The more you believe me, the more real it becomes.

Chapter 86 Borrowing flowers to offer to Buddha
Thinking of this, the guest monk, suddenly moved, immediately put his palms together and said, "Amitabha!"

But this rare insight lasted only a moment before his eyes fell back on the silver.

After looking around and seeing that no one was around, he took out two ingots and hid them in his pocket.

After feeling the weight, he felt it wasn't enough and touched another ingot.

Only then did he take the silver to his abbot, his senior uncle.

The other party was nearby, and it took almost no effort to find them.

“Uncle-Master, a benefactor just donated a lot of money. Look.”

The old monk was chanting sutras and praying for blessings in front of the Bodhi tree.

But after glancing at him out of the corner of his eye, he raised an eyebrow, lowered his hand, took the silver, and led him to the side room.

After closing the door, the old monk hurriedly asked:

"The transaction hasn't been processed, has it?"

"Don't worry, Uncle-Master, only I know."

The old monk immediately beamed and put the bag of silver into the box next to him.

The sound was muffled, and there was clearly a lot inside.

"You have no idea how much trouble this humble monk has been trying to find a decent robe these days! That scoundrel Chen from the Jade Palace Temple in the south of the city, relying on his lucrative position as abbot in charge of money and provisions, has been lining his own pockets! The last time we met, hey, he'd even exchanged it for a flawless white jade whisk!"

He spat, as if his whisk was stained with filth: "He's truly annoyed me for so long! Now, hehe, I can finally outdo him!"

The old monk was still basking in the pleasure of having outdone his old rival, completely oblivious to the fact that he should share in the spoils. The guest monk, standing respectfully to the side, felt a surge of contempt rising within him.

Luckily, I was quick-witted and had prepared a copy beforehand.

However, he became increasingly submissive on the surface, and occasionally whispered a reminder:

"It's time for my uncle to go out."

The old monk nodded quickly:
"Yes, yes, it's time to go out and worship Buddha. Hehe, I told you chanting sutras is beneficial. With Buddha's blessing, we won't have to worry about anything!"

He was beaming, as if he had donned a new robe and overshadowed his old rival, and even patted the guest monk on the shoulder with the air of someone who had been there before.

The monk in charge of receiving guests was naturally very busy bowing and responding.

The two pushed open the door to the room, their smiles still lingering on their lips, but their feet froze on the threshold!

The color drained from her face instantly!

Just moments before, the ancient Bodhi tree was radiant with silver light and in full bloom, but in the blink of an eye, all its blossoms have fallen in this filthy world!
After a long moment of stunned silence, the old monk grabbed the guest monk's hand and whispered sternly:
"We absolutely cannot let anyone know what we were just doing!"

The monk in charge of the guest ceremony, whose face had long since lost all color, hurriedly nodded.

But as he saw that the other monks also looked guilty, the color that had just faded from his face immediately returned.

But this sense of relief lasted only a few breaths before he suddenly felt empty all over again, thinking of Du Yuan for some reason.

Looking at the pristine white ground beneath the Bodhi tree, he suddenly felt that the last glimmer of spiritual light in this Buddhist temple had also vanished.

Just then, Du Yuan, still playing with the white jade bodhi, stepped out of the Fran Temple.
-
Outside Qingzhou City.

The Bodhi tree where the caravan and the richly dressed young man had once stood and gazed was now deserted.

After all, this place was originally far from the hustle and bustle of the world, and there were not many people coming and going, let alone those who could recognize the strange phenomena.

However, while others did not recognize it, I did!

A emaciated leopard had been crouching in the dense forest for a long time.

Finally, they saw that no one was around.

It immediately darted out from the bushes.

After sniffing the ground under the Bodhi tree two or three times, it started digging at a spot.

Before long, it found a black fruit in the swirling mud that was exactly the same as the one Du Yuan had seen.

However, the fruit peeled off easily when Du Yuan picked it up, but when Du Yuan scratched it while digging in the soil, it didn't leave a mark even after being clawed several times.

After sniffing the fruit around, the leopard, hearing a noise behind it, immediately grabbed the fruit and darted into the forest.

Nobody noticed that a leopard had just appeared here.

And no one knew that the last Bodhi fruit had also been taken.

The leopard did not run into the deep mountains and forests.

Instead, he followed his previous intuition and ran in a certain direction.

It was fine in the mountains; although it was very thin, it was extremely agile.

The mountain path that once exhausted the young master of the Han family, but he still couldn't catch up, was now as smooth as flat ground under its feet.

As it ran, it was almost there when it suddenly hid in the tall grass, its face filled with terror.

This mountain path, which it had never seen before, was now filled with laborers carrying earth and piling stones.

In particular, the one that looked the fairest and weakest actually gave it a much greater sense of intimidation than the strong men next to it.

It didn't know what was going on, but it felt more terrified than when it smelled wolves or tigers before.

But the place it wanted to go was right in front of it, and it couldn't get around this group of laborers.

It was so anxious that it scratched its ears and cheeks, almost turning into a monkey on the spot.

Fortunately, it didn't take long before it noticed that all the laborers were heading in one direction.

Even the fair-skinned man who made it the most uncomfortable put on an overcoat and followed along with the help of the people around him.

After curiously glancing in the direction they had gathered, the leopard didn't see anything, only heard the sound of horses' hooves.

This is very familiar to many people; they love riding horses and showing off on dirt roads.

I don't know why these people, who used to avoid the horses, are all heading towards them today.

But it doesn't matter, it's just a leopard, it doesn't need to figure out what people are doing.

So they immediately took advantage of the moment to cross the much smoother official road.

He reached out towards the spot he had sensed earlier.

As the feeling intensified, the leopard leaped out of the dense forest.

But what followed was a moment of stunned silence from both sides.

Why is there anyone else?
Why are there leopards?
Both sides were stunned for a moment, and the people who remained there immediately changed color.

With a series of whooshing sounds, long swords were drawn.

"Shoot this dead leopard, lest it disturb the distinguished guest!"

Several powerful bows were also drawn and aimed at the poor leopard.

The arrow was about to strike the leopard.

Everyone was stunned to witness a scene they would never forget for the rest of their lives.

The leopard actually imitated humans, crawling on the ground and repeatedly pouncing at them with its claws raised, accompanied by extremely pitiful howls.

It sounded like he was begging for mercy.

"this?"

Several powerful bows hesitated before lowering themselves. But the unsheathed swords remained untouched.

"What happened to the leopard?"

A woman's voice rang out from behind the crowd, and the person stepped forward and whispered a few words.

The noblewoman, who was being helped along but had her eyes tightly closed, sighed and said:
"Everything has a spirit, let it go."

The group did as instructed, keeping their distance and trying to drive away the leopard, which was likely sentient.

The leopard grew increasingly anxious; it had to get there!
But it can't speak, it can only howl and circle around outside.

Fortunately, after hearing the description from the maid beside her, the noblewoman immediately realized what was happening and said:

"Bring it over, it seems it wants to worship at the temple too?"

The numerous guards made way in surprise.

Sure enough, the leopard was carrying a black fruit in its mouth as it headed towards the temple.

"They really came to worship the gods!"

The crowd grew even more astonished and retreated even further.

Amidst the astonished gazes of the crowd, the leopard cautiously approached the temple it had longed to visit.

It peered out from the temple gate for a long time before tentatively reaching one paw into the temple.

Seeing that nothing was amiss, he finally mustered the courage to go inside.

It imitated a human's manner and awkwardly bowed three times to the still-damaged statue.

Then he lay down on the offering table, spat out the black fruit he was holding in his mouth, and placed it in front of the statue.

The next moment, the outer shell shattered, revealing the crystal-clear white jade bodhi seed inside.

A sound was heard both inside and outside the temple:
"Huh--!"

(End of this chapter)