Shen Banxi looked at Gu Ningyun, whose eyes were fixed entirely on Yang Churan, and then at the other four children who had similar reactions. He shook his head helplessly.
Little ingrates. He had secretly protected the five of them for nearly a year, yet they didn't show a hint of sadness at his departure.
He gave a light cough. “No need. I’m returning to the sect.”
Hearing his sudden cough, Gu Ningyun finally snapped out of it.
“Perfected Person Shen, aren’t you and Perfected Person Shu attending the Penglai Dao Discussion Meeting?”
So she simply hadn't realized he wasn't attending. Shen Banxi’s expression softened unconsciously.
“The last Dao discussion meeting was held at Xiaoyao. Every cultivator in the sect at the time attended as an observer, and Perfected Person Shu and I were both present then.”
“Slots are limited. For this meeting in Penglai, they are only given to disciples who have never attended one before.”
“Among the fifty observing disciples, aside from you ten new disciples, there are five Golden Core disciples who weren't at the sect last time.”
“The remaining thirty-five are all Foundation Establishment disciples who entered the sect in recent years.”
“I see,” Gu Ningyun said.
Shen Banxi nodded and turned to fly off the spirit boat. “Alright, I’m off. If anything happens, contact me through your disciple jade token.”
Gu Ningyun couldn't help but take two steps forward, leaning over the edge of the spirit boat to watch Shen Banxi gradually disappear into the distance.
After a short while, the spirit boat's protection shield rose, and Donglin City quickly shrank into a tiny speck.
In just two hours, they traveled from the coast to Penglai and were now sitting in the meditation courtyard assigned to the five of them by the Ten Thousand Buddhas Sect.
While on the spirit boat, the sect seniors had called the fifty observing disciples together for a talk.
They were informed that for the next thirty days, they could go to the Lecture Hall to attend morning lessons to gain an understanding of the scriptures.
After agreeing on the departure time for the next morning, Gu Ningyun returned to her room and began her daily meditation.
The next day at four o'clock in the morning, the five of them were sitting cross-legged on meditation mats in the Lecture Hall, listening to a Golden Core Buddhist cultivator lecture on the scriptures.
In front of them sat several rows of Buddhist cultivators with cultivation levels ranging from Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment.
Beside them were their forty-five other fellow disciples.
Perhaps because it was part of their daily chanting and meditation, the scriptures the Golden Core monk lectured on weren't difficult, and even a Daoist cultivator like Gu Ningyun could understand them.
She followed the example of the other Buddhist cultivators, closing her eyes and immersing herself fully in the scriptures.
After a while, the faint sound of snoring drifted into her ears.
Gu Ningyun opened her eyes to find her fellow disciples looking at each other in confusion.
The snoring was continuous, seemingly coming from the courtyard outside the Lecture Hall.
The monk giving the lecture and the Buddhist cultivators meditating in front all remained perfectly calm.
Gu Ningyun and her friends stared at each other for a moment before closing their eyes again.
As soon as the morning lessons ended, the snoring stopped abruptly, and everyone began to leave the Lecture Hall one by one.
Gu Ningyun stepped out of the Lecture Hall and walked toward the direction the snoring had come from to investigate.
Wen Xuan let out a small cry of surprise. “There seems to be a fish on that stone table.”
In the center of the courtyard stood a stone table with several stone stools around it.
When they had first entered the courtyard, Gu Ningyun had noticed an alms bowl sitting on the stone table.
The bowl was about eighty percent full of clear water, containing two or three lotus leaves and a single flower bud.
Although her divine sense couldn't penetrate the bowl, the water inside was crystal clear, making everything beneath the surface visible at a glance.
She hadn't seen any fish there at the time.
“Come look, this fish looks a bit familiar.”
Wen Xuan leaned over the table, peering into the alms bowl.
Gu Ningyun leaned in as well, and the five small heads crowded together over the bowl.
Under a crisp lotus leaf, a fish about the size of two fingers swam out leisurely.
The fish had a dorsal fin that ran from its head to its tail; its back was dark green, and its belly was pale yellow.
Why did this fish look so familiar?
Halfway through its swim, the little fish flicked its tail and rolled its eyes upward.
“Yo~~ where did these kids come from? You look so fresh and delicious, much easier on the eyes than all those baldies in this sect.”
That voice, that tone—Gu Ningyun recognized it immediately. It was the rank three mahi-mahi that had given them the giant pearls.
“Senior, it’s us! Did you not recognize us?”
The little fish blew a few bubbles and leaped out of the water, splashing water all over their faces.
Gu Ningyun licked her lips. It was salty—seawater.
“I was wondering why you looked so familiar. So it’s you lot.”
The little fish performed a few backflips in the water. “The Great Bald Donkey actually didn't lie to me!”
Wen Xuan stirred the seawater in the alms bowl with her index finger. “Senior, weren't you in the undersea garden? How did you end up here?”
“Don’t tell me you were caught by the Buddhist cultivators of Penglai after we left?”
Jiang Yao narrowed his eyes, a mischievous grin spreading across his face.
The little fish used its tail to smack a face full of water onto Jiang Yao. “I am so strong! How could a mere baldy possibly catch me!”
It spoke with extraordinary bravado.
“Then why are you here?” Jiang Yao wiped the seawater from his face.
“When you were sucked away by that thing the demon cultivator summoned, I’m just a fish and couldn't enter the passage.”
“Naturally, I came to Penglai to find the Great Bald Donkey to fish you out.”
As it spoke, the little fish suddenly slapped the surface of the water hard with its tail.
“Who would have thought that for a supposed high monk, the Great Bald Donkey would have so little monk-like nature.”
“After I told him about your situation, he just gave a token flick of his fingers to divine your fate.”
“He said that as long as I stayed in the Lecture Hall, I would see you all safe and sound.”
“Never mind going to rescue you, he even used such a clumsy excuse to keep me here.”
“It’s his fault I couldn't go back to look for you!”
At this point, the little fish's voice grew weaker. “Though looking at it now, the Great Bald Donkey really didn't lie to me.”
“So Senior came to Penglai just to save us.”
Gu Ningyun was somewhat moved. “Since we’ve met now and everyone is safe and sound, why don’t we go find that Buddhist senior who did the divination and ask him to let you go back to the East Sea?”
“It’s no use. The Great Bald Donkey came by two days ago and said there’s some meeting happening soon. He told me to stay and listen to it before leaving.”
The little fish flipped onto its back, floating on the surface like a dead fish. “I hate these meetings the most. They’re as boring as the daily lectures.”
Jiang Yao poked its belly gently. “When we were meditating in the Lecture Hall just now, we heard someone snoring.”
“That definitely wasn't me. A fish as majestic as I am would never behave so rudely.”
The little fish performed a mahi-mahi flip. “Don’t go pinning that on me.”
Gu Ningyun stood up and scanned the courtyard, but the only talking creature she could see was the one on the stone table.
She remained silent for a long time, unable to figure it out.
How could there be a fish in this world so concerned with its image?
Wen Xuan and Jiang Yao covered their mouths, giggling.
The little fish's scales seemed to dim from the embarrassment.
It turned and swam under a lotus leaf, its voice sounding muffled beneath the seawater and the leaf.
“I haven't even asked what happened to you five. You look so different that I didn't recognize you at first.”
“If your auras weren't so familiar, I would have thought the Great Bald Donkey found some people to trick me.”
“Senior, did you not see our hair?”
Gu Ningyun sighed inwardly.
The little fish not only had heavy baggage, its eyesight was terrible too.
No wonder it had mistaken them for baldies back then.
Rate on N.U.
