Chapter 85 Chapter 85 The Storm is Coming
Perhaps it was Yun Miao's indifferent attitude that made the atmosphere less depressing. The little monk was silent for a moment before slowly expressing his true feelings.
Born with a golden Buddha's bones, he was brought back to Lingming Temple by his master at the age of three and raised by him. Unlike the Xuantian Sect, which boasted mines and vast wealth, Lingming Temple was reluctant to associate with aristocratic families and disrupt their solitude, hence its humble origins.
But no matter how tight the resources in the temple were, they would still be tilted towards him, and all efforts would be made to cultivate him into a talent. The master, uncles, brothers and sisters all took good care of him and never complained.
He had also made up his mind that he would practice hard, carry forward Lingming Temple, and never let down his master and others' expectations of him, but the fact was... they were both abducted. Yun Miao was the great hero in the encirclement and suppression of the Demon Cult, while he was weak and incompetent, unable to do anything, and his Buddha bones were dug out instead.
Now he has become a useless person, having failed his master and his friends in their cultivation and expectations of him.
Yun Miao: "Waste? The digging of the Golden Buddha Bone will only cause you to lose all your cultivation and fall back to being a mortal. It won't completely damage your foundation. You can still cultivate like everyone else."
The young monk said with a gloomy expression that it was different. Without the golden Buddha bone, he was just another living being. All the efforts of the master and others for him were in vain. Now that the master and others did not come to pick him up, it seemed that they did not want to see him again.
Yun Miao: "Hearing you say that, it turns out that the abbot and the others at Lingming Temple are nothing more than a bunch of scoundrels seeking fame and reputation. They're so bad, why are you still bothering with them?"
The little monk was furious, his pale face turning slightly red. "Don't you dare slander my master and his people like that? They're not as bad as you say!"
Yun Miao had no idea he was bullying a child. He crossed his arms and scoffed, "What do you mean by that? It was you who said they adopted you just to use your golden Buddha bones to strengthen Lingming Temple, and then discarded you after you became a cripple. They have no feelings for you, only selfish ambitions."
"I don't know them. I can only speculate about the situation in Lingming Temple from your words, so it's obviously you who are saying bad things about them."
The little monk feebly defended himself: "No, Master and the others are very nice... I'm not... I just..."
Yun Miao interrupted him: "Someone should have told you that Lingming Temple is still screening for traitors. It's not safe at the moment, so they can't come to take care of your business."
The young monk lowered his head and said, "Yes, Master Tian Feng told me."
Yun Miao: "So all of this is just your malicious speculation. You've belittled both yourself and them."
Tears welled up in the little monk's eyes, and his voice choked. "You're right, it's my fault. I shouldn't have thought that way. Master and the others wouldn't... I was scared, and I thought that way. I'm a bastard..."
Yun Miao's lips curled up for a moment, then quickly returned to a disdainful expression: "This is your fault. I would never think that way. My master and the others really like me."
"No matter if I took tea eggs from Master's Spiritual Tea House, threw scabby worms into Senior Brother's yard, or stole Uncle Tian's spiritual plants, they never blamed me, and I never doubted their love for me. This is the deep bond between us, understand?"
Tian Laokou, who was eavesdropping on the first floor: ...No, you'd better be suspicious.
The young monk was shocked. He stole another glance at Yun Miao. Perhaps because their similar identities made it easy for people to compare themselves, he said weakly, "If you were in my shoes, and your golden Buddha bone was dug up, what would you think? What would you do?"
Yun Miao thought for a moment and spoke confidently, "I would be sad and disappointed, but I would never be as scared as you are, because I know that my cultivation is not entirely due to the Golden Light Buddha Bone. All these years of hard work are not fake, the Buddhist scriptures I have read are not fake, and the knowledge and experience in my head are not fake."
"I'm a child prodigy who, at the age of ten, had already read all the classics in the Lingming Temple's Sutra Library. I can proudly say that I have as many classics in my head as any other great monk. The path I took here is my confidence!"
"I will practice harder, climb back to my original level, or even climb higher, and then... leave Lingming Temple after I have the ability to protect myself."
The young monk's heart was surging with emotion because of her words. Suddenly hearing the last sentence, he panicked and began to persuade Yun Miao: "Why? Since you are not afraid, and you have worked so hard to climb to a higher level of cultivation, why do you still want to leave Lingming Temple? That is your home. Where else can you go if you leave?"
"The world is so vast, where can't we go?"
Yun Miao said that she would first travel around, then experience the world, and finally join the Xuantian Sect and run for the next leader of the Xuantian Sect. No matter when and where, she has a heart to dedicate herself to the Xuantian Sect and will defend it to the death. This is her campaign manifesto!
“No, no!”
The little monk was completely immersed in the situation and his face turned red with anxiety. He even forgot to keep a distance from the female donor. Instead, he grabbed Yun Miao's sleeve with his little hands, trying to pull her wandering thoughts back.
"You are me now, how can you go sightseeing? Monks should practice in seclusion and not be contaminated by worldly affairs? And what about the Xuantian Sect... You were raised in Lingming Temple, so you should give back to Lingming Temple after you finish your studies. You can't join the Xuantian Sect, it's wrong!"
Yun Miao: "Lingming Temple, Lingming Temple... You keep mentioning Lingming Temple, but do you really understand what Lingming Temple is?"
The young monk said as a matter of course: "Lingming Temple is of course the place where I was raised. It is my lifelong home."
Yun Miao: "That's certainly true for you, but you also have to know that Lingming Temple is a place for Buddhist practice. It enshrines the Buddha and recites Buddhist scriptures. Besides the chanting just now, there's also the constant mention of the golden Buddha bones. Think carefully, have you ever mentioned anything related to Buddhism in what you've said to me?"
The young monk thought she was saying that he was not pious enough to Buddha, so he hurried to explain himself.
However, Yun Miao waited for him to finish his explanation before simply saying, "Little monk, the reason you're practicing Buddhism now is simply because you were born with Buddha bones, and because you grew up in Lingming Temple. You appear to be doing this voluntarily, but in reality, you're simply being forced forward by the words and wishes of others."
"If it wasn't Lingming Temple that adopted you, but our Xuantian Sect, you would be a sword cultivator, a talisman cultivator, a body cultivator, or something else now. And you wouldn't feel wrong about it. Don't you think so?"
The little monk opened his mouth but could not speak.
Yun Miao pointed at his heart and said, "You place too much importance on the Buddha's bones. You think they are your greatest strength, what sets you apart from the common people. But in reality, as a Buddhist practitioner, losing the Buddha's bones is not a big deal, but without the Buddha's heart, what kind of Buddhist practice are you? You are just a little monk chanting sutras without any sincerity."
"If you can't comprehend this, even if the Golden Buddha Bone remains, your future cultivation will become increasingly difficult until you can no longer make any progress. Lingming Temple doesn't need an abbot without a heart for Buddha, so leaving... will actually be good for both you and Lingming Temple."
The little monk's breath stopped and he felt a dull pain in his heart. He lowered his head and looked at his chest. The whole world seemed to be quiet. Only the sound of his heart beating could be heard, driving his blood and eardrums to beat along with it.
"Buddha's bones...Buddha's heart..."
As he watched, he seemed to have hallucinations. A big hole appeared in his heart. There was no blood like when the Buddha's bones were dug out, but only endless emptiness.
He was so blinded by the Buddha's bones that he had never noticed that his heart was missing... or rather, that Buddha's heart had never existed.
It seemed as if someone was asking in his ear: Why do you practice Buddhism?
He wanted to say he was doing it for his master and the others, but then he realized that such a reason alone wouldn't lead to Buddhahood. So why was he practicing Buddhism? Should he really leave Lingming Temple?
The past hard training, those obscure classics, and the master's earnest teachings gradually emerged in his mind, and a new enlightenment gradually emerged in his heart.
On the first floor of the medicine house, Tian Laokou put away the freshly-baked pills and looked towards the third floor in astonishment. Although his sight was blocked by the ceiling, his spiritual sense could clearly see the little monk meditating with his eyes closed on the third floor, as well as the huge vortex of spiritual energy generated around him.
Another epiphany?
Yun Miao came down from upstairs, chewing a peach. Tian Laokou immediately asked her what she had said to the little monk and why she had made such a big noise.
Yun Miao calmly asked back, "Didn't you hear everything?"
Tian Laokou was eavesdropping openly, with no intention of hiding it at all, and Yun Miao's spiritual sense had always been sharper than that of cultivators of the same level, so he had discovered Tian Laokou's eavesdropping behavior long ago.
Mr. Tian scratched his head and said, "It's because I can hear it that I don't understand it. Why do your words have such a lasting effect? I get an epiphany as soon as I hear them."
Yun Miao: "Because you are not him, you cannot empathize with him."
Old Tian rolled his eyes, rubbed his hands, and immediately looked at Yun Miao, bringing up the old matter again, hoping that his nephew would be willing to give him some advice.
Yun Miao's eyes rolled, and he rubbed his fingers at Tian Lao with a smile, suggesting something very suggestive: "I heard that Senior-Martial-Uncle Ge Yan's limp has healed, and my master's poison has been removed. Senior-Martial-Uncle, you've also been showing signs of a breakthrough recently. I think I have contributed to this to some extent. Senior-Martial-Uncle, how about you give me some first..."
"Go away, go away, I only have these little things, and you still come here every day to take them. You are partly responsible for my poverty."
Before Yun Miao could finish speaking, Tian Laokou's expression changed immediately and he quickly drove the man away.
"I'm busy, hurry up and leave, or I'll get the broom!"
"Uncle Master, you are becoming more and more stingy."
Yun Miao snorted, stuffed the remaining peaches on the plate into the storage bag, put the empty plate on the table, and then walked out of the medicine house while chewing the peaches. At the same time, she had time to complain to Tian Laokou that the peaches were too sweet. She liked sweet with a hint of sourness.
Tian Laochui said, "It's good enough that I have something to eat. I only eat one peach from the whole plate, and you've got the rest. You can't finish it, but you still have to take it away. You're really like the wind leaving traces and the geese plucking feathers. If you don't give me some benefits, I will never support you to take over the position of head!"
Yun Miao was not at all flustered: "If I can't become the head, I will run for the position of elder in the Deacon Hall and block your funding application every day."
Tian Laokou: "...you are so cruel!"
*
When Yun Miao was flying back, she suddenly heard a noisy sound coming from the Beast Peak. She used her spiritual sense to sweep and saw a group of disciples from the Law Enforcement Hall arresting people, while the disciples from the Beast Peak were running away in panic.
Yun Miao paused as she was about to throw the peach pit away, then silently tossed it into the secret realm. Xuantian Sect forbids littering; violators will either have their contribution points deducted or be punished with compulsory labor. It would be best if she didn't knowingly violate the rules in front of the Law Enforcement Hall disciples.
Then she turned around and flew towards the Beast Peak on her sword. It would be a shame not to see the excitement.
Several disciples from the Law Enforcement Hall rushed into the disciples' quarters at the Beast Peak and there was a lot of banging. Then they caught several dangerous monsters that were not allowed to be raised, as well as several disciples from the Beast Peak who had knowingly committed crimes.
Among them, the most conspicuous is a ten-meter-long red-striped giant crocodile. It is dark green all over with blood-red stripes on its body. Although it is a vegetarian, it has a violent personality and a strong sense of territory. Any fly passing through its territory will be chased and killed by it.
This one is already at the eighth level of the Foundation Establishment Stage, and is indeed very threatening to low-level disciples.
Although it was a private house, this kind of forbidden monster could not be kept openly in the yard and could only be hidden in the house. Yun Miao thought that the owner of this crocodile was also very impressive, as he could keep such a large crocodile in the house.
Speak of the devil, and here he is. A seemingly delicate female disciple in the Jindan stage flew over, hugged the crocodile's neck and cried out for justice.
"It's unfair. I don't know anything about the red-striped giant crocodile. It's just a little gecko I raised to eat mosquitoes. It's just been soaking in water recently and eating a lot, so it accidentally got swollen and fat."
"If you let me go this time, I'll take it home to lose weight and make it return to its original slim and cute appearance."
All the disciples except Beast Peak were silent. This crocodile, with its green face and fangs, couldn't possibly be cute even if it were to regress back to when it first hatched. And... the gecko? Senior/Junior Sister, when did you go blind?
At this moment, another bearded, black-faced man rushed out and stood in front of the crocodile to stop the disciples of the Law Enforcement Hall from taking it away. As a result, the crocodile opened its mouth wide and swallowed half of his body into its mouth.
Yun Miao was surprised. Isn’t this Guan Dahai?
One of the disciples from the Law Enforcement Hall sneered and forcibly pried open the crocodile's mouth. She glanced at Guan Dahai, whose face was covered in blood, and then looked at the female disciple in the Golden Core stage: "A little gecko that only eats mosquitoes? So he's called Mosquito, right?"
Guan Dahai was still lying in the crocodile's mouth, but he still stiffened his neck and said, "I volunteered! I love it. If love is long-lasting, why should we care about animals?"
Yun Miao and the others who were unaware of the truth gasped. When did Guan Dahai develop this hobby? You people from Beast Peak are really playing tricks!
The Law Enforcement Hall disciple sneered and quickly let go of the crocodile's hand. The crocodile's mouth slammed shut again. "Tell the truth, or you'll be turned into crocodile shit."
Guan Dahai's muffled voice came from the crocodile's mouth: "...Senior Sister promised to give me one after the red-striped giant crocodile lays an egg."
Onlookers: ...
Ning Yu, the leader, waved his hand expressionlessly: "Take them together."
The other disciples of the Law Enforcement Hall responded and quickly tied up Guan Dahai and the senior sister. Then, two disciples of the Law Enforcement Hall came over, escorting a tall, thin woman.
"Senior Sister Ning, the money tree has been caught."
Yun Miao immediately recognized that this was Futu. Futu was wearing a bracelet on his hand that could suppress his cultivation, turning her from a god-transforming stage into a mortal.
Her current situation is similar to Chu Beiliang's. Born into the Changsheng Sect and the only flower demon in the world capable of producing the Buddha Fruit, she is currently under the control of the Xuantian Sect, a form of surveillance and protection. However, Buddha yearns for freedom and has been trying to escape these days.
The Buddha who failed to escape cried: "I am not a money tree, I am a Buddha tree. I don't care about making money. You really picked the wrong tree!"
Ning Yu said indifferently that the money tree in their Law Enforcement Hall had died and they needed a tree to replace it. It didn't matter whether it was a money tree or not, they were not picky.
Buddha was indignant on behalf of the fortune tree: "How could this happen? The fortune tree must have realized that you didn't care about it at all, so it was heartbroken and committed suicide! You cold-blooded humans, you killed the poor fortune tree!"
Ning Yu: ...
The Law Enforcement Hall's surprise attack yielded great results. They escorted a group of monsters and people towards the Law Enforcement Hall on the main peak, while Fu Tu was still struggling.
One disciple couldn't help but ask, "It's so dangerous outside, why not join our sect?"
Fu Tu Chao shouted, "I don't want it! Xuan Tian Sect is nothing. Master Xiao Hong was able to stir up a melee among the three major sects with his own strength. He was a top-notch existence in terms of strength and wisdom. This is the strong man I want to join and be loyal to!"
"One day, Master Xiaohong will sweep across all sects, unify the entire cultivation world, become the legendary Daoist Master, and command the entire world! My loyalty to Master Xiaohong is as clear as the sun and the moon, and cannot be desecrated. Give up, I will never betray Master Dahong!"
"There's no future in following the Xuantian Sect. I advise you to abandon the dark side and join the light. Join me in joining the future Dao Zun! Together, we will grow bigger and stronger under Master Xiaohong and create brilliance together!"
Yun Miao watched the group walk away, unable to help but twitch his lips. Wasn't this pagoda tree naive and timid before? What had happened to it that made it suddenly mutate into this state?
And did Futu have any misunderstandings about her? When did she say she wanted to unify the world of cultivation and command the whole world?
While she was sighing that the pagoda was even bigger than hers, she took out another peach and started to chew it.
The sect is still as lively as ever, which is great.
*
However, in this turbulent era, peace is only a fragile appearance. No one knows where the rumor came from, but the prophecy of the old master of Zhaixing Pavilion, the spiritual energy tide and the affairs of the Changsheng Sect suddenly spread throughout the world of cultivation overnight.
Some major sects that had known the secret of the spiritual energy tide for a long time tried to suppress the news, but the result was that the more they tried to cover up the news, the faster it spread, and the situation became more and more serious.
Just as the predecessors expected, this secret was like a major earthquake for the entire world of cultivation, shattering the hearts of many people.
The monks refused to believe or accept that after hundreds and thousands of years of arduous cultivation, expending so much sweat and forsaking so much pleasure, this was the final outcome. However, the facts presented in the news forced them to believe it, and even many smaller sects were thrown into a panic.
The airspace erupted in uproar, and so did the world of cultivation. Some even heard that the major, long-established sects knew about the spiritual energy tide, but had tacitly concealed it from the public. They then gathered together to question the major sects, led by the Xuantian Sect.
This matter concerns the survival of the entire cultivation world. Why are these major sects hiding this? Why don't they let the entire cultivation world know? If they knew about this earlier, they could have come up with a solution together, instead of being caught off guard and left to wait for death in despair.
Xuantian Sect and other sects ignored these questions on the surface, but secretly sent people to control the airspace of the cultivation world, trying to convince everyone that as long as they waited patiently, the prophesied immortal would surely appear.
The big sects have accumulated prestige for a long time, and other cultivators still believe what they say. Most of them try to suppress their anxiety, and while smiling bitterly, they comfort themselves that there are tall people to hold up the sky if it falls, and wait and see what happens.
Because Sect Leader Chang knew that some secrets could not be concealed for much longer, the sect had been releasing some information in the airspace these days, including popular science about the ancient Longevity Sect's attempt to use immortal transformation and the Buddha Fruit to achieve immortality.
As for the secret of the spiritual energy tide, although the sect has not said it directly, it has given some implicit hints.
So although the disciples of Xuantian Sect were also shocked, they had not yet given up on themselves. Many of them even had the energy to climb into the airspace connecting the entire world of cultivation, and fought with those cultivators who criticized Xuantian Sect for three hundred rounds, cursing them until the sky was dark.
Among them, Yun Miao has the strongest combat power. Even in modern times, she is a high-intensity surfer of the Internet. She has a lot of small words and can curse people without using any dirty words. She can even scold those monks who are already unstable in their Taoism into becoming autistic from a distance.
Because of the secret control of major sects such as Xuantian Sect, and the terrifying combat power of disciples such as Yun Miao in the airspace, many cultivators who were jumping up and down gradually calmed down.
However, due to the secret instigation of the Changsheng Sect, many monks with extreme ideas believed in the Changsheng Sect's plan to create artificial immortals and joined the Changsheng Sect.
Fortunately, the major sects headed by Xuantian Sect did not gain nothing. Xuantian Sect had been secretly exchanging letters with them. After Xuantian Sect's reminder, these sects had been secretly investigating the undercover agents planted by Changsheng Sect.
The Changsheng Cult's widespread use of these undercover agents to spread information was a risky move. Under the close surveillance of the major sects, these "pigeons" were arrested as soon as they appeared. Thus, the Changsheng Cult's undercover network, which had been cultivated for thousands of years, was largely destroyed.
They also interrogated these "pigeons" to reveal several Changsheng Sect strongholds, which they destroyed overnight, further damaging the already severely weakened Changsheng Sect. In short, this round of fighting was not easy for both sides.
*
On a dim afternoon, Yun Miao, lying on the small couch, looked out the window. Dark clouds were rolling in the sky, and it seemed that a bigger storm was brewing.
Her hand stroked the disciple order, and she lazily turned over, rolled off the small couch, and fell directly onto the big black wolf lying on the ground. The big black wolf just turned his head to look at her, rubbed the top of her head with his black nose, and then turned his head to continue resting.
Yun Miao, on the other hand, played with his wolf ears while asking his master, who was far away in Xuantian Palace, a question: "Master, do all immortal molts look like meat ganoderma? Are there other forms of immortal molts?"
For example... one that looks like a stone?
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