Journey to the West: Tang Monk Conquers Everything

"Amitabha, Xuanzang, there's no need to speak again of leaving the monastic life,"

With his hands joined together, Saint Monk Longhai's expression remained calm, but his words carried an undeniable firmness, "As you say, whether to secularize is indeed a matter of personal will, but you have received twelve incense scars, and your fate with our Buddha Sect is profoundly deep. If you were to leave the monastic life, where would our Buddhist Sect stand with honor in Great Tang?

You should calm down for a couple of days before we discuss this again."

Having dropped this line, Saint Monk Longhai didn't say anything more and turned to leave the hall.

Watching Longhai's departing figure, Jiang Liu's complexion was unsightly.

The situation had developed to this unforeseen stage—who would have thought that with a more than ninety percent failure rate of the Incense Offering Ceremony, not only had he passed, but he had also received twelve incense scars?

Although he very much wanted to secularize, Jiang Liu had to admit that there was some truth in what Longhai said; the more incense scars one had, the more difficult it was to secularize.

Having received twelve incense scars, his bond with the Buddhist Sect was incredibly deep; secularizing would be even more difficult than marrying Princess Gaoyang, wouldn't it?

"Brother, you, you actually want to secularize?" With nine incense scars on his head, Daoji looked at Jiang Liu in disbelief, clearly startled by Saint Monk Longhai's words.

To have received twelve incense scars and still wish to secularize?

"Now you call me 'brother'? Weren't you quite tough before?" Looking at Daoji, Jiang Liu spoke irritably.

"Previously this disciple was impolite. I hope elder brother will not remember the transgressions of this junior, and also, I thank elder brother for your mercy that day," Daoji bowed his head, with no trace of his former toughness left. The unprecedented twelve incense scars made Daoji lose any intention to argue with Jiang Liu.

"Alright, you may go. I want to be alone for a while," Jiang Liu waved his hand, having no intent to continue the conversation with Daoji.

At this time, Jiang Liu's mind was somewhat in chaos, while his heart was filled with anger and helplessness.

With an appearance of humility and politeness, Daoji made a gesture of respect to Jiang Liu and then turned to leave the hall.

Sitting silently on the side of the hall, Jiang Liu's thoughts were cluttered. Today's events were indeed unexpected, but, since they had happened, naturally, he had to think of a way to resolve the present issue.

First and foremost, the urgent task was the matter of his secularization. Merely speaking of it, Longhai would certainly not agree; what could he do to achieve it?

Or rather, to take a step back, how could he escape from the Great Buddha Temple?

Next, there was the issue of his identity. With the Dharma name Xuanzang, was he really the Tang Monk?

The world to which he had crossed over, could it be the world of the Journey to the West?

Regarding this point, he also needed to investigate clearly.

...

Two days passed in the blink of an eye. During these two days, the whole of Chang'an City was thoroughly astir, shocked by the news of a monk with twelve incense scars.

Moreover, the phenomenon of flowers raining disorderly and the Earth-Spawned Golden Lotus that everyone in Chang'an City had seen made the situation all the more sensational.

Therefore, the past couple of days saw countless citizens rushing to the Great Buddha Temple to offer incense and worship Buddha, and even many high monks came to visit the temple, wanting to see Jiang Liu for themselves, but all these matters were blocked by Saint Monk Longhai.

Early this day, Saint Monk Longhai had someone send Xuanwu out of the temple, not only forcibly keeping Jiang Liu in the Great Buddha Temple but also having Xuanwu stay for two days. From his mouth, Longhai learned in detail about Jiang Liu's affairs.

"Ah, such is the power of love..." After sending Xuanwu away and learning about the relationship between Jiang Liu and Princess Gaoyang, Longhai sighed softly to himself.

"Master, the feelings between Brother Jiang Liu and Princess Gaoyang are indeed profound; this matter will not be easy to handle, will it?" Beside him, Daoji spoke up.

Daoji had thoroughly recounted to Saint Monk Longhai the incident where he had encountered Jiang Liu with Princess Gaoyang.

Nine incense scars had made him a direct disciple of Longhai, and for the past two days, Daoji had been constantly by Longhai's side.

"Hmm, indeed not easy to deal with, and thus forcefully keeping someone at the Great Buddha Temple also goes against reason, it seems we can only stabilize him for now," with a silent sigh, Saint Monk Longhai felt somewhat vexed.

Why wasn't it good for someone like Daoji, who had many incense scars, to obediently be a monk?

Or to say, if it were anyone else who wanted to return to secular life, Longhai couldn't be bothered to care.

But Jiang Liu, of all people, after receiving twelve incense scars, was making a fuss about returning to secular life. Over the last couple of days, he had tried several times to escape from the Great Buddha Temple, which left Longhai feeling helpless.

Having a monk with twelve incense scars was indeed a cause for celebration, but for him, it was a troublesome matter of life and death.

And it was trouble that he couldn't avoid.

"Master, if you accept him as your disciple, he will become a disciple of our Great Buddha Temple. Even if we keep him here by force, it would still be reasonable, right?" Daoji asked with a look of surprise, not understanding why his master wouldn't take Jiang Liu as a disciple as well.

"No, under the heavens, which monk is qualified to take him as a disciple? Even I am not qualified," Longhai shook his head, rejecting Daoji's proposal.

Longhai's words startled Daoji, yet they seemed to make sense.

Under the heavens, indeed, there was no one qualified to be the master of a monk with twelve incense scars.

"Let's go. The heart of the youth is soft to persuasion but resistant to force. I've come to understand him somewhat. I hope we can stabilize him," after a moment of silence and carefully organizing the information he had gathered about Jiang Liu these past two days, Longhai took Daoji with him and turned to look for Jiang Liu.

It wasn't to compel him to agree to become a monk, but simply to temporarily dispel his thoughts of returning to secular life for now; they would figure out the rest later.

...

"Hey, Longhai, when will you let me go!?" Having been in the Great Buddha Temple for two days and having tried to escape several times, only to be stopped by the Martial Monks each time, Jiang Liu didn't mince words when he finally saw Longhai again, directly getting to the point.

"Amitabha, it seems you are truly determined to return to secular life. In that case, go ahead then..." with his hands pressed together, Saint Monk Longhai let out a low sigh, gesturing to let Jiang Liu leave.

Jiang Liu was stunned by Longhai's words.

Forced to stay for two days, he didn't expect to suddenly be given permission to leave.

Daoji, too, looked at his master with surprise, unsure what his master was planning.

"So, I can just leave?" Despite being surprised, since Longhai was willing to let him go, there was no reason for Jiang Liu to stay. He said as he got up.

"Of course, you can leave whenever you wish, but before you do, there is one thing I would like to ask. Once you step out of the Great Buddha Temple, where do you plan to go?"

"Go where?" This question stopped Jiang Liu in his tracks.

He had been pondering over the identity of Tang Monk and his own desire to leave the monkhood these past two days; he had not really considered where to go after leaving.

"Don't worry about where I'm going. I'm leaving the Great Buddha Temple, that's all there is to it," Jiang Liu said, waving his hand.

"In the past two days, I have come to hear of your situation. You wish to leave the monkhood, presumably because of a promise made to Princess Gaoyang, right? Do you think that after leaving, the Emperor will consent to give Princess Gaoyang to you in marriage? Let alone the fact that you have received twelve incense scars, which binds you deeply to the Buddhist Sect.

Even as an ordinary person, a union with the Princess would be impossible."

After a brief pause, without waiting for Jiang Liu's response, Longhai continued, "Furthermore, if you are willing to stay, I can impart all the Martial Arts and Divine Skills of the Great Buddha Temple to you. You must understand that without sufficient strength, any ambition you harbor is but an empty dream."

With these words, Longhai brought out a Monk Hat and said, "This is the Vidyaraja Crown, a Defense Buddhist Treasure. Regardless of whether you stay or not, you are after all connected with Buddha; this Vidyaraja Crown is given to you for your protection."

(PS: Please vote for recommendation, thank you. Let's work hard together. Also, tentatively two updates a day, at 8 a.m. and 8:30 p.m....)