Chapter 560: In the End, He Broke His Precepts After All

"Monk, say something."

Tushan Jingci still stood where she was, those tear-filled eyes gazing at him in a daze.

Her voice carried both weeping and pleading, drifting through the mountain forest, startling several birds perched in the branches into flight.

Xiao Mo said nothing, only the leaves throughout the mountain rustling in the wind, like sigh after sigh.

The breeze lifted the woman's hem gently, her snow-white dress clinging to her soft, graceful curves.

The wind carried the faint fragrance of the woman's presence, and within that fragrance seemed to linger a note of bitterness.

After a long while, Xiao Mo finally opened his eyes, his gaze settling calmly on the woman before him.

He spoke slowly, word by word, his voice not loud, yet falling clearly into the woman's heart. "Young lady, you... are very beautiful."

"Is that so?" Tushan Jingci gave a light laugh, that smile carrying an indefinable note of self-mockery and bitterness. "Then, monk, what if I asked you to leave with me?"

Tushan Jingci stepped forward, her hem lifting slightly in the wind.

"I want you to come with me! Come back to Tushan with me!"

"Monk! As long as you are with me, you will have an endless supply of natural treasures at your disposal. I can help you climb steadily upward, straight into the Upper Three Realms!"

"From this day forward, no one would ever dare harm you! I am Tushan's Holy Woman, Tushan's future leader. All of Tushan will belong to you in the end!"

"Monk," her gaze burned as she looked at him, her voice carrying the last thread of hope, "would you... be willing?"

"But Miss Jingci," Xiao Mo shook his head gently, his voice low and slow, yet carrying an unshakable resolve, "I... am a monk..."

"What of it!"

The moment Xiao Mo's words settled, Tushan Jingci cried out sharply, sweeping her wide sleeve violently through the air.

In an instant, over a hundred trees to the left were uprooted entirely, leveled to flat ground.

"I do not care whether you are a layman or a monk! I do not care whether you are a Daoist or a sword immortal!" Her voice was clear and resolute, carrying both longing and unwillingness to yield. "You are you! And I want only you!"

Tushan Jingci's tone bordered on obsessive madness, the rims of her eyes already flushed red.

As though every word Xiao Mo might say next would test the very limit of what she could bear.

"I am sorry... young lady..." Xiao Mo shook his head again.

He pressed his hands together and gave a low bow, his voice carrying a note of apology, yet also unshakable resolve. "This humble monk has already said everything there is to say. I ask the young lady to take good care of herself."

With that, Xiao Mo turned and walked step by step up the mountain but in the next instant, Tushan Jingci's figure vanished from where she stood, appearing suddenly before him, blocking his path.

Xiao Mo stopped walking.

A longsword, gleaming with cold light, was already pointed at his throat.

The hand gripping the longsword trembled faintly, and Tushan Jingci's once light and pleasant voice now carried an uncontainable note of weeping, along with an almost obsessive resolve. "Come with me! Or... I will kill you!"

Xiao Mo lowered his head and glanced at the longsword held before him.

He did not step back. Instead, he stepped forward.

The tip of the blade cut into his skin, and drops of crimson blood slowly seeped out, sliding down the cold blade.

Xiao Mo continued walking forward.

With each step he took forward, Tushan Jingci's sword drew back a little further.

At last, Xiao Mo and Tushan Jingci passed each other, brushing shoulders and Tushan Jingci seemed to have all the strength drained from her at once, the longsword slipping from her hand and clattering to the ground.

She stood where she was, head bowed, and heard only Xiao Mo's footsteps growing more and more distant, softer and softer.

"Monk..."

Tushan Jingci's voice came from behind him, drifting softly into Xiao Mo's ears, every word carrying a devastated, lost quality.

"You said... monastics do not tell falsehoods, did you not?"

"Yes." Xiao Mo stopped and answered quietly.

"Then let me ask you one last thing." The woman gripped her hands tightly together, her fingers interlaced, her reddened nails nearly piercing her own palms. "In your heart... have you ever, even once, liked me?"

Between the two of them, silence fell once more.

As though in this moment, everything in the world had stopped.

Some time passed before Xiao Mo finally spoke slowly.

His voice was not loud, but every word landed like a heavy stone, pressing down on Tushan Jingci's heart, one after another.

"This humble monk has always only thought of Miss Jingci as a friend. In my heart... there has never been any romantic feeling."

The moment the words settled, Xiao Mo walked up Four Void Mountain, and did not look back.

The woman stood rooted to the spot, unmoving, like a statue that had lost its soul.

She did not know how long she stood there.

A rumble of thunder.

Above the sky, dark clouds gathered and gathered, pressing down heavily, blocking out the last threads of daylight.

Torrential rain poured down, raindrops striking the leaves, soaking the earth, drenching her plain white dress.

"It is raining, it is raining!"

At Four Void Temple, the little monk Xu Jing, who had still been sweeping the ground with his head down, one hand holding a sutra and the other his broom, hurried toward the shelter of the main hall's eaves.

Not paying attention to his feet, Xu Jing ran headlong into someone.

"Abbot..." Xu Jing quickly steadied himself and gave a proper bow. "Were you not annotating the sutras? Why have you come outside?"

"Can this old monk not come out for a breath of fresh air?" Master Yuankong laughed and gave Xu Jing's head a light tap, then raised his gaze to look at the curtain of rain pouring down from the vast sky.

"Grandfather Abbot," Xu Jing said, tilting his face up with curiosity, "just a moment ago the sky was clear and everything was fine. Why has it suddenly started raining so hard?"

"Because..." Yuankong let out a quiet sigh, his tone distant and wistful. "This is the Buddhist path lamenting."

"Lamenting?" Xu Jing scratched his own smooth head, thoroughly confused. "Lamenting what, Grandfather Abbot? Why do you always speak in riddles that I cannot understand?"

Listening to his young disciple's stream of complaints, Yuankong was not angered, only asking calmly, "Xu Jing, let me ask you this. What are the ten precepts of the Buddhist path?"

"This disciple knows that one." Xu Jing counted earnestly on his fingers, reciting as he went. "Not to kill, not to steal, not to engage in sexual misconduct, not to lie, not to drink alcohol, not to adorn oneself, not to sing, dance, or watch entertainments, not to sit on high or luxurious beds, not to eat at improper times, not to accumulate gold, silver, or treasure."

"That is correct." Yuankong gave a nod, his gaze still fixed on the pouring rain overhead.

"And this Buddhist path..."

He paused, his voice drifting quietly through the sound of the wind and rain, carrying a note of quiet sighing.

"Is precisely lamenting..."

"Lamenting that a monk of boundless promise on the Buddhist path, one who had held to his precepts so faithfully all this while, has, in the end... broken his vows after all."