CDJMM – Volume 3 – Chapter 14 Compassion of the Buddha (14)

Behind the Immortal Gate was a small path. On both sides, lush green trees cast cool shade, strange flowers and rare herbs bloomed in dazzling colors, and unknown spirit birds—dragging long red streamer-like tails—flickered in and out between branches. Suddenly the sea of flowers rustled; a cloud of colorful butterflies feeding greedily on nectar scattered into the air. A white deer poked its head out of the blossoms, curiously observing the unfamiliar visitors. In the distant sky, a flock of red-crowned cranes glided slowly across the blue…

Such a scene could only be described with two words: fairyland.

Su Jian stared blankly and murmured, “Now this… this is the life of immortals…”

Kunhuo licked his lips and stared eagerly at the white deer. “Looks kinda tasty.”

Startled, the deer glanced at him and fled at lightning speed.

Kunhuo clicked his tongue in regret and muttered, “So skittish.”

As beautiful as the scenery was, now wasn’t the time to stand around admiring it—their examination wasn’t over yet.

The Guqin wielder had told them earlier that they needed to pass through this spirit garden; someone would be waiting at the exit to lead them to the final exam.

“You’ve all worked so hard. Go on and enjoy the scenery a bit, relax.”

Kunhuo immediately found his empathetic tone annoying and snapped, “What scenery? No food, no drink—young master here is just a dog, I don’t have such lofty ideals. My dream is meat.” He slanted a look at the Guqin cultivator, face twisted in sarcasm. “Since we’ve come all this way, you’re not gonna treat us to a single meal?”

Guqin Man: “…”

He probably had never encountered a student making such a request. After a moment of hesitation, he pulled out a small white jade bottle. “I have fasting pills that taste like braised pork. One pill keeps you full. Want one?”

Kunhuo: “…”

Le Jing: “…”

Though disgusted, Kunhuo still pocketed the bottle—then immediately handed it to Le Jing with a fawning grin. “Le Jing Le Jing, look, I’m plundering the smelly priest’s resources to support you!”

Seeing his proud expression, Le Jing involuntarily thought of a modern panda-meme:

【Forget him. I’ll steal a battery for you.jpg】

“…Well, thanks. Truly.”

He opened the cloth bag he carried and pulled out a meat bun. “Want one?”

Kunhuo answered with conviction, “YES.”

Watching him lower his head and munch joyfully, Le Jing rubbed his chin and suddenly felt he had been tricked by this dog demon.

They walked leisurely along the garden path. At last, Le Jing had time to ask Su Jian, “What did you see on the Cloud Ladder?”

Su Jian fell silent.

Le Jing immediately said, “It’s okay if you don’t want to say. It’s your privacy—I’m just asking casually.”

Su Jian shook his head and gave a bitter smile. “It’s not that I can’t say… In the illusion, I was reviled by thousands. A useless piece of trash, giving up on myself, doomed to never rise again.”

He curled his lips slightly, eyes dim and suffocating. “Being scolded as trash… what truly scares me is actually being trash forever—never being able to rise again in this lifetime.”

Le Jing understood the knot in Su Jian’s heart.

The less a person has, the more desperately they want to prove themselves.

Su Jian’s sudden family tragedy had thrown him from the peak to the abyss overnight; his proud spine was snapped in half. The blow was too heavy—enough to become his inner demon. That’s why he so urgently wanted success, wanted to prove to those who looked down on him that even without the Su family, even after falling to the dust, he could still stand up and climb back to the summit.

Le Jing thought for a moment, then served him a bowl of warm “chicken soup for the soul”: “You’re already at the bottom. No matter which direction you move in, it’s upward. You overcame your fear so quickly—it proves your will is strong. You’ll accomplish great things.”

Meeting the boy’s clear gaze, Su Jian smiled. A strange stubbornness and fierce determination lit his dark eyes. “Isn’t it odd? I’m nothing now. But I just don’t believe I’ll stay trash forever. I believe I’ll stand up again. I’ll climb high, so high… people will have no choice but to look up at me.”

“…Mm. I’m sure you can do it.”

Le Jing silently added: After all, you’re probably the male-lead type. This kind of self-(delu)confidence(sion) is totally normal.

Su Jian’s gloom faded. Scratching the back of his head awkwardly, he whispered a thank-you.

“You don’t need to thank me. I didn’t do anything.”

Su Jian shook his head earnestly. “I should thank you.”

Thank you for telling me the truth… and thank you for believing in me when no one else does.

Some gratitude didn’t need to be spoken—only remembered.

He changed the subject with a smile. “Kunhuo, you’re a demon, right?”

Kunhuo had been crouching nearby, sneaking up on a little butterfly. Hearing the question, he rolled his eyes. “Duh.”

The butterfly flew away.

Kunhuo stomped the ground angrily. “That was your fault! You owe me a butterfly!”

Su Jian: “…”

Le Jing gazed at this foolish, carefree dog demon and simply couldn’t imagine what fear he could possibly have.

So he asked, “What did you see on the Cloud Ladder?”

Kunhuo’s ferocious glare toward Su Jian instantly vanished. He lifted his head, narrowed his eyes, twisted his mouth, and sank into deep contemplation—like an emperor pondering which rebel was plotting against him.

Le Jing patiently waited.

Finally, Kunhuo answered cautiously, “The sky was blue. The ladder was white. Su Jian looked stupid like an idiot. And Le Jing, even spacing out, was devastatingly handsome?”

Le Jing: “…”

Su Jian: “??? Little brother WHAT?”

Le Jing nodded. “I see.”

Meaning: you saw nothing.

As they talked, the three reached the spirit garden’s exit. A young Daoist boy in robes was already waiting there, looking surprised when he saw them.

“You’re fast. You’re actually the first examinees to arrive.” He clicked his tongue as he examined the odd pairing of two humans and a dog, his gaze lingering especially long on Kunhuo.

Kunhuo glared. “What are you staring at? Never seen a dog?”

The boy paused, then replied seriously, “Did you know? Dogs as arrogant as you… in my hometown, we stew them.”

Kunhuo was struck speechless. “Dogs are so cute! How can you eat dogs?!”

The boy explained earnestly, “Rabbits are cute. Yet spicy rabbit heads taste great.”

Kunhuo: “…”

The boy turned to Le Jing and Su Jian. “Come with me. I’ll take you for your medical check.”

“Medical… check?”

“Of course. We have to check your spiritual roots and your physical condition. Otherwise, how could we tailor your training? Also”—he muttered under his breath—“if we accept someone and he suddenly drops dead tomorrow, outsiders might think we murdered him. How would we recruit new students after that?”

Le Jing: … Seems… reasonable.

The boy removed the gourd from his belt and tossed it into the air. It instantly expanded in the wind into a massive four-or-five-meter-tall gourd hovering at their waist level.

He climbed onto the gourd head first and beckoned. “Come on, sit. It’s faster than walking.”

Le Jing, Su Jian, and Kunhuo climbed on.

The boy formed a hand seal; the gourd shook, rose from half-man height to full-man height, and then… drifted forward at a speed only slightly faster than walking.

Le Jing: “……???”

“Uh… could you make it a little faster?”

“If you’d asked three months ago, I’d say yes.” The boy turned, looking grief-stricken. “But now? No.”

“Some of our senior brothers flew too fast during sword-flight practice and… uh… accidentally crashed into the sect master’s red-crowned cranes and killed a few…” The boy sighed lifelessly. “So the sect master issued speed and altitude limits. Now we can only fly slowly.”

Le Jing suddenly remembered Mei Yingliang.

Of course. A sect that produced Mei Yingliang would never have a proper, serious vibe.

Sure enough—the entire sect, top to bottom, including the sect master—was full of clowns.

On the way to the checkup room, the boy kept chattering. “You guys are lucky. The exam hall is pretty empty right now. Elder Mu is bored. You’ll get the premium deluxe VIP medical-exam service.”

Elder Mu…

Le Jing asked cautiously, “Is that the Elder Mu who likes to dress as a beggar?”

The boy stared at him in shock, as if witnessing the downfall of their sect. “That rumor reached the mortal world?!”

Well. Looks like this Elder Mu was indeed the bizarre one Mei Yingliang had spoken of.

The so-called medical hall was a quaint two-story building.

But contrary to the boy’s claim of emptiness, the entrance was packed with a large crowd. Among the Daoists with their tall crowns, a few bald heads stood out conspicuously.

At the front, besides several immortal-styled Daoist elders, there was also an old monk in red robes.

“Master? Why are you here?” the boy asked, jumping off the gourd in confusion.

The “Master” was a middle-aged Daoist with a thin mustache. He glared at the boy, waving him off like shooing a fly. “Go, go, go. Seeing you annoys me. Stay away from my red-crowned cranes!”

The boy rubbed his nose and muttered, “It wasn’t me. The cranes started it.”

Le Jing: …So this is one of those “my senior brother is always right” situations?

Daoist Bai Yuan peeked at Le Jing (primarily him) with a grin as sly as a weasel that had just stolen a chicken. Rubbing his hands, he asked sweetly, “Poor Daoist is Bai Yuan, sect master of Linqing Sect. May I have this little friend’s name?”

Le Jing hid his inner shock and returned a polite smile. “Greetings, Sect Master. My name is Le Jing.”

Did he perform too well on the Cloud Ladder? Was he attracting the sect master’s favor? Was this the prelude to a “sect master accepts disciple” storyline?

Before Bai Yuan could speak again, the old monk who had been watching Le Jing stepped forward. Smiling kindly, he interrupted, “Amitabha. Little benefactor, this humble monk is Huiwu. I’ll be conducting your medical exam.”

Le Jing: …

A Daoist sect’s disciple-selection exam… handled by a monk?

He suddenly recalled several photos circulating widely in the modern world.

A monk consulting a Daoist priest.

A monk and a Daoist competing in tug-of-war.

A monk and a Daoist attending a seminar together and posing for a group photo…

So even in the cultivation world, Buddhism and Daoism are close relatives?