Silent Bodhi [Monthly Ticket Request, Investment]

Jiang Ming held Nannan and naturally sat down on a smooth bluestone nearby. With a casual gesture, two crimson spirit fruits flew over from the green jade table. Each was the size of a walnut, and he placed them in Nannan's hands.

The little girl had followed him through wind and dust, so she had to be thirsty. These fruits were Red Crystal Cherries, each with a century of medicinal age. Their essence was mild and nourishing, and even ordinary people could eat one or two. Most importantly, they tasted several times better than ordinary cherries.

Nannan accepted the spirit fruits, her eyes curving into crescents with delight as she began to eat them in small bites.

Jiang Ming quietly listened to the Silent Bodhi melody Hua Yunfei wished to give him. The Buddhist notes were faint and profound, its elegant rhythm pure. It cleansed the Dao heart, nurtured the mind and lungs, and could nourish a cultivator's Heart Divine Treasure and Lung Divine Treasure. Hua Yunfei had created it after breaking through those two realms, refining it through careful contemplation.

He was only twenty years old now. Before Ye Hei, the Child of the World, descended upon the Big Dipper Burial Emperor Star, his life had been fairly peaceful.

Of course, a tree might wish for stillness, but the wind would not cease.

There was no true peace or freedom from worry.

As the final note faded, Hua Yunfei slowly rose to his feet. He looked curiously at little Nannan. She appeared to be an ordinary person, so why had she not fallen asleep?

His Silent Bodhi was exceptionally effective at calming the mind and soothing the spirit. It could help one sleep; even the birds, insects, and ants nearby would naturally drift off.

Fortunately, the birds here did not dare fly about freely because of the Air-Sealing Formation Patterns. Otherwise, if they fell asleep in flight, they would surely plunge to their deaths.

Seeing Hua Yunfei's gaze, Jiang Ming suddenly found it rather amusing. In theory, Nannan was Hua Yunfei's grandmaster, wasn't she?

Anyone who cultivated the methods of the Ruthless Empress's lineage could be considered half her disciple. However, the Ruthless Empress generally did not care about such disciples. There were already very few people in this world worthy of her concern.

"Let the heart be still as water, unruffled by waves—that is composure.

The highest good is like water; great virtue bears all things.

There have never been people or matters in this world that were utterly perfect.

The body is a Bodhi tree, the heart a bright mirror stand. I urge you to wipe it diligently, lest it gather dust."

Jiang Ming looked at Hua Yunfei. When one knew another person's ending, if one found it regrettable, one could not help but offer a few words of guidance.

Jiang Ming truly wanted to jinx him to death, but he also felt it would be somewhat regrettable for such an outstanding talent to die just like that.

Later, when the Primordial Royal Clans emerged and the alien races encroached upon human territory, the major powers would be forced to shrink back their domains. Conflicts would continually intensify. That would be the grand tide of the age, crushing everything in its path—the opening of the Golden Age. Hua Yunfei would die far too early, consumed by internal strife.

Hua Yunfei was briefly lost in thought upon hearing Jiang Ming's words. Whether the speaker had meant them or not, the listener took them to heart. The heart he had only just managed to calm rippled once more.

If Jiang Ming had not been so young, and if this were not his first appearance upon this land, Hua Yunfei might have suspected that Jiang Ming knew something and was hinting at it.

Especially since Jiang Ming's few brief words contained an unending Buddhist intent and Dao realm.

Jiang Ming said nothing more. At some point, the fruit platter had already ended up in his hands. Sensing Nannan's unusual physique and realizing she could eat freely, he let her eat as much as she wanted.

There were all kinds of fruits here, delicacies they normally would never have the chance to enjoy.

These great powers truly knew how to indulge themselves. The fruits they served others were all of the most delicious varieties.

Actually, that kid Chen Feng had judged him quite accurately. He really had come to freeload, and little Nannan was quite the foodie too.

Meeting him was Hua Yunfei's misfortune, but also an opportunity.

It depended on whether Hua Yunfei could see through it.

In the original story, Hua Yunfei had simply been too impatient. In his haste, he set his sights on Ye Fan's Desolate Ancient Sacred Body, as well as the Origin Spirit Body of Ji Ziyue, Ye Fan's wife. He believed that devouring Ye Fan's origin and the Origin Spirit Body would be worth more than the benefits gained from painstakingly collecting the corpses of seven or eight fallen geniuses and refining their origins.

Moreover, Li Xiaoman had told him that Ye Fan came from another starry sky. Killing him would not bring any subsequent trouble or karmic consequences.

What a pity. Of all people, he had to provoke the one person he absolutely could not kill. That was the Child of the World destined to rise during the great age of the Shrouding Era, whose protector was a living Quasi-Red Dust Immortal.

The Ruthless Empress had lived through several lifetimes and slumbered for an unknown length of time. She had long since begun to steadily walk the broad path of transformation toward becoming a Red Dust Immortal.

Even Jiang Ming could not afford to openly make an enemy of her. Trying to jinx Ye Hei to death was even more difficult. Ye Hei had acquired the Green Copper Block very early on. Such a treasure, comparable to a fragment of an immortal artifact, suppressed the Sea of Bitterness and his own luck.

Not even an Extreme Dao Emperor Armament could shake Ye Fan's luck.

Later, during the Immortal Transformation Pool arc, several Extreme Dao Emperor Armaments had been used in an attempt to kill him, yet hadn't he still emerged alive and kicking?

Thinking about Ye Fan's cheat-filled life, Jiang Ming could not help feeling envious. He could eat the Undying Divine Medicine from the Desolate Forbidden Land whenever he pleased, drink the Divine Spring that had accumulated over countless days as he pleased, soak in it after drinking his fill, and even pack some away for others to drink, building goodwill everywhere.

Cultivation was not merely about cultivating oneself. One also needed wealth, companions, methods, land—and knowledge of how the world worked!

He merely took a stroll around the Demon Emperor's Tomb and picked up the Dao Scripture: Sea of Bitterness Chapter, a wondrous cultivation text created by an ancient Celestial Venerable. As a bonus, he even found a fragment of an immortal weapon.

What kind of luck was that?

Jiang Ming could not help thinking of himself. Across three lives, he had suffered miserably for two and a half of them. Why two and a half? Because in his third life, at twenty-one, he was still only a minor Sea of Bitterness cultivator, and his only confidante had died.

Even after the memories of his three lives awakened, just when he had finally gained a little hope, he encountered that damned system. It gave him a Calamitous Star Fate Pattern and even specifically reminded him that it was a Heavenly Lone Star, a Jinx Star Fate Pattern. It was utterly shameless!

It had left him unable to return home despite having one.

Whenever he held Nannan, he could not help thinking of his own daughter. Who could understand that kind of pain?

He wanted to hold his own daughter too, watch her smile, watch her eat spirit fruits, and hear her call him Father.

He had wanted to build a good relationship with Yan Ruyu. Forget being decent—he had planned to deceive her feelings, latch onto a rich woman, and borrow the Demon Emperor's Armament that would soon emerge to suppress his own Fate Pattern.

Then that damned system had jumped out again to cause trouble. It had actually gone and bound itself to the Ruthless Empress. A three-and-a-half-star reward—was it even qualified to bind an Empress?

And then, the red thread of the Law of Marriage cracked. After failing, the damned system directly made a tactical detour, its ridiculous maneuver nearly making Jiang Ming fall flat on his face.

By the principle of proximity, as though deliberately trying to disgust him, it bound itself to the Heavenly Jade Saintess, a Desolate Slave. What use was binding such an unnecessary woman? Did it think Jiang Ming was so desperate that he would marry any woman he saw and make her his wife?

Then the damned system's next move nearly threw out his back—it actually bound itself to Nannan.

What a sin.

That damned system deserved to be struck by lightning.

On Earth, this would have been illegal.

After that, the damned system conveniently bound itself to Yan Ruyu as well, ruining his plans and frightening him into fleeing with his tail between his legs. He was worried that the towering misfortune around him would affect Yan Ruyu's acquisition of the Demon Emperor's Armament.

Why was his life so bitter?

With the experiences from his previous life, even without that unnecessary damned system, he could have lived very well.

"Brother Sanzang, your words have enlightened Yunfei greatly. I have benefited immensely."

Only after the time it took to drink half a cup of tea did Hua Yunfei finally let out a breath. He solemnly bowed to Jiang Ming as he spoke.

"Ha ha ha—

Brother Yunfei, you're too polite. Come, sit, sit. Would you like some fruit? The fruits from your Star Peak are truly sweet and delicious, with plump flesh and full juice.

I just wonder whether I might taste some Blood Pill Ginseng. This humble monk made a trip to Flame City but failed to get what he wanted, so I could only travel all this way to Star Peak and seek you out personally, Brother Yunfei."

Jiang Ming and Nannan unceremoniously ate Star Peak's fruits as he casually stated the purpose of his visit, so Hua Yunfei would not overthink things again.

He told the kid directly not to let his imagination run wild. He had come for the Blood Pill Ginseng and nothing else.