Hui Chuan walked out of the barrier quietly, exposed to the sight of the neon soldiers.
Seeing Hui Chuan emerge, the soldiers did not open fire. Instead, they sent a few men back towards the military tents.
Hui Chuan wanted to rescue the children first, but as soon as the soldiers saw him approaching, they raised their guns.
Hui Chuan seemed not to notice the gleaming bayonets, continuing to approach them with a calm expression.
*Click, click*—
The sound of bullets being chambered.
Hui Chuan continued to advance.
*Bang—*
A shot rang out, the bullet grazing Hui Chuan's leg and striking a nearby stone.
Hui Chuan continued to advance.
At this moment, everyone present, whether inside or outside the temple, was stunned.
Why was this master (monk) unafraid of death?
Did he possess some extraordinary abilities or divine powers?
Unconsciously, Hui Chuan had approached the neon soldiers. He quietly picked up the crying child sitting on the ground and began to soothe him.
He stood there, unmoving, simply patting the child's back.
At this moment, a slightly hoarse voice broke the silence:
"Yoshi, the master is indeed a brave man."
Matsui Shigeng spoke in broken Dragon Country language, even clapping his hands with feigned admiration. He then approached Hui Chuan, revealing a hypocritical smile, and said, "How about this? I am also a Buddhist. I guarantee with my honor that as long as the master is willing to open the barrier, our Imperial Army will definitely escort these refugees from the temple into the city, providing them with food, clothing, and education. And you, Master, can continue to be the abbot of this temple. What do you say?"
Hui Chuan looked at the child in his arms, then at the captured soldiers who had fainted from hunger in the distance, and finally turned to see Hui Hai's young yet pale face. He nodded expressionlessly and said, "Let me take the child to my junior brother first."
Matsui Shigeng laughed heartily, exclaiming "Yoshi" several times. Then, with a wave of his hand, all the neon soldiers put away their guns and assembled. Hui Hai, along with several others, brought the captured soldiers and civilians into the temple.
As Hui Hai brushed past Hui Chuan, he grabbed Hui Chuan's sleeve and whispered, "Senior Brother! What are you doing?! You don't actually believe these neon devils, do you?!"
Hui Chuan merely shook his head and said, "Take the children and the soldiers inside. From then on, they will be your responsibility to care for."
Without waiting for Hui Hai's reply, he turned and sat on the stone steps of the mountain path facing the temple's main gate, his eyes slightly closed in meditation.
Matsui Shigeng was not in a hurry. He waited until everyone had retreated into the temple and his own battalion of soldiers had assembled. Then, drawing his samurai sword, he approached Hui Chuan and asked, "Master, can we begin?"
Hui Chuan looked at Matsui Shigeng expressionlessly and said, "I need to recite two passages of scripture to undo the barrier. Until then, please do not disturb me."
Matsui Shigeng nodded and then ordered his neon soldiers in Japanese to take their positions.
Hui Chuan calmly began: "Verse concerning the causes and conditions of sentient beings, Chapter Three, Queen Maya's Question to Ksitigarbha. Ksitigarbha said: ... eighty thousand li away, the city is pure iron, ten thousand li high, the city is ablaze, with little respite. Within the prison city, the prisons are connected, each with a different name."
As Hui Chuan recited the scripture, golden lotuses bloomed again, illuminating him with a solemn and dignified aura, like a seated Buddha.
"There is but one prison, named Avici... Ten thousand million people suffer, yet each sees himself filling the entire bed. Such is the retribution for karmic affinities..."
After reciting for a while longer, the barrier began to burn with karmic fire, and it started to recede from the top downwards.
Matsui Shigeng gave a cold smile and secretly made a gesture.
Seeing the barrier begin to dissipate, the civilians in the temple immediately cried out that Hui Chuan had believed the neon devils and was foolish. Some even quietly pulled Hui Hai's soldiers, urging them to shoot Hui Chuan.
At this moment, human nature seemed particularly complex and vivid.
"The Buddha said: Those who create evil karma will fall into the Blood Pool Hell. He also said: In hell there are evil insects called Zhu Zhu, which specialize in sucking the blood of sinners, causing them to dry up and die..."
As he reached this passage, Matsui Shigeng felt his body grow a little warm. However, remembering that it was almost two in the afternoon, he said nothing more. After all, at the current pace, the barrier would be completely gone in about an hour.
"The Ksitigarbha Sutra says: There is a blood lake, formed by the Zhu Zhu insects drinking the blood of sinners." Hui Chuan stopped here, his eyes still closed, and said, "General, the Buddha says the sea of suffering is boundless, and a turn back leads to the shore; lay down your butcher's knife and become a Buddha instantly. Now, take your troops and leave this place, and there is still a glimmer of hope."
Hui Chuan's words caused Matsui Shigeng to freeze. Then, all the neon soldiers who understood Dragon Country language burst into laughter, pointing at Hui Chuan and jeering. Some even translated Hui Chuan's words into Japanese for their comrades, laughing together.
Hui Chuan said nothing, quietly waiting for the neon people to finish their laughter.
Matsui Shigeng wiped the tears from his eyes. Once he had caught his breath, he continued his hypocritical rhetoric towards Hui Chuan: "Master, what are you saying? I brought these soldiers to assist the civilians. After all, I cannot help hundreds of people by myself, can I?"
Hui Chuan shook his head. "Since the General has made his choice, I have nothing more to say. Know that our Buddhist teachings have Bodhi compassion, and also the wrathful manifestation of Vajra. Thus have I heard: All karmic forces are taken by sentient beings themselves. The hell has fire, which can directly burn the karmic fire..."
As Hui Chuan recited the final scripture, a golden light flashed, instantly transforming into a phantom image of a monk that enveloped Hui Chuan's body. Then, this monk struck the ground with his staff, igniting the surrounding white karmic fire completely.
"Ah!!!!—"
As soon as the neon soldiers touched the white karmic fire, their clothes were torn and their faces were distorted beyond recognition. Matsui Shigeng, while ordering his subordinates to extinguish his flames, shouted in pain, "Fire! Fire! Shoot this Chih-na pig!"
"From this day forward, for hundreds of billions of kalpas, there shall be worlds. All beings in hell and the three evil paths, suffering from various sins, I vow to rescue and deliver them from the evil paths of hell, the animal realm, and the hungry ghost realm."
As Hui Chuan continued to recite the Ksitigarbha Sutra, the karmic fire burned even more intensely, and the air was filled with the nauseating smell of burning fat and muscle.
The neon soldiers could not bear the pain. For a moment, no one could obey Matsui Shigeng's orders.
"Baka yarō!" Matsui Shigeng, enduring the intense pain, ripped a gun and the soldier's arm holding it from the soldier's body. Then, he raised the gun, chambered a round, and aimed.
"And these sentient beings who receive such karmic retribution, all attain Buddhahood, and only then shall I achieve perfect enlightenment..."
*Bang!*
A bullet pierced Hui Chuan's chest. Hui Chuan involuntarily gasped, feeling intense pain in his lungs and chest muscles. With increasingly difficult breaths, Hui Chuan coughed up a mouthful of blood.
"Senior Brother!" Hui Hai quickly fired at Matsui Shigeng, but the distance was too great, and he only hit Matsui Shigeng's adjutant.
Matsui Shigeng's face was half burned, exposing bone. He glared and tried to fire again, but the gun jammed.
"Baka..." Matsui Shigeng looked at Hui Chuan, who was clutching his chest and struggling to breathe. He drew the katana from his waist and shouted, "Shinei!!!"