Secret Buyer

"Master, after visiting this Big Stone City, can we go to the Golden City?"

In the reception room, Lin Shiyu asked curiously, her clear eyes looking around the room, full of the unique vitality and naivety of a young girl.

Her fingertips unconsciously traced over the pear wood armrest beside her, which was polished smooth like jade, exuding a subtle, elegant fragrance of wood and sandalwood.

The entire reception room was covered with a three-inch thick polar icefield white velvet carpet, and the walls were inlaid with deep-sea pearl rock, reflecting a gentle glow under the crystal lights at the top. The walls were adorned with some landscape ink paintings.

These decorations were excessively luxurious, starkly contrasting with the mountain temples, huts, and market alleys Lin Shiyu had seen over the past ten years, making her secretly amazed.

Shi Tianming glanced at his inexperienced little disciple, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes smoothing out as he smiled gently:

"Barring any unexpected events, yes."

"Will I have a younger apprentice brother?"

Lin Shiyu’s eyes arched, a look of anticipation appearing on her face.

She was taken in by the old monk halfway, entering the sect at the age of nine, now ten years ago.

In ten years, she followed the old monk through mountains and rivers, experiencing the world. Every city they visited, they stayed for two or three days, either wandering market streets or observing the joys and sorrows of humanity.

According to the old monk, cultivation is not about shutting oneself away; only by entering the world and seeing the warmth and coldness of human relationships can one see through illusions and understand their true self. Only then is there a possibility of transcending the world and attaining immortality.

For this reason, even though every long-distance journey was taken in starships that could travel ten thousand miles a day, it still took Shi Tianming nineteen years to get here,

In fact, in the nine years before he accepted any disciple, he had traversed eighty percent of the journey, and after meeting Lin Shiyu, his pace slowed, with the remaining twenty percent of the journey taking ten whole years.

Lin Shiyu yawned, her long eyelashes quivering like butterfly wings, revealing a segment of her neck as white as jade, her skin as fair as snow,

She stretched lazily, her slender waist swaying like a willow, yet she was still full of enthusiasm:

"I wonder what this younger apprentice brother, who made you travel tens of millions of miles, is like? Is he also devoted to Buddhism, gentle and warm like you, master?"

Saying this, Lin Shiyu turned her head to look out the window.

The floor-to-ceiling window was a panoramic glass curtain wall, overlooking the skyscraper group of the entire financial center, with traffic flowing like a golden river.

"I have no particular expectations," Shi Tianming withdrew his gaze, taking a sip of clear tea, his tone calm and steady.

"If not for your grandmaster deducing a Celestial Secret with Great Divine Techniques, stating that a Buddha Son would be born here... I would not have come." As he spoke, he sighed lightly, a trace of worry flashing in his eyes.

One’s family knows their own affairs.

Knowing his own family matters, rather than saying it was to accept a disciple from tens of millions of miles away, it would be more accurate to say it was due to the master’s advice to avoid disaster.

Nineteen years have passed, not knowing the situation at the Golden City, and the master...

The old monk rubbed his forehead, the Buddhist beads on his fingers gently rotating, making a slight, calming, and settling sound of collision.

’Squeak～’

The sandalwood door was gently pushed open, and the old butler led in a middle-aged man, dressed in brocade robes, striding like a dragon and a tiger.

"This must be Shi Tianming, the venerable Shi?" Zhang Taishan laughed heartily, sizing up the old monk, noticing his plain clothes and unremarkable appearance, causing him to secretly doubt.

Before coming, he had already found out that Shi Tianming’s master, Shi Zhengyuan, was indeed a prominent figure in the Golden City,

There were even rumors that a thousand years ago, Shi Zhengyuan was at the core of the uprising against the old Federation’s tyranny, but this old monk in front of him looked just like an ordinary wandering monk—could he really be the disciple of that person?

"World-Honored One Buddha, Great Compassion," Shi Tianming stood up with Lin Shiyu, clasped his hands together, and recited a Buddha’s Name: "This humble monk, Shi Tianming, greets Donor Zhang."

"The venerable one is too polite." Zhang Taishan cupped his hands, his gaze shifting between the two, tentatively asking:

"Traveling tens of millions of miles, crossing countless waters and mountains, it’s truly exhausting. I wonder what virtues or abilities my son possesses to merit such attention from the venerable one?"

He knew that Shi Zhengyuan’s disciple would not come for no reason, but his own son, Zhang Fusheng, was unruly and indulged in pleasures all day—how could he catch the eye of a high monk?

Shi Tianming said frankly:

"Nineteen years ago, I crossed the east at my master’s decree for three things. The first was to avoid disaster, as at that time, the anti-Buddhist sentiment was rising in the western regions, and many Buddhist Sect disciples were persecuted. My master was sufficient to protect himself but hard to guard me."

Zhang Taishan’s eyes flickered, secretly acknowledging that the anti-Buddhist incidents were indeed real, nodding to signal him to continue listening.

"The second was for your son," the old monk continued, "Nineteen years ago, my master deduced a Celestial Secret and saw purple energy coming from the east, converging in this city, knowing that a Buddha Son would be born, with a deep affinity with our Buddha, destined to join our Buddhist Sect and achieve great deeds. Therefore, he ordered me to come and accept disciples."

"As for the third, not to hide from Donor Zhang, I am also here for that place." As he spoke, Shi Tianming’s emaciated fingers pointed outside the window, indicating from afar.

Following his finger, they looked, and at the edge of the sky, the sea of clouds rolled, vaguely revealing a massive realm enveloped by vast Buddha’s Light, beams of golden light and faint Brahma Sound, evoking a heart-palpitating oppression, even from thousands of miles away.

Seeing that realm, Zhang Taishan’s expression suddenly stiffened, his smile vanishing, and he clasped his hands together, bowing in salute:

"The Other Shore World... So the venerable one has come for this."

The Big Stone City, able to become the eastern financial center, was not only due to its strategic location but also because it neighbored the [Other Shore World],

It is said that this realm surpasses the six major Holy Lands, filled with atmospheric immortality with divine Buddhas, even comparable to the Upper Realm,

There’s even a rumor that the [Ten Elders] governing the Upper Realm once personally visited this place!