Longevity - Chapter 48

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 48: Mistaken Identity
“It’s definitely the True Dharma King Reincarnation…”

The stranger’s voice trembled with excitement.
Jangseong didn’t have a chance to respond. The middle-aged man squeezed through the torn-open roof, slipped into the carriage, and dropped to the floor in a full prostration.

“Neng Jingnan, hereditary lay practitioner of Gelo Temple, pays respects to the Dharma King.”

Jangseong blinked.
He had no idea what a True Dharma King Reincarnation was, or what kind of position a hereditary lay practitioner held. He only knew that “Dharma King” was a title for some exalted monk. He also remembered that someone outside had been searching for a bald head a moment ago.

“Hero, you’ve mistaken me for someone else.”

He waved both hands frantically.

“I’m not a monk.”

Neng Jingnan lifted his head. His eyes were red-rimmed, and his voice was thick with tears.

“We came too late. Your Dharma Highness has suffered so much.”
“No, that’s not what I—”
“We followed Jilma Sangsa’s teachings and wandered for months. By the Buddha’s grace, we’ve finally found the Dharma King.”

Jangseong grew more flustered by the moment.

“Honestly, I’m not. My hair was burned off. I was never—”

Neng Jingnan’s eyes grew even brighter.

“Then there’s even less room for doubt.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Jilma Sangsa said it himself. The True Dharma King Reincarnation shaves his head through Heavenly Fire and regains the golden body of the Dharma Form.”

Jangseong clamped his mouth shut.
The explanation he had offered had come back to him not as a rebuttal, but as proof.
Outside the carriage, the clash of weapons erupted in quick succession. The light cavalry was fighting a strange band of men. Mingled among the screams were the cries of horses.
Jangseong leaned his body out of the carriage.

“Stop fighting! They didn’t capture me. They were escorting me to Yuzhou!”

His voice was swallowed by the uproar of the night road. Unlike the shouts of those who carried spiritual energy, Jangseong’s cry failed to carry even a few paces.
Neng Jingnan immediately turned his body toward the outside of the carriage.

“By the Dharma King’s order! Everyone, lay down your arms!”

The voice rang out across the night road.
The fighting ceased as abruptly as if it had been a lie. Dozens of martial artists sheathed their weapons and rushed toward the carriage. Like Neng Jingnan, they dropped to the ground and bowed.

“We pay respects to the Dharma King!”

Without realizing it, Jangseong stepped back.

“Everyone, you’ve got this wrong. I’m not the reincarnation you’re looking for. I’m not a monk, and my head was burned—”
“He shaved his head through Heavenly Fire!”

Someone let out a cheer.
Others joined in, bowing one after another in their joy. The more Jangseong spoke, the more he felt the situation slipping further from his grasp.

“It wasn’t Heavenly Fire. It was a fire someone set.”

He caught his breath and spoke again.

“And I’m fourteen. I’m not a child.”

This time, he was sure, that would be a rebuttal that landed.
But the young man behind Neng Jingnan lifted his head with a jolt.

“It’s been exactly fourteen years since the Dharma King underwent Rainbow Transformation!”

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

“The timing matches precisely!”
“Truly, this is the True Dharma King Reincarnation!”

Jangseong lost his words.
There was no way he could be a True Dharma King Reincarnation. The reason was simple. He didn’t want to become a monk. He hated the idea of shaving his head, and he hated even more the thought of being shut up in a temple for the rest of his life.
It looked strange to keep sitting in the chariot, so Jangseong climbed down to the ground. He pressed his palms together and bowed to the people surrounding him.

“You’ve truly mistaken me for someone else. Please, stand up first. You’ll only be in trouble later when you realize I’m not him and get angry.”

Only then did the crowd rise to their feet. Yet there was no doubt in their expressions. If anything, they competed to tell him how long they had been searching for him.

“We combed the western roads for three whole months.”
“We even went into the bandits’ den.”
“Without Jilma Sangsa’s orders, we wouldn’t even have made it this far.”

The more people gathered, the firmer their conviction grew.
Zou Qian came up beside the chariot as well. He glanced back and forth between Neng Jingnan’s group and Jangseong, then spoke with great seriousness.

“Master, have you not yet awakened your past life’s Spiritual Opening? These people wouldn’t go to such lengths for just any child.”

Jangseong was dumbfounded.

“General Zou, please, don’t add fuel to the fire.”
“But think about it.”

Zou Qian only raised his voice further.

“Master, you treated money like dirt. You handed out silver coins to the soldiers, and without any martial arts, you saved the Taiping Escort Agency’s escorts. Could an ordinary child possess such a heart and such talent?”

Neng Jingnan’s group’s gazes converged on Jangseong all at once.
Zou Qian laid out, one after another, the saving of the escorts and the handing over of the silver. With each detail, the listeners’ faces filled with deeper admiration.

“The compassion of a past life still remains within him.”
“Even though his Spiritual Opening hasn’t come, he saved living beings!”

Jangseong looked at Zou Qian, then pressed a hand to his forehead. Now not only his hair and age but even the things he had done had all become evidence against him.
He paused to settle his thoughts.
When something seems too strange, there may be another motive behind it. Could these people be playing at monks, trying to lure him away?
But he soon changed his mind.
Neng Jingnan’s group numbered only forty or fifty, yet every one of them was a warrior who could wield Qi. If they were resolved, they would hardly be pushed back even in a head-on fight with two hundred light cavalry. If they had meant to take him by force, such an elaborate charade would not have been necessary.
Above all, in the way they bowed, reverence came before calculation in their eyes.
Neng Jingnan saw Jangseong’s stiff expression and spoke gently.

“The Dharma King has not yet undergone the Throne Seating Ceremony. It is only natural that you feel confused, with your past life’s Spiritual Opening still dormant.”

He pressed his palms together and faced west.

“Return with us to Gelo Temple and see the Dharma Protectors, and everything will become clear.”

Jangseong let out a long breath.
Judging by the mood in the room, it was clear that refusing to go would get him nowhere.

“Where is Gelo Temple?”
“It’s on Duoji Mountain in Chuanxi. It’s not even two hundred li from here.”
“Is two hundred li considered close?”

Jangseong’s eyes widened.
He had been meant to travel to Yuzhou and take a boat heading east. Duoji Mountain lay to the west. If he went to Gelo Temple, he would be going in the exact opposite direction of where he was supposed to be.

“Since the Dharma King is heading home, the distance isn’t far.”

Neng Jingnan wore the face of someone who truly believed it.
Jangseong gathered his thoughts before speaking slowly.

“I understand why all of you believe I’m the True Dharma King Reincarnation. But I’ve hardly ever set foot in a temple since I was a boy, and I’ve never shaved my own head.”

When the crowd fell silent to listen, he went on.

“Isn’t it too hasty to decide I’m a reincarnated child based on nothing more than hair that was burned away?”
“Both the Heavenly Fire and your age match.”
“That alone isn’t enough.”

Jangseong held Neng Jingnan’s gaze squarely.

“Bowing to me was your own choice, not something I asked of you. I won’t refuse to travel with you. But if I turn out not to be the one once we reach the temple, it’ll make things awkward for everyone.”

Neng Jingnan didn’t seem worried in the slightest.

“We aren’t the only ones searching for the Dharma King. Besides Jilma Sangsa, there are three more Dharma Protector Sangsas at Gelo Temple. The men they’ve sent out are searching for the child all across the land.”
“So someone else might find him first.”
“That’s right.”

For the first time, Jangseong saw a glimmer of hope.

“Then if it’s confirmed that I’m not him, will you let me go?”

Neng Jingnan shook his head, looking puzzled.

“Even if you aren’t the True Dharma King Reincarnation, you could still be a Spiritual Reincarnation child. Such children also remain at Gelo Temple, study the Dharma, and carry on their Sangsa’s Dharma Lineage.”

The color drained from Jangseong’s face.
It meant that even if he was not the True Reincarnation, he would still have to become a monk. The moment he reached Gelo Temple, whatever the verdict turned out to be, it might become nearly impossible for him to leave.
Neng Jingnan took his expression not as fear but as the confusion of someone who could not remember his past life.

“Dharma King, it’s been a long while since we left the temple. The monks and the believers are all waiting for us. If you have nothing else to attend to, let’s set out at once.”

Only then did Jangseong take a closer look at the group’s clothes and faces. Each of them had a bundle slung on their back, and their hems were thick with dust. They looked like people who had been wandering for a truly long time, searching for him alone.
He decided to make one last attempt.

“If you’re searching for a reincarnated child, isn’t there a more accurate way to verify it?”

Neng Jingnan couldn’t answer right away. They had simply followed the direction and omens the Sangsa had given them; they had no ability to verify a True Dharma King Reincarnation themselves.
As the silence stretched on, a man in the back raised his hand.

“Mountain Lord Neng, my father once tended to the Dharma King’s horse.”

Everyone turned to look at him.

“I’ve heard that when the Dharma King subdued the white horse of the snow mountain, he injured his leg. That’s why, in his later years, he had trouble walking.”

Jangseong’s heart sank.
What kind of proof was that? When people grow old, their steps slow down as a matter of course, and plenty of others had been injured too.
But Zou Qian stepped forward once again.

“That’s right, too!”

Before Jangseong could even turn around, he shut his eyes.

“We travelled with the Great Master for several days, and his left leg was clearly troubling him.”

A cheer erupted around them.
Neng Jingnan trembled as he bowed deeply to Jangseong, his hands shaking. The others prostrated themselves on the ground once more.

“We’ve found the Dharma King!”
“Every sign points to it!”

Jangseong looked at Zou Qian, his face set hard.
Zou Qian wore a look of quiet satisfaction, as though he believed he had uncovered the decisive piece of evidence.
There was no point in saying anything now. If he explained about the ankle injury, they would likely insist that it, too, was the wound of a past life resurfacing.
Neng Jingnan’s group rode on horseback, but they had no carriage. Without a moment’s hesitation, Zou Qian handed over a chariot drawn by four horses.
When the time came to part, Zou Qian clasped his hands and stood before Jangseong.

“Great Master, my name is Zou Qian. Please don’t forget it, and do look after us.”

Jangseong barely held back the urge to kick the man.
Of all the people responsible for his present state, Zou Qian had done the most. Had this man not kept shoveling dirt onto the pile beside him, the matter would never have grown this deep.

“Great Master, I beg you.”

Zou Qian bowed low once more.

“Very well. Now, go on your way.”
“You’ve made a promise.”
“Yes, I’ve promised. Now hurry along.”

Zou Qian thanked them again and again, overjoyed. The light cavalrymen turned their horses eastward.
* * *
Neng Jingnan’s group also set out westward. Dozens of riders surrounded the chariot, one ahead and one behind, guarding the carriage in which Jangseong rode.
At first, Jangseong could not shake the suspicion that they were hiding some other purpose. But over the course of several dozen li, the attitudes of Neng Jingnan and the others never changed even once.
When they offered him water, they used both hands, and each time they dismounted, they went ahead first to check the road. No one looked oddly at the paulownia staff.
He found himself wishing it were all a lie.
If they were merely trying to lure him in, he could look for a gap and slip away. But if they truly had come out to search for the reincarnation, it would be far harder to escape once they reached Gelo Temple.
Neng Jingnan kept talking about Gelo Temple the entire way, never pausing.
Gelo Temple was the largest Esoteric Buddhist temple in the Chuan-Dian Region. Its main monastery alone housed more than twenty thousand monks, and the lay practitioners and believers were said to be beyond counting. They followed the Mahayana Dharma and commanded temples scattered across many mountains and villages.
The more Neng Jingnan spoke, the brighter his face grew.
Inside the chariot, Jangseong’s expression grew gloomier and gloomier.
His master’s final request had been for him to go to Gakjosan and become a Taoist. Yet on the road, he was about to be seized as the Dharma King of a past life and dragged off to a temple in the west.
To send word of their discovery, Neng Jingnan removed the leather hood from a hawk. It was no ordinary pigeon but a large hawk. He tied a small letter to its leg and released it into the sky.
The hawk circled westward several times before vanishing into the darkness.

“The temple will send people to receive the Dharma King.”

Neng Jingnan said this in a cheerful voice.
Jangseong watched the receding hawk and bit his lip.
Now Gelo Temple would know he was coming. If more people came out to meet him along the road, his chances of escape would only shrink.
No. He laid the paulownia staff across his knees and narrowed his eyes.
He could not go to Gelo Temple. Somehow, he had to run.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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