Thousand Miles of Bright Moonlight

Chapter 6: Wrath

　　Mondatipa said with a smile, "Buddha is known for his compassion. I dare not refuse what the princess has requested."

A big stone dropped in Yaoying's heart. She made an appointment with Mondatipa to send someone to pick him up from Daci'en Temple and bring to the palace the next day, left a generous gift, and took her leave.

　　A Chinese disciple of Mondatipa's sent Li Yaoying out of the Daci'en Temple, several times wanting to say something but hesitating.

　　Yaoying turned her gaze to the disciple's face and said with a light smile, "I am grateful to Venerable for taking the time to treat my mother. Let me know if there is anything I can do to relieve the Venerable Master's worries."

The disciple was relieved and said with his palms pressed together in prayer, "I am not going to hide it from Princess. The Venerable Master is about to travel westward. He came at this time to the capital to see the relics, but also for the customs clearance document."

　　Yaoying suddenly realized.

No wonder Mondatipa was so polite. It turned out he had a request.

The Wei empire had a strict border. If Mondatipa wanted to peacefully travel westward, he had to have a customs clearance document. Otherwise he would be shot by the guards just after leaving Jin City.

She smiled and said, "That's not difficult. I'll have someone send the required documents to Venerable tomorrow."

　　To her, it was a simple matter of lifting her finger to ask for a clearance document.

　　The disciple thanked her profusely.

　　Yaoying asked curiously, "Why does Venerable Master want to go to the Western Regions?"

　　The Western Regions had been in turmoil for decades. With the Tubo, Turkic, Xianbei, Huihe, Khitan, Tartar, and other tribal forces, large and small, warring against each other, how could it simply be described with the word 'turmoil'.

　　The formerly prosperous Silk Road was now littered with dead bones. Even the merchants who valued money over their lives were afraid to set foot in the Western Regions.

　　Was Mondatipa not afraid that he would die under the sword of bandits as soon as he stepped out of the Central Plains?

　　The disciple replied: "There is a Buddhist kingdom in the Western Regions that has collected over ten thousand scrolls of scriptures and established more than one hundred Buddhist temples. Everyone, from the country's lord to the common people, all worship Buddha. It is rumored that the monarch of this generation is both a king and a senior monk. Intelligent from a young age, he was able to read at the age of three, write scriptures at the age of seven, and at the age of ten, ascended to the throne to teach the Dharma, becoming famous in the Western Regions. Venerable Master has long wanted to go on a trip and discuss the Dharma with that senior monk. Venerable Master said that he is wholeheartedly devoted to the Buddha and that the Buddha would surely bless him with peace and safety."

Buddhist kingdom in the Western Regions?

　　Shule, Qiuci, Gaochang, Yutian, or Yanqi?

　　Famous monarch and senior monk in the Western Regions.....

　　A name crossed Yaoying's mind.

　　If she guessed correctly, the senior monk that Mondatipa wanted to see should be that person.

A person who left Li Xuanzhen unable to rest in peace.

A person who died in their prime. When the news of his death came out, the civil and military ministers of more than ten large and small countries and tribes, such as the Wei empire in the Central Plains, Tubo, Mongols2 in the north, and the Khitan, all simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief.

On the way back to the palace, Li Yaoying did some mental calculations.

　　If Mondatipa departed and set off now, he should be able to find the Buddhist kingdom before the senior monk's death, and could still discuss the Dharma with that senior monk.

　　......

The sound of people was noisy to her ears, and the faint fragrance of sweet wine, fat powder, cable cake, and buttery hubing mixed together in the light breeze blowing on her face.

The road was jammed with carriages and horses and the sound of brass bells. As one got closer to the imperial city, the more carriages and pedestrians there were on the road.

　　The Wusun horse was tame and docile, and its speed gradually slowed down.

　　Pedestrians on both sides of the road cast astonished glances. Ahead, the women in cattle carts and mule carts lifted the curtain to look back. When their eyes fell on Li Yaoying's face, they ordered their servants to yield the road.

　　Li Yaoying came back to her senses and realized that she was so absorbed in her thoughts that she forgot to put on her curtain hat when she came out of Daci'en Temple.

　　Xie Qing handed her a curtain hat, and she took it. She looked up at the walls of the square and found that she had already passed Xuanyung Square. Further ahead was Pingkang Square, where the Qin buildings and Chu pavilions were located, and Chongren Square, where the high-ranking and prominent officials lived.

　　Whether it was in war or peace, this was the most prosperous place in Chang'an.

No wonder that up ahead was a crowd so crammed that not even a drop of water could seep through.

　　Xie Qing swept a glance behind: "Your Highness, do you want to drive them away?"

　　Yaoying glanced behind her, put on her curtain hat, and lowered her head to adjust her belt: "No need to bother."

　　Every time she went out of the palace, the rich sons of the capital who were idle because of their families' status would gather around her like a swarm of bees smelling the sweet scent of nectar, and follow her around with great interest.

　　She never paid any attention to them.

　　A dozen zhang (10ft) behind them, the young teenage sons in brocade robes caught Li Yaoying's momentary glance before she put on the curtain hat, and their blood surged up in their bodies, chattering, "The Seventh Princess looked at us!"

　　"The Seventh Princess smiled at me!"

　　"We see through your pair of tricks. How could the Seventh Princess smile at you? Don't make a fool of yourself!"

　　The teenage boys were so excited that their faces were flushed.

　　But no one dared to go forward.

　　No one wanted to become the second Xue wulang.