Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Amitabha.”
Yuecha’s heart sank. She hastily shut her eyes, pressed her palms together, and chanted Buddha’s name in silence.
Her back was covered in cold sweat by then. Her head felt as if it was hammered vigorously.
Buzz!”
She suddenly awakened in fear.
If it was not for Li Nianfan’s reminder, she would have…overdone it.
She let out a long sigh. “I was too obsessed!”
“It’s not too late to know now.” Li Nianfan smiled. He fell silent for a moment before he continued, “Buddhists shouldn’t forget their pure intention. Buddhism shouldn’t be a place to hide sins and wrongdoings. Remember, Buddhism’s all about cause and effect. Naturally, one shouldn’t neglect others’ cause and effect, nor should one force something on another being.”
Religions could easily go astray. Preaching was right, but after development, private intentions would gradually grow, leading one astray.
Buddhism had one too many of those unpleasant people.
Some absolutely disgusting people in Buddhism liked to pretend to be good, when in fact they were merely being the busybody.
When they were done being disgusting, the offended party would want to take revenge, only to have these Buddhists stand up and tell them to put down the knife and to be like Buddha. They would persuade others to let go of their grudges.
How frustrating!
If one were to lose their pure heart and become obsessive, Buddhism would not be helpful anymore. In fact, he would end up preaching the wrong things!
Yeucha said sincerely, “Mr. Li, I understand now. I’ll take note.”
Li Nianfan nodded. This should be the way.
Suddenly, Meng Junliang stood up. He politely bowed at Li Nianfan and said, “Mr. Li, I was just about to start preaching to enlighten humankind. I want to spread Mr. Li’s insights to every corner of the world to develop more potential people.”
“This is a good thing!” Li Nianfa smiled. “However, don’t call it my insights, I’m not that great!”
The expert was being so humble. Perhaps this was the true spirit of being an expert.
Meng Junliang continued, “I realized that there are too many insights in the world. I don’t know where to start from.”
“Ha-ha-ha, that’s easy.” Li Nianfan smiled instantly. His eyes sparkled as he said without thinking, “We could establish subjects such as language, maths, and sciences!”
He did not expect to be able to bring this over to the Immortal Realm. He was slightly excited. The children here would be so grateful of him!
“Language, what? Maths?” Zhou Yunwu and Meng Junliang looked at Li Nianfan with big question marks on their heads.
‘Sigh, our understanding’s too shallow. We don’t understand even one word. This is too deep!.’
“It’s actually quite simple.” Li Nianfan coughed and recomposed his thoughts, changing his way of speaking. “We could distribute the insights into different categories. These would be language, medical sciences, sports, and more. Each person is gifted in his own way, so we’ll put them in different classes accordingly. We could even have some examinations in both language and sports, as well as an examination every three years to pick out the most outstanding ones.”
This was more simply put in this sense. It was merely setting up subjects.
Zhou Yunwu and Meng Junliang wore a look of realization! Their faces flushed red with excitement.
The expert was indeed the expert. He easily fixed this chaotic problem by categorizing them.
However, Li Nianfan continued, “After passing the language test, it would show that this student has the potential of becoming a political leader, and in turn, an officer. If the student passes the sports test, this shows that this student has the potential of leading an army. It’s the same for the rest.”
Li Nianfan stated it simply. It was just a brief idea.
However, the most important key was the idea. If not, one would not know which direction to head into.
Meng Junliang instantly stood up. He was very inspired. He said, “Mr. Li’s indeed a genius. I’ve learned a lot.”
“Wonderful, wonderful!” Zhou Yunwu was more excited than Meng Junliang. He bowed deeply, so excited that he had tears in his eyes. He called out with a trembling voice, “With that, my people will be enlightened in the upcoming generations! I’ll never be able to express my gratitude to you. Please, allow me to kneel!”
This matter would directly affect future generations and the standards of humankind. It was a concept for sustainable growth. This was as valuable as the herb manual!
Li Nianfan simply waved it off, “It’s just a small matter, there’s no need.”
Meng Junliang suggested, “Mr. Li mentioned language and medical sciences. Shall I name the place where knowledge is passed on…a ‘classroom’?”
Li Nianfan smiled. “Good name!”
Zhou Yunwu and Meng Junliang were so excited. They looked very excited. They could not wait to go back and start forming the classrooms.
The Xia Kingdom’s territory was not huge. Therefore, it would be easy to manage. The classrooms could be built easily. This would benefit the future of humankind!
“Mr. Li.”
After staying silent for a very long time, Meng Junliang parted his lips. His eyes darkened as he took in a deep breath to ask a question very close to his heart, “Please, allow me to ask, why preach to the world?”
Li Nianfan first halted.
He understood what Meng Junliang meant.
He did not ask ‘why’ as in ‘how come’. He was asking from a more spiritual level.
It was similar to when someone would ask, ‘why do you want to become a teacher?’. One could answer that it was to make money or to develop more potential people.
This man was digging into things again. It seemed that he really liked to ponder on things from a more spiritual level.
Li Nianfan did not answer directly. He fell silent for a very long time. Suddenly, he had a thought. He said, “Daji, help me get a paper and brush.”
“Sure, Mr. Li.”
Soon, a paper and brush were placed in front of Li Nianfan. Daji was preparing the ink diligently.
Li Nianfan held the brush. He looked at the white paper in front of him. He smoothed the paper with one hand and then took a deep breath.
The brush landed!
The point of the brush landed on the white piece of paper, moving like clouds and water. He did not exert any force but each stroke was powerful.
His movement was fluent and carefree as one word after another jumped onto the paper.
Vroom!
Along with his movements, a strange Qi arrived as if halting the entire world. The hills, the moon, and everyone else had become his backdrop. He became the one and only man standing.
The wind stopped blowing, the leaves stopped shaking, and dust stopped floating. Everything in their surroundings froze by instinct, as if too afraid to disturb Li Nianfan in any way.
Everything was so still that one could even hear the sound of Li Nianfan’s brushstrokes.
Yuecha pressed her palms tightly without moving while Meng Junliang stared blankly with blood veins in his eyes. He wished he could tear out his eyes. Zhou Yunwu held his breath, clenching his fists tightly.
Daji and the Fire Phoenix stared without blinking, too.
Suddenly, they felt as if they had become the brush in Li Nianfan’s hand, following the brush as it danced across the paper.
They knew that they were witnessing the birth of the best art in the world!
When Li Nianfan stopped writing, they finally snapped back to reality and looked at the paper.
‘Let the world be the heart of the livelihood of the people; for the sacred teaching and peace for all future generations.’
Vroom!
Everyone felt as if their scalps were exploding. Their minds went blank as they lost the ability to think. They were all brainwashed by the words.
They did not know if it was just in their heads, but they saw a faint glow coming out from the paper. It looked like the natural glow of the sky, with countless phantoms of aspiring people appearing on top of the paper. They were all worshipping and bowing!
Nobody dared to speak, they did not even dare to breathe. They were deeply pulled into this realm. They were even more terrified of disturbing this bunch of aspiring worshippers.
By merely looking at this sentence, they could feel their realms rapidly improving. Their entire being had been upgraded. They were now able to face any test without being tempted!
Was this the realm of the expert?
No way, this could only be one tiny corner of the expert’s ice mountain.
However, even this tiny corner of the expert’s ice mountain was enough for them to worship and benefit from forever!
Meng Junliang had tears in his eyes. How he wished he could kneel and worship the expert by knocking his head on the ground.
This was…the most profound saying!
The expert did not simply answer his question. He conquered it thoroughly from inside out!
Li Nianfan smiled. “How is it?”
“Mr. Li, I’ve learned so much!” Meng Junliang bowed deeply for as long as five seconds before standing up.
He looked at the words. There was an inconceivable fire in his eyes. He asked with a trembling voice, “Could you please give this to me?”
“Of course…not!” Li Nianfan quickly changed his answer.
He suddenly recalled that he tore away the couplet on his door. This sentence was good enough to act as a replacement. Even if he did not hang it on his door, he could put it in the yard as a good decoration.
Meng Junliang sighed, disappointed. “Sorry for asking.”
Li Nianfan said, “Mr. Meng, you know the words. With your ability, why take it from others? You can clearly write one yourself!”
Meng Junliang’s heart sank.
It was not that the expert did not want to give it to him, he was pointing it out to him!
Yes, why ask for it? One day, he would be able to grasp the truth of the words and put them into action. He would be able to write it himself!
‘So, Mr. Li expects so much from me!’
Suddenly, he felt like crying. He said in a very solemn tone, “Mr. Li, I understand. I won’t let you down!”
Li Nianfan was feeling awkward. He did not know what he understood, so he could only answer, “Ha-ha, good, then.”
Zhou Yunwu made a gesture, “Thank you so much for pointing these out to us today. I’ve learned a lot and benefited greatly from your teaching. Goodbye, for now. If Mr. Li ever needs anything, please, just say the word. My entire Xia Kingdom’s at your disposal!”
Li Nianfan made the gesture in return, “King Zhou’s too polite. Have a good trip back.”
Yuecha pressed her palms together. She bowed at Li Nianfan and said, “Goodbye, Mr. Li.”
“Goodbye!”
Zhou Yunwu and the other two walked out from the four-part architecture. They still had the look of awe on their faces.
As if being edified, their spiritual levels had been upgraded.
Even Yuecha suddenly felt that the Buddhism she had been preaching was rather low. No wonder the expert could easily point out such things to her to make her less obsessive. His realm was so high that he was no longer able to be impressed by anything anymore.
He was the true bigshot!
Inside the four-part architecture, Li Nianfan watched them leave. He did not keep them for dinner.
When he went out hunting earlier, he was hunting for fun. Thus, he did not manage to hunt anything big. The two wild rabbits did not have much meat on them anyway, so it would not be nice to keep them for dinner.
“I’ll keep the delicious rabbit meat for myself!”
Li Nianfan smiled as he sat on the chair. He started enjoying himself as he said, “Xiao Bai, go and prepare the rabbit meat, I’ll have them roasted. Right, don’t waste the rabbit head. Make it spicy, it’d be yummy to chew on.”
…
As the sun set, the sunlight gradually retreated as the night approached.
At the Southern Mountain area.
The mountain was engulfed by darkness. Looking from afar, it looked like a sleeping demon, ready to hurt anyone.
However, within the mountain, all of the demons were transfixed in their spots, shivering in fear.
They all knelt on both knees, facing the same direction.
Looking along the direction they were facing, more and more demons gathered. In the heart of the mountain was a cave.
The surroundings of the cave were filled with demons like blooming flowers, kneeling at the cave.
Small and helpless.
Click! Click! Click!
As the heavy footsteps were heard, the demons could not help holding their breaths, their heads shrinking in.
It did not take long before a gigantic figure gradually walked out from the cave.
Under the moonlike, the shadow of this gigantic figure covered its surroundings.
It was a gigantic demon with a bull’s head and a human’s body!
Its horns were like two crescent moons, pointing upright while exuding a shocking chill.
“Rubbish! Real rubbish!” A sound came from the bull, full of despise. “I never thought the demons in the ordinary realm could fall into this stage. Not only is the Demon King not the Demon King, you’re all too afraid to even eat the humans! What, you’ve all become vegetarians?”
Beside the Bull Demon, there was a gigantic green wolf, its fur glowing vaguely under the moonlight like a stream of flowing water. It had good fur.
The Wolf Demon smiled and said, “Brother, isn’t that well? Since the demons in the ordinary realm are doing bad, it’s time for our performance! Becoming the Demon King will be as easy as flipping the hand!”
The Bull Demon nodded in agreement, “Exactly. We’ve made the right decision to come down to the ordinary realm. In the ordinary realm, we don’t have any restrictions!”
Now that the road between the Immortal Realm and Land had reopened, many demons that were not doing well had the chance of going to the ordinary realm. They would instantly become the most powerful ones!
The Bull Demon growled, “This bunch of demons are so useless. I don’t have other options, so I have no choice but to take them as my staff!”
“Brother, I heard from this bunch of demons about an interesting matter,” the Green Wolf paused. It then continued, “There’s actually an appearance of a Nine-Tailed Fox nearby.”
“Nine-Tailed Fox?” the Bull Demon’s eyes widened like bells, glowing from within. It said hastily, “The Nine-Tailed Fox is known as the ultimate wife. Only the Demon King’s allowed to marry such a beautiful demon!”
The Green Wolf nodded, “Exactly! It’s indeed the Nine-Tailed Fox!”
“Where is it? What are we waiting for? Let’s go catch it and make it my wife!” The Bull Demon was getting impatient. It glared at its surrounding demons and growled, “Who knows about this? Stand up right away!”
