We Agreed On Experiencing Life, So Why Did You Immortals Become Real?

Chapter 562: Return to Secular Life

The heavy rain on Mount Sikong fell for an entire day and night.

Inside Sikong Temple’s great hall, Xiao Mo had also sat for an entire day and night. His clothes, which had been soaked through, were now half dry.

At dawn the next morning, the sky was faintly bright.

Beneath the Buddha statue, Xiao Mo slowly opened his eyes and rose from the prayer mat.

Just as he was about to walk out of the great hall, he saw Abbot Yuankong standing at the doorway, smiling as he looked at him.

“Master.” Xiao Mo pressed his palms together and bowed respectfully.

Compared with how he had looked yesterday when he first returned to the temple, Xiao Mo’s eyes seemed much clearer after a night of quiet sitting.

And far more resolute.

“Have you thought it through?” Yuankong asked calmly. “Though you have broken one of the precepts, if the Buddha remains in your heart, what harm is there in one lapse?”

“Thank you, Master, but this disciple has already thought it through.” Xiao Mo shook his head, his tone steady. “Even if you forgive me, Master, I fear I can no longer still my heart and recite scripture. Thank you, Master, for raising me all these years. This disciple has no way to repay you.”

“There is no need to make it sound so grave. For your master, it was no more than adding one extra set of bowl and chopsticks.” Yuankong looked at Xiao Mo kindly and sighed softly. “It is only a pity. A pity that my Buddhist school, in the end, has lost a good disciple.”

He paused. A faint, relieved smile rose at the corner of his lips.

“But in exchange, this world will gain a rather fine Daoist.”

“Go rest in the courtyard for a while. In a moment, your master will conduct the rite for your return to secular life.”

“Yes, Master.” Xiao Mo pressed his palms together and bowed. Then he turned his head slightly and took one last look at the silent Buddha statue behind him before withdrawing his gaze and walking toward the rear courtyard.

When he returned to the rear courtyard where he had lived for more than ten years, Xiao Mo began to pack his belongings bit by bit.

Though he had become a monk from the moment he was born and had never had any choice in the matter.

No matter what, Xiao Mo truly had been a monk for a full eighteen years.

When a person had spent eighteen years doing only one thing—reciting the Buddha’s name and scripture, strictly observing the precepts—what difference did it make whether this monkhood was true or false? 1

Besides, during these eighteen years, Xiao Mo had sincerely felt that studying the Buddhist teachings was truly not a bad thing.

Perhaps it had been an escape.

Perhaps it had been the pursuit of comfort and peace for the heart.

But at least, for those eighteen years, Xiao Mo’s heart had been calm.

After he finished packing, Xiao Mo walked out of the room.

Gui Junmeng was already standing quietly in the courtyard, her eyes blinking as she looked at him.

“I heard what Abbot Yuankong said.” Gui Junmeng spoke gently. Her gaze was full of expectation, yet a trace of confusion was hidden in her expression as well. “You... are truly willing to come with me to Seeking Immortality Temple?”

“Yes.” Xiao Mo nodded and answered, “I will have to trouble you from now on, Miss.”

“It is no trouble. Not trouble at all. But...” Gui Junmeng’s voice carried a hint of cautious fear. She was afraid Xiao Mo was only saying this to make her happy. “Yesterday, you still said you were a monk and were unwilling to come with me. Why did you change your mind today?”

“Yesterday, I truly was a monk, so I could not go with you, Miss.” Xiao Mo smiled faintly and nodded. “But Miss Gui, now I can no longer be a monk.”

“Why?” Gui Junmeng tilted her head slightly, her eyes full of confusion. “Why can you no longer be a monk?”

“Because I broke one of the precepts,” Xiao Mo replied.

“Broke a precept? Which precept?”

Gui Junmeng understood even less.

Xiao Mo’s Buddhist heart in this life had clearly been so steadfast. How could he possibly have broken a precept?

“Those who have left home do not speak falsehoods.”

“I deceived a young lady.”

Carrying his luggage on his back, Xiao Mo walked step by step toward the courtyard gate, while his voice drifted through the courtyard, lingering for a long time.

“I said... I did not like her...”

......

Sikong Temple.

Today, the Buddhist temple closed its doors and received no guests. In the entire temple, there were no worshipers coming to pay reverence to the Buddha or offer incense.

Inside the great hall, however, every venerable monk of high virtue was present.

They stood in two rows on either side, chanting Buddhist scripture in unison. The sacred voices curled through the air, solemn and majestic.

On the other side of the great hall, the young monk Xujing followed along in reciting the scripture while wiping away tears again and again, his eyes full of reluctance as he looked at the figure kneeling at the very front of the hall’s center.

At the very front of the great hall, Xiao Mo knelt on a prayer mat.

Abbot Yuankong had already lit three sticks of incense for him and placed them steadily in the incense burner. Pale smoke curled upward.

As the chanting voices of the assembled monks gradually lowered, then disappeared completely, Abbot Yuankong walked slowly to Xiao Mo’s side. His gaze was calm as he asked, “Monk Queyin, today, before the Buddha, do you have anything to say?”

Xiao Mo pressed his palms together and looked straight at the Buddha statue.

“This disciple, Queyin, has violated the ten precepts of the Buddhist school. The abbot granted me a chance to repent, but this disciple knows his sins are heavy. My heart can no longer recite the Buddha’s name, and I have no face to stand before the Buddha.”

“Today, this disciple is willing to relinquish the Buddha, relinquish the Dharma, relinquish the Sangha, relinquish my preceptor, relinquish my teacher, relinquish my fellow preceptors, relinquish my fellow teachers, relinquish all monks of pure practice, relinquish the precepts, relinquish the monastic law, and relinquish the matters of study...”

“Today, this disciple wishes to return to secular life and descend the mountain.”

“From this day onward, I will be a layman, no longer a monk or disciple of the Buddha.”

Xiao Mo spoke each word clearly, his voice steady and resolute. Every word fell heavily into the hearts of every monk present.

After hearing this, many of the monks sighed softly in their hearts, complicated emotion showing in their eyes.

“Granted...” Yuankong inclined his head slightly, his tone peaceful and profound. “Today, your master returns your free body to you. You are no longer Queyin, but Xiao Mo. I hope that on the road ahead, you will be neither lost nor confused, neither偏 nor crooked.”

Yuankong pressed his palms together, closed his eyes, and softly recited the Buddha’s name.

“Amitabha.”

“Amitabha.”

The assembled monks echoed in unison. The sacred chanting rose once more, reverberating above the great hall for a long time without ceasing.

Xiao Mo stood.

Master Yuankong personally removed Xiao Mo’s old monk’s robe and changed him into a set of plain clothes worn by ordinary people.

“This disciple descends the mountain today and can no longer care for Master. I only wish that Master will take good care of yourself and remain healthy and well.”

Xiao Mo knelt again and kowtowed three times with utmost respect, in thanks for the kindness of being raised for these eighteen years.

“Good child...” Master Yuankong gently helped Xiao Mo to his feet. Then he took a Buddhist scripture from within his robes and solemnly placed it in Xiao Mo’s hands.

“Though you will no longer be a disciple of the Buddhist school from this day onward, who says only those within the Buddhist school may recite scripture? In the future, when you have leisure, or when you are confused, you may open it and read. Perhaps you will gain some understanding in your heart.”

“Yes... Master...” Xiao Mo accepted the Buddhist scripture with both hands and solemnly tucked it into his robes.

Yuankong patted Xiao Mo gently on the shoulder. His gaze was kind, and his words were earnest and heartfelt.

“Go. May the life ahead of you hold no resentment, and no regret.”

Xiao Mo gave Master Yuankong one final bow.

Then he turned and walked step by step out of the hall.

Inside the hall, that Buddha still held up a flower and smiled, looking down upon the departing disciple.

Watching him walk farther and farther away.

Watching him never look back.