"So that was it!" Xiao Hua froze for a moment, then threw back his head and laughed, one hand on his forehead. "This Xiao thought the Eighteen Objects were something profound. Turns out... they were merely this!"
"Still, Buddhist artifacts require the blessing of Buddhist Dharma and must constantly be nourished by one's own mental power. Thus, the vast majority of Buddhist artifacts came from these Eighteen Objects!" Fu Zhiwen laid bare the crux of it. "Because these Eighteen Objects were things eminent monks never parted with every day!"
"Forget it, forget it~" Thinking of the kasaya draped over his Buddha Sarira, the Nine Dragon Scepter Staff, and even the Pure Water Vase—all things some old monk had never let leave his side who knew how many years ago—Xiao Hua felt a little queasy. Still, the Buddha Sarira wore and carried them in his place anyway, so Xiao Hua had no intention of throwing them out.
"The excitement is here, the excitement is here!" Just as Xiao Hua had developed an aversion to Buddhist artifacts and let his mind wander, Fu Zhiwen suddenly rose from his chair. Smiling, he walked to the window and said this.
"Oh?" Curious as well, Xiao Hua looked outside. Before Yu Linfeng, dozens of jade boxes had been arranged in a single row. Every box stood open, each holding a sarira, some as large as chicken eggs and others as small as soybeans. These sarira varied in quality. Some emitted pure Buddhist light, while others gave off motley, multicolored radiance. Even without someone like Xiao Hua—a Bright Hall expert who had already condensed a fourth-grade lotus platform—one glance was enough to tell them apart. Even Confucian scholars with no Buddhist cultivation whatsoever could distinguish them.
Yet Yu Linfeng's voice rang out again. "Immortal friends, these