Chapter 109: The Weight of Vows
The tree trunk radiated a vigorous spiritual aura, swaying and shimmering. Fleeting flashes of divine power and authority appeared...
This truly was a divine tree!
Huh? What is that...?
Dust continuously fell onto the divine light above. As the dust touched the light, it instantly burned away, leaving behind the purest form of spiritual energy, which was then returned to nourish the villagers who were paying their respects.
The incense smoke carried the villagers’ mixed intentions. Refining out the impurities, only pure wish power remained.
Shen Shi’s eyes flickered with understanding. No wonder the villagers were reluctant to leave.
This tree was imbued with great mysticism. The villagers knew it, and naturally, so did the monks of Lanruo Temple.
Two senior monks, accompanied by the temple’s warrior monks, were driving the villagers away.
The villagers could only plead desperately before the monks. From their tone, many were refugees who had suffered under the calamities caused by the Western Xia soldiers.
“Master, please, just let us stay a little longer with the divine tree.”
“Elder, allow us to remain a while longer to pray for my daughter, hoping she will soon reach the Pure Land...”
The villagers begged earnestly. But the monks paid no heed.
“You wretched peasants! Do you have silver? Even when worshiping the Western Buddha, you must offer something. How can you worship this divine tree recklessly? You have no status here!”
A line of warrior monks stood nearby, their robes open at the chest and abdomen, revealing muscular physiques and faces brimming with arrogance.
Everyone was first shocked by the scene, as their image of monks was always kind and gentle, unlike these monks of Lanruo Temple. Then the women blushed at their bare chests and exposed bellies.
Though the old woman and Shen Shi’s mother had been married before, seeing so many men exposing their chests still made them feel embarrassed.
“Abbot, guests have arrived.”
A monk reported to the leading monk. Only then did everyone realize that it was the abbot himself leading the group that was driving the villagers away.
“Follow the usual procedure. Arrange for them to stay.”
Lanruo Temple’s rule was simple: silver was the key. With silver, anything was possible. The guest-receiving monk understood the abbot’s intentions.
He was already somewhat annoyed by having to chase away the “poor wretches.” But guests meant silver offerings, so his spirits lifted slightly. He looked up casually—and involuntarily shuddered.
Officials?
He immediately recognized Bao Zheng and his entourage as government officials.
Seeing this, displeasure surfaced. After all, he had a complicated history with the government.
Did these officials come for him? Or were they here to arrest him?
Thinking this, he dared not act rashly.
The villagers were handed over to the warrior monks, while he forced a smile and approached Bao Zheng and the others.
“Amitabha, honored benefactors, are you heading south or north?”
“North,” Wang Chao replied.
“So you are officials entering the capital. Judging by your aura, fortune surely awaits you on this journey...”
The monk greeted them. Shen Shi scrutinized him carefully. His aura was a chaotic mix—Taoist mystic light, demonic energy, human vitality, even traces of Buddhist presence intertwined with a hint of bloodlust.
Who exactly was this man?
For a moment, Shen Shi could not determine his true nature.
Someone was watching him?
The abbot, already cautious, noticed Shen Shi’s gaze.
He looked past Bao Zheng toward Shen Shi standing behind Shen Liang.
Hiss—
“Divine tree, who is this person?” the abbot asked, seeking confirmation.
“He is a cultivator,” the ancient tree, over a thousand years old, replied telepathically.
Lanruo Temple’s resurgence from ruin owed much to the divine tree’s power.
Hearing that Shen Shi was a cultivator, the abbot asked, “Is this young benefactor a practitioner?”
“Indeed,” Shen Shi replied, returning the Buddhist salutation with a Taoist bow.
He was a cultivator too?
They used the divine tree for commercial gain here—fearful neither of officials nor commoners, but most wary of cultivators. After all, the divine tree was their self-proclaimed treasure, and profit was their goal. Shen Shi’s understanding of Buddhist precepts made him cautious—if the other party invoked religious laws...
No, no matter. The divine tree had cultivated for a millennium. It would not fear him.
Confident in the divine tree’s cultivation, the abbot asked, “This fellow practitioner, may I inquire which sect you belong to?”
To him, a mere youth was no match against a divine tree with a thousand years of cultivation. The difference between a decade and a millennium was obvious.
Yet he did not realize that the cultivation world did not measure strength solely by time. Humans could never compete with demons on that basis. If it were so, Taoists would never be able to exorcise demons.
Cultivation depended on the method and the refinement of one’s qi.
“My sect is the Ten Sons of Xuanyuan.”
“Ten Sons of Xuanyuan, ah! Amitabha.”
Which was that?
The abbot was not from the cultivation world and knew little about it. He simply responded vaguely and turned his attention back to Bao Zheng, wanting to discern whether these officials were here to arrest him.
The abbot was unrefined, but the divine tree understood what Ten Sons of Xuanyuan signified. It immediately guarded its spiritual essence, revealing no trace of its primordial spirit.
Though this act was akin to covering one’s ears while stealing a bell.
Of course, since it did no evil, Shen Shi would not act. Meanwhile, Bao Zheng, moved by the villagers’ devotion, pressed further.
“Amitabha, the mortal world is a bitter sea—how many long to transcend it? They merely seek liberation.”
Bao Zheng pondered, then asked, “Does Buddhism not emphasize karma and retribution? Master, what sin did these people commit to suffer war and disaster?”
His question addressed the villagers but also reflected his own inner turmoil.
“Amitabha, perhaps these villagers owed karmic debts from past lives, now repaying them. Their karma is resolved, and they will reincarnate anew,” the abbot answered.
Bao Zheng was left speechless.
Shen Shi could not help but say, “Past lives and future lives are too distant, like illusions or reflections on water. Master, can you guarantee they will all be reborn as noble beings?”
“Well...”
How could he guarantee that? If he had such power, perhaps he would have destroyed himself. But in this life, he had not yet reached the afterlife.
Shen Shi continued, “We mortals live only one life and must strive for the present. I wish to know what truly happened to these villagers. Master, please enlighten us.”
The abbot intoned a Buddhist chant and replied, “This old monk does not know. When I arrived, the matter had already occurred.”
“Master, do you truly not know, or do you not wish to say?”
“What does the benefactor mean?”
“It is simple. These people likely purchased Buddhist talismans from Lanruo Temple, which promised protection. But when war came, all was in vain. The villagers did not know what to do, so they returned here to pray to the divine tree, did they not?”
Shen Shi’s eyes glimmered as he intercepted a sliver of the villagers’ faith energy, understanding dawning within him.