The Master’s Senior Brother

“Benefactor, what do you think of this approach… this way…?”

“Hmm…”

Chen Ran found the monk’s initial proposal acceptable, yet felt it required some refinement.

And so…

“Perhaps we could try this… or this…”

“That does sound rather good…”

“Then let us proceed thus… hmm…”

“Excellent, excellent… this is precisely how we shall do it…”

Within the hushed, inky blackness of the alley, the two engaged in a whispered conspiracy, and not long thereafter…

****

Saburo and his men sat ensconced in their vehicle, their gazes fixed upon the long, deep, and utterly dark street, where several young acolytes stood by the roadside, engaged in hushed, conspiratorial chatter.

Indeed.

Though the young monks had emerged moments ago with an air of profound composure, seemingly unperturbed, Saburo’s gnawing anxiety had eased only fractionally.

Even so, the imposing bald monk instructed his subordinates against cutting the engine, instructing them to be ready to floor the accelerator and make a swift escape the moment any unforeseen event transpired.

He couldn’t possibly be blamed for such caution.

After all, Master Tenryu himself had declared the presence of an exceedingly malevolent evil spirit within!

Time continued its relentless march.

As the hour crept towards one in the morning, the inky blackness of midnight seemed poised to devour the entire old street, unsettling the hearts of all who beheld it.

Until… Saburo and his companions finally witnessed the burly bald monk emerge from the profound depths of that darkness, fleeing in a state of utter disarray.

“Master!”

The young acolytes were the first to grasp the gravity of the situation.

Upon seeing their Master, they observed that his Zen staff and begging bowl had vanished without a trace, his kasaya (TL Note: A Buddhist monk’s robe) was utterly tattered, his feet were bare, his face was smeared with blood and grime, and one of his arms appeared to have been twisted out of joint, grotesquely bent into an unnatural shape.

Frightened half out of their wits, they immediately sprinted towards the minivan occupied by Saburo and his men.

“Open the door, open the door, quickly!”

Master Tenryu, in that frantic moment, was also bellowing.

“Benefactor, open the door swiftly! This evil spirit is truly perilous, truly formidable! Flee, quickly, flee!”

Witnessing this unfolding spectacle, Saburo found himself on the verge of being utterly paralyzed by terror.

Master Tenryu and his disciples, however, possessed an astonishing turn of speed, as if they had undergone rigorous professional training; in what seemed but a blink, they reached the minivan, wrenched open its door, and clambered inside.

“Faster, faster! Drive!”

Master Tenryu roared, his voice hoarse with urgency.

Saburo, reacting purely on instinct, slammed his foot on the accelerator, sending the vehicle hurtling swiftly into the distance.

Amidst this heart-pounding escape, the burly bald monk (TL Note: Master Tenryu) almost reflexively cast a glance into the rearview mirror, where, at the very intersection of the old street, beneath the melancholic glow of a dim streetlamp, he beheld a chilling sight.

A shadowy figure, stained with blood and grime, stood motionless and upright, its gaze fixed unnervingly upon him.

[!!!]

‘Damn it!’

****

A full day had elapsed.

Returning to the agency office, Saburo had remained virtually sleepless throughout the night. Dozens of his comrades, along with the severely injured Master Tenryu, now sat cross-legged upon the floor in a room adorned with the distinctive Rokumon Sen (TL Note: A Japanese family crest featuring six coins) family crest, gathered to deliberate their next course of action.

Though ostensibly a discussion, a heavy silence had, in fact, descended upon them all.

After all, the very ghost-exorcising master they had painstakingly summoned from Kyoto had nearly perished on that street; who among them would now dare to venture inside?

Saburo, however, had conceived a notion.

His plan was to spend even more money, to engage a greater number of exorcists, shamans, or whatever other spiritual practitioners they could find. He refused to believe that if a single combat failed, a mass assault wouldn’t succeed!

A business deal worth hundreds of millions of yen, after all, represented not just one, but several “small goals” (TL Note: A Chinese internet meme referring to a modest financial target, often used sarcastically to mean a very large sum, popularized by a billionaire saying his goal was to earn ‘a small goal’ of 100 million yuan).

How could they possibly abandon it halfway through?

Concurrently.

Master Tenryu, for his part, also found Saburo’s suggestion commendable, and volunteered to procure additional assistance.

“The evil spirit we face is truly formidable; this humble monk has never encountered anything quite like it before. It is simply beyond comprehension…”

“This humble monk could indeed summon my senior brother for assistance, however…”

He cradled his broken arm, now encased in a plaster cast.

Presently, Master Tenryu’s bald head was largely swathed in gauze, giving him the appearance of a gravely ill patient.

He presented a truly pitiful sight.

“Master, money is no object!”

Saburo had already resolved that, even if it meant spending tens of millions, this affair had to be settled.

It was no longer merely a question of finances.

If he failed to resolve this, how would he ever navigate the gang’s hierarchy again? How could their boss ever entrust him with such a lucrative project in the future? And what sustenance would his loyal brothers, who followed him, be left with?

“No… my senior brother cares little for such ‘yellow and white things’ (TL Note: A traditional Chinese idiom referring to gold and silver, i.e., money)… For five million, I shall place a call to him.”

“However, let it be explicitly understood that these five million merely cover the cost of my placing the call to my senior brother. The precise amount of additional expenditure remains unknown.”

Master Tenryu, in essence, named an exorbitant price (TL Note: A Chinese idiom, ‘shizi dazhangkou,’ meaning to demand an outrageous sum).

Saburo gritted his teeth, but in the end, he acquiesced.

“No problem at all!”

He immediately instructed someone to fetch the cash.

“Indeed, indeed…”

The venerable monk smiled, instructing the young acolytes nearby to carefully put away the money. Only then did he slowly retrieve his mobile phone and dial a specific number.

“Hello, is that you, Senior Brother…? Ah, it is this humble monk, Tenryu… Eh? You don’t recall? Oh, it’s Tenryu, from Tenryu Temple in Kyoto, yes, yes, yes.”

“This humble monk heard Senior Brother was in Xijing? Ah, right here in Linzhou, excellent, truly excellent.”

“The situation is thus: this humble monk has recently encountered an exceedingly troublesome evil spirit…”

Once the call concluded.

Master Tenryu then offered a slight smile and nodded towards Saburo, who stood beside him, before declaring.

“OK.”

[?]

The sudden burst of a foreign tongue from the venerable monk’s lips almost caused Saburo’s mind to seize, yet the paramount concern was that the matter had been settled.

He exhaled a long sigh of relief.

Nevertheless, Saburo ventured a tentative question.

“Master Tenryu, approximately how much does your senior brother charge…?”

“Discussing money is rather vulgar.”

[???]

“Simply offer what you deem appropriate.”

Master Tenryu remarked with an air of unhurried ease, then softly continued.

“My senior brother, in truth, is not a Buddhist disciple. It was my Master who perceived his profound affinity and insisted upon imparting the Dharma to him. In reality, his studies are eclectic, his travels span the mortal realm, and his power is even more…”

“Indeed, his power far surpasses mine. He once single-handedly challenged all the Shinto families of Kyoto and never once yielded ground. I daresay, if he so desired, transforming an entire city into a demon’s lair, or summoning a night parade of a hundred demons (TL Note: A ‘Hyakki Yagyō’ or ‘Night Parade of One Hundred Demons’ is a Japanese folk belief where supernatural creatures parade through the streets at night), would pose no challenge whatsoever.”

“Therefore, I am unaware of the exact sum he might demand. In any case, simply offer what you believe is fitting.”

“Be warned, however, that my senior brother’s temperament is rather mercurial and unpredictable. Thus, when you meet him, endeavor not to provoke him, for otherwise… not only would my Tenryu Temple be powerless to protect you, but even the entirety of Kyoto’s Shinto families would be unable to safeguard your lives.”

[???]

Upon hearing this, Saburo was utterly dumbfounded.

‘What in the world is all this?’ he thought, bewildered. ‘This isn’t calling for assistance; this is summoning an ancestor who must be appeased and revered!’

Yet…

With the person already summoned, it would be unthinkable to send them away immediately, wouldn’t it?

That would surely be an even greater act of courting disaster!

“In any case, just await his arrival. My senior brother stated he would be here shortly.”

“Er… how soon, specifically?”

Saburo was already contemplating the swift arrangement of a welcoming banquet to honor their esteemed guest.

“Hmm, perhaps after three in the afternoon. Today is Friday, and my senior brother has school.”

“Ah?”

‘School?’

Saburo found himself utterly speechless (TL Note: ‘Bàngbù zhù le,’ a Chinese internet slang term indicating one is so surprised or shocked that they can no longer maintain their composure or hold back their reactions).

The entire group waited until four in the afternoon, and when the senior brother Master Tenryu had spoken of finally arrived at the agency office, Saburo’s composure shattered even further.

For…

“Come, Senior Brother, this way please; be careful not to stumble…”

The sight of a burly monk, over two meters tall, bowing and scraping as he ushered a mere high school student, was undeniably comical.

Yet, what proved even more ludicrous was the introduction that followed.

“Allow me to introduce you all: this is my senior brother, Chen Ran.”

“…”