"Since Miss Li still has people to wait for, there's no need to trouble yourself. Fellow Daoist Wu can show us around. We'll be staying at your sect for some time anyway, so we can catch up whenever we like," Shen Luo said with a smile.
"Then... all right..." Li Shu hesitated briefly before nodding.
After exchanging farewells, Wu Ming led Shen Luo and Bai Xiaotian into the thatched cottage.
The furnishings inside were plain, consisting only of a square table and four long benches, with tea set out in the middle. Wu Ming showed no intention of asking them to sit. Instead, he led them straight toward the rear door of the cottage.
Once they passed through the doorway, the light suddenly brightened, and Shen Luo and Bai Xiaotian's view opened up completely. It no longer resembled the desolate sight of a lone island in the vast blue sea that they had seen from outside.
Beyond the cottage stood a white stone plaza nearly a hundred zhang wide. Pavilion-like buildings lined both sides, while quite a few people dressed in garments bearing Mount Putuo's insignia walked back and forth nearby, making the place rather lively.
The terrain behind the plaza gradually rose into a mountain nearly a hundred zhang tall. A winding mountain road had been built along its slope, spiraling all the way to the summit.
Halfway up the mountain was a relatively flat cliff face. Several Mount Putuo disciples hung from it, each holding hammers and chisels as they struck the rock wall, apparently carving a mural.
Shen Luo examined it closely. Judging from the portions already carved, it appeared to depict the Buddha preaching the Dharma.
"Mount Putuo disciples have assignments like this too?" he could not help asking.
Hearing this, Wu Ming glanced in the