Chen Kuang turned around and fixed his gaze on the smiling little monk before him.
This matter of impersonating Lionheart, aside from himself and Huo Hengxuan, perhaps only Su Yu could have possibly known. Even Xi Mengquan likely remained unaware.
Xi Mengquan's precise deductions were probably extrapolated from their year of interaction, reverse-engineered through logic.
After all, he was a Saint of Music, not a Saint of Calculation.
As for the rest, there was simply no way anyone else could know.
Chen Kuang had never leaked any relevant information about this matter.
Even on the Canglang Evaluation, it was only mentioned that he suspectedly used Buddhist cultivation techniques. Most of the time, he was known for his swordsmanship and music.
The name Chen Kuang and Wugou Pure Land weren't just tenuously connected, they were wholly unrelated.
So how could this little monk, with whom he'd only had a few chance meetings, know his intent?
Even more perplexing, his passive had judged the monk's earlier statements as truthful.
Which meant: the goodwill and shyness shown before were genuine... and now, this overt malice was also real.
Yes, malice.
Chen Kuang could clearly feel an extremely dangerous aura erupting from the young monk. His Blood Premonition was pounding furiously in his mind, warning him that the person before him was absolutely no benign presence.
He was now no stranger to storms and slaughter. That was the only reason he remained composed in the face of this sudden reversal. What's more, the other party wasn't showing killing intent.
If there was no killing intent, yet he deliberately exposed Chen Kuang's secret...
Then most likely, this was someone coming to negotiate. To bargain.
That was the reason Chen Kuang could still calmly stand his ground.
In a low voice, Chen Kuang asked, "Who are you?"
Xiuzhu betrayed no visible flaws. So either Chen Kuang had once again fallen into an illusion... or the one currently speaking to him wasn't Xiuzhu at all.
"You knew of this matter, yet chose to speak up now rather than wait until I entered the Pure Land to expose me, so, you want me to impersonate him?"
He stared straight at Xiuzhu. "What are your terms? Demands? Let's hear them."
The little monk widened his eyes, then burst into a delighted smile.
"Interesting. Interesting! You truly are fascinating, who am I? I am no one special, merely Xiuzhu, a core disciple of Garan Temple, Dharma name intact."
"Once you've entered the Pure Land, I'll speak with you properly."
His expression abruptly shifted, turning into one of puzzlement:
"Benefactor Chen, weren't we setting out? Why have we stopped here?"
Chen Kuang raised an eyebrow. This guy... has split personalities?
Doesn't seem like it. If it were a mental disorder, he wouldn't exhibit such clear behavioral logic. What's more, the aura on him actually changed, this wasn't merely a personality shift.
After a moment of silence, Chen Kuang suppressed the questions in his heart and said:
"It's nothing. I just remembered something that made me happy."
Xiuzhu rubbed his bald head. "Oh..."
Though he was curious what that might be, he reminded himself, I am a monk. I must not pry into others' privacy. My heart should remain still like water.
Xiuzhu then added, "Right, Benefactor Chen, I almost forgot to mention: outsiders wishing to enter the Pure Land must first obtain a writ from Uncle-Master Duguan, and undergo a standard inspection to verify their identity."
As if afraid Chen Kuang would be dissatisfied, he hurriedly explained, "Everyone entering the Pure Land has to do this."
Chen Kuang closely observed Xiuzhu's expression. That other personality seemed to have vanished again, as if it had no intention of coming out just yet.
Without showing any emotion, he nodded. "I understand. When in a place, one abides by that place's rules. I'm not an unreasonable man."
But upon hearing that, Xiuzhu felt something was... off.
Though he'd only met Chen Kuang a few times, each time had been marked by confrontation, or bloodshed.
Even that so-called Martial Saint had died in front of these Heaven's Chosen... Though the main reason was Mu Zhao scheming against the other sects, which forced True Monarch Diling to act, Chen Kuang had still been the primary target.
To say the Martial Saint died because of Chen Kuang wasn't inaccurate.
Xiuzhu had also heard faint rumors of this man. Behind his name were trails of blood and storms. The state of Liang, the Yang Kingdom, the Zhou Dynasty, all had been stirred by him.
A man like this now claiming he'd follow rules? The contradiction was palpable.
Yet deep down, Xiuzhu still felt Chen Kuang was a good person.
That was his instinct. That's why, when entrusted with his unconscious body, he chose to trust him and bring him to the Pure Land.
Xiuzhu could only ask: "Does Benefactor Chen have urgent matters in the Pure Land?"
That "happy memory" just now was clearly a private matter, but entering the Pure Land was public. And if Xiuzhu was leading him in, his Uncle-Master would certainly ask.
If he couldn't answer, it would reflect poorly on him.
Chen Kuang smiled. "I'm actually here to find someone. I was entrusted with something, and promised to deliver it to a specific person. I don't go back on my word."
He added, "Let's talk on the way."
He had three reasons for coming to the Pure Land.
First, to take refuge.
Mu Zhao was now dead, his Dao Heart shattered before death. He'd been erased from the Daoist Registry, unable to reincarnate. No longer a threat.
But the Eastern Emperor remained outside the cycle of reincarnation, and the Sect Master of the Three Calamities Sect, Yan Ru, had a high chance of achieving a breakthrough.
The Yang Kingdom's national fortune was already in decline. It didn't even require the emperor to awaken on his own. That female saint of theirs, sooner or later, she too might break free from her seal.
What's more, the Zhou Dynasty's national fate...
Chen Kuang had witnessed the Yang Kingdom's national fate firsthand, it could even suppress a Saint.
If it were the Zhou Dynasty, at the height of its power, he believed its might would far surpass even that of a Saint.
Especially now, there would be no Dao Heart for him to shatter this time.
Lü Zhexuan, having only recently ascended to the Daoist Shore Realm, had already pushed herself to the limit in protecting the Chen family. Chen Kuang needed to find another way to secure his own safety.
As long as he remained alive, "Heart for Heart", the passive ability, guaranteed that Lü Zhexuan would also survive.
But what concerned Chen Kuang even more, was something else.
The Yang Kingdom's emperor lacked depth of mind. Upon realizing he'd been played by Chen Kuang, and now faced such a chaotic situation, there was a real chance he might give in to despair and lash out.
In other words, he might expose the fact that Chen Kuang had swallowed the Elixir of Immortality.
At that point, Chen Kuang would become the "Tang Monk's flesh" that every cultivator in the world would covet.
Faced with the temptation of eternal life, even those cultivators who had previously been friendly toward him might become enemies.
Second, Chen Kuang intended to fulfill Huo Hengxuan's final request before his divine soul dissipated.
Though Huo Hengxuan had schemed against him many times, he had also helped him a great deal. Since Chen Kuang had already agreed, he would not go back on his word.
He had to show "that sword that could cut down ten thousand troops" to a certain person.
Third, he needed a proper source of origin for his Buddhist cultivation technique.
This was another trap set by Huo Hengxuan, to force him to come to Garan Temple. Otherwise, having secretly practiced one of Buddhism's top-tier techniques would become a serious liability. He would be declared a criminal wanted by the Pure Land.
The two of them exited the dilapidated temple, only to find themselves standing in the middle of a vast desert.
A gust of yellowish sand swept toward them, coarse and dry, brushing across their exposed cheeks and skin with an almost stinging sensation.
Chen Kuang, born and raised in water towns across his past and current lives, was momentarily unaccustomed.
With his current cultivation level, the external environment posed no real threat to his physical form.
Still, perhaps due to a psychological effect, he felt even the Spiritual Energy in the air was unnaturally arid...
He hadn't expected the Pure Land to be hidden within a desert.
Along the way, Chen Kuang took the opportunity to make small talk with Xiuzhu, drawing quite a bit of information from the unguarded little monk.
Xiuzhu, this Heaven's Chosen of the Pure Land, truly was a child of karmic insight. Orphaned in his youth, he had wandered the outside world until, during a snowstorm, he took shelter in a ruined temple. There, he stumbled upon a broken Buddha statue, which surprisingly contained a sarira.
The moment he touched it, he fainted.
When he next awoke, he was already inside the Pure Land, taken in by monks from Garan Temple.
The strange thing was, he had inherited its power, but not its memory. He didn't even know which Bodhisattva the sarira had belonged to.
Even Garan Temple itself couldn't trace its origin. In the end, they scoured all their ancient records and assigned the sarira to a long-deceased Bodhisattva who had perished unexpectedly while training outside.
After all, the sarira was real, and the cultivation technique was genuine.
The Karmic Insight Method, unique to the Pure Land, could not be forged.
Moreover, Xiuzhu had an innately kind nature and outstanding talent. The Three Meditation Masters of the Pure Land, Not Hearing, Not Seeing, and Not Speaking, all liked him immensely and allowed him to remain, accepting him as a disciple of one of Master Not Hearing's pupils.
These Three Meditation Masters were the Three Saints of the Wugou Pure Land.
That's right, the Wugou Pure Land was protected by no less than three Saints. That was the foundation of the Buddhist kingdom, its true power. Though it kept itself detached from worldly affairs, no one dared look down upon it.
Before Lü Zhexuan had ascended to Sainthood, even with four Profound Realm experts from the Mysterious Divine Path Sect and Lin Qingya at the Daoist Shore Realm, they could barely be considered equals to the Pure Land.
In this sense, Xiuzhu was essentially the grand-disciple of a Saint.
However, the Pure Land had one notable problem: it completely ignored matters outside its borders.
In their view, choosing to train through hardship was a necessary path in cultivation. Even the Buddha had endured the trials of asceticism, so his disciples naturally should follow his example.
Even death outside was considered part of training. Upon their fall, someone would be sent to retrieve the sarira, and a worthy disciple would be chosen to inherit it through the Karmic Insight Method.
Of course, if a Bodhisattva had already chosen a successor, that person would naturally come to the Pure Land on their own, returning to their roots.
That was exactly what Chen Kuang was doing now.
Upon hearing of Chen Kuang's agreement with Huo Hengxuan, Xiuzhu held back for a while but eventually couldn't suppress his curiosity and asked:
"So... who exactly are you supposed to find?"
Chen Kuang replied, "A woman."
Xiuzhu's eyes widened. "A woman? In the Pure Land? Are you looking for a nun?"
Few ordinary people lived in the Buddhist kingdom. Only the outermost ring housed secular disciples, and even they were required to worship devoutly. The closer one got to the center, the more temples there were. In total, there were nine hundred and ninety-nine temples, with Garan Temple at the very heart.
The entire Wugou Pure Land wasn't made up of a single Garan Temple, it was comprised of those nine hundred ninety-nine temples.
But Garan Temple was the place where the Buddha attained enlightenment and ascended, making it sacred in the eyes of monks from all the other temples, naturally placing it at the highest status.
If Huo Hengxuan, as he claimed, had been a core disciple of Garan Temple in his youth, then his activities would have been restricted to the temple itself. Normally, he would never have encountered a secular woman.
So Xiuzhu could only guess that the woman was a nun.
Chen Kuang shook his head. "No. He said she was a woman skilled in swordsmanship, and quite beautiful too."
Xiuzhu let out an "oh," and after a moment's pause, asked:
"So... this senior broke the precept of lust?"
Chen Kuang burst into laughter. "No, he broke the precept of killing."
Xiuzhu gave another long, drawn-out "ohhh."
Chen Kuang curled his lip and said, "The woman never knew what he felt. He just silently admired her like some untouchable moonlight, for over forty years."
This old fool Huo Hengxuan had received his sword training from that woman. Later, after a conflict with another disciple in the temple, he accidentally killed someone and had to flee, becoming a discarded disciple of Garan Temple.
To sum it up in one phrase: a blood-soaked, pure-hearted old virgin.
It was only at the end of his life that he dared to ask someone to find her, and even then, only to "show her this one sword."
Chen Kuang had initially wanted to scold him for such cowardice.
But then, thinking about how his own reason for entering the Pure Land was partly to avoid Shen Meinan, he felt a bit awkward.
Sigh... Affairs of the heart really can't be forced.
Letting things take their natural course was better.
Chen Kuang sighed and looked up at the sky. Just then, the monk leading the way, Xiuzhu, suddenly lit up and pointed ahead.
"Benefactor Chen, we're here!"
Chen Kuang narrowed his eyes and looked forward. Yet there was no grand entrance to the Pure Land, only a lone, solitary temple standing in the desert.
This temple was truly tiny, with only a single door and a roof overhead. Inside sat a small Buddha statue.
And in front of the statue, on a meditation cushion, sat a monk with hands in prayer, legs crossed, his expression serene and solemn.
Xiuzhu called out, "Uncle-Master Duguan!"
The monk opened his eyes and looked toward them.
Xiuzhu walked up and explained everything in full detail.
Duguan chanted a Buddhist mantra, then said:
"The Pure Land always welcomes kind visitors. Step forward, and allow this humble monk to examine you."
He extended a hand, palm upward.
Chen Kuang also pressed his palms together. "Greetings, Uncle-Master."
Since he and Xiuzhu were considered peers, it made sense to follow local customs and use such forms of address.
Xiuzhu noticed nothing amiss, but Duguan let out a soft "hmm?" as he scrutinized Chen Kuang. A trace of astonishment, and a subtle tremor, flickered in his eyes.
Chen Kuang remained calm, smiling gently.
"I have come to the Pure Land for another reason as well, to return a sarira forged from the body of a True Saint."
He reached into his robe and withdrew a gleaming golden sarira.
In that instant, multicolored lights burst forth from it, and eight distinct Buddha Aspects manifested around it, resplendent and majestic, striking directly at the soul.
"Th-this is..." Xiuzhu was dumbfounded.
That aura, he couldn't be more familiar with it. He practiced this very same cultivation technique!
Duguan shot to his feet, pupils contracting sharply.
"Eight Aspects Manifested!"
"This is the manifestation that accompanies full mastery of the Mud-Forged Gold Body Technique! Aside from the Three Meditation Masters, only successive generations of Bodhisattvas have been able to practice it!"
He urgently asked:
"Whose sarira is this?!"
Unfazed, Chen Kuang replied:
"Roughly eight years ago, in a small village in the Liang Kingdom, I met a wandering monk..."
"He told me his name... was Lionheart."