Chapter 17
He actually had not wanted to go to the palace to treat Noble Consort Xie.
When he was in Shu, Mondatipa often dealt with high officials and noble personnes. Most of them were courteous in etiquette and refined in bearing, claiming to be devoted, very keen on Buddhist rituals and scriptures, but acted in a brutal manner, selfish and unfeeling, with no regard for the lives of the lower class.
When Mondatipa left Shu, the powerful people who used to regard him as their guest immediately turned against him, forcibly detained him and his disciples, threatening him by killing his attendants.
He escaped from Shu and his determination to go to the Western Regions became stronger, but the overseer of the Daci’en Temple told him that he would die in Jincheng without the passage papers.
For the sake of the passage papers, Mondatipa could only enter the palace and risk being detained by the Seventh Princess.
When the Seventh Princess asked him if Noble Consort Xie’s illness could be treated, he hesitated for a moment but nevertheless told the truth.
It was true that Noble Consort Xie’s illness could not be cured.
Mondatipa was apprehensive.
Contrary to expectations, the Seventh Princess was different from the powerful people he had met before. She did not lash out, did not take her anger out on him, and did not forcefully keep him to treat his mother.
She let him go straightforwardly, as agreed, and also prepared a generous gift for him.
The stone that was weighing on Mondatipa’s heart finally fell to the ground.
While relieved, he felt pity.
The seventh princess had a graceful face, clear and flowing eyes, like the dispersing clouds at sunrise, sprinkling down magnificent and radiant light.
Had affinity with Buddhism.
Unfortunately, the princess did not believe in Buddhism.
Mondatipa comforted Yaoying: “Princess, everything is destined. Noble Consort is like this, but it is not a bad thing. Good and bad are interdependent. Things in this world are impermanent, following karma.”
Yaoying smiled.
She did not understand the Zen meaning in the Venerable Master’s words, but one thing was clear to her, she would definitely find who the person who had poisoned her was.
After leaving the palace gate, Mondatipa solemnly said goodbye towards Yaoying.
Yaoying followed his example and folded her hands1 together: “The route to the west has untold dangers and difficulties. May Venerable Master have a safe journey and all things go well.”
Mondatipa said, “Many thanks, Princess.”
Yaoying remembered one thing: “The Buddha’s son that Venerable Master wants to see, is he the monarch of the Western Region’s royal court, Tumoroga2?”
Mondatipa was a little surprised, nodded and said, “Exactly.”
……
The Western Region’s royal court was different from the Central Plains. Divine power was more important than royal power, and Tumoroga was both a highly revered Buddha’s son and a worldly king, a god in the hearts of the people of the Western Region.
He ascended to the throne as a young man, but was initially a puppet emperor controlled by the noble families and imprisoned by his ministers in a Buddhist temple to practice Buddhism.
When Tumoroga was thirteen years old, the Northern Rong2 khan led a 30,000-strong army to raid the royal city.
The army led by the noble families were no match for the Northern Rong’s. They surrendered and fled in disarray.
Tumoroga was secluded, residing deep within the Buddhist temple. When he learned the news, the Buddhist temple was already heavily surrounded.
The monks persuaded him to surrender, saying that he was the Buddha’s son and that the Northern Rong’s khan had attacked the royal city in order to capture him alive to command the Western Regions.
Unwilling to be held captive by the Northern Rong, Tumoroga calmly commanded the monk soldiers loyal to him, escaped from the royal city, and then gathered the scattered royal court’s army, returning to attack the Northern Rong army.
When the two armies fought, Buddha’s son, Tumoroga, wearing a vivid purple-red monk’s robe, one man and his horse, rode in front of the troops.
The robe was fluttering, solitary and glorious.
It was like a god descending to the earth.
It boosted the morale of the monk soldiers and the army, they burst out with amazing fighting strength and charged forward without fearing death.
With a mere two thousand men, they drove the rampant Northern Rong army out of the royal court.
The invincible Northern Rong khan did not expect to lose to a teenager. Remembering the bizarre legends about the birth of the Buddha’s son, his heart had lingering fears and he turned back east to continue annexing other tribes in the grassland, not daring to rashly provoke the royal court again.
The thirteen-year-old Tumoroga defeated the unbeatable and arrogant Northern Rong against all odds. With unprecedented prestige, he took advantage of the situation to regain the throne and establish his rule over the royal court.
Since then, north of the Western Regions had been in peace for ten years.
……
A few years ago, a monk from the Western Regions was stranded in Shu by accident. Mondatipa and he had been in contact for some time, and heard him describe in detail the Western Regions’ Buddhist kingdom in the yellow sand, so he knew the life story of Tumoroga.
After years of war, the Central Plains and the Western Regions have been separated for decades. Currently, the Western Regions’ countries all thought that the Central Plains were still ruled by a unified dynasty.
The Central Plains knew even less about the Western Regions.
Mondatipa did not expect that Li Yaoying had actually heard of the name Tumoroga.
In fact, Yaoying not only knew of Tumoroga, but also knew that this Buddhist monk would not live past several years.
Probably confirming the saying that the wise will be hurt3, Tumoroga grew up in poor health. As a teenager, he personally went to the battlefield and led the monk soldiers in battle, and very soon became too sick to get out of bed and ride a horse.
He was a devout Buddhist monk and still lived in the Buddhist temple, suppressing ambitious and vigorous noble families using his identity as Buddha’s son, balancing the various forces and deterring Northern Rong.
The Northern Rong khan feared Tumoroga.
A few years later, Li Xuanzhen was also afraid.
They both wanted to take over the northern path of the Western Regions in one fell swoop. The former was intimidated by Tumoroga ten years ago and dared not attack the royal court. The latter Li Xuanzhen also repeatedly suffered defeats.
Just like in the legend, Tumoroga was Buddha’s son, with the blessing of the heavens and Buddha, succeeding in every endeavor.
Northern Rong and the Wei empire had no strategy left, having no choice but to wait for the day when Tumoroga became ill and died.
Tumoroga knew that if he lived one more day, the people of the royal court would live another day. Once he died, the people of the Western Regions would be trampled by the iron hooves of the Northern Rong. The young men would be massacred, and the elderly, women and children would be reduced to slaves.
He endured the pain and suffering, and supported the unstable royal court with his sick and weak body, but finally died of an unfortunate illness.
It was said that when he died, he was already suffering from the pain of his illness until he no longer had a human appearance.
A month later, the royal court kingdom was destroyed.
Yaoying sympathized a little with Tumoroga.
She was also frail and sickly, but she was taken care of wholeheartedly by her brother and did not suffer much. Tumoroga, however, had to cultivate hard with a sickly body. In his brief twenty-something years, every day was torture.
Probably only a strong-willed senior monk like him could endure so many painful torments that were unbearable for ordinary people.
She silently lamented in her heart and did not ask any further questions. She said goodbye to Mondatipa, and watched the Venerable Master walk away surrounded by his disciples.
She didn’t know if the Venerable Master would be able to see Tumoroga successfully.
……
Princess’s residence.
After Li Xuanzhen left last night, Zhu Luyun cried all night. When she got up in the morning and looked in the mirror, her two eyes were swollen like rotten peaches.
Her attendant whispered, “Princess, last night, the Crown Prince stood in the courtyard until midnight before leaving.”
Zhu Luyun’s red and swollen eyes filled with glistening tears again and she cried, “What’s the use of him standing there until midnight? I begged him to lead troops to save my aunt, but he refused to say anything!”
The attendant carefully persuaded and coaxed, rambling about this and that, saying a load of good but worthless words.
Zhu Luyun dried her tears: “My aunt is the only family I have left in this world, I must bring her back!”
She turned over the letter that her aunt had entrusted her faithful servant to deliver to her, read it through once, and made up her mind.
”You go to Yining Square and tell the people of the Yelu tribe that I am willing to get married!”
The servant hung her head in response, the corners of her mouth gently hooked up.
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Author’s Note:
Mondatipa: a great doctor who had been deeply hurt and troubled by the powerful nobles.
1 Like in a prayer/praying posture.
2 Last name Tumo, first name Roga (in my head, i pronounce it like roha). I combined it because I first read this novel by MTL and I got used to seeing his name in one word. I kept debating how to translate his name so in some chapters, it may be a little different. Please let me know if I ever type it differently.
3 I’ve decided to change Beirong to Northern Rong and Nanchu to Southern Chu just because they look better. Apologies to everyone who may be confused! Will be going back and fixing what needs to be fixed when I’m free.
4 If one is too smart, it would be easier to see through the world and experience the world’s hardships.