The Immortal's Poison
Chapter 39: Sense of Hope

An old monk had been idling away time aimlessly at the entrance of the cave while knocking on the wooden fish. Suddenly, four people walked out from within the cave and he was so startled that he dropped the wooden fish onto the ground.

Fourth Elder Wen, who managed the Place of Birth, Life, Sickness, and Death, was so old that the deep wrinkles on his face could hide twenty or more toothpicks. But Fourth Elder Wen would seem like a robust young fellow if compared to this old monk here, the two’s aging was essentially not on the same level at all. The old monk’s eye bags had drooped so low that they almost covered the corners of his mouth.

However, despite under such a trying and surprising situation, the old monk was still able to make a panicked expression. His mouth gaped widely and there was not a tooth to be seen, only a slightly shriveled tongue.

Wen Leyang looked at the old monk and tried to sound out the situation, "Great master, what were you doing here?" Behind him, Wen Xiaoyi raised her big-muzzled weapon. Chang Li had never seen the old monk before, her big eyes shone with a radiant and charming glow as she looked at the old monk from head to toe.

Almost half a day’s time had passed since the crowd of several hundred rogue practitioners had put on a grand scale of fighting with the monks of the Great Mercy Temple, which blocked their access to Zhanyan Peak. So, Wen Leyang had been prepared in his heart to find someone guarding the entrance of the cave, yet he did not except that there was only one monk and that the monk would be so old.

The golden light that had enshrouded Zhanyan Peak had dispersed and the surrounding area was completely silent and still, it would seem that the great battle between the rogue practitioners and the monks had ended.

The old monk picked up the wooden fish in a great bustle and knocked on it twice. The sound that the wooden fish made was hoarse, like the croaking of a toad being stepped on and it then cracked into a large fissure. The old monk’s pitiful eye bags shivered continuously.

Chang Li chuckled charmingly, "Hey, we asked you a question!"

The old monk’s gaze was murky. First, he looked at Chang Li then at Wen Xiaoyi and Mumu’s faces before his gaze stopped at Wen Leyang’s face. His old eyes started glowing slowly and after a long while he suddenly leaped up and cackled, "Little benefactor, it is fated!" As he spoke, he stretched out a shaky hand and started rummaging around in his chest pocket.

Wen Leyang was shocked, "I don’t suppose you are acquainted with Shui Jing? I bear my family’s practice and I will not formally acknowledge another as my teacher!"

The old monk was surprised at first, "Who in the world is a water mirror (Shui Jing)? Which shrine is he from?" However, his face then beamed with happiness as he asked Wen Leyang, "Silly little…little benefactor, do you know what this old monk’s destined age is this year?"

He did not wait for an answer before laughing proudly and saying, "If your grandfather’s grandfather were to meet with me, he would need to respectfully address me as his senior! This year this old monk is already two hundred and forty…forty plus years old!"

Chang Li retorted from the side, "In any case you are almost two hundred and fifty years old already!"

"That is correct, almost two hundred…" The old monk was not slow to react and he rolled his yellowed eyeballs at Chang Li before returning to talk to Wen Leyang, "Before this, you’ve only learned from the teachings of a layperson. Now you have reached the sky with a single bound. If you were to follow the way of this Buddhist monk, needless to say, you will naturally attain longevity and you will also learn a set of exceedingly high-level abilities; you’ll be able to jump from here to another three realms outside of the five elements in nature. Based on your age and natural endowments, it would only be a small matter for you to dominate and lead the Great Mercy Temple in a hundred years’ time…But, if you were to refuse the initiation to become a monk, hehe…since the three little girls here are so beautiful, then I will formally accept them as my layman disciples. Hope Sense has never accepted any disciples in his entire life and that was because I had yet to discover such a fine young successor!"

Hope Sense had used his age as a way to brag about himself but if he were to find out that there was a witch who had lived through two thousand years standing near him, moreover her teeth were still in perfect condition, he would probably have used his eye bags to cover his face in shame and run away.

The holy name of ‘Hope Sense’ seemed to stir up some kind of recollection in Wen Leyang’s memory. He repeated the name a few times before he remembered that as he was following the rogue practitioners up the mountain, Lord Leyang from Painting Town had mentioned that Hope Sense was the original seat of honor from the One Prime Deed monastery and he had passed his seat along to the little stuttering monk Hope Voice.

Hope Sense was still babbling on to Wen Leyang from the side, expounding his way of character-building, but now he had touched upon a higher plane of principle, "Since you’ve walked out of this cave, according to reason I should bring you down the mountain and pass you to the abbot for judgment. But as your teacher I’m not asking how or why did you enter the cave, after all is said and done, you are nothing but a mortal person. Even though your natural endowments are quite fine, you had been able to walk out of this dangerous and evil place alive to subsequently meet me. This is all by the creator’s making and lucky chance, following the saying of the Buddha, our meeting is fated!"

Wen Leyang’s method of practice has a distinct style of his own. He possesses a strength that evenly matches that of a normal practitioner, yet even if a first-rate celestial being were to meet him, he would be treated as a normal person with exceptional natural endowments.

Hope Sense controlled his discerning eye which was like electricity; regardless of whether a person is engaged in self-cultivation or if they were ghosts or monsters, they could not hide what they were from being tracked by his two hundred years of magical practice known as the ‘Wisdom of the Spiritual Eye’. Initially, he was taken aback when he saw the four of them walk out of the cave earlier. Then, when he realized that they were just normal people with some practice foundation, the first impression in his heart was that they had entered the cave from elsewhere and had fortuitously made it through alive. He also considered that t may have been possible that the prohibition spells within the cave only blocked people from entering it but not from exiting it.

Additionally, the monk was also hesitant about leaving potential gaps in his life’s story. His biggest regret after a lifetime of reciting prayers and Buddhist rituals was that he had never formally claimed a good disciple so upon seeing Wen Leyang he felt that this yearning of his could finally be fulfilled.

Wen Xiaoyi was not impressed as she held the huge murderous weapon in her hands. She rolled her big eyes and said, "Monk, if he is not willing to become your disciple, are you going to capture us and bring us to the temple?"

Wen Leyang laughed as he came up with a slogan in his heart: No one could tell that I am a genuine self-cultivator! He patted Wen Xiaoyi’s head and shook his head before diverting the topic of discussion, "Great master, what were you doing here? If you were guarding the cave, other than it being slightly warmer on the inside, there is nothing else at all."

Hope Sense stared at Wen Leyang from head to toe then shook his head, causing his eye bags to flop around, "There is a set of Buddhist sutras which has been passed down through the generations at the Great Mercy Temple. It says that if anything were to change at Zhanyan Peak, the disciples serving the Buddha must guard it wholeheartedly. Even the abbot from the past dynasties do not understand the meaning behind this set of sutras but since the ancient cave had appeared on the Peak half a year before, the abbot had sent me over to guard the entrance of the cave. I passed my seat of honor to a junior fellow apprentice and came over here. Haha, I certainly did not expect to meet you, child. It is fated!"

Chang Li wrinkled her eyebrows slightly as if she was trying to recall something with great effort.

Mumu decided to investigate what the monk had said further, "There really is nothing in the cave and so what is there to guard?"

The old monk shrugged his bony shoulders which looked like a pair of long thorns as it raised his empty robe, "Good fellow, ever since this cave has revealed itself to the world, Mount Emei is no longer silent anymore. This monk had arrived late by one step, many people had already entered the cave."

Wen Leyang nodded his head, "The people who had entered the cave are all dead. Who were those people anyway?"

The old monk flung his eye bags around, "How would I know? I never entered the cave before! In the beginning, there were groups and groups of martial heroes who came to make trouble, hey, leave them aside. Those who had spent a long time in cultivation often forget about the boundless universe, it was rather unexpected that there were still hidden dragons and crouching tigers in this world. I’d nearly tumbled over with them! Following that some monster that no one had ever heard of arrived and if it weren’t for the help of my fellow disciples, I may truly be unable to defeat it! The most b*stardly of all was…"

Wen Xiaoyi giggled while she put on an act and said, "Great master, you have deviated from the path and rules of morality."

The old monk spat on the ground rudely, "I have been cultivating for two hundred years, I’ve seen through many things. The Buddha has no concern for dispute and I have even less concern for dispute…the most b*stardly of all was the group of rogue cultivators who had listened to and believed in rumors. They managed to ascend the mountain together and caused so much trouble. A few of my junior apprentices were helping me to deal with the monster so we could not undertake the effort to deal with them. Fortunately, a helping hand came."

Wen Leyang questioned closely, "What happened to those troublesome rogue cultivators?"

Hope Sense harrumphed and said, "Some ran away in defeat while some were captured; we are votarists and we do not kill. Afterwards, when you are learning under my sect, you too cannot reckless break the no-kill prohibition. Always remember this, otherwise, you will jeopardize your Buddha’s enlightenment and your powers will deteriorate severely!"

Wen Leyang, Wen Xiaoyi, and Mumu took a look at one another. They understood that they will have to make this trip to the Great Mercy Temple as the elders from their two families and the master cultivators who were in their company were most likely captured by the monks and brought to the temple before they had even ascended the mountain.

Chang Li crossed her arms with a smile as she stood aside without uttering a word. Her long fur coat rippled gently in the mountain breeze, it was an unspeakably elegant scene.

From his earlier experiences, whether it was the flying swords from the Sun Dynasty Palace or the magical weapons from the rogue cultivators, to Wen Leyang these were nothing but an upgraded form of martial arts from normal folks. The power of such weapons was slightly greater but it still belonged to the category of innate physics.

However, Wen Leyang was deeply shaken after encountering the seat of honor from the Ten Modes monastery and Leyang Wen of Painting Town halfway up the mountain. One of them had recited prayers to summon a godlike power while the other had broken through the spell by using the mountain’s innate power. These forms of power no longer belonged to the realm of the mortal world and if all the master cultivators of the Great Mercy Temple were of the same standard, he was certain that there would be no way for him to defeat them. It was also unsure if Chang Li could deal with them or not as well.

Hope Sense thought that Wen Leyang, who was deep in thought with his head bowed, was considering the matter of formally acknowledging him as his teacher. The old monk continued to brag in high spirits and declared, "Our Great Mercy Temple is the most orthodox school for Buddhist practitioners in the entire world. No one dares to look down on the little acolytes who walks on Mount Emei. If you were to follow the teachings of our sect…To whoever who is sneaking and lurking around like a ghost, make yourself known!" The old monk had been halfway through his bragging when he suddenly growled in a low voice, turning around and squinting his eyes at a huge chunk of rock nearby.

Wen Leyang was taken aback, for he had not sensed the presence of anyone nearby.

A loud rustling noise was heard as two familiar silhouettes of men with great stature appeared before their eyes.

Mumu muttered a low ‘oh dear’ before she cursed humorously, "Those two old thieves are still alive!"