I am a fairy in Journey to the West

Zhuang Yan sheathed the Cold Plum Sword, and Yan Miaozhen stumbled to the ground, quickly bracing herself against a nearby tree trunk before collapsing.

"I didn't expect Abbess Miaozhen to have such courage. She killed someone without hesitation. She's quite decisive," Zhuang Yan said with a smile.

Yan Miaozhen wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, clasped her hands in a respectful bow to Zhuang Yan, and said, "Thank you for saving me, fellow Daoist."

Zhuang Yan said, "I just happened to be passing by and saw that the abbess was in trouble, so I helped her out. This is my way of repaying the abbess for taking me in at her woodshed."

"I am ashamed." Yan Miaozhen waved her hand and said, "I will repay your life-saving grace another day. I will take my leave now."

Zhuang Yan laughed and said, "Does the nun want to return to Sanhua Nunnery?"

“Yes,” Yan Miaozhen said, “I killed Elder Jin Hua, and there will be great chaos in the Buddhist community of Kongding Prefecture.”

Zhuang Yan said, "The abbess killed Elder Jin Hua, so the people of Da Fa Yan Temple will not let her go. If you go back now, you will only be walking into a trap."

Yan Miaozhen said, "I didn't originally intend to come out alive, but since I was rescued by you and escaped, I still have to go back."

With that, Yan Miaozhen bowed respectfully to Zhuang Yan and asked, "May I ask your name, fellow Daoist? If we are destined to meet again in the future, I will have something to call you by."

"My Daoist name is Lingtai," Zhuang Yan said with a smile.

Yan Miaozhen bowed deeply and said, "Master Lingtai, this humble nun takes her leave."

"Wait a minute," Zhuang Yan called out to Yan Miaozhen.

Yan Miaozhen stopped and looked at Zhuang Yan, who then presented her with the Cold Plum Sword and said, "Take this sword."

Yan Miaozhen declined, saying, "I cannot accept a reward without merit. I already owe you a debt of gratitude for saving my life, and I cannot owe you another favor. I am deeply grateful for your kindness."

After saying that, Yan Miaozhen turned and left, her figure disappearing into the mountains and forests shortly afterward.

Meanwhile, at the Dafayan Temple, what was supposed to be a joyous occasion turned into a funeral, plunging the entire temple into a somber and gloomy atmosphere.

The abbots and monasteries who had come from various places could not leave immediately and had to stay to help Dafayan Temple with the aftermath.

At this very moment, another piece of bad news arrived: Abbot Xuanjie of Dafayan Temple, the eminent monk who had led Kongding Prefecture for 12,000 years, had passed away.

For a time, the entire Dafayan Temple was filled with a sad and miserable atmosphere, and the abbots and monasteries of various temples hurriedly went to preside over the chanting of sutras for Xuanjie.

About seven or eight days later, the relics of the Xuanjie Abbot and Elder Jinhua were sent to the Pagoda Forest for worship.

Subsequently, with the recommendation of abbots and monasteries in various places, Elder Jin Que, the second disciple of Abbot Xuanjie, succeeded as abbot of Dafayan Temple.

After the enthronement ceremony, the abbots and monasteries from various places bid farewell to the new abbot and returned to their own temples.

If things had gone according to plan, with Elder Jin Hua taking over as presiding officer, although Elder Jin Hua would have pushed for the revision of Buddhist scriptures, he would have had enough prestige to govern the Buddhist community in Kongding Prefecture.

In terms of both Buddhist knowledge and spiritual cultivation, Elder Jin Hua's prestige was on par with that of other abbots and temple masters.

But apart from Elder Jin Hua, no one else is suitable. Otherwise, the Xuanjie abbots would not have chosen people from among the abbots in various places to replace Elder Jin Hua.

Therefore, after this major change, Dafayan Temple completely lost its position as the leader of Buddhism in Kongding Prefecture.

However, the first thing Jin Que did after taking office was to make a major decision: to expel Yan Miaozhen from the monastic order and label her a "traitor who was misled by Buddhism".

Since he has been expelled from the monastic order and labeled a traitor, there's nothing more to say.

After receiving a report from Dafayan Temple, the Prefectural Governor's Office of Kongding Prefecture immediately dispatched troops to Sanhua Nunnery.

At this time, inside the Sanhua Nunnery, Yan Miaozhen had already distributed all the nunnery's resources to the young nuns, telling them to find other ways to make a living.

However, the retaliation from Dafayan Temple came much later than she had imagined. It was only late at night, six days after she had dismissed everyone from Sanhua Nunnery, that the prefect's army surrounded the nunnery.

Then the temple was surrounded by layers of crossbows, and the army broke down the gates and rushed in, setting fires everywhere.

Fortunately, Yan Miaozhen had already dismissed those young nuns; otherwise, they would have already become victims of the soldiers' blades.

"General, everyone has escaped." The lieutenant led his men to search the Sanhua Nunnery before finally reporting to the general.

The general nodded and said, "Let them go. Just burn down this Sanhua Nunnery, and we can go back to report to the prefect."

The lieutenant accepted the order and then led his soldiers to set the fire.

Soon, flames raged throughout the Sanhua Nunnery, but Yan Miaozhen had not actually left; she was still packing up all the scriptures in the library.

In the past six days, she has moved many scriptures out, but there are still many scattered scriptures that she has not had time to take with her.

The soldiers outside suddenly noticed figures moving back and forth in the fire inside and immediately reported it to the general.

The lieutenant was overjoyed and said, "General, that must be Yan Miaozhen. She has been wanted by the prefect's office. If we capture her, we'll be promoted and rich in no time."

"You're insane," the general said. "She's a spiritual practitioner, and she's been bewitched by Buddhism. She might have become some kind of evil spirit. You want to offend her?"

Upon hearing this, the lieutenant said, "But with so many people watching, if you and I don't do anything, what if someone reports us when we get back? Wouldn't that ruin things?"

The general thought for a moment and said, "Let's fire the arrows. Let's shoot all the arrows. That will be worth the pay the governor gave us. We can't really send our brothers to their deaths, can we?" "That's right," the lieutenant said. "With such a big fire, we have no choice but to fire arrows."

The lieutenant immediately ordered all archers to fire arrows at the figure inside.

Arrows rained down into the sea of ​​fire. Yan Miaozhen used her magic to create a protective shield against the flames while trying to save the scriptures.

Now she needed to use even more magic to defend against the arrows. Under the onslaught of flames and arrows, Yan Miaozhen's magic was quickly exhausted.

Clutching the scriptures, she charged out amidst flames and arrows. She had already been struck by more than a dozen arrows, and her blood quickly stained her clothes before being dried by the intense heat.

At this moment, Yan Miaozhen arrived at the backyard wall, but with her magic power almost exhausted, she was no longer able to carry a large bag of scriptures over the wall.

Suddenly a voice rang in her ears: "Drop the scriptures and escape over the wall."

Upon hearing this voice, Yan Miaozhen's gaze became extremely firm. With a loud shout, she threw the large bundle of scriptures away with all her might.

The bundle of scriptures flew swiftly over the courtyard wall and landed outside. Yan Miaozhen collapsed to the ground, completely exhausted. Then, a hail of arrows rained down, followed by a deafening crash. The Sanhua Nunnery collapsed in flames, burying Yan Miaozhen in an instant.

When Zhu Qingqiu arrived at Sanhua Nunnery again, the fire was still not completely extinguished. He looked at the Sanhua Nunnery with a shocked expression, and then rushed inside.

Zhu Qingqiu searched through the scorching ruins for more than half an hour before finally finding a charred corpse next to a blackened earthen wall in the backyard.

After careful examination, Zhu Qingqiu determined that the corpse was indeed Yan Miaozhen, the abbess of Sanhua Nunnery.

Zhu Qingqiu used a great deal of effort to drag Yan Miaozhen's body out of the ruins and all the way to the snow outside Sanhua Temple.

He stared at the charred corpse in front of him for a long while, then suddenly reached out and touched the corpse's wrist.

"What are you doing?" a voice came from behind.

Zhu Qingqiu turned around abruptly, then immediately stood up and called out, "Fellow Daoist Lingtai?"

Zhuang Yan stared at Zhu Qingqiu's right hand, which was holding the charred corpse's wrist. Zhu Qingqiu suddenly realized what was happening and said, "I want to see if she still has a pulse."

Zhuang Yan looked astonished. "It's burned to a crisp. Do you think it could still have a pulse?"

"Sigh." Zhu Qingqiu put the charred corpse's hand back and sighed, saying, "I saw her not long ago, and she was a stunning beauty. How could she suddenly be like this?"

At this point, Zhu Qingqiu suddenly noticed the large bundle on Zhuang Yan's back and asked, "Fellow Daoist Lingtai, what are you carrying on your back?"

Zhuang Yan didn't speak, but simply raised his hand and waved it. A beam of immortal light flew out and transformed into a light screen in mid-air, completely reproducing what happened at Sanhua Nunnery last night.

After reading it, Zhu Qingqiu couldn't help but shake his head and say, "This woman is really foolish. Can a few scriptures be more valuable than her own life?"

Zhuang Yan said, "There's no need to say that. Everyone has their own choices."

"What a pity," Zhu Qingqiu shook her head and said, "It's such a pity."

Zhuang Yan looked at him and asked, "How did you get here?"

"Oh." Zhu Qingqiu then remembered the important matter. "I came back to see you, Fellow Daoist Lingtai. Thank you for your help. My brother's marriage has been arranged, and I have come to invite you to the wedding banquet."

Zhuang Yan laughed and said, "I won't go. I don't like crowds."

Zhu Qingqiu was taken aback for a moment upon hearing this, and then said, "Alright, since you don't want to go, I won't force you."

At this point, Zhu Qingqiu asked Zhuang Yan, "Where is your immortal mountain, fellow Daoist? I would like to visit you when I have time in the future."

Zhuang Yan said with a smile, "You can come to Erlang Village to find me in the future."

"Erlang Village? Is that the Erlang Village?" Zhu Qingqiu asked.

Zhuang Yan asked, "Is there another Erlang Village in Xiniu Hezhou?"

"Understood." Zhu Qingqiu nodded, then looked at Yan Miaozhen's corpse and said, "Since you're here, let's see the nun off on her journey."

Afterwards, Zhu Qingqiu and Zhuang Yan erected a tombstone for Yan Miaozhen, and then Zhu Qingqiu took his leave.

At this moment, Zhuang Yan stood in front of Yan Miaozhen's grave, took out the Cold Plum Sword, raised his hand and threw it, and it turned into a beam of light and disappeared above Yan Miaozhen's grave.

At this very moment, Yan Miaozhen's soul had entered the underworld, walked the Yellow Springs Road, and arrived at the Underworld Palace.

Many new souls stood in the main hall. King Qin Guang sat on the throne and asked the first person standing there, "Who is the first one standing below?"

The spirit bowed and said, "Your Majesty, this humble monk is Jin Hua, the elder of Dafayan Temple in Xiniu Hezhou."

King Qin Guang asked, "Why did you die?"

The spirit of Elder Jinhua said, "This humble monk was killed by Yan Miaozhen, the abbess of Sanhua Nunnery."

King Qin Guang nodded, then asked the next new soul, "Who is the next one to stand here?"

The newly ascended spirit calmly replied, "Reporting to King Yama, this humble nun is Yan Miaozhen, the abbess of Sanhua Nunnery." (End of Chapter)