Chapter 68 - Eldest Senior Brother

Chapter 68: Chapter 66: Eldest Senior Brother"Amitabha Buddha, may I ask what brings the benefactor here?" Ming Jing finished the last scripture and spoke towards the direction where Qingling was.

Since she was discovered, Qingling did not hide any longer; instead, she emerged calmly and composedly, not appearing to harbor any ill intentions.

Qingling gazed at Ming Jing almost obsessively, but upon seeing his calm and undisturbed eyes, she immediately snapped out of it and sighed regretfully in her heart — such a perfect man was actually a monk!

"Please forgive me, Master. I bear no ill intentions towards your temple; I merely came to ask for something," said Qingling straightforwardly.

If Ye Qiu were here, he would mercilessly tease her, questioning why she didn’t just enter through the main gate if she was here to ask for treasures, and instead sneaked in? Isn’t this clearly indicating that she desired something overly excessive and thus resorted to theft?

However, Ming Jing, being a compassionate monk, did not expose her despite his clear understanding.

Moreover, at this moment, he felt something amiss with his Buddhist heart, sensing that the key to his enlightenment might be related to the woman before him, and that she could also be the reason he might descend into Hell.

His master had said he was a natural-born Buddha, but what exactly should he do to achieve enlightenment?

His master had advised him to face his true heart and to proceed unwaveringly in his cultivation. Since the woman before him represented both opportunity and danger, he should be even less reluctant to retreat.

"May I know what exactly does the benefactor wish to request?" Ming Jing’s voice carried a tranquil distance, unconsciously soothing one’s mood.

Qingling, facing the white-robed monk before her, felt unable to tell any lies. Even though stating her true purpose might lead to no gains, she still spoke the truth.

"I have a White Fox that struggles with transformation. I’ve heard that your temple possesses a millennial Transformation Grass."

Ming Jing, although puzzled why a White Fox would need the millennial Transformation Grass, didn’t dig deeper but honestly admitted, "The Transformation Grass that the benefactor mentioned indeed exists in our temple."

Before Qingling could feel elated, he continued, "However, the Transformation Grass is a companion Spirit Plant of the Spiritual Monkey and does not belong to our temple."

Qingling furrowed her delicate brows and continued to inquire, "Wasn’t the Spiritual Monkey suppressed by your temple?"

Ming Jing chanted Amitabha Buddha and continued to clarify for her, "The Spiritual Monkey had converted to Buddhism three hundred years ago and is now the Guardian Elder of our temple."

This made things difficult—if the Spiritual Monkey was willing to exchange the Transformation Grass, that would be favorable. But if unwilling, she could offend the entirety of Putuo Temple.

At this very moment, Ye Qiu had encountered on his way the great Fox Clan power in the Body Integration Realm, who had tracked the little fox’s scent here. Recognizing him by his bright red fur, Ye Qiu knew this was the Fox Clan Elder who had been fighting with Qingling and others from Little Qing Mountain to Daqing Mountain a few days ago.

Without hesitation, Ye Qiu convinced him to head to Putuo Temple together.

In fact, most of the Demon Clan are easy to get along with. They spend almost their entire lives within their own territories, their activities mostly involve fighting, competing for territory, then sleeping. When they awake, the cycle of fighting and claiming territory continues.

They consider the Human Clan to be cunning and rarely provoke Human Cultivators. If not for the loss of the little fox, they wouldn’t have ventured so aggressively into the Human World.

In the past life, the Cultivation World could say that due to Qingling alone, they attracted the great enemy of the Demon World. After she abducted the little fox, she also took away the only descendant of a Holy Beast in the Sky Tower. How could this not enrage the Demon World?

Fortunately, everything was still salvageable. Since she was the Son of Heaven and he could not kill her at the moment, he might as well continue to sabotage her chances.

After Qingling’s whereabouts were discovered by Ming Jing, for some unknown reason, she did not rush to steal the Transformation Grass from the Spiritual Monkey. Instead, she stayed on the mountain peak where Ming Jing was located.

Ming Jing, being the chief disciple and inherently possessing Buddha’s bones for his cultivation, had always lived alone on a mountain peak because no other disciples came, and since Ming Jing did not drive her away, it led to several days passing without anyone realizing a woman with malicious intent had come to their temple.

"Chief monk." As the chief disciple of Sword Pavilion, Ye Qiu came along with an elder from the Demon Clan. The chief monk of Putuo Temple personally received him.

"Amitabha Buddha, I have been informed of the two benefactors’ arrival. Elder Spiritual Monkey is cultivating in the back mountain. You may follow me to meet him." The chief monk, with white beard and hair, although only in the Body Integration Realm and unlikely to progress further in this lifetime, was still deeply respected.

It is said that when the chief monk was young, he ventured alone into the Demon World and with his Nascent Soul cultivation, subdued a hundred thousand demons, and has always been a role model in the Cultivation World.

The three of them reached the back mountain, different from what was imagined, Elder Spiritual Monkey had already transformed. Influenced by Buddhism, he did not consume Transformation Grass but rather crossed the heavenly tribulation by himself. The Transformation Grass, as his accompanying Spirit Plant, was still kept; it was just planted in the Spiritual Field on the back mountain without any defenses.

No wonder Qingling could easily come and go from this place in her past life!

And what surprised Ye Qiu even more was that Elder Spiritual Monkey wasn’t too attached to his accompanying Spirit Plant, and even when Ye Qiu asked him to ensure that no person with ill intentions took it away, he simply plucked it and gave it to him.

Ye Qiu, holding the green and even slightly luminous Spirit Plant in his hands, was somewhat at a loss. Just like that, he gave it to him? Elder Spiritual Monkey, isn’t this being too carefree?

Therefore, in the Buddhist domain aside from abstaining from sensuality, there were no precepts against alcohol or killing. In return, Ye Qiu gave Elder Spiritual Monkey a large amount of Spiritual Wine, all personally brewed by Xiao Mu, which not only tasted superb but also solidified one’s essence and bolstered one’s foundation.

Merely getting a whiff of the wine’s fragrance, Elder Spiritual Monkey took him as a confidant. He was a Spiritual Monkey; ever since being suppressed by Buddhism a thousand years ago, he had never tasted monkey wine again. The Spiritual Wine given by Ye Qiu this time was even more remarkable than the monkey wine he had before; how could it not bring him great joy?

Two days had passed, and Ye Qiu suspected that Qingling had already arrived at Putuo Temple, but the chief monk’s search throughout the temple for two days had not revealed her whereabouts.

Ye Qiu paced back and forth, then looked at the chief monk: "I heard that your temple has a Buddha’s son naturally endowed with Buddha bones, may I, the younger generation, have the honor to consult him?"

The chief monk understood his implication. Although he firmly believed that his disciple wouldn’t secretly harbor a lady, he still thought it wise for the two peers to interact more, thus he led both him and Elder Red Fox to Ming Jing’s smaller mountain peak.

However, what he didn’t expect was that upon arrival at Ming Jing’s residence, he saw his most beloved disciple chanting Buddhist scriptures in front of Buddha, yet beside him, there was a woman in white wielding a sword and dancing.

Elder Red Fox, already deeply familiar with Qingling’s appearance and figure from memories of her abducting their Young Master, how could he suppress the fury in his heart upon seeing her?

"Demoness, return our clan’s Young Master." Elder Red Fox’s hands transformed into sharp claws, launching an attack towards the exquisitely ethereal woman.

Qingling, without noticing anyone else, reflexively mocked, "Ha, how laughable, it was the little fox who voluntarily followed me. Why should I return her?"

With these words, Elder Red Fox’s demonic energy surged immensely.