Thousand Miles of Bright Moonlight

Chapter 17: Senior Monk Monarch

He actually had not wanted to go to the palace to treat Noble Consort Xie.

　　When he was in Shu, Mondatipa often dealt with high officials and noble personnes. Most of them were courteous in etiquette and refined in bearing, claiming to be devoted, very keen on Buddhist rituals and scriptures, but acted in a brutal manner, selfish and unfeeling, with no regard for the lives of the lower class.

　　When Mondatipa left Shu, the powerful people who used to regard him as their guest immediately turned against him, forcibly detained him and his disciples, threatening him by killing his attendants.

　　He escaped from Shu and his determination to go to the Western Regions became stronger, but the overseer of the Daci'en Temple told him that he would die in Jincheng without the passage papers.

　　For the sake of the passage papers, Mondatipa could only enter the palace and risk being detained by the Seventh Princess.

When the Seventh Princess asked him if Noble Consort Xie's illness could be treated, he hesitated for a moment but nevertheless told the truth.

　　It was true that Noble Consort Xie's illness could not be cured.

　　Mondatipa was apprehensive.

Contrary to expectations, the Seventh Princess was different from the powerful people he had met before. She did not lash out, did not take her anger out on him, and did not forcefully keep him to treat his mother.

　　She let him go straightforwardly, as agreed, and also prepared a generous gift for him.

　　The stone that was weighing on Mondatipa's heart finally fell to the ground.

　　While relieved, he felt pity.

　　The seventh princess had a graceful face, clear and flowing eyes, like the dispersing clouds at sunrise, sprinkling down magnificent and radiant light.

　　Had affinity with Buddhism.

　　Unfortunately, the princess did not believe in Buddhism.

　　Mondatipa comforted Yaoying: "Princess, everything is destined. Noble Consort is like this, but it is not a bad thing. Good and bad are interdependent. Things in this world are impermanent, following karma."

　　Yaoying smiled.

　　She did not understand the Zen meaning in the Venerable Master's words, but one thing was clear to her, she would definitely find who the person who had poisoned her was.

　　After leaving the palace gate, Mondatipa solemnly said goodbye towards Yaoying.

　　Yaoying followed his example and folded her hands together: "The route to the west has untold dangers and difficulties. May Venerable Master have a safe journey and all things go well."

　　Mondatipa said, "Many thanks, Princess."

　　Yaoying remembered one thing: "The Buddha's son that Venerable Master wants to see, is he the monarch of the Western Region's royal court, Tumoroga?"

　　Mondatipa was a little surprised, nodded and said, "Exactly."

The Western Region's royal court was different from the Central Plains. Divine power was more important than royal power, and Tumoroga was both a highly revered Buddha's son and a worldly king, a god in the hearts of the people of the Western Region.

　　He ascended to the throne as a young man, but was initially a puppet emperor controlled by the noble families and imprisoned by his ministers in a Buddhist temple to practice Buddhism.