Huan Xin was worried that her adoptive father had gone mad when she saw him bowing and questioning a wooden dummy.
However, an anomaly suddenly occurred; the wooden dummy on the pillar head suddenly stood up from the ground, trembling and making creaking noises as its joints rubbed, as if it were sneering.
"Ah!" Huan Xin exclaimed softly.
Even more astonishing things happened; a tapping sound of wooden pieces came from the wooden dummy's chest and abdomen. Initially chaotic, it gradually approached human speech, "...Haha, it was my miscalculation! I didn't expect the little girl to return so early! Da...da, guess who I am?"
A wooden doll that could talk – Huan Xin felt as if she were dreaming.
At this moment, her adoptive father said in a deep voice, "The Yin transforms into the void, the Yang transforms into the Divine. Standing alone in the world, ascending to immortality..."
Upon hearing this, the wooden dummy let out another strange laugh, seemingly pleased with itself.
At this moment, a woman's voice came from the western woods again.
"What a profound Daoist Primordial Spirit, truly not shallow in cultivation." It was Sun Lichai who walked out leisurely.
The wooden dummy saw her and exclaimed in surprise, "How can I not see through this girl's fate? Impossible, even the withered bones in a tomb that have been dead for many years, as long as there is still a trace of vital energy, I can glimpse a bit... unless..."
Huan Xin asked curiously, "Unless what?"
The wooden dummy's pillar head swayed. Although it was a smooth, bald head, Huan Xin still felt a gaze directed at her.
"You little girl! Your origins are pure, but unfortunately, your destiny is fraught with hardship, and you will surely face a death tribulation in the future." He spoke without any politeness, making the little girl's face flush with anger.
"Hmph! If you don't say, then don't say, why curse people! If you don't say, I'm not even interested in hearing it!" Huan Xin angrily turned her head, just in time to see Sun Lichai smile faintly, and immediately felt embarrassed, "Hey! That wooden man, my tone was a bit aggressive, please don't take offense. Hehe."
The wooden dummy's pillar head spun around, "Little girl, you are still polite, you know how to respect an old senior! Listen up, I am Xu Fu, who journeyed east to Penglai back then! You two girls, one a little blacksmith, dutifully worship me and transfer all your internal energy to me, so that I can reshape my Primordial Spirit. Perhaps this Immortal Xu can even give you some benefits!"
Sun Lichai sneered, "How dare you act so arrogantly with such trivial tricks! If not for the Buddha Child still being young, a ghost like you, who failed to ascend to immortality, would have long been reduced to ashes by countless Buddhist disciples, how could you still put on such airs!"
Although the wooden dummy did not understand who Sun Lichai's so-called Buddha Child was, upon hearing such a contemptuous tone, it immediately flew into a rage, "Waaah! You infuriate me! When I achieve complete cultivation one day, I will surely make your soul scatter!"
Huan Xin was furious, "Ptooey! What an old monster, so boastful! This time, I will definitely teach you a lesson for Fairy Sister!"
With that, she drew the Fu Yu Divine Sword from her waist and flew towards the wooden dummy.
Her adoptive father frowned, too late to stop Huan Xin, so he had to secretly assist her with a sound transmission technique.
"Xin'er, this Xu Fu has a strange origin, you must be careful. Fortunately, the wooden dummy's legs are still flawed; you should seize the opportunity to attack its lower body with the 'Opening and Closing Sword Art'."
Huan Xin remained expressionless but immediately understood. Approaching within seven feet of the wooden dummy, she raised the Divine Sword and swung it towards its head.
The wooden dummy's two exquisitely carved hands concealed mechanisms. At this moment, each ejected a foot-long wooden stick, which it grabbed. He raised his hands and struck, intending to deflect Huan Xin's sword path from the sword's spine.
Unexpectedly, though Huan Xin was young, she was experienced in combat. With a flick of her wrist, she drew a sword flower, but the tip of her sword was angled towards the wooden dummy's leg joint.
What an Immortal Xu, cunning and experienced. His left arm's wooden stick still struck the sword's spine, and a strange force drilled along the sword into Huan Xin's meridians. Immediately, half of her body went numb, and her movements slowed down.
"Little girl, you're still very tender!"
Huan Xin snorted, taking advantage of the wooden dummy's inconvenient movement, she quickly pulled away to prevent Immortal Xu from pressing his advantage.
Sun Lichai, who was watching the battle from the side, also transmitted a message, "This wooden dummy's feet are deformed, making movement difficult. You can attack from the side; this way, he can only defend with one arm."
Huan Xin's eyes lit up. She circulated her energy to dispel the strange force, then immediately rushed forward again.
This time, she indeed circled to the wooden dummy's left side, repeatedly thrusting. Immortal Xu, while defending, tried to turn around, but his legs tripped, and he swayed and began to fall to the ground.
Her adoptive father smiled and said aloud, "Xin'er, you can use your sword as a saber and employ the 'Beheading Ao Saber Art' to easily take the enemy's head."
This Beheading Ao Saber Art, passed down from the Lion Appearance Sect of Guangdong, was fierce, overbearing, and violent. Her adoptive father's words meant to tear Immortal Xu into pieces.
Huan Xin didn't think much upon hearing this and drew her sword while crouching.
She was, after all, a rare martial arts prodigy. Although this saber art was only in its initial stages, a grand and imposing saber intent surged forth. The saber rose like a raging tide and fell like thunder striking the earth.
Sun Lichai nodded repeatedly, and her adoptive father was also quite surprised.
This saber intent came with a fierce momentum. The wooden dummy frantically swung its limbs, but they were all severed one by one. Immortal Xu trembled with fear from the sharp murderous aura.
Huan Xin, after all, was soft-hearted. Seeing the wooden dummy's miserable state, she couldn't bring herself to deliver the final sword strike.
"Hmph! Alright, you've learned your lesson. Next time, be more respectful to Fairy Sister and adoptive father, otherwise I'll... I'll beat you up again!"
Immortal Xu muttered a few words, quite unconvinced, "Heh! If it weren't for me... how could I be ridiculed by a child like you? Don't be too proud; even if this wooden body is destroyed, my spiritual essence is immortal, and I can return to the human world in just a few days."
Huan Xin walked back to her adoptive father, making a gesture of seeking praise.
"Good child!" Her adoptive father chuckled, "This Immortal Xu, who was previously possessing the secret book I showed you, took advantage of my inattention and hid in the wooden dummy, trying to snatch my internal energy when I infused it with true power."
"Oh, it's all that secret manual's fault, I'll destroy it now." Saying this, she took out "Heavenly Pivot Profound Mechanism" from her bosom and was about to throw it to the ground.
"It's not the secret manual's problem!" Her adoptive father quickly stopped her and began to lecture her.
Meanwhile, Sun Lichai walked up to the wooden dummy, bent down, and picked up Immortal Xu.
"You can tell fortunes?"
"Heh!" Immortal Xu sneered arrogantly.
"Don't think that just because you are a Primordial Spirit you're immune to being killed. This poor nun has many ways to prevent you from being reborn." Sun Lichai's face showed anger, and an Epiphyllum Seal flashed rapidly between her eyebrows, like an enraged Divine King.
Immortal Xu saw her Epiphyllum Seal and immediately exclaimed, "Impossible! This thing shouldn't have been born yet!"
"You know about the Pure Land?"
"So this is the Pure Land? Your Buddhist Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss?"
"Precisely."
"No wonder..."
Sun Lichai clenched her fists, and in each of her eyes, a colossal Sumeru Divine Mountain was reflected, awe-inspiring and capable of suppressing souls, "Explain yourself clearly!"
Immortal Xu was truly scared silly this time, "No! Don't punch! I'll confess now!"
Immediately, he tremblingly recounted everything he knew about the Pure Land.
It turned out that in unofficial histories and secret records, there were many accounts of a strange phenomenon where a black sphere and a golden scroll would repeatedly appear out of thin air and intertwine. Often, when the golden scroll appeared, beasts would tremble, birds would flee in terror, and people would be scared to death upon seeing it.
And the patterns on the golden scroll were precisely an epiphyllum.
Sun Lichai immediately understood that it was the struggle between the Buddha Child and Xiangxu. Their existence spanned three lifetimes, no wonder they appeared in history.
However, in the history she knew, neither the golden scroll nor the black sphere had ever appeared.
So, which one was real? Which one was illusory?
Did the Buddha Child alter history, or was there a mistake in her memory?
Sun Lichai recalled Simon's words, "What difference is there between past and future?"
Indeed, for a Bodhisattva, time is merely a game; what he cares about is only the fruit he seeks in his heart.
This was the Buddha Child's path.
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