Chapter 18: The Theory of Merit and Virtue

  "Little one, although you've been in this world for over three months now, I'm afraid you still know nothing about it." Old White didn't immediately give Xiao Fan an answer, instead asking him such a question.

  "What's the point of asking that?" Xiao Fan was slightly stunned, not understanding why Lao Bai asked this, but in his heart, he acknowledged that although he had inherited the memories of this body, this body had been ignorant and useless before, knowing nothing about this world.

  "This world is big, bigger than you can imagine." Lao Bai seemed to have sighed, leaving Xiao Fan bewildered and unable to understand why this guy had become so sentimental.

  "You've only just arrived in this world for more than three months, and you don't understand much more than I do." Xiao Fan gave it a white eye, himself having gained some understanding of this world from the memories of this body, but this guy had just arrived in this world and understood even less about it.

  "Never mind, never mind, you'll understand these things later." Old White muttered to himself, his tone surprisingly carrying a rare hint of dejection.

  "Now let's talk about ways to quickly recover your spiritual power."

  "As soon as he finished speaking, he listened intently." As soon as Old White began to speak seriously, Xiao Fan's expression turned solemn and he looked at Old White very seriously.

  "There are actually many ways to restore your spiritual sea, it's just that none of them suit you now."

  "It's useless if it doesn't fit, it's simply nonsense." Xiao Fan muttered.

  "In your current situation, there is only one way that suits you." Old White said: "Buddhism has the concept of merit, do you believe it?" As he spoke, Old White's pea-sized eyes stared tightly at Xiao Fan.

  "My past self would have definitely not believed in these things, but now I should believe them." Xiao Fan let out a bitter laugh. In his previous life, he had received a scientific education and naturally didn't believe in these mythological events. However, after coming to this world and seeing all the strange and wondrous things, everything broke through Xiao Fan's former worldview, forcing him to believe in these facts.

  "Indeed, the scope you were exposed to in the past was too small, and you didn't know the wonders of this world at all." Old White said: "Not only does the Huaxia world have Buddhism, but this world also has Buddhism. Moreover, Buddhism is extremely powerful, and its influence is even broader than in the Huaxia world. Therefore, I want to tell you that the method to repair your spiritual sea of consciousness is related to Buddhism, which is to accumulate the power of merit."

  Lao Bai said, "The power of merit is indeed mysterious and subtle, so much so that ordinary people, even powerful cultivators, may not be able to feel its existence. However, it does exist, and the power of merit has boundless wonderful uses. The most important point is that the power of merit can affect your fortune."

  "Qi Yun? Is it just luck?" Xiao Fan didn't understand.

  "Qì yùn can be said to be good luck, but it's not that simple. Qì yùn is very mysterious, everyone has their own qì yùn, and each person's qì yùn is different. Those with strong qì yùn are truly one-of-a-kind, they can pick up a divine artifact on the road, kill an old demon king with just a brick, or find a small stone that turns out to be a priceless treasure... Although these things sound unbelievable, there have indeed been people like this in the past. They were all favored by heaven and had a smooth journey to becoming a top-notch expert." Old White's eyes lit up as he spoke, his front paws gesturing wildly with excitement.

  "Uh-huh, luck is crucial." Xiao Fan nodded repeatedly with a look of being enlightened, then asked dazedly: "But, what you said about luck, how does it relate to healing the damage to my spiritual sea?"

  At first, seeing Xiao Fan listening to him so seriously, Lao Bai's emotions were stirred up, and he nodded secretly. However, Xiao Fan's next words made Lao Bai's words come to an abrupt halt, his two front paws awkwardly suspended in mid-air. It was certain that if one could see his face clearly at this moment, his expression would be extremely vivid.

  "You know what, these things are not passed down casually, generally only some powerful sects' true disciples can know after reaching a certain level of cultivation. I'm telling you in advance, and you're still not satisfied." Old White was indeed an old turtle with a thick skin, he looked at Xiao Fan with great disdain and said: "You young man really have no vision, when your cultivation reaches a certain level in the future, you will understand how precious the things this old turtle is telling you today are."

  "I just want to recover from the spiritual injury as soon as possible." Xiao Fan was speechless, although he thought that Lao Bai's storytelling was not bad and could be used to pass the time when bored. However, at this moment, he really didn't have the mood to listen to Lao Bai's story, his spiritual sea was injured and it hurt badly right now.

  "It's simple, just do some good deeds during this period of time, best if you can save the lives of a thousand or eight hundred million people, then you'll get enough merit to recover from your spiritual sea injury," said Old White.

  "Save the lives of 1.8 billion people? The entire Xuan Shan City has a population of just over 10 million, and you want me to save tens of millions of people from Xuan Shan City? Not to mention whether I have that ability or not, even if I do, how can I possibly save so many people? Besides, I'm not some kind of medical god or immortal, how am I supposed to save them?" As soon as Xiao Fan heard this sentence, he almost fainted.

  Saving the lives of 1.8 billion people, even if not the greatest kindness in the world, is still very close; countless Buddhist monks and nuns have been doing good deeds everywhere for that little bit of merit, but I've never heard of any Buddhist disciple who has really saved more than 10 million people.

  "You're so stupid and you don't even admit it." Old White looked at Xiao Fang with great disdain, saying slowly: "This turtle immortal is only providing a method, whether or not you can do it depends on yourself."

  He said, without waiting for Xiao Fan to speak, his front paws slightly shook, and a small black ball suddenly appeared. The small ball was about the size of an egg, and it looked completely black, with nothing special about it.

  "There's nothing special about it?" Xiao Fan took a closer look and handed it back to Lao Bai: "This black glass ball is really ugly."

  "How uncultured!" Old White looked at Xiao Fan with disdain: "If this pearl were to be taken to Buddhism, countless Buddhist disciples would fight for it, enough to exchange for several spiritual instruments. Since you don't want it, I'll just take it back." As he spoke, he reached out to take the pearl back.

  Xiao Fan's eyes lit up as soon as he heard it, and he quickly snatched it over, holding it tightly in his hand. "What kind of treasure is this little ball?" he asked. "Is it a top-grade spiritual artifact? It can actually be exchanged for several spiritual artifacts."

  The spiritual instrument is extremely rare, even if the entire Xuan Mountain City has never seen a single spiritual instrument, Master Wang once said that wanting to refine a spiritual instrument would already make the entire Xuan Mountain City sensational, let alone several ready-made spiritual instruments. Although Xiao Fan doesn't believe this black bead is worth several spiritual instruments, if it's really worth one spiritual instrument, then for Xiao Fan, this bead is the most precious treasure. How can Xiao Fan not be moved?

  If Master Wang were to find out about the existence of this pearl, he would probably be unable to remain calm.

  "This bead is not a spiritual tool, but it can collect the power of merit and the power of faith. With it, you can gather enough meritorious power to heal your injuries."

  "This time, Old White didn't continue to sell guanzi, but instead continued to say: "The power of merit is very difficult to obtain, not because there are few good people, on the contrary, this world still has many good people, and when they do good deeds, the heavenly way also bestows the power of merit. However, the power of merit is too little, it cannot be stored, and after a period of time, it will disperse with the wind and cannot exert its true effect. But this pearl can store up every thread of the power of merit you receive, when the power of merit accumulates to a certain amount, even if you are a strong saint, you won't dare to harm yourself. I've said too much, you don't understand, in short, after having this pearl, you can collect every thread of the power of merit that the heavenly way bestows upon you, when the power of merit reaches a certain level, it will guide out the power of merit inside, wanting to let your injuries recover is simply extremely simple, and even for your future cultivation path, it has a great use."

  Xiao Fan played with the beads in his hand and said, "It seems to be of some use. But when I gather countless merits and virtues, what if someone snatches this bead away? Wouldn't it all be for nothing?"

  "Don't worry, I'll help you refine this pearl. Ordinary people can't snatch it away from you. If someone is able to snatch it away, then you're just out of luck." Old White said.

  As he said, ordinary cultivators are unable to snatch away already refined magical treasures. If it was really snatched away, the opponent's strength must be extremely powerful. In this case, if Xiao Fan can come out alive, it would already be a stroke of luck.

  "What needs to be said has been said, now let's help you refine this pearl." Old White said as he darted in front of Xiao Fan, his right claw swiping across Xiao Fan's palm. Instantly, Xiao Fan felt a sharp pain and blood gushed out from the wound.

  "What are you doing?" Xiao Fang had just opened his mouth to complain when he saw Lao Bai stuff the pearl into the wound.

  Only to see that the pearl encountered Xiao Fan's blood, it actually absorbed all of the blood without a single drop leaking out. Moreover, what was even more miraculous was that the pearl actively entered Xiao Fan's palm from his wound, then squirmed and slowly entered into Xiao Fan's body.

  Xiao Fan could feel that the bead was slowly crawling up his arm, moving upwards to his brain, and then seemed to stop inside his head. As for anything else, Xiao Fan couldn't sense it anymore.

  When Xiao Fan was surprised, he suddenly felt that there were some more information in his mind. After careful consideration, he found that the information was about how to use this pearl.

  The method of use is not difficult, and the bead has been integrated into Xiao Fan's body. Even if Xiao Fan's current strength is only at the peak of the Tempering Body Realm and has not yet cultivated his Yuan Qi, he can still use this bead.

  "Alright, what I had to do has been done. Remember, you can't let outsiders know that you have this pearl, otherwise, it will stir up big trouble." Old White said solemnly.

  Lao Bai said: "From now on, how to obtain the power of faith can only rely on yourself. This tortoise immortal will leave for a period of time and come back to find you two years later. By then, you should be able to accept the true sacred body inheritance."

  Lao Bai said he would leave, and then he was gone, completely out of character. After saying that, his figure flashed in the void and suddenly disappeared without a trace. Xiao Fan couldn't see how he had vanished.

  "This guy just left without any hesitation, but it's really a difficult problem to obtain the powerful merit power."