For a moment, Sorrowful was truly dumbfounded. He chanted 'Amitabha', and changed the topic. "If Your Highness insists on being willful and stubborn, the only thing left for me to do is take you back to the mountains for a retreat so you can reflect on yourself."
He took out a string of prayer beads from his pockets as he said this. His left hand held the prayer beads to his front as he moved the beads about one by one.
"Your Highness is powerfully skilled in martial arts and is a genius not of this world, but do you know that there is a valuable item in this world called a Buddhist instrument? The power of a Buddhist instrument is extremely immense. Even one with invincible martial arts skills might not be able to deflect it.
"The prayer beads in my hand is a Buddhist instrument left behind by Little Tathagata, the abbot of Leiyin Temple from back in the day. Even though quite some time has passed and the instrument's divine ability has diminished somewhat, it is still quite capable of capturing Your Highness."
Xia Ji noted that the monk had not answered his question and was instead holding the thirty-three prayer beads as a Buddhist instrument in his hand. Xia Ji asked calmly, "Do you fear nothing just because you have something in your hand?"
"It depends on what is being held. If what is in my hand is a Buddhist instrument of Buddha's warrior attendant that was used to face evil demons and heretics, naturally, there will be nothing to fear." A suppressed look of glee flashed in Sorrowful's eyes.
"Sorrowful, what sort of meditation have you been cultivating?!"
Sorrowful ignored this and said, "Let me ask you again. Are you still unrepentant?"
Xia Ji snorted. "The reputation of the divine monk does not match up to the real thing at all. It looks like this is the end of Leiyin Temple. Save for a few shades of mysteries and a handful of Buddhist instruments, there is nothing left to be passed on."
Sorrowful immediately interrupted him when he heard this and sneered, "Don't blame me for taking action."
He stopped talking after that and his eyes flew wide open. The eyes were the place where one's spirituality gathered. His eyes, which had been devoid of sorrow or delight, immediately turned to display extreme sorrow and great delight, and a vague glow could even be spotted within them.
His spirituality had escalated to its peak as he swung his left hand. The thirty-three prayer beads vanished without a trace as a small bright, golden glow appeared in the middle of his palm.
Zen encircled him as a bright flammule burst out.
Sorrowful thrust his palm forward and roared a loud "Hah!"
The golden light in his palm grew and blossomed quickly at a speed that was subsequently detectable by the common man's visual and senses.
With a wave of thought, a golden 卍 formed!
The 卍 spun at amazing speed.
It sliced through ten feet of space.
Before the Shang Dynasty's Seventh Imperial Prince realized what had happened, the 卍 had already fallen upon him.
The moment it got into contact with his physical body, it transformed into a blinding, gold light and entered his body.
Then, a layer of gold light appeared under the skin of Xia Ji as it bound him up tightly.
The rage on Sorrowful's face disappeared as he smiled. "Amitabha. Even if Your Highness is able to defeat Guifang, at the very end, you are still unable to escape from the binds of a Buddhist instrument with a mortal's body. Come with me."
Xia Ji did not move, but suddenly chanted out loud, "All that is immaterial are material, yet all that is material are immaterial; all possessions are about control, yet all have no control."
He finished this sentence.
The Shang Dynasty's Seventh Imperial Prince effortlessly released himself from the golden light that had been binding him.
He was now holding onto the thirty-three beads in his hand.
He looked at the dumbfounded Sorrowful and said casually, "These beads bind obstacles of the mind, not the people themselves. Since it is unable to bind me, it proves that there is no obstinate willfulness within me.
"I am wondering, however, if Master Sorrowful attempting to bind me with these beads, would you know if you have obstinate willfulness within yourself?"
Sorrowful replied with a hesitant stutter, "The prayer beads… Return them to me…"
Xia Ji laughed softly as he did as Sorrowful asked. He threw the now very dull looking thirty-three prayer beads back toward the monk a distance away.
The divine monk quickly grabbed them in his arms.
When he next raised his head, the Imperial Prince opposite him had taken out a string of one hundred and eight prayer beads from his pockets.
Sorrowful, "…"
Xia Ji wrapped the prayer beads around his left hand. The Gods were silent as the great earth's Zen-ness bonded onto the prayer beads.
The beads vanished in an instant.
They turned into a golden light so blindingly bright that one was unable to look at it directly.
His left hand pushed out slowly.
The golden light expanded explosively but did not form a 卍. Instead, it transformed into a gigantic golden Buddha's hand that imitated every move made by his palm!
The Buddha's palm hung high above the head of Sorrowful as it covered the entire bridge. It had a length of ten feet.
There was a pause.
Xia Ji asked calmly, "Are monks willfully obstinate beings?"
Sorrowful looked at the Buddha's hand with disbelief and fell into silence.
Before he was able to answer, the gigantic, golden Buddha's hand fell down.
Boom!
The gigantic Buddha's hand came crashing onto him.
It shadowed the entire bridge and covered the sides of the lake.
However, there was something strange about this.
There was no ripple of water.
The bridge was not affected.
None of the objects around shifted from its touch.
Only Sorrowful was struck. He was forced to the ground by the gigantic Buddha's hand. There was a look of pain and suffering on his face.
Xia Ji asked softly, "Sorrowful, what sort of meditation have you been cultivating?"
Sorrowful was trembling all over. He wanted to say something, but he was now in infernal hell. His body was suffering from the burning of Avicinaraka fiery flames and it was incinerating the many sins he had committed in the past.
Xia Ji shook his head. "Sorrowful. If it was anyone else here today, he would be defeated by me as well. As for you, you really do mean nothing to me."
He turned away after saying this and did not take another look at the divine monk.
The golden Buddha's hand evaporated at this point as it returned to the hands of the Imperial Prince when he made a grabbing gesture. The one hundred and eight prayer beads wrapped around his wrist once again as his left thumb quietly shuffled the beads across his hands.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven…
Eight, nine, ten, eleven…
…
When he had gotten to one hundred and eight, he had also seen through the worries and obstinate willfulness of all living beings.
Even if he was unable to sever them, he was able to see them clearly.
Although the divine monk was flooded with worries of his own, he was under the impression that he was superior to others and insisted on getting others to overcome the burdens of their minds.
Behind him…
Sorrowful's figure was silent and unmoving. He had thrown himself on his knees facing the direction of the Shang Dynasty's Imperial Prince.
Xia Ji glanced at the soldiers of sacrifice carrying out the sentence of death by dismemberment. "Continue. When you're done, remember to confiscate the prayer beads and staff of the monk."
"Yes, master!"
With that, he returned to the side of the Imperial Princess. They did not take the carriage but walked toward the direction of the Imperial Palaces.
They took the bridge.
Some of the commoners had moved forward with curiosity and approached the divine monk who had thrown himself on the ground. They called out tentatively, "Master Sorrowful?"
There was no answer.
"Master?"
There was still no answer.
The divine monk maintained his position on the ground, as if transformed into a statue.
The commoners calling out to him reached out gently to touch him. The touch seemed to have upset some sort of unseen balance. The monk Sorrowful's physical body broke into pieces as it disintegrated into dust that formed his physical shape. A gust of wind blew from the lake and the dust forming from his head to his toe disappeared with the wind.
….
When both royalties returned to the palace, the books Xia Ji had ordered the guards to move from the evacuated nobles' houses had arrived. These books filled up his original library loft and as for the other local renowned families who have yet to leave the city, Xia Ji had sent them requests for a visit in advance, stating his wish to survey the book collection of the families.
It was not too long before he received a reply from these families, who all welcomed his visit.
Reading did not involve any conflict of interest. Even if these renowned families had other intentions, they would not offend Xia Ji over such a trivial matter.
The books were relocated into the palace via carriage in hordes and later categorized to plump up the library loft.
During the morning.
The faint brilliance of sunlight was quickly extinguished as several days of sunshine was finally disrupted by blazing snow.
The doors of the Imperial library loft were opened.
Xia Ji looked at the library loft filled to the brim and gave the Imperial Princess next to him a glance.
The Imperial Princess was looking grimly at the ground covered in white, and watched as the dancing snow eventually became a raging snowstorm. She sighed gently.
Xia Ji said, "From this day onward, you will stay here to study these books. Don't leave the palace anymore."
Xia Xiaosu nodded. "Okay, Big Brother."
Xia Ji made a pot of hot tea and placed it in front of the wooden window. A wisp of hot smoke billowed from the pot like a white snake. Outside the window, the ground was flooded with a thick layer of white, billowing snow. If the snowing did not cease, the entire Imperial Capital will turn snow-white at night time and transform into a world buried in a sea of snow.