288: Chapter 288 Xuan Du, Princess

Jingyan's gaze was profound. He did not speak immediately, but instead stared at Chen Ran for a moment before slowly saying:

"The matter of Master Xuandu was already ten years ago. Why are you asking about Master Xuandu?"

Chen Ran thought for a moment and said:

"He owes me a debt."

Jingyan fell silent for a moment, not pressing further about what kind of debt it was.

He turned around and slowly walked over to the pillar, turning his back to the patch of white mist, resting one hand on the pillar and lowering his head.

Then, he spoke.

"That child Master Xuandu is the person I have ever seen who is most likely to walk out on his own path."

Jingyan's voice was very low, carrying a certain heaviness that had been suppressed for a long time.

"In the forty years I have cultivated in the monastery, I have seen countless Geniuses during this time, but never has a single person been able to compare to Master Xuandu."

"Master Xuandu... He was originally a rare Chan and martial arts prodigy of our Bodhi Zen Monastery once in a hundred years."

"He entered the temple at three, thoroughly read Buddhist scriptures at five, and mastered the basic martial arts of the monastery by ten. At the age of twenty-four, he had already stepped into the Return to Truth Realm, and was internally designated by the abbot as the next chief successor of Damo Hall."

"He had a naturally pure disposition and a brilliant Buddha heart. Everyone thought that he would become the future pillar of Bodhi Zen Monastery, and even had hopes of peeking into that legendary extraordinary realm within his lifetime."

A look of reminiscence appeared in Jingyan's eyes, as if he once again saw that peerless Genius back then, wearing a moon-white monk's robe and sitting quietly under the bodhi tree to practice Chan.

"Until thirteen years ago."

"That year, Master Xuandu was ordered to keep watch outside the mountain gate."

"It happened that a group of wandering bandits intercepted and killed a team of passing pilgrims down the mountain."

"Master Xuandu made a move and saved that team of pilgrims, among whom was the current dynasty's Princess Yongning."

Chen Ran listened quietly,

"Princess Yongning..." Jingyan let out a bitter laugh. "She was a gentle and perceptive woman."

"She was grateful for Master Xuandu's saving grace, and thereafter frequently used the pretext of offering incense to come to the monastery to look for him."

"Master Xuandu had grown up in the temple since childhood, accompanied by green lamps and ancient Buddhas, morning bells and evening drums. He had never touched the hustle and bustle of the Mortal World."

"He did not understand what affection was, nor did he understand what love was."

"He only knew that when that woman smiled, she was extremely like the warmest sunlight in spring, capable of dispelling all the coldness deep in his heart."

"The princess discussed Chan with him, talked poetry with him, and told him about the bustling human world at the foot of the mountain, telling him of joys and sorrows he had never seen before."

"Master Xuandu's Chan heart gradually became chaotic amidst those day-to-day interactions."

Jingyan closed his eyes, as if he could not bear to recall any further.

"He developed mortal desires."

"The two of them associated privately for a full several years."

"During those several years, Master Xuandu's cultivation stagnated. The abbot noticed the anomaly and placed him under house arrest in Damo Hall to face the wall and reflect on his faults."

"Yet the word affection is the most hurtful and the most difficult to untangle."

"Master Xuandu, facing the wall, not only failed to sever his romantic ties, but instead sank deeper and deeper, his inner obsession growing wildly like wild grass."

"What happened later?" Chen Ran asked indifferently.

"Later..." Jingyan opened his eyes, his eyes filled with desolation. "Half a year later, news came from the capital."

"Princess Yongning was betrothed to the son of the Deputy Commander of the Imperial Guard."

"That person was a famous dissolute villain in the capital, bullying men and women and committing all kinds of atrocities. Countless innocent women had died in his backyard."

"The princess had an unyielding personality and would rather die than submit to this political marriage."

"She secretly bribed the servants to send a message to Master Xuandu, arranging to elope at the Ten-Mile Pavilion at the foot of the mountain."

"In the end, Master Xuandu agreed to that appointment."

"He took off the monk's robe he had worn for twenty years, changed into a set of coarse civilian clothes, and walked out of the gates of Bodhi Zen Monastery."

"However..."

A turbid tear slid down the corner of Jingyan's eye.

"He went too late."

"When he rushed to the Ten-Mile Pavilion, the princess had already been forcibly taken away by the Deputy Commander's son along with the Imperial Guards."

"Unwilling to suffer humiliation, the princess pulled out a golden hairpin inside the carriage beforehand and stabbed it into her own throat."

Chen Ran's gaze condensed slightly,

"When Master Xuandu arrived, the princess had already fallen in a pool of blood, hanging by a thread."

"At that moment, Master Xuandu broke the precept against killing."

"He was originally a Martial Artist at the Peak of the Return to Truth Realm. Striking out in anger, he was like an Asura descending to the world, a unity of Buddha and demon."

"The son of the Deputy Commander had his crown smashed into pieces by a single palm strike from him, his brains splattering."

"The dozens of elite Imperial Guards accompanying him formed a military formation, yet they could not even block a single move of his, and not a single one survived."

Jingyan took a deep breath, trying to calm his agitated emotions.

"As soon as this matter came out, the imperial court and the public were shaken."

"To protect Master Xuandu and appease the imperial court's anger, the abbot personally stepped forward, entered the capital to see the Emperor, and intercepted this matter."

"The monastery stripped Master Xuandu of his Disciple status, expelled him from the School, and vowed never to employ him again."

"And made him voluntarily surrender to the imperial court to atone for his sins."

"Seeing Bodhi Zen Monastery make concessions, and unwilling to completely tear faces with the top powers of Jianghu, the imperial court sentenced Master Xuandu to guard the Heavenly Prison for life, never allowed to step out even half a step for eternity."

"Only then could this matter be considered barely past."

Jingyan finished speaking.

The courtyard fell into calm once again.

Only the rustling sound of the night wind blowing through the leaves seemed to be lamenting that poignant past event.

Chen Ran stood there quietly, rapidly going over Jingyan's words in his mind.

Something was wrong.

He acutely captured the loopholes within it.

Master Xuandu was a master at the Peak of the Return to Truth Realm at that time, only a step away from the Innate Realm.

How could a Martial Artist at the Peak of the Return to Truth Realm whose heart was as dead as ashes and who had fallen into madness obediently follow the monastery's arrangements to draw a prison for himself in the Heavenly Prison for ten years?

If it were purely out of guilt or to atone for sins.

This didn't make sense.

Given Master Xuandu's resolute determination back then to dare to kill the son of the Deputy Commander of the Imperial Guard for the princess, if the princess had truly died, his most likely course of action would have been to slaughter his way to the capital, butcher everyone who drove the princess to her death, and then end his own life between heaven and earth.

Instead of peacefully residing on the fifth floor of the Heavenly Prison to guard the Heavenly Prison for the imperial court for over a decade.

Unless there was something, or someone, holding him in check.

Chen Ran looked at Jingyan, his gaze becoming incomparably profound, as if he could see through the deepest secrets in a person's heart.

"The princess didn't die, right?"

Jingyan trembled all over, suddenly raising his head to look at Chen Ran in disbelief.

"You... How do you know!?"

Chen Ran did not answer, his pitch-black eyes gazing at the old man in front of him.

"Continue."

Jingyan smiled bitterly again and again, completely giving up on concealment.

In front of such a meticulous and terrifyingly powerful expert, any lies were pale and powerless.

"Yes, the princess didn't die."

"Back then when she cut her own throat, although it injured vital parts, she did not breathe her last on the spot."

"We secretly sent her to Ciyin Medical Valley."

"The valley master of Ciyin Medical Valley personally made a move, exhausting a large amount of medicinal herbs in the valley just to barely preserve a sliver of vitality for her."

"However, her injuries were too heavy, damaging her heart meridians. To this day, she still needs to rely on the Spirit Medicine of the medical valley to hang on to her life, lingering on a sickbed all year round."

Jingyan looked at Chen Ran, a trace of helplessness and sorrow flashing in his eyes.

"Ciyin Medical Valley is just like my Bodhi Zen Monastery. On the surface, they are Jianghu Schools, but in reality, they lean more toward the imperial court's stance. Including the powers that could be invited this time for the martial combat grand competition, they are all in a similar situation."

"The imperial court uses the princess's life as a key to restrict Master Xuandu."

"Master Xuandu does not know that the princess is receiving treatment in Ciyin Medical Valley, nor does he know her current plight where living is worse than death."

"However, the imperial court told him that the princess was saved, and under an assumed name, she had her own life in the water towns of Jiangnan and was married as a wife."

"As long as he obediently serves in the Heavenly Prison and suppresses those heinous major criminals for the imperial court, the imperial court guarantees that the princess will be safe and smooth-sailing all her life, without being disturbed by anyone."

"Master Xuandu believed it. He knew that his sins were heavy and he could not give the princess peaceful days. He also dared not go look for her, fearing that his appearance would shatter the princess's peaceful life."

"As long as he knew his beloved was still alive and living well, he was willing to draw a prison for himself, act as a guard dog for the imperial court, and spend the rest of his life in the sunless Heavenly Prison."

After hearing all this, Chen Ran raised his eyebrows slightly.

So that was how it was.

No wonder that monk Master Xuandu was willing to stay in a place like the fifth floor of the Heavenly Prison.

He thought he was using his freedom and remaining life to guard his lover's peace in this lifetime.

Yet he did not know that the person he loved dearly had always been placed in Ciyin Medical Valley.

The imperial court's methods were truly calculated well.

They actually secretly recruited so many top martial arts powers. No doubt the martial combat assembly introduced so many Jianghu powers; it turned out to have been predetermined right from the beginning.

Killing someone and punishing their heart—it was nothing more than this.

However, there wasn't a lack of places that could be utilized within this,

a Martial Artist at the Peak of the Innate Realm was definitely among the top ranks looking across the entire Jianghu.

Moreover, with Master Xuandu's talent, it was not impossible for him to make a Breakthrough to the Grandmaster Realm.

"What is that princess called?"

Jingyan frowned and pondered for a moment, then tentatively said, "Her name seems to be Shen Wanying."

"Shen Wanying..."

Chen Ran lowered his pitch-black eyes and slowly pulled back his saber.

The long saber entered its sheath, emitting a low, soft hum, just like a Dragon's roar.

Having lost the threat, Jingyan collapsed limply onto the ground with a sigh of relief, panting heavily, cold sweat having long since soaked his monk's robe.

Chen Ran did not look at him again.

He turned around and walked towards the outside of the courtyard gate.

The white mist automatically parted in front of him, making way for a wide path.

The night wind blew his long hair and clothes, and that cold, detached back gradually merged into the deep night, as if it had never appeared.

Chen Ran walked on the empty street and looked up at the waning moon in the sky, half-hidden by dark clouds.

Master Xuandu's case could be considered investigated clearly.

But this matter obviously hadn't ended yet.

Since he knew where that "key" was, there was no reason not to go take a look.

Chen Ran pressed down the brim of his bamboo hat, the corners of his mouth curling up:

"It seems I have to make a trip to Ciyin Medical Valley..."