Chapter 74: The Meeting

Inside the Heavenly Buddha Temple.

Little monk Mingxin had been sleeping poorly for the past two days. Ever since arriving at the Heavenly Buddha Temple, he felt thoroughly uncomfortable in every way.

If his master hadn't constantly told him to keep a calm and serene mind, Mingxin would have wanted to start cursing out loud right then and there.

Unfortunately, even if he wanted to curse, Mingxin didn't know a single swear word.

He could only sulk by himself, wondering why on earth he had believed his master's nonsense and followed him to the Heavenly Buddha Temple. They had been living quite peacefully at Landa Temple, yet his master insisted that the time of tribulation had arrived and that they simply had to make this trip.

The food at the Heavenly Buddha Temple was much better than the fare at Landa Temple, though. The little monk looked forward to mealtime more than anything else every day.

Today, after finishing his breakfast at the Heavenly Buddha Temple, the little monk hurried towards the martial arts practice ground in the back, intending to follow along with the training.

His master wouldn't let him practice cultivation arts, but working on physical conditioning was still permitted. Otherwise, a little monk like him with no self-defense capabilities would easily run into trouble.

Halfway there, he suddenly noticed a few figures overtaking him from behind, striding ahead and heading towards the practice ground first.

"Ah, they're people from the Great Qian's Demon-Purifying Bureau."

Over the past few days, he had finally learned that these people all belonged to the Demon-Purifying Bureau.

The people of the Demon-Purifying Bureau had a terrible reputation among the common folk. After all, their ranks included all sorts of unsavory characters, and their methods were extremely bizarre and unorthodox—they would stop at nothing to accomplish their missions.

If one tried to reason with them afterward, it was a toss-up whether you could even find them; and even if you actually managed to track them down, the Demon-Purifying Bureau would never acknowledge the grievance. Whatever grudges existed had nothing to do with the Bureau, and anyone daring to cause trouble would be thrown straight into a dungeon.

This was precisely why Shen Chang'an had won praise from cultivators everywhere when he shattered the imperial court's formation.

These cultivators couldn't care less about who was in charge or who wanted to rebel. If the people of Great Qian were arrogant, unreasonable, and disregarded the rules, then Great Qian naturally stood on the opposite side of them. Once orthodox sects like the Ziwei Palace surrendered to Great Qian, they became nothing more than the running dogs and lackeys of the imperial court, and killing them was no great loss.

For the sake of the common people, Shen Chang'an had flown into a rage and broken the imperial court's formation, defying tyranny without fear. Only such a man could be considered a true hero.

Landa Temple naturally had no ties with the imperial court. Although the little monk usually had no contact with outsiders, Master Yuanqing never held a favorable view of the Demon-Purifying Bureau, which in turn left Mingxin with an extremely poor impression of them.

Upon encountering this group, he instinctively stopped in his tracks, standing to the side to let them pass first.

Those people were quite accustomed to this sort of reaction. They merely glanced at the little monk, said nothing further, and walked right past.

Only then did the little monk let out a careful sigh of relief, muttering to himself, "Running into this bunch of bad guys—my luck is truly terrible."

At that moment, a thought flashed like lightning across his mind.

"Wait a minute. If those fellows from the Demon-Purifying Bureau are bad guys, doesn't that mean the person they captured... could very well be a good guy?"

The moment this thought crossed his mind, anxiety instantly welled up within Mingxin's heart.

Mingxin wasn't completely unaware that the Demon-Purifying Bureau's duty was to capture demons and monsters; however, judging from the circumstances he had observed over the past few days, the person they had captured seemed to be nothing more than an ordinary young man.

He had even heard the monastery's kitchen monk say that that fellow looked weak and fragile—the kitchen monk claimed he could take seven or eight of his kind by himself.

Mingxin knew the kitchen monk liked to brag, but since the man claimed he could beat seven or eight, it meant he could at least easily defeat one.

Could someone who couldn't even beat the kitchen monk turn out to be some heinous, deeply wicked villain?

"No, I have to go take a look."

With that thought, the little monk stealthily crept toward the quarters where those people were staying.

There was surprisingly no one guarding the place; they didn't seem worried in the least that the person inside might escape. Only in the room directly adjacent to the captive's quarters was a single person left behind to keep a special watch.

Over these past few days, Mingxin had also caught glimpses of the person inside. That individual wasn't actually unable to leave; he simply chose to stay inside and refused to come out.

That person hadn't been locked away yet and still had to wait for the appointed time to arrive, at which point he would be placed inside the Heavenly Buddha Pagoda.

Mingxin slipped quietly into the area, then cautiously pushed open a window and climbed inside.

Wang Yue was sitting right there, looking blankly at the little monk who had just clambered through.

"Little monk, did you take a wrong turn?" he asked curiously.

Mingxin shook his head and said, "I didn't take a wrong turn. I just wanted to come and see you."

Wang Yue couldn't help but be taken aback, asking in puzzlement, "See me? What do you want to see me for?"

The little monk thought about it earnestly before replying, "I have a question I want to ask you."

Wang Yue found it somewhat amusing. He figured this must be a little monk who had never seen the outside world, felt curious about what lay beyond, and yet couldn't get any response from the people of the Demon-Purifying Bureau, leaving him with no choice but to come find him instead.

"All right, what do you want to know?"

The little monk immediately asked, "I want to ask, what crime did you commit?"

Wang Yue froze in astonishment, not expecting the little monk to come straight out with such a question.

He sighed and finally said with helpless resignation, "I killed people, so I was sent here."

"You... what kind of people did you kill?" the little monk pressed on.

"During the Dragon Emperor's banquet, I wielded a sword and killed people. I killed many ministers of the imperial court, and that's why I was sent here."

"So that's how it is." The little monk nodded and said, "As I thought, you're a good person."

Wang Yue was stunned for a moment, then gave a bitter smile. "How am I a good person? If I were a good person, how could I have killed so many people..."

The little monk shook his head and stated directly, "What you just told me was the truth; I could sense it. Besides, you feel deeply remorseful after killing those people. Clearly, this wasn't something you wanted to do yourself."

"You can... see into my heart?" Wang Yue asked in amazement.

"No, I can't see into your heart." Mingxin paused, searching for the right phrasing before continuing, "It's just that... I can feel what you're experiencing."

With that, he pushed open the window and slipped quietly back out.

Before leaving, he poked his head back in and whispered, "By the way, things are very unsettled inside the Heavenly Buddha Temple, so you must be careful. If there's an opportunity later, I'll remember to come and rescue you."

Wang Yue stood there in a daze, having no idea what Mingxin was talking about. He could only shake his head and heave a helpless sigh.

"Since you heard everything, why didn't you just walk out?"

"You talk too much nonsense. From now on, spend less time mingling with outsiders," came Yuqing Immortal's cold voice from the adjoining room.

Of course it was impossible for her to have missed Mingxin's actions; it was simply that, seeing Mingxin was just a child, she couldn't be bothered to make an issue of it. Wang Yue was practically a dead man anyway; letting him talk to someone before his death wasn't necessarily a bad thing.