The Years Gone By, Seeming Illusory Yet Not Real

Round and round they went, and ten years slipped away.

In the end, no one at Nalanda Temple could out-debate Xuanzang. Over those ten years, Xuanzang had completely mastered the Mahayana Buddhist Law; he could truly be called a master of Buddhist studies! Yet with Verdant Green Maiden by his side, his cultivation in Daoist Magic had not fallen behind either.

Looking across the world, there were likely few cultivators more formidable than Xuanzang.

"It's done."

"We can go back now."

Verdant Green Maiden looked at Xuanzang, gave a slight nod, and spoke.

Hearing this, Xuanzang asked, "What about you?"

"I'll go with you."

Verdant Green Maiden replied.

The moment she said this, Xuanzang was overjoyed! Xuanzang added, "Then once the monkey and the others return, we'll head back to Great Tang!"

When the monks of Nalanda Temple learned that Verdant Green Maiden and Xuanzang were leaving, they were deeply reluctant to part with them and tried again and again to persuade them to stay.

But fallen flowers could not be made to return to their branches.

They could not change Verdant Green Maiden and Xuanzang's decision either!

"It is fate and destiny!"

"Do not try to keep us. Look ahead!"

"The Buddha said: those who leave cannot be kept."

Whether the Buddha had truly said such a thing, the monks of Nalanda Temple did not know. But Verdant Green Maiden was a Bodhisattva—what she said had to be right!

Thus, the monks did not continue to press the matter.

Once Sun Huo Wang's group returned, they set off on their journey home.

Verdant Green Maiden withdrew her radiant manifestation and returned to the appearance of an ordinary person.

Aside from her bearing and beauty, she no longer seemed to have much connection to the word immortal.

She sat upon