The young monk bowed slightly, recited a Buddhist prayer, and spoke.
"The abbot is in his meditation room, but..."
What usually followed "but" was some polite excuse like "he hasn't finished his daily prayers," "he has a guest," or "he doesn't receive visitors."
Every day, tens of thousands of tourists visited Wood Buddha Temple to burn incense and worship Buddha.
There were plenty who wanted to see the abbot, but as the head of a temple, he naturally couldn't meet just anyone.
It all depended on "fate."
"Could I trouble you to inform him?"
Hu Long naturally understood this.
"I'm willing to donate a hundred thousand in incense offerings to your temple. I only ask that the abbot spare a little time to resolve the doubts troubling me."
Hu Long said "a hundred thousand" as casually as if it were nothing.
But when the Guest-Reception Monk heard it, the fingers rolling his prayer beads paused almost imperceptibly.
He pressed his palms together again. This time, he bowed a little deeper than before.
"Amitabha. Your generosity is boundless, benefactor."
He turned aside and led Hu Long toward a corridor behind the hall, half-hidden by a curtain.
At the same time, he lowered his voice, but the second half of his sentence still reached Hu Long clearly.
"The abbot often says that those who are destined to meet may do so at any hour. Benefactor, please follow me."
Hearing this, Hu Long gave a slight nod. There was no surprise on his face as he followed.
Perhaps a true Buddha could be free of all desires, but monks weren't necessarily so.
After all, monks were still human. Though they lived within the Buddhist faith, they couldn't escape human nature.
There were certainly a few eminent monks who were selfless in their thoughts, but they were rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.
Most monks were still like ordinary people, with ordinary joys, sorrows, anger, and desires.
This was true everywhere.
As the two moved farther away, the recorded chanting in Mahavira Hall continued to hum as before. Blue incense smoke rose straight from the burner, blending into the hazy air of the hall until it was impossible to tell one wisp from another.
Below, tourists knelt on prayer cushions, earnestly praying for their wishes.
It was a small meditation room with simple furnishings.
A huge black Buddhist inscription hung on the wall in front, set against a bright yellow background, solemn and dignified.
Below it, a middle-aged monk with a full figure and fair complexion sat cross-legged on a cushion, eyes closed in meditation.
"This is our abbot, Zen Master Shan Kong."
The Guest-Reception Monk who had led the way quietly announced:
"Abbot, this benefactor wishes to donate a hundred thousand in incense offerings and asks you to enlighten him and dispel his doubts."
At the sound of his voice, the monk, who seemed to have been meditating, slowly opened his eyes.
"Amitabha. Abbot, please help me!"
Hu Long pressed his palms together and devoutly recited a Buddhist prayer, looking every bit like a devout believer.
Then he hurried forward, bent down, and clasped the other man's hands, his manner earnest.
This sudden show of familiarity made Zen Master Shan Kong pause. He instinctively started to pull his hands away.
But Hu Long had already let go.
"Sorry, I got a little carried away... I hope you won't take offense, Abbot."
He pressed his palms together in apology, his tone sincere.
Shan Kong's lips moved, but in the end, he said nothing.
Looking up, he saw a well-dressed visitor with an extraordinary bearing, clearly a benefactor willing to make generous offerings.
Monks were meant to form good ties with all people, so there was no need to be too particular about formalities.
His expression relaxed, and he spoke slowly:
"Amitabha. Benefactor, feel free to tell me what is troubling you."
Ten minutes later.
Hu Long left the meditation room.
He casually tucked the Peace Amulet the other man had given him into his pocket.
His brows furrowed slightly.
A hint of disappointment flashed in his eyes.
After testing it with the Panel, he had discovered that all the monks were ordinary people, including the abbot, who looked every bit like an accomplished master.
Their skills were nothing more than health exercises, funeral rites, and the like.
These were all ordinary skills, with no supernatural power whatsoever.
The abbot didn't even have a single skill he was proficient in. He was practically useless.
Hu Long had no idea how he'd become the abbot.
Still.
Even though he hadn't obtained what he wanted, Hu Long had donated a hundred thousand in incense offerings anyway.
After all, strange shadowy figures existed, so it wasn't impossible that a Buddha might exist too.
If he were found out for lying and some punishment were inflicted on him, he couldn't afford to deal with it right now.
Of course, the most important point was that he simply wasn't short of money.
The day before, He Yanling had stuffed a bank card into his hands.
There were three million in it.
So a hundred thousand was just a drop in the bucket for him. It was nothing.
Since he hadn't gained anything, Hu Long didn't waste any more time. He turned and left.
To make things convenient for visitors, Wood Buddha Temple had two paths, one on the left and one on the right. One was for entering, and the other was for exiting.
At that moment.
Hu Long followed the exit signs and walked ahead with the other tourists.
However, halfway along, he suddenly stopped.
The reason was that a line of silver text was rapidly fading before his eyes.
[Source Value +0.01 wisp]
"Source Value?"
Hu Long raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised.
He glanced around. Although it was sunny today,
it was still early. Dawn had only just broken, and the sun had yet to fully rise.
Besides, the stretch of path where he was standing was shaded by trees, with no sunlight at all. By rights, his Source Value shouldn't have increased.
And yet it had. Clearly, something was wrong.
He suddenly seemed to realize something and turned to look around.
On one side stood the temple wall. On the other was a rugged, mottled rock face dotted with Buddhist niches of various sizes.
Wooden statues of Buddhas in different forms were enshrined inside. Some Bodhisattvas lowered their eyes; the Buddhas looked solemn, and the Arhats dignified.
Every so often, a few tourists stopped before a statue, pressed their palms together in silent prayer, then quietly walked away.
After thinking it over, he tentatively walked toward the nearest statue facing him.
It was a three-meter-tall wooden statue of a kind-faced Bodhisattva.
The figure stood smiling on a lotus platform, one hand forming a Buddhist gesture. The platform was marked with black, charred stains.
A closer look, however, revealed something unnatural about the statue: its body looked a little too new.
[Source Value +0.01 wisp]
Suddenly, the familiar text appeared again.
"Is it really connected to this Bodhisattva?"
A strange glint flashed in Hu Long's eyes.
He quickened his pace and moved forward.
By the time he reached the wooden Bodhisattva statue,
his Source Value had increased by a total of 0.03 wisps.
That was already equivalent to three hours of sunbathing.
At that moment,
he could be sure that the Source Value came from the wooden Bodhisattva statue before him.
He paused.
He noticed that his Source Value wasn't increasing any further.
It was as if what he'd seen just now had been an illusion.
But the increased value in the Source Value display clearly reminded Hu Long that it was all real.
"Could I need to touch it?"
With that thought,
he stepped closer and reached out to touch the Lotus Stone Platform.
Perhaps because all the Buddha statues here were newly carved from wood, rather than old objects enshrined inside the halls, there was no barrier around them. Only a sign reading "Please Do Not Touch" stood nearby.
But Hu Long had still seen plenty of tourists reach out and touch them.
"The 'Do Not Touch' sign is over there. There isn't one here."
He muttered under his breath and placed his hand on it.
However, there was still no prompt about Source Value.
Even so, Hu Long wasn't ready to give up.
He ran his palm over different parts of it.
Unfortunately, nothing happened. But just as Hu Long was about to pull his hand away,
lines of text suddenly appeared before his eyes.
[Source Value +0.01 wisp] [Source Value +0.01 wisp] [Source Value +0.01 wisp]