Chapter Seventy-Three: The Observations of the Bodhi Path

  It's almost noon now, and the small restaurant is empty and quiet, with no customers at all. Inside, there was only Xiaoting's sobbing sound.

  Ye Fan dragged a wild boar and carried some rice flour, pushing open the door of the small shop and walking in.

  Xiao Tingting's eyes were red, she was carefully wiping the wound of the elderly with a hot towel, her heart ached, and she cried sadly while wiping.

  The old man's face, full of wrinkles, had a series of dark bruises, and the fresh blood was mainly flowing from his mouth and nose. Even his scattered white hair was stained with blood.

  "How could these bastards bring themselves to do such a thing..." Ye Fan felt a pang in his heart, an elderly good man who had lived through the vicissitudes of life encountered such a vicious hand, it was really infuriating. Little Tingting was so lovely and sensible, only five or six years old, also being pointed at on the forehead, fell to the ground, at this moment her small face was covered with tears of sadness, it really made people feel heartache and pity.

  "Big brother......" Seeing Ye Fan return, the tears in Xiao Tingting's eyes immediately rolled out again, and she started wailing.

  "Ting Ting, don't cry, Grandpa is fine." The old man hastily comforted Ting Ting with his wrinkled hands wiping away her tears. Then he looked at Ye Fan in surprise and said: "This raccoon dog still has these grains of rice..."

  "The rabbit is what I caught in the mountain forest, and the wheat flour was exchanged for a musk deer head." Ye Fan put these things down, then took out a small jade bottle from his bosom, pulled out the stopper, poured out some hundred-herb liquid, and applied it to the old man's wound.

  "You just had a meal with us, no need to be like this..." The old man was not good at talking, very grateful, but couldn't say anything.

  "Uncle, you don't need to say anything more. A meal is indeed nothing much, but the thought and affection behind it are very heavy." As he said this, Ye Fan squatted down and helped Xiaoting wipe away her tears, saying: "Tingting, don't cry. From now on, I'll stay here and won't let you suffer anymore."

  "Big brother..." Xiao Tingting's eyes turned red again, her long eyelashes trembling slightly as tears fell down. She looked down at her patched shoes and said in a low voice: "But... those bad people will come again, they'll bully us again."

  "Don't be afraid, big brother won't let those bad people bully Tingting again." Ye Fan gently stroked her head, such a lovely and sensible little girl, yet being bullied by others, it's really hard to calm down.

  "Child, don't be reckless." The old man, weathered from the storms of life, sensed Ye Fan's anger and feared that this young man would impulsively stir up a great calamity, dragging himself in as well. He said: "We can't afford to provoke them, the Li family has cultivators, fundamentally not someone ordinary people like us can afford to provoke."

  The old man let out a long sigh and said, "I'm already at this age, I really don't want to leave my hometown, after all, I've lived here for decades. As people get older, they miss the old days more, and I have feelings that are hard to let go of towards this place. But now, I have no choice but to leave, for Tingting's sake, I've decided to put everything down here, even if it means begging, leaving my hometown, I won't stay here anymore."

  "Grandpa..." Two lines of tears instantly appeared on Xiaoting's face again.

  "Ting Ting, don't cry. Don't mention leaving home for now, old man." Ye Fan comforted Little Ting Ting and said to the old man: "Don't worry, I won't cause any trouble. First, let's close this small shop, then I'll think of a way. If all else fails, I'll leave with you guys."

  Ye Fan knew deeply that ordinary people have many unfortunate things, the most painful is losing a child in old age and being forced to leave their hometown. The old man had already lost his son, now he was being forced to leave this small town again, the bitterness in his heart can be imagined, he really didn't want to see this pair of grandfather and grandson encounter misfortune.

  "Tell me in detail, what kind of background does the Li family have."

  "What are you going to do, kid? We're packing up and leaving tomorrow, never coming back. Whatever you do, don't provoke them now."

  "I'm not a reckless person, don't worry."

  Finally, under Ye Fan's constant questioning, the old man finally said something.

  The Li family is the most prominent household in this town, and it's said that three or four of their family members are cultivating immortality outside. Immortals are extremely mysterious to ordinary people and can't be seen normally, so the townspeople are all very afraid of the Li family.

  Ye Fan felt that the old man still had some things he hadn't said, such as the good situation of the Jiang family in the past, having a wine tower in the town, and why his son suddenly passed away, etc., none of which were mentioned.

  "Ting Ting, go get a towel and warm it up with hot water for Grandpa." After the old man pushed Ting Ting away, he said: "Young man, I know you're not an ordinary child. At such a young age, you can already hunt down a wild goat, so you probably understand some cultivation methods too. But I still advise you not to provoke the Li family..."

  The old man continued, his son and daughter-in-law were also cultivators, a few years ago they were highly valued in a certain immortal sect, even the Li family in the town had a good relationship with them and did not want to easily offend them.

  "Yanxia Cave Heaven......" Ye Fan was extremely surprised, the old man's son's sect was actually one of the six cave heavens and blessed lands in Yan State, only over 200 miles away from the small town.

  Several members of the Li family were also cultivating in the Yunxia Cave, one of whom entered the door almost at the same time as the old man's son, but his achievements were far behind.

  "That child of the Li family is deceitful and unscrupulous, did something evil, my child was too honest and couldn't help but take action, resulting in a deep-seated grudge..."

  Ting Ting's father was exceptionally talented, and in the Smoke and Mist Cave, he was particularly respected. He wasn't afraid of Li family's disciple who entered at the same time as him. However, heaven has unpredictable storms and people have unexpected disasters, two years ago, Ting Ting's parents went out to collect spiritual medicine but unfortunately died under the claws of a lightning bird.

  After Tingting's parents died, the Li family had no scruples and first snatched away the old man's wine tower, and then took away his inn, forcing this poor grandfather-granddaughter duo to the present situation, but still not letting go.

  At this time, Xiaoting walked back with a warm towel, looking delicate and pretty like a porcelain doll, but she said something that didn't match her young age: "Why is it always the good people who get bullied, while the bad ones live to be a hundred..."

  Listening to her childish words and looking at her wronged expression, Ye Fan and the old man looked at each other in silence, not knowing how to comfort her.

  "There are still many good people in this world, Tingting just sees one side of it, everything will get better later on..." Ye Fan didn't want her young heart to produce negative emotions too early.

  "Yes, your elder brother is a good person, helping us like this. He and Tingting will both live to be 100 years old." The old man showed a kind smile and said: "Today I'll cook some deer meat for Tingting to eat."

  The old man followed Ye Fan's suggestion and closed the small restaurant. At noon, the three of them had a sumptuous big meal. Xiaoting's little face was red and puffy, and she finally smiled again.

  In the afternoon, Ye Fan wandered around the town for a few rounds, figured out Li's family business, and where the old man was robbed of his wine house and inn. Later, he also indirectly learned about many situations from other people's mouths.

  He didn't want to act rashly, fearing that he would implicate the old man and Little Tingting, helping others but ultimately harming them, which was the most tragic thing.

  "There were several people in the Li family who were cultivating in the Yunxia Cave...” Ye Fan felt very uncertain, after all, he had just started cultivating. And this was not even the worst part, the most troublesome thing was that there was someone in the Li family who was cultivating outside of Yandi in a super immortal sect, and seemed to have achieved great things.

  "The Li family is indeed not easy to mess with, it seems that we need to think of other ways." This made Ye Fan even more determined in his cultivation beliefs, he must become stronger, otherwise doing things would be restrictive and difficult, wanting to help Old Man Jiang and the poor little Tingting take revenge would be hard to carry out smoothly.

  "Those bastards who made a move today will not be let off." Ye Fan did not rush to take action, as impulsiveness would only lead to trouble. He calmly returned to the small restaurant, and after entering his room, he began to meditate. Having obtained the golden book and mysterious green copper, he had yet to carefully examine them. Now, he decided to start with the golden book first.

  He revolved the mysterious Taoist principles of the "Tao Te Ching", and began to look inward. A golden sea of suffering, like a divine wheel, stood still in the darkness, with an ancient, majestic green bronze block at its center, unmoving as a mountain, silent as a whisper.

  The golden page was squeezed to the edge of the bitter sea, with a brilliant light flowing and flashing out in waves of divine glory. The dense small characters on it were like stars, shining with a golden aura, sacred yet elusive. This golden page seemed to want to return to the center of the bitter sea, but no matter how magnificent its divine splendor was, it could not shake the green copper at all, and could only wander around the edge of the bitter sea.

  Ye Fan's mind was completely immersed in the golden book of the bitter sea, but he encountered the same trouble as before. The brilliant golden book emitted a light like golden needles from every small character, causing his mind to ache violently and making it impossible for him to see the characters clearly.

  "How could this be? Is there no way to cultivate the profound methods in this Golden Book?" Ye Fan furrowed his brow, it was as if he had a treasure mountain, but couldn't take out any wealth, not even a single copper coin.

  Suddenly, Ye Fan seemed to have thought of something and reached into his bosom.

  A dull gray lotus seed the size of a walnut appeared in his hand, with natural lines on it that connected to form a pattern of a Buddha.

  The Buddha statue is naturally formed, completely evolved from nature, dark, ancient, and natural, with a hint of Zen rhyme emanating from it.

  "The Bodhi tree can help people attain enlightenment, I'll try using this Bodhi seed to see!" Ye Fan was precisely because of this Bodhi seed that he obtained a mysterious ancient scripture in the bronze ancient coffin. At this moment, he couldn't watch the golden book's recorded profound methods, so he thought of trying with this extraordinary Bodhi seed.

  Bodhi tree, also known as Wisdom Tree, Enlightenment Tree, Thinking Tree, is said to awaken human divinity and self-awareness.

  As Ye Fan grasped the Bodhi seed, he began to activate the profound method recorded in the Dao Jing. In an instant, a golden thread burst out of the sea of suffering and converged towards the Bodhi seed.

  At this moment, he didn't know if it was an illusion or the Bodhi seed really worked, but he felt a sense of emptiness and tranquility in his heart. He began to introspect again, gazing at that page of golden scripture.

  "It really works……" Ye Fan was amazed, the Bodhi seed made his heart feel empty and clear, his mind was calm and peaceful, easily seeing through the golden light, clearly reading the ancient characters on the golden paper, those sharp golden lights that were like golden needles piercing his eyes seemed to have softened all at once, no longer hurting his eyes.

  "I've opened a treasure!" Even with the Bodhi seed in hand, Ye Fan's heart was still hard to calm down, extremely excited, he opened the complete "Taoist Scripture" Lun Hai Volume.

  Ancient characters transformed into divine splendor, ceaselessly imprinting his heart and soul like a multitude of stars shining brightly.