Puzhi Visits Qingyun Sect!

Great Bamboo Peak.

Outside Shou Jing Hall.

A gust of wind blew past.

The bamboo forest swayed, rustling softly.

Su Ru stood at the entrance, her gaze fixed in the direction of Heaven-Piercing Peak.

It had been two hours already.

But Tian Buyi still hadn't returned.

This caused a flicker of unease to stir in Su Ru's heart.

Could it be that the Demonic Cult's fiends were causing trouble again?

Just then.

A streak of red light cut through the sky, and in the blink of an eye, it arrived above Great Bamboo Peak.

The red light dissipated.

Tian Buyi's short, stout figure was revealed.

He stood on the Crimson Flame Immortal Sword, his robes flapping noisily in the wind, but his expression...

How to describe it?

It was neither anger nor solemnity.

Instead, it held a strange, indescribable quality.

Like he had just watched an absurd monkey show, wanting to laugh but feeling unlucky, wanting to curse but feeling it beneath him.

Tian Buyi landed on the ground, casually sheathed the Immortal Sword, flicked his wide sleeve, and walked into the hall with his hands behind his back.

His belly jiggled rhythmically with each step.

A moment later.

Tian Buyi entered Shou Jing Hall.

"Why did it take so long?"

"Did the Sect Leader Senior Brother summon everyone because of the Demonic Cult?"

Su Ru poured a cup of tea, handed it to Tian Buyi, and asked softly.

"The Demonic Cult?"

"If only it were the Demonic Cult!"

Tian Buyi picked up the teacup and gulped down a large mouthful.

"It was..."

Hearing Tian Buyi's words.

A look of confusion appeared on Su Ru's face.

When the bell rang, the seven peak leaders gathered; this was no small affair.

If it wasn't about the Demonic Cult, then what was it for?

"Our Qingyun Sect has an esteemed guest today."

Tian Buyi plopped down onto the grand armchair.

It was a specially made chair, wide and sturdy, barely accommodating his portly frame.

"An esteemed guest?"

Su Ru couldn't help but be taken aback.

"Monk Puzhi from Tianyin Temple."

Tian Buyi curled his lips.

Tianyin Temple, Qingyun Sect, and Fenxiang Valley were known as the three main pillars of the righteous path.

Normally, the three sects had some interaction, but it was mostly ceremonial.

And Monk Puzhi was one of Tianyin Temple's Four Great Divine Monks.

It was precisely because of this.

That Daoxuan summoned the seven peak leaders when Puzhi visited Qingyun Sect.

"Divine Monk Puzhi?"

"What is he doing here?"

Su Ru asked Tian Buyi again.

"Heh, what is he doing?"

"He's quite high-minded!"

"He's here to teach us cultivation!"

Tian Buyi played with the teacup in his hands.

His fingers rubbed against the rim of the cup, making a grating sound.

"Speak properly."

"What exactly happened?"

Su Ru could hear the sarcasm in her husband's voice.

This made Su Ru even more curious: what was Puzhi doing at the Qingyun Sect?

"This bald donkey, I don't know what mush is in his head!"

"He actually had the audacity to say he wanted to borrow our Tai Chi Xuan Qing Dao right in front of us!"

Tian Buyi let out a scoff.

His small eyes were filled with mockery.

"Borrow the Tai Chi Xuan Qing Dao?"

"Is this Master Puzhi... insane?"

Hearing this.

Su Ru's eyes widened, and she looked at Tian Buyi in disbelief.

It was like someone coming to your house.

And demanding to see your bank account password, and also wanting to copy your family's secret recipe.

This wasn't just rude, it was a provocation!

It was practically trampling the Qingyun Sect's reputation into the dirt!

"Isn't he insane!"

"He said, 'Buddha is Dao, and the paths may differ, but the destination is the same.'"

"He also said he wanted to merge the Tianyin Temple's Great Brahma Prajna with our Tai Chi Xuan Qing Dao."

"To create some kind of Buddhist-Dao Dual Cultivation!"

"'He claims this will allow him to comprehend the mystery of longevity, break through limitations, and attain the Great Dao!'"

"Bah!"

Tian Buyi sneered repeatedly.

The fat on his face jiggled with his expressions.

"Longevity?"

"Since ancient times, who has ever seen someone live forever?"

"We cultivators, though we live a few hundred years longer than ordinary mortals, will all eventually die!"

"Even someone as brilliant as Ancestor Qingye, in the end, only managed to ascend to immortality... uh, well, he died anyway."

"He's a monk, why isn't he chanting his scriptures properly and instead running around here acting crazy?"

After speaking.

Tian Buyi spat fiercely, the phlegm flying quite a distance.

Su Ru was also speechless.

Master Puzhi, who usually looked kind and benevolent, like an accomplished monk, how could he have such heretical thoughts?

The cultivation methods of the major sects were the foundation of their existence, their lifeblood.

And he wanted to exchange them?

This was simply a joke in the cultivation world.

"Alright."

"Stop thinking about those nonsensical things."

"After that bald donkey was rejected, I saw he was out of sorts, probably quite discouraged."

"But that has nothing to do with us."

"..."

The night deepened.

At the foot of Qingyun Mountain.

Caomiao Village.

At the eastern end of the village stood a dilapidated, long-abandoned temple.

Broken walls and ruins, covered in cobwebs.

The night wind howled through the broken window, sounding like a ghost's wail.

The divine statue enshrined in the temple had long lost its features, leaving only a mottled clay figure, silently observing the joys and sorrows of the world.

A gaunt figure sat cross-legged on a pile of dry grass before the statue.

His moon-white monk's robe, though stained with a bit of dust, still couldn't hide its lustrous sheen.

This was Puzhi, one of the Four Great Divine Monks of Tianyin Temple.

He closed his eyes, his fingers toying with a string of crystal-clear prayer beads.

These were the Jade Prayer Beads, Tianyin Temple's supreme treasure. Each bead contained pure Buddhist power, capable of suppressing inner demons and purifying the soul.

But at this moment.

The beads turned with a hint of impatience.

"Click, click, click..."

The sound of the beads colliding was exceptionally clear and jarring in the silent, dilapidated temple.

The scenes from Yuqing Hall on Heaven-Piercing Peak during the day replayed in Puzhi's mind like a carousel.

Daoist Zhenren's polite but distant refusal.

Daoist Cangsong's angry glare, as if looking at a madman.

And that short, stout Tian Buyi, with undisguised mockery in his eyes.

"Wishful thinking..."

"Ancestral laws..."

"Sectarian prejudice..."

Puzhi suddenly opened his eyes.

His once compassionate and peaceful eyes were now bloodshot, filled with a heart-stopping stubbornness.

Why?

Why couldn't they understand?

Whether Buddhist or Daoist, wasn't the ultimate goal of cultivation to transcend life and death and attain the Great Dao?

Since cultivating one path alone couldn't grant eternal life, why not learn from each other?

Why cling to old rules and watch their lifespans dwindle until they turned to dust?

"I am not reconciled!"

Puzhi roared, his fingers tightening around the prayer beads.

His knuckles cracked.

An invisible wave of energy erupted from within him, instantly kicking up the dry grass and dust on the ground.

The doors and windows of the broken temple rattled violently, as if they would collapse at any moment.

He had cultivated Great Brahma Prajna diligently for over a hundred years, reaching a state of perfection.

In the eyes of the world, he was a revered Divine Monk, admired by thousands.

But only he knew.

He also feared death.

The deeper his cultivation.

The more he could feel the indifference of the Heavenly Dao.

The more he could sense the irreversible aging and the constant approach of death.

Eternal life...

Was it truly just an illusory legend?