Chapter 1041: Junior Brother, You'll Understand Me, Right?

"A secret realm, is it? It seems I must find a way to enter," Lu Yang murmured to himself. His second senior brother had been investigating the Buddhist Kingdom for so long, so it was impossible for him to have found absolutely no useful clues.

It just so happened that Xinding was qualified.

"You have a way?"

"The Azure Peak Sword possesses a minor world. I can hide inside it, and no one will ever find me. I know a young monk in the Western Heaven Temple, and it happens that he can bring me into the secret realm."

"That works out perfectly, then," Ye Zijin smiled. He had been worrying about how to infiltrate the secret realm and was considering whether to possess some young monk, but he had not expected his junior brother to move a step faster than himself.

In her letters, First Senior Sister had always been full of praise for Junior Brother, and she had emphasized his good luck in particular.

First Senior Sister's judgment of people remained as unerringly accurate as ever.

"When will the secret realm open?"

"In another two months, I suppose."

"It seems we will have to stay in the Buddhist Kingdom a while longer." Originally, Lu Yang had been ready to leave the Buddhist Kingdom; otherwise, he would not have arranged for the Holy Lord of the Firmament to possess Xinding in the future.

It was rare for the fellow disciples to meet, so as the senior brother, Ye Zijin naturally had to play the host.

"Come, come, come. You have been hiding in the Western Heaven Temple all this time and have barely explored Western Heaven City, have you? Senior Brother will take you out to have a grand old time."

Lu Yang did not decline his second senior brother's kindness and left the Western Heaven Temple.

"No, no, absolutely not here."

Lu Yang stood before a pavilion bathed in bright lights and green wine, refusing to take another step forward for dear life.

Upon leaving the Western Heaven Temple, Ye Zijin had dragged Lu Yang straight toward a brothel, frightening Lu Yang into repeated refusals.

"Little Junior Brother keeps himself quite pure and clean, it seems." Ye Zijin looked at Lu Yang with a half-smile, making Lu Yang feel rather self-conscious, so he had no choice but to change the subject.

"Senior Brother, why would there be a brothel right at the foot of the Western Heaven Temple?"

Ye Zijin burst into laughter. "What a thing to say. Western Heaven City isn't populated entirely by monks. Do not look at how it is a city of Buddhism where every single household enshrines a statue of the Buddha; in reality, where could there be so many devout Buddhists? It is all just a pretense."

"Where there is a demand, there is naturally an industry."

"Outsiders try every trick in the book to settle in Western Heaven City just to be closer to the Western Heaven Temple. Is it because they are devout? Of course not. It is because this brings them peace of mind, a spiritual sanctuary."

"And how do they achieve peace of mind? They simply burn incense, worship the Buddha, and give offering money, and the Buddha will handle everything else for them."

Ye Zijin shrugged. "At least, that is what they believe."

"In truth, I, your senior brother, am also a cultivator who keeps himself pure, but a brothel happens to be the easiest place to gather intelligence. For the sake of information, I have no choice but to commit myself to this place."

"With your transformation technique, Senior Brother, why didn't you just transform into a monk to enter the Western Heaven Temple?" Lu Yang was puzzled. Second Senior Brother's transformation technique had reached a level capable of confounding the real with the fake, completely able to deceive those elders. Wouldn't gathering intelligence have been much more convenient that way?

At the mention of this, Ye Zijin sighed. "Do you think I didn't try? Back then, I suppressed my cultivation level and successfully blended in as a monk in the refectory. The refectory is the place where meals are cooked. Aside from secretly using my cultivation to flex and slap people in the face, I always kept a low profile and was never discovered by the monks there."

"But then came a day when the refectory master made too little food. When the rice was being served, it just so happened to run out right when it reached the Chief of the Martial Monks Courtyard. In the entire temple, he was the only one who didn't get to eat, and the atmosphere became very awkward."

"In order to ease the tension, I went up with a placating smile to smooth things over, telling the Chief, 'Fortunately, it is the rice that is gone, not you who is gone.'"

"And then I was discovered."

"Originally I didn't want to say that, but the words just changed the moment they reached my lips."

With a sorrowful face, Ye Zijin shook his head and sighed as he explained to Lu Yang, "This is a lingering side effect from my Golden Core stage. I didn't expect it to persist even into the Body Integration stage, which is why I sometimes say rather untimely things."

"Little Junior Brother, you are so understanding of human nature, you will comprehend my plight, right?"

"...It is hard for me to say."

Seeing that his junior brother refused to go to the brothel, Ye Zijin brought Lu Yang to a hotpot restaurant instead.

"This is a specialty of the Buddhist Kingdom. You certainly won't get to eat it anywhere else; this is the most authentic paste-hotpot in the entire Buddhist Kingdom."

Hotpot had originally spread over from the Great Xia, and upon reaching the Buddhist Kingdom, the industrious and wise people of the Buddhist Kingdom modified it.

The result of the modification was a resounding success, to the point where Great Xia absolutely refused to acknowledge that it had originated from them.

Lu Yang looked at the yellowish-brown, bubbling hotpot whose bottom could not be seen, and felt no appetite whatsoever.

Yet to not eat would be failing to show respect to his senior brother.

Lu Yang did not dare eat first, so he had no choice but to observe his surroundings, surprised to find that everyone dining here was a cultivator.

"Senior Brother, is this place specifically cooking for cultivators..."

Before he could finish asking, Lu Yang saw his second senior brother use his bare hand to scoop out slices of meat from the boiling pot, raising his head to look at his junior brother in confusion. "What did you just ask?"

"Nothing."

Lu Yang's eyelids twitched at the sight. No wonder everyone eating here was a cultivator; without any cultivation, one wouldn't even be able to eat a meal.

The Buddhist Kingdom possessed many deserts and scarce vegetation, which had bred the habit of eating with one's hands.

Seeing that his second senior brother had already eaten, Lu Yang could only brace himself and imitate him, reaching his hand into the hotpot.

Once he overcame the psychological hurdle, Lu Yang was surprised to find that he still needed to overcome the hurdle of the taste.

It tasted truly awful.

"Let this Immortal try?" This piqued the curiosity of the Immortal Immortal, who possessed Lu Yang's body and also reached a hand into the hotpot.

"It really does taste awful."

Having barely finished the rather unpleasant meal, Lu Yang worried that his second senior brother might take him to experience some other novelty. He left behind a method of contact and found an excuse to depart.

"Senior Brother, I will return to the sect in two months. Will you return with me?"

If the secret realm contained no clues left behind by the Immortal of Years either, Lu Yang felt there was no need to remain in the Buddhist Kingdom, and it was about time to head back.

If he stayed away for so long, First Senior Sister would surely worry about him.

Ye Zijin thought about it. "That works too. It has been a long time since I returned to the sect. Oh right, Master isn't at the sect just like before, is he?"

"He isn't. I haven't seen him for two years. I heard he has been constantly busy dealing with his enemies in the outside world and has no time to return."

"That's good then." Ye Zijin let out a sigh of relief. "I accidentally provoked a few Tribulation Transcendence stage cultivators in the Buddhist Kingdom, and I've redirected all the trouble onto Master."

"...No wonder Master's enemies never seem to decrease."

Lu Yang returned to the Martial Monks Courtyard, where Xinding was sleeping soundly.

Earlier, when Second Senior Brother was fighting the elders high above the Western Heaven Temple, Xinding had been woken by the noise, set up a soundproofing array, and went right back to sleep.

To Xinding, the outcome of the battle between Ye Zijin and the elders was not important, and there was no need to deliberately wake up to watch.

Entering the minor world of the Azure Peak Sword, a small wooden hut had actually appeared. It looked quite exquisite, clearly the result of hard labor.

Venerable Green Smoke rubbed his hands together with a placating smile. "We saw there was no place to reside here and worried it might do you a disservice, so we took it upon ourselves to build this little wooden hut. Are you satisfied with how it looks? If you are displeased with the style, the three of us can build another one."