A Pawn’s Passage

Sage Qingwei sat in the seat usually reserved for the Chief Abbot at Jinsho-ji, with Yagyu Sosei to his left and Aobozu to his right.

Though kneeling was an ancient tradition in the Central Plains, most people were no longer accustomed to it since the advent of chairs. Sage Qingwei simply sat cross-legged in a meditative posture.

Yagyu Sosei knelt in a formal seiza position, upright and solemn, ready to draw his sword at any moment.

Due to his broad, flat feet, Aobozu could only sit with his legs splayed out in a casual posture, softly chanting scriptures in the Wa language.

Sage Qingwei's secretary, Shen Yuqing, brought in three cups of hot tea.

"This is green tea I brought from the Central Plains. Please, have a taste," Sage Qingwei said, gesturing invitingly.

Yagyu Sosei picked up his cup, took a sip, and after savoring it for a moment, said, "This is...freshly picked tea?"

Sage Qingwei nodded. "This year's first batch of Mingqian tea, picked just as the buds emerged overnight."

Mingqian tea referred to fresh tea leaves picked before the Qingming Festival. Typically, the best Mingqian tea was harvested a day before the Qingming Festival. If it were too early, the leaves would be too tender. If it were too late, they would be overgrown. This year, the Qingming Festival fell on February 14, so this tea must have been picked on the 13th.

It was currently February 15, which meant that this Mingqian tea was delivered from the distant Jiangzhou to Fenglin within just three days.

This could be seen as Sage Qingwei indulging in luxury, but it also served as a subtle demonstration of the Daoist Order's logistical prowess through such seemingly minor details.

Warfare required money, and the clearest evidence of that lay in logistics. If the Daoist Order could deliver freshly picked Mingqian tea to Fenglin within 3 days, could anyone doubt the sufficiency of other supplies?

With such immense transport capacity, it was almost no different from fighting on home turf for the Daoist forces.

Yagyu Sosei immediately grasped the subtle implication, his expression shifting slightly as he sighed, "Thanks to you, I get to taste fresh Mingqian. Even the maritime merchants who trade such tea from Jiangzhou to Fenglin can't deliver it in under a month, and even sealed in jars, it inevitably loses its freshness."

Sage Qingwei smiled and said, "If you enjoy it, I can send you a few grams of this, Sekishusai."

"Then I shall accept your generosity with gratitude," Yagyu Sosei said, leaning forward slightly.

Aobozu, however, did not touch his teacup. He stopped chanting and turned his gaze to Sage Qingwei.

He was not a noble and cared little for such matters.

Sage Qingwei said, "Master, you have just spoken at length about many issues in Fenglin, all of which strike to the heart of the matter. In truth, these are precisely the concerns of the Daoist Order. In your view, are these issues independent of one another, or do they share a common root?"

Aobozu pressed his palms together and replied, "Sage, your insight is as clear as candlelight in the dark. On the surface, these matters seem unrelated. But as you said, they are in truth various manifestations of the same problem from different angles."

Sage Qingwei asked, "And what is this root cause?"

Aobozu answered concisely, "Mount Fuyo."

Sage Qingwei said, "I've heard of Mount Fuyo. In Fenglin, it's also called the Mountain of Eternal Life, so many regard it as a sacred mountain. I've even heard that women are forbidden from climbing this mountain. Is that true?"

Yagyu Sosei replied, "Such a rule does exist, but women are not banned from the mountain, only from setting foot on its summit."

Sage Qingwei asked, "Have you been to Mount Fuyo, Sekishusai?"

Yagyu Sosei nodded. "I've been there three times. The first was before I came of age, when I accompanied my late father to the summit. The second time was in my prime, when I had made some progress in swordsmanship and went there to seek enlightenment. The last time was ten years ago, simply to enjoy the scenery. The summit of Mount Fuyo is a land of both ice and fire. Though it's covered in snow all year round, I could distinctly feel intense heat from below, and some spots even vented steam. According to historical records, Mount Fuyo is a volcano that has erupted multiple times, causing great destruction and altering the terrain, turning sea into land. It's said that ash from its eruptions can blanket nearly half of Fenglin, turning the ocean into farmland and leaving ashes like snow."

Sage Qingwei's expression remained calm. "Blanketing nearly half of Fenglin? That would be equivalent to several prefectures in the Central Plains. For a single volcano, that level of destruction does seem exaggerated."

Sage Qingwei turned again to Aobozu. "Master, is the great fire of Mount Fuyo related to the various anomalies in Fenglin?"

Aobozu nodded. "They are indeed connected."

Sage Qingwei asked, "How much do you know about it?"

Aobozu gave an indirect reply. "When I was still a monk, I had a junior fellow disciple named Anchin. At that time, we were ascetic monks, journeying together to Kumano Province for our practice. On the way, we stayed overnight at a family's home. The lady of the house was named Kiyohime. We thought it was just a fleeting encounter with a stranger, but that night, Kiyohime fell in love with Anchin and tried everything to make him stay.

"But Anchin made an excuse, saying he would return to visit Kiyohime after making his pilgrimage to Kumano. He left, and Kiyohime waited for him, eventually realizing she had been deceived. She cast off even her shoes and began chasing after him, day and night, enduring all manner of hardship. By the time she nearly caught up to him on the road to Dojo-ji, she no longer resembled a human nor a ghost.

"Seeing that his lie was about to be exposed, Anchin hurriedly prayed to the gods of Kumano to bind Kiyohime, then quickly crossed the Hidaka River and fled to Dojo-ji to seek refuge from me, hiding inside the temple's great bell. When Kiyohime arrived at the riverbank, the boats were gone, but she still leapt into the river without hesitation and transformed into a serpent-bodied woman to continue her pursuit.

"The demonic Kiyohime felt hatred toward Anchin. When she entered Dojo-ji and discovered that he was hiding inside the great bell, she coiled her serpentine body around it. Yet, she could not break through its solid structure. Unwilling to give up, she burned Anchin to death inside the bell."

Sage Qingwei listened calmly to the tale without a trace of impatience and simply said, "For the living to transform into demons due to resentment, obsession, or curses is quite common in Fenglin. Master, what is the significance of this story you've told me?"

Aobozu continued, "That event shook me greatly. I delved into countless ancient texts and personally traveled to many places, trying to discover the root of this human-to-demon transformation. Eventually, I arrived at a conclusion. It appears to be related to incense power.

"Sage, you must know that divine power is extracted from incense power, or rather, divine power is simply incense power in its purest, most refined form. This incense power stems from the human heart and beliefs. As long as one genuinely acknowledges, believes in, or clings to something or someone, they generate incense power. Since divine power can accomplish anything, logically speaking, incense power is no different in essence and can do the same.

"So the conclusion I reached is that many people become demons because they lose their object of faith. They believe neither in the Buddha nor in the gods, so their incense power is not gathered by any divine vessel and instead remains within them. A monk from the Central Plains once said that doubt in the heart breeds hidden demons. If one's heart is full of light, there is no room for demons. But if it is filled with resentment and obsession, they will inevitably be affected by such emotions. In the end, their internal incense power, led by these obsessions and resentments, transforms into a twisted form of divine power, turning them into demons.

"I originally believed that was the full answer, that the solution was simply to promote Buddhist Dharma. As long as people sincerely believe in Buddha, they will not become demons. After all, Buddhism in Fenglin is quite different from that of the Central Plains. Monks here can still marry and have children, and positions are passed from father to son rather than from master to disciple. However, Fenglin Buddhism's decline was inevitable, since monks neither cultivated themselves nor produced anything. They seized land, levied harsh taxes, behaved improperly, indulged in luxury, and even kept catamites. It was only natural that the common people no longer believed in Buddhism."

Sage Qingwei said, "You mentioned that you originally believed this theory. That suggests you later came to another conclusion, right?"

Aobozu gave a slight nod and continued, "Only after I became a demon myself did I realize that whether one has sincere faith or not makes little difference. Even those wholly devoted to Buddha can become demons. I left the monastery, took on the form of a Komuso monk, and wandered across all of Fenglin. Eventually, I reached the summit of Mount Fuyo. There, I felt a very familiar presence. I had faintly sensed that aura within myself before, and I had seen it on others, too, though not strongly. But the one who made the deepest and most unforgettable impression on me was Kiyohime."

At last, Aobozu explained why he began with the story of Kiyohime.

Ever perceptive, Sage Qingwei had already linked the two stories without needing further explanation. "Earlier, Sekishusai mentioned that Mount Fuyo erupted in massive firestorms several times, with ash blanketing half of Fenglin. The key there is fire. Just now, you spoke of Kiyohime's story, of how she burned Anchin to death. Again, it involves fire. The two seem related, but do you have any evidence to support this hypothesis?"

Aobozu explained, "Sixty years ago, the Fenglin Daoist Mansion conducted a secret investigation into this matter. They even invited a Cardinal Bishop from the Western Holy Court. As someone who had long studied this subject within the Fenglin Buddhist Sect, I was recommended to participate. We reached one conclusion—buried beneath Mount Fuyo is not an ordinary fire. The Daoists call it yin fire, the Holy Court calls it frenzied flame, and Fenglin Buddhists call it demonic fire. It is the fire of an evil god."