Chapter 239: The Zen Temple Is No Prison

Chapter 239: Chapter 239: The Zen Temple Is No Prison

Wei Mian’s few simple words revealed a great deal of information.

’This medicine must be incredibly expensive. Even if it came from the Royal Pharmacy, they probably released it in small quantities intentionally, hoarding a rare commodity to drive up its price.’

Chu Fan even began to wonder, if the Hua Xu Empire decided to annex the Eastern Domain, how long could the Eastern Domain’s forces possibly hold out?

As for how a Cultivator could counter an attack from a Profound-Breaking Arrow, Chu Fan didn’t even bother to ask.

He knew asking would be pointless.

Wei Mian certainly didn’t know; otherwise, why would he have prepared an antidote?

Chu Fan was actually horrified. Back in the Bamboo Sea, when Dugu Ling had used an Insect Gu against him, the Gu had died the moment it entered his body.

That was when he first realized his body was immune to all poisons.

’But even my body can’t defend against a Profound-Breaking Arrow? How many people in this world could?’

It seemed he would have to ask Leng Yingxue about this matter when he saw her.

At this moment, facing Wei Mian, he had no idea how to repay this kindness.

"Brother Chu, don’t worry about it. It’s just a bottle of medicine. It might be a bit expensive, but such wealth is nothing to the Wei and Zhu Families."

"Brother Wei, if you trust me, go to the Capital City on the sixth day of the sixth month. I’ll fight to get you a spot to enter the Hua Xu Secret Realm."

Chu Fan had made up his mind, though he didn’t know what the Crown Prince was ultimately planning.

He didn’t believe in free lunches, so the Crown Prince’s recruitment attempt made him feel there was surely some ulterior motive behind it.

Since the Crown Prince had invited him to the Capital City on the sixth of the sixth month, he had to go no matter what. When the time came, he would find a way to secure a spot for Wei Mian.

If he couldn’t get a spot, he would figure out how to unlock the third-layer seal of the Juntian Mirror. The Great Returning Pill would be his last resort.

It wasn’t that Chu Fan was so noble that he was willing to give away a Divine Pill like the Great Returning Pill—a medicine that could bring the dead back to life—to Wei Mian.

This was merely the final safety net in his calculations.

Upon hearing this, Wei Mian’s expression changed instantly. But after calming down, he asked, "Brother Chu, if it’s too difficult, then just forget it."

"Just go first. It’s not certain whether I’ll be able to persuade the Crown Prince, but I’ve taken your matter to heart. You saved my life today, so it’s only right that I help you in return."

"Brother Chu, I truly had no intention of expecting repayment for my favor..." Wei Mian explained.

Chu Fan cut him off. "Of course I know that’s not what you meant, Brother Wei. But failing to repay a debt of gratitude is not my way."

"Brother Chu, I, Wei Mian, am determined to be your friend."

Chu Fan smiled as well and said, "Alright!"

「Meanwhile, inside the Nun’s Zen Temple on Brocade Mountain, Leng Yingxue sat facing a nun.」

The two of them had already been discussing the state of the world for a full day and night.

Although this old nun had spent the last few decades within the small confines of this Zen Temple, she had heard of everything happening in the world.

The old nun was also in the Saint Realm and had entered the Earth List a long time ago, though her rank was not high.

The list recorded a total of thirty-six people, and she was ranked thirty-third.

Her Buddhist name was Su Ci.

Not many people might know her Buddhist name, but many had heard of her title: the Jueqing Saintess.

Su Ci was originally a disciple of Piaoxue Palace. According to seniority, Su Ci would have to address Leng Yingxue as "Martial Grand-aunt."

This wasn’t because Su Ci was younger than Leng Yingxue, but because Leng Yingxue’s generational standing was extraordinarily high.

In fact, Su Ci was nearly a hundred years older than Leng Yingxue.

Leng Yingxue’s lineage was passed down directly from the Palace Master. Each generation’s Palace Master only accepted two disciples: one to be trained as the next Palace Master, and the other to be trained as the leader of the next Seven Extremes Swordsmen.

And the Palace Master of Piaoxue Palace was naturally the longest-lived person in the palace, aside from the Supreme Elder.

The reason Su Ci was known as the Jueqing Saintess was, of course, due to a love story so melodramatic it couldn’t be more clichéd.

She was originally slated to be one of the seven Elders after Leng Yingxue succeeded as Palace Master.

Because of a relationship, she became an Outer Disciple of Piaoxue Palace and married that man.

In the beginning, the man doted on her, and for several decades, they treated each other with the utmost respect.

But in this mortal world, a relationship built on mutual respect eventually couldn’t withstand the test of time. One day, the man grew tired of it. It just so happened that around that time, he met another woman.

Su Ci’s view on love was utterly pure; she couldn’t tolerate the slightest imperfection.

She killed that woman.

She had originally planned to let the matter rest there and continue her life with the man.

But at that time, the man’s entire heart belonged to the other woman. Not only was he ungrateful for Su Ci’s forgiveness and compromise, he grew to hate her.

His cultivation was inferior to Su Ci’s, so he resorted to poison.

After poisoning Su Ci, he even destroyed her Dantian and threw her, barely clinging to life, off a ten-thousand-foot cliff.

But fate decreed that Su Ci was not to die. After being thrown from the cliff, she landed on a tree growing on the sheer rock face.

On the brink of death, she saw a crimson fruit on that tree. Driven by hatred and the instinct to survive, she ate it.

Because of that one fruit, she began her legendary path of revenge.

After the unknown fruit entered her stomach, her fading life force was rekindled.

The poison in her body was completely purged, and her injuries slowly began to heal.

Not only that, but after an unknown amount of time, when she awoke again, her cultivation had not only been restored, but she had even broken through the bottleneck of a Half-Saint to reach the Saint Realm.

Once her cultivation recovered, she began her revenge.

When a woman’s eyes are blinded by hatred, the blood that stains her hands is terrifying.

The man died, and his entire family was slaughtered to the last.

It wasn’t just that man; even the family of the woman he had been with before, and the entire family of the new lover he found after poisoning her—all were massacred.

Even a rational person like Leng Yingxue, with a single declaration of "A Saint cannot be insulted," could casually slay more than a dozen passersby just for looking at her a few too many times.

So what would a Saint blinded by hatred do?

Her original plan was to kill the families of everyone associated with that man, including his friends, relatives, and even his sect.

This continued until a monk from Bodhi Hall named Jikong intervened. They fought for three days and three nights, with the old monk using Buddhist techniques to guide her even as they battled.

He finally used his Buddhist techniques to dissolve the hatred in her heart, leading her to convert to the Buddhist Sect and take the Buddhist name Su Ci.

The name was meant to remind her to always hold compassion in her heart and wash away her sins.

The monk Jikong helped her build this nunnery on Brocade Mountain in Jinzhou.

The matter should have ended there. Unexpectedly, the man’s sect came looking for her. They humiliated her in public, once again aggravating her original Heart Demon.

Su Ci’s hands were once again stained with blood. Her Heart Demon resurfaced, impossible to restrain. She roamed the Three Mountains and Five Peaks, vowing to kill every unfaithful man in the world.

From that day on, the name of the Jueqing Saintess echoed throughout the entire Central Domain.

Once again, it was Jikong who intervened. Only then did Su Ci realize that Jikong was far, far more powerful than she. Their first battle, which lasted three days and three nights, had been deliberately prolonged by Jikong simply to give him time to preach the Buddhist techniques and convert her.

This time, however, Jikong subdued her in a single move. He brought her back to the Nun’s Zen Temple on Brocade Mountain and, using his own lifeblood, recited the Buddhist Scriptures to her once more.

For an entire month, Jikong finally managed to dissolve the hatred in her heart.

However, Jikong passed away in the Zen Temple. Before he entered nirvana, he made a pact with her: unless a great calamity arrived, Su Ci was not to take a single step out of the Zen Temple.

And so, Su Ci sat in silent meditation within the Zen Temple for decades, never once stepping outside.