Chapter 6
The Hehuan Sect was built nestled between mountains and water, its scenery surpassing many righteous sects. Although it was a demonic sect, it practiced the way of dual cultivation, not the kind of evil techniques that would indiscriminately harm others. Therefore, a large city had gradually formed at the foot of the Hehuan Sect’s mountain.
After leaving the sect, Heng Yu wasn’t in a hurry to travel. Her first stop was this city. There weren’t many mortals in the city. Most residents had Qi Refining level cultivation, and occasionally, a few Foundation Establishment cultivators could be seen.
Heng Yu walked directly into a restaurant and went up to the second floor. After sitting down, she ordered a pot of wine and slowly sipped it, listening to the conversations around her.
“Brother Chen, you’ve just come out of seclusion, so you probably haven’t heard about it yet.”
“Oh? What interesting things have happened recently?”
“Two interesting things. First, the Hehuan Sect’s inner sect missions started early. Second…” the speaker grinned mischievously, “rumor has it that someone in the Hehuan Sect accepted the mission to pursue the Buddha-son.”
The man called “Brother Chen” almost spat out his wine. He choked a few times. “Pursue the Buddha-son? Which Buddha-son?”
“That hasn’t been revealed yet.”
After hearing their conversation, Heng Yu swirled her wine cup. The inner sect mission had caused such a commotion that it wasn’t surprising for rumors to spread.
After drinking half the pot of wine, Heng Yu got up and left the restaurant. Leaving the city, she summoned a flying carpet and headed northwest. — The northwest was mostly desolate, rife with war and demons, and thus, a gathering place for Buddhist cultivators. The Undying Sect, the holy land of Buddhism, was also in that direction.
Outside the Hehuan Sect’s territory, things became less peaceful. Heng Yu didn’t actively cause trouble, but if someone provoked her, she wouldn’t mind using them to practice her techniques and test the sharpness of her sword.
Heng Yu traveled at a leisurely pace, occasionally stopping at famous cities for a couple of days. So, it took her over a month to finally reach the Undying Sect’s territory.
“Where should I go next?” Heng Yu took a bite of a spiritual fruit as she walked, pondering.
“My cultivation has improved recently. I’ll just enter a town, buy a courtyard, and go into seclusion to break through to the peak of Foundation Establishment.”
Between breaking through and carrying out her mission, Heng Yu naturally chose to break through first. In the cultivation world, the strong were respected, and the weak were like grass. If she wanted to live freely, she needed strength, so she could speak with confidence.
Having decided, Heng Yu flew on her sword towards the nearest small town — Hua City. This town wasn’t large, and most of its residents were mortals, with a small minority being cultivators.
In the cultivation world, it was rare for mortals and cultivators to live together in the same town. Mortals were too fragile for cultivators. A stray attack during a fight could easily kill a mortal.
However, in all towns within the Undying Sect’s territory, mortals and cultivators lived together. This was related to the Buddhist cultivators’ way of cultivation. Besides cultivating spiritual energy, they also cultivated merit, preaching Buddhist teachings to the world and gathering believers for Buddhism.
After entering the city, Heng Yu went to the largest restaurant. She sat down, placed her sword on the table, and after ordering, she took out two low-grade spirit stones. “Waiter, I’d like to ask you about something.”
The waiter was only at the second level of Qi Refining, and two low-grade spirit stones were enough for him to cultivate for a month.
His eyes lit up. “Please ask, Miss. As long as I know, I’ll tell you everything in detail.”
Heng Yu smiled.
Her gaze fell on the waiter’s wrist — where he wore a string of Buddhist beads.
“I’d like to ask about any outstanding figures among the younger generation of the Undying Sect.”
“You’ve asked the right person, Miss. The Undying Sect is our Buddhist holy land. I may not know much about other things, but the younger generation is led by the four Buddha-sons, and there are also one hundred and eight core disciples,” the waiter said cheerfully.
Our Buddhist holy land?
Heng Yu asked curiously, “Are you a Buddhist cultivator?”
The waiter scratched his head. “No, but many people in our town are Buddhist believers.”
So that was it. No wonder the waiter wore Buddhist beads.
Heng Yu said, “Then tell me about the four Buddha-sons. By the way, the chief Buddha-son is Master Liaowu, right? Tell me more about him.”
According to the waiter’s description, Buddha-son Liaowu was almost superhuman.
Heng Yu listened quietly, occasionally picking up useful information.
For example, this Buddha-son had a cinnabar mole between his eyebrows since birth.
For example, this Buddha-son wore black prayer beads on his wrist.
…
Having heard what she wanted to know, Heng Yu placed the two low-grade spirit stones on the table. “That’s enough. Thank you.”
The waiter said nervously, “Thank you, Miss.”
After eating two pastries, Heng Yu left the restaurant and went to the city’s cultivator affairs office to buy a courtyard. She was well-off and, wanting to live comfortably, bought a large courtyard with pleasant surroundings. It was located by a freshwater lake, next to a ginkgo forest.
Entering the courtyard, Heng Yu used a water spell to clean the house and a wind spell to gather the fallen leaves into a pile. Finally, she threw a fireball at the leaves, burning them all.
Finishing all this in just a quarter of an hour, Heng Yu took out a formation from her storage ring and set it up around the courtyard. With the formation completely enclosing the courtyard, Heng Yu entered a room, sat cross-legged on a meditation mat, and began her closed-door cultivation.
This seclusion lasted for half a month.
During this time, the ginkgo leaves by the courtyard gradually turned yellow.
And in this remote town, two monks arrived from afar. The leading monk wore a green robe, white socks, and green cloth bandages around his feet. His expression was calm and serene, his features peaceful, and the cinnabar mole between his eyebrows was bright red.
He and the young monk accompanying him entered the city. Passing by the ginkgo forest, he quickened his pace of turning his prayer beads, stopped, and looked towards the quiet courtyard nestled beside the forest.
“Amitabha,” he suddenly joined his hands together and softly chanted a Buddhist prayer.
“Senior Brother?”
“Buddha guided me south, and now I understand why.”
He slowly spoke, his voice clear and gentle, like the warm breeze of early spring, making people feel a sense of closeness.
The young monk was still confused.
But before he could ask, his senior brother continued walking, and the young monk quickly followed.
In the courtyard, Heng Yu sat on her meditation mat, munching on fruit, the crunching sound echoing.
She swallowed the fruit and murmured, “This doesn’t make sense. I clearly have enough spiritual energy, why can’t I break through from late Foundation Establishment to the peak?”
Suddenly, Heng Yu remembered something.
She quickly probed her storage ring with her divine sense, searching inside.
After a while, Heng Yu found the jade slip containing her cultivation technique. She infused it with her divine sense and carefully read the contents.
A moment later, she withdrew her divine sense, her expression turning strange.
“My cultivation technique requires admiration value to break through to the peak of Foundation Establishment?”
Heng Yu flipped her wrist and took out her jade pendant that recorded her admiration value. She infused it with spiritual energy, and a number appeared on the pendant.
1500.
This number was higher than before. It was probably related to the attention she had received during the inner sect mission assignments.
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