CHAPTER 246: CHAPTER 215: I’M HERE TO MEASURE YOU

Chen Yi slowly walked out of Medicine Temple. Though he had lost an arm, his spirit and demeanor seemed as though he were basking in a spring breeze.

Having gathered four pieces of True Yuan, Chen Yi calculated with his fingers. His cultivation realm was now capable of ascending to the Core Formation Realm. He wondered, when the painstakingly diligent Yin Weiyin learned of this, what he might feel.

The price had been steep, but ultimately, the harvest had been abundant.

What’s more, it was exhilarating.

Chen Yi briefly reminisced about the flavors of that temple.

Zhu E, though seductive, ultimately didn’t compare to the bewildered Taichua Goddess. Qin Qingluo, with her frame already taller than most men, possessed a unique appeal that was hard to compare to others.

That being said, he couldn’t help but wonder how the female Prince and Princess would face one another once they awoke.

Even if Zhu E’s sense of self had returned, she had long since acknowledged Dong Gong Ruoshu’s murderous blade and recognized him as the Bright Venerable. Thus, Chen Yi spared her life, embedding her as a chess piece deep within the Demon Sect for future contingencies.

As for Qin Qingluo, firstly, she couldn’t be killed. Secondly, her martial intent had shattered, leaving her in utter despair. Thirdly, Zhu E remained the one this imperious female Prince cared for the most.

Thus, using a Taoist skill Zhou Yitang had earlier taught him, Chen Yi made subtle adjustments to her, leaving behind a safeguard.

At the base of Medicine Temple’s mountain gate, the steps seemed endless, and fallen leaves drifted in the breeze. Chen Yi descended step by step—not hurriedly, not slowly—as if waiting for something.

While walking, he idly touched his broken left arm. A dull ache surged through him like a tide.

After an indeterminate amount of time, a bhikkhuni wielding a meditation staff slowly ascended the stone steps.

Chen Yi halted in his tracks, raised his right hand, and pressed his palm together in thanks, smiling as he spoke:

"I am grateful for your assistance, Master."

The bhikkhuni did not immediately look at him. Instead, she cast a meaningful gaze back toward Medicine Temple, as if piercing past the countless steps to discern the fates of the two women within. Only then did she slowly turn her head.

"Namo Pure Glazed Medicine Buddha. It seems this round... has been won by Benefactor Chen." The bhikkhuni’s voice betrayed neither joy nor sorrow, as though no matter the outcome, it was well within her calculations.

Chen Yi merely grazed the fingers of his remaining hand over his severed arm in silence.

This bhikkhuni called herself Master Zhihui but was, in truth, an incarnation of the Medicine Bodhisattva. The Prince Consort Lu was also an incarnation of the Medicine Bodhisattva. In a sense, Yin Tingxue was effectively this bhikkhuni’s daughter.

However, back then, Yin Tingxue hadn’t regarded her as a mother.

Deep in her heart, the one she recognized as her mother was Chen Yi, who had once stood in Yintai Temple, softly declaring, "I will never leave you."

By all rights, Chen Yi, who had repeatedly entangled Yin Tingxue’s karmic bonds and disrupted the bhikkhuni’s plans, should have been seen as an archenemy—someone to be killed on sight, never aided.

But Chen Yi had offered a condition the bhikkhuni could not refuse.

"To be honest, if, in the end, Qin Qingluo had harbored even the faintest intent to kill, I wouldn’t have left alive." Suddenly, breaking a prolonged silence, Chen Yi spoke up.

The bhikkhuni narrowed her eyes slightly, then nodded faintly with a soft smile.

Qin Qingluo, the haughty female Prince, was excessively confident. Even when she vaguely sensed Zhao Bai’s interference, she still succumbed to that sliver of glazed light and Wuxiang Zen Master’s vestment robe.

Those who are accustomed to taking victory from unlikely odds always strive to seize chestnuts from the fire.

The trick Zhao Bai employed was a thread of karmic obstruction.

Karmic obstruction arises from the ignorance in one’s heart—manifesting through acts of body, speech, and mind, producing all deeds of good and evil.

Upon that single thread of karmic obstruction, the bhikkhuni further added her own twist.

She magnified Qin Qingluo’s ignorance without her even realizing it.

Coupled with the blessings of that sliver of glazed light, Zhu E, as the embodiment of Qin Qingluo’s ignorance, transformed into her will.

The reason the bhikkhuni covertly employed such measures was twofold: first, her alliance with the Prince of Annan was tenuous at best—after all, the Demon Sect remained the Demon Sect, useful but never trustworthy; second, Qin Qingluo had taken on that glimmer of glazed light, and the bhikkhuni wished to reclaim it.

However, the bhikkhuni did not offer her assistance to Chen Yi at the outset. She observed for a long moment.

It was after the Demon Sect Saintess Zhu E sacrificed herself to take the blow that the scales tipped definitively in Chen Yi’s favor. Only then did the bhikkhuni intercede, sending their souls to the Heaven of Autonomous Transformation.

The sequence reversed from there: beneath the green oil lamp and before the Bodhisattva, smoke swirled ethereally, and two red blossoms fell.

Had Chen Yi faltered at any step along the way, the bhikkhuni would not have hesitated to let him become an actual whetstone for Qin Qingluo’s blade.

As for the condition Chen Yi proposed...

"So, Master, are you now utterly convinced that I will dutifully follow your plan and become a... stone to mend the heavens?"

While caressing his broken arm, Chen Yi placed his right hand firmly on the twisted remnants of his limb.

Master Zhihui lowered her gaze, exuding profound compassion. There was an air of a Bodhisattva’s gentle contemplation.

"What an extraordinary merit. If it were in the ancient eras, it would be enough to cast a cauldron and enshrine the heavens."

At that time, Chen Yi had ventured alone into Medicine Temple and personally lit an incense stick.

He first set down the names of Master Tongxuan and the Broken Swordsman as a paperweight, openly declaring that if he were to perish here, those two would never let the matter rest.

Following this, Chen Yi proposed his wager. He boldly claimed that if he lost, he would swear a blood oath. On the day Heaven’s Gate cracked open, he would willingly become a stone to mend the heavens—his ultimate sacrifice to ensure the ascension of all stranded celestial beings.

The reason for such a proposition was that Chen Yi understood the Medicine Bodhisattva was not an absolute enemy.

To an entity of her level—a celestial Buddha—anyone obstructing the path to the cracking of Heaven’s Gate was her enemy. Conversely, anyone aiding that cause was her ally.

As for the wager...

The stakes were set on whether Master Zhihui could shatter Chen Yi’s ignorance.

Master Zhihui gazed deeply at Chen Yi, her lips curving into a faint smile as she spoke:

"You truly are an odd one. Your sense of ’self’ and your ignorance are actually severed from one another. The deepest part of your ’self’ lies with Master Tongxuan, while the deepest part of your ignorance... lies with my daughter."

"With my daughter."

"..."

Master Zhihui narrowed her eyes and gave Chen Yi a long, penetrating look.

Chen Yi stood immovable.

He naturally didn’t wish to be regarded as Yin Tingxue’s mother. But if someone were to try and take her away, he wouldn’t stand idly by either.

Sensing the implicit boundaries, Master Zhihui gracefully sidestepped the topic and continued:

"Ordinary people’s sense of ’self’ and ignorance are inseparably intertwined. For someone like you to distinguish them so clearly... is truly rare."

Chen Yi closed his eyes slightly, offering no response.

He understood that the sense of ’self’ was attachment to one’s identity, whereas ignorance was the root of desires—fear, love, hate, joy, and sorrow. Through these emotions, people became aware of their identity, thus clinging to their sense of ’self.’

Thus, the sense of ’self’ and ignorance often existed as one.

The reason his were distinct might lie in having lived two lives.

Zhou Yitang was the one he loved most, while Yin Tingxue was the one he liked the most. He had always been clear about this, making the former his utmost attachment and the latter his deepest ignorance.

Even so, being distinct didn’t mean he only loved without liking or liked without loving; it was merely a difference in degree.

The bhikkhuni, after studying Chen Yi for a moment, lowered her gaze once more.

"Do you know why I agreed to this wager?"

"...Because my stakes are high enough?"

"Beyond that, it’s because a Bodhisattva must enlighten others by nature."

"Oh, so this is your area of expertise." Chen Yi feigned sudden realization. "You’re here to save me?"

A Bodhisattva, seeking supreme enlightenment for herself through wisdom, extends her compassion to deliver all beings.

"Indeed, I am here to save you."