. "Master, you may not know that my mother has been devoted to Buddhism since she was young, reciting scriptures and praying every day, sincerely seeking refuge in the Buddha. Her lifelong wish is to have the good fortune of studying the true teachings of the Dharma passed down by the ancestors of this temple, so as to be close to the Buddha..."

  The monk heard this and joined his palms together: "Well done, well done, this is a good result."

  "It is indeed so." Ling Mu Yun nodded and then sighed, saying: "It's just that my mother's health has been poor for a long time, making it difficult for her to travel far, which is why we haven't been able to make the trip until now. In recent years, my mother has grown older and her body has weakened even more, making it even harder for her to withstand the hardships of traveling by boat or carriage. However, she has become even more devoted to this matter in her heart, so she specially sent me to come to your temple on her behalf to offer incense and worship Buddha. She also instructed me that no matter what, I must personally copy a few volumes of precious scriptures to bring back for her to recite and read, and to burn incense and worship Buddha. That's why I've traveled so far to come to this sacred place, and I hope your temple can sympathize with my mother's sincere devotion and allow me to copy a few volumes of the scriptures personally recorded by the old ancestor Daruma, in order to fulfill my filial duty."

  "Amitabha, the donor's filial piety is commendable and truly precious!" The monk who received the guests sighed, "However, this humble monk only handles welcoming and sending off incense guests in the temple. This matter is of great importance, and I am not authorized to make decisions on my own. I still need to report to the abbot of our temple before proceeding. Please forgive me, donor."

  Ling Muyun smiled slightly and said, "Shaolin is a sacred place of Buddhism. This time I came to offer incense to the Buddha on behalf of my mother. How could I dare to have any anger in my heart and offend the Buddha? I only hope that the high monks of your temple can sympathize with my filial piety and open a convenient door for me. I am deeply grateful and will certainly make generous offerings to express my sincerity."

  When Ling Mu Yun said that he wanted to make a generous donation, the guest monk's heart suddenly skipped a beat, and his face immediately broke into a smile. Smiling, he made a welcoming gesture towards Ling Mu Yun and said: "The donor can rest assured and first enter the temple for tea. The monk will certainly report this matter truthfully to the abbot of our temple, and the abbot and other senior monks are all virtuous and wise monks who will surely take note of the donor's filial piety and give a satisfactory response."

  Ling Muyun nodded immediately and agreed, turned around to instruct the team of slaves he had hired with a large sum of money to wait for him at the foot of the mountain, and then stepped forward with the monk who received guests into the Shaolin Temple.

  ……

  Ling Muyun stayed in Shaolin Temple for nearly half a month, until more than ten days later, he left the temple with several copied Buddhist scriptures under the enthusiastic sendoff of many Shaolin monks. He joined the "儀仗隊" (a team of people hired to carry flags and banners) waiting outside the temple, and under the gaze of many Shaolin monks, they marched down Mount Song.

  After descending from Mount Shaoshi, Ling Muyun turned back to take a look and saw no more monks from the Shaolin Temple. He then took out a large gold ingot and paid the remaining half of the payment to the "仪仗队" (a group of people hired to escort him), letting them continue their journey south while pretending to be his entourage. Meanwhile, he quietly went to a nearby town and bought another good horse. He rode the horse northward at full speed, covering over 200-300 miles in half a day. Feeling that the Shaolin monks would not be able to catch up with him even if they wanted to, Ling Muyun finally let out a sigh of relief. He stopped at an inn in a town he passed through and rested for the night.

  In the inn, Ling Mu Yun asked for a room on the upper floor to stay in. He took out several volumes of scriptures from his package and placed them in front of the bed to examine. The scriptures consisted of four parts: "The Diamond Sutra", "The Lotus Sutra", "The Mahayana Nirvana Sutra" and "The Lankavatara Sutra". These Buddhist scriptures were all copied by him personally, word for word and sentence by sentence, over the past half month.

  These scriptures are the most normal Buddhist scriptures, and there is nothing unusual about them. Even the Lankavatara Sutra is the same, with all of it being Buddhist teachings without any martial arts essence. However, this doesn't mean that Ling Mu Yun came back empty-handed from Shaolin this time. On the contrary, he can be said to have returned with a full load. Just as a precaution, he didn't copy down the Nine Suns Scripture onto the scripture scrolls, but instead silently memorized it while copying, firmly remembering the Nine Suns Scripture in his heart.

  It was because he had obtained the true scripture that Ling Muyun would set up a suspicious array and flee on horseback after descending the mountain, fearing that the Shaolin monks would discover his pursuit afterwards.

  Although it is said that the monks of Shaolin Temple never discovered the secrets hidden in the Lengyan Sutra, until later they were accidentally discovered by Jueyuan Monk who was in charge of the scripture library. How can we know that this time he went up the mountain to copy the scriptures and would not produce any butterfly effect, thus allowing the Shaolin monks to discover the secret ahead of time? It's better to be cautious.

  PS: The plot of this chapter is a bit clichéd, but considering the development of the subsequent plot, it had to be arranged like this.

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