Both elderly nuns in their eighties had passed away.
Shui Miao’s divine sense detected their appearances. For two frail old women, their wrinkled faces bore expressions that seemed somewhat strange—twisted and contorted, as if neither smiling nor sorrowful.
Yet just as Shui Miao observed, two beams of golden light descended from within the nunnery, shining upon the bodies of the two old nuns.
As Shui Miao puzzled over this, he saw the spirits of the two nuns separate from their corpses.
Their souls stared blankly at the golden light…
At that moment, a golden Buddha the size of a palm appeared within the light. Facing the two nuns, it uttered a Buddhist chant: “Amitabha Buddha. I am the guide from the Western Paradise. You two have completed your cultivation and freed yourselves from earthly attachments. I have come especially to guide you to reincarnation in the Western Paradise. Now, you may choose whether to go or not.”
Upon hearing this, the nuns hurriedly returned the gesture of respect.
“Senior sister,” one said, “our karmic conflict with our disciple has ended peacefully, and I can now pass away with a smile. I wish to go to the Western Paradise. What about you?”
“Junior sister, I shall go with you.”
“Very well!”
After exchanging a few words, the two old nuns watched as the small golden guide chanted “Good, good,” twice before leading their souls away into the golden light.
“So they passed away with smiles on their faces!”
Shui Miao opened his eyes and exhaled in relief. He got out of the car and said to the elder nun, “Master, there’s no need to be anxious. I just sensed that your master and senior master’s souls were guided away by a golden Buddha to the Western Paradise. Their karmic ties with you have been resolved peacefully, so you can rest assured. Just proceed with their burial.”
“Is that really true?” the elder nun asked, somewhat disbelieving.
Shui Miao smiled gently and nodded. “Of course it is. In fact, I have a deep connection with Buddhism—I would never disrespect it or speak falsely.”
“That’s right, Master,” chimed in Lin Xue. “Shui Miao is upright and compassionate. He would never make things up.”
Chu Miaoyi also spoke up. “Master, don’t be too upset. Your master and senior master were very old. That they passed away peacefully is a blessing. You should feel joyful for them.”
“Yes! I am happy, I am happy!”
Tears flowed from the elder nun’s eyes as she silently berated herself for not having properly honored her master while alive. Now that her master had passed, she would never have the chance again.
※※※
After bidding farewell to the elder nun, the three of them sat silently in the car.
Once the road improved, Lin Xue broke the silence. “By the way, Miaoyi, Shui, what do you think Ruo Jing will do with all those gold bars? Even if he wants to abandon evil and become an honest official, he can’t just donate all that gold openly. Besides, with how corrupt the bureaucracy is, it won’t be easy for him to stay clean.”
“It’s definitely not easy,” Chu Miaoyi shook her head skeptically. “Corrupt officials are all interconnected like an enormous invisible spiderweb. It would be extremely difficult to completely eradicate them. Shui Miao, what do you think about the murky affairs of officialdom?”
Faced with this complex topic, Shui Miao sighed. “There’s always a balance of yin and yang, and people’s hearts contain both good and evil. Greed or honesty often comes down to a single thought. But I think the main reason people abandon their principles and engage in bribery and immoral acts is due to a lack of firm beliefs and moral decay.”
“A firm belief—yes, that’s right! How could I have overlooked that?” Chu Miaoyi suddenly understood the fundamental nature of human behavior.
Lin Xue clicked her tongue. “Unfortunately, there are too few people like you, Shui. If there were more like you, this world might have hope. By the way, Shui, do you think Christianity and other foreign religions are real? I only know our country has Taoism and Buddhism. Could Christianity be just a fabrication?”
“I’ve thought about this too. I think it’s a mix of truth and fiction. It’s not entirely made up. As to whether it’s real or not, we’d have to witness it ourselves to know for sure.” Suddenly, Shui Miao had an idea. “Actually, I’d love to visit a Christian church one day and see if there really are any Western gods there.”
“Great idea!” Lin Xue exclaimed excitedly, slamming her foot on the accelerator, speeding the car forward.
Shui Miao was momentarily stunned. Lin Xue really was the type to act on impulse. He realized he’d have to be more careful from now on—every time he spoke casually, she’d want to try it out, and that would only bring him more trouble. It wasn’t that Shui Miao didn’t want to explore, but recently, after continuously using his immortal powers, his reserves were dwindling badly. His spiritual gate, which connected him to the Immortal Realm, remained sealed, preventing him from replenishing his energy. If this continued, he would soon deplete his powers entirely and become an ordinary person. If any trouble arose then, how would he deal with it?
So, Shui Miao had to proceed cautiously.
He sat quietly in the car, thinking. He had two options now. One was to break through the seal on his spiritual gate and regain his immortal energy to continue cultivation. But since he had caused trouble in the Immortal Realm before, if breaking the seal attracted enemies from there, it would be a huge problem. The other option was to try unlocking the other three stone tablets within his spiritual realm to grow stronger.
According to what the middle-aged scholar had said, unlocking all five stone tablets would take decades of cultivation.
Unlocking the Feng Shui stone had come naturally.
And unlocking the Natural Dao stone had been more of a stroke of luck.
“It took me half a year to unlock the Natural Dao stone, during which I suffered greatly and nearly lost my life. Now, attempting the Defense Dao stone… better wait. If I fail, I might lose my life for sure.” After a moment’s contemplation, Shui Miao decided to take things as they came. After all, he was still young in cultivation terms and had plenty of time.
Seeing Shui Miao deep in thought, Lin Xue and Chu Miaoyi naturally refrained from disturbing him.
But not long after, the car came to a stop.
Lin Xue pointed outside and smiled at Shui Miao. “Shui, this is the biggest church in our city, Huanghai. It’s said that thousands of Christians gather here every Sunday. Use your amazing divine power to sense around and see what kind of divine beings are inside!”
“Lin Jie, you really think of everything. I bet there’s no Western god inside. Even if there is, it’s probably one of our Eastern gods,” Chu Miaoyi laughed lightly. “Hehe, after all, this is our territory.”
Lin Xue nodded thoughtfully, stroking her chin. “Hmm, makes sense. Our gods are just franchising the brand, hehe…”
Lin Xue and Chu Miaoyi acted like two young girls full of playful energy.
“Alright, both of you be quiet for a moment. Let me try sensing around…”
Shui Miao gazed at the church with reverence, closed his eyes, calmed his mind, and extended his divine consciousness outward…
The church covered more than ten acres and was built grandly and magnificently.
However, since it wasn’t Sunday, the church doors were tightly shut, and not a soul was in sight.
Shui Miao had barely begun sensing when he suddenly furrowed his brows and blurted out, “How can this be…”
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