Listening to the Gospel of God

Haijing Academy of Fine Arts, Block B Teaching Building, Third Floor Art Studio.

The night outside was quiet and serene. The light from the energy-saving lamps was a bit pale, and combined with the various colors of paint splattered on the walls, the classroom had a ghostly atmosphere.

A tall girl sat in front of her easel.

Her long black hair was wrapped in a silk scarf into a large bun at the back of her head, preventing it from getting stained with paint. The bristle oil brush in her hand swept back and forth, splashing a surging, turbulent blue torrent onto the canvas.

This torrent swirled and churned, forming a mad nebula, like the gaping maw of a demon, about to devour the entire city under the night sky.

The girl was painting Van Gogh's "Starry Night." It was already ninety percent similar. What was missing was that certain... aura.

Crack!

The girl suddenly dropped her oil brush and stared blankly at the ceiling.

Her pitch-black pupils were like a stagnant pool, utterly motionless.

After a while, the girl picked up her Huawei Phone from the side and opened Bilibili.

The phone was old, causing the interface to lag a bit.

That guy, Lin the Hungry One, wouldn't actually give up, would he?

The girl worried, and clicked on her followed list.

There was only one uploader in it, Alone, like an abandoned stray dog.

Updated?

The girl's eyes lit up, and she immediately clicked on the video.

Huh?

It's the "Heart Sutra"?

Without headphones, a male voice, as gentle and pure as a clear spring stream, began to echo in the art studio.

This chanting was neither solemn nor serious. It was like a refined and amiable friend, speaking softly, recounting some of the sights and anecdotes he encountered on his journey to obtain the scriptures.

The girl listened quietly.

The "Heart Sutra" wasn't long. It ended.

The girl didn't move. She slowly savored it. After about ten minutes, she clicked on repeat.

The golden morning light sprinkled across the campus, as if coated in a layer of gold.

With the start of the semester approaching, some senior students had already returned to school early, busy rushing to complete their graduation projects.

Li Jing got up early, bought a Jianbing Guozi, and hurried to the art studio. If she didn't finish her project quickly, finding a job would be difficult.

Huh?

What is this?

Chanting?

It sounds quite nice!

Li Jing climbed to the third floor and heard chanting. She quickly walked to Art Studio 302 and found the door unlocked!

Creak!

Li Jing pushed open the door and, like a hamster, poked her head into the classroom for a look.

"Chen Xin? You're here so early!"

Li Jing knew this girl.

Or rather, as a painting prodigy who had held an exhibition in Paris, France, during her sophomore year, no one at Haijing Academy of Fine Arts didn't know her.

It was rumored that the Principal had begged her to stay at the academy.

Disturbed by the noise, Chen Xin frowned slightly.

"Chen... Classmate Chen, c-can I ask you some questions?"

Seizing the rare opportunity, Li Jing decided to grasp it. She quickly took out her half-finished painting and asked Chen Xin for guidance.

"Your painting skills are excellent, but they lack soul!"

Chen Xin glanced at Li Jing's modified version of the Sistine Madonna: "If you just want to find a good job, then choose a piece that showcases your painting skills to the maximum extent!"

"For example, Kramskoi's Unknown Woman."

Li Jing was shocked. She hadn't expected Chen Xin to guess her thoughts just by glancing at her work.

When she first applied to Haijing Academy of Fine Arts, her ambitions were sky-high. She planned to create her own artistic style, but now?

Sorry!

She just wanted to draw character art for those Game Studios, the kind that paid tens of thousands of RMB each.

"Thank you! Thank you!"

Li Jing quickly said her thanks, her attitude obedient.

Chen Xin put away her drawing board, tidied up her paints and oil brushes, and untied the silk scarf from her head. Her black hair, reaching her waist, immediately cascaded down like a waterfall.

Chen Xin lowered her head and opened the comment section.

After a quick glance, she began to leave a message.

Flower Blooms in the Fields: Congratulations on finding your path!

Flower Blooms in the Fields: A swimming fish will eventually find the ocean where it can leap freely, and a small bird will fly to a sky vast enough for it to spread its wings.

I am very pleased that you didn't give up!

Flower Blooms in the Fields: Keep it up, Hungry One!

Chen Xin put away her phone, ready to leave.

"Classmate Chen..."

Li Jing couldn't help but speak again.

Chen Xin stopped, turned her head, and let out a nasal sound.

"Mm?"

"Um... um..."

Being looked at by such a genius made Li Jing a little flustered: "That Buddhist chant music you were listening to earlier, could you tell me what it was?"

"I thought it sounded really good!"

Li Jing swallowed.

What was going on?

Did this girl have such a strong aura?

"Go to Bilibili, search for Lin the Hungry One!"

After Chen Xin finished speaking, a faint smile finally appeared on her expressionless face.

Foshui City, Shiwan Shangyuan Residential Area, Building 12.

A big fatty was frantically pounding on his keyboard!

"F*** off, heal, heal, how do you even play, damn it!"

Raven died, and the screen turned black and white.

The fatty immediately slammed on the keyboard, spewing vulgarities, and cursed out all his teammates.

"Did you eat shit? Your mouth stinks so bad?"

"You f***ing idiot!"

"Damn it all!"

The teammates didn't hold back either and immediately fired back.

The fatty got even more fired up, ready to unleash his 18 years of single-player speed and debate them all.

Smack!

The computer screen went black. The power went out.

The fatty froze for a moment, then started crying.

"My love is gone, I can't win games, and now I want to curse someone, but even the power company is against me. Believe it or not, I'm not paying my electricity bill next month!"

The fatty's name was Zhang Jing. He had just graduated from high school and felt like he might not get another chance, so he decided to confess to the goddess he'd secretly admired for three years.

Before he could even speak, he saw the goddess coming out of a hotel with the school heartthrob.

At that moment, Zhang Jing felt his life shatter. Living was meaningless.

"Xiao Jing, what are you wailing about? Xiao Pi is here to see you!"

Zhang Jing's mom's voice boomed.

"Tell him I'm dead!"

Zhang Jing jumped onto the bed. His nearly 200-pound weight made the bed creak under the strain.

"What are you doing, kid?"

A guy as thin as a monkey pushed open the bedroom door. "You've been holed up at home for half a month. What's up, cultivating immortality?"

"Pi, my love is dead!"

Zhang Jing said, tears welling up in his eyes.

Li Piwang was his childhood friend, so Zhang Jing wasn't afraid of looking foolish.

"Come on, when has your love life ever been alive?"

Li Piwang pressed the power button on the computer twice, only to find it had no power. "What's so good about women? They only affect my sword-drawing speed!"

Zhang Jing lay on his back on the bed.

Heart weary!

It would have been fine if he had been rejected by the goddess, but the problem was that he had personally seen her come out of a hotel.

The blow was too great!

He felt like a victim from a manga.

Seeing Zhang Jing like this, Li Piwang knew he had been hit hard this time. He sighed, opened Bilibili, and sent him a link.

"Listen to this!"

"What is it?"

Zhang Jing clicked the link, and it jumped to Bilibili.

"Buddhist scriptures!"

Li Piwang usually browsed videos of young ladies dancing before sleeping every night. However, yesterday evening, he accidentally heard these Buddhist scriptures, and his interest in young ladies vanished instantly.

He was so scared at the time, thinking he had ruined himself from too much masturbation.

"Even if Shakyamuni himself sang Buddhist scriptures to me now, it wouldn't work!"

Zhang Jing chuckled and clicked play.

As the chanting began, just the first sentence caught Zhang Jing's ear.

So comfortable!

His previously irritable, anxious, and resentful emotions were instantly extinguished like the Flaming Mountain doused by ice and snow.

When he finished listening, Zhang Jing's heart was filled with nothing but peace.

He even clasped his hands together and mumbled, "Amitabha."

"How does it feel?"

The power was back. Li Piwang turned on the computer, ready to conquer the Continent of Valoran!

"I want to become a monk!"

Zhang Jing spoke the truth; he really had the urge to be free from all worldly ties and become a monk.

"Haha, I felt the same way after listening to it!"

Li Piwang skillfully opened the folder and found the short film: "This chanting is very skillful. I guess it's from a high monk from some temple?"

Zhang Jing originally wanted to say, "Are there still high monks these days?"

But remembering the chanting filled with Zen charm, he closed his mouth.

After savoring it for a few minutes, Zhang Jing suddenly said, "Pizi, want to go to Shaolin Temple with me?"

"School is about to start, why go to Shaolin Temple?"

Li Piwang thought his best friend was crazy.

"Listen to scriptures, worship Buddha, pray for..."

Zhang Jing originally wanted to say "pray for Marriage Fate," but suddenly felt that it didn't matter if there were no women.

"Stop lying there, get up quickly, let's watch together!"

Li Piwang urged.

"Not interested!"

Zhang Jing listened to the scripture again, gave it a like, a coin, and a favorite, performed a one-click triple-like, and left a comment.

Zhang San Ri Tian: Master Lin, is there an MP3 version? Please provide a download!

Zhang Jing wanted to download this scripture to his Player, so he could open it and listen whenever he felt annoyed.

He checked and saw that many people were asking for a download.

"Lin the Hungry One? That name doesn't sound like a high monk!"

Zhang Jing clicked to follow, After thinking about it, he changed it to "special follow."

September 3rd, 6 AM, outside Guangqing City High-Speed Rail Station.

"Mom, you can go back! This is far enough!"

Lin Baici, carrying a lot of bags and luggage, got out of the taxi.

"I'll wait until you're on the train before I go back!"

Mom Lin originally wanted to see Lin Baici off to university registration, but she was too busy with work, and her Leader wouldn't approve her leave. Lin Baici also said he was old enough to manage on his own, so Mom Lin decided not to go.

However, just before he left, thinking about her son going to live over a thousand miles away for four years, in an unfamiliar place, Mom Lin started to worry again.

"No need, I won't get lost. Besides, you don't have a ticket, so you can't get in!"

Besides feeling bad for his mother, Lin Baici was also uncomfortable carrying so much luggage.

He could have stored it in the Black Altar Bowl, but he didn't dare do it with his mother watching, so he had to carry it.

Otherwise, with his mother's personality, she would definitely have pestered him until the end.

By then, the matter of the Longchan Temple Divine Ruins wouldn't be a secret anymore. She would definitely worry and forbid him from going to break into divine ruins again.

Lin Baici also planned to get a few more God's Taboo Objects and sell them for a windfall.

A mother worries when her child travels a thousand miles.

Mom Lin was still uneasy.

She regretted it now, wishing she had accompanied her son to register.

"Mom, let me be independent and train myself!"

Lin Baici pleaded persistently, "You can't take care of me forever, can you?"

Mom Lin was finally persuaded.

"Then be careful. Keep your wallet and phone safe, don't lose them!"

Mom Lin instructed.

"Okay!"

Lin Baici queued for half an hour and passed the Security Check. Seeing his mother still outside the high-speed rail station, he waved at her through the glass.

"Mom, go back!"

Lin Baici sent a WeChat message.

He knew his mother wouldn't leave until he was out of sight, so he went up the Elevator to the second-floor Waiting Hall.

The hall was bustling with noise, many of them students about to embark on long journeys.

Lin Baici looked around, intending to find Gate A12, when a sudden wave of hunger struck him.