The Seventh Chapter of the Provincial Capital in the Second Volume: The Immortal's Attendant

  After a while, Lao Zu's voice sounded in Yi Tianxing's mind again.

  "Why don't you agree with that little monk? I've seen him grow up, and although he's a bit dull, he's not a bad guy."

  Yi Tian Xing smiled wryly and said, "Earlier, I had a vague sense of fear in my heart, but I didn't know what I was afraid of. Now that I see someone as important as you being locked up here, I finally understand. Being a thug isn't a good thing to do, even if it's for the Buddhist sect. Once they're done using you, they'll probably discard you like a worn-out shoe."

  "Clever, but also too stupid." The old ancestor chuckled and said in a high-pitched voice: "You do your part, when it's time to fight, you don't fight and that's the end of it."

  "Are you kidding me? It feels like something is off with just taking a salary without doing any work." Yi Tianxing's face turned red with sweat, he had not expected that this former successor of the scripture, an unknown great demon, and the old ancestor of the Temple of Return to the Origin, would be even more lazy and shameless than himself.

  "What does the transmitter do?"

  "Spreading Buddhism..." Just four words, and Yitian Xing couldn't continue. Such grandiose rhetoric couldn't convince himself, and he couldn't help but think of the Crusaders of Christianity. Were they also a kind of scripture-spreader? Only, it seemed to be more violent and shameless.

  "It's fine if you understand. The scripture transmitter is just gathering a few people, explaining the Buddha's intention to ordinary people below, and then advising them, 'You should believe in Buddhism...' The old ancestor smiled gloomily."

  The fire in Yitian's body was surging, and as he listened to the voice laced with infinite hatred, he couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine.

  The ancestor's voice rang out again: "Is this like the current propaganda department? Oh haha." The ancestor burst into loud laughter.

  "You also know what these two words 'propaganda' mean?" Yi Tianxing couldn't help but laugh too.

  "Nonsense! Closed for five hundred years, if there's nothing to see, how can we pass the time?" The old ancestor scolded: "I'm not an antique, I still know about newspapers and TV."

  Yitian Xing asked curiously: "You can't come out, how do you get in touch with these things?"

  "The little monk naturally sent it in for me."

  "Why can't I get into this Golden Vajra Demon-Subduing Circle?"

  "Little monk can enter, but big monk and big monster cannot?"

  Yitian Xing didn't understand, and Laozuzong didn't give a detailed explanation either.

  "Are you really a demon? Then I... am I also a demon? Otherwise, why would you want me to be the transmitter?" Yi Tianxing's eyes narrowed into a slit, his heart somewhat tense.

  "What is a monster?" the old ancestor asked back.

  Yi Tian Xing was at a loss for words for a moment and didn't know how to respond.

  "Before that, a little monk brought me several books, one of which was 'The Broken Bridge'. Oh, it's really interesting! A small white snake practiced and became a great beauty. Do you think she is a demon?"

  Yi Tianxing listened and immediately knew that the old ancestor was talking about Bai Suzhen. After a moment of consideration, he said: "I like this woman and her maid, but they are indeed demons."

  "What about Ao Guang? Why can the Dragon King ascend to the Immortal Class?"

  Yi Tianxing was shocked tonight, he never thought that this old ancestor would actually call out the name of the East Sea Dragon King, and seemed to be quite familiar with him. Could it be that these gods really exist somewhere?

  "There really are immortals." Yi Tianxing was in a daze after being shocked, cold sweat gradually appearing on his forehead, but he suppressed the tension and replied slowly: "Dragons fly in the sky, snakes crawl on the ground, they are naturally different."

  "Pulling eggs." The old ancestor seemed to have spat; "Lao Ao, that guy, was not the same when he was born, and he went to the mud at the bottom of the East Sea to find some shrimp to eat, and he was more miserable than a snake."

  Yitian Xing now believed that the old ancestor locked in the small hut was definitely an extraordinary person, and his attitude gradually became more respectful.

  "Did Peacock Ming Wang hear?"

  "I've heard." Yi Tianxing realized that he was listening to a great demon telling stories about the gods, and he couldn't help but be shocked, his mind dazed and unsure of how to respond.

  "That's a big monster. You know the black bear next to Guanyin Bodhisattva? That's also a monster, those heavenly kings next to the Buddha? Also monsters. The Buddha himself? Ah, he's also a monster." The old ancestor's voice became more and more urgent, as if he was quite agitated.

  Yi Tianxing couldn't care less about whether these words made sense or not, he was already half dead with fear just from hearing the names mentioned.

  "So, where are the monsters in this world? The great monster is actually a god, the small monster is just a monster. If the small monster becomes a great monster, it also becomes a god... Hmm, or if you say that the small monster joins forces with the great monster, then you become a god too, at least a follower of the gods."

  Yi Tian Xing remained silent for a long time, then lifted his head, his eyes calm and serene, and smiled slightly: "So being a demon isn't shameful after all. Then why are you still helping Kun Su and the monk persuade me to become a scripture transmitter?"

  "When the transmitter is good, it's even better when the monster becomes the transmitter." The old ancestor chuckled, as if doing something delightful. "Monsters, if they surrender to the Buddha, will become the greatest monsters in our land, automatically upgrading to immortals. What's there to fear?"

  Yi Tianxing caught the sarcasm in his ancestor's words and couldn't help but retort, "You're not much different from him, relying on others for support. Unfortunately, you're still being held captive."

  "Heh heh." The old ancestor laughed and said: "That's because I refused to be a servant of the gods, do you have my guts? Little Zhu Que."

  Yitian didn't quite catch the old ancestor calling him Little Zhuque, or else he would have raised even more doubts. At this moment, he was still digesting the shock of tonight, but being as stubborn as he was, he really didn't want to easily take over the mantle of the successor.

  "I don't want to work."

  "This is your fate." The old ancestor's voice was somewhat cold and oppressive.

  "My life is mine alone to control, how can you say what it is or isn't?"

  "Is it? But can you choose your birth? Can you choose who you meet? Can you really choose the future?"

  The old ancestor chuckled, but the laughter fell into Yitian's ears and was even more unbearable than crying. He had already been shocked to some numbness - he was born different from ordinary people, and later met the old master, and because of the old master's entrustment came to the provincial capital Guiyuan Temple, met the mysterious and unpredictable old ancestor in the thatched cottage three days ago - everything happened so naturally, could it be... his strange life, was really arranged by heaven long ago?