Bluffing

Everything that followed proceeded logically. Gao Xu painted a beautiful blueprint for the fat monk, then produced a piece of sweet, delicious, and incredibly tasty Osmanthus Hibiscus Cake. Once the monk had wolfed it down, let alone stealing a few Jade Beard Stems from the temple's backyard, he would have been willing to take a blade to the Abbot himself if it meant escaping this godforsaken place!

Gao Xu did not explicitly promise to take the fat monk away, but his words were clearly laden with misleading implications.

Gao Xu felt a slight pang of guilt for deceiving the man, but he truly had no confidence in facing Abbot Zhixiu head-on at this moment. With no other choice, he had to resort to this desperate measure.

The Jade Beard Stem was not a rare item in the temple; Abbot Zhixiu likely stopped providing them in hopes of drawing more people to his door so he could convert them.

The fat monk was gone for over half an hour. Lin Yueru was already growing impatient, and had it not been for Gao Xu staying to chat and keep her company, she surely would have stormed the temple again.

Seeing her restless state, Gao Xu knew this battle-hungry girl was definitely contemplating a forceful seizure. Unfortunately, while the consequences of failing to challenge the boss, Zhixiu, did not result in immediate death, it meant being forced to become a monk at Jade Buddha Temple, living a life of dim lamps and ancient Buddhas!

During this period, the Samsara traveler's status remained unchanged; one still had to pay a certain amount of points to the space as a retention fee every day, and once the points were exhausted, they would be erased!

Unless another Samsara traveler entered the same progress of the Chinese Paladin world to challenge Abbot Zhixiu and rescue you, the experience of waiting for your doom day by day was infinitely more miserable than death itself.

Contemplating that outcome, Gao Xu preferred to play it safe rather than throw himself into the tiger's den.

Alas, things went against his wishes. As a resonant Buddhist chant echoed in their ears, a monk with a kind face and serene expression appeared beneath the tree.

"Amitabha. Since you two benefactors seek the Jade Beard Stem, it must be to save a life. Why then did you not enter the temple, but instead deceive my disciple Zhiming into committing theft?"

The old monk's appearance was ghostly and unpredictable, giving even Lin Yueru a start. However, she immediately braced herself and gripped the Yuenü Sword.

"Master, please understand! It was simply that the hour was late, and we feared disturbing the rest of the high monks. The Jade Beard Stem is not a precious item, which is why we resorted to this desperate measure. We did not expect to disturb you, Master—our sin, our sin!" Gao Xu shook his head slightly, signaling her not to act yet. Since the matter was exposed, he would try to leverage his high Charisma; if that failed, it wouldn't be too late to resort to force.

Perhaps, at that point, it would just be a matter of fighting and running...

Gao Xu's tone was extremely courteous. Abbot Zhixiu was slightly surprised and offered a kind smile, truly possessing the demeanor of an enlightened monk: "My Buddha is merciful and saves all living beings! That you traveled through the night to save a life, and possess such wisdom, shows you have an affinity with the Buddha!"

Gao Xu knew the conversation was about to reach the main point—persuading him to become a monk—so he quickly interjected: "Master, you flatter me! On the contrary, I have possessed some minor abilities since childhood, and I can see that you, Master, do not have the face of an ordinary person. You will surely attain the true fruit and become a Buddha or Patriarch in the future!"

"Oh?" Abbot Zhixiu paused, showing a listening expression. Had Gao Xu offered other flattery, he certainly would have dismissed it, but becoming a Buddha had been his goal for hundreds of years—a fixation he obsessed over day and night—and he unconsciously fell into the trap.

"The Buddhist scriptures say: when a mortal generates a thought of Buddha, they receive inconceivable karmic rewards. Therefore, all living beings should constantly chant the Buddha's name, so that even if they fall into hell, they will have a chance to be liberated and ascend to heaven. This is an act of great mercy!" Gao Xu said solemnly.

"What the benefactor says is absolutely correct!" Gao Xu's words coincided perfectly with the conclusions Abbot Zhixiu had reached after years of studying the scriptures. He was pleasantly surprised, a look of joy appearing on his aged face as he nodded repeatedly, which looked quite incongruous with his solemn, dignified aura.

"Sigh, it is a pity..." Gao Xu suddenly sighed, stopping mid-sentence.

"Benefactor, if you have any distress, pray tell!" Abbot Zhixiu was transformed from Little Stone; his true mind was like that of a child, and his thinking was often very simple. Once Gao Xu had piqued his interest, it was easy to keep him hanging.

"Master's devotion to the Buddha is something we mortals admire, but the merit gained from converting others to take the vows is merely a treasure of the precepts. The core of Buddhist law is the Three Unleakable Dharmas. It is said, 'The law of precepts is a worldly convention. The attainment of Samadhi is also a worldly convention. Divine foot travel is also a worldly convention. The attainment of wisdom is the primary meaning.' It is clear that the three treasures of Precept, Concentration, and Wisdom are all indispensable. If you continue like this, Master, I fear it will be difficult to achieve perfect merit!"

Abbot Zhixiu's expression shifted as he fell into deep thought. He had been practicing here for decades and had tonsured nearly a thousand monks, yet he had never felt the slightest call from the Buddha. He had originally thought it was because the number of people converted was insufficient, but now that he thought about it, perhaps it was truly as this person said: a single good deed was simply not enough. What, then, was he to do?

Gao Xu deliberately avoided mentioning that Abbot Zhixiu's practice of forcing people to become monks was coercive, instead speaking at length about Buddhist philosophy. Lin Yueru had been confused at first, but gradually realized that Gao Xu was likely hoodwinking the old Abbot. Her beautiful eyes narrowed as she struggled to suppress her laughter.

"So it is that I have not done enough... not done enough..." Abbot Zhixiu muttered to himself. In an instant, he felt disheartened, abandoning his earlier thought of taking Gao Xu as a monk. Instead, he reached into his robes, took out some root-like herbs, chanted a Buddhist name, and said, "Thank you, benefactor, for pointing out the way for this poor monk. Please accept these. Saving a life is more meritorious than building a seven-story pagoda. Amitabha!"

"Many thanks, Master!" Gao Xu pressed his palms together and bowed sincerely. When he looked up, Abbot Zhixiu had already vanished like a bird in flight, disappearing from sight.

Lin Yueru chuckled and was about to speak, but seeing Gao Xu twitch his lips and signal her, she quickly caught on and changed her tune: "This Master is so devoted to the Buddha, yet he cannot attain the true fruit. How pitiful!"

"Very clever!" Gao Xu praised her inwardly and picked up the thread: "Indeed, it is a pity that a golden opportunity lies right before us, yet I cannot speak of it plainly. It is truly agonizing!"

"The place you refer to... is it Heishui Town? If so, why do you not speak of it?" Following Gao Xu's prompt, Lin Yueru blinked her eyes and feigned curiosity.

"The Master is a man of the cloth who does not concern himself with worldly affairs. Moreover, the demon causing chaos in Heishui Town is terrifying. If we were to tell him, it would be tantamount to causing the Master's death! Let us speak no more of this!" Gao Xu shook his head, sounding resolute.

As Gao Xu and Lin Yueru walked further and further away, a figure flashed out from under the tree like a ghost—it was Abbot Zhixiu, who had returned.

If the Samsara travelers truly thought he was simple-minded and easy to fool, they would surely suffer a great loss!

"It seems they were not lying to me... Heishui Town...? That is the territory of the Red Ghost King. To subdue demons and save all living beings, alas..." Thinking of that terrifying existence beneath the General's Tomb, Abbot Zhixiu's face turned grim. He hesitated for a long time before sighing: "Although according to our agreement, we stay out of each other's way, for the sake of my cultivation, I fear I must make a trip there!"