A faint smile appeared on the young living Buddha’s tender face. Looking at the nervous Xu Ze, he said softly, “The day before yesterday, when the Venerable One’s spirit wandered beyond the physical realm, you once came to this place. This seat noticed the Venerable One’s presence at that time and expected that within a few days, the Venerable One would surely pay a visit to this place… So this seat issued an order that if the Venerable One came, he should be brought in to meet me…”
“Ga… spirit wandering beyond the physical realm?” Xu Ze blinked and thought for a long while before he roughly guessed what this meant. It probably referred to when he was cultivating the energy cycle and his mental power extended outward to strengthen the condensation of energy particles. This outward extension of mental power could be considered spirit wandering beyond the physical realm!
Thinking of this, Xu Ze sighed again and said, “The living Buddha’s cultivation is truly exquisite. This humble one’s cultivation is shallow, and I actually failed to notice the living Buddha was here. It was not intentional disrespect—I am truly ashamed…”
Seeing Xu Ze putting on such a shamefaced look, the young living Buddha laughed again, revealing a bit of childlike nature. “The Venerable One need not be modest. At the Venerable One’s age, to have such cultivation already makes you a top figure… Even I am somewhat envious…”
“The living Buddha overpraises me… This humble one is ashamed…” Xu Ze looked up at the young living Buddha and found that, just like with the old lama, he could not see through this young living Buddha’s actual strength at all. In any case, apart from appearing solemn and dignified with an extraordinary bearing, he really could not see anything else.
Seeing Xu Ze’s eyes darting around, the young living Buddha smiled warmly and said, “The Venerable One need not look further. This seat and the several protection masters seated here all focus our cultivation on vow-power and spirit, which is different from the Venerable One’s spiritual power. Naturally, the Venerable One cannot see through us…”
Seeing that his thoughts had been seen through by the young living Buddha, Xu Ze looked embarrassed and gave a dry laugh. “This humble one has been disrespectful, disrespectful…”
“The mortal world today is filthy and chaotic. Those who can achieve cultivation like the Venerable One’s are truly rare. I invited the Venerable One here today simply because I was curious—in this secular world, how could there still be someone with cultivation like the Venerable One’s… It truly makes this seat endlessly curious.” The young living Buddha asked with a smile.
Hearing the young living Buddha’s words, Xu Ze was stunned. How was he supposed to answer that? Was he supposed to say he had obtained a little demon from the future?
Fortunately, the young living Buddha noticed Xu Ze’s troubled expression and smiled. “The Venerable One need not feel troubled. I think I already know why…”
With that, he looked into Xu Ze’s eyes and praised, “Your pupils are clear as spring water, free of worldly filth. Your heart is naturally transparent and exquisite. Add to that an innate ethereal constitution—with such cultivation, you should… you should…”
“Ga…” Xu Ze was stunned. The first few lines were easy enough to understand—they were saying he was kind-hearted and his mind was quick and not stupid… But what on earth was this “innate ethereal constitution”?
Ask when you don’t understand—this was a principle Xu Ze had understood since his school days. With such a rare and brilliant teacher right in front of him, how could he not ask?
Instantly, Xu Ze’s eyes grew even more innocent. He looked up at the young living Buddha on the cloud bed ahead and asked curiously, “May I ask the living Buddha, what is this innate ethereal constitution?”
“You don’t know?” The young living Buddha looked at Xu Ze, a trace of astonishment in his eyes…
“I don’t know!” Xu Ze answered honestly.
Hearing Xu Ze’s reply, the young living Buddha stared at him for a long time, then finally nodded and said, “Mm… The innate ethereal constitution refers to a person born with an ethereal physique, free of the impurities and foul matter within ordinary human bodies. It is an innately cultivated body!”
Xu Ze was stunned for a moment, then finally figured out what this was about. But he also clearly knew how his so-called innate ethereal constitution had come about. Back then, Little Knife had performed some kind of genetic optimization on him, and at that time, many impurities had been expelled from his body. It should be referring to this thing…
“Oh…” He quickly nodded to show he understood!
Living Buddha Nama looked at Xu Ze and nodded with a smile. “The Venerable One’s cultivation is extraordinary, which is why you were able to save someone you did not even know—this shows a sincere and generous heart… Moreover, you are a person of great fortune and great brightness, one who brings benefit to all people. Not bad, not bad…”
“Brings benefit to all people? You’re not going to tell me I’m some kind of true dragon emperor, are you…” Such praise only made Xu Ze look utterly ashamed. He kept saying, “I don’t deserve it, I don’t deserve it…”
“Since the Venerable One has come to this place, it means you have a karmic connection with this seat…”
Hearing this sentence from the young living Buddha, Xu Ze was overjoyed. In books, when you encounter such a big boss and they say something like this, it always means great benefits. Could this young living Buddha be planning to give him some treasure? If so, that would be a huge win…
Seeing the joy in Xu Ze’s eyes, the young living Buddha laughed too, then nodded and said, “Seeing how happy you look, this seat will give you some benefits then…”
Seeing a seven or eight-year-old child always putting on the manner of an elder, and seemingly about to give a junior some little toy to make the junior happy, Xu Ze always found it a bit strange. But if this young living Buddha wanted to give him benefits, then benefits they were. He immediately answered joyfully, “Thank you, living Buddha…”
Then the young living Buddha slowly stood up from the cloud bed and stepped directly down from the two-foot-high cloud bed.
Xu Ze was startled. This young living Buddha was dressed like a little steamed bun, and his legs were short. If he came down like this, wouldn’t he fall? Xu Ze immediately straightened up, wanting to go over and catch the young living Buddha. But just as he stretched out his hand, he froze…
The young living Buddha stepped down with one foot and actually stepped on empty space in front of the cloud bed. His left foot was as if stepping on a stair, like walking downstairs, and then his right foot stepped onto the ground.
“Walking on air? Wudang cloud-stepping ladder?” Xu Ze stared with his mouth wide open, dumbfounded by the young living Buddha’s movements, and a string of martial arts terms popped into his mind…
The young living Buddha stood in front of the cloud bed, now at the same height as the cross-legged Xu Ze. Seeing Xu Ze’s mouth wide open and his utterly dumbstruck look, he could not help but smile helplessly. Then he reached out his small hand and rapped Xu Ze hard on the forehead, saying with a wry smile, “Don’t make such a strange face… This seat is a reincarnated body, with countless vow-power incarnations, and this place is within the range of the spirit stupa. Naturally, I can do what others cannot…”
“Oh…” Xu Ze half understood. The energy particles within the range of the spirit stupa were terrifyingly abundant, and combined with the living Buddha’s so-called spiritual vow-power accumulated over hundreds of years, being able to do such a thing was not surprising…
He said no more and simply followed the young living Buddha toward the great hall outside…
As they walked with the young living Buddha into the Great Golden Tile Hall, the old lama was standing at the entrance of the hall, reaching out and gently stroking the top of Luo Hao’s head twice as Luo Hao knelt at the door…
Seeing the young living Buddha come out, the old lama joined his palms slightly toward Luo Hao, then turned around and came over, bowing and joining his palms toward the young living Buddha once more…
The young living Buddha nodded slightly, then stood in front of a prayer cushion before the seat of Master Tsongkhapa and beckoned to Xu Ze, “Come… I will give you your benefit!”
“Yes, yes…” Xu Ze quickly responded and hurried over, understanding and sitting down on the prayer cushion in front of the young living Buddha…
Outside, Luo Hao had originally still been immersed in the blessing the protection master had given him by touching his head. Only then did he look up and see, not far in front of him, a little lama wrapped up like a rice dumpling and wearing a golden-yellow tall hat. He was shaken again and quickly knelt down again, crying out in his heart, “Mother… I’m in luck today, I’ve seen Living Buddha Nama!”
“Jiangcuo… Protection Master…” The young living Buddha, seeing that Xu Ze had settled, said in a crisp voice to the old lama beside him.
“Receiving the decree… Hutuktu…” The old lama bowed and joined his palms, then stepped back two paces and stood behind the young living Buddha.
Xu Ze sat on the prayer cushion, looking at the delicate and cute young living Buddha in front of him, truly not knowing what he was going to do. But suddenly, he felt as if a strange light flashed in the young living Buddha’s eyes…
In an instant, Number One went wild with alarms in his mind: Abnormal mental power intrusion, subject to control…
But Xu Ze noticed nothing. In an instant, he was frozen, and scenes flashed through his mind one after another…
Stars turning, whirling heavens… fierce winds… violent rainstorms… image after image raced madly through his mind, and at this moment Xu Ze felt as though he were a speck of dust in the starry sky, silent for tens of millions of years in that single instant…
Then he became a swift, soaring madly through the violent wind and rainstorm over the ocean…
Then, like a newly born earthworm, slowly passing through the underground…
Meanwhile, outside the Great Golden Tile Hall, Luo Hao suddenly collapsed onto the ground and fell into a deep sleep. Inside the hall, the young living Buddha smiled and extended his right hand, gently pressing it on the crown of Xu Ze’s head at the Baihui point. With his left hand, he gently moved a string of prayer beads, slowly reciting an unknown sutra…
As the Sanskrit sutra spilled from his lips, all the curtains in the great hall stirred without wind, and outside the six spirit stupas, a gentle breeze gradually rose… Countless energy particles around, under the effect of the six spirit stupas, once again accelerated and gathered toward the interior of the six spirit stupas…
If at this moment Xu Ze had not been sunk within those images and had still been conscious, he would have been able to feel that the energy particles in the entire great hall, abundant to a terrifying degree, had begun to pour into his Baihui acupoint along with the young living Buddha’s hand…
These massive streams of energy particles rushed into his Baihui acupoint and then flowed directly into the Ren and Du meridians, beginning to directly drive the energy mass in his qi sea to start circulating…
At a mad and unprecedented speed, it circulated round after round through the Ren and Du meridians…
One round, two rounds, three rounds, four rounds… thirty-three rounds, thirty-four rounds… all the way to the thirty-fifth round, and it still did not stop. It rushed straight forward past the Baihui acupoint and entered the qi sea…
This had already broken Xu Ze’s previous limit, but this time, driven by the young living Buddha, the energy mass still showed no intention of stopping. After the thirty-fifth round, it still did not stop and continued rapidly along the Ren and Du meridians, continuing forward…
