Just a few years ago, Deng Bagu, following the instructions of Shi Feiyang, transported water from the South Sea to the Tarim Basin to induce rain.

This process, while simple in description, was actually quite complex since the two locations were far apart, separated by countless high mountains and glaciers, and subject to complicated climate changes. It not only required the expenditure of a great deal of mana, but also the water vapor often evaporated midway or prematurely turned into rain or hail and fell to the ground.

Deng Bagu's Daoist power was not as strong as Shi Feiyang's; she could not do it with her own effort alone and needed to use a Magical Treasure, the Snow Soul Pearl, to accomplish the task.

Ji Fan, who often cultivated in the Qilian Mountain and occasionally visited Heaven Mountain to gather millennium Snow Lotus, saw the Snow Soul Pearl—crafted from million-year-old ice and snow essence—and was instantly covetous!

Deng Bagu's Snow Soul Pearl was originally a significant treasure. She had reprocessed it with Ice Soul Divine Light, making it even more extraordinary. From a distance, a bright, dazzling cold light shone from its center, surrounded by a halo of multicolored light, encapsulating a cloud of water vapor that stretched a thousand miles, swiftly flying from the south to the north. The very sight of it struck Ji Fan motionless.

Overcome by greed, he even lay in ambush amidst the clouds, intending to snatch it away.

Deng Bagu, also known as the Lady Calamity, was no easy target; she engaged him in a fierce spell battle. After a half-day's struggle, Ji Fan's spells and Magical Treasure were successively broken by Deng Bagu. Had it not been for the powerful Heavenly Blue Divine Sand, he would have been defeated, his Dao Level fallen, his Nascent Soul disintegrated, returning him to the state of a Ghost Immortal.

Today, he noticed some similarities in the techniques between Shi Feiyang and Deng Bagu, and upon asking, he found out they were from the same mentor—a formidable rival indeed!

Shi Feiyang had initially worried that Ji Fan was friends with Deng Bagu. After silently calculating the Heaven's Secret, and discovering past grievances between them, he felt relieved and demanded that Ji Fan leave immediately, "Never come here again!"

Regretting his decisions, Ji Fan thought to himself that had he known Shi Feiyang was that fierce black-clothed woman's mentor, he wouldn't have dared to come. Now, not only did he fail to gain any benefit, but his most powerful Heavenly Blue Divine Sand had also been taken.

Xuan Shu came over to console him, and he couldn't help but voice his complaints. Xuan Shu felt dissatisfied but maintained a pleasant demeanor, "This matter isn't just about me, and you weren't helping me alone..."

Ji Fan sneered, "At this stage, what use are such words? Think about how you can help me recover the Magical Treasure—that's what matters!"

He had made up his mind that if he couldn't recover it, he would find a way to eliminate Xuan Shu and take her two Treasure Beads as compensation.

Sensing his dissatisfaction and malicious intent, Xuan Shu said, "This matter is of great importance. I need to go to the Lesser Cold Mountain to see the Divine Nun Ren Master to seek her guidance. If you still wish to recover your Magical Treasure, you can come with me to see what Master Ren advises."

Upon hearing this, Ji Fan felt a surge of hope, "If Master Ren personally intervenes, subduing that demon will be effortless!"

They immediately set out for Lesser Cold Mountain.

Meanwhile, Ren Master dedicated herself to solitary cultivation. She had no mentor and taught herself Buddhist Law, regarding Buddha as her mentor, and developed Supreme Divine Power. She also placed a large horizontal wooden beam at the temple entrance; she vowed not to enter the world until she had achieved a thorough understanding of sentient beings.

Ever since two Immortal City girls, inadvertently motivated by their true nature, shed tears that helped push the beam, she had attained the "State of No Self," harmoniously integrating Buddhist principles, fully comprehending both faith and understanding, though her practice and verification were somewhat lacking.

Convincing herself that she had entered surplus Nirvana, she resolved not to create new causes in this lifetime, only to resolve past karma, allowing her to achieve enlightenment. When her life ended, she would directly enter Nirvana.

Thus, she confidently told the Immortal City girls that honoring her was akin to honoring Buddha, for their past lives were deeply intertwined, and her own cultivation was indeed profound.

She had planned her future well; the heaviest "prior causes" from past lives included Xie Shan and the two Immortal City girls, along with a past-life close friend, Ye Bin. If all went well, with Xie Shan and Ye Bin practicing Buddhism, living serene lives, and the two girls taking her as a mentor, they could achieve enlightenment after her death.

However, the involvement of the two girls with Shi Feiyang led to more complications, which Xie Shan and Ye Bin could not handle. After Xie Shan recovered his past memories, he sent the girls to Lesser Cold Mountain for help. Breaking the gate's beam, Master Ren, with her Wisdom Light, showed the girls their past and future, and she was deeply worried thereafter.

Unlike Zen Master Tian Meng, who focused mainly on Xie Shan and also aimed not to create new causes, only resolving old ones, with his deepest connections being with Xie Shan, the two Immortal City girls had far more negative karma than Xie Shan.

Over the years, Ren Master had exerted a lot of effort advising the Immortal City girls to cultivate diligently and refrain from creating new causes...

"People fear the consequence; Bodhisattvas fear the cause," Buddhism teaches that people do not consider their deeds evil until they face retribution, whereas Bodhisattvas foresee the consequences. She guided the girls to seek out and spiritually transform every child wronged by Yue Qinyin in the past.

If they could lead them into Buddhism and practice the Righteous Skill, making them aware that all actions are transitory and all worldly attachments lead to suffering, it could potentially turn the situation around and allow them to accrue more merit.

However, among the two girls, Xie Ying had a better nature, while Xie Lin was comparatively worse, acting impulsively, and had accumulated many new causes over the years.

Nevertheless, overall, matters were improving.

Her Lesser Cold Mountain, being a place that did not entertain outside visitors, used Buddhist Law to seal off an area of a hundred miles radius, invisible to ordinary people. Even cultivators who knew the location could not advance any further upon nearing it.

Xuan Shu and Ji Fan had arrived near Little Cold Mountain and knelt on the ground, sincerely praying to be granted an audience with the Great Master of Endurance.

After praying for a good while without any response, suddenly a fierce tiger rushed down from the mountain, roared fiercely at the two of them, and then turned away.

After watching this, they looked at each other in bewilderment.

Xuan Shu said, "The Master of Endurance once made a great vow before the Buddhist seat, to partake in the supreme fruits of effort and establish boundless good deeds, never killing a being, even if facing the most vicious and evil ones. She would convert them with compassion and wisdom. Although she possesses the Supreme Power to subdue dragons and tigers, she uses it only for the salvation of the world. She has been in retreat here for over three hundred years. All the poisonous snakes and fierce beasts of the mountain, wolves, snakes, tigers, and leopards, have been transformed by her Buddhist teachings to adopt vegetarianism and cease killing, waiting merely to end their lifetimes to be reborn as humans. Their nature has become very gentle. Why then does this tiger roar at us so ferociously, as if it wants to devour us?"

Ji Fan said, "Could it be that this tiger sensed that we are cultivators transitioning from Ghost Immortal to Earth Immortal, and thinks we are ghostly beings? Or that it wants us to become its ghostly underlings?"

"Absolutely impossible," Xuan Shu shook his head, "The tiger in front of the Bodhisattva must also be a Bodhisattva. Although their wisdom and power may vary, their intentions are the same; this tiger surely means us no harm, rather it seems it wants to communicate something to us in this manner."

Ji Fan grew a little impatient, "It's just a beast, what could it tell us?"

"It must be something the Master of Endurance instructed it to do," Xuan Shu deduced, "Tiger, fierce tiger, descending the mountain, choosing people to devour. Could it be that the Master of Endurance wants to come out of the mountain herself to deal with that surname Shi?"

Ji Fan snorted coldly, "If she wanted to come out, she would have just come directly. Why would she need to communicate with us in such a cryptic manner?"

"Then... could it be luring the tiger away from the mountain? Could the Master of Endurance want us to lure the tiger away?"

Ji Fan thought for a moment, "That surname Shi is the tiger. The Master wants us to lure him away so she can retrieve treasures from the Holy Mausoleum?"

"That must be it, but how would we lure him? Even if we managed to lure him away, who could retrieve the treasures?"

The two pondered for a long time with no conclusion. They usually practiced cultivation alone and barely interacted with others, so they couldn't even find a friend to consult at this moment.

Meanwhile, Shi Feiyang, knowing that he had arrived at Qiao Mountain ahead of schedule and seized the Holy Mausoleum, naturally expected continuous disturbances. It was no surprise when people came—it was anticipated, and there would be more to follow.

He was prepared to staunchly defend his position here, responding to every change with constancy.

As days passed, he finished constructing the railings on both sides of the staircase. One hundred and eight statues of various wild animals cast in the Five Elements were completed in pairs, set on either side, and the entire Mountain Protection Array was arranged. He then proceeded to pay homage again to the Yellow Emperor and Guang Chengzi.

People continually came near to spy. There were members of the Orthodox Sect and the Cult, both old and young, monks and Taoists. Some looked down from the clouds, some surveyed from neighboring mountains. Some left after a brief look, while others calculated positions for quite a long time. By the second year, such events grew more frequent.

One day, a young Taoist called Jiang Xiaotie, flying with his Sword Control, arrived disheveled at the foot of the mountain, knelt down, and prayed, "Junior disciple of the Qingcheng Sect, Jiang Xiaotie, requests an audience with Master Shi!"

Shi Feiyang, who was in the middle of cultivation within a building on the mountain, asked through spiritual voice transmission what the matter was.

Jiang Xiaotie said, "I am a disciple from the Ba Qiao Temple in the east of Xi'an City. Some time ago, our abbot's fellow disciple unintentionally acquired a Treasure Bead. Today, four Divine Monarchs from Yangjiao Ridge in Heaven Mountain roamed here, demanding we hand over the Treasure Bead to their Daoist Temple, intending to seize it to set up their own teachings and initiate disciples. Naturally, we refused, and a fight ensued. Their spells were tremendously powerful, releasing massive amounts of black flames enveloping the entire temple, threatening to incinerate us along with the temple if we did not surrender.

The disciples of the Snow Mountain Sect from the Saponaria Palace in the west of the city rushed to our aid. Despite coordinating from inside and outside repeatedly trying to break through the Demon Humans' Evil Skill, we failed, until Elder Yuan from Qingmiao Forest of Yellow Dragon Mountain happened to pass by. He broke a corner of the Fire Formation, and I seized the chance to escape. Elder Yuan instructed me to seek your help, saying you are currently in seclusion at Qiao Mountain, so I hurried to ask for your aid. Please, True Master, for the sake of our mutual connections, swiftly go to Ba Qiao Temple, lightly apply your Immortal Law, and save my master and fellow disciples!" He continued to kowtow, pleading earnestly.

Shi Feiyang had already been divining Heaven's Secret in the building, realizing that this person truly was a disciple from the Qingcheng Sect, and was none other than the reincarnation of the Iron Umbrella Taoist, sent by Jiang Shu to be reborn and admitted under his tutelage, highly intelligent and progressive. Despite his young age, his skill in Immortal Law was already quite remarkable, having been sent by Jiang Shu to the Ba Qiao Temple in Xi'an for training.

The person was genuine, the matter was also genuine, and the situation indeed was extremely urgent.

However, Shi Feiyang knew that at that moment the Old Ape was hiding nearby, just waiting for him to leave so he could rush in...

Moreover, divination showed that the four individuals from Yangjiao Ridge were also incited by the Old Ape.

Continuing his calculations, the Treasure Bead in Ba Qiao Temple, sold to him by Zong De, a disciple of the Old Ape.

It was all a trap set by the Old Ape, trying to lure him away so he could enter the Holy Mausoleum.

But at that time, the Immortal Array inside the Holy Mausoleum had not faded, making it impossible to enter the underground palace and obtain the treasures, otherwise, Shi Feiyang would have already entered. Even if the Old Ape managed to lure him away, what use would it be?

He continued to trace the sources, realizing that someone had informed the Old Ape that treasures were about to emerge from the Holy Mausoleum, devising such a scheme to lure the tiger away from the mountain, using his influence to draw him away.

Remarkable, to think there were so many layers to this plan. If he were not quite proficient in divination, he would not have realized this!

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