220 – Mantra

“Do you mind chanting a mantra?” Li Yun had heard chants and mantras had special healing powers, but had never seen it in reality, he wondered if Abbot Haoyang had that ability.

“Mister wants to hear the Pancasila?” the abbot asked. 

Seeing that Li Yun was curious, Abbot Haoyang took out a wooden fish. He placed the wooden fish in front of him and sat in the lotus position. As he tapped the fish with the round end of a mallet, a rhythmic and warm tone vibrated through the air. The chants from Abbot Haoyang were low and deep, with the breath of sound coming from the belly.

<wooden fish>

At first, Li Yun couldn’t feel and see anything unusual. As Abbot Haoyang continued to chant, Li Yun activated Qivi to trace the changes in the air. It was at that moment Li Yun could see the qi vibration. The point where the wooden fish and chant intersected created a spark that vibrated the qi in the air. The spark radiated outward. It bounced away from Abbot Haoyang, but none of the physical matter was affected by the mysterious qi. Instead, the qi rippled through the walls and faded away into the streets of downtown Xubin.

When the qi ripples vibrated toward Li Yun, it bounced away like it did Abbot Haoyang. However, the qi ripples reached the two monks and refracted to the otherside. Li Yun walked toward Laco and tapped lightly on his forehead. The qi inside of Laco’s dantian reacted strangely.

“Stop,” Li Yun held up his hand to signal Abbot Haoyang to end the chant. The qi vibration was making the two monks uncomfortable.

“Is something the matter?” The abbot asked.

“Do you have a chant used for healing?” asked Li Yun.

Abbot Haoyang used a couple more chants, but only the Maṅgala Sutta created any resonance. It was also capable of correcting the misalignment in the meridians caused by the poison, albeit, very slow.

“Is Mister a practitioner of Gu?” Abbot Haoyang asked.

Li Yun shook his head. “No, I study acupuncture under the Yi Clan’s teachings.”

“So there are still clans here that retain such practice.” Abbot Haoyang looked to the two monks and sighed in defeat. “Does mister intend to turn us over?”

Li Yun rubbed his glabella and swept his hair up. “It depends,” Li Yun said reluctantly, Bu Tao was going to kill him if he let go of the monks without a good explanation. “A few months ago, a monk was found dead with a Zhao Mengfu’s forgery. Is he part of your group?”

“Indeed, he was one of my men. We haven’t been able to track down the murderer.”

“Do you know why he was murdered?” asked Li Yun.

The abbot shook his head. “But we have reasons to believe that someone is targeting our group. You may not be aware, but another monk was killed.”

Li Yun was not aware of another incident, and Bu Tao had been on the lookout as well.

“He was killed in our hideout location, so it was never publicly revealed, however, the forger we hired is also missing.”

“Missing, and not kidnapped?”

“We are not sure of his involvement. Judging from his personality, we know he is a bit obsessive about calligraphy. It’s possible he was kidnapped, but he could also be connected to the case or compromised.”

Li Yun remembered the skinny and pale man he saw when he examined Zhao Mengfu’s calligraphy. “Is his name Zhang?”

Abbot Haoyang was taken by surprise. “You know Zhang Shuyi?”

“No, but his name is written on the forged scroll. Do you have the original calligraphy scroll?”

Abbot Haoyang shook his head. “One of our clients invited him to view a calligraphy scroll from a private collection. He was able to recreate it from memory.”

“So you have clients?” asked Li Yun. "What sort of transaction?"

“Most of our private clients have specific items that they seek,” Abbot Haoyang explained. “We find the items for them in exchange for their Buddhist artifacts. However, this particular client wanted to exchange a replica with the real scroll.”

"Do you know the client?"

“We do not ask our clients about their identities or their purpose in exchange for our own anonymity. We exchange information over a private web forum.”

Li Yun placed both arms inside the coat pockets and made the decision to let them go. Bu Tao wasn’t going to be happy, but Li Yun would rather the monks have the artifacts than the museums. 

“Mister is willing to let us go that easily?” Abbot Haoyang was curious about the young Taoist. 

“I’m sure Abbot Haoyang knows I’m not a simple person to deal with.” Li Yun had his own network of people to keep track of others. 

“But what about the police?”

“They don’t have much,” Li Yun had only mentioned to Bu Tao about his poison. It would be difficult for anyone else to tie the monks to the case.

He bent down and touched the wooden fish. Using Qivi, he saw an old monk in a rural temple by a mountainous region. There wasn't much information for Li Yun to determine the exact date and place, but likely one of the peaks in the southwestern mountains.

“Is this passed on to you by the previous abbot?’ Li Yun asked.

“Yes, it is only passed along to the succession of abbots.”

“Can you give me the wooden fish?”

“Is mister willing to shave off your hair and become a monk?” 

Hell needed to freeze over before Li Yun ever considered becoming a monk. He could take the wooden fish, but taking away someone’s lineage seemed wrong. The abbot may be a criminal, but he hadn’t done anything remotely as bad as Wing Bo. 

Li Yun was interested in recreating the sounds, but the chants seemed weak in comparison to the ones he had heard from the ancient white cloth. It was enough to confirm the possibility in his reality. All that remained was for him to study and imitate the sound from the cloth's memories.

“I can pass along to you some of our scriptures,” the abbot proposed.

“I would also like to consult with you on your chanting methods.”

The abbot agreed.

****

“You s*****, are you really letting them go?!” Bu Tao screamed over the phone. 

“Not enough evidence?” Li Yun spoke into the speakerphone by the side as he dabbled more ink into his brush.

“B*****. Now I have to ask Commissioner Heng to back out of the case.”

“Just hand it over to the MPS, the artifacts might be in another province by now.” 

“Dammit, and I wasted my breath pleading with him to take on the case in the beginning.” 

“Hey, I’m following a lead on the dead monk, that’s more important.”

“You!’ Bu Tao was about to refute but paused for a moment. 50 million in stolen artifacts versus one murder case. To some people, the stolen artifacts were more important, but to people like Bu Tao, the murder case was more important. “All right, what do you have?”

“Can you look up information on Zhang Shuyi?” asked Li Yun.

Bu Tao grumbled over the phone and hung up. From Li Yun’s workroom, the light on his phone blacked out and he returned his focus on the piece of calligraphy. Li Yun flicked the brush away from the last character on the scroll and moved back. It was technically a copy of a copy, but he corrected the word “strength” based on his own understanding of Zhao Mengfu’s personality.

"Yun, this is the stolen calligraphy?" Rouxi asked when she walked inside the workroom.

“Yes, I saw it once at the Imperial City Museum,” Li Yun noticed Rouxi carefully studying the scroll.

“It looks a bit familiar,” Rouxi’s voice sounded unsure.

"You know this piece?" Asked Li Yun. "It went missing after the Bread Country occupation."

"I think the original is part of Song Taiji's private collection."

"He has the original?" Li Yun wasn't entirely surprised, but why would someone choose to replicate something from Song Taiji's collection?

Rouxi wasn't sure herself, but she should give him a call.