"For real? Let see."
Yang Zi rushed over to Wu Yan, snatched the sphere, and held it under the sunlight to examine it closely.
"Hey, there really is sothing! It's hard to spot indoors, you can only see it when the light shines on it."
This got everyone excited. They all crowded around, eager to see what was so unusual.
But the sphere was only so big, and the area where the Copper Armor was scraped off was even smaller. Only one person could look at a ti, leaving the others to ask curiously from the side, "What is it?"
Yang Zi said uncertainly, "I can't see it clearly. It looks like so kind of impurities?"
She reached out and handed the sphere to Lin Xue, "Xuexue, your eyesight is better than mine. See if it's impurities."
Lin Xue cradled the sphere and observed it in the sunlight for a good while, then frowned. "The color of these things is very faint, and they're neatly arranged. They don't look like impurities. But I can't tell what they are either; they're too small."
That was true. The dozen or so Golden Water Bodhi beads encased in the Copper Armor were individually only about the size of a thumb. The things hidden inside were as thin as a strand of hair, making them very difficult to see clearly.
Zhao Yuan took the sphere and studied it carefully for a mont. Even though his vision had greatly improved after reaching the Marrow Cleansing Realm, he still couldn't make out what these tiny things inside the Golden Water Bodhi were. He just had a feeling they looked like words.
"Words?"
Hearing Zhao Yuan's guess, everyone grew even more curious.
"How could there be words inside a Golden Water Bodhi? Are they naturally ford? Or did soone carve them in?" Liu Zhu's jaw dropped as he fired off several questions.
Yang Zi, however, was excited and urged, "I'm more curious about what the words say. Xiaoyuanzi, take a good look. See if you can make out any of the characters."
Zhao Yuan shook his head. "They're too small, I can't see them clearly. Besides, I'm just guessing. I can't guarantee they're actually words."
Yang Zi sighed. "They really are too small. If only we had a magnifying glass."
Lin Xue's eyes darted. She left the private room again and ca back a mont later with a magnifying glass.
Liu Zhu was astonished. "Holy crap, are you Doraemon? How do you pull out whatever we need?"
Lin Xue smiled and explained, "When I went to borrow the fruit knife earlier, I saw soone in the main hall using a magnifying glass to appreciate calligraphy and paintings. When I heard you guys say you needed one, I guessed the teahouse might have one on hand. I decided to ask the owner, and it turns out they did, so I borrowed it."
Zhao Yuan gave her a thumbs-up and praised, "You're the smart one!"
With the help of the magnifying glass, Zhao Yuan was finally able to see the true form of these "hair strands."
They really were words!
But because they were magnified, the characters were a bit blurry and distorted. Zhao Yuan had to guess as he read them out, character by character: "Dispelling dust and returning to brightness. This ans the Bodhisattva eliminates darkness and dispels dust, returning one's nature to brightness. It enables all dim-witted people without a kind heart to distance themselves from ignorance and darkness. This is fearlessness."
Liu Zhu, Lin Xue, and the others looked at each other in confusion.
"What does that an?"
"It sounds like a passage from a scripture, doesn't it?"
"I think so too. It even ntions a Bodhisattva. Hey, it couldn't be a Buddhist sutra, could it?"
After a brief silence, everyone started talking at once.
"Everyone, quiet down. I'll look it up online."
Yang Zi pulled out her phone, quickly opened a search engine, and typed in the words Zhao Yuan had just recited. She found the source of the quote in no ti.
"Found it, found it! This passage is from the Fourteen Fearless Ones." Yang Zi said, reading the description on her phone. "The encyclopedia says this is when Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, with the Vajra Samadhi Non-action Wondrous Power, shares the sa compassion with all sentient beings of the ten directions, three worlds, and six realms, allowing them to attain the fourteen kinds of fearless rits..."
"Even though I don't get it, it sounds pretty amazing." The others were a little lost, but one thing was very clear to them.
The words inside this Golden Water Bodhi were one of the Fourteen Fearless Ones of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva. A Golden Water Bodhi itself wasn't worth much, but with such a passage hidden inside, its value beca extraordinary! People would even buy it if you called it a treasure of the Buddhist Sect.
'This text probably wasn't Innately ford. Soone must have carved it into the Golden Water Bodhi. But how did they do it?' This question popped into everyone's mind at the sa ti.
Although the Copper Armor wasn't completely peeled off, they could see that this Golden Water Bodhi was whole, with no breaks or cracks. And the text wasn't carved on the surface but was located deep inside, which was simply mind-boggling.
What kind of miraculous technique could be used to carve a passage of scripture deep inside an object without damaging its exterior?
Even with today's advanced technology, that would be impossible, right?
The group broke into a flurry of discussion.
Zhao Yuan didn't join in, because an explanation for these Golden Water Bodhi beads had already appeared on the Information Leaf.
Fourteen Fearless Pearls.
Nourished by years of incense and the Wish Power of believers, they gave birth to Qi. Under the chanting of Buddhist Sect High Monks, this Qi materialized from the ethereal into solid form, creating the text of the Fourteen Fearless Ones. Each pearl represents one of the fearless ones, and they have the power to ward off evil, suppress negative forces, and ensure safety!
'So the words inside the Golden Water Bodhi are all made of Qi! Using Qi to form scriptures... what an incredible feat. I wonder which High Monk was responsible for this masterpiece? Oh, right. Gatekeeper Lions usually co in a male-female pair, each holding a Spiritual Pearl in its mouth. Since this one produced the Fourteen Fearless Pearls, the other one must be extraordinary too.'
Thinking of this, Zhao Yuan took out his phone and started searching for Buddhist Temples in and around Jinling, hoping to deduce the origin of this Spiritual Pearl.
He didn't think much of it until he looked, but the results gave him a shock.
There were quite a few Buddhist Temples inside and outside of Jinling, and many of them had produced High Monks. Figuring out where this Spiritual Pearl ca from was not going to be an easy task.
Besides, since this Spiritual Pearl had been taken out and sold, the other one had surely t the sa fate. Asking Xing Hong would be useless; if he knew the origin of the Spiritual Pearl, he wouldn't have sold a treasure like it was junk on his stall.
A flash of inspiration suddenly struck Zhao Yuan. 'Maybe I can try using the Tracking Technique.'
This thod seed very promising. Zhao Yuan imdiately decided that once he got back to the hotel, he would try using the Tracking Technique to find the other Spiritual Pearl.
Yang Zi and the others discussed for a good while longer but couldn't reach a conclusion, so they had to drop it.
One thing, however, they were very sure of.
Zhao Yuan had struck gold!
If these Golden Water Bodhi beads were worth only ten or twenty thousand yuan before, now they were likely worth one or two hundred thousand, or even one or two million! Or perhaps even more!
The group once again proposed that Zhao Yuan should treat them.
"No problem!"
Zhao Yuan thumped his chest loudly, looking very magnanimous.
"When we have duck blood noodle soup later, I'll treat each of you to a tea egg!"
"Damn it!" Seven middle fingers were pointed at Zhao Yuan as everyone said in unison, "You're so damn cheap!"
PS: Four-chapter burst complete. Requesting votes and donations! More tomorrow!
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