Start from a baby to become a Taoist

Chapter 582, Section 602: The Tree of Burial
Chapter 601

"It was that old monk who enlightened you and gave you a blessed amulet, saying that it would protect you, help you make a comeback, and ensure a smooth life."

"And that amulet was made from the leftover scraps from carving this Buddha statue."

Every word Xu Ran said was like a heavy hammer blow, striking Qian Chengyun's heart hard.

He was struck dumb, as if by lightning.

This was the deepest secret buried in his heart, and no one but himself and the old monk who had long since disappeared could possibly know it!

He instinctively covered the jade pendant at his waist, which was his talisman from back then.

He looked at Xu Ran, his eyes no longer filled with awe, but rather... a sense of shock and fear, almost as if he were looking at a god.

"You...you...who are...?"

“I am not him.” Xu Ran shook his head. “I just can see things that others cannot.”

He was certainly not that old monk.

But his all-knowing perception allowed him to easily discern this long-forgotten story from the shared "qi" connection between the jade pendant and the Buddha statue.

This is his "Tao".

It was also his reliance.

Qian Chengyun fell silent, cold sweat trickling down his forehead.

He looked at Xu Ran for a long time before bowing deeply once again.

"Sir, I will never forget your great kindness. As for this Buddha statue, you...would you like to name a price?"

He knew that the other party brought up this past event not to show off, but to... increase their leverage.

"Mr. Qian is an expert. What do you think it's worth?" Xu Ran threw the question back at him.

Qian Chengyun pondered for a moment, then held up five fingers.

"Five million. That's its market price. But because of my connection with you, I'm willing to add another three million."

"Total, eight million!"

This number made the female shop assistant and the appraiser next to them gasp in shock.

Eight million!
Buy a palm-sized wooden Buddha statue, salvaged from a garbage dump?

"Mr. Qian, thank you for your kindness." Xu Ran's face remained expressionless, as if eight million and eight dollars were no different.

"But I don't want money."

"What?" Qian Chengyun was stunned.

Xu Ran slowly extended one finger.

"I only want 220,000."

"Use this Buddha statue to exchange for 220,000 yuan in cash. The rest can be considered as me settling this karmic debt between you and that old monk."

"From now on, dust to dust, ashes to ashes. What do you think?"

The whole place was in deathly silence.

Everyone was looking at Xu Ran with the same eyes they were looking at a madman.

Exchange a Buddhist treasure worth eight million for only two hundred thousand in cash?

What kind of operation is this?
Qian Chengyun stared blankly at Xu Ran, looking into those deep, penetrating eyes that seemed to see right through people, and suddenly, he understood something.

How can we use common sense to judge the actions of a master?

What the other party wants might not be money at all.

What he wants is to settle the cause and effect, to sever worldly ties, and to follow the natural way!
This is a realm that I cannot fully comprehend!

"it is good!"

Qian Chengyun nodded heavily, his eyes filled with heartfelt admiration and respect.

"Sir, your noble character is truly admirable! I, Qian, am deeply impressed!"

"I'll prepare the cash for you right away!"

……

After half an hour.

Xu Ran, leaning on his cane and carrying a heavy black travel bag, walked out of "Chengyun Hall".

Qian Chengyun personally escorted him to the door and bowed deeply once again.

"Sir, from now on, if there is any need for your service, everyone in Chengyun Hall will be willing to die for you!"

Xu Ran simply nodded, turned around, and merged into the crowd on the street.

He didn't turn around, nor did he look at Qian Chengyun's complicated gaze.

He knew that he had left behind a good legacy today.

It also left behind a mysterious silhouette that left the other party with endless imagination.

That’s enough.

Why not eight million?

Because he cannot afford it right now.

A poor young man who has just been discharged from the hospital suddenly has eight million dollars; this will only bring endless trouble.

Every husband is not guilty, and he is guilty of his crime.

What he needs now is not to get rich quick, but to solve his current predicament.

Twenty-two hundred thousand, no more, no less, just right.

The twelve thousand yuan was to repay the favor to the owner of "Jubaozhai". Xu Ran had already asked Qian Chengyun to send someone to deliver it.

The remaining 208,000 yuan is enough to fill that glaring hole.

He walked into a bank.

He deposited 215,800 yuan into his account.

My phone vibrated quickly.

A new text message popped up.

"Dear customer, your account received a deposit of 215800.00 yuan on October 13th. Your current account balance is 0.00 yuan."

Look at that "0", no longer red, now round and perfect.

Xu Ran's heart, which remained calm even in the face of eight million, finally stirred with a ripple of "relaxation".

He walked out of the bank, looked up, and gazed at the sky over Jiangcheng.

The autumn sky is high and blue.

Sunlight streamed through the gaps between the tall buildings, bathing him in its warmth.

He took a deep breath.

The air still carried that familiar smell, a mixture of exhaust fumes and the smell of cooking fires.

But for some reason, it smells...especially sweet today.

He thought, this must be what the human world is like.

Creation may be very difficult.

But, we live in this mortal world that we have created with our own hands.

It felt... kind of nice. The thought had barely formed when Xu Ran's body stiffened abruptly.

It was an indescribable thrill, not originating from his body, but from his vast, star-like perception. Just a moment ago, he clearly "saw" an invisible ripple sweep across the city from the far other side at a speed that surpassed sound and light.

These ripples are neither energy nor matter, but rather a kind of... "information".

A message originating from "annihilation".

It was as if the universe had reached the end of heat death, all things had returned to nothingness, and all laws had turned into cold, stagnant water. It was an ultimate, pure, and unadulterated "end".

"puff!"

Xu Ran's face suddenly turned deathly pale. He couldn't catch his breath and started coughing violently. He quickly grabbed the railing beside him, feeling as if a million cold steel needles were piercing through his limbs and bones at the same time. An indescribable sense of weakness surged up from the depths of his soul.

In his "dream," as the creator of life, he was most familiar with the breath of "life." The sprouting of all things, cell division, the birth of stars, the expansion of the universe... these are all manifestations of "life."

The opposite of "life" is "death".

He had never sensed such pure and terrifying "death energy" in the real world.

Chapter 602

That was not the natural death of living beings, nor the seasonal cycle of flourishing and withering of plants, but a kind of... higher-level, law-based "annihilation".

It's as if a corner of a cosmic black hole, capable of devouring all life, was forcibly carved out and thrown into this world.

The sun was still warm, and the streets were still bustling with people; no one noticed anything unusual. But in Xu Ran's perception, the entire sky over Jiangcheng seemed to be covered with a thin, invisible layer of gray.

Countless vital energies, representing "vitality," that roam between heaven and earth are being devoured and assimilated by that source at a slow but irreversible pace.

If this continues, Jiangcheng will become a wasteland!
No, perhaps it's not just Jiangcheng.

Xu Ran's gaze pierced through the layers of buildings, looking in the direction from which the ripples came.

It's Wenchang Street again...

Without the slightest hesitation, he picked up his cane and walked in that direction again.

This time, his steps were much heavier than when he came.

That aura of annihilation was a deadly poison, a natural enemy, to his senses, which were based on "life." With each step closer, it felt as if his life force was being invisibly drained away.

That already broken body was now in even worse shape.

But he had to go.

He had a strong premonition that the object was inextricably linked to his own state and his mysterious "dream".

……

When we returned to Wenchang Street, the sky was already getting dark.

There were fewer pedestrians on the street, but the lights in the shops added a touch of charm to this ancient street.

Xu Ran did not go to "Chengyun Hall" again, but went straight through the main street and turned into a more secluded and narrow alley.

Here, instead of grand storefronts, there are street stalls set up on the ground. Dim kerosene lamps illuminate old cloths spread out on top, displaying various bottles and jars, ancient coins and calligraphy and paintings, some genuine and some fake.

This is the "ghost market" on Wenchang Street, a place that truly tests one's eyesight and courage.

The source of that desolate aura is right here.

Xu Ran's perception was like an invisible net, enveloping the entire ghost market. He ignored the genuine or fake "treasure glow" emanating from the stalls, his gaze precisely locking onto a corner at the deepest part of the alley.

There was an inconspicuous little stall there.

The stall owner was an old man with a weathered face, wearing a worn-out Zhongshan suit, who was huddled on a small stool, half asleep.

His stall had very little stock, just a few rusty copper coins and a chipped porcelain bowl.

And next to that porcelain bowl, lay quietly a piece of... wood.

A piece of wood about the size of a palm, completely black, with no visible texture, as if it had been soaked in the deepest ink.

It lay there, without any luster or anything remarkable about it. Even the surrounding light seemed to be absorbed by it when it got close, becoming somewhat dim.

But in Xu Ran's perception, this piece of wood was like a supernova that was slowly collapsing.

It doesn't radiate any energy outward; on the contrary, it's frantically and greedily devouring all the "life force" around it.

Air, light, sound, and even the flow of time all become viscous and sluggish around it.

The stall owner was drowsy because his energy and spirit had been quietly stolen by this piece of wood without him even realizing it.

Xu Ran's pupils contracted slightly.

He recognizes this kind of thing.

In his "dream," when a world comes to an end, after all matter and energy are annihilated into nothingness, occasionally a little bit of "remains" will remain, which even "nothingness" cannot erase.

That is the tombstone of the universe, the corpse of its laws.

It is the end point of the "Tao".

He once named it the "Burial Tree of the World".

Such a thing should never appear in such a vibrant world!
It's like a drop of ink falling into clear water; eventually, it will dye the whole world the same deathly color as it.

Xu Ran took a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil in his heart, and slowly walked over, leaning on his cane.

"Fellow villager, how much for this piece of wood?" His voice was hoarse from exhaustion.

The drowsy old man was startled awake by his voice. He raised his cloudy eyes, looked at Xu Ran, then at the piece of black wood, and said weakly, "Oh, this... I dug this out from under the roots of an old tree that had been struck by lightning a few days ago when I was digging for ginseng in the mountains. I thought it was quite rare because it was shiny black, so I brought it back."

He held up two fingers and mumbled, "Give me... two hundred yuan, and I'll take it."

Clearly, he had no idea of ​​the value of this thing, or rather, how terrifying it was.

"Okay, I'll take it." Xu Ran didn't haggle and took out his wallet from his pocket.

However, just as he was about to pay, an old but powerful voice rang out from behind him.

"Wait!"

"I'll take this piece of wood. I'll offer two thousand!"

Xu Ran slowly turned around.

Behind him stood an elderly man dressed in a black Tang suit, looking sprightly and holding two walnuts in his hands.

Behind the old man were two bodyguards dressed in black suits with stern expressions.

Unlike Qian Chengyun's refined businessman demeanor, this old man exuded an air of authority that came from long-held positions, along with a hint of... indescribable, chilling aura.

His gaze wasn't on Xu Ran, but fixed on the "Burial Wood" on the stall, his eyes filled with fervor and greed.

When the old man at the street stall heard that someone had offered two thousand, he immediately perked up, his eyes lighting up: "Two...two thousand?"

"Sir, there's always a proper order to things, isn't there?" Xu Ran's tone was calm, but his eyes became deep.

The old man then turned his gaze to Xu Ran.

When he saw Xu Ran's pale face and the cane in his hand, a hint of contempt flashed in his eyes, but when he met Xu Ran's calm and unwavering eyes, his heart skipped a beat for no reason.

What beautiful eyes!
It was as calm as an endless abyss.

“Young man, the treasures of this world belong to the capable, not to those who arrive first,” the old man said calmly. “I will offer three thousand.”

Xu Ran smiled and said to the stall owner, "Fellow villager, I'll offer five thousand."

He only has a little over 7,000 yuan in cash left.

"Ten thousand!" The old man raised the price without hesitation, as if ten thousand yuan was no different from one yuan in his eyes.

Xu Ran's brows furrowed slightly.

He could tell that this old man was no ordinary person.

(End of this chapter)