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.

    When he was young, his relatives were brutally slaughtered by the Zhang clan. Consequently, Princess Chima hated the Han Chinese, yet he did not take his anger out on the innocent, always benevolent.

    Yaoying and her elder brother Li Zhongqian had been living a careful life for more than ten years because of Li De’s and Li Xuanzhen’s anger, this father and son duo. It was hard not to feel touched when meeting a monarch like Tumoroga, who has gone through ups and downs and still managed to remain a magnanimous and generous monarch in these times of chaos.

    She held such a person in high regard.

    Unfortunately, she couldn’t help him much.

    Yaoying was lost in thought for a moment. She took a step forward and sat down on the edge of the couch. From the table next to her, she picked up a wooden tray that held flowers. She took the gauze, folded it into the shape of a yuanbao1, and gently tucked it next to Tumoroga’s kasaya, resting it near his legs.

    A few of the surrounding guards were flabbergasted, not knowing what she wanted to do, and did not move for a while.

    Tumoroga was staring blankly.

    Yaoying probingly shifted half of her body forward, carefully adjusting the position of the wooden tray. Strands of raven hair fell with the movement, swaying in the candlelight. The crimson silk ribbon used to tie her hair hung around her neck, making her snow-white skin emit a smooth gel-like luster.

    In the room full of a strong fragrance, she had a light, sweet fragrance.

    “Venerable, try it. You might feel better.”

    Yaoying lifted her head and smiled at Tumoroga, her bright eyes curved into two crescent moons.

    When she was young, she could not get on her feet and walk, only able to lie down or lean every day. This was the method the healer taught her.

    There was bewilderment floating through Tumoroga’s eyes—but it was still faint, like drifting clouds breezing through a clear sky, without a ripple.

    He understood and pressed his hands together.

    Yaoying returned the courtesy, getting up to leave.

    She couldn’t do anything for him; she only hoped that this man would be in less pain before he died.

    Yuanjue walked Yaoying out of the main hall.

    As the two crossed the long corridor, two growls suddenly sounded from the corner.

    The soldiers on guard drew back.

    The growls became deeper, carrying a warning note.

    Yaoying looked up and a cold shiver rolled over her body.

    A leopard with a speckled coat stood in the shadows of the wall. With arrogance, it looked down on everyone, its light yellow leopard eyes emitting a frightening glow in the dim night.

    Yuanjue blocked in front of Yaoying and gulped nervously.

    “This is a leopard raised by the Regent. It has not been tamed and only listens to the Regent’s words… Princess, by all means, you must not move, must not look at it!”

    Yaoying averted her line of sight and did not move—seeing the leopard lurking in the dark, her legs had gone a little soft. She could not move even if she wanted to.

    After a few moments of confrontation between man and leopard, footsteps came from the depths of the long corridor, and a tall figure flashed by.

    Yuanjue hurriedly shouted in a low voice: “Regent, Ali is here!”

    The figure moved, the sword at his waist glimmering coldly, then turned and went in another direction. The leopard rose and leaped down the high wall, following.

    Yaoying breathed a sigh of relief.

    The Taiji Palace in Chang’an kept a lot of rare and exotic animals and beasts. Li Zhongqian often took her to amuse herself in her spare time. Among them was the leopard, but those exotic animals were offered as tribute, domesticated and tamed. She had never seen such a ferocious leopard.

    This night, Banruo and Ashina Bisha had not rushed back to the Holy City.

    The candles in the main hall burned all night, and the Central Army knights left behind in the Holy City rushed back to the palace, which was heavily guarded.

    In less than two shichen, the news that the Regent had cut off one of Xueyana’s hands spread throughout the Holy City. The court ministers temporarily laid low, quietly recalling their spies who were scouting outside the palace. Those who were timid even offered generous gifts to the palace.

    While the monks inside the temple were praying for Tumoroga, Mondatipa went back to his courtyard to pack his belongings and gather his disciples and attendants, preparing to depart.

    Yaoying had already packed her things long ago and left together with Mondatipa and his disciples.

    After leaving the palace gate, Mondatipa looked back at the royal palace behind him and sighed deeply: “This poor monk is incompetent and could not save Buddha’s son.”

    Yaoying urged her horse to keep pace with him and asked, “Why didn’t you wait a few more days?”

    Mondatipa turned back and pressed his hands together: “There are no more days.”

    Yaoying was silent.

    Mondatipa continued, “Buddha’s son is kind-hearted and worried that the ministers of the Royal Court would make things difficult for this poor monk and the princess. When this poor monk first came to the Royal Court, I had debated with Buddha’s son and lost to him. This poor monk and Buddha’s son made a pact to stay and treat him, and today is the day when that period comes to an end. If I leave today, the minister of the Royal Court will have no reason to detain this poor monk.”

    He lost to Tumoroga. According to the rules of debating scriptures, it was right to worship Tumoroga as his master. However, Tumoroga said that the Buddhist scriptures they studied were different, pursuing different liberations, so he dared not be his master. He only asked him to stay as the royal doctor of the palace and leave when the period was over.

I’m back, guys! Except I’m currently on vacation so if nothing goes wrong, I’m hoping that I can get next week’s chapters up on time. Also, I’ve been meaning to ask but how do most of you read TMBM? On mobile, tablet, laptop? On the website, on WordPress? Let me know because I want to do some format changes so your reading experience is nice on whatever platform you use to read.

1 Yuanbao: Meaning treasure, it was the ancient currency of China in the shape below. The picture I found was really cute :)