The relic left behind by Buddha was considered as a rare treasure in the world. To cultivators, it meant something more. This was so as Buddha had walked to the end of cultivation.
There were thousands of different ways to cultivate, and yet at the pinnacle, they all converged to the same point.
The Daoist and Buddhist Scriptures were lengthy, but they were all unveiling the ultimate truth in life and in the universe. Just as what Lu Jiuyuan said, “Thousands of scriptures were instilled into me, and I instilled myself into thousands of scriptures”. He was not being arrogant, but when one had reached the top, it was as though one had been placed at the peak of a tall mountain. At that spot, one would see all of the sky, ground, mountain, and river, one would be able to see the future and the past, and one would ponder about them.
Both of them fell into silence. The divine aura jumped, and its blood color seemed sparse and uncertain. “Leave, she is here again,” spoke the voice.
The clouds gave way and Hong Zhen descended from the sky. A flying ark came and Hong Zhen landed right on top of it. The flying ark shifted slightly and shot towards the sky.
At the same time, the sound of the bell rang in the sky. Despite the strong heavenly wind, the sound of the bell did not cease. It was clear and crisp, as though it was the sound of the sky.
The blood-red divine aura started coagulating when the bell rang, and it exploded. Shortly after, the layer of clouds formed by The Forbidden Technique of Xiaozhu Clouds dispersed into clouds and smoke, and it disappeared without a trace.
A purple bell was shrouded in purplish gas. It was at the spot where the divine aura was at before. The smoke and clouds had dispersed and there was nothing left.
The bell circled the area for a few rounds, and it drew a long purple rainbow in the sky. Its whereabouts were unknown.
Shen Lian came to Hanhai again. Even though it was icy cold outdoor, but there were still waves in the sea. Right now, it was cold at Hanhai, but there was no ice on top of it. The salt content in the seawater was too high, and the freezing point was too low, which was why the surface was not frozen yet.
The seawater in Hanhai was dark blue, and they looked calm and peaceful. There was not much fish in the sea, and a few clouds were floating. Now and then, there were boats sailing past. On the other side of Hanhai was Yue Tuo Kingdom. The living condition was significantly different even though it was just segregated by the sea.
Shen Lian rode on the waves. The buoyancy of the seawater of Hanhai was high, and even non-swimmers would not drown in it. Hence, the boats and ships could carry a heavy load sailing on it.
Shen Lian did not use any Mana or Qi of heaven and earth.
He only had to step on the peak of every wave and made use of them on the upward thrust; with the vibration of the muscles on his feet, he was able to create a counterforce. With that, he trod on Hanhai as though he was on flat terrain.
Qianmo and Xiaoxun flew in the sky, and they rested on Shen Lian’s shoulder now and then when they were tired.
The sailors on the neighboring shipping boat saw how Shen Lian was walking on water and thought their eyes were playing tricks on them. Moreover, they saw Qianmo too. They had never seen any bird as beautiful as this beautiful green bird. Some sailors even wondered how much they could make if they sell the bird to the nobles and royals.
Some of the young men who were good swimmers saw what Shen Lian was doing and tried imitating. They ended up falling into the sea and floated again. They could only stand when the sea water was over their knees, but they ended up falling whenever a wave rolled over.
A normal person would not be able to feel the buoyancy in the current like Shen Lian, and they would not be able to apply the force appropriately to tread forward.
Shen Lian seemed relaxed, but he was a lot faster than the ships and boats. He was walking without paying much attention to his surroundings. Time did not seem to matter then, and he finally walked past the sea after an unknown period of time.
To feel the sea waves and to control his muscles at the same time was no easy task, and he also had to create a counterforce with the vibration of his muscles. This was a lot harder than using techniques to cross the sea. Though, Shen Lian was able to exert fine control over the current state of his body through this.
The human body would not remain in the same condition all the time, and it was ever-changing. Sometimes it grew, and sometimes it degenerated. The power of cultivators was in their abilities to control the development of the state of their body, which allowed for them to slow down the aging process and the decay of their body. Until the moment that they birthed their Primordial Spirit, their body would be less important.
Shen Lian’s Qi dynamic could be considered as full, and his physical cultivation was sufficient. However to attain the state of Huandan, he still lacked something, and his Yin Spirit could not wrap itself around the Qi.
He wanted to have a breakthrough, but he did not know where to start.
He carried on as usual and was surrounded by the crowd. As compared to Hanhai Kingdom, Yue Tuo Kingdom was a lot more prosperous. Shen Lian came in from the East Gate, and Jinguang Temple was on the southern mountain in the Yue Tuo Kingdom. It was located at the peak of the mountain. Jinguang Temple was visible from anywhere in the city, and it stood majestically.
News about the debate between Hui Ke and Baoyue the Venerable was all over the streets, and Shen Lian tuned into all of these chatters.
At least Hong Zhen did not lie about this. Shen Lian too wanted to see for himself and see if he would be inspired by the explanation of the two enlightened monks.
Between Chen Jianmei and Baoguang, there were a lot of bygones. However, Shen Lian was not about to see Jinguang Temple as his enemy because of that. Though, if they were to hate him because of his connection to Chen Jianmei, he would not be afraid too.
Baoyue the Venerable was of the same status as a Daoist immortal Zhenren. For an enlightened monk like him to be caught up with bygones and to come after Shen Lian, Shen Lian would just consider him unlucky and surrender to his fate.
There would always be people who were stronger than him. Shen Lian could not possibly refrain himself from attending out of his fear for those who were stronger. This was not an attitude that one should have when it came to cultivation. Even though heading right into danger seemed stupid, but it represented fearlessness and strong spirit.
It was inconvenient to bring Qianmo and Xiaoxun around in town. Shen Lian told them to have fun by themselves. Moreover, Shen Lian had been sharing his divine Qi with Qianmo, and there was a connection between both of them. As long as they were not too far apart, they would not lose their connection.
Yue Tuo Kingdom was not as quiet as Hanhai Kingdom. The people were friendlier and docile, as they were under the influence of Buddhism for a long time.
However, a lot of them remained poor. While some people were clothed in merely tattered rags, the princes and marquises remained rich. The princes and marquises would go out with a rank of servants, but they were not too crude and rude. The poor people were not angered by the sight of them. If anything, the poor people looked up to them in admiration and fear. They did not think that they were poor because of they were being deprived by the rich people.
Some even wished that they would be reincarnated into a rich family in their next life.
Shen Lian ended up on a street. Even though he was in the secular mortal world, he still preferred quietness. He ended up on a quiet street where people were selling antiques. The vendors were old and neatly dressed. After all, the poor people would not have time, money, and energy for this sort of hobby.
Most things on sale were old Buddhist scriptures, wooden fish, and some instruments used by the enlightened monks. Every now and then, Shen Lian saw some calligraphies and writing instruments.
However, Shen Lian sensed that most of the things were not as ancient as they looked like, and only some of them came from a long history.
Moreover, some old items would not worth much no matter how much time had elapsed.
The shop with the lot number thirteen was a bookshop. The items inside were new and arranged neatly. Because everything seemed like recent work and did not have dust on it, there were not a lot of visitors.
The bookshop had an interesting name, it was Zhixing Bookshop.
Shen Lian did not come here intentionally, but he felt that this shop gave off the most comfortable aura out of all the other shops on the street.
The others did not notice this and only Shen Lian did. Perhaps coincidentally, Zhixing Bookshop was located at the central spot of the area where the Qi of earth converged. The Qi dynamic was the calmest here, and with a bookshop built atop, the aura was even more righteous and proper. A lot of the distracting Qi amidst the Qi of earth were eliminated.
If one were to stay here for a long period of time, the person would be calm and at ease.
Shen Lian was in the bookshop browsing through the items. He was surprised by the fact that a lot of the items here had a long history. Items that were truly ancient gave off a different feeling. For those with a sensitive spirit, seeing the sediments of time on the items was akin to seeing flames in a night sky.
Shen Lian was attracted by a slightly tilted item. The container was hung in the air, and there were two curvy iron rods supporting it. It seemed to be a water container. However, it was empty, and the container was tilted to one side.
“Why, do you recognize this?” A gentle voice spoke.
Shen Lian turned and looked at the owner of the voice. He could sense the person from a long time ago. He was looking at an elegant middle-aged man with grey sideburns and was dressed in the way a scholar would.
His looked were not remarkable, but he captured Shen Lian’s attention. It might be his scholar background.
He took great care of himself, and his nails were neatly trimmed. Even though there were lines at the corner of his eyes, it added to his appeal.
“Are you the owner of this shop?” Shen Lian asked.
“This is my shop, but it’s only open once a month. Most of the time, there are no visitors. The fact that you are here might be the work of fate,” the scholar smiled.
“I didn’t think that you are only open once a month. Though, your items are really clean,” Shen Lian replied.
“I send people to clean them regularly. This is not my bread and butter. Though, I must say you are the first person who walked in and took notice of this,” the scholar sized Shen Lian up and seemed to have taken an interest in him.
“It looked familiar to me. I think I might have read about it somewhere,” Shen Lian replied.
Yue Tuo Kingdom subscribed to Buddhism. However, the scholar in front seemed to have originated from Confucianism. Judging from his appearance, he seemed to be living a comfortable life.
The scholar smiled and nodded, “Indeed, one of the scriptures had recorded about this. There are not a lot of people who are so studious that they would remember something like that. If you can tell me with accuracy about the texts that wrote about it, I will gladly give it to you as a gift. What do you think?”
“It seems that you will have to give it to me then,” Shen Lian smiled.
He was confident, but even more so, he found the owner of the shop to be an interesting character.