Friends Come from Afar-How Wonderful, How Wonderful

"Enlightened Zhi Buddhist Son, long time no see. Are you heading to the Dao Sect as well?"

"Benefactor Wang Bian, this little monk is going to the Immortal Artifact Appreciation Conference to broaden his horizons."

The young monk and the Confucian scholar exchanged greetings. Clearly, they had known each other for quite some time.

Having heard this, those burly men could not muster even the last shred of vengeance. Even the passengers watching the commotion unconsciously straightened their posture, unwilling to appear too casual before these two.

It was said that Enlightened Zhi Buddhist Son was the Buddha's reincarnation. The moment he was born, he transformed an entire small town into a Buddhist land. Even his parents prostrated themselves before him and converted to the Buddhist Sect—something beyond his own control. Upon hearing of it, Mount Sumeru Old Buddha rushed over at once, accepted Wu Zhi as his final disciple, and personally designated him as the Buddhist Son.

It was precisely because he was the Buddha's reincarnation that his cultivation advanced so swiftly. At fourteen, he was already a Nascent Soul Cultivator, breaking the record for the youngest Nascent Soul Cultivator.

When Jiang Li was fourteen, he had not even transmigrated yet.

The Confucian scholar Wang Bian was a traveling representative of the Confucian Sect. Though still young, he had already served as imperial preceptor to seven small nations. Under Confucian benevolence and learning, those seven nations had become lands of gentlemen, where doors went unbarred at night and no one picked up lost items from the road.

Even Spirit Transformation Stage Confucian scholars sought his guidance on matters of Confucian cultivation.

"Is Enlightened Zhi Buddhist Son truly the Buddha's reincarnation?" Pure Heart Saintess asked curiously. She had heard the legends of Enlightened Zhi Buddhist Son and had even asked Mount Sumeru Old Buddha about it in person, but that old monk had merely smiled and smiled and smiled without uttering a single word.

Usually, he at least fobbed her off with, "The Buddha says it cannot be spoken of!"

If she could beat him, she would have pried his mouth open! Not just anyone from the Buddhist Sect who went to Western Paradise could call himself a Buddha. Only those with profound Buddhist Dharma who possessed a Buddhist land in the western reaches of the Immortal World were qualified to bear that title.

Jiang Li's expression turned strange. "That's what you care about?"

"What else should I care about?" Pure Heart Saintess found it baffling.

"He might be your grandmaster."

"???"

"Your master, Daoist Qingyu, likes him. You didn't know?"

"???"

Seeing that Pure Heart Saintess could not accept this news for the moment, Jiang Li answered her question in all seriousness.

"I don't know. I'm not familiar with reincarnation."

Jiang Li truly knew little about reincarnation. Even after living five hundred years, he still had not figured out whether he had transmigrated or awakened memories of a past life.

"However, Mount Sumeru Old Buddha said that Enlightened Zhi Buddhist Son's Buddha-nature was even better than his own. He intended to make Enlightened Zhi Buddhist Son a Human Emperor Candidate to compete for the position of Human Emperor."

"And whether or not he is the Buddha's reincarnation, I can say for certain that this little monk was an exceptionally powerful person in his previous life."

Jiang Li narrowed his eyes at Enlightened Zhi Buddhist Son.

"What do you see?"

Pure Heart Saintess knew that Jiang Li had studied souls extensively.

"A soul that doesn't match his age."

In Jiang Li's eyes, Enlightened Zhi Buddhist Son's soul was extraordinarily powerful and resilient. Though it was still a Nascent Soul Realm soul, it bore traces of having been tempered through countless tribulations. That was not something a fourteen-year-old monk should possess.

When ordinary people reincarnated, every trace upon their souls was erased. They became clean and pure new people, and even Jiang Li could not tell who they had been in their past lives.

Yet Enlightened Zhi Buddhist Son's soul was so resilient that not even reincarnation could wear away its marks. It could only be that he had been too powerful in his previous life, and that power had carried over into this one.

As for whether he had been the Buddha in his previous life, who knew?

"We're about to pass through the Bai Ze Imperial Dynasty. Everyone, be careful!"

The shipmaster shouted loudly, ordering the guards aboard the flying ship to remain alert.

Jiang Li could see it clearly. Normally, the shipmaster might have been speaking to the guards, but with the Buddhist Son and a traveling representative of the Confucian Sect aboard the flying ship, he was obviously shouting for those two to hear.

Before he finished speaking, an eagle cry rang out from below the flying ship, making the passengers shudder.

The strongest guard aboard the flying ship was a cultivator at the peak of Golden Core. At that eagle cry, every hair on his body stood on end. A Nascent Soul Realm Eagle Demon!

Nascent Soul Cultivators truly could not fly, but bird demons were an exception! The guard cursed furiously in his heart. Usually, it was just a few little Foundation Establishment eagles causing trouble, at most a Golden Core Eagle Demon. What was this? Was the little monk too delicious, attracting some old Eagle Demon monster? "The Bai Ze Imperial Dynasty truly deserves its other name, the Bandit Imperial Dynasty. Today has been an eye-opener."

Even Pure Heart Saintess, who rarely ventured into the Red Dust, had heard of the Bai Ze Imperial Dynasty's nickname.

"It can't be helped. The Bai Ze Emperor has done her best. It's already proof of her ability that the country has not fallen apart. She's a mixed-blood Bai Ze and can't suppress the Eight Great Feudal Kings." Jiang Li was equally helpless regarding the Bai Ze Imperial Dynasty's nickname.

The current Bai Ze Emperor was a hybrid of Bai Ze and Qilin, and her appearance was that of a white Qilin. To the Bai Ze Imperial Dynasty, that was simply a joke. Were they supposed to accept the rule of a Bai Ze Emperor who looked like a Qilin? "Demonic beasts only recognize bloodlines. If the bloodline isn't pure, they won't recognize her as the Bai Ze Emperor, and she cannot wield the nation's fortune."

Jiang Li had met the Bai Ze Emperor and thought the white Qilin looked quite handsome. He could not really understand how the demonic beasts thought.

"The Bai Ze Emperor is only at the Body Integration Realm, and the Eight Demon Kings are also at the Body Integration Realm. She isn't me—I can fight eight by myself. The Eight Demon Kings refuse to submit to the Bai Ze Emperor, each carving out a territory of their own. Whether they obey orders or proclamations depends entirely on their mood."

"The Bai Ze Imperial Dynasty was originally made up of demonic beasts, and its order was the worst to begin with. Now that eight kings have divided the land, it is no surprise that it has become a den of bandits."

Yet it was precisely because demonic beast order was so chaotic that human cultivators often went to the Bai Ze Imperial Dynasty to gain experience, killing demonic beasts with perfectly clear consciences.

The Eagle Demon revealed himself. With his wings spread, he measured a full nine zhang across, their edges faintly golden, displaying his noble bloodline. In a single dive, he charged toward the pile of Spirit Stones used as fuel.

That pile of Spirit Stones was worth even more than the flying ship itself!

Enlightened Zhi Buddhist Son and the Confucian scholar Wang Bian struck at the same time, driving back the Eagle Demon. Had the Eagle Demon not been able to fly, the two would have captured him long ago! "Benefactor Eagle, lay down your butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the spot. Please stop."

"Eagle Lord, burning, killing, plundering, and looting are not the acts of a gentleman."

The Eagle Demon turned a deaf ear to their persuasion and even seemed to want to spit at them.

The two sighed together. Their conversion and instruction were only effective on those below Golden Core; they were utterly useless against this Nascent Soul Realm Eagle Demon.

The little monk took the Buddhist Sect's supreme treasure, the Brahma Heaven Pagoda, from his robes and hurled it viciously at the Eagle Demon.

The purple Brahma Heaven Pagoda was only palm-sized, yet it weighed like the sun and moon. The Eagle Demon was merely grazed by it and was sent flying, vomiting blood. His wings flapped weakly as he plummeted straight down.

Wang Bian tossed out a sheet of calligraphy bearing the character "Still." The instant it touched the Eagle Demon, he could no longer move. Under the calligraphy's pull, he was obediently dragged back to the flying ship.

The Eagle Demon was left utterly dazed by this sudden turn of events. Before he could react, he had already been captured.

"Resorting to force all the time is bad for one's state of mind." Wang Bian said with some difficulty, making the Eagle Demon want to cry without tears. Then don't use force!

The little monk Enlightened Zhi was equally troubled. "Yes, yes, but if the other party refuses to listen to reason, what can we do?"

"Try persuading him some more?"

"Alright."

Thus, they placed the immobilized Eagle Demon before them. One sat on his left reciting sutras, while the other sat on his right expounding benevolence.

Buddhist sutras entered his left ear and tried to leave through his right, only to be blocked by the principles of benevolence and righteousness entering through that right ear.

The Eagle Demon's head was now filled with, "A gentleman says Prajna Paramita," and, "Friends come from afar—how wonderful, how wonderful."

He regretted it. He regretted it beyond measure.