Beauties in Simulation Cross over into Reality-Chapter 206 - 187: Wangxin

Jiang Xin’s voice echoed through the mountain forest.

Xiao Mo looked directly into her eyes, at her pleading gaze. His lips parted slightly, but he remained silent.

Finally, however, Xiao Mo grabbed her wrist, pried her small hand from the corner of his robes, and continued walking forward.

But before Xiao Mo could take more than a few steps, Jiang Xin’s little hand once again grabbed onto his robes.

Xiao Mo pulled her hand away again, but Jiang Xin just grabbed hold once more.

The seemingly fragile little girl was once again showing her stubborn side.

"Sigh..." Xiao Mo had lost count of how many times he had sighed tonight. "Ah Xin, let go."

Jiang Xin shook her head forcefully.

"Ah Xin, I’ll say this one last time. Let go." Xiao Mo’s tone was now deliberately harsh, almost a reprimand.

Jiang Xin swallowed hard.

Although she was a little scared, she still held tightly to the corner of Xiao Mo’s robes.

"Xiao Mo, you promised... you promised you wouldn’t leave me behind again," Jiang Xin said, mustering her courage.

Hearing her words, Xiao Mo turned around, his eyes filled with a biting, wintry chill.

Though her small hand trembled, Jiang Xin refused to let go.

"Jiang Xin, it was all a lie."

As his words fell, Xiao Mo forcefully tore her hand away.

Just as Jiang Xin stepped forward again to grab his robes, the cold glint of the Spirit-Collecting Blade flashed before her eyes under the moonlight.

Jiang Xin instinctively stopped in her tracks.

On the ground just before her toes, Xiao Mo had carved a line with his long blade.

"If you take one more step forward, you’ll be the one I cut down!"

Xiao Mo glanced back, his cold gaze falling upon Jiang Xin. A murderous intent thick with Blood Evil Qi pressed down on her shoulders.

Averting his gaze, Xiao Mo took a step forward and vanished into the darkness of the mountain forest.

Under the bright moonlight, on the mountainside, the little boy was gone. Only the little girl remained, standing dazedly on the ground.

After a long while, she crouched down, reached out a small hand, and gently stroked the blade mark in front of her toes.

「Meanwhile.」

At the main gate of Kongnian Temple, Abbot Xujing and Wu Ming gazed through the woods, looking toward the mountainside.

"Martial Uncle... this..." After Xiao Mo left, Wu Ming looked at his Martial Uncle beside him, hesitating to speak.

"Wu Ming," Xujing said calmly. "Do you think Xiao Mo would have actually struck her if she had taken that step?"

Wu Ming: "..."

"And even if he did strike, do you think Jiang Xin would have been afraid?"

"..." Wu Ming was still speechless.

Xujing shook his head. "Xiao Mo would not have struck. And Jiang Xin knew that even if she crossed that line, his blade would not fall.

So why didn’t she dare to step forward?

Because she knew that if she crossed that line, she would truly have nothing to do with Xiao Mo ever again."

"Then, Martial Uncle, what should we do now?" Wu Ming asked.

"We don’t need to do anything. This is for the best." Xujing withdrew his gaze and walked back into the temple.

Wu Ming glanced at Jiang Xin on the mountainside, then back at his Martial Uncle. Finally, with a soft sigh, he followed him back through the temple gates.

「For the next two days.」

Pilgrims coming and going to worship at the temple could all see a little girl crouching on the path up the mountainside.

She paid no mind to how vicious the summer sun was, or how cold the mountain forest became late at night.

She neither ate nor drank, simply hugging her knees and staring blankly at the mark before her.

Some kind-hearted pilgrims mentioned the matter to Kongnian Temple.

But Xujing merely smiled and nodded, indicating that he was aware, and still did nothing. He even told the pilgrims not to disturb her.

「At dawn on the third day.」

As the monks of Kongnian Temple were in the main hall listening to Abbot Xujing explain the Buddhist Scripture, the little girl on the mountainside finally stood up and started walking up the mountain.

The little girl arrived at the temple, crossed the threshold of its main gate, and walked into the great hall.

Xujing stopped his lecture and looked up. All the monks in the hall also turned to watch the little girl as she walked step by step toward the Abbot, clearing a path for her.

The little girl walked before the crowd, her clear eyes looking at the kind old man before her.

"Grandpa Abbot, I... I want to cultivate the Buddhist Dharma," the little girl said slowly. Her voice was slightly hoarse from not drinking water for so long.

The old Abbot smiled kindly. "Young Benefactor Jiang Xin, have you truly thought this through?"

"I have." The little girl nodded.

"Then, Young Benefactor, why do you wish to study the Buddhist Dharma?" the old Abbot asked softly.

"To find him..." the little girl said earnestly. "Xiao Mo won’t see me, so I’ll study the Buddhist Dharma and cultivate diligently. When I grow up, I’ll go find him..."

After speaking, she looked at the old man worriedly, afraid her reason would cause him to reject her as a disciple. "Is... is that okay?"

"It is," Abbot Xujing smiled. "Of course it is. Why wouldn’t it be?"

Xujing pushed himself up from the edge of his meditation cushion. He stood up unsteadily, like an ordinary old farmer, not at all like a Cultivator at Ascension Realm Perfection.

"Come, Jiang Xin. Press your palms together and face the Buddha statue."

"Grandpa Abbot, should I kneel?"

Xujing said gently, "To kneel or not to kneel is up to you."

Jiang Xin looked at the clay Buddha statue seated high before her and knelt on both knees.

Xujing nodded, held out his hand, and said to a nearby monk, "The razor."

As Xujing took the razor, all the monks in the great hall closed their eyes and began chanting scriptures, their expressions solemn and dignified.

"The first cut: sever all evil. The golden razor shaves the hair of your birth, cleansing the body of its worldly defilements."

Xujing’s aged yet steady fingers held the razor, gliding it over the little girl’s head. Strands of hair fell away.

"The second cut: vow to cultivate all good. A rounded head and square robes reveal the monk’s form, adding a new disciple beneath the Dharma King’s throne."

"The third cut: pledge to deliver all living beings."

Cut after cut fell, and lock after lock of dark hair drifted to the floor.

Above Kongnian Temple, clouds of Buddhism gradually gathered. A sacred, golden Buddha’s Light shone for dozens of miles.

The sound of scriptures being chanted in the great hall emanated from Kongnian Temple, echoing through the mountain forests, across the fields, and into the towns.

The great bell of Kongnian Temple began to toll on its own, though no one struck it.

The people of Kongnian City looked up at the sky.

Over Kongnian Temple, more than ten li away, a golden Buddha statue materialized high in the sky where the light converged. It smiled while holding a flower, its gaze benevolent as it looked down upon the world.

They only recalled that, according to legend, such a phenomenon had only ever occurred when the great Master Xujing achieved enlightenment.

The chanting of scriptures ceased.

The tolling of the bell faded into the distance.

The Buddhist clouds dispersed.

The Buddha’s Light receded.

The morning sun, just rising, crossed the threshold of the great hall and fell upon the little girl, as if draping her in a golden Kasaya.

"Amitabha Buddha."

Xujing pressed his palms together.

"As the nine hundred and seventy-fifth generation disciple of Kongnian Temple.

You are given the character ’Wang,’ for forgetting.

From your name is taken the character ’Xin,’ for the heart.

From this day forward, your Dharma name shall be—

Wangxin."