The Tale Never Ends Chapter 49 The Cultivation Of Seven Lives

The man who was carrying the fish basket was none other than Master Six at a younger age. Master Six said to the couple, "I can save you, but on one condition. When she grows up, she needs to marry me!" At a life-and-death point, who could say no? After the couple agreed, Master Six put his necklace in the baby's hand and said, "This is the love token!" Then he turned his head and said to the boatmen, "Will you jump off by yourselves, or should I make you?" Right after his voice faded away, the two men jumped into the water with a flop. Master Six poled the boat to the sh.o.r.e.

... It turned out that those two gangsters were actually the shrimp soldier and the crab general sent by Dongting Dragon Monarch.

Back to the present, the couple saw a necklace with the same appearance in Master Six's hand. They went to a specialist to identify the other necklace before. It turned out it was worth more than 12 million. Now they felt very embarra.s.sed because they failed to keep their daughter for him and betrothed her to someone else! Master Six asked, "Where's my wife?" The couple pointed to the patient and said with a guilty voice, "She's there!"

Master Six turned around and said to the patient, who was also the last evil spirit left, "Now let's deal with your problem!" She sneered for a while and said, "They are afraid of you, but I am not! What can you do to me!" Master Six smiled and said, "Make a condition. How do you want to settle this?" The evil spirit said fiercely, "I just want to take my revenge and make them lose everything!" Master Six still smiled and said, "Are you sure you can afford to lose your cultivation of seven lives?" The woman immediately showed a dejected expression and said, "You are not a Buddhist. What can you do?"

Master Six said, "I am not a Buddhist. But that doesn't mean that I can't help you! Tell me about your grievances. I will see if I can help you solve them!" The spirit thought for a moment and said, "I have a cultivation of seven lives. I didn't know that after my tonsure in my eighth life, I would be killed in the Buddha Hall. Then I reincarnated as a cat. But he ran me over to death. My belly burst and my guts flew out all over the ground. It's very difficult for me to forgive him!" Master Six said, "In this case, because your cultivation is very profound and related to Buddhism, I can't predict from the tortoisesh.e.l.l. But I can ask for you. What do you say?" The patient, which was also the spirit, nodded to agree.

Then Master Six sat cross-legged on the floor and closed his eyes in silence. In the blink of an eye, the temperature in the room decreased as if an air conditioner were turned on. Because I had spirit sight, I could see the black mist suffusing in the room. We all shuddered and got gooseb.u.mps. After quite a while, Master Six opened his eyes and said, "It's cold down there. I can't see clearly and need to go up." Then Master Six ascended to the air, still cross-legged. A halo appeared behind his back s.h.i.+ning in seven divine colors, and his face was serene. A wonderful aroma filled the room. Through my spirit sight, I saw streaks of an auspicious light flowing in the room, which was relaxing and refres.h.i.+ng. It was no longer cold, nor hot. I had never felt such a comfortable temperature like this before. After a while, Master Six descended, and said, "I have the answer now!"

Master Six turned to the patient and said, "Let me ask you something. It is not about when you were the cat, but about when you were a normal Buddhist in your previous life. The day before your tonsure, you lived in the temple waiting for the tonsure the next day, right? The spirit replied, "Yes." Master Six said, "Now I am going to ask you about something that happened during your prayer on that day! A man came carrying a shoulder pouch (A kind of cloth bag worn across the shoulder in the past) to pray. He put his shoulder pouch aside during his prayer. However, he forgot his shoulder pouch after he finished praying and left. Later, a man in rags entered the temple. After he prayed, he raised his head and found the shoulder pouch. Then he cried out, "My prayers came true!" And he left with the shoulder pouch. Then a black-faced man came. When he knelt, the first man who owned the shoulder pouch came back. Seeing that the shoulder pouch was gone, he grabbed the black-faced man asking for the shoulder pouch. Was it you who came forward and told the man that the shoulder pouch was taken away by the man in rags?" The patient nodded, "Yes, monks don't lie. Black is black. White is white!"

Master Six nodded too and said, "Indeed, monks don't lie. If this matter happened outside of the temple, what you did was right. However, it happened in the Buddhism Hall, which means what you did was wrong!" The patient showed a defiant expression and said, "Why was it wrong in the Buddhism Hall, shouldn't I be true and honest?" Master Six paused and said, "On the Buddhism Hall, there were Buddha and Bodhisattva on the upper side and Kong Kim and Arhat on the lower side. You were just a normal Buddhist. Was it ever your place to mind their business?" Do you know how disastrous your word was?!" Master Six lit a cigarette and started to narrate the cause and effect of the matter.

"There was a silk shop owner who opened a few silk shops in the towns nearby. His neighbor was a tofu maker who had a daughter. The silk shop owner was fond of the girl since she was little. And he would buy her snacks and toys for her every time those peddlers came by on the street. As time went by, the girl became spoiled and lazy. Then she grew up to be a big and pretty girl. On the Autumn Festival of this year, the silk shop owner invited her to have moon-cakes as commonly seen.

In the past, the silk shop owner always received many more gifts than others because of his status, and saved a lot of pastries and fruits. And he always invited the girl to enjoy the food. However, he put something in the moon-cakes this time and seduced the girl. After that, the girl got pregnant. As her pregnancy progressed, the tofu maker found her a husband in a hurry. After she got married, she made trouble every day because of her premarital pregnancy, greediness, and laziness. Every three days, the family had a small fight. Then every five days, a big fight. Every time they had a big fight, the girl's family would bring a group of people to complain against the husband's family, causing a big commotion. On the second day of February, they had a fight again. When the girl left, she didn't head for her own home. Instead, she walked in the opposite direction.

The man who carried the shoulder pouch did a job called 'La Qian' for people who were called 'Ya Ji'. What was a 'Ya Ji'? A 'Ya Ji' was the equivalent of a sales agent today. They needed to be knowledgeable of the market condition and good at bargaining. It was obvious that he wasn't capable. So he became a 'La Qian'. What did a 'La Qian' do? Their job was to provide and introduce business customers for a 'Ya Ji', and they got a commission from the profit. However, this man wasn't able to find decent business customers. So he took on human trafficking. When he saw a family in a bad condition, he would go to entice them, offer to find a 'Ya Ji', and persuade them to sell their children. That was the crime he was doing. However, although he was unreliable to others, he was a dutiful son and filial to his mother who was a devout Buddhist.

When the daughter of the tofu maker ran away from home, he saw her and hid her in the house of his relative. Although the silk shop owner did something wrong to his neighbor's daughter, he had a good heart in doing business. Most commercial tenants cleared their accounts at the end of the year. However, in order to help the shopkeepers and the workers pull through the Spring Festivals, he allowed them to take money from the counter and collected what was left on the first of February each year. This year on his way home, the 'La Qian' guy waited for him halfway and told him about the girl. He didn't hesitate for a moment, put the shoulder bag with money on the guy's shoulder, mounted the girl on the horse, and brought her home. Afterward, this 'La Qian' guy went to a brothel with the money. He wouldn't dare to take the money home because his mother would question and scold him. In the brothel, there was a woman who only made a living as a performer but not a prost.i.tute. He wanted to spend the money and deflower her! When he pa.s.sed by a temple on the way there, it occurred to him that his mother told him to redeem a vow to for her to the Buddha. Therefore he stopped and went into the temple.

The man who picked up the money was from a mountain village. This year, the village suffered from a disaster caused by hail. And the farmers reaped nothing during the harvesting period. Now it was already February, the new crop had not yet grown and last season's crops were almost eaten up. And the new ones were not yet ripe. The whole village was starving. The man had a relative who worked as an official in the county. And he wanted to borrow some money from him. Everyone in the village took out their flour bag, turned it over to shake out the flour, and made a bowl of dough drop soup for him. They all expected him to bring money back from outside. However, he failed to get the money because his relative was transferred to somewhere else. It wasn't a big deal that he couldn't find his relative. But the whole village was starving, which was severe. He was so helpless that he couldn't figure out what to do. That's why he went to the temple and prayed to Buddha.

It was the will of Heaven that the 'La Qian' guy left behind his bag. The village man was supposed to pick up the money to save the village from starvation! If this matter happened outside of the temple, the deities would all be watching. And things would happen in the way they should. However, it happened inside the temple, which could not be seen by the deities. Then the deities thought Buddha had other arrangements. With your interference, the 'La Qian' guy took back his money. And the performer in the brothel lost her chast.i.ty. Then without food, almost all people from the mountain village starved to death. The village man who tried to borrow money jumped into a river and drowned himself to death on his way back, feeling too ashamed to go back to face his people. He thought Buddha had given him the money, and he blamed himself for taking the wrong way back, in which the money was claimed back.

Therefore, many people died and became hungry ghosts. Because they weren't supposed to die in the first place, there were no ghost wardens to lead them. Then on their way, they made troubles, stole tributes and paper money, humiliated women, and bullied the old and the little, creating pandemonium along the road to h.e.l.l. When they pa.s.sed by the Sansheng Stone, they saw the cause and effect of this matter through it. They reported you when they arrived in the Underworld. Yama sent Ghost Impermanence to claim your life. However, you stayed in the temple waiting for your tonsure the next day and never got out. Because Ghost Impermanence was forbidden to enter temples, they had to return to h.e.l.l. Then Yama had to clarify this matter to the Earth Store Bodhisattva. She said, "People's lives are more important than reasons. I will help you to take her!" That's why you were killed in the Buddhism Hall.

I should say. You were really lucky that the judge sentenced you to reincarnate as a cat. Because cats now don't need to catch mice anymore, they are pets. Why are you still resentful?"

"But, why did I still get run over by him?" The spirit didn't seem to be convinced.

When I heard this, I realized that the cultivation of the evil spirit was insufficient. Even I had understood the reason why she got run over. But she still couldn't understand.