Chapter 73 Using the Bodhi Seed to Observe the Dao Scripture
Although it was midday, the small restaurant was completely deserted without a single customer. The only sounds inside were little Tingting’s sobs.
Carrying the doe, rice, and noodles, Ye Fan walked into the restaurant.
Little Tingting’s eyes were completely red. She was currently using a warm towel to wipe the cuts of the old man. Her heart was filled with pain, but all she could do was clean the wounds while incessantly weeping.
There were many bruises upon the old man’s wrinkled face, and the blood was mostly flowing from his nose and mouth. Even his grizzled white hair had been stained with blood.
“How could those brutes do this…” Ye Fan’s heart tightened. A kind old man in his late years had encountered such malicious people, truly causing his anger to surge. As for little Tingting, she was so adorable and intelligent, but she had been hit in the forehead and knocked onto the ground while she was just five years old. Her face was covered with tears and grief, causing him to feel distressed and pity for them.
“Big brother…” Seeing Ye Fan return, little Tingting’s tears immediately started to tumble out as she once more began to cry.
“Good Tingting, don’t cry. Grandpa is fine,” the old man hastily comforted Tingting, using his calloused hand to help wipe away her tears. He then gave Ye Fan an amazed expression, saying, “This doe, and this rice and noodles…”
“I got the doe from hunting in the mountain forests, and the rice and noodles I got by exchanging for another deer.” After putting down these things, he then took out a small jade bottle from his robes and took out a drop of the Hundred Herb Liquid to clean the old man’s wounds.
“It was just one meal, you don’t need to do all this…” The old man was extremely grateful, but he didn’t have the words to express his thanks.
“Uncle doesn’t need to say anything. A meal might not be worth much, but the value of the kindness you have shown me is too great.” Ye Fan squatted down and helped little Tingting wipe off her tears, saying, “Don’t cry, Tingting. I’ll stay here in the future and protect you from being bullied.”
“Big brother…” Little Tingting’s eyes once more reddened and her long eyelashes gently trembled as even more tears started to fall. She lowered her head, looking at her worn out shoes, and quietly said, “But…those bad people will keep coming to bully us”
“Don’t be afraid, big brother won’t let those bad people bully Tingting.” Ye Fan tenderly patted her head. It was truly troubling for such an adorable and intelligent child to be bullied in such a way.
“Child, don’t be reckless.” The old man had experienced much, and naturally felt Ye Fan’s rage. He was afraid this youngster would impulsively provoke a disaster that would bring him into it. “We can’t offend them. The Li family has immortal cultivators, so us mortals can’t deal with them.”
The old man sighed, “I’ve already grown so old. I truly don’t want to leave my home. The older one gets, the more sentimental they become. I wish I could just live out the rest of my years here. But now I have no choice but to leave, especially for Tingting. Even if I have to beg for food, I can no longer stay here.”
“Grandpa…” Little Tingting’s face was immediately stained with two more tear lines.
“Good Tingting, don’t cry. Uncle, don’t talk about leaving for now.” After comforting little Tingting, Ye Fan turned to the old man and said, “Don’t worry, I won’t offend them. First, close this small restaurant and then I’ll think of something. If there really is nothing else to be done, I’ll leave with you.”
Ye Fan was deeply aware that of the many misfortunes to happen to mortals, the most painful one was having to lose one’s home just as one became old. The old man had already lost his son, and now he was forced to leave this small town. The suffering he was going through was obvious, and Ye Fan truly didn’t wish for this grandfather and granddaughter to undergo any more misfortune.
“Give me a clear description of the Li family’s background.”
“Child, what are you planning on doing? Tomorrow we’ll collect everything and leave, never to return again. Right now you absolutely cannot go provoke them.”
“I’m not a reckless idiot, you don’t need to worry.”
In the end, under Ye Fan’s relentless questioning, the old man finally told him some things.
The Li family was the number one household in this small town. It was believed that three or four of their family members were outside cultivating. Cultivators were extremely mysterious to ordinary mortals. Normally, they would never get to see them. Thus, the small town’s people were very afraid of the Li family.
Ye Fan felt that the old man still hadn’t said everything. For example, the Jiang family used to be doing very well off in this small town as its only restaurant, and there was also the question of how his son abruptly pa.s.sed away. These and other questions were all unanswered by him.
“Tingting, take this towel and use warm water to heat it up for grandpa.” Only after sending her away did the old man say, “I know that little brother isn’t an ordinary child. Being able to take down deer at such an age, I would a.s.sume that you most likely also understand a bit about cultivation. But I would still advise you to not offend the Li family…”
The old man continued to talk. His son and daughter-in-law were also cultivators. A couple years ago they were considered to be rather important within a certain immortal sect. Even the Li family had to be good to them, unwilling to easily offend them
“Hazy Light Paradise…” Ye Fan was very amazed. The old man’s son had actually been within one of the Yan’s six Blessed Paradises, which was just around a hundred kilometers away.
The Li family’s cultivators were also part of the Hazy Light Paradise. One of them had actually entered the sect at around the same time as the old man’s son, but the old man’s son left that person far behind in his shadow.
“That Li family child’s heart was crooked and his conduct was very deceitful. He committed an evil act, but my child was too virtuous to make sure he never did it again. And as a result, a large enmity grew…”
Tingting’s father was extremely talented and was particularly highly regarded within the Hazy Light Paradise, so he didn’t fear the Li family’s disciples that entered the sect. But the heavens are as unpredictable as the weather. Fortune comes with the dawn while disaster comes with the dusk. Two years ago, Tingting’s parents went into the mountains to gather spiritual herbs and unfortunately died to a Lightning Bird attack.
After Tingting’s parents died, the Li family was no longer worried about them. First taking away their restaurant and then their motel, this pitiful grandfather-granddaughter duo were now forced into such a plight, yet they still didn’t let them off.
At this moment, little Tingting finished heating up the towel and walked back. She was pretty like a sculpted jade doll, but she ended up saying a sentence that didn’t conform at all with her age. “Why is that the good people in this world must all be bullied, but the bad people all live past a hundred…?”
Hearing her tender and pure words and seeing her wronged expression, Ye Fan and the old man looked at each other silently, not knowing how to reply to comfort her.
“In this world, good people are more common. Tingting has only seen one side of the world. Later, everything will get better…” Ye Fan didn’t want to let this little girl’s heart to prematurely turn dark.
“That’s right, your big brother is a good person and so he’s helping us. He and Tingting will definitely live to a hundred.” The old man smiled kindly. “Today I’ll make a deer stew for Tingting.”
The old man followed Ye Fan’s suggestion and closed the restaurant. The three of them ate a great delicious meal for lunch, and a smile finally appeared on Tingting’s small face.
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In the afternoon, Ye Fan wandered the small town to get a clear understanding of the Li family’s properties. Along with the restaurant and motel they s.n.a.t.c.hed from the old man, he also indirectly learned about quite a few other properties from other people’s words.
He didn’t want to rashly act, as he was afraid that he might involve the old man and little Tingting. If he failed to help them and instead ended up hurting them, that would be a very idiotic thing.
“The Li family has many people cultivating within the Hazy Light Paradise…” Ye Fan had started cultivating not long ago, and so he still wasn’t very confident. And those people weren’t even the most troublesome; there was actually an astonis.h.i.+ng member of the Li family that was cultivating within one of the super-sects outside Yan.
“The Li family truly is difficult to deal with. Looks like I have to think of another way.” This increased Ye Fan’s conviction towards his cultivation. He had to get stronger, or he would be unable to help Uncle Jiang and the adorable little Tingting live happily.
“No matter what, I definitely can’t let those scoundrels that attacked them today off.” Ye Fan wasn’t impatient. Acting preemptively could only result in misfortune. He calmly returned to the small restaurant and entered his room to meditate. After obtaining the golden page and mysterious copper, he had yet to properly examine them.
Circulating the Dao Scripture’s mystical arts, he sank into himself and observed his body’s interior. The soybean-sized golden Sea of Bitterness was like a divine moon fixed in the darkness, while the simple and imposing green copper was situated within the very center, as steady and silent as a boulder.
Even that golden page had been pushed to the edge of his Sea of Bitterness, flickering with divine splendor. The many words upon it were like stars, and golden light radiated out of it. The divine and misty page seemed to wish to return to the center of the Sea of Bitterness, but its thousands of dazzling divine rays were unable to move the green copper even a fraction. All it could do was distance itself at the edge of his Sea of Bitterness.
Ye Fan’s mind was completely focused on the golden tome within his Sea of Bitterness, but he met up with the same trouble he’d had last time. The dazzling golden tome’s words seemed to emit golden needles of light that pained his mind so much he was unable to read them.
“What’s going on…Is there really no way to cultivate this tome’s mystical arts?” Ye Fan frowned. This was basically equal to having a treasure chest, but being unable to take out anything.
Suddenly, Ye Fan thought of something, and fished out something from his robes.
A dull Bodhi seed appeared within his hand. It was around the size of a walnut, and there were many naturally formed lines on it that together formed a picture of Buddha.
The Buddha seemed to have been made from the heavens, complete and natural, and a faint meditative feeling came from it.
“The Bodhi tree can help people meditate on the Dao. I’ll test it out by borrowing the power of the Bodhi seed!” The Bodhi seed had previously been the way he had obtained a mysterious ancient scripture from the bronze coffin. Right now he was unable to view the golden tome’s recorded mystical arts, so he was hoping that with the help of the mystical Bodhi seed he would be able to.
The Bodhi tree had many names: the tree of wisdom, the tree of enlightenment, the tree of thought. Legend said that it could open a person’s divine nature, allowing self-enlightenment.
The instant Ye Fan started to circulate the mystical arts from the Dao Scripture into the Bodhi seed in his hand, his Sea of Bitterness immediately began to overflow with golden light that condensed towards the Bodhi seed.
At that moment, he didn’t know if it was just a misperception, or whether it was due to the Bodhi seed, but his heart seemed to become free and serene. He once more tried to study the golden page within his Sea of Bitterness.
“It really is effective…” Ye Fan was amazed. The Bodhi seed let his mind become free and without ripples. He could easily see through the golden light from the paper. The golden needles shooting out of the ancient characters seemed to become a gentle light, no longer piercing his eyes.
“Time to open a treasure!” Even though he was holding the Bodhi seed, Ye Fan still became extremely excited. He had now obtained access to the complete Wheel Sea Volume of the Dao Scripture.
The ancient characters became a divine light that imprinted itself upon his mind, flickering like stars.
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Author notes:
I’d like to help someone advertise by recommending a fresh book极品巫男 (Ji pin wu nan, Peak Wizard).
The story takes place during a night with winds, black clouds, and extinguished lamps…
Pay attention to the marvelously brave nerd (boy addicted to computers). Doing an ordinary exercise caused him to find a five or six-year-old adorable girl.
This was not her real form though, because the nerd personally saw her explode in anger and change shape.
What is witchpower, what is witchcraft?
That girl said: not cultivating witchcraft is equivalent to death. Yes, and she also said she came from the Flood (Great?) Desolation.
Us fantasy readers all know about the witches that were burned at the stake with pitchforks in their faces. But now, find the other side of that story, an incomparably marvelous world will reveal itself before our eyes.
Translator notes:
I tried looking up this book the author recommended, but it doesn’t seem very popular because I wasn’t able to find much about it.