Chapter 52: Advanced Studies
Coming out of the East Hall, Jiang Ce walked leisurely with his hands behind his back, always staying one body length ahead of the others, leaving behind only a lonely back view.
The four came out together, and Li Zhijun gave Jiang Ce a disdainful glance, then said to Ling Xun with a half-smile, “I’ve never thought that someone cultivating Buddhism couldn’t distinguish good from evil. For evil people, no matter what merits they establish, it’s all fake, because their heart is already rotten!”
Ling Xun pressed his hands together, smiling and shaking his head: “Once entered as Gatekeepers, there are no evil people, all are fellow Daoists.”
Jiang Ce nodded: “You say we are evil people, which Dao are you mixing with?”
Ling Xun helplessly: “That’s not what I meant.”
Lu Yun pretended not to hear anything, looking into the distance.
“Hmph, speaking of which, I didn’t expect the Buddhist Sect to have such deep prejudice against our Daoist Sect.” Li Zhijun didn’t bother saying more, dropped a meaningful sentence, and left.
Ling Xun sighed in regret: “Sigh, this time we’ve offended the Daoist Sect people.”
“No fear!” Jiang Ce waved his hand grandly: “Buddha’s Palm to suppress in return!”
“Just stop talking.”
Jiang Ce appeared indignant on the surface, but was overjoyed inside.
Stirring up trouble succeeded!
If the Daoist Sect and Buddhist Sect don’t fall out, how would there be a chance for him to mediate in between? Only by repairing this relationship himself and becoming a great hero of merit would he have a say.
As long as he finds a way to pull the Martial Dao cultivators to his side, then in the future among the Gatekeepers, won’t he be able to shit wherever he wants?
Jiang Ce belongs to the heretical faction within the extreme faction of Mischief Makers, not only liking to turn into a mud truck loaded with weapons to stink up every circle he’s interested in, but also never forgetting to seek benefits for himself—it’s like earning money while standing.
He was also very tireless in doing this.
Ling Xun then asked Jiang Ce about some Buddhist principles that had been troubling him before, and the latter, seeing it was serious business, responded earnestly.
For the problems Ling Xun encountered, Jiang Ce had mostly studied them specifically before, reciting them like treasures from his family, explaining them to Ling Xun with ideas different from what his master taught. After several rounds, it actually made Ling Xun clap and exclaim in admiration.
In his admiration, Ling Xun revered Jiang Ce even more.
“It’s really a pity that you returned to secular life.”
“Didn’t I say it?” Jiang Ce smiled faintly: “The day I shave my head again, no one in the world will dare to call themselves Buddha!”
“That’s not what you said last time.” Ling Xun honestly tore down the stage.
Jiang Ce’s smile froze: “Then what did I say?”
“Your original words were: because you realized that under the Buddha’s protection, you couldn’t maximally endure all kinds of suffering, so you returned to secular life and grew your hair, only seeking the day you shave your head again to attain Buddhahood instantly.”
Seeing Ling Xun so earnest, Jiang Ce could only nod awkwardly: “Ah yes, yes, that’s it.”
Finally sending Ling Xun away, Jiang Ce let out a long breath of relief.
Lu Yun had just finished operating his mobile phone and looked at Jiang Ce: “The money has all been refunded, this channel won’t work anymore, what should we do now?”
Hearing this, Jiang Ce suddenly felt a bit lost. All his current goals were hard to achieve in the short term, so with no immediate goal, he was at a loss for what to do during this blank period.
“I don’t know, how do you guys usually make money?”
“Go to work, I have a day job as a fitness coach.” Lu Yun sat on the bench, propping his cheek.
“Like that.” Jiang Ce also sat on the bench, staring blankly up at the hall’s dome ceiling. After a long while, he suddenly said: “To be honest, I actually find it pretty boring.”
“Life is like that.”
“I mean your work is pretty boring.”
“.”
In a few seconds, only Jiang Ce was left on the bench, and now he really felt bored.
Going home to cultivate was too early now; there was plenty of time in the second half of the night to cultivate, but staying here didn’t seem to offer any fun either.
After yesterday’s duel, everyone was avoiding him. He had planned to use the duel to lure out the Martial Dao cultivators, tempting and tricking them with the secret of defeating the strong with the weak to get them to wear the same pants as him, but the duel fell through, and he temporarily couldn’t think of a good breakthrough, so the plan could only be shelved for now.
Just as Jiang Ce was bored out of his mind, his mobile phone suddenly rang.
Picking up the mobile phone, it turned out to be a text from Xiao Lin.
Nothing else said, just telling him to find Wei Lao in Yangcheng if he had time in the next few days, as Wei Lao was idle and planned to personally teach him the cultivation of the White Tiger Secret Teachings.
Jiang Ce, who had been lazily sprawled on the bench, suddenly sat up straight upon seeing this message, his face showing contemplation.
No need to think, it must be that Xiao Lin reported the Old Man of the Farm matter to Wei Lao, and Wei Lao, satisfied, decided to reward him with this.
But the problem was, should he go?
His cultivation state, unless absolutely necessary, he didn’t want to expose it to others.
He hadn’t even figured out what happened to himself, and if it turned out to be a taboo for the Gatekeepers, wouldn’t he be done for?
But if he didn’t go, that would be offending Wei Lao, and there wouldn’t even be a “unless” before being done for.
So troublesome, better to rebel and become a bandit on Mount Liang!
Of course, this was just Jiang Ce’s wild fantasy. After thinking it over, he came up with a compromise.
He still had to go, but not cultivate in front of Wei Lao—just treat it as going for supplementary lessons, listen but not do the exercises.
With his mind made up, his thinking became active again.
Thinking from another angle, this was also a good thing, equivalent to going to headquarters to gild himself. After coming back, he wouldn’t be in the same class as these muddy-legged branch folks, which would help with future promotions.
Lu Yun said that for White Talismans like them, they were at a big disadvantage in cultivation resources.
Whether sorcery or cultivation methods, they could only pick white grade ones. Luckily for him, the stuff was directly obtained from big shots, though he didn’t know what level it was, it was definitely better than most people’s.
But what about the future? He couldn’t rely on one trick forever; authority was still very important. Not needing to be the world’s best, but at least not worse than average.
But the good thing was that spiritual energy was scarce nowadays, so everyone was blank on resources, purely competing on merit. Otherwise, how to get resources would be a problem too.
In short, one sentence: cultivation competes not just on talent, but on burning money. For the penniless Jiang Ce, connections and status were especially important.
“Alright, just after becoming permanent, there’s annual leave. If not rest now, when?”
Jiang Ce put away his mobile phone, stretched lazily, and first found Ling Xun, then Lu Yun, saying goodbye to each.
Both were initially confused, and only after listening for a while did they react—he came to show off.
Still saying he had no choice but to go to headquarters for a few days of further study, with his face about to split from grinning, yet “no choice”?
Ling Xun was fine, as an out-of-world person, not that curious. Lu Yun couldn’t help asking: “Just because of the great merit Tian Tou’er mentioned? What great merit did you exactly establish?”
“Nothing.” Jiang Ce sighed, exuding a world-weary world-weariness where all merits were but floating clouds to him.
“Just simply using Seventh Rank power to rely on wisdom and martial force to strongly thwart a Sixth Rank Gluttonous Ghost’s conspiracy like that, not worth mentioning.”
