Vegetarian Food

Xia Ji wasted no time loitering about after solving the challenge and descended the mountain straight away.

Eunuch Mei came forth and asked, “Seventh Imperial Prince, have you concluded the game?”

“Let us return. His Majesty has instructed that we must return to the palace before nightfall. Let’s not be late.”

“Hehehe, if the Seventh Imperial Prince refuses to talk to me, I suppose I won’t ask either…”

Eunuch Mei smiled darkly, then followed the prince who was still under house arrest to the Fifth Summit.

Monks were already waiting with the Past Dipankara Sutra at the Fifth Summit when they arrived. The scriptures were stored in a chest adorned with seven jewels—gold, silver, aquamarine, clear quartz, tridacna stone, rubies, and mother-of-pearl.

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Eunuch Mei smiled thoughtfully as he commended, “So His Highness has managed to solve the chess game? Brilliant, how brilliant, this is an absolute eye-opener.”

Accepting the scripture, Xia Ji ignored him and walked ahead on his own. Eunuch Mei did not continue speaking and walked behind the prince nonchalantly until the pair reached the foot of Mount Meru. Then, Eunuch Mei boarded the carriage and took the reins in his hands, driving the imperial prince back to the depths of the palace, where he resumed his house arrest like before.

The rosy haze hanging over the palace was as red as fresh blood.

In a flash, it was morning again, then afternoon, then night.

The Ninth Imperial Princess seemed to know that her brother had gotten what he set out to acquire, so she came to visit him. When she approached the courtyard door, she heard the chanting of Buddhist sutras, which made her stop in her tracks.

When the chanting eventually ended, she pushed open the door and walked in with a lunch box in hand. She said with a smile, “Congratulations, brother, for solving the game and earning access to the archives of Leiyin Temple. Everyone in the palace is talking about it now, and all I can say is that you must have a deep connection with Buddha.

Watching her brother basking in this new limelight, Xia Xiaosu felt a sense of pride as well. Although her brother was obsessed with Buddhist scriptures and was confined in a small chamber, he was still able to gain recognition and make a name for himself through his scriptures.

It was enough. Although the reputation he earned was not as impressive as the Heir Apparent gaining control of the entire military, or the Third Imperial Prince earning the favor of the Great Scholars, or even of the Fifth Imperial Prince winning the respect of the Black Dam and the rest of the people, at least others would no longer utter “useless” when the house-arrested Seventh Imperial Prince was brought up in conversation.

Xia Ji smiled when he saw his sister’s genuine happiness on his behalf. He opened the lunch box and saw that it was filled with vegetarian cuisine, and an inspectional sniff told him that there was no meat at all. Placing a hand on it, he realized that there was not even Tibetan wine in it.

He looked at Xia Xiaosu, a doubtful look in his eyes.

The imperial princess explained, “It was Imperial Concubine Wan who insisted it is prepared this way.”

“Imperial Concubine Wan is the Third Imperial Prince’s mother. Why should I need her to handle my meals?”

Xia Xiaosu thought for a few moments before saying, “Imperial Concubine is very loved by the Imperial Emperor. She is also very gentle and virtuous in front of outsiders, never once stepping out of line. She shed tears and said it was a true tragedy that the birth mothers of my brothers and sisters had died early and there was no one to look after them in the palace.

“She had been negligent in the past, and she blamed herself for that. She stated that she will be treating my siblings as her own in the future, and… the Imperial Emperor has agreed to it. The Great Scholars thought this to be a wonderful move, saying that it is in line with the teachings of Confucianism.

“Imperial Concubine Wan said she could not bear to see me, an Imperial Princess, cooking for myself and working so hard. So, she ordered the chefs to prepare personal meals for the Imperial Prince every day.”

“So they prepared vegetarian food?”

Xia Xiaosu nodded and added, “You went to play a game of chess yesterday and we received the news from the abbot at Leiyin Temple this morning. They said that your heart was composed of seven parts of the Buddha and three parts of the devil. And that was why you could solve the Pearl in the Sea.”

The corners of Xia Ji’s lips twitched upward. The abbot was certainly diligent in relaying messages this time, but who was he relaying them to?

It seemed like the monks who had completed their time at the monastery were not monks as well.

However, his calm expression did not falter, because he was not overly surprised at what had happened, so he did not practice much Rudraksha meditation during his time at Mount Meru.

Although he had harbored some expectations that the monks had left their birth home for real and had rejected the world for the monastic life, in the end, they were nothing more than expectations.

Oblivious to the change in her brother’s mood, Xia Xiaosu went on, “Imperial Concubine Wan said that it’s these three parts of the devil that’s obstructing your religious practices.

“For you to have a brighter future on the path of Buddhism, she specially requested the chef to prepare vegetarian food from now on to purge the demonic powers inside you.

“When the Imperial Emperor heard of this, he even complimented her.”

After hearing the story from his sister, Xia Ji laughed out loud.

Then, he took the vegetarian food, which did not contain even a drop of animal grease, and started eating, relishing the meal.

Martial artists needed meat to keep their bones and muscles strong. Those who plotted needed a ruthless heart to fight every inch of the way. Without the protein, he would lose all of his powers. That would strip him of any opportunities he had.

He shifted his gaze sideways to peer out the window, where he could clearly see bits of the bustling city, parts of the chambers hidden deep within the palace, and the fact that he had no more friends in this world.

The only person he had left was the Ninth Imperial Princess who his mother had given birth to.

The monks had also been converted.

Imperial Concubine Wan wanted to control him.

The Imperial Emperor was not treating him well either.

Even his siblings had daggers hidden behind their smiles. (TN: this idiom means to have friendly manners belying hypocritical intentions).

As Xia Ji ate the vegetarian meal, the blurred, heavy silhouettes in the sky morphed into an image of the five summits and crashed toward him, trapping him within the depths of the archive chamber. He would never be able to change. Unless he died, he would never be able to get out of this situation.

When he finished, Xia Xiaosu put away the empty dishes. The naive princess had obviously not seen through his plans and thought that her brother was solely devoted to the Buddha. Becoming vegetarian was a sign of leaving the secular world, and meant that he was retreating from the treacherous struggle for power. This was obviously something good, so she smiled as she said, “If there is anything else you want, feel free to tell me. No one will dare to mess with me now.”

Who would dare to get on the bad side of a princess who was going to be married to the Tujue in three months?

She was ready to enter hell.

Her brother could go to the Land of Buddha too.

What was the Land of Buddha like?

She did not know.

Yet… even if it was alright, it was set in stone.

So be it.

It had been decided by God.

And never by themselves.

Looking at the clean bowl, Xia Xiaosu asked curiously, “Brother, do you like vegetarian food?”

Xia Ji smiled warmly. “Yes, I do.”

He simply loved it.

The actions taken by those in the palace had almost severed any expressions of love.

Though there was one thing. Although the abbot was enthusiastic, his verdict was incorrect.

Seven parts of the Buddha, and three parts of the devil?

Wrong.

It should be ten parts of the devil.

The Ninth Imperial Princess pushed the door of the chamber open, then closed it gently behind her when she left. The last ray of light grew narrower and narrower as the door shut.

When it had faded completely, he, the Seventh Imperial Prince of the Dashang Dynasty, flipped open the Past Dipankara Sutra.

One page at a time.

He recited one word at a time.

Even when Eunuch Mei, who was sitting outside the chamber, began yawning, he still recited.

Eunuch Mei shook his head mockingly. “I thought that there would be something special about him after he cracked the code of the Pearl in the Sea, yet he’s still the same old loser.

“I supposed it’s to be expected, all he knows is the basics, so what if he has the heart of the devil and the personality of the Buddha? It is all but a joke… hahaha.”

Taking a few more steps, he lamented, “There’s also some good in reciting the sutras. If he goes to a temple and becomes a monk, he can at least live on! Better to live without dignity than to die.”

The palace gradually grew silent.

The Imperial City became doused in moonlight.

Archive chamber.

Pah!

The pages closed.

Closing his eyes, Xia Ji felt the subtle stirrings within his heart, as well as the manifestation of the fifth skill bead between his eyebrows—”Dhyana of the Past”.

The skill bead broke and the gold liquid became one with him, taking him on a journey to realize the power and meditative mind of Buddha.

A little over half an hour later, he had already mastered the ninth level of “Dhyana of the Past”.

If the Dhyana of the Present inclined toward “exchanging one’s own heart with the land and the sky”, and focused more on the fusion between the naturality of the land and sky—

Then, the meaning behind the Dhyana of the Past was “when the Nagapushpa flower blooms, everything will be as clear as day, and the light serves as guidance”. This dhyana was more unique than the others and could be achieved through simple actions. When the snow or the wind stopped, it would affect its surroundings, causing a different pattern to form within nature.

The dhyana followed after the light.

To put it bluntly, it was an attack on one’s spirit.

As well as… a spiritual restraint.