My Enemy Became My Cultivation Companion

Yin Tingxue frowned, intuitively feeling this person was childish, continuing to talk would be a wasteful chatter.

In the distance, the temple bell on the mountain sounded.

The crowd began moving towards the temple on the mountain like a school of fish vying for food.

As the bell chimed, incense like a fine white river slowly flowed past the shoulders of the crowd.

......…

All around was darkness, even consciousness was blurred,

like being submerged at the bottom of deep water, struggling to finally break to the surface.

Donggong Ruoshu felt as if her entire body was immobilized, her thoughts rusted, turning extremely slowly.

In the haze, she tried to wake up while forcing herself to recall…

At that time… it seemed a massive flood surged over…

She shuddered awake at once, looked around, and was immediately filled with panic.

Chen Yi! Yin Tingxue! What happened to them? Would that flood…

Upon suddenly awakening, Donggong Ruoshu gasped for breath, her thoughts racing rapidly,

No, I must find them!

In this World of Ignorance, she was a lone spirit, what could she do without those two?

She instinctively wanted to rush towards the dimness ahead, shouting loudly, yet,

"Bang!"

A muffled sound accompanied by a sharp pain on her forehead left her confounded.

Her forehead throbbed with pain.

She covered the bruised spot with her hand, the pain was intensely real, her face full of astonishment, she was obviously a ghost, how could this be… how could she be bumped back like a living person and even feel pain?

Where exactly was she now?

After the shock, she looked around but only saw darkness, as if trapped in a very narrow, enclosed space.

Before she could figure it out, a vague human voice came from outside, like through a thick wall, somewhat blurred, but the content was discernible.

"… Hurry, the auspicious hour for the ritual is approaching!"

"Be cautious when moving the statue of Vice Buddha beside the Medicine Buddha, do not let it be knocked!"

"Understood, housekeeper, moving it out right away."

Ritual? Buddha statue? Donggong Ruoshu wondered, where was this ritual coming from?

Without waiting for her to delve deeper, her entire space suddenly shook, followed by a weightless movement sensation.

She could feel herself, along with the space surrounding her, being lifted and carefully moved, hearing the heavy breathing and cautious footsteps of the Firework Taoists from outside.

After a while, the movement stopped, she was steadily placed somewhere. Outside, there were a few pious kneeling sounds and whispers of prayer, seemingly the ones who placed her were performing rituals.

Donggong Ruoshu was stunned for a long time,

Although she couldn't understand many things, she figured out one thing…

She was now… inside the Buddha statue?!

......

Looking back from the top of the temple, tens of thousands of devout followers, like the thousands of monks and bhikkhunis mentioned in the scriptures, gathered from all directions to the Lonely Garden to listen to the True Words.

Disaster relief and misfortune elimination grand ritual.

Whose disaster was being relieved, and whose misfortune eliminated?

Yin Tingxue's eyes narrowed slightly, overlooking the vast congregation without a hint of empathy.

"What happened here?"

Seeing Yin Tingxue appearing to reminisce, yet exhibiting a seemingly possessed demeanor like before, Chen Yi directly questioned.

"What happened…" Yin Tingxue paused for a moment, almost instinctively asking: "I haven't told you?"

Chen Yi looked puzzled.

Yin Tingxue realized her slip of the tongue, the memories that should have been sealed seemed to overflow, causing her thoughts to inadvertently become somewhat confused. After pausing, she slowly said, "Nothing much happened, disaster relief and misfortune elimination, only those with disasters and misfortune need disaster relief and misfortune elimination."

The words were rather cryptic, Chen Yi frowned slightly, wondering how a Little Fox turned into a riddle-maker. Just as he was about to ask more, there was bustling activity in front of the temple's entrance.

The temple gate slowly opened, hundreds of monks simultaneously chanting the Buddha name.

Sunlight penetrated through the dust at the corner of the eaves, illuminating the Buddha statue.

The light came from behind the statue, enveloping it like a spiritual glow, while devout men and women bowed their heads together, chanting "Amitabha Buddha" with the monks. As the refracted beams reached them, they slowly raised their heads again.

Sandalwood incense drifted by like clouds and mist.

Then, as if in a dream or illusion, they changed one by one, revealing their true forms.

The old man closest to him had a withered face, and on his neck and exposed wrists, countless fine, twisted characters emerged, like prescriptions and spells inscribed, yet blurry, as if he had become a book carrying myriad illnesses.

The woman beside him, though holding nothing, tightly embraced and rocked with an awkward posture, her face brimming with compassion, yet her eyes sunken, as if holding a ghostly child long deceased.

Further away, a corpulent man in luxurious attire had a hollowed-out body, with a sunken face, resembling the emaciated figure of a Hungry Ghost from hell, as if his belly were filled with Guanyin Soil. Another young scholar had bloodshot eyes, not out of anger like a fierce Yaksha, but due to his unfulfilled desire for successful examination results.

The Buddhist mantra remained solemn, and the aroma of sandalwood continued to be rich.

Amidst the Dharma assembly, beings revealed their true forms, even if just fleetingly.

Chen Yi furrowed his brows, realizing what he had just seen was far from an illusion.

"You saw it, didn't you?"

"What...is this?"

Yin Tingxue recalled past events and said calmly, "That Bodhisattva, she made me...help these people transcend."

Chen Yi suddenly turned his head, realizing there must be some plan and arrangement by the Medicine Buddha, closely related to the ignorance he had seen throughout his journey linked to the Demon Sect Saintess.

The Medicine Buddha wanted her to awaken and become a Buddha, something Chen Yi always knew.

"She wanted you to awaken right here, but you were unwilling, so...you retained the ignorance in your heart?"

Upon hearing this, the Demon Sect Saintess rarely displayed anger, just nodded slightly in acknowledgment.

Seeing this, Chen Yi pondered for a while, his heart still puzzled, as on his side, the Medicine Buddha had long passed, and many of this Bodhisattva's schemes and arrangements remained unknown.

Yin Tingxue looked up again at the mountain temple and said slowly, "Let's go in, to leave this World of Ignorance, you need to enter the temple."

Upon hearing this, Chen Yi turned to the shimmering golden temple and immediately asked, "By the way, you haven't told me how can we get out of this World of Ignorance, or how you got out of it before."

"Letting go of ignorance is all there is."

Yin Tingxue's straightforward answer took Chen Yi by surprise.

He frowned and asked, "Is it really that simple?"

Yin Tingxue seemed not to hear him, taking the first step and merging into the crowd flowing into the Buddhist temple.

From the base of the mountain to the Great Hall, devout men and women crowded the long stone steps, moving orderly like ants drawn to sweetness.

The banners and canopies fluttered in the wind, brocade tassels dazzled the eye.

Inside the temple, golden light dazzled, the giant Buddha statue majestically radiating Buddha Light, with lowered eyes seemingly observing the myriad beings with compassion. The sandalwood incense enveloped the entire sanctuary like clouds and mist.

As they entered the temple, people put away various Demon Forms, bowing under the Buddha Light.

......

Outside the Bodhisattva statue, chaotic voices intertwined, Donggong Ruoshu hearing countless uncountable prayers.

The monks guided the faithful before the Buddha, the relentless chanting profound and melodious, seemingly from beyond the heavens, intertwined with the low, continuous tolling of bells and the crisp sound of chimes.

Listening to this, Donggong Ruoshu felt overwhelmed.

Tired of it, she decisively bolted out.

With this thought, Donggong Ruoshu exerted all her strength to charge forward, causing the surrounding space to gently tremble.

Several startled cries echoed from above the temple hall,

"The Bodhisattva moved, the Bodhisattva moved!"

"The Bodhisattva has manifested! Guanyin Bodhisattva bless us!"

"Fools, that's not Guanyin, oh, Sunlight Bodhisattva bless us, Sunlight Bodhisattva has manifested!"

…Such voices continuously arose following Donggong Ruoshu's impact.

Unable to escape...

After several attempts without success, Donggong Ruoshu racked her brains for a solution, refusing to give up easily,

She had to find a way out...

After much contemplation, Donggong Ruoshu finally sat down and reluctantly decided to give up,

Forget it, not leaving.

Just wait for Chen Yi to come rescue her.