Zhikong looked at Xinding in surprise. What a good question! Why have I never thought of that?

“Converting the Red Lotus Demoness is certainly not possible.” The little old man spoke unhurriedly, answering Xinding with a genial smile. He had cultivated for several hundred years, guarding the herb garden with remarkable meditative Chan skill.

“Marriage is a worldly affair. Buddhism is a Pure Land for ascetic cultivation. If the Red Lotus Demoness were to convert to Buddhism and marry Zhiyuan, wouldn’t that bring worldly affairs into the Pure Land and defile its precepts?”

Zhikong was enlightened. As expected of Junior Uncle Wunian. A few words were all it took to clear up my confusion.

Xinding was still confused, looking at the little old man with clear eyes. “But our servants’ courtyard is rife with martial fights and gambling. Uncle Zhixing from the West Servants’ Courtyard provokes Junior Uncle Zhiyuan, the four wings compete against each other, and the Martial Vihara Selection’s top four fight for first place. Aren’t all these worldly affairs as well?”

“I...” The little old man was stumped and was unable to speak for a long while. The main problem was that everything Xinding said was true. He couldn’t refute it even if he wanted to do so.

Realization finally dawned upon Xinding. “I get it now. Junior Uncle Zhiyuan is just one person, so he is easy to manage. The other matters involve too many people, so we Buddhist sects leave them be since we can’t handle them all.”

“I...”

The little old man was left speechless. This kid looks simple-minded, so why does everything he says turn out to be the truth?

He definitely wasn’t taught by Zhiyuan. If Zhiyuan had such brains, he wouldn’t have been trapped by love and failed his breakthrough back then!

Inside the Qingfeng Sword’s small world, Lu Yang laughed so hard that his stomach hurt. Xinding’s single-minded, straightforward nature is truly a perfect fit for Buddhism. He’s a promising seedling.

The little old man took two deep breaths and spoke earnestly. “Xinding, you must understand that all matters and all things undergo a process of change. While it’s true that Xitian Temple has many worldly corruptions, you must also see that the temple is working actively to cleanse itself of these things and restore its reputation as a Pure Land. It’s just that these things take time.”

“How much time?”

“A long time.”

Xinding mulled it over. It feels like Grand-Junior-Uncle said something, but it also feels like he said nothing.

The little old man dared not continue the conversation with Xinding, lest the young monk ask more questions that his elderly self would struggle to answer. He handed over the Lingshu Grass and told Zhikong to take Xinding away promptly.

“Junior Uncle Zhiyuan, here is the Lingshu Grass.” Xinding handed the herb to Zhiyuan as promised.

Zhiyuan held the Lingshu Grass, a nostalgic look flickering in his eyes. “I believe you met my shifu?”

“Grand-Junior-Uncle Wunian? Yes, I met him.”

“Did he say anything about me?”

“He did.”

“What did he say?” Zhiyuan asked somewhat impatiently. Although Shifu had separated Red Lotus and me, I was the one at fault. I’m reluctant to see Shifu because I can’t overcome this mental hurdle.

Xinding pondered for a bit. I chatted with Grand-Junior-Uncle for a long while; repeating everything would be troublesome. He decided to summarize their conversation briefly.

“He said our Xitian Temple has too many corrupt matters to handle. But you wanting to marry the Red Lotus Demoness was too conspicuous, so the temple had no choice but to intervene.”

Zhiyuan was visibly excited as he suddenly understood. “So my shifu means that Red Lotus and I just have to marry in secret?”

Shifu is on my side after all!

“Is that what Grand-Junior-Uncle meant?” Xinding recalled Wunian’s reaction. Somehow, it doesn’t feel quite right, but given my dull aptitude, it’s normal that I can’t grasp the deeper implications.

Afterward, Zhikong led Xinding and the other three to the Martial Vihara. Xin’an, Xinchen, and Xinping looked at Xinding with a mixture of awe and fear.

It wasn’t just because Xinding had won the championship through absolute power. More importantly, the powerful soul entities hidden within them, who had guided their cultivation, had all vanished after that battle.

They knew better than anyone how powerful those three soul entities were. For them to disappear without a trace, what secrets is Xinding hiding?!

At that thought, they couldn’t help but shiver.

“From today onward, you are martial monks of the Martial Vihara.” Zhikong led the four to collect their martial monk robes. After giving them a tour of the hall, he updated their identity tokens.

“Starting next month, you’ll each receive a monthly stipend of ten low-grade spirit stones and ten merit points. If you need more resources, you’ll have to earn them through your own efforts.”

The other three were thrilled. The treatment at the Martial Vihara is indeed worlds apart from what we had received in the servants’ courtyard.

“I have other matters to attend to. I’ll be taking my leave first.” Feeling that he had provided them with sufficient instructions, Zhiyuan departed.

“So you four are the newcomers?” Right after Zhiyuan left, a group of seven or eight people approached.

The leader was at the Great Perfection Qi Training Stage.

His gaze drifted toward Xinding meaningfully. He was Xincheng’s backer in the Martial Vihara. With the Fragrant Elephant Crossing the River painting fragment he had given him, he had expected Xincheng to make it to the Martial Vihara. He didn’t expect Xinding to have eliminated him.

“Greetings, Senior Brother.”

“Newcomers need to learn the rules. Every new martial monk must fight with us once to show you that there are always those stronger than you!”

Xinding and the others grew tense.

“Heavenly Sovereign, what should I do?” Xinding could tell that the group had come with hostile intentions. He was certain he couldn’t defeat a martial monk at the Great Perfection Qi Training Stage.

The Tofu Heavenly Sovereign smiled. Such a trivial matter doesn’t require me to step in. He pointed Xinding toward a path. “Go find a backer.”

“I have a backer?”

~~~

“Grand-Junior-Uncle, they’re bullying me.” Xinding ran to the medicine repository to complain to the little old man.

The little old man hadn’t expected that, in less than half a day after his lecture about Xitian Temple cleansing itself of corrupt matters, Xinding would encounter exactly such matters.

I can’t leave this be.

With a Divine Transfiguration grand-junior-uncle as his backer, who in the Martial Vihara would dare bring up the old tradition of newcomers fighting veterans?

~~~

“Do you know that each new martial monk must hand over twenty percent of their monthly stipend to us...”

“Grand-Junior-Uncle, they’re extorting me.”

“So you are Zhiyuan’s disciple. Do you know that when Zhiyuan was in the Martial Vihara...”

“Grand-Junior-Uncle, since they couldn’t beat Junior Uncle Zhiyuan, they came to bully me.”

Soon, everyone in the Martial Vihara knew that Xinding had connections.

The only one unaware of it was Xinding himself.

With the power of the Lingshu Grass, Zhiyuan returned to the Apex Golden Core Stage. He walked around the Martial Vihara but was surprised to find no one bullying Xinding.

Despite noticing the inexplicably amiable attitude from everyone in the hall, Xinding didn’t dwell on it. He simply thought he was rewarded for his good deeds in protecting the Tofu Heavenly Sovereign’s secret, which had saved Xitian Temple.

Now that Xinding’s identity was known, the Martial Vihara no longer treated him like other newcomers, allocating all manner of resources to him.

“Xinding, other newcomers may freely choose one cultivation manual from the scripture library. But since you are Wunian’s grand-disciple, you are naturally different. You may choose three.”

“Grand-Junior-Uncle, they’re letting me enter through the back door, giving me special treatment.”