Zhang Ling smiled and said, "You are indeed a pious person, but you are still not pious enough."

He then asked, "You said that cultivation requires a clear conscience. What exactly does this conscience refer to? And why should we be clear about it?"

The old monk frowned slightly. He had not expected this young man to be so clever, to be able to grasp the essence of things and see through everything. This made him even more determined to accept him into the Buddhist sect. This would be considered a great merit. He immediately explained, "To have a clear conscience is to let oneself be content."

Zhang Ling shook his head and asked, "So what is this heart? Why should I follow it?"

The old monk was speechless for a moment. He couldn't think of a good answer and thought hard about it.

Zhang Ling shook his head and said, "You are following the path laid out by the Buddha, being cautious but unaware of the underlying principles. You think you have achieved something through your lifelong practice, but you are only holding yourself back. You may be able to share the joy of a child, but you haven't yet reached the state of freedom."

The old monk was confused. Although he did not believe what the young man in blue said, he was not too angry. He patiently asked, "Amitabha, I wonder what I have done wrong?"

Zhang Ling thought for a moment, then pointed to the sky with one hand and the ground with the other. "Legend has it that Sakyamuni once said, 'I alone reign supreme above all else,' and you haven't achieved that."

The old monk was even more confused and didn't understand the meaning of this sentence.

Shakyamuni is the honorable surname of the Buddha, but what does it mean: I am the only one who is supreme in heaven and on earth?

This sounds a bit outrageous and too outrageous. How could it be something the Buddha would say?

It doesn't sound like something a Buddhist would say.

Zhang Ling explained, "Although you know that cultivation is to bring peace of mind, all you do is use your actions to bring peace of mind. There are things you dare not do, things you dare not offend."

"Practice has always been about being free from obstructions and constraints. This doesn't mean being arrogant or doing evil, but rather about allowing nothing to offend the heart. If you can achieve a state where nothing can trouble your heart, then you will naturally find true peace of mind."

As soon as the words were spoken, the night sky was suddenly filled with muffled thunder, and faint Buddhist chants could be heard, lingering around the sky and earth.

The old monk seemed to understand something after hearing this and continued to ask, "How can I truly find peace of mind?"

At this moment, he no longer looked down on the young man in front of him as he did before, and he no longer thought about using Buddhism to convert him.

After a few words of discussion, the old monk had an epiphany that the young man in blue must be a sacred being playing around in the human world, but he also felt that he had stumbled upon this opportunity by accident.

There seems to be a mysterious feeling: there must be an unparalleled fortune here!