SWDnovel Chapter 35: Gethsemane
Chapter 35: Gethsemane
Jeta Grove.
The stone Buddhas stand tall, resembling a dense forest.
Around each stone Buddha statue, several monks chanted Buddhist scriptures, closed their eyes, and struck a wooden fish. Suddenly, small pieces of stone scattered.
The monks paused, opened their eyes, and saw a crack appear on the face of the Buddha statue in front of them, which then expanded at a speed visible to the naked eye.
In no time, the entire Buddha statue collapsed completely, shattering into pieces on the ground.
In the very center of the Buddhist grove stands a temple. Inside, an old monk suddenly opens his eyes and sees a baby emerging from the belly of a huge Buddha statue in front of him.
The baby fell into the water and floated to the old monk's feet.
"Junior brother... junior brother!" The old monk burst into tears.
"Who! Who killed you!"
"Who cut short your life?!"
He picked up the baby and wailed loudly, the sound even reaching outside the hall and being heard by a group of monks, who then joined in, pushing and shoving each other as they cried.
"Junior brother, your senior brother will keep it safe for you!"
The old monk wept as he lifted the baby and swallowed it whole with a "crunch crunch" sound. In an instant, a flood of memories rushed into his mind.
His expression changed drastically, sometimes with surprise, sometimes with fear, sometimes with anger, and sometimes with hesitation.
"Junior brother, no wonder you kept it from me, it turns out it's the fate of [Divine Thunder]..."
"Junior brother, reincarnate again. I will take your fate upon myself."
After speaking, the old monk put his hands together, closed his eyes in compassion, and silently recited the scriptures.
A series of mournful sounds came from his stomach:
"Senior brother! Don't save me!"
…………
temple.
After Li Wu regained his spiritual energy, he stood up, looked at the collapsed and dilapidated temple, and pondered:
"Where is my chance to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage? Surely those Purple Mansion True Persons wouldn't lie to me?"
He spread his spiritual senses and scanned the temple inside and out, finally finding an entrance under the Buddha statue.
"There's a darkroom?"
Li Wu, holding a long halberd, cautiously walked in.
The passage was narrow, with oil lamps hanging on both walls, emitting a pungent and unpleasant smell. After walking a dozen steps, a spacious inner room came into view.
It was filled with gold and silver treasures; in the mortal world, it could at least be exchanged for thousands of acres of fertile land.
Li Wulu was slightly surprised:
"He's still a greedy monk."
However, Li Wu was naturally indifferent to these gold and silver treasures. After rummaging through them for a while, he actually found two jade boxes.
Upon opening it, the first jade box contained a bead, which Li Wuneng sensed contained lightning-attribute spiritual power.
"It's actually a Foundation Establishment level lightning pearl!"
Li Wu picked up the Thunder Pearl, and inside was a jade slip. He picked it up and read it, and found that it contained a recipe for a Foundation Establishment Pill.
The pill is named "Mysterious Thunder Water Storage Pill," a Foundation Establishment treasure pill. In addition to this thunder pearl, it also requires a Foundation Establishment level "Spiritual Willow."
"The Profound Thunder Water Storage Pill... what a clever scheme..." Li Wuxin thought to himself.
He remembered that Qi Chengheng cultivated the [Kan Water] path.
"And this [Mystic Willow] can only be obtained in the land of witchcraft."
Li Wu pondered for a moment, then put away the two items and opened another jade box.
There was a dead insect inside.
"Gu?" Li Wu frowned slightly, pondering to himself:
"The schemes of these Purple Mansion True Persons are truly intricately linked, but I'm not in a hurry to go."
Li Wu did not intend to go directly to the land of witchcraft, so that he could take the opportunity to test whether those Purple Mansion True Persons were in a hurry.
…………
In the vast emptiness.
Seeing that Li Wu had found the jade box he had prepared, Qi Shaoning felt much relieved. He then turned to Taixi Zhenren and asked:
"Fellow Daoist Taixi, shall we also follow them all the way to the Land of Witchcraft and Sorcery?"
"Witchcraft is far more chaotic than Buddhism, and the fellow Daoists over there are not good-tempered either. If we get too close, it might cause a fight," a True Person said worriedly.
Master Taixi shook his head slightly and said:
"There's no need to follow. Letting Li Wuqian go to the land of witchcraft is also to test which fellow Daoist is behind him."
"As long as that fellow Daoist makes a move, he will inevitably fight with the fellow Daoist of witchcraft. At that time, we can sit back and watch the tigers fight."
Upon hearing this, the assembled immortals nodded slightly and departed, no longer paying attention to Li Wu.
…………
The Qi Refining World.
Qing Shimen.
He Yu sat in the room, with a table in front of him displaying many books and scrolls.
Since the sect was established, Li Wu has become a hands-off manager, and thus, she has been responsible for almost all the trivial matters, big and small, of the sect.
He Yu picked up a small booklet, unfolded it, and saw that it recorded the sect's income and expenditure details for the past year.
Annual income: Spirit Field: 40 spirit stones, Two shops in Pukou Market: 350 spirit stones, Itinerant trade: 32 spirit stones.
A total of 422 spirit stones.
Annual expenses: Disciple's salary: 100 spirit stones. Shop expenses: 150 spirit stones. Traveling merchant expenses: 80 spirit stones. Alchemy expenses: 50 spirit stones.
"And then there are the spirit stones the sect leader took..."
He Yu calculated that the net profit was actually a loss of thirty-eight spirit stones.
This gave He Yu a real headache:
"Sigh, we've been losing money for three years in a row. If this continues, all the spirit stones we earned from the market over the past few years will be gone."
"We need to find a way to reduce costs and increase efficiency."
Salary cannot be reduced.
The shop's main expense is purchasing medicinal herbs, which cannot be cut back on.
Although the itinerant merchant business has been losing money every year, the profits have increased by 20% compared to last year. Moreover, all forces are now engaged in itinerant trading, so Qing Shimen naturally cannot fall behind.
As for the losses in alchemy, these are essential if you want to train alchemists.
"Looking at it this way, there's only one way to save money."
After analyzing the situation, He Yu finally focused on the number of spirit stones that Li Wu had taken.
"It was understandable to take the profits when you ran a shop, but now that you've established a sect, how can you still take so many spirit stones every year?"
He Yu snorted coldly, preparing to have a good argument with Li Wu when he returned.
"I wonder when the sect leader will emerge from seclusion."
He Yu sighed. For the past three years, Li Wu had been in seclusion at all.
It only happens a few times a year, and even when it does happen, it lasts only a day or two before he goes into seclusion again.
"Sister Yu!"
Just then, a shout came from outside.
He Yu then got up and went out, where he saw a travel-worn man standing in the courtyard.
When He Yu saw him, a smile immediately appeared on her face:
"It's Zhang Zai back!"
Zhang Zai was one of the people who followed Zhao Qianyuan to become a traveling merchant in Qingshimen.
He was also a shop assistant at the store back then.
Zhang Zai strode up to He Yu and said:
"This year I followed the Zhao family to the last two counties of Danfeng Prefecture. Now I have completed the five counties, and the situation of each county has been recorded in a book."
Zhang Zai was excited and handed a book to He Yu.
He Yu opened it and found that it contained the distribution of power in each prefecture, the types of goods, and most importantly, a map of the trade routes.