The Bodhisattva’s Gaze

Li Huowang stood silently, cloaked in his invisibility, atop the canopy of a tree. He watched the distant, endless procession.

Eunuchs, guards, maids—thousands of them, a long line of varied figures with no end and no beginning.

According to Ji Lin’s information, his targets—the Empress Dowager and the Eldest Princess of Great Liang—were certainly within that grand procession.

But Li Huowang also knew this was not the right moment to strike, especially when he didn’t know which of the luxurious carriages they occupied, nor how many of their people lay in ambush among the crowd.

If he alarmed them and they both retreated into the depths of the palace, it would be much harder to get his hands on them.

To kill one’s own mother and sister, those of such noble status as the Empress Dowager and the Eldest Princess, by one’s own strength… the method with the highest success rate was certainly a surprise attack.

Besides, if a surprise attack failed, he could always resort to a direct confrontation.

“Suisui, let’s go.” Li Sui, who was also hidden with Li Huowang, extended her translucent tentacles slowly from inside his body, wrapping them around a nearby branch.

With a slight pull from the tentacles, Li Huowang’s body leaped from one tree crown to another.

Thus, Li Huowang trailed far behind, following the solemn procession slowly forward.

At this critical moment, the place where the Empress Dowager and the Eldest Princess were to worship a Bodhisattva’s temple naturally couldn’t be very far from the capital. After following for only a dozen kilometers, Li Huowang saw it. Beside a distant, mist-shrouded peak, a massive Bodhisattva statue, holding a precious jade vase, was built into the mountain. It stood there, a sight of overwhelming awe.

Li Huowang didn’t recognize which Bodhisattva this was. The Bodhisattvas of Great Liang were different from what he remembered—they had male forms.

A male Bodhisattva, huge as a mountain, held a vase in one hand and formed a ritual mudra with the other, his compassionate gaze, meant to save all beings, looking down upon everything below.

“Let’s go! Let’s get to the temple first!” Li Huowang quickened his pace, arriving at the solemn temple before the procession.

A temple that housed such a colossal Bodhisattva could not be a small one. Dozens of acres of land in front of the Bodhisattva belonged to the same temple.

Amidst the green trees was the monastery, with its apricot-yellow walls, blue-grey temple ridges, the incense smoke of pilgrims, and the deep, distant tolling of bells. The entire temple appeared supremely solemn and divine.

Incense smoke curled within the temple. A steady stream of worshippers came here, their hands pressed together, raised above their chests, foreheads, and heads, then flattened upon the ground. They did this daily; the stone slabs in many places had been worn concave.

Clearly, in the eyes of the common folk, this temple held an extraordinary status.

“Let’s go!” The invisible Li Huowang leaped onto the eaves, entering the temple ahead of the others.

Li Huowang wasn’t worried that this temple, like Zhengde Temple, would be a den of thieves waiting to ambush him. According to Ji Lin’s intelligence, the monks here were nothing special. They were just ordinary monks, who did ordinary things like bullying the weak and coveting women.

Even if the temple harbored some secret, they would never get involved in the succession struggle.

A temple so close to the capital—only a fool wouldn’t understand that this was something you stayed clear of. One misstep and you’d be crushed to powder.

After he found a secluded spot to wait, the head of the long procession appeared from the road before the temple gate.

Rows of monks in yellow robes, led by several others in kasayas, came to the wide temple gate to welcome them.

Hiding inside the temple, Li Huowang held his breath, silently watching everything from afar.

As the maids in their lustrous silks fanned out like a painted screen, Li Huowang saw the Empress Dowager and the Eldest Princess of Great Liang for the first time.

“Beautiful. Stunning.” This was Li Huowang’s first reaction to them.

As Ji Lin’s elder sister, her beauty need not be described as one that “causes the fall of kingdoms,” yet his own biological mother possessed a comparable appearance.

Her spotless, fair skin showed a faint, rosy hue; her thin lips were as delicate as rose petals. Time had left no mark on her face.

If not for their different attire, Li Huowang wouldn’t have been able to tell which was the Empress Dowager and which was the Eldest Princess.

Under Li Huowang’s gaze, the distant Eldest Princess said something to the abbot. Then, the guards behind her stepped forward, driving out any remaining worshippers from within the temple and surrounding the entire place, making it watertight.

Immediately after, the Empress Dowager and the Eldest Princess, surrounded by their eunuchs and maids, entered the temple.

They walked all the way in without stopping, eventually climbing the stone steps to the central pagoda, the temple’s heart. They knelt piously on the kneeling cushions, prostrating themselves before the mountaintop Bodhisattva.

The grand Bodhisattva watched, without sorrow or joy.

“Dad, what are they doing?” Li Sui, who had never seen such a sight, couldn’t understand this behavior.

“They are worshipping the Bodhisattva. I guess they are praying for forgiveness for their sins. It makes sense—helping one son kill another… that would unsettle anyone’s heart, wouldn’t it?” Li Huowang explained to Li Sui in his mind.

Li Huowang was very patient. He still made no move to act, staying as still as a stone.

Having gone to all this trouble and traveled so far to this place, they couldn’t possibly just bow once and leave. They would surely be staying in this temple.

“Dong… dong…” As the bells tolled, the temple monks, centered on the pagoda, sat cross-legged on the ground and began to chant sutras.

Under this solemn backdrop, the sun passed before the face of the Bodhisattva, eventually settling behind its back.

It was deep in the third watch of the night. Li Huowang felt the time was right. Li Sui used her black tentacles to coil around a roof beam, hanging the invisible Li Huowang upside down as they slowly moved toward the living quarters.

Li Huowang moved very slowly. Even an idiot would know that the area around the two women’s current residence was certainly filled with hidden traps.

After a nerve-wracking hour of this slow movement, Li Huowang finally bypassed the outer sentries and arrived near the two high-quality meditation rooms.

Even though it was late at night, there were still many maids and eunuchs standing guard around the meditation rooms.

“Suisui, once we’re inside, remember: we go into the left room first, then the right. Kill and leave immediately. No fighting.”

After giving his instructions, Li Huowang clenched his jaw, raised his right hand, and slowly closed it around his sword hilt.

Just as he was about to make his move, with a “creak,” one of the left meditation rooms suddenly opened. A few robust maids carried a bald little monk wrapped in a blanket, heading toward the meditation room on the other side.

“Stop. What hour is this? What are you doing?” An old eunuch, his face powdered with a white frost, stepped out, blocking the maids’ path.

“Reporting to Eunuch Cao, Her Highness the Princess said she saw Her Highness the Empress Dowager had exhausted herself from worshipping Buddha during the day, and wished to show her filial piety.”