188 - We Agreed On Experiencing Life, So Why Did You Immortals Become Real?

Chapter 188: The Heart That Forgets Jiangxin's voice echoed softly through the mountain forest. Xiao Mo stared directly into her eyes, observing her pleading expression, his lips slightly parted, yet he remained silent. Finally, Xiao Mo grabbed her wrist, gently pulling her small hand away from the hem of his garment and continued to walk forward. But after only a few steps, Jiangxin's small hand once again grasped the edge of Xiao Mo's garment. Xiao Mo pulled her hand away once more, but Jiangxin persisted in grabbing on again. This seemingly fragile little girl once more displayed her stubborn side. "Sigh," Xiao Mo sighed, no longer counting how many times he had done so that night, "Ah Xin, let go." Jiangxin shook her head vigorously. "Ah Xin, I'm telling you for the last time, let go." Xiao Mo's voice was deliberately infused with a sternness, nearing scolding. Jiangxin swallowed hard. Despite the fear in her heart, she still clung tightly to the fabric of Xiao Mo's garment. "Xiao Mo, you promised you wouldn't leave me again," Jiangxin mustered the courage to say. Hearing Jiangxin’s words, Xiao Mo turned around, his eyes icy cold. Even though Jiangxin’s small hands were trembling, she refused to release her grip. "Jiangxin, everything I told you was a lie." With those words, Xiao Mo forcefully jerked her hand away. Just as Jiangxin stepped forward again, intending to grab his garment, the chilling gleam of the Spirit Blade flashed before her under the moonlight. Instinctively, Jiangxin stopped in her tracks. In front of her toes on the ground, there was a cut traced by Xiao Mo’s long blade. "If you take another step forward, that blade will be yours!" Xiao Mo turned his head slightly, casting a cold glance at Jiangxin, the murderous aura pressing down on her shoulders. Retracting his gaze, Xiao Mo took a step forward and disappeared into the night of the forest. Under the bright moonlight, the small boy was nowhere to be seen on the mountainside, leaving only the small girl standing there in a daze. After a long while, she crouched down, reaching out with her small hand to gently stroke the mark left by the blade in front of her toes. At the same time... In front of the main gate of Kongnian Temple, the abbot Xujing and Wu Ming were gazing through the woods, looking in the direction of the mountainside. "Master Uncle... that..." After Xiao Mo left, Wu Ming turned to his side to speak to his master uncle but hesitated. "Wu Ming," Xujing began calmly, "do you think if Jiangxin stepped forward, Xiao Mo would have brought the blade down on her?" Wu Ming remained silent. "Do you think that even if Xiao Mo would have swung that blade, Jiangxin would have been afraid?" Wu Ming remained wordless still. Xujing shook his head, "Xiao Mo would never have struck with that blade, and Jiangxin knows that crossing that line won’t lead to the blade falling. But why didn't she dare to step forward? Because she knows that if she crosses that line, she would truly sever all ties with Xiao Mo." "Then, Master Uncle, what should we do now?" Wu Ming asked. "We do nothing. Let it be as it is," Xujing retrieved his gaze, walking into the temple. Wu Ming glanced at Jiangxin's spot on the mountainside, then at his master uncle, finally letting out a light sigh as he followed Xujing back into the temple. In the following two days... The pilgrims visiting the temple could always see a little girl squatting on the path halfway up the mountain. No matter how scorching the summer sun was, or how cool the mountain nights were. She paid no mind. She neither ate nor drank, just hugged her knees, staring blankly at the mark in front of her. Some kind-hearted pilgrims mentioned the matter to Kongnian Temple. But Xujing only nodded with a smile, acknowledging awareness of the situation, yet did nothing about it, even asking the pilgrims not to disturb her. At dawn on the third day. Just as the monks of Kongnian Temple were listening to the abbot Xujing expound on Buddhist scriptures in the hall, the little girl on the mountainside stood up finally, walking up the mountain. The little girl approached the temple, stepped across the threshold, and entered the hall. Xujing paused his lecture, looking up, as did all the monks in the hall, who made way for the little girl as she walked towards the abbot. The little girl stood before them, her clear eyes fixed on the kind-hearted elder in front of her. "Abbot Grandpa, I... want to practice Buddhism," the little girl spoke slowly, her voice slightly hoarse from lack of water for so long. The kindly abbot smiled gently, "Little Benefactress Jiangxin, are you sure you have thought it through?" "I have," the little girl nodded. "Then, for what reason do you wish to learn Buddhism?" the abbot asked softly. "To find him," the little girl replied sincerely, "Xiao Mo would not see me, so I will study Buddhism and practice well. Once I grow up, I will go find him." After speaking, she worriedly looked at the elder in front of her, afraid that her reason might lead to rejection, "Is that permissible?" "It is," Xujing replied with a smile, "of course it is, why not?" Xujing settled himself next to a cushion, rising with some difficulty, not at all like an accomplished cultivator on the cusp of ascension. "Come, Jiangxin, put your palms together facing the Buddha." "Abbot Grandpa, should I kneel?" Xujing responded gently, "Kneeling or not is entirely up to you." Jiangxin looked at the clay Buddha statue poised high above, then knelt on both knees. Xujing nodded approvingly, reaching for a razor as he instructed a monk nearby. As Xujing received the razor, all the monks in the hall closed their eyes and began chanting, creating an atmosphere of solemnity and reverence. "The first cut severs all evil, the golden blade shaves away the birth hair, removing the impure material form." Xujing’s aged but steady hand guided the razor over the top of the girl's head, as strands of hair fell away. "The second cut: devoted to cultivating all virtue, assuming the garb of a monk, Buddha's lineage gains another descendant." "The third cut: vows to bring salvation to all beings." With each successive cut, more strands of her blue-black hair fluttered downwards. Above Kongnian Temple, the Buddha clouds gradually gathered, bathing the area in sacred golden light extending over several kilometers. The sonorous chantings of the Buddhist scriptures from within the temple echoed, resonating across the forests, fields, and towns, carried by the soft, whispering winds. The great temple bell, untouched by any hand, tolled loudly by itself. The citizens of Kongnian City looked up. In the skies above Kongnian Temple ten kilometers away, amidst the gathered golden light, a golden Buddha statue was seen smiling with a flower in hand, gazing down with benevolence. They remembered hearing of such phenomena only rumoured to have occurred when the master Xujing achieved enlightenment. The chanting ceased. The tolling of the bell faded into the distance. The Budda clouds dispersed. The miraculous light descended. The first rays of the rising sun crossed the temple threshold, falling upon the little girl, as if adorning her with a golden robe. "Amitabha Buddha," Xujing brought his palms together in reverence. "The 975th disciple of Kongnian Temple. Taking 'Forgetfulness.' Adding 'Heart.' Henceforth, your dharma name shall be— Wangxin."