BW Extra 11

Mingsang × Yan Jinzhou

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The ancient temple of ten thousand years sat nestled in the secluded deep mountains, with bell sounds drifting distantly through the misty rain.

Behind the temple, towering and sturdy ginkgo trees reached toward the sky, their golden leaves scattered all over the ground.

The cold morning mist was difficult for even the rising sun to dispel. A handsome young monk in thin robes lowered his brows and eyes, walking down the stone steps with a broom in hand.

Before he could even sweep once, a small round fruit struck his monk’s robe.

“Little monk!” A cheerful yet teasing voice rang out from above.

Mingsang looked up and saw a young woman in bright red fitted clothing sitting on a tree branch, waving at him. Her high ponytail swayed back and forth in the mist, the silver bells tied to it chiming crisply. Her bright and captivating eyes were full of laughter, as if just having him lift his head to look at her was enough to fill her heart with joy and delight.

Mingsang lowered his gaze and began sweeping the fallen leaves covering the ground.

“Hey, little monk, I waited here for you all night. Won’t you even say a word to me?” Yan Jinzhou crossed her arms and leaned against the tree trunk, one leg swinging above his head. Her slender, well-shaped calf was half-wrapped in black boots, and the red gauze on her dress hem had long been dampened by morning dew.

She had indeed waited a long time.

Mingsang thought as he swept, but what of it? This was a pure land of Buddhism, he was cultivating in ascetic practice at Jiting Sect, and she shouldn’t have come here.

The soft sound of landing reached his ears as boots stepped on fallen leaves.

Mingsang suddenly looked up and saw a smiling face very close to his, brighter and more radiant than the morning sun he had seen over the mountain gates of Jiting Sect.

The handsome little monk froze in place, as if startled by her.

Yan Jinzhou put her hands behind her back and leaned forward, making as if to kiss him.

Mingsang’s handsome face suddenly flushed red. He retreated dozens of zhang in one swift motion, causing countless golden fallen leaves throughout the courtyard to swirl and dance in his spiritual power.

Cheerful, teasing laughter penetrated the morning mist and fell into his ears.

His heart pounded like thunder.

Distant Buddhist chanting came from the boundless empty valley, firmly suppressing the palpitations that shouldn’t exist.

The red-clothed young woman was like a beautiful butterfly, alighting before him. She tilted her head, then slyly curved her eyes with a cunning smile. “Little monk, why is your face so red?”

She must have practiced some evil technique, sucking all the air around him dry, making it impossible to breathe.

Mingsang threw down his broom, gripped the prayer beads in his hand tightly, and turned to leave.

“Little monk!” Yan Jinzhou cheerfully followed after him. “Wait for me!”

“Benefactor Yan, this is Jiting Sect. Please refrain from making noise.” Mingsang said politely but distantly.

“I’m not making noise.” Yan Jinzhou unexpectedly took his arm and leaned against it, saying in a soft, sweet voice. “Brother Mingsang~ I really like you so much~”

Mingsang stumbled and missed a step. Yan Jinzhou quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him back, then covered her mouth in surprise. “Oh my, Brother Mingsang, are you alright?”

“You… you need to act normal.” Mingsang said with a flushed face and red ears.

“I am acting normal. This is called acting cute with you.” Yan Jinzhou said proudly. “I learned it when I went to the mortal realm before. Do you like it?”

“No.” Mingsang muttered out a single word, shook off her arm, and continued walking forward.

“Alright then, I’ll just call you little monk.” Yan Jinzhou followed behind him like a lively little tail, saying happily, “Your sect master has specially permitted me to stay in the temple for two months. From now on, I’ll accompany you every day to sweep and do chores.”

Mingsang looked at the fallen leaves covering the ground and fell into silence. “There’s no need to trouble Benefactor Yan.”

“Don’t call me benefactor. You can call me Jinzhou, Zhou Zhou, Xiao Zhou, Ah Jin, Yan Yan… Little monk, don’t walk away! Wait for me!” Yan Jinzhou chased after him again.

If one had to describe the two months Yan Jinzhou lived at Jiting Sect, only the phrase “utter chaos” would suffice.

However, Yan Jinzhou was clearly enjoying every moment of it.

“…Little monk, your hands are really beautiful, so slender and long.”

“Your neck is beautiful too, and your collarbones are pretty. Can I touch them?”

“If you won’t let me touch them, then I won’t. Why are you getting angry, little monk!”

“I want to eat vegetarian food, little monk, you make it for me! Your master agreed to it!”

“Little monk, little monk, little monk!”

Noisy, overly lively, completely indifferent to others’ opinions, stubborn… yet somehow not annoying at all—a strange person.

She could even become close friends with the old monk who watched over the spiritual beasts on the back mountain.

But she couldn’t move the iron-hard heart of little Zen Master Mingsang.

****

Even those who were always lively had their unhappy moments.

Yan Jinzhou sat on the stone steps and said to another little monk. “Your junior brother is really too much. I’ve decided not to like him anymore. I’ll like you from now on instead, okay?”

Ming Fan’s face immediately turned red, and he stammered, “No, no, no, can’t, can’t can’t——“

“Ah, you said I can!” Yan Jinzhou teased him.

Ming Fan was so flustered he was about to cry.

Yan Jinzhou laughed wickedly. “Oh my, so cute.”

“Yan Jinzhou.” A slightly cold and somewhat irritated voice came from behind her.

Yan Jinzhou’s face showed a triumphant smile. She turned around in feigned surprise. “Mingsang, you called my name!”

The young man standing behind her had a tense expression and was looking at her with complete seriousness.

It was one thing to constantly try to disturb his Buddhist heart, but to also bully his senior brother was truly too much.

Fortunately, his poor senior brother took the opportunity to quickly slip away.

Yan Jinzhou looked at him with an innocent expression and smiled. “Little monk, I’m leaving.”

The anger that had just built up seemed to have a hole suddenly poked in it. With one gust of wind, it instantly vanished without a trace, leaving only a shell of fierce appearance but inner weakness.

“You still have to attend classes at Wanxuan Academy. I don’t like being controlled by others, and besides, I can’t enter Wanxuan Academy anyway.” Yan Jinzhou stood up and dusted off her hands. “So I’m going elsewhere to play.”

Mingsang pressed his lips together and said nothing.

“Little monk, see me off. I’ve kept you company for two whole months.”

The young woman came closer, carrying the faint fragrance of the wind. Mingsang instinctively dodged, then felt somewhat annoyed, then puzzled, until finally even he couldn’t tell what kind of emotion it was.

Empty and hollow, lost and without anchor.

Jiting Sect was in the deep mountains. Sword flying and magic arrays were forbidden in the mountains, so one could only walk. Every time he left the mountain, Mingsang felt it was a very long journey.

But today he felt this journey was particularly short.

The setting sun slanted its rays, the winding path led through quiet places. Mingsang walked quietly on the road, lowering his eyes and gripping his prayer beads.

Yan Jinzhou bounced and hopped along the railing. She seemed naturally unable to understand how to write the words “steady” and “quiet.” Even departure and farewell made her happy.

The vermillion dress hem and light red gauze danced in the evening glow, occasionally brushing against the sandalwood prayer beads hanging from Mingsang’s hands. The distant scent of agarwood merged with the faint clear fragrance, lingering briefly in the misty rain.

The little monk who stubbornly refused to enter the mortal world smelled the scent of parting for the first time.

****

Yan Jinzhou was a free and unrestrained rogue cultivator with a carefree personality. She came and went without a trace, appearing and disappearing like a ghost.

Mingsang never knew where he would see her next.

His personality was dull, and he wasn’t particularly likeable. With other friends like Ning Xingyuan, Chu Linyuan, and Sang Yun, Yan Jinzhou was much more intimate.

In comparison, she seemed more like she was just toying with him.

For a very long time, he thought this way, but it didn’t matter.

Buddhist cultivators must not be moved to emotion, because they originally had no heart.

But Yan Jinzhou seemed not to know how to give up. Even if he rejected her thousands of times, there would still be a next time.

Sometimes she would come find him many times in a year, sometimes only once every three to five years. Intermittently, without knowledge or awareness, many years passed this way.

The young woman of those days had long since grown into a bright and captivating woman. Only she continued to go her own way as always. In her youth she still loved to dress up, but now she wore a drab gray robe and carried a sword. When she occasionally came to find him, she would sometimes have injuries on her body.

“Why do you fight?” He had never known what to do with Yan Jinzhou. No matter how harshly he spoke, she would still cling to him. The current Zen Master Mingsang was powerless, so he could only place healing pills and healing talismans in her hands.

“They were asking for it, thinking this old lady was easy to bully.” Yan Jinzhou leaned against the headboard, completely without restraint as she pulled off the tattered clothing from her shoulder, revealing a bloody wound.

Mingsang lowered his eyes, looking straight ahead, and turned to leave. But his monk’s robe was grabbed by someone.

“Monk, I can’t reach it.” Yan Jinzhou said weakly. “Help me out.”

Her voice was truly weak, and the hand gripping his sleeve was trembling slightly. For such a normally strong person to plead this way, she must really be suffering terribly…

Mingsang pressed his lips together and looked up. “Just this once——“

But he suddenly stopped speaking.

Her face bore a teasing and triumphant smile. She was shaking with laughter all over, clearly just playing with him.

Mingsang angrily shook off her hand and turned to leave.

Yan Jinzhou was immediately stunned. Only belatedly did she realize what she had missed, and was instantly filled with regret. “Monk? Little monk! Mingsang! I really am in pain—— I thought you wouldn’t—— Hey, come back! Apply medicine for me!”

Mingsang closed the door of his meditation room, silently recited scriptures, and the prayer beads in his hand spun rapidly. But they still couldn’t spin faster than the heartbeat in that instant when he looked up.

A little monk whose six roots were not pure.

(TL: “六根” refers to the six sense faculties in Buddhist terminology: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind.)

The teasing and mocking voice followed like a shadow.

Crack.

The string broke, and prayer beads scattered all over the floor.

Many years later, the scattered prayer beads were restrung, a new bead was added, and they were placed before Yan Jinzhou’s grave.

The wind blew, wild grass swayed. Beneath the light sandalwood color was hidden the pale red memory bead that Yan Jinzhou had left for him before she fell.

“…The bead is still there. Zen Master Mingsang didn’t look at it. Is this outer layer his memory bead?”

“Perhaps he already knows what’s inside your master’s memories.”

The once spirited and bright red-clothed young woman hopped along the railing, suddenly turning around. Behind her, the orange evening glow covering the mountains looked like blooming bodhi flowers.

“Little monk, I like you so much. Do you like me or not?”

The young monk who had been lowering his gaze looked up. In the distance, the deep Buddhist bell rang out thunderously.

But it could no longer make him lower his eyes.

“Amitabha.”

The wind blew again, and the prayer beads turned to fine powder, scattering before this ancient grave.

Where can dust be stirred up?