Tempting the Holy Monk - Chapter 5

I stayed at Baohua Temple that night.

After leaving Hualing Pool, Chuxuan brought me to his meditation room.

The novice delivered thin rice porridge and pickles without a trace of oil, then pressed his palms together.

“Please rest early after your meal, lady. The guest room next door has been prepared.”

I thanked him. As soon as he left, I sidled up to Chuxuan, swinging my foot so the beads rattled.

“Master, I’m afraid the guest room won’t work. Shall we squeeze in together?”

His expression didn’t change. He didn’t spare me so much as a glance.

His low, clear chanting was easier on my ears than I had expected. It lulled me into relaxing. My eyelids grew heavy, and with my head propped on my hand, I slipped into a dream.

In it, voices clamored indistinctly. At first, I could sense their distaste and loathing. Somehow, by the end, they wanted to kill me.

A crushing sorrow enveloped me until I could scarcely breathe.

Then a sharp weapon pierced my chest and jolted me awake. I knocked a sutra off the table.

The candle flickered before me. The chanting had stopped.

I looked up straight into Chuxuan’s eyes, full of conflicting emotions.

Perhaps I looked truly awful. He frowned. “Eat before your food gets cold.”

I had never had such a vivid dream. I stared at him for a long time, unable to recover.

“Master, if a Buddhist adept and a demon had a child together, what would it be?”

His chanting faltered. Chuxuan opened his cool eyes, looking entirely beyond earthly desire. “That won’t happen.”

I leaned closer. “Have a little confidence in yourself! Would the child take after you or me?”

Chuxuan looked away and said nothing.

Proud and solitary as he was, he had probably never imagined that a nameless little demon would one day pester him with such an irreverent question as having children.

I kept chattering.

“Did you have a nightmare?” he suddenly asked.

I paused. My smile slowly faded.

The dream had been far too frightening for a minor demon like me to bear. I said in a small voice,

“You’re a Buddhist adept on high. No one would dare criticize you for breaking your vows. I’m different. A mere demon woman, laying hands on a god—I’d have my sinews torn out, my bones ripped apart, and my baby cut out of me alive.”

I was afraid the dream would come true.

If that day ever came, would it stir even a ripple in Chuxuan’s heart…?

Silence suddenly filled the meditation room.

Chuxuan was no longer chanting. His dark gaze settled on my slender ankle, and he said, “I will protect you.”

“Really?” Delighted, I touched my flat stomach. “Then… then I’ll take good care of the baby until it’s born…”

Realizing I had talked him into it, Chuxuan set his handsome face and ignored me again.

I shifted inside my clammy clothes. “Monk, I’m filthy. I want a bath.”

He seemed only then to realize that this was quite a problem.

I shook the beads on my ankle. “Why don’t you take these off? I’ll be right back.”

I knew they only obeyed him. Just then, the novice called through the door, “Grandmaster, the abbot is waiting in his meditation room.”

With a helpless sigh, Chuxuan rose. “Very well. You may have an hour.”

He was rarely so accommodating.

Overjoyed, I ran beyond three zhang. The beads did nothing, so I headed straight for Hualing Pool without looking back.

The moon had risen above the willows. When I arrived, the man in black was waiting beneath a tree, his hands tucked in his sleeves.

My steps slowed abruptly. I stopped a short distance away and watched him without blinking.

He gave a low grunt, his voice rough. “Well done. I didn’t expect him to give you his prayer beads.”

My heart tightened. I stepped back, suddenly wary.

The man chuckled. “No need to look at me like that. You and I are on the same side, Huaiyao.”

“Who says I’m on the same side as something that hides from the light?” I sneered.

He laughed again, unoffended.

“Humans and demons have always walked different paths. Falling for it once is foolish. Do it twice, and you might as well not be alive.”

I couldn’t make head or tail of that, but it certainly wasn’t anything pleasant.

A smooth, round demon core flew from his sleeve, traced an elegant arc, and landed in my hand.

“You’ve earned this,” he said unhurriedly. “I advise you not to waste too much thought on Chuxuan. You hate him far more than you realize.”

Mountain wind rushed through the woods. With that, the man in black vanished.