Chu Xingchen gently pinched Chen Baiqing's cheek and ruffled her hair in reassurance. Then his gaze shifted back to the old monk, whose wound was slowly healing.
Without another word, he retrieved from his spatial ring the token of the Radiant Buddha that Wukong had given him.
Chu Xingchen raised his hand and tossed the token over.
The old monk lifted a hand to catch it. The moment his fingers touched it, a visible change came over his eyes.
Chu Xingchen had no time to bother with that for now. He turned his gaze to Li Junzi, gave a slight bow, and allowed a hint of a smile to show on his face.
"Excuse the spectacle. I apologize that you had to see all this."
Li Junzi finally snapped out of her daze and rose to return the courtesy.
"Not at all. It has been a long time, Sect Master Chu."
Chu Xingchen gave a small nod.
"Indeed, a long time. But seeing you today, I imagine your journey through the Western Ox Continent has not been an easy one, Mr. Li."
Lin Luoyu cast a glance at the old monk, who sat clutching the token with a thoughtful expression.
Feeling a wave of nostalgia, Lin Luoyu sheathed her sword and walked over to Li Junzi.
"It has been tiring, but also meaningful." Li Junzi replied. She then looked at the approaching Lin Luoyu, a pure smile on her face, and reached out to gently clasp Lin Luoyu's hand.
The moment their hands met, Li Junzi was struck by how much had changed. The small, slightly cold hand that used to grip hers had grown so large and so warm.
Lin Luoyu spoke softly. "Teacher."
"It has been a long time. You truly have not changed at all, just as Sect Master Chu said."
Li Junzi nodded with a smile. "Unlike me. I have already grown so old."
Lin Luoyu had wanted to say that her teacher was not old. But looking at the white hairs at Li Junzi's temples and the unhidden wrinkles around her eyes, the words would not come.
Chu Xingchen stepped forward and spoke.
"This is hardly the place for catching up. I imagine you have not eaten well these past few days, Mr. Li."
"Baiqing, arrange a proper place for Mr. Li and the other fellow cultivators to rest. And see about getting some food prepared."
Chen Baiqing nodded in acknowledgment.
Lin Luoyu looked back at Chu Xingchen.
Chu Xingchen waved his hand dismissively.
"You go too. Last time your teacher came to Wanhua Ridge looking for you, but you were not there."
"This time, catch up properly. I will handle things here."
"Thank you, Master." Lin Luoyu said gratefully.
"What is there to thank me for? I am your master."
Having said that casually, Chu Xingchen turned his gaze toward Yun Chuan's group, who were leaning against the wall. He clasped his hands once more.
"Thank you all for looking after Mr. Li. If there is anything you need, do not hesitate to ask."
"I will do my best to accommodate you."
"Things are still unsettled, so there will be many inconveniences. I ask for your understanding."
Yun Chuan quickly rose to his feet. This man could probably blow him away with a single sneeze.
If Chu Xingchen had wanted to say, "You wretches, get out of my sight before I slaughter every last one of them," that would have been the reality.
Yun Chuan and the others could only hold their breath and leave. In the cultivation world, one encountered all manner of eccentric seniors.
Chu Xingchen's tone had essentially treated them as peers. That was already an enormous show of respect, and at the very least, Yun Chuan found it genuinely moving.
Yun Chuan rose and bowed deeply.
"I would not dare. Thank you for your care, Senior."
"You are welcome." Chu Xingchen nodded with a smile.
Chen Baiqing spoke up softly.
"Please follow me, everyone."
The group voiced their agreement and followed Chen Baiqing out of the half-destroyed Mahavira Hall.
With the irrelevant personnel cleared from the hall, Yuyang Daozi remained, still sipping from the teapot he held. Li Xingtian stood grimly behind Chu Xingchen.
The old monk still clutched the token, his expression uncertain as he looked at Chu Xingchen.
"Are you still drinking? You were supposed to let my best-behaved disciple gain experience under your supervision, and instead she gets bullied on your watch." Chu Xingchen shot Yuyang Daozi a glare first.
Yuyang Daozi shrugged.
"Best-behaved is relative. Ask that dead monk over there."
"Basically everything these past few days has been handled by your warm-hearted little padded jacket. I was mostly just following her orders and running errands for her."
"Blaming me for this is a bit unfair."
Chu Xingchen sneered, then declared with righteous indignation.
"Since when have I, Chu Xingchen, ever been a reasonable person?"
Yuyang Daozi froze for a moment.
When it came to his own disciples, Chu Xingchen truly was not a reasonable person.
Yuyang Daozi immediately adopted a penitent expression and clasped his hands.
"It is entirely my fault. I beg your magnanimity, great Chu Xingchen. Please forgive me this once."
Having received a satisfactory answer, Chu Xingchen gave a light nod. He then walked slowly over to the old monk.
The old monk held the token and, after a moment of contemplation, asked.
"Did he send you to find me?"
"Does it matter?"
Chu Xingchen smiled, his eyes narrowing slightly as he casually gave a noncommittal answer.
As expected, there was an unexpected bonus.
Yuan Kong had once unearthed something akin to an inheritance left behind by the Radiant Buddha at Zhengyin Dharma Temple. Based on that, Chu Xingchen and Bai Xuanling had deduced that someone within Zhengyin Dharma Temple was deliberately preserving it.
Yuan Kong had even suggested tracking down the temple's abbot to ask directly.
The token's situation was suspicious. Now that the entire area was filled with their own people, they could have simply taken it by force.
At the very least, they would not have let the old monk leave with it.
But since it was a simple matter, they had baited the hook, and now the fish had taken it.
The old monk fell silent for a moment. "Is he... doing well?"
"Does that matter either?" Chu Xingchen stared directly into the old monk's eyes. "I have something more important to discuss. Would you like to hear it?"
The old monk smiled freely. "You have led the conversation to this point. How could I not listen?"
Chu Xingchen raised a finger and pointed at the token in the old monk's hand.
"He has a favor he would like you to help with. Will you do it or not?"
The Radiant Buddha owed Chu Xingchen a debt of gratitude. The old monk likely owed a debt to the Radiant Buddha as well.
If he did not, then the Radiant Buddha's debt to Chu Xingchen would simply transfer to the old monk.
In any case, the old monk was the more useful asset at the moment.
There was no need to be rigid about these things. When a debt needed to be transferred, one simply transferred it.
The old monk's expression grew contemplative. He did not agree immediately.
Chu Xingchen had no intention of letting the old monk overthink it.
Back then, they had investigated the abbot of Zhengyin Dharma Temple. Reports suggested the old monk had endured humiliation and swallowed his pride to reach this temple.
If given too much time to think, the monk might just chicken out.
Chu Xingchen put on a show of sighing lightly.
"Why make it so difficult? If you do not wish to help, then so be it. It simply means he placed his trust in the wrong person."
The old monk's expression grew even more conflicted.
Chu Xingchen let out a scoff, then signaled Li Xingtian to turn and leave.
"Wait..." The old monk called out, his face still torn as he looked at Chu Xingchen.
The old monk, as a Buddha's Chosen One, possessed an innate divine ability.
Upon cultivating it to great mastery, he could perceive the flow of an individual's karma.
The visions he saw were only fleeting fragments.
And everyone's karma could undergo earth-shattering changes from the smallest of events.
Every time he used his innate ability, the images he saw would shift constantly, and most of the changes were wildly improbable.
The myriad paths of destiny did not allow anyone to see them with total clarity.
But amidst all those changes, there were always fixed points. And those points alone were enough for the old monk to make a judgment.
This ability, when used properly, was one of the most powerful divine abilities in existence.
Yet now, against Chu Xingchen, this pinnacle divine ability had completely failed.
There were no fragments at all. Only primordial chaos, like the beginning of everything.
He could not tell whether it was because Chu Xingchen was protected by the Heavenly Mystery and could not be observed, or whether his karmic entanglements were so vast that they disabled the old monk's innate power.
The old monk, in this moment, could only rely on his own judgment to make a decision.
He took a deep breath.
"Speak freely."
Chu Xingchen's footsteps halted. A smile surfaced on his face, and a look of admiration immediately followed.
Li Xingtian, standing at his side, saw that expression on his master's face.
The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end...
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