"Dong!... Woo!... Hum!!"
The vastness of the North Sea is such that a day and night’s voyage is like asuring a single hair on the colossal form of the Buddha. The resonating sound of the Dharma conch occasionally echoes among the Tiantai Fleet, directing the customs ships to carve orderly arcs through the waters, as lively as if they were living beings.
When this sound penetrated into the sturdy cabin of the "Lotus Flower Maru," Master Juehui, who was sitting cross-legged in ditation, had his eyelids drooping, seemingly oblivious. Amid the tumultuous waves, he had entered deep ditation during the most turbulent of voyages.
"Om, Anari, Pisheti, Bisheti, Pisheti, Bisheti..."
The instinctual chanting resounded within the narrow cabin, as if emanating from the master’s own brow. This was the "Great Buddha’s White Umbrella Cover Mantra," also known as the "Lengyan Mantra," one of the longest divine spells in Han Buddhism, involving daily practice. Reciting all four hundred and twenty-seven verses of the mantra would take even the most adept monks half a quarter of an hour. And following the discipline of practice, reciting it a hundred tis a day would take up an entire day’s effort.
"Woo!!"
"Tap tap..."
The urgent sound of the Dharma conch suddenly blared outside the cabin, and the previously steady-moving customs ship began to decelerate abruptly until it halted completely. Fang Official Shiba Zhenwei hurriedly descended from the deck, noticing the master chanting the "Lengyan Mantra," which dispels evil, subdues demonic obstructions, protects the True Dharma, and increases wisdom. He hesitated montarily, and opened his mouth with uncertainty.
"Juehui Monk Master?..."
"?..."
Master Juehui stopped his chanting and abruptly opened his compassionate eyes, looking toward the complex and peculiar expression of Fang Official Shiba. With a single glance, he discerned the official’s anxious unrest, coupled with an inexplicable excitent and a longing that could not be concealed.
"Fang Official Shiba! Why are you so emotionally turbulent, torn between fear and desire? Having joined our Sect, one must ta the restless mind. There is no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, or mind, no form, sound, sll, taste, touch, or dharma. The seen terrors do not exist, and neither do the perceived desires..."
"Hm? No, sothing’s amiss! Why has the ship stopped? Judging by the distance, we should have just reached the rivermouth where the previous gold trade took place, right? The Shandan fleet’s current location, based on that damaged rchant vessel, should be about a day’s distance to the east. They were supposed to encounter us the day after tomorrow..."
Fang Official Shiba pressed his lips together, patiently waiting for Master Juehui to finish his "instruction." Only when the master voiced his doubts did he respectfully make a gesture and pointed up towards the deck.
"Monk Master, you are correct! We have indeed arrived at the previous gold trade rivermouth... it’s just that, just that the situation with the Shandan fleet is entirely different from what we observed before, and none of this aligns with any of our previous plans!..."
"...!"
Master Juehui sprung to his feet, uttering not a word, and imdiately proceeded to the deck. The expansive Sea of Ezo unfolded before him like an endless canvass through the hatch above. The dark ocean waves lapped the jagged, deep green bays, and the Shandan-like camp stood still in the deepest bay, just as last ti, like a blasphemous stain upon the Buddha Country. But what struck him with the most astonishnt and disbelief was...
"One, two, three, four, five, six! Six large Shandan ships, including the ones we traded, still docked in the bay just as before?!..."
"impossible! In the Shandan camp, there are noticeably fewer people and not so many piled goods. Damn it! They didn’t embark and use the fleet to transport goods and gold?! Why are they keeping their ships here? Could they possibly not be returning and are planning to winter in Ezo land?..."
Seeing the Shandan fleet at the bay encampnt, Master Juehui’s expression changed drastically. The profound Buddhist Law he possessed was instantaneously compromised.
If the Shandan people aren’t boarding, then what’s the point of a naval battle! He had laid out so much, personally observing the Shandan Navy, deliberately sending ships, calculating the timing for raids and ambushes, to find the Hidden Gold Camp... all of it has co to naught!
That damned Shandan demon deserves to descend into the fiery hell, returning the gold that doesn’t belong to them, the gold that belongs to the Buddha! Where is the Buddha’s gold? Is it still on those ships? Or perhaps, in the Shandan people’s stronghold, at so unknown Hidden Gold Camp?
"Monk Master! Look at those Shandan ships! They’ve dragged their ships ashore and turned them into defensive camps and small forts! It seems they were forewarned and had prepared ahead?"...
"Hmm?!"
Upon hearing this, Master Juehui trembled all over, his compassionate yet fierce eyes glaring intently at the Shandan fleet. Six large ships had been dragged to the shore during high tide, arranged sideways outward like wooden walls facing the bay.
On each large ship, the side facing the bay had crudely yet sturdily erected arrow-shielding wood and obviously processed shields. At the bottom of the wood and shields, piles of dark objects seed to be fire-resistant, fire-extinguishing soil. With these improvents, the originally low and narrow oar-sailed longships instantly transford from weak players in naval battles to defensive "ship barriers" on land. As they ca from the sea to land, such Shandan fleets beca impossible to sink or capture...
"Woo! Woo!"...
Seeing the sudden appearance of ten warships on the shore, the Shandan Camp near the sea exploded in chaos. Two to three hundred armor-clad Shandan Samurai holding bows swiftly dashed out from the camp. Most boarded the "ship barriers," while a few extended to the more forward coastal sides, vigilantly watching the sea.
Only then did Master Juehui notice that the adjacent shores also had so arrow-shielding wood piles erected, resembling the arrow-shielding sheds common in Martial Family battles. It was highly possible that these strangely familiar ship barriers and arrow-shielding sheds were precisely planned and constructed by the "earthwork construction" sold to the Shandan Tribes during this gold transaction. Perhaps those roughly processed arrow-shielding wood materials were also hurriedly cut by the "Object Pointing Master Carpenter."
"Damn! Damn! Who leaked the information, enabling the Shandan people to have such defenses?... Mori no Kiyoshi? This sect’s traitor dared to reveal our sect’s intelligence, thwarting the Monk Judge Team’s major plan?... No, it doesn’t seem like him. He wouldn’t leave such a big handle without a retreat. Then it’s... Kaozaki Clan? Damn! These despicable Martial Families!"...
Master Juehui’s face sunk like water, as the laughing face of Mori no Kiyoshi, then the concealed and respectful flattery of the Kaozaki Clan flashed through his mind. He knew unmistakably that this "gold stealing plan" might be completely ruined. The sea battle advantage the Main Family had prepared for couldn’t be realized. The Shandan Fleet being here made tracking impossible, and their golden camp couldn’t be found. Without gold, what’s the point in fighting... wait! What is that? Is the reflection from behind the ship barriers?!
"Monk Master! Look behind those ship barriers! At the center of the Shandan camp, a newly erected golden totem pole!"...
"Ah! That is!!..."
Master Juehui took a deep breath in and out, yet an indescribable heat still burned from his heart directly to his eyes reflecting golden light. He finally understood where Shiba Official’s intense longing ca from. Behind the "simple and bizarre" ship barriers of the Shandan people, a golden totem pole stood, different from what was witnessed three days prior. No, there was a big tree there from the start!
But now, at the highest point of that big tree, hung a very broken "Eagle Banner." Underneath the Eagle Banner, like so devoted offering, each tree branch dangled with golden flashing amulets, precisely the gold talismans the Shandan people presented during the trade! At that mont, under the morning sun, dazzling golden light shimred from the golden treetop down to the golden tree base, transforming into a golden treasure tree, striking and shaking the hearts of everyone on the ships. Those gold talismans, numbering hundreds, weighing hundreds of pounds, probably surpassed all the gold traded over thousands of miles this ti, more radiant and eye-catching!
"Monk Master! The fleet doesn’t need to search for the Shandan n’s hidden gold camp or their golden fleet!... All their hidden gold, hundreds of thousands of pounds, is likely right here, just here!"
"Blessings from Buddha! This must be so sort of sacrificial rite, worshiping ancestral spirits, hence all the gold laid out! Look at that military flag; I recall seeing it in the Shiba Clan’s heritage, it seems like the Yuan Invasion’s military flag! Yes, it’s the Yuan Invasion Eagle Banner!"...
Confronted with the heart-stirring "Golden Tree," facing the nearby "Yuan Kuo Gold," even the usually reticent Shiba Official couldn’t hold back his excitent. A massive amount of gold, if obtained by the Echizen Shiba Clan he originated from, defeating the usurping Asakura family, restoring Young Master Shiba Rongdong’s family, inheriting the Guardian of Echizen again... seed not impossible!
"Oh Buddha! The Shandan people’s hidden gold camp doesn’t need to be sought out; it has appeared before us. And the tree adorned with gold, like the Seven Treasures Tree in the Western Paradise in the Amitabha Sutra, so resplendent, so dignified and magnificent!"...
"Namo Manjushri! Is this truly Buddha’s blessing or Buddha’s test? The golden Seven Treasures Tree has fate with Juehui, destined to belong to our sect?"...
At this mont, Master Juehui trembled gently, standing motionless at the ship’s bow with his golden-light-reflecting eyes. Behind him lay the foundation of five hundred monks of the sect. In front of him was the camp guarded by three hundred Shandan Warriors.
Only crossing that "ridiculously weak," "re ship barrier" will easily scatter that obviously small, disadvantageous Shandan Garrison... those hundreds of thousands pounds of gold talismans would be akin to twenty years of savings for the entire Tiantai Sect, within reach! They hung on the golden "Seven Treasures Tree," waiting for his harvest. As long as these golden fruits earn a round in tribute trade, the monks could be fed for hundreds of years!
Indeed, it is Buddha’s grace! With such, how should the gamble of Buddhist fate with the golden treasure tree be chosen?"
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