Backyard of the old temple.
The old monk and red-headed ghost gazed into the distance, as though their gazes could pass through the voids and look at the young monk who was bawling his heart out.
The both of them exchanged glances.
“Hais.”
The old monk sighed.
The red-headed ghost remarked sorrowfully, “This was a day that he was going to have to face sooner or later. It’s for the best.”
“Who is the judge as to whether or not it’s for the best,” The old monk shook his head.
“Old monk, what do you mean?” The red-headed ghost could tell that the old monk was implying something.
The old monk replied, “This lad is sentimental and for him, Mr. Su is an anchor. This was the anchor that caused him to shave to become a monk, to clear his mind and to stay here quietly at the bottom of the Dragon Burial Valley for a full 20 years.”
The red-headed ghost nodded.
The old monk was not wrong. Given Su Zimo’s character, there was no way he was going to endure things even if he had offended Glass Palace and the factions of the entire North Region.
Did he really not have any other method of leaving the North Region?
If Su Zimo wasn’t waiting for an opportunity to leave the North Region with Su Hong, given his character, he would have killed his way out more than 10 years ago the moment his Inner Core had recovered!
The old monk sighed. “Now that the anchor is gone, there’s a chance that the nightmare of the paragons of the immortal, Buddhist and fiend sects, that strongest monster incarnate of history that struck endless fear in the hearts of countless cultivators is about to return!”
The red-headed ghost squinted and asked, “Have you noticed something?”
“I don’t know.”
The old monk shook his head.
The red-headed ghost asked again, “More than 20 years have passed and there’s still no feedback from his Golden Core. Is there any chance of recovery at all?”
“I don’t know.”
The old monk shook his head still.
After pausing briefly, he said slowly, “Perhaps he’s already found a method of recovering his Golden Core, perhaps not. I don’t know. I can no longer read him.”
The red-headed ghost’s expression changed.
Even the old monk could not read Su Zimo any longer!
After 20 years of studying Buddhism and Zen, Su Zimo had indeed gained an additional unique aura.
He was almost like Buddha!
The red-headed ghost’s expression changed as he suddenly said, “He’s back. I guess he’s here to bid you farewell.”
“Also, you’re his master at the end of the day. Give him a few items that can help him protect himself. Don’t keep everything to yourself! Do you want to take them with you into the grave?!”
The red-headed ghost mumbled but the old monk had already turned to leave.
He disappeared from the cemetery in the blink of an eye and had already returned to the grand hall.
Not long after.
Su Zimo pushed the doors open and walked in.
He seemed composed on the surface but he could not conceal the sorrow deep in his eyes.
Su Zimo walked straight into the grand hall and knelt down in the direction of the old monk. He kowtowed three times before saying softly, “Master, I’m going to leave.”
“Go on,”
The old monk did not ask him to stay.
He knew that it would be a futile attempt.
Reaching out, the old monk handed over two battered talismans in his palms. “These are two Transference Talismans. One of them is the Minor Transference Talisman and the other, the Major Transference Talisman.”
“I won’t elaborate more on the Minor Transference Talisman, it’s a random teleportation.”
“As for the Major Transference Talisman, it was a treasure that was crafted on the behest of the Emperor of the Great Qian Empire in the past! It can even cross a major region at its furthest and the teleportation can be targeted!”
Targeted teleportation!
Those words carried way too much weight.
The Minor Transference Talisman was already precious enough.
And yet, the Major Transference Talisman even had targeted teleportation?!
It was equivalent to an additional life for Su Zimo!
Su Zimo received it with both hands and placed it into his storage bag. Right as he was about to turn and leave, the old monk called him back.
The old monk gazed at Su Zimo’s empty dantian and his eyes flashed with worry and curiosity. After a moment of hesitation, he still decided on asking, “Your Golden Core…”
Su Zimo remained silent.
A moment later, he said softly, “Actually, the secret to recovering the Golden Core lies in the Saraca Flower.”
“Saraca Flower?”
The old monk was briefly stunned.
Although the Saraca Flower was an item of the old temple, it was snatched over by the red-robed woman many years ago and was now in Su Zimo’s dantian.
Su Zimo said, “In an ancient sutra in the Sutra Chamber, there’s a legend saying that the Ashoka tree is one of the three sacred trees of Buddhism. The Buddha that created the Dao of Buddhism was also born right under the Ashoka tree!”
“I’ve heard of that legend before…”
Suddenly, the old monk’s voice paused…
A thought flashed through his mind.
He finally understood the correlation between the Saraca Flower and the recovery of Su Zimo’s Golden Core.
According to the legend, the Saraca Flower possessed another sort of energy apart from fire.
The energy of life!
It was the birth of life!
The creation of something from emptiness.
The Saraca Flower had witnessed the scene of the Buddha’s birth.
Su Zimo’s dantian was shattered and his Golden Core was destroyed.
However, the power of his Golden Core did not vanish – it was merely absorbed by the Saraca Flower in the depths of his dantian.
For the past 20 years…
Su Zimo spent his days studying Buddhism and comprehending the Dao so that he could accumulate and consolidate the power to trigger that ‘life’ within the Saraca Flower consistently!
Su Zimo was already walking out of the old temple.
In a flash…
Black hair grew from Su Zimo’s bald head, turning longer by the moment.
Within his body, in that originally dark and hollow dantian, a flower bloomed.
On the flower…
There was a fruit that grew at a speed visible to the naked eye.
It was golden, round and shone with a bedazzling aura!
That fruit was Su Zimo’s brand new Golden Core!
Spirit energy reverberated through his dantian, turning richer and fiercer by the moment.
It was as though a cyclone was forming in his body!
Su Zimo’s aura was turning stronger by the moment!
With every step he took, the spirit energy in his dantian would increase by a fraction.
It was turning increasingly stronger!
Boom!
In the blink of an eye, the spirit energy in his dantian had already broken through the limits of early-stage Golden Core and arrived at mid-stage Golden Core.
Not long after.
Boom!
There was another bang.
Late-stage Golden Core!
The energy that Su Zimo once gained from consuming the 10,000 Year Vermilion Fruit had not gone to waste – everything was absorbed by the Saraca Flower and was being produced right now!
With every step that he took, Su Zimo’s aura would change by a fraction!
The only things that did not change were his eyes.
They were neither sad nor joyful and had no fluctuations.
By the time Su Zimo arrived at the entrance of the old temple, his aura was close to stabilizing and his black hair danced wildly with a frightening aura that resembled a divine being!
Peak of late-stage Golden Core!
He had persevered through it!
He had been dormant for 20 years at the bottom of the Dragon Burial Valley studying Buddhism. However, instead of decreasing, his cultivation realm had advanced to the peak of late-stage Golden Core!
Of course, that was not the only change in Su Zimo.
There was something that no one could describe.
Standing at the entrance of the old temple, Su Zimo turned around slowly and gazed at the sentence etched on the wall of the grand hall with a lost look in his clear eyes.
Those were the words that Die Yue had left him.
Suddenly, Su Zimo extended his finger!
A stream of spirit qi burst forth from his forefinger like a sharp sword that sliced the wall of the grand hall.
Su Zimo waved his arm.
He left another statement right after the statement on the wall.
It was a sharp statement that looked down on the entire world!
Instinctively, Ming Zhen recited it, “Once the fog fades, the radiance shall illuminate through the entire world!”
“Psst!”
“His confidence…”
There was a hint of shock deep in the eyes of the old monk.
The sound of chains rattling echoed suddenly from the backyard that was initially silent!
“To become one of the greatest, you have to work on the foundation and be willing to take hardship and serve others!”
“Once the fog fades, the radiance shall illuminate through the entire world!”
The first statement was left behind by Die Yue.
The second statement was Su Zimo’s reply.
