“Well, that’s because she has been cultivating herself for some 1,000 years,” said Abbot Fahai. “But, don’t worry. In no more than one month I will overcome her and put her under the pagoda for ever so that she will no longer cause damage to you or others in the future.”
Xu refused to believe what the abbot had said as he loved his wife very much and could not forget how good she was to him.
“Thank you very much, Abbot Fahai. But no matter what you say to me, I can not believe my lovely wife is a demon. Please keep your hands off matters concerning my wife and I,” Xu said.
Xu was about to leave when Master Fahai ordered his disciples to block his way.
“You must not leave, otherwise you will be bogged down deeper in the mire,” said Abbot Fahai, refusing to let him go.
After her husband had not returned for several days, Bai was on tenterhooks day and night. Finally she and Qing went over to the Jinshan Temple in Zhengjiang.
Abbot Fahai, holding a Buddhist bowl in his hand, blocked their way.
“Stop! You have the effrontery to come here? You may have taken the road to Paradise but instead you choose to take the way to Hell,” Master Fahai said.
Qing, her eyes blazing with anger, shouted at the monk,“You - Bald Monk, release my brother-in-law and you will have peace. Otherwise, you will know more trouble than you can conceive of and your temple will be destroyed along with you.”
Flying into a rage, Abbot Fahai jumped toward Qing, his red kasaya fluttering in the wind. He wielded a Buddhist monk’s staff, which is extremely heavy, and threw himself into a fi erce fight with Qing.
As Bai was pregnant, she could not confront the abbot herself, but instead she pulled a golden hairpin from her head and waved it in the breeze. Immediately, a ferociously surging river rushed to surround the temple, and an army of shrimp and crab soldiers rose out of the waters, their weapons clashing to produce a terrifying sound.
Astonished to see this, Abbot Fahai grabbed his kasaya and threw it into the air. The kasaya expanded to cover the temple, protecting it from invasion by water and river-borne invaders. With the protection of the kasaya, the temple rose with the rising of the water. Hours later, Bai had to admit defeat and returned the river to Hangzhou.
Seeing that his wife Bai possessed the magic power to make a river attack the Jinshan Temple, Xu came to realize his wife was not human. With this understanding, his mind rested at ease. Recalling her kindness and loveliness he found nothing terrifying in having the white snake demon as his wife.
One day, catching Abbot Fahai unawares, Xu managed to leave the Jinshan Temple. He hurried back to Hangzhou.
Neither Bai nor Qing were at home.
When Xu rushed to the Broken Bridge by the West Lake, where he had met them for the first time, he found both of them sitting in a boat.
Qing was angered to see him, “You have the face to come and see us? Why don’t you bring the bald monk to suppress us also?”
Bai appeared disappointed when she first saw him: “Dear husband, we have been together for some time and you should know what I am and whether I am good to you or not.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks.
Xu was very upset and said with great honesty, “Dear wife, I have made a mistake. I am sorry for this.”
Peace returned and the three went back home merrily.
A few months later, Bai gave birth to a lovely son and Xu smiled from ear to ear. On the 31st day after the baby’s birth, a month-old party was held but, unexpectedly, Abbot Fahai came with a Buddhist alms bowl in his hand.
Xu stepped in front of the door and blocked the Abbot’s entrance.
“Stop, please. I know what my wife is. And yet I love her from the bottom of my heart. Please don’t interfere,” said Xu to Abbot Fahai.
“Amitabha! Dear Benefactor,” said the Abbot, “no matter what you say, it is a fact that she is a snake spirit. She will do you no good in the end. I come for your safety.”
Before he had even finished speaking these words, he slipped past Xu and went directly into the room where Bai was resting.
Having so recently given birth to her son she was powerless against him.
The Abbot held the Buddhist monk’s bowl high in the air, producing an all-powerful force directed straight at Bai.
Qing instantly rushed forward, but was stopped by Bai who was about to be sucked into the Buddhist alms bowl. Bai shouted to Qing, “He dares not kill me! You Go! Work hard at developing your own magic power and then come back and fi ght him.”
Bai was drawn into the alms bowl which Abbot Fahai subsequently buried underneath the Leifeng Pagoda towering over the West Lake in Hangzhou. And he himself remained in the Jingci Temple not far from the pagoda.
Qing fled to the Emei Mountain where she worked with might and main for 18 years. Armed to the teeth in terms of the magic power she had mastered, Qing went to take revenge on Abbot Fahai.
Abbot Fahai was 18 years older when he fought Qing that day. After fighting for a while, he felt tired and found it hard to maintain the struggle.
Qing waved her sword at the Leifeng Pagoda.
The pagoda collapsed with a big crash! Out of it dashed Bai towards Abbot Fahai who had been responsible for her 18 years of imprisonment in the pagoda.
Abbot Fahai was forced to retreat into the West Lake, hiding himself behind the shell of a crab.
Bai and Qing rushed back home, there finding Xu with grey hair and a young man who was tall and strong. They lived a happy life thereafter, free from any interference.
