The Ascetic Monk, Two Saints at Their Wits' End (Double-Length Chapter, Seeking Monthly Votes and Subscriptions)

Great clouds of dust rose over the desolate desert of the Western Region.

The slanting rays of the setting sun gradually faded.

An ordinary monk in monastic robes walked slowly through the desert with a camel, leaving a long trail of footprints.

But windblown sand soon buried those footprints, obscuring his tracks.

Suddenly, the distant void rippled, and an imposing monk dressed in a kasaya stepped out.

He trod the void as though it were level ground, his eyes gleaming like a Buddhist eagle's, clearly bearing the air of an enlightened eminent monk.

Yet before the ordinary monk, he bowed deeply.

"Grandmaster Yuanming, Grandmaster Gu Meng asks whether your hundred and eighty-third ascetic pilgrimage has ended."

"Is it already time for that boy from the Ye Family to hold his ceremony? How swiftly the days pass!" Hearing this, the old monk's eyes flashed with emotion at the passage of time. Then he smiled, his gaze filled with gratification for the younger generation.

"Yes. Grandmaster Gu Meng fears that great turmoil may arise during this ceremony, so he invites you back to discuss the matter."

Divine Lord Yuanming was the Golden Light Temple's other Spirit Transformation cultivator.

He cultivated the Reincarnated Buddha Art, the temple's cornerstone cultivation method. Every three hundred years, he would become a mortal like a reincarnated Buddha, seeking tempering through ascetic practice to attain the Buddha's true Dharma.

But after so many years without venturing out, many people no longer remembered Divine Lord Yuanming.

Even he himself could no longer remember how many Spirit Transformation and Nascent Soul gatherings he had missed.

Of course, that did not mean he was ill-informed. He knew perfectly well who had successfully crossed clandestinely into the Spirit Realm and who had attained Spirit Transformation.

"Mm. Immortal-Bearing Camel, carry me back to