Spirit Vessel

"It's all my fault, all my fault…" Nalan Xuejian cried while latching on Feiyun; quite a pitiful scene.

On the other side, Monk Jiu Rou had a fight with Formless.

Formless recalled his Buddhism and stood straight up, looking as flawless and gallant as ever: "Amitabha, A great monk of Buddhism like you shouldn't help the villains against honest people by letting the heretics leave. They should pay for their sins."

Monk Jiu Rou actually liked Formless very much. Such a young and capable Buddhist was a rare sight, capable of emitting the image of Buddhas following him. This was a fetus, a potential seed to become a saint. His future was unfathomable.

"Brat, do you know who they are?" Monk Jiu Rou held a big jar in one hand and the Invincible Buddhist Staff in the other; his breath stinks of wine as he asked with a smirk.

Formless stood on top of a shrine; the wind caressed his fluttering white robe. He answered: "Buddhists are meant to be good and save everyone, clearly seeing the difference between good and evil, not afraid of tyranny nor evil, not scared of illness and death for it is part of the karmic cycle. One shouldn't hold back their fist just because of the opponent's background."

The monk laughed boisterously in response: "Be good and save everyone? Holding back the fist? Brat, do you know what Buddhist cultivation is?"

"Buddhist cultivation is a path towards enlightenment. From not knowing to knowing; all living beings are capable of reaching this zen state of mind, and once reached, that's success for their dao."

"You've read this in the scriptures, right?" The monk looked down on this response: "No, Buddhist cultivation is about learning how to conduct oneself."

The monk rarely cared to debate with other people but he wanted to teach Formless.

"How to conduct oneself?" Formless had a pensive expression.

The monk saw the flash in his eyes and nodded approvingly: "What about regular cultivation?"

Formless replied: "Cultivation is a means to do good and avoid evil in a karmic manner. Teaching people to do good things to reap the karmic fruit; be wary of evil acts and evil-doers, avoid unnecessary thoughts and bolster and improve one's mind in order to have a Buddhist heart…"

"This is from the scriptures too?" The monk interrupted.

Formless moved his beads around and nodded: "The Buddhist scriptures are written by the great sages, they're not wrong."

The monk replied: "In my opinion, cultivation is to improve on one's defects. No one is perfect, so there is no limit to cultivation as a way to become a better person. This is more realistic than your idealistic spiel about being a savior."

The monk stopped speaking and went inside the shrine.

"Improve on one's defects?" Formless fell into rumination again. The images and light of Buddhism appeared once more during his meditation, looking just like a jade Buddha.

***

After entering the shrine, Monk Jiu Rou saw Feiyun and Xuejian hugging and crying pitifully, especially Xuejian. Who knows what they were crying about?

He gritted his teeth, feeling that this boy has always taken advantage of Nalan Xuejian.

"Whoosh!" He waved his sleeve and opened the cages for Wu Qinghua and the two female geniuses.

They looked quite beaten as they turned and bowed towards the monk to express their gratitude.

Afterward, Chi Yao took out her jade sword and gathered energy to create Buddhist runes. She unleashed a slash straight for Feiyun: "Feng Feiyun you animal, die!"

"Sister Chi Yao, why are you attacking him for no reason?" Xuejian blocked in front of Feiyun then released a plume of clouds with her delicate hand, successfully stopping the slash.

"Xuejian, move aside, if I can't kill this monster, I will commit suicide before Buddha." Chi Yao thought that Feiyun had raped Chan Ling'er so she hated him to the bones.

Huaji Ningxiang also had an unfriendly gaze, gathering energy in her palms in order to cross him over.

"Chi Yao, Ningxiang, what are you two doing?" Chan Ling'er entered with Formless.

The two of them were completely surprised and stared at her in astonishment. After a long while, Chi Yao asked: "Didn't that devil…"

"You misunderstood him." Ling'er explained the whole thing. Of course, she left out the part when he ripped out her clothes and took out her dudou.

"I see." Chi Yao glanced coldly at him.

Feiyun wasn't afraid at all and smiled: "Miss Chi, are you going to commit suicide in front of Buddha now?"

Chi Yao saw his wretched smile and thought about how he groped her breast earlier and became quite angry, wanting to raise her sword again.

Alas, Ling'er pulled her back. After all, they might be roast meat if it wasn't for Feiyun.

"We need to thank you, Monk Formless. Your Buddhist arts are peerless. Even though you're around the same age as us, your cultivation is a hundred times better. I was blind for thinking that I was comparable to the kings of the young generation. After seeing your abilities, I realized just how much of a frog inside the well I was." Chi Yao seemed to be a different person when she's talking to Formless. There was respect and even a touch of reverence.

"Yes, if it wasn't for your help, we would have been eaten by those monsters." Ningxiang had the same expression.

In terms of Buddhist affinity alone, the ten supremes of their sect combined still didn't match him. Meanwhile, the one who worked the hardest, Feng Feiyun, was completely pushed to the side by them since they still considered him to be evil.

Formless placed his palms together and said: "I simply did my best with my meager strength. Monk Jiu Rou came at the right time or I would be a meal for them as well."

The group began to head for Beastmaster Camp.

Xuejian was in a terrible mood. She sat on Rhino and continued to protect Feng Feiyun, rubbing his legs then massaging his back. She didn't dare to be too rough lest the risk of aggravating his injury.

Formless wanted to continue on his journey but under everyone's enthusiastic request, he agreed to come train at Beastmaster for a bit.

After all, it was the number one sacred ground for Buddhism with plenty of old scrolls. Moreover, a magnate like Monk Jiu Rou was around as well. These were big reasons for a Buddhist like him to stay.

"I come from Rapture to the west, studying the Grand Completion Bodhi Scripture with my master. I have only left my temple three years ago to start a journey. Along the way, I have met the sinister aspects looming in the heart of people, such as greed, anger, and addiction… Truly inevitable, so Monk Jiu Rou was right. Buddhist cultivation is about how to improve oneself…"

Chi Yao, Ling'er, Ningxiang, and even Wu Qinghua were fans of Formless. They debated the essentials of Buddhism with him.

However, it looked like Formless wanted to bring Monk Jiu Rou into the mix. He would occasionally ask the monk questions with a respectful and polite attitude.

On the other hand, Feng Feiyun relaxed on top of Rhino with his eyes closed: "Xuejian, we can't be together. My cultivation is broken now so I only have several more decades to live. You are cultivating with the monk and can even become a Buddhist Saint in the future, we're not from the same world, you and I."

She froze while rubbing his arm after hearing this and said pitifully: "Then I'll stop cultivating."

"Why?" Feiyun got up and touched her face.

"The one I like is you, not Buddha."

Feiyun sighed and lay back down.

It was a peaceful journey back to Beastmaster Camp.

***

The moon was hanging high in the night sky.

The shadows of the trees fluttered. The ones nearby were tall enough to blot out the sky. Just one branch was as thick as a large water basin.

The lake nearby had an upside-down moon within. Feiyun was by this shore of Thousand Islands, sitting in the grass and leaning on a tree to drink by himself. He touched his heart while reminiscing about a beautiful figure. Her image was still as clear in his mind as ever.

"So you didn't lose your cultivation completely." Quiet footsteps sounded to the back.

Formless came out of the forest, wearing his stainless robe and holding his beads. He stood nearby and looked at the water surface.

Feiyun's long hair fluttered with the wind; his expression showed nothing as he said: "Don't know what you're talking about."

Formless came over and sat down; his ever-present glow became faint: "There are eight tribulations in life, and the one that hurts the most is the separation of lovers. If you don't want to love and hurt, then don't get involved at all. That's how a man should act."

Feiyun chuckled in response and kicked his jar over: "Don't preach Buddhism with me, how about a drink instead?"

Formless looked at the wine jar and said: "A monk does not drink."

"You're really a boring person." Feiyun shook his head.

"Fine, I will have one sip… then ask Buddha for forgiveness for three days, Buddha will surely forgive me." Formless took the bowl from Feiyun's hand and actually took a drink.

Feiyun was caught off guard by this!

"Bam!" The bowl fell to the ground and broke to pieces. The monk staggered back and forth before passing out with the scent of wine in his mouth.

"That's his alcohol tolerance?" Feiyun shook his head and smiled again. He stared at the moon in the sky and said: "A bad man doesn't deserve the love of a good girl."

Having said that, he picked up a different jar and immediately took a drink. Half of the liquor got in his mouth and the rest all over his face.