Thousand Miles of Bright Moonlight

Chapter 98: Saved

The hall echoed with the solemn and sacred Sanskrit chanting.

Fragrant flowers stacked like a mountain. The gold and silver body of the Bodhisattva held a lotus branch in one hand and a lotus flower in the other, eyes downcast, its expression compassionate.

On the jeweled couch, Tumoroga wore a kasaya robe. His face emaciated, eyes abstruse, there seemed to be a faint, dense Buddhist aura around. He seemed more like a meditating Buddha than the gold statue on the table.

He looked at Yaoying, his eyes tranquil, as if he were high in the clouds overlooking the multitude of beings.

"The Royal Court is not a place for the princess. Mondatipa will leave the Royal Court tomorrow morning, so the princess can journey with him. My personal guard Yuanjue will escort the princess to Tianzhu."

Yaoying's eyelashes trembled gently, and her long, charming eyes looked fixedly at Tumoroga.

The Northern Rong had been defeated three times in succession at the hands of Tumoroga, and Wakhan Khan and Haidu Aling did not dare to attack the Royal Court for a while. She escaped to the Royal Court, and under Tumoroga's shelter, was temporarily able to breathe a sigh of relief. However, Tumoroga was very sick, and Banruo's side still had no news. If Tumoroga died, the Royal Court would fall apart with the lightest touch. Haidu Aling would not let her go.

In the past few days, Yaoying had thought it over. If Tumoroga could not overcome his tragic disease, she would go to Tianzhu with Mondatipa and then go back to the Central Plains by sea.

So long as Haidu Aling was alive, she would never be able to return to her homeland by way of Helong. She could only detour and go to Tianzhu. Otherwise, she would still fall into the hands of Haidu Aling.

These were the decisions she made after careful consideration.

So, during the period of time she was imprisoned, she did not stay idle, pulling her personal soldiers every day to learn Sanskrit together with the monks.

She didn't expect that Tumoroga had also come up with this method.

He was the monarch of the Royal Court, and he was neither a relative nor a friend to her. Why did he consider so thoroughly for her?

Moreover, he had even arranged the manpower to escort her to Tianzhu.

He would soon be dead, but he still did not forget to think about her, a complete stranger.

Yaoying's eyes fell on Tumoroga's legs.

The loose kasaya robe covered his swollen legs, and from his outward appearance, he seemed to merely be sitting cross-legged in meditation.

This man was worshipped and revered by everyone around him in his life, guarded the Royal Court all his life, and maintained his crossed-legged posture even after his death.

When the Northern Rong captured the Holy City and rushed into the Buddhist temple, seeing his dead body, no one dared to come forward. Even Haidu Aling was unprecedentedly merciful and led his troops out of the temple.

The people of the Western Regions said that Tumoroga was really the incarnation of Ananda, so he could not spoil his mortal body, dying in meditation to attain the Way.

Yaoying had never seen a senior monk dying in mediation. She looked at Tumoroga's calm and handsome face and imagined this man hiding his condition, becoming weaker and thinner by day, enduring and meticulously caring for the Royal Court until he died alone. A faint twinge came over her heart.