Chapter 31: Shocker! Four Old Men Take Turns On The Young Man..
“That’s how things are.”
Ye Lu Feng told the kind old man everything that had happened in the past few hours in full detail.
After hearing it, the kind old man was no longer kind, even faintly angry, and rebuked: “Nonsense! Just to test him, you let him enter the Four Gods Hall? Do you know how much effort Cao Gong put into building the Four Gods Hall? Is it meant to be used like this by you?”
Ye Lu Feng’s expression immediately turned a bit unsightly, but he just lowered his head, not daring to say much.
Not to mention that he wasn’t a gatekeeper yet, even if he really became one, he didn’t have the qualification to argue with the kind old man.
This was not only a huge gap in strength, but in terms of merit and seniority, he was far inferior to the other party.
After finishing with Ye Lu Feng, the kind old man turned to reprimand Jie Tan: “Jie Tan, you too. He’s ignorant, but are you as ignorant as him? Never mind whether he is the gatekeeper or not. If he comes out safely, fine, but if he dies inside, the Four Gods Hall won’t be able to open again for three years, do you know that?”
“Amitabha.” Jie Tan’s expression was calm as he earnestly replied: “Wei Lao, I know.”
“You knew and still kept it from us. If I knew it was like this, no matter what, I wouldn’t have let him go in.”
The kind old man called Wei Lao slapped the armrest and sighed.
The slim man and the sturdy old man kept their eyes on their noses and noses on their hearts, steadily soaking their feet, not planning to get involved.
“Because I have confidence in him. You don’t cultivate Buddhism, so you don’t understand. The Buddhist charm on his body when he recited the Buddhist Scriptures was far superior to mine even before I entered the Great Wild Goose Pagoda. It couldn’t be achieved without exceptional talent and wholehearted cultivation of Buddhism.”
Jie Tan stubbornly said slowly.
“Confidence?” Wei Lao snorted coldly: “If you had confidence, you wouldn’t have shown worry just now.”
Hearing this, Jie Tan slightly closed his eyes and said no more.
The atmosphere suddenly became a bit delicate.
After a dozen breaths of silence, Wei Lao, perhaps feeling a bit helpless and tired, made the final decision:
“Now that it’s done, I won’t say much else. Best to hope he comes out safely. There are thousands of cultivation methods, but they all boil down to the four main paths of Dao, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Martial. Jie Tan compares him to the four sages, showing he’s no ordinary person. Even if the altar detects anomalies in his spiritual energy, as long as he gains recognition from any one of the sacred objects inside, he can avoid death. He can wash away his cultivation and start over.”
As soon as the words fell, a light gate quietly appeared in the room. The next moment, Jiang Ce walked out with light and brisk steps.
Seeing this, Ye Lu Feng breathed a sigh of relief. Jie Tan, who appeared calm on the surface but was worried inside, also put down the stone in his heart and showed joy on his face.
“Amitabha, well done, well done.”
Jiang Ce, who had just received benefits, didn’t notice the odd atmosphere. He first smiled and nodded at Jie Tan, then smugly looked at Ye Lu Feng.
“I told you I’m a great person, right?”
True to his word, Ye Lu Feng immediately sincerely apologized to Jiang Ce.
Although Jiang Ce wanted to press his advantage, for Jie Tan’s sake, he reluctantly grunted in acknowledgment, treating it as acceptance, and brushed past the misunderstanding.
Seeing him come out safely, Wei Lao nodded to himself and resumed his mild demeanor.
Jie Tan said a few polite words, giving Ye Lu Feng a way out and easing the awkward atmosphere, then asked somewhat eagerly: “How was it? Did you gain anything?”
“Gains?” Jiang Ce smiled mysteriously: “Big gains!”
Hearing this, Jie Tan asked even more expectantly: “Whose?”
“Huh?” Jiang Ce was a bit puzzled: “Whose what? Of course mine.”
“No, I mean, whose blessing did you get?”
Jiang Ce was stunned: “Whose blessing? I don’t know.”
Seeing he didn’t understand, Wei Lao said leisurely: “The altar tests the entrant’s aptitude. Once it judges the aptitude qualified, a profound voice will question, directly probing the entrant’s true heart. The questioned can only answer truthfully.
The four profound voices each represent the four great paths of Dao, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Martial. Once the heartfelt answer is acknowledged, the corresponding divine statue will grant a blessing.
For those not yet cultivators, it tempers bones and washes marrow, defying heaven to change fate. Later cultivation of the corresponding great path will yield twice the results with half the effort. For existing cultivators, it solidifies the foundation, makes up for past shortcomings, and permanently enhances comprehension of the corresponding great path.
As for how powerful the blessing is, it depends on how well your true heart aligns with the core of the four great paths.”
After speaking, Wei Lao focused on soaking his feet and said no more.
Jie Tan subtly cast a grateful glance at Wei Lao, who nodded slightly in indifference.
He had concealed part of the truth. The so-called aptitude test was also verifying one’s nature. When the altar secretly extracted power and detected evil nature, and the answers didn’t match at all, the Four Gods Hall would judge the person not only as an evil cultivator but irredeemable, a heinous scoundrel, and kill them on the spot.
Of course, since Jiang Ce had come out safely, there was no need to say such words that could create rifts. This was why Jie Tan was grateful—it was undoubtedly helping him and Ye Lu Feng out of the predicament.
After hearing Wei Lao’s explanation, Jiang Ce thought for a moment and hesitantly asked: “Does the blessing have any characteristics?”
Jie Tan thought: “I got the Buddha’s recognition back then, followed by a pleasant Sanskrit chant. A vision of ten thousand Buddhas paying homage appeared before my eyes, benefiting me greatly. The other sages’ blessings should be similar.”
“I see.” Jiang Ce seriously recalled, then said affirmatively: “No impression at all.”
“How could there be no impression? Didn’t you say you had big gains?” Ye Lu Feng was also puzzled.
Jiang Ce scratched his head and explained: “Yeah, it feels just like that old… uh, old gentleman said. My previous foundation is more solid, and my power is at least several times thicker. It should match, right?”
“That’s strange.” Jie Tan was also very puzzled. This didn’t make sense.
At this moment, the always silent slim man suddenly stood up, stepped onto the ground with water-damp feet, and approached Jiang Ce. The latter, not understanding, instinctively stepped back.
The slim man ignored it and said coldly: “One test will tell.”
Jie Tan wanted to speak but suddenly realized something, enlightened, and smiled as he pushed Jiang Ce: “Don’t worry, just a little test.”
“What little—” Jiang Ce turned his head uneasily to look at Jie Tan, but before he finished, he suddenly felt his body go soft, warm all over, with an indescribable tingling pleasure.
Looking again, the slim man had two balls of warm white light in his hands, covering Jiang Ce’s ears.
In just a few seconds, the slim man withdrew his hands. Jiang Ce’s legs went weak, nearly sitting on the ground.
“There is resonance, and it’s very strong. It’s the Dao Ancestor’s blessing.”
“Dao Ancestor?” Jie Tan was somewhat disappointed, inexplicably feeling betrayed.
He looked at Jiang Ce sternly: “You’re from the Buddhist sect and recite Buddhist Scriptures so well. How could it be the Dao Ancestor’s blessing?!”
The sturdy old man, loving the drama, elbowed the slim man: “Very strong? As strong as yours back then?”
The slim man gave him a cold look, nodded, and said flatly: “Much stronger.”
The sturdy old man’s smile froze, and he squinted, seriously observing Jiang Ce for the first time.
Just as Jiang Ce wondered why he received the Dao Ancestor’s favor, Wei Lao, with the highest cultivation and sharpest eyes, noticed something off.
Doubting his own senses, he still approached Jiang Ce. Without waiting for him to recover from the daze, under the puzzled gazes of everyone, he performed the same operation as the slim man.
Thus, Jiang Ce felt another wave of tingling, and unable to hold back, even made a strange sound.
Wei Lao’s expression suddenly became very odd. Jie Tan, closest, cautiously asked: “Wei Lao, is something wrong?”
Wei Lao glanced at him, withdrew his hands, pondered for a long time, then slowly said: “The Sage of Literature’s blessing is also very strong.”
Everyone was shocked, unable to hide their astonishment.
One person receiving two blessings— was that possible?
Before anyone could question, Wei Lao meaningfully said to Jie Tan and the sturdy old man: “You can try too.”
Understanding Wei Lao’s implication, everyone was shocked again.
Could it be…
The sturdy old man reacted most strongly, abruptly standing: “Impossible, I don’t believe it.”
He also performed the same operation, making Jiang Ce, already at his limit, feel like he was losing his mind.
After a few breaths, the sturdy old man slowly turned, facing everyone’s gazes with a ghostly expression: “Very strong Martial Sage blessing.”
While everyone was dumbfounded, only Jie Tan was full of expectation, rubbing his hands as he approached the terrified Jiang Ce, whose face screamed refusal and who was nearly rolling his eyes.
Dozens of seconds later, Jie Tan nodded in satisfaction:
“No matter what, having the Buddha’s blessing is fine.”
