My cultivation disguise has been exposed by Xiao Sizi.

Upon hearing this, a look of surprise flashed in the eyes of the monk Mingxin.

He struggled to sit up from the mud.

"Young benefactor, you are so young yet you understand Buddhist principles; you truly have great wisdom."

Mingxin savored the taste in her mouth.

Suddenly, he froze.

That fragrance...

That rich, oily feeling...

That's definitely not the smell you'd get from plain steamed buns or vegetarian dumplings.

"Young benefactor..."

Monk Mingxin swallowed hard, his expression turning strange, even showing a hint of fear.

"May I ask... what kind of vegetarian food did the young benefactor just serve this humble monk?"

Sizi blinked her clear, large eyes and answered very honestly:

"It's not vegetarian food, it's pork and scallion buns from Zhang's shop in Chang'an!"

"There's so much meat in it, and it bursts with juice when you bite into it!"

Boom!

Monk Mingxin felt as if a bolt from the blue had struck his mind.

Pork... scallions...

Meat buns?!

He is a Buddhist disciple who has been ordained since childhood and has been practicing vegetarianism and chanting Buddhist scriptures for more than 20 years.

Today, I broke my vow against eating meat without even knowing it!

"What a sin...what a sin!"

The monk Mingxin was as if he had lost his parents, and closed his eyes in anguish.

His hands trembled as he touched his stomach, wishing he could dig out the buns he had just eaten.

However, the long-lost feeling of fullness and satisfaction rising in his stomach seemed to be mocking his faith.

Li Chen stood aside, watching the monk struggling in pain, and couldn't help but sneer.

"Alright, stop with the fake repentance."

Li Chen mercilessly exposed his hypocrisy.

"If it weren't for this half-eaten meat bun, you would be meeting your Buddha by now."

"What's the point of keeping those broken precepts if you're already dead?"

Monk Mingxin was rendered speechless by the rebuttal.

He sat blankly in the mud, looking up at the azure sky above.

His gaze gradually shifted from pain to utter confusion.

"This benefactor is right... What's the use of keeping the precepts if you're dead?"

Mingxin muttered to herself, her voice filled with deep despair and bewilderment.

He was originally an ascetic monk in a small temple thousands of miles away from here.

In pursuit of the supreme Dharma, he endured hardships and slept in the open along the way, heading towards the sacred city of Brahma in his heart.

But what did he see along the way?

He saw high-ranking monks in those grand temples, wearing golden robes and eating delicacies, yet ignoring the starving people dying by the roadside.

He saw those so-called "living Buddhas" using cheap well water to swindle the poor out of their last penny.

He even witnessed Buddhist disciples secretly colluding with bandits to commit murder and robbery in order to compete for incense offerings!

Is this still the Buddhist sect that he believed in, one that saves all sentient beings?

The monk Mingxin's eyes lost focus.

He stared intently at the azure sky, as if posing a question to some ethereal deity.

"Since even the high-ranking monks in the temple are eating people..."

"Since chanting scriptures cannot alleviate the suffering of this world..."

Mingxin suddenly lowered her head and looked at Li Chen and Sizi.

His voice trembled violently with excitement, as if he had grasped at the last straw.

"Two benefactors."

"Can you tell me...?"

"What exactly...is Buddha?!"

This is a soul-searching question filled with despair and confusion.

It echoed through the quiet official road.

Li Chen looked at the young monk whose values ​​were on the verge of collapse.

He frowned slightly.

Explaining such ethereal philosophical questions was certainly not his forte, the Prince of Qin of the Tang Dynasty.

He prefers to use force to resolve issues raised by people.

however.

Before Li Chen could figure out how to brush it off...

The ox standing beside him.

His eyes lit up instantly.

It's like a poor student who's daydreaming in class and gets asked a question by the teacher, but happens to know the answer.

The little girl excitedly stood on her tiptoes.

That delicate, white hand was raised high above her head.

"I know! I know!"

Sizi shouted happily.

The two little buns on her head swayed back and forth with her triumphant movements.

"Brother Mingxin, I know the answer to this question!"

I heard a little girl say that she knew what Buddha was.

Monk Mingxin was stunned.

He was simply venting his inner turmoil and didn't expect anyone to answer him.

"Young benefactor... do you know?" Mingxin asked blankly.

"Of course!"

Si Zi put her hands firmly on her hips and puffed out her small chest.

He put on an air of being a master who "is very knowledgeable" and "is very capable".

Fatty Si, who was sitting at the cult leader's feet, also sat up straight in a very cooperative manner.

Its tail curled into an elegant circle behind it, as if it were cheering for the speaker.

"Listen carefully!"

Si Zi cleared her throat and began to recount the fragmented theories she had heard from various people in Chang'an.

In a huge black pot, a maddening stew was prepared.

"When I was playing at the Imperial College, that old white man with a long beard (Kong Yingda) said something like that."

"To subdue oneself and return to propriety is the essence of benevolence!"

Sizi, with a serious expression, was translating Confucian classics.

"My elder brother, the Crown Prince, once told me that when you encounter a disobedient and wicked person, you should overcome the urge to reason with them and simply beat them with your fists until they submit. That is mercy!"

The monk Mingxin's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when he heard this.

What kind of Confucian interpretation is this?!

If Confucius heard this, he'd be turning in his grave!

But Sizi's "sermons" have only just begun.

"Later, I went to the Imperial Observatory to visit the old man with the ox-nose (Yuan Tiangang)."

The old man said, "The way of nature is to follow its own course!"

Sizi shook his head and swayed, gradually getting into the swing of things.

"It means that my stomach is hungry, and nature is telling me I should eat meat buns. If Buddha doesn't let me eat them, then Buddha is going against nature!"

"Anything that goes against nature is definitely not a good thing!"

"Ah... Amitabha Buddha..."

Monk Mingxin broke out in a cold sweat and stammered his rebuttal.

"But Buddhist scriptures say that form is emptiness, and emptiness is form. In the eyes of the Buddha, there is no difference between meat and vegetables."

"You're lying!"

Sizi pointed at the monk Mingxin's nose without any mercy and loudly exposed him.

"If there's no difference, then why did you cry when you ate the meat bun?"

"You clearly think it tastes delicious, but you insist on lying to yourself!"

"Lying is wrong! Even children don't lie, how can you, an adult, lie to yourself?"

This question, brimming with childlike innocence, strikes right at the soul.

It was like a heavy hammer that struck the heart of the monk Mingxin.

Yes, since everything is empty.

If one is fixated on whether or not one has broken the precept against eating meat, isn't that being attached to appearances?

The little girl's words sounded extremely absurd, but upon closer examination, they actually resonated with some kind of profound and simple truth!

Monk Mingxin's mind began to race, trying to refute him with the Buddhist teachings he had studied for twenty years.

"But...but Buddha is merciful and saves all sentient beings."

Mingxin's voice already sounded somewhat guilty.

"We should endure the suffering of this world to cultivate blessings for the next life..."