大唐双龙传 [Da Tang Shuang Long Zhuan] by Huang Yi

[wangxiaohu]

Thanks foxs.

[Ysabelkid]

Thanks foxs

[SkyWalker]

Thanks foxs.

Goodbye BFH!

[徐中銳]

Yeah, readers who like Ba Fenghan, take good care of yourselves ! Huang Yi may have written off BFH ? Any bets on when his actual-presence might return to the plot ? Me, not-in-2017.

Ba Fenghan said, “We’ll part here. I don’t know whether we will see each other again. Two brothers, please take good care of yourselves!”

[HPC7595]

Thanks foxs

[chowbeng]

你走你的阳光道,我走我的独木桥
You walk the sunshine path (metaphorically, bright future), I walk my single log bridge (difficult and dangerous).
This phrase means that people with conflicting purpose don't go together, but on their own separate paths without interfering with each other.

[foxs]

DongBin, Xiaohu, Ysabel, HPC, you are welcome. Sky, shhh ... tap, tap, tap ... (patting your shoulder) please don't cry. Xu Xiong, you guess? But I don't know either, maybe you are right. Chowbeng, that was from the dictionary, but thanks anyway.

---

Jing Nian Chanyuan stood tall on the mountain; the ambience was dense and solemn.

Xu Ziling dismounted; wrapping one arm around the horse’s neck, he spoke in gentle voice as if he was coaxing a child, and then left the horse grazing on its own, while he dashed toward the main entrance of the monastery.

After passing the memorial arch engraved with the characters ‘Jing Nian Chanyuan’, he climbed the long and precipitous stone steps extended to the hilltop, giving the feeling of he was ascending into the heaven to ‘the other shore’ [i.e. paramita in Buddhism].

Subconsciously Xu Ziling stroked the mask hidden in his pocket, as well as the scrolls pertaining to construction, astronomy, et cetera, which Lu Miaozi gave to him; he sighed inwardly.

After stealing the Jade Annulus of He Clan, they buried these things in a secret place, and only retrieved them just now.

Regaining his composure, Xu Ziling went up the stairs step by step.

‘Dang! Dang! Dang!’

The melodious sound of the bell from up the mountain floated down.

Xu Ziling’s mind was calm; he lifted up his eyes to enjoy the amazing and elegant ridges and peaks, the dense forest and the beautiful mountain scenery all around him. He mused that this temple was built on top of this mountain, there must be a reason behind it.

Looking up into the distance, he could see the pagoda and bell tower appearing among the forest tree.

Because he had read Lu Miaozi’s insight, he had a very good foundation in architecture, and was able to enjoy the beauty of the buildings from a pedestrian’s eye view.

The pagoda was built of mostly large dark green granite blocks, the structure was complex, with nine layers of octagonal floor, opened doors on all sides, the carvings on the body of the tower was exceptionally magnificent, all around the roll up doors there were dragons, tigers, Buddha, Bodhisattva, warriors, craft music [? Not sure, 伎乐], flying Apsara, and other religious objects; all were glowing with health and vigor, vivid and lifelike.

Nevertheless, the tacha [from the dictionary: Buddhist ornamentation decorating the upper story of a pagoda] was made of iron, with eight separate chains securing it to the eight corners of the top of the pagoda. The stairs connecting the lower five floors were inside the structure, but starting from the fifth floor, the stairs were spiraling along the outer ledges, all the way to the top floor. This kind of configuration was rarely seen in pagoda architecture, particularly that tall and gorgeous iron tacha. It was elegant, tall and straight, protruding above the mountain forest, as if it was piercing the blue sky.

The reason Xu Ziling paid so much attention to Jing Nian Chanyuan’s construction was simply because he wanted to verify the earlier impression he had on this monastery, because in all aspects, this temple did not comply with common practice; hidden within it was a unique imposing style.

The most amazing thing for him was that in the extremely ornate architecture, there was a sense of austere simplicity; just like a richly attired beautiful woman, although her dress was magnificent her clothes beautiful, but because she was not wearing any makeup, she was able to maintain her innate beauty and natural charm.

Reaching the end of the stone steps, Xu Ziling arrived at the second main gate of the monastery.

The inscribed tablet above the door had four characters carved on it, ‘ru zhe you yuan’ [those who enter are brought together by fate]; on both sides of the doorway a rhyming couplet was engraved, ‘Evening drum and morning bell arouse the human world from pursuing fame and fortune; the sound of scripture and many names of Buddha call the charmed back from the dream of sea of bitterness’.

A rueful smile appeared on the corner of Xu Ziling’s lips, thinking that if Kou Zhong was pursuing fame and fortune, then he was charmed by the dream. Both were struggling and drifting along in the sea of bitterness of this human world, without the freedom to act independently.

After heaving another sigh, he entered in.

※ ※ ※

On the plaza behind the towering gate of the first of the seven big halls, two old monks were sweeping the dead leaves. They were not in the least concerned over this guest who gate-crash into their temple.

Xu Ziling was acting strangely as well; he simply walked along the path, which acted as the central axis of the main part of this building complex, with his hands behind his back, as if he belonged there.

Fragrant smoke from the incense drifted out of the temple halls; from the three-legged incense burner in front of the three enshrined and worshipped Buddha images at the southern end, the smoke rose up in spirals.

He did not know much about Buddhism; he only knew the one in the middle, wearing golden crown, with benevolent and dignified expression, was Vairocana Buddha [毗卢遮那佛]; as for the other two Buddha on either side, he was not so sure. Even more attractive to him was along the inner wall of the Hall there were dozens of revered Luohan statues, in different poses and with different expressions, no two were alike.

The eight columns of pillar and the foundation of the Hall were finely engraved, which matched very well with the brightly painted, grand and majestic interlocking beams that spanned well toward the eaves. The horn-shaped corners of the eaves were rising high, in harmony with the profound and long-lasting, solemn and respectful atmosphere of temple complex, brimming with religious inspiration.

A voice calling one of the many names of Buddha came from behind, followed by a question, “Xu Shizhu [lit. benefactor (term used by a monk to address a layperson)] honors us with your presence, I wonder for what reason?”

Xu Ziling recognized the voice; without even looking back, he said, “Bu Chen Dashi, may I ask the Buddha on the left and right, which one are they?”

Bu Chen, who was the leader of the Four Great Protectors replied, “On the left is Medicine Buddha, on the right is Amitabha Buddha [see also Book 14 Chapter 1]. Since Xu Shizhu does not know Buddha, entering the Temple without worshiping is reasonable.”

Confident and at ease, Xu Ziling turned around and smiled toward Bu Chen, whose eyes were hung low, whose palms clasped together holding Buddhist beads; he said, “Although Zaixia does not know much about Buddhism, but I know that all [Buddhist] laws are in the heart. Kneeling to worship is but outward appearance, which cannot be used to judge one’s sincerity toward Buddha!”

Bu Chen opened his eyes to look at him; an amazed expression flashed through his eyes. “Various inner thoughts have outer appearances. Buddha also have images of Buddha. What Shizhu said, perhaps only applicable to Shizhu! Shizhu must ask your own heart.”

Although he did not speak it out, the meaning behind his words was obvious, which referred to Xu Ziling’s mouth was not in line with his heart, that he was using words to quibble, including, of course, the matter involving the Jade Annulus of He Clan.

Xu Ziling was open-minded; he was not concerned about it. Telling the reason of his visit, he said, “This time Zaixia pays a visit, the purpose is to see Miss Shi, there are some things I’d like to resolve.”

Bu Chen sharply sized him up for half a day; finally he said, “Shizhu, please!” and took the lead toward the Hall’s gate.

Thinking that it would go smoothly, Xu Ziling quickly followed him.

※ ※ ※

Kou Zhong rode straight toward the Imperial City. It was not until he reached the Shangshu Mansion that he jumped down the horse, but before he reached the steps, Dong Shuni, wearing warrior outfit, rushed out of the Mansion’s door, amidst a burst of fragrant wind. Her apricot eyes were wide open as she scolded tenderly, “Gutless ghost! Come with me!”

Noticing that all the warriors guarding the door were staring at them, Kou Zhong felt extremely awkward; helplessly he followed her into the Mansion.

Dong Shuni entered the western hall, drove all the maids and servants out, and then pointing to the chair by the window, she furiously said, “Sit over there!”

Kou Zhong was inwardly angry as well. “Am I your slave?” he spoke crossly, “Whatever it is, say it quickly, your Shaoye is very busy today.”

How could Dong Shuni ever think that Kou Zhong would dare to challenge her? Seething with anger, her eyes bulging, she pointed her finger like a halberd and cursed, “You, a man without conscience, you have the impertinence to use that kind of tone speaking with me?”

Frankly speaking, even though she looked like a tigress that had lost her mind, she was still so cute, charming and gorgeous; her posture alluring, exuding a different flavor of prettiness. Especially with her erect silky breasts and two lily-white hands on her small waist, she looked extremely attractive even more.

Seeing her eyes turned red from anger, with glistening beads of tear on them, the anger in Kou Zhong’s heart disappeared for the most part. Plus he inwardly thought that as a grand, manly man, it was not worthwhile for him to bicker with her. Thereupon he laughed aloud and said, “You want me to sit then I’ll sit! What’s the big deal?”

Sitting down, he patted his lap and said, “Would Miss Dong like to sit on the most comfortable chair in the world?”

Dong Shuni glowered at him for half a day. Finally she stomped her feet in fury and said, “I’ll settle an old score with you first: where the hell were you that night?”

Spreading out his hands, Kou Zhong said, “I hear Rong Fengxiang’s big birthday feast is tomorrow night. Since I thought that in your hurry Miss must have mentioned the wrong day, plus I had a bit of business to attend, hee … you know how it is!”

He did not wish to argue with her much longer, so he hinted that he already saw through her wicked scheme, with the hope that she would sound out the difficulties and retreat to avoid defeat.

Like a whirlwind Dong Shuni stormed forward until her jade legs were almost hitting his knees before stopping before flaring out in tigress’ style, “You, Kou Zhong, the big-headed ghost, his big birthday feast is set for seven days; otherwise, how can we call it ‘big birthday feast’?”

Kou Zhong was nearly tongue-tied; luckily as he knitted his brows, an idea came to his mind. Recalling how deceitful she was, he smiled wryly and said, “Xiao Nini, please don’t mess with me! Xuyan Xiong and I had no discord, no concord [orig. don’t fight, won’t make friends], but now we became very friendly. He had already laid out everything on the plate. Ha! When we go to Rong Mansion later, I’d like to look for him; do you want to come with me?”

It was as if Dong Shuni was struck by thunder; she retreated three steps back, her pretty face turned white, and she stammered in disbelief, “He … he really …”

Inwardly Kou Zhong laughed; no matter how crafty you are, all along you are still inexperienced, all of a sudden you revealed the fox’s tail and thus confirmed this purely speculative guess.

Patting his clothes, he rose up to his full height and said, “We’ll make out later!”

And then he walked away with a chuckle, feeling immensely proud of himself.

[Ysabelkid]

Thanks foxs

[HPC7595]

Thanks foxs

[Jayariyin]

Thanks, foxs.

[wangxiaohu]

Sky...........

[akolaw]

伎樂是什麽意思,指歌舞女艺人.[SIZE=4]　「伎樂天」亦是佛教美術用語，以音樂供養佛陀，或稱讚菩薩行。在大殿壁畫上方，畫有很多天人彈奏樂器，一 邊為供養飛天，一邊是伎樂天。據經典所載，天人歡喜讚歎佛事，奏天樂、散天花、薰天香，以莊嚴道場；並常披 掛瓔珞，飛行於虛空，故稱飛天。「飛天」一詞，是佛教美術上的專用詞彙。[/SIZE] [SIZE=4]　　「伎樂天」一般持琴、箏、排蕭、笛、胡角、羯鼓、琵琶等樂器成組出現，而神態富有意趣、靈氣，進退自如 ，顧眄神生，給人靈性美的感覺。飛天的表現是逍遙、自在、愉悅的瀟洒情態；伎樂天則令人產生「天樂飄飄」的 律動感。[/SIZE]

[wangxiaohu]

Sky..... Are you ok?

[LuDongBin]

Thks foxs.

[SkyWalker]

Thanks for the update and comfort foxs. I still miss BFH!

Sky..... Are you ok?

Thanks Wang!! I'm going to be fine. I'm sure the story will continue to be awesome without Old Ba.

[wangxiaohu]

Thanks Wang!! I'm going to be fine. I'm sure the story will continue to be awesome without Old Ba.

No, that's not what I mean.
Foxs patted your shoulder 3 times, lucky you're all right. I'm afraid you suffered heavy internal injuries because of foxs spiralling chi.

[徐中銳]

Hmmm, we're on Book 16... I suspect the next 8 Books won't feature BFH, else this novel be better retitled Dragon Triplets...

Xu Xiong, you guess? But I don't know either, maybe you are right.

[foxs]

Ysabel, HPC, Jaya, DongBin, you are welcome. Xiaohu, thanks for your concern to Sky, appreciated. Akolaw, may I ask that if you post anything that is not in English, you would kindly provide the translation as well? Not many here speak/read Chinese, otherwise we won't be here. Sky, Xu Xiong, maybe BFH won't reappear anymore. But since we are only 1/4 of the story, who knows?

---

Book 16 Chapter 11 – Greedy For Life, Afraid Of Death

Xu Ziling followed behind Bu Chen, deep into the Temple complex, toward the rear courtyard.

From time to time along the way he saw some monks, but everybody acted as if they did not see him, as if they were deeply immersed in the ‘purified of defiling illusion’ and religious life of ‘letting things take their own course’ Buddhist doctrine.

After passing the Copper Hall, which glittered brilliantly under the sun, Bu Chen turned left toward a quaint flagstone path, lined with bamboo trees on both sides.

Hidden behind the bamboo trees on both sides of the path, he could see the buildings that were the monks’ residences; plain and simple. Compared to the magnificent temple halls, the buildings exuded a completely different impression. But behind the pinewood frame and white plaster, there was some kind of raw, unpolished natural beauty.

While Xu Ziling was enjoying the deep, serene and faraway, the peaceful and quiet atmosphere of the monastery, the scenery changed. Houses were getting sparse, replaced by evergreen pine and cypress, and rugged stratified rocks. Walking along the stone path, he could see a stonewall ahead, engraved with two characters, ‘Fo Dao’ [the way of the Buddha]. The stone cliffs on either side of the path grew higher and higher, while the path itself was getting narrower. There were images of Buddha carved on the stonewall on either side, which leaned against the low cliff, all with carefree demeanor, and were very vivid and lifelike.

While Xu Ziling was amazed at the scenery, the ‘Fo Dao’ suddenly ended, the path suddenly opened up to a wide panorama.

At the western extremity of this monastery, a large hall, which size comparable to the seven main halls, engraved with the characters ‘Fangzhang Yuan’ [abbot courtyard], was resting along the precipice, among the nine towering ridges of the mountain. It was strategically situated and easy to defend, the terrain was extremely dangerous.

Feeling something was amiss, Xu Ziling asked, “This ought to be the Zhuchi [person in charge/president/manager/director] of your honorable monastery Liao Kong Dashi’s residence, isn’t it?”

Bu Chen nonchalantly replied, “Shizhu wishes to see Miss Shi, naturally our Fangzhang ought to make the decision; why are you surprised?” [Translator’s note: this is the only time the word Fangzhang (abbot) is being used, the rest are Zhuchi (see above) but for simplicity sake, I am going to use ‘Abbot’ for both. (Besides, I feel weird calling Liaokong a ‘manager’ or ‘president’ of the Temple.]

Xu Ziling knew it would not be this easy to see Shi Feixuan. He could only sigh inwardly as he followed Bu Chen climbing the stairs to enter the courtyard.

The Abbot Courtyard was divided into three sections: front, center and rear. Entering the door, he was welcomed by a spacious but empty reception room. There was no furniture, only several portraits were hanging on two walls; apparently they were the portraits of the monastery’s abbots throughout generations.

Bu Chen asked Xu Ziling to wait here, while he proceeded into the inner room.

Having nothing to do, Xu Ziling browsed the portraits on the wall. Although the portraits were all different, some were fat, some were thin, but the painting was meticulous and very detailed; the expressions were solemn, with an aura around the head of Buddha illuminating everything, the faces were kind, showing the appearance of great compassion and great sorrow of those who helped people from suffering and calamity. Next to each portrait was the caption, listing the name, the dates of taking the oath as a monk and entering the silence, and other pertinent information.

The portraits were obviously arranged according to their date of service. When looking at the last portrait on the left wall, Xu Ziling’s heart was shaken; he walked closer to examine the portrait carefully. He saw an old monk whose beard and eyebrows were entirely white, with deep wrinkles crisscrossing his face. He appeared to be at least 70-something.

The reason Xu Ziling jumped in fright was because the portrait had at least 80, 90% resemblance to the current Abbot, Liao Kong; it would be the portrait of Liao Kong when he grew old.

While he was pondering whether the portrait was Liao Kong’s father, which meant Liao Kong was inheriting his father’s ‘cassock and alms bowl’ [usually passed on by a Buddhist master to his favorite disciple], he was shocked to find that the inscription next to the portrait only listed the date of taking the oath, without the date of death. He could not help sucking in a mouthful of cold air.

Could it be that the old Liao Kong turned back into a child? From the old man in the portrait back to a man that looked to be in his forties? This fact was really extremely shocking.

Bu Chen’s voice came from behind, “That is the portrait of our humble temple’s Abbot fifteen years ago; at that time he had just entered the gate of Dhyana cultivation, hence he had someone paint the portrait.”

Xu Ziling sighed and said, “It’s really hard to believe that there is indeed divine skill and secret method to recover one’s youthful vigor in the world.”

Bu Chen called one of the many names of Buddha with clasped palms and said, “Dharma has no boundary; turn around and reach the shore. Our humble temple’s Abbot is waiting respectfully for Xu Shizhu in the center courtyard. Please!”

Xu Ziling turned around and saw that Bu Chen did not show any intention to lead him in. Thereupon he had no choice but to cup his fist in salute to express his gratitude, and walk toward the center courtyard alone.

‘Bang!’

The wooden door closed behind him.

It was a ten-zhang deep and wide, three-zhang high empty room, with blank walls on all four sides.

Liao Kong was sitting cross-legged facing the wall, with his back against Xu Ziling.

There was a closed door on either side of this able-to-recover-his-youth, powerful-to-reverse-the-rotation-of-the-sky senior monk, exuding some kind of profound-mystery atmosphere.

With a wry smile on the corner of his lips, Xu Ziling spoke deferentially, “Dashi, please bestow your decree.”

※ ※ ※

From the side hall Kou Zhong returned to the front reception hall; he was about to enter the main hall when he bumped into the graceful, cool and elegant ‘Beautiful Barbarian Lady’ Linglong Jiao, who was always showing him dismissive attitude. Both sides did not expect to meet face to face on a narrow path like this. Having just received a bitter lesson from Dong Shuni, Kou Zhong struggled hard to control himself, and was only nodding as a courtesy to greet her.

Against his expectation, this barbarian beauty revealed a rarely seen smile toward him, and then walking side by side with him, she said, “Your battle at the Tianjin Bridge last night was really brilliant.”

Kou Zhong was stunned, “Miss Jiao is really formidable; unexpectedly you are able to fool so many people’s eyes and ears by hiding nearby.”

Linglong Jiao returned to her cool and detached expression and she spoke indifferently, “Without this little bit of ability, how could I gather intelligence for Shangshu Daren?”

This woman was willing to converse with him; it was indeed a radical change of attitude.

Kou Zhong was thinking about finding other topic when from the inner hall Xu Xingzhi was walking out in a hurry. Seeing Kou Zhong, he signaled him with his eyes not to say anything, and the he saluted and said, “Daren is waiting for Kou Ye in the study room.”

Finished speaking he turned around and left.

Halting her steps, Linglong Jiao said, “Shangshu Daren must have something to discuss with you alone. I’ll see you later.”

※ ※ ※

Half a day later Kou Zhong came to the study room. Wang Shichong waited until he closed the door and sat down in an imperial tutor chair by his left before saying, “Fortunately last night you did not get beaten by the enemy. I had wanted to send people to help you, but we would only fall into their hands, it will be hard to keep up with them. Finally I could only hold back my troops without moving.”

And then he went on with a cold humph, “Yang Dong and Dugu Feng are too despicable.”

Kou Zhong pretended to praise him, saying, “Shangshu Daren, that was a brilliant move. Right now we need to show the enemy our weakness, in keeping with the School of the Military’s[1] main point of ‘sending up the troops, dispatching a scheme’. In term of strength, even with their tie to foreigner, the Dugu Clan still cannot do anything to us. Therefore, they can only rely on crafty plots and machinations to carry out their cold arrow stratagem. As long as we are a bit more careful, Dugu Feng can never prevail.”

Frowning, Wang Shichong said, “Because Qu Ao was routed, Tiele people may be disregarded. But supposing Yin Gui Pai, Tuli and Yang Gong join hands, do we want to maintain our passive situation? One thing goes wrong, we might lose the Eastern Capital.”

Remaining calm and unruffled in the midst of chaos, Kou Zhong said, “Tuli can also be disregarded, simply because my friend Ba Fenghan had just left Luoyang; no matter what, Tuli and Bixuan’s two disciples must pursue him to join the excitement. Yin Gui Pai, because they have to deal with Shi Feixuan, their number one enemy, will not dare to be overtly involved in this conflict. Besides, to some extent, they wish you could put Li Mi in order. At that time, after Du Fuwei acquire Jiangdu, he will go up north along the Canal.”

Astonished, Wang Shichong asked, “How do you know Du Fuwei is going to attack Jiangdu?”

Naturally Kou Zhong did not wish to expose Song Jingang; he said, “I have a bit of friendly relations with the Song Family, later on today I will meet with Song Lu at the House of Dong restaurant.”

Relieved, Wang Shichong said, “This matter definitely gives me headache. The relationship between Du Fuwei and Shen Faxing has never been good, and now suddenly they become allies; it can clearly be seen how anxious they are about going up north.”

Nodding, Kou Zhong said, “The current situation is obviously the struggle for Yellow River and the Canal; whoever can obtain Guanzhong and Luoyang, two big strategic cities at the same time, will be akin to half of the country falling into his bag. We must first take Hulao, Xingyang, and then move the troops straight to the west. At that time when you, Shengshang [Your Majesty], give command to the world, who will dare not to obey?”

Wang Shichong twirled his moustache and smiled, his eyes were gleaming full of hope and excitement. “If I, Wang Shichong, become the lord of the new dynasty, you, Kou Zhong, will be the new dynasty’s prime minister. Are you ready?” he said solemnly.

Kou Zhong mused inwardly that only a fool would believe you. But on the surface he put on a dreamy look as he said in delight, “Shangshu Daren holds this kid in such a high regard, I naturally am ten-thousand times grateful. But I want to set up a merit by defeating Li Mi first. At that time, when Shangshu Daren put me in important position, other people will have nothing to say.”

Wang Shichong chuckled loudly; and then putting on a mysterious expression he said, “Whether we can lure Li Mi into sending out his troops, it depends on tomorrow night’s arrangement. Let me have you meet my body double first.”

※ ※ ※

---

[1] School of the Military, one of the Hundred Schools of Thought of the Warring States Period (475-220 BC).

[Ysabelkid]

Thanks foxs

[Jayariyin]

Thanks, foxs.