We Agreed On Experiencing Life, So Why Did You Immortals Become Real?

Chapter 553: Let Me Tell You a Story (2 in 1)

“Senior Brother Queyin...”

Xiao Mo had just stepped through Sikong Temple’s mountain gate when Xujing, who was earnestly sweeping the ground at the temple entrance, saw his senior brother had returned. He quickly hugged his broom and ran over happily.

“Senior Brother, did everything go smoothly when you went to officiate the newlyweds’ wedding today?” Xujing asked.

“It went quite smoothly. The host family didn’t look down on your senior brother either.” Xiao Mo smiled slightly and handed the packed food box in his hand to Xujing. “The vegetarian dishes you wanted. They taste very good, especially the eggplant casserole. It’s the cook’s specialty, and the flavor is excellent.”

“Thank you, Senior Brother!”

Xujing hugged the food box and was about to run into the temple, but Xiao Mo suddenly grabbed the back of his collar.

“You’re done just like that?” Xiao Mo pointed at the fallen leaves scattered over the ground. His tone was gentle, yet it allowed no perfunctory answer. “We’ll talk after you sweep the ground clean.”

“Oh...”

Xujing could only carefully set the food box aside, hold the broom, and sweep back and forth absentmindedly, his whole heart set on getting it over with.

“Sweep it properly.”

Xiao Mo shook his head helplessly, but did not say anything else. He turned and walked slowly into the temple.

Passing through the front hall of the temple, Xiao Mo arrived before the abbot’s courtyard. He respectfully joined his palms and bowed.

“Abbot.”

“Mm.”

Abbot Yuankong, who was reading a Buddhist scripture, set down the scripture in his hand and raised his head, smiling as he looked at this most satisfactory disciple of his.

“By rights, officiating a wedding should not have delayed you until this late. Could it be that you went somewhere to play? There is even a faint fragrance of a woman on you... Could you have gone off drinking with courtesans?”

“This disciple would not dare.”

Xiao Mo shook his head and answered truthfully.

“Only, when this disciple was coming up the mountain, I saw a young lady who had fallen below the mountain slope and twisted her ankle. That young lady could not move easily, and it was already late. It was not convenient to call someone else to help, so this disciple carried her back to her home.”

“So that was it.” Yuankong nodded. His tone was full of trust, without the slightest doubt toward his own disciple’s words. “Was the woman’s injury serious?”

“It was not serious,” Xiao Mo said. “This disciple already left Sikong Temple’s bruise medicine with her. She should be able to recover before long.”

“That is good.” Yuankong lightly stroked his beard and instructed him, “Evening lesson is about to begin. Make some preparations and go to the great hall to recite scriptures. Do not miss the hour.”

“Yes, Abbot.”

Xiao Mo joined his palms in a bow, then turned and withdrew.

......

Night fell.

After the final incense guest had been sent away, Sikong Temple’s gate was closed.

All the monks went to the great hall and sat upright on prayer mats, reciting Buddhist scriptures in unison, performing the evening lesson that never changed from day to day.

As the scripture recitation of Sikong Temple’s hundred monks drifted out and echoed through every corner of the temple, the bright moonlight spilling down from the night sky seemed, at this moment, to have been dyed a faint gold.

Only, tonight’s Xiao Mo was reciting the scripture with his mouth, but in his mind, he kept involuntarily thinking back to the woman he had met that afternoon.

Thinking back to every frown and smile of hers.

Thinking back to every word she had said.

Thinking back to the past... to each and every moment he had spent together with Jingci.

Before he knew it, the sound of scripture recitation in his mouth gradually stopped.

Before he knew it, he slowly opened his eyes.

The moment Xiao Mo opened his eyes, what came into view was the abbot’s kindly smiling face.

Half an incense stick later, the scripture recitation of the other monks also gradually lowered, until it completely stopped.

After finishing evening lesson, the monks rose one after another, joined their palms in a bow toward the abbot, and ended the whole day’s cultivation.

Only Xiao Mo did not leave. He still knelt quietly beneath the Buddha statue.

Before the Buddha statue, one old and one young sat facing each other.

“This is rare.” Abbot Yuankong looked at Xiao Mo, his tone gentle and calm. “From childhood until now, this is the first time you have ever lost focus while reciting scriptures.”

“This disciple was distracted. Abbot, please punish me,” Xiao Mo said with his head lowered, a little guilt in his tone.

“Heh, heh, heh... You are human, not a true Buddha. Since you are human, what does losing focus once count for? What is there to punish?”

Master Yuankong quietly gazed into his disciple’s eyes. His gaze was full of tolerance.

“Today, you went to Cloud Village to officiate a wedding and saved a woman as well. You must be tired. After dinner, go rest early.”

“Yes, Abbot.” Xiao Mo rose and bowed. “This disciple will take his leave first. Abbot should rest early as well.”

“Mm.”

Yuankong answered softly and watched Xiao Mo turn and leave.

Only after his disciple’s back gradually vanished from sight did Yuankong slowly close his eyes, lightly shake his head, and let out a low sigh.

After returning to his own courtyard, Xiao Mo sat down on the stone stool and lifted his head, looking at this quiet night.

The bright moon hanging in the sky seemed to reflect the woman’s face.

He truly had not expected Jingci to find him so quickly.

This was a good thing...

But also a bad thing...

......

“All conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows, like dew and lightning. One should contemplate them thus.”

“If one sees me through form, or seeks me through sound, that person walks a deviant path and cannot see the Tathagata.”

The next morning, the sky was faintly bright. Morning light passed through the lattice windows of the great hall and fell over the Buddha statue and the monks’ shoulders.

Xiao Mo sat upright in the great hall, as he did every morning, with his eyes closed as he recited scripture.

After morning lesson ended, Xiao Mo did not need to go down the mountain and hurry about today.

His duty was to receive visiting incense guests in the great hall, interpret fortune lots for them, and answer their questions.

If he had free time, he could also sit to the side and read scriptures.

“Monk, we meet again.”

Just as Xiao Mo had not been seated for long, a woman’s soft, smiling voice suddenly sounded by his ear.

Xiao Mo raised his head and saw Tushan Jingci standing beside him, graceful and slender, with a smile on her face.

“Is Miss’s foot healed?” Xiao Mo asked.

“It isn’t completely healed yet, but your medicine is very useful. I can already walk by myself. It just still hurts a little when °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° I walk.”

Tushan Jingci blinked as she looked at Xiao Mo, a bit of delicate softness in her tone.

“And I felt that no matter what, I had to come thank you, monk, for saving me yesterday.”

The woman paused, then gently offered forward the box of pastries she carried in her hand. “These pastries are a small token of my appreciation. Monk, please don’t disdain them.”

“Miss is too courteous. Saving Miss was only the duty of us Buddhist disciples.” Xiao Mo shook his head mildly and refused tactfully.

“That won’t do.” Tushan Jingci’s tone grew serious, carrying a little stubbornness. “Repaying kindness is a matter of heaven’s law and earth’s principle. It’s your business if you don’t seek repayment, monk, but wanting to repay you is my business.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Tushan Jingci directly placed the box of pastries on the table in front of Xiao Mo.

“You’re not allowed to refuse!”

The woman’s voice carried a little willfulness.

“This... All right... Then I will accept it.” Seeing that he truly could not refuse, Xiao Mo had no choice but to nod helplessly.

“That’s more like it.” Tushan Jingci said happily, “Speaking of which, monk, what do you do here?”

“Drawing lots and interpreting them,” Xiao Mo answered truthfully.

“Almost like a Daoist fortune-teller?” The woman blinked and asked another question.

“You can understand it that way.” Xiao Mo nodded.

“Then can I draw a lot?” Tushan Jingci’s eyes immediately lit up, as though she were eager to try.

“Naturally.” Xiao Mo asked, “What kind of lot does Miss wish to draw?”

“Marriage fate.”

Tushan Jingci spoke directly, staring deeply at him.

Xiao Mo was slightly stunned when he heard this, but he did not say much. He only nodded lightly, then placed the bamboo tube in his hand before Tushan Jingci, his tone mild. “Miss, write down your birth date and hour, then shake the bamboo tube. The one that falls out will be the one.”

“All right.”

After Tushan Jingci wrote down her birth date and hour, she took the bamboo tube, held it in both hands against her chest, and shook it constantly. The bamboo slips clattered loudly inside the tube.

Finally, one bamboo slip slid from the mouth of the tube and fell lightly onto the table.

Xiao Mo reached out, picked up the bamboo slip, and carefully looked at the text on it.

The light of expectation flickered in Tushan Jingci’s eyes, and she could not help pressing him, “Master, how is this lot interpreted?”

“What is fated to be yours will eventually be yours. What is not fated should not be forced. Miss’s temperament should be somewhat too persistent. Sometimes, letting things take their natural course may be a better choice,” Xiao Mo said truthfully.

Tushan Jingci quietly listened until he finished. A faint smile spread along her lips.

She raised her head. Those beautiful fox-like eyes looked straight at Xiao Mo, and she said slowly, word by word:

“But, Master...”

“What if I simply like it, and insist on forcing it?”

Xiao Mo was left speechless for a moment and fell silent.

“Heh, heh, heh...”

Seeing Xiao Mo’s somewhat troubled expression, and how he did not know how to answer, Tushan Jingci covered her lips and laughed until her brows and eyes curved.

“All right, all right. I won’t tease Master anymore. I still have some things to do, so I’ll leave first. Later tonight, I’ll come visit Master again.”

Xiao Mo joined his palms and nodded slightly. “Miss, take care.”

“Farewell, Master.”

Tushan Jingci looked deeply at Xiao Mo. Only after a long while did she withdraw her gaze, turn, and leave Sikong Temple.

After the woman’s figure vanished outside the temple gate, Xiao Mo finally drew back his gaze and let it fall on the bamboo slip lying quietly on the table.

He did not know how long he stared at that bamboo slip in a daze. In the end, Xiao Mo reached out, picked it up, and placed it back into the bamboo tube.

......

Another day passed.

After the monks of Sikong Temple finished evening lesson, they left the great hall and went to have dinner.

However, during this evening lesson, Xiao Mo had lost focus while reciting scriptures again.

According to the temple rules, if one lost focus during scripture recitation twice in a row, one had to stay alone in the great hall and recite scripture for another half hour.

Although Master Yuankong still said gently to Xiao Mo, “This does not count as anything serious. Most of the rules in the temple are also fairly easygoing. There is no need to be too harsh on yourself.”

Xiao Mo still felt this was not good. Since he had made a mistake, he ought to be punished.

So that night, after everyone had left, he knelt properly before the Buddha statue in the great hall, closed his eyes, and began reciting scripture again.

“When Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara practiced the profound perfection of wisdom, he illuminated the five aggregates and saw they were all empty, crossing beyond all suffering and calamity.”

“Shariputra, form is no different from emptiness; emptiness is no different from form. Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form. Sensation, perception, formation, and consciousness are also like this.”

“Shariputra, all dharmas are marked by emptiness...”

The clear, steady sound of scripture recitation slowly came from his mouth.

Xiao Mo’s chanting voice was distant and lingering. It passed through every blade of grass, every tree, every brick and tile in the front courtyard, and echoed for a long time in the silent night.

And at that moment, the front gate of Sikong Temple, which had never once been locked, was silently pushed open.

A woman slipped inside on tiptoe. Her footsteps were light as a thief’s. Her skirt brushed over the steps as she cautiously crossed the courtyard and groped toward the great hall.

When she reached the entrance of the great hall, the woman stretched out a small hand to grip the doorframe and secretly poked her head out, looking at the man inside the great hall who was reciting scripture with his eyes closed. She called softly, “Hey, monk. Monk... monk...”

Xiao Mo slowly opened his eyes and turned around. He saw Miss Jingci standing at the entrance, smiling as she waved at him.

“Miss Jingci?” Xiao Mo was slightly startled, some surprise in his tone. “It is so late. Why has Miss come?”

“The gate of your temple wasn’t locked. It opened with a push, so naturally, I came in.” Tushan Jingci cheerfully hopped to Xiao Mo’s side, obediently sat down beside him, tilted her head, and asked, “Why are you still reciting scriptures? Don’t you need to go eat?”

Xiao Mo smiled and shook his head, explaining, “During evening lesson today, I was somewhat distracted. According to the temple rules, I have to recite scriptures for another half hour.”

“So that’s how it is...” Tushan Jingci tilted her head slightly. Her beautiful fox-like eyes looked at Xiao Mo in confusion. “Then, monk, why did you get distracted?”

“Because...”

The moment Xiao Mo opened his mouth, he looked at the woman’s pure and curious eyes. His heart paused faintly, and he swallowed back the words that had reached his lips. He only shook his head lightly.

“It is nothing...”

“Hmph, stingy monk. If you won’t say it, then don’t.” Tushan Jingci pouted and turned her head away, seeming a little angry.

But a moment later, the woman’s head turned back again. She looked toward Xiao Mo and said with great interest, “Oh? I see you’re quite bored here. How about this? Let me tell you a story, all right?”

“I am not bored. I am still reciting scriptures,” Xiao Mo said.

“But I’m bored... Let me tell you a story...” Tushan Jingci said sweetly.

Xiao Mo smiled lightly and asked in a gentle tone, “I wonder what story Miss wants to tell?”

“Well...” Tushan Jingci tilted her head and thought for a moment. A flash of light suddenly crossed her eyes.

“Oh! I’ve got it! Let me tell you a story about a fox and a book boy.”

“A fox and a book boy?” Xiao Mo was slightly startled and followed her words in asking.

“Mm-hmm...”

Tushan Jingci cleared her throat, and that crisp, pleasant voice like silver bells slowly spread through the great hall.

“Once upon a time, there was a little fox. She was a young lady, but in her daily life, there weren’t many people who played with her.”

“But one day, this young lady met a little boy about the same age as her.”