Just as he was thinking this, the middle-aged monk suddenly reached out and took the secret manual back, pressing his hands together and reciting a Buddhist chant.
“Amitabha.”
“An item that brings such calamity should not continue to drift through the martial world.
“Otherwise, it will inevitably breed more slaughter.
“This poor monk shall sever this karmic tie on Benefactor's behalf today.”
Before his words faded, his hands shook, and Buddhist true qi surged from his palms.
The thick booklet made of an unknown leather gave a dull tearing sound in his grip.
In the next instant, the entire manual, including its cover, shattered inch by inch into a cloud of paper scraps. Swept up by the howling northern wind, they fluttered down across the withered grassland.
Li Wu stared blankly at the scraps of paper fluttering, drifting, and falling through the air...
Only after a long silence did he reach out a hand, his lips twitching several times before he finally squeezed an anguished howl from his throat.
“Master! If you don't want to practice it, you could've just given it to me!”
He squatted down, frantically trying to gather the fragments.
But most of the pieces had already been scattered by the wind, and the rest were torn beyond recognition—not even half a sentence could be pieced together.
Holding a handful of paper scraps, he looked up, his eyes filled with sorrow over the loss of the manual.
Watching Li Wu squatting on the ground in heartbreak as he picked up paper scraps, the middle-aged monk maintained his solemn expression and pressed his palms together.
“Amitabha.
“This technique itself holds little value, yet several lives were lost for it. Leaving it in the world would only invite more slaughter.
“This poor monk destroyed it to sever this karmic tie. I hope Benefactor can understand.”
However, Li Wu was in no state to listen to such grand moralizing and remained kneeling on the ground.
“Master, you people in the Buddhist Order sit on a Sutra Pavilion with scriptures stacked higher than a man. Of course you don't care about a third-rate technique.
“But for unaffiliated wanderers like us with no sect or faction, getting a decent technique is harder than reaching the heavens.
“You don't know how many years I've been stuck in the Candlelight Realm, dreaming of taking a step forward. I finally managed to pick up a manual, and before I could even practice a single page, it turned into paper scraps.
“My heart right now... it's colder than the northern wind on this grassland...”
The middle-aged monk was slightly taken aback by his words. His lips moved, but for a moment, he did not know how to reply.
Raised in a temple from childhood, he had followed an orthodox lineage, learning various techniques step-by-step. He had never experienced the bitter hardship of rogue cultivators bleeding for a shallow, basic art.
Though Li Wu's words were merely mindless complaints, they happened to strike right at the invisible gulf between the Buddhist Order and rogue cultivators.
Someone who had never lacked techniques truly had no right to tell someone who had lacked them for years that "this isn't worth much."
Seeing this, Chen Zui chuckled, hung his wine flask back at his waist, and walked over to pat Li Wu on the shoulder.
“Brother Li, don't dwell on it.
“How could a third-rate technique be worthy of your time?
“Greater opportunities surely await you in the future. When you look back at today, you'll be glad Master shattered this manual.”
Hearing this, Li Wu's eyes instantly lit up.
Tossing the last handful of scraps into the wind, he clapped his hands and straightened his back. The heartbreak from earlier vanished without a trace, replaced by a high-spirited smile.
“Right, right! Brother Chen sure knows how to talk!
“I, Li Wu, am destined to become the world's number one swordsman.
“Once I make a name for myself in the martial world, how embarrassing would it be if people dug up my history and found out I used to practice a third-rate technique?”
He turned to the middle-aged monk, pressed his palms together, and bowed with sincere gratitude.
“Master, you did the right thing. Destroying this trash saved my future biography from a stain.”
Staring at his complete 180-degree shift in emotion, the middle-aged monk froze for a good moment before softly chanting a Buddhist prayer.
This Benefactor Li was in agonizing grief just a second ago, yet turned spirited in the blink of an eye. He had truly never seen someone with such a mercurial temperament.
Afterward, looking at the five corpses on the ground, a look of pity appeared on the middle-aged monk's face.
“Benefactor, would you mind helping this poor monk bury these men so I may chant prayers to deliver their souls?”
Chen Zui and Li Wu exchanged a look, then nodded in agreement.
The three of them moved the five corpses one by one beneath a wind-sheltered earthen mound, arranging them neatly and piling up stones to form five simple graves.
Once everything was done, the middle-aged monk sat cross-legged before the stone graves, pressed his hands together, and began reciting the Rebirth Mantra.
Chen Zui and Li Wu helped move stones and construct the graves nearby.
“These two were trying to steal our campfire yesterday, and today we're building graves for them.
“Brother Chen, do you think we're returning good for evil?”
Though he grumbled, his hands worked hard, neatly stacking even the smallest fragments of stone.
Chen Zui remained quiet as usual. Only when placing the final stone did he unfasten the wine flask from his waist and sprinkle a few drops of wine before the graves, offering a gesture of respect to the strangers.
When the Rebirth Mantra concluded, the middle-aged monk stood up and brushed the dirt from his Buddhist robe.
“This poor monk goes by the Dharma name Yuanzhen and cultivates at Guang'en Temple up ahead.
“Though the temple is modest, there are still a few clean meditation rooms.
“If you two do not mind, why not come rest at the temple for a few days to shelter from the wind and snow on the grassland?”
Li Wu was taken aback at first, then overjoyed, hurriedly returning the gesture with pressed palms.
“Master is inviting us to be guests?
“This... how could we accept? The two of us don't even have decent clothes. Wouldn't going into the temple defile a pure Buddhist sanctuary?”
Though he claimed to be embarrassed, his eyes shone as bright as if he had found treasure, his voice rising several pitches.
In Grand Shuo, receiving an invitation from a high Buddhist monk to be a guest at a temple was a matter of tremendous prestige.
In his twenty-some years of life, Li Wu had entered many temples, but always to burn incense and pray for peace of mind. He had never been actively invited by a monk, let alone personally by a high monk of the Second Rank Mountain-Viewing Realm.
He secretly nudged Chen Zui with his elbow, winking and signaling him to agree quickly.
Seeing his delighted expression, Chen Zui could only nod.
“Then we shall trouble Master.”
The three of them set off together.
Yuanzhen walked at the front with composed steps, his straw sandals making a faint rustling sound on the frozen grass.
After walking for a short while, he stepped slightly to the side to walk shoulder to shoulder with Chen Zui, asking how he should address the two of them.
Li Wu rushed to give his own name, then pointed at Chen Zui. “This is my brother, surname Chen.”
Yuanzhen pressed his palms together. “So it is Benefactor Li and Benefactor Chen.”
Li Wu walked behind them, but as they went on, he gradually sensed something was off.
Master Yuanzhen's attitude toward his makeshift brother seemed a bit unusual.
When speaking to him, the monk used a standard monastic tone—compassionate, with a mix of politeness and distance.
But whenever he turned to Chen Zui, his tone unconsciously softened a bit, carrying even a faint trace of reverence.
Rate on N.U.
