Great Bamboo Peak.
Outside Shou Jing Hall.
A breeze blew by.
The bamboo swayed, rustling softly.
Su Ru stood at the doorway, gazing toward Heaven-Piercing Peak.
Two whole hours had passed.
Yet Tian Buyi still hadn't returned.
A trace of unease stirred in Su Ru's heart.
Could the demonic cult really be stirring up trouble again?
Just then.
A streak of red light tore across the sky, reaching the skies above Great Bamboo Peak in the blink of an eye.
The red light faded.
Tian Buyi's short, stout figure emerged.
He stood on the Crimson Flame Immortal Sword, his robes snapping in the wind, but the expression on his face...
How to put it?
It was neither anger nor solemnity.
Instead, it held an indescribable strangeness.
As if he'd just watched an absurd monkey show and wanted to laugh but found it inauspicious, wanted to curse but thought it beneath him.
Tian Buyi landed, casually put away his immortal sword, swept back his sleeves, and walked into the hall with his hands behind his back.
His belly bobbed with each step, keeping a steady rhythm.
A moment later.
Tian Buyi entered Shou Jing Hall.
"What took you so long?"
"Did the Sect Leader Senior Brother call everyone together because of the demonic cult?"
Su Ru poured a cup of tea and handed it to Tian Buyi, asking softly.
"The demonic cult?"
"If only it were the demonic cult!"
Tian Buyi picked up the teacup and gulped down a large mouthful.
"Then what was it...?"
Hearing Tian Buyi's words.
A puzzled look appeared on Su Ru's face.
When the bell rang and the Seven Peaks' leaders gathered, it was no small occasion.
If it wasn't about the demonic cult, then what was it for?
"A distinguished guest came to our Qingyun Sect today."
Tian Buyi dropped into a Grand Tutor Chair.
It was a specially made chair, broad and sturdy, just barely able to hold his portly frame.
"A distinguished guest?"
Su Ru couldn't help but pause.
"The monk Puzhi from Tianyin Temple."
Tian Buyi curled his lip.
Tianyin Temple, Qingyun Sect, and Fenxiang Valley were known as the three pillars of the righteous path.
The three sects had some contact with one another in ordinary times, but most of it was merely ceremonial.
And the monk Puzhi was one of the Four Great Divine Monks of Tianyin Temple.
That was exactly why.
When Puzhi visited Qingyun Sect, Daoxuan had summoned the leaders of the Seven Peaks.
"Divine Monk Puzhi?"
"What did he come here for?"
Su Ru asked Tian Buyi again.
"Heh, what did he come for?"
"He's got a pretty high opinion of himself!"
"He came to teach us how to cultivate immortality!"
Tian Buyi toyed with the teacup in his hand.
His fingers rubbed against the rim, making an unpleasant scraping sound.
"Stop being sarcastic."
"What exactly happened?"
Su Ru could hear the sarcasm in her husband's words.
That only made her more curious about why Puzhi had come to Qingyun Sect.
"That old bald donkey's got no idea what's going on in his head!"
"He actually had the gall to tell us, right to our faces, that he wanted to borrow our Tai Chi Xuan Qing Dao!"
Tian Buyi gave a scornful laugh.
His small eyes brimmed with mockery.
"Borrow the Tai Chi Xuan Qing Dao?"
"Could Master Puzhi... have gone mad?"
At that.
Su Ru's eyes widened as she stared at Tian Buyi in disbelief.
It was like someone showing up at your house.
He'd demand the password to your bank account, then ask to copy your family's ancestral recipe.
That wasn't just rude; it was a provocation!
He was practically dragging Qingyun Sect's dignity through the dirt!
"Wasn't he just mad!"
"He said something about how Buddha is Dao, and that different paths lead to the same destination."
"He also said he wanted to combine Tianyin Temple's Great Brahma Prajna with our Tai Chi Xuan Qing Dao."
"Make some kind of Buddhist-Dao Dual Cultivation!"
"He claimed that way we could unravel the mystery of immortality, break through our shackles, and attain the Great Dao!"
"Bah!"
Tian Buyi sneered repeatedly.
The fat on his face quivered with every change in his expression.
"Immortality?"
"Has anyone ever seen an immortal who never died?"
"We cultivators may live a few hundred years longer than ordinary mortals, but we all die in the end!"
"Even a peerless figure like Ancestor Qingye ultimately ascended to become an immortal... Ahem, anyway, he died."
"He's a monk. Why can't he just focus on his scriptures instead of coming here and spouting nonsense?"
After he finished.
Tian Buyi spat viciously, sending flecks of saliva flying a long way.
Su Ru was speechless too.
Master Puzhi usually seemed kind and benevolent, like a venerable monk who had attained enlightenment. How could he have such a heretical idea?
The cultivation techniques of the great sects were the foundation of their schools, their lifeblood.
And he wanted to share them?
It was a joke in the Cultivation World.
"Enough."
"Don't dwell on all that."
"After that old bald donkey was rejected, he looked dazed. I'd guess the blow hit him hard."
"But that's not our concern."
"..."
Night deepened.
At the foot of Qingyun Mountain.
Caomiao Village.
At the eastern end of the village stood an abandoned, dilapidated temple.
Its broken walls were covered in cobwebs.
The night wind poured through the damaged windows, moaning like a ghost.
The temple's statue had long since become unrecognizable; only a mottled clay figure remained, silently watching the joys and sorrows of the world.
A gaunt figure sat cross-legged on a pile of dead grass in front of the statue.
His moon-white monk's robe was dust-stained, but its luminous sheen still shone through.
It was none other than Puzhi, one of Tianyin Temple's Four Great Divine Monks.
He sat with his eyes closed, rolling a string of crystal-clear prayer beads in his hand.
They were Tianyin Temple's treasured Jade Prayer Beads. Each bead contained pure Buddhist power, capable of suppressing inner demons and purifying the spirit.
But at that moment.
The beads turned with a restless urgency.
"Click, click, click..."
The sound of the beads knocking together rang out in the silent, ruined temple—particularly clear, and particularly grating.
The scenes from that day in Yuqing Hall on Heaven-Piercing Peak replayed in Puzhi's mind like a revolving lantern.
Dao Xuan Zhenren's polite refusal, courteous yet keeping him at a distance.
Daoist Cangsong's furious glare, as if he were looking at a madman.
And that short, stout Tian Buyi, the undisguised mockery in his eyes.
"Wishful thinking..."
"Ancestral rules..."
"Prejudice between sects..."
Puzhi suddenly opened his eyes.
His eyes, once compassionate and peaceful, were now bloodshot, filled with an unnerving stubbornness.
Why?
Why couldn't they understand?
Whether it was Buddhism or Daoism.
Wasn't the ultimate goal of cultivation to see through life and death and attain the Great Dao?
If cultivating a single path couldn't grant immortality, why not learn from each other's strengths?
Why cling to those outdated rules, watching helplessly as one's lifespan ran out and one turned to dust?
"I won't accept this!"
Puzhi growled, his fingers tightening suddenly around the prayer beads.
His knuckles cracked.
An invisible wave of energy erupted from within him, instantly sweeping up the dead grass and dust on the ground.
The temple's doors and windows rattled as if they might collapse at any moment.
He had diligently cultivated Great Brahma Prajna for over a hundred years and reached its highest realm.
In the eyes of the world, he was a revered Divine Monk, held in awe by countless people.
But only he knew the truth.
He was afraid of death too.
The higher his cultivation grew.
The more he could feel the mercilessness of the Heavenly Dao.
The more he could feel his irreversible aging, and death drawing ever closer.
Immortality...
Was it truly nothing more than an elusive legend?
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