"Gu kid, whether you believe it or not, I really didn't lie to you. In any case, my conscience is clear."
Da Xing the Mad Monk continued, "Think about it carefully. If I needed your help, I'd have told you directly. Would I really need to trick you into coming here with roundabout methods? That would be like taking off your pants to fart—utterly pointless. Besides, given our relationship, if I were in trouble, you wouldn't just stand by and watch me die, right?"
"Heh."
Gu Qingfeng laughed. "Da Xing, our friendship isn't that deep. Don't try to act all chummy with me."
"Gu kid, if you say that, you really have no conscience! I've always considered you a friend. Is this how you treat a friend? Don't forget, you still owe me quite a few favors."
"Da Xing, are you out of your mind? When have I ever owed you favors? Quite a few? How can you even say that! If anything, it's you who owes me favors."
Hearing this, Da Xing the Mad Monk immediately flew into a rage, hopping mad. He shouted, "Gu, I never expected you to be such an ungrateful bastard! Back in the Ancient Era, when those turtle grandsons from the Western Heaven Buddhist Path wanted to judge you, wasn't it me who stepped in and smoothed things over? Can you deny that?"
"That counts?"
Gu Qingfeng chuckled in disbelief. "Da Xing, have you lost your mind? Back then, if you hadn't been running back and forth between both sides playing the good guy, I would have long since flattened that broken place called Western Heaven. If we're talking about who owes whom favors, it's you who owes me. Back then, I gave you face by not flattening Western Heaven!"
"You little...! I..." Da Xing the Mad Monk was so angry his teeth itched. He pointed at Gu Qingfeng but didn't know how to retort. After a moment, he shouted again, "And when the Present-Ancient Era first began, when the Western Heaven Pure Land Sect wanted to use the Wrath Incarnation of Great Sun Tathagata to wipe you out, wasn't it me who went to warn you? When you kidnapped the Wrath Incarnation of Great Sun Tathagata, I just turned a blind eye and pretended not to know. If I had intervened back then, could you have even kidnapped the Wrath Incarnation of Great Sun Tathagata?"
Before Gu Qingfeng could rebut, Da Xing the Mad Monk, his face flushed red, roared again, "And later, when Xiao Jinr triggered the Daoless Blood Moon, and you stood up for her, ready to fight the Three Thousand Great Daos to the death, wasn't it me who stepped in to persuade you? Do you think I had nothing better to do than stick my nose in that mess? It was only because I considered you a friend and didn't want you to die without a proper burial!"
"And also..." Da Xing the Mad Monk huffed and puffed, bringing up every old, moldy grievance he could think of. Gu Qingfeng listened until his head ached. He waved his hand impatiently and said, "Alright, alright, stop right there. Don't spout all this useless nonsense. I have a few questions for you."
"What questions? I say, Gu kid, do you really have no conscience at all?"
"Are you done yet? If I weren't going to help you, I would have left long ago. Would I still be here listening to your endless rambling?"
Hearing this, Da Xing the Mad Monk immediately beamed with joy, grinning widely. "Heh heh, Gu kid, I knew I wasn't wrong about you!"
To be honest.
Even now, Gu Qingfeng didn't know whether Da Xing the Mad Monk had dug a pit for him back in the Yixiantian forbidden land, tricking him into coming here.
Yes.
He didn't know. Even though Da Xing the Mad Monk said he hadn't and his explanation seemed reasonable, Gu Qingfeng didn't believe him. Based on his understanding of Da Xing the Mad Monk, this old bald donkey clearly knew many secrets, but he just wouldn't say them. He often played dumb and acted foolish. Moreover, this old bald donkey's favorite pastime was collecting convenient favors.
Whether it was his feud with the Western Heaven Buddhist Path in the Ancient Era, kidnapping the Wrath Incarnation of Great Sun Tathagata at the beginning of the Present-Ancient Era, or Xiao Jinr triggering the Daoless Blood Moon, this old bald donkey Da Xing the Mad Monk would always pop up to collect a convenient favor, glorifying it as a favor of loyalty.
In short.
This old bald donkey Da Xing the Mad Monk was definitely not someone easy to deal with. The schemes he played and the methods he used were extremely sophisticated.
Gu Qingfeng even dared to bet that this time, Da Xing the Mad Monk asking him to come help wasn't just about guarding some so-called Chan Sect Supreme Treasure and dealing with the Eight Buddhist Sects of Western Heaven. There were definitely other ulterior motives behind it. It was just that this old bald donkey hid them too deeply.
Who was Da Xing the Mad Monk?
A being hailed as a Living Buddha.
Who knew how many years he had lived? The secrets hidden in his heart were probably more numerous than the heavenly phenomena an ordinary person would see in a lifetime.
"Gu kid, you said you had a few questions for me. Ask whatever you want. I promise to answer everything I know."
"Good. With your word, I'm relieved."
Gu Qingfeng smiled faintly. "Do you know Da Fuzi's whereabouts?"
"This..." Da Xing the Mad Monk shook his head. "I really don't know. You know Da Fuzi is Dizang Wang—'Until hell is empty, I vow not to attain Buddhahood.' He reincarnates to save all living beings. Amidst all calamities, Da Fuzi is either saving others or on his way to save them... So, probably no one in all the heavens and myriad worlds knows his whereabouts."
"So, if I want to find Da Fuzi, there's no way at all?"
"That's indeed the case."
Da Xing the Mad Monk said very seriously, "I advise you not to look for Dizang Wang in the future. If you look for him, you won't find him. Only he can find you. And... if one day Dizang Wang really does find you, then..." Gu Qingfeng asked, "Then what?"
"As I said, Dizang Wang reincarnates to save all living beings. If Dizang Wang finds you, it means your calamity has arrived."
"Is that so..." Gu Qingfeng drank his wine in silence, lost in thought. After a moment, he asked again, "Do you know Da Fuzi?"
"No."
"No?"
Gu Qingfeng laughed. "As far as I know, Da Fuzi is from your Chan Sect, right?"
"Huh?"
Hearing this, Da Xing the Mad Monk was quite startled. He looked at Gu Qingfeng in surprise and asked, "Dizang Wang is indeed an Ancestral Patriarch of our Chan Sect. How do you know that? Oh! Right, I forgot. Before you even made your debut, Dizang Wang once saved you."
Da Fuzi had never told Gu Qingfeng he was an Ancestral Patriarch of the Chan Sect, nor had he told Gu Qingfeng he was Dizang Wang.
He had only taught Gu Qingfeng Buddhist Dharma.
And it was based on this Buddhist Dharma that Gu Qingfeng deduced Da Fuzi's identity as Dizang Wang and that he was an Ancestral Patriarch of the Chan Sect.
"Since Da Fuzi is an Ancestral Patriarch of your Chan Sect, how come you don't know him?"
"Our Chan Sect has many Ancestral Patriarchs. Could I possibly know them all? After all, they are all Ancestral Patriarchs, and very ancient ones at that. How ancient, you ask? Let me put it this way: ever since the Daoless Age disappeared, the Ancestral Patriarchs of our Chan Sect have never appeared again. Ancestral Patriarch Dizang Wang is no exception. I'm not from the Daoless Age, so how could I know them?"