Chapter 1017: Backer

Zhikon, who had accompanied Xinding, looked at him in surprise. "That's an excellent question," he thought. "Why had he never thought of that himself?"

"Of course, converting the Red Lotus Demoness is out of the question," the old man said. He had cultivated for several hundred years, guarded the herb garden, and excelled at meditation, speaking slowly and methodically. He chuckled as he answered Xinding.

"Marriage is a worldly affair, and our Buddhist sect is a pure land of cultivation. If the Red Lotus Demoness were to convert to Buddhism and marry Zhiyuan, wouldn't that bring worldly matters into our pure land and break its rules?"

Zhikon suddenly understood. As expected of his Uncle Wunian, he had resolved the confusion with just a few words.

Xinding was still confused. With clear eyes, he looked at the old man. "But I see that our Servants' Hall is rife with martial arts gambling. Uncle Zhixing from the West Servants' Hall provoked Uncle Zhiyuan, the four Servants' Halls compete with each other, and the Martial Monk Hall selects four finalists to compete for first place. Aren't these all worldly affairs?"

"I..."

Xinding's question left the old man momentarily speechless. He couldn't utter a word for a long time.

Mainly, everything Xinding said was true, and he couldn't refute it.

Xinding suddenly had an epiphany and finally grasped the situation: "I understand now. Uncle Zhiyuan is just one person, easy to manage. All the other issues involve too many people, so our Buddhist sect can't oversee everything and simply doesn't bother."

"I..."

The old man was dumbfounded. This boy seemed simple-minded, yet everything he said was spot on.

This boy certainly wasn't taught by Zhiyuan. If Zhiyuan had this kind of mind, he wouldn't have been trapped by love and failed his breakthrough back then!

Lu Yang was laughing so hard his stomach hurt in the Azure Edge Sword minor world. Xinding’s straightforward nature truly made him a good prospect for Buddhism.

The old man took two deep breaths and said earnestly: "Xinding, you must understand that everything has a process of change. It's true that our Xitian Temple has many worldly impurities, but you must also see that the entire Xitian Temple is working to cleanse these impurities and restore Xitian Temple’s name as a pure land. It just takes time."

"How long will it take?"

"A very long time."

Xinding pondered this. He felt as if his grand-uncle had said something, yet also nothing at all.

The old man dared not continue the conversation with Xinding, lest the young monk ask more questions that he, an elder, would find difficult to answer. He gave them the Spirit Pivot Grass and urged Zhikon to quickly take Xinding away.

"Uncle Zhiyuan, this is the Spirit Pivot Grass." Xinding handed the Spirit Pivot Grass to Uncle Zhiyuan as agreed.

Uncle Zhiyuan held the Spirit Pivot Grass, a look of nostalgia in his eyes. "You must have seen my master, haven't you?"

"Grand-Uncle Wunian? Yes, I did."

"Did he say anything about me?"

"He did."

"What did he say?" Uncle Zhiyuan asked somewhat eagerly. Although his master had separated him and Honglian, he ultimately bore the initial fault himself. His reluctance to see his master stemmed from an internal hurdle he couldn't overcome.

Xinding thought for a moment. He had talked with his grand-uncle for a long time, and repeating it all would be troublesome, so he decided to summarize their conversation.

"He said there are too many unsavory things in our Xitian Temple, more than we can manage. And your desire to marry the Red Lotus Demoness was too conspicuous; Xitian Temple couldn't ignore it."

Zhiyuan was enlightened and seemed very excited. "So, Master meant that I just needed to marry Honglian secretly?"

His master was indeed on his side!

"Was that what Grand-Uncle meant?" Xinding recalled his grand-uncle’s reaction, feeling it wasn't quite like that. However, he was dull-witted, so it was normal for him not to grasp the deeper meaning of his grand-uncle’s words.

Afterward, Zhikon brought Xinding and the other three to the Martial Monk Hall. Xin'an, Xinchen, and Xinping looked at Xinding with awe.

It wasn't just because Xinding had won the championship with sheer strength; more importantly, the powerful soul entities hidden within their bodies, who had guided their cultivation, had all vanished after that battle!

They knew best how powerful those three soul entities were, and for them to disappear so silently—what secret was Xinding truly hiding?

The thought of it made them shiver.

"From today onwards, you are martial monks of the Martial Monk Hall," Zhikon announced after leading the four to collect their robes and touring the premises. He also arranged for the identity documents of Xin'an, Xinchen, and Xinping to be updated.

"Starting next month, you will each receive a monthly stipend of ten low-grade spirit stones and ten merit points. If you need to acquire more resources, you will have to rely on your own efforts."

The other three were very excited. The treatment at the Martial Monk Hall was indeed vastly different from that of the Servants' Hall.

"I have other matters to attend to, so I'll be leaving now." Seeing that he had explained everything, Zhiyuan left the four; he had his own affairs.

"Are you the four newcomers?" Immediately after Zhiyuan left, about seven or eight people approached them. The leader was clearly at the Great Perfection stage of Qi Condensation!

The leader glanced at Xinding, seemingly by chance. He was Xincheng's backer in the Martial Monk Hall and had assumed Xincheng, with the incomplete map of "Elephant Crossing the River" he provided, would be able to join the Martial Monk Hall. He hadn't expected Xinding to eliminate him.

"Greetings, Senior Brothers."

"Newcomers must understand the rules. Every new martial monk must spar with us to show you that there are always people stronger than you, and realms beyond your own!"

Xinding and the other three grew tense.

"Revered Master, what should we do?" Xinding saw that their visitors meant trouble. He certainly couldn't defeat a martial monk at the Great Perfection stage of Qi Condensation.

The Tofu Revered Master smiled slightly. Such a small matter didn't require his intervention. He pointed out a clear path for Xinding: "Find a backer."

"I have a backer?"

"Grand-Uncle, they're bullying me." Xinding ran to the herb storehouse to complain to the old man.

The old man hadn't expected that just half a day after he'd finished explaining how Xitian Temple was cleaning up its impurities, Xinding would already encounter such a problem.

He couldn't ignore this.

With a Grand-Uncle at the Deity Transformation stage as a backer, how could anyone in the Martial Monk Hall dare suggest that new martial monks should spar with the older ones?

"Do you know that two-tenths of every new martial monk's monthly stipend must be handed over to us..."

"Grand-Uncle, they're extorting me."

"You're Zhiyuan's disciple, do you know that when Zhiyuan was in the Martial Monk Hall..."

"Grand-Uncle, they couldn't defeat Uncle Zhiyuan, so they came to bully me instead."

Soon, everyone in the Martial Monk Hall knew that Xinding had connections.

Except Xinding himself.

Zhiyuan, using the power of the Spirit Pivot Grass, returned to the peak of the Golden Core stage. He toured the Martial Monk Hall but found no one bullying Xinding.

Seeing the Martial Monk Hall members' inexplicably kind attitude towards him, Xinding didn't think much of it. He simply assumed it was the reward for his unwavering commitment to keeping the Tofu Revered Master's secret and saving Xitian Temple—that good deeds are repaid with good.

Once Xinding's identity was known, the Martial Monk Hall no longer treated him like other new martial monks, but instead provided him with various preferential resources.

"Xinding, other newcomers to the Martial Monk Hall can freely choose one cultivation technique from the second floor of the Scripture Pavilion. However, since you are Wunian's grand-disciple, it is naturally different for you; you may choose any three cultivation techniques."

"Grand-Uncle, they're letting me use a backdoor."