The more you believe me, the more real it becomes.

Chapter 109 Buddha, our karma is settled!
In the stables of the post station, the richly dressed young man had just settled the karmic debt with the old monk using a few broken tiles.

He continued to mutter to the horse he had brought back, as if he could use it to make the horse understand his spirit.

After muttering to himself for a long time, seeing that the horse was still just smacking its lips and chewing the hay with relish, the young master couldn't help but sigh and curse angrily:

"I was tricked by those 'miscellaneous' people after all! In the end, I still have to rely on myself!"

Having said that, he took out a tattered scroll from his robes and held it up to the horse:

"My horse, my horse, don't underestimate this incomplete piece. This is the Lotus Sutra, renowned throughout the world for its understanding of the I Ching!"

“In the past, even a simple outline of laws would have been enough for countless powerful demons to beg me to give it to them!”

"Now that we have a deep connection, I'm entrusting this to you. You must learn it quickly, and then take me away from this awful place as soon as possible!"

The horse merely snorted dismissively, then lowered its head and continued chewing its grass.

"You don't want to learn, huh? Fine, if you don't want to learn, I'll read it to you! You have to learn today whether you like it or not!"

As he spoke, he unfolded the tattered scroll, intending to recite it for the horse he had swindled.

But just as he was about to speak, a voice suddenly came from the side:
"Uh, is this thing of yours so precious? Should I avoid it?"

Huh?! Someone's there?
Wait, what's behind me?!
The elegantly dressed young man turned his head in astonishment and was shocked to see a tall horse with a crimson mane chewing on a carrot while staring at him blankly!
After a long pause, the elegantly dressed young man finally uttered in disbelief:
"Was that you speaking?!"

"Yes, it was me speaking." The red-maned horse was so startled that it forgot to chew its carrot, its eyes wide open. "You, you don't know horses can talk? What were you doing just now?!"

It thought that since this person knew about cultivation and was reciting the Dharma to the horse, he must be a fellow practitioner, so it spoke up to remind him, not afraid of scaring him.

Just as I was pondering what to do next, the other person suddenly looked up to the sky and sighed, their voice filled with despair:
"Of course I know Arima can talk."

This answer only confused the Red-Maned Horseman more:

"Then what are you surprised about?"

The elegantly dressed young man raised his hand and placed it in front of his eyes, saying:

"I'm thinking... maybe I should gouge out these eyes and end it all!"

"Why is that?!"

The red-maned horse was so shocked that it spat out the radish bits in its mouth. How did it suddenly jump to gouging out its own eyeballs?

Is this person crazy?

The elegantly dressed young man, his face covered in radish bits, wiped his face and said with increasing despair:
"I pride myself on having eyes that are unmatched throughout history. Yet, in just a few days, I have made one mistake after another. If I had said before that my skills were not refined enough and my cultivation was insufficient, and that was why I could not recognize the Buddha even when it was right in front of me..."

He lowered his head dejectedly, his gaze falling on the horse-like face that clearly wore the mark of "foolishness," and he felt a pang of heartache.

"How could even we be so mistaken?!"

The other party hasn't realized that this seems to belittle it.

With its neck raised, the red-maned horse proudly shook its mane, even the radish bits hanging from its mouth swayed, and its voice was loud and clear, yet brimming with an air of self-righteous pride:
"Of course! I was personally enlightened by a Living Buddha, who also praised the naturally intelligent spirit horse!"

The elegantly dressed young man's mouth twisted in disgust:

"You? You're naturally gifted?!"

Even if it's a spirit horse, how did they come to say it's born with innate intelligence?

These words made the other person laugh awkwardly:

"Hehe, okay, actually he never praised me like that, but the Living Buddha did say I was a spirit horse!" The richly dressed young man nodded reluctantly.
"Hmm, that's more like it. Wait a minute? A Living Buddha?!"

The elegantly dressed young man, realizing what was happening too late, gaped wide-eyed.

"Yes, a Living Buddha!"

"Could it be that his short hair, lack of a cassock or monk's robe, and unusually youthful appearance make him seem even younger?"

Even from this far away, they still can't escape the Buddha's karmic ties?!
The red-maned horse was overjoyed and said:
"Yes, you've met the Living Buddha too?! My name is Red Stone, what's your name, brother? And what's this guy called again?"

Red Stone was deep in thought, completely unaware of the increasingly wide-open mouth of the elegantly dressed young man.

Suddenly, it jerked its head, its mane flying wildly, as if a bright lamp had been lit on its head:
"I remember now, what a coincidence! We are all connected to the Living Buddha!"

"Do not--!!!"

"Huh? What's wrong?"

The sudden, loud scream startled Red Stone, causing him to stumble.

The elegantly dressed young man seemed to have been burned by the words "fate," waving his hands and backing away repeatedly, speaking as quickly as if he were shooing away a plague god:
"No fate, no fate, you and I are completely unrelated! Here, take this! Remember it, our karma ends here! No more entanglement!"

While the elegantly dressed young man kept denying it, he shoved the tattered page in his hand into Red Stone's mouth.

After saying that, he was about to ride away on the horse he had stolen.

But as soon as he led the horse out of the stable, he saw a great light shining from the direction of Qingzhou.

Upon witnessing this scene, the elegantly dressed young man immediately fell silent and looked up at the sky:

"You can still see it from this far away? Is this really a sign of impending doom?!"

After a while, a sprightly young man in fine clothes suddenly looked at the red-maned horse that was still confused about the situation.

Immediately, he knocked on the door, waking up the sleepy-eyed waiter.

The waiter, who had initially intended to scold the person for disturbing his peaceful sleep, quickly changed his expression and smiled obsequiously upon seeing the newcomer:
"Young Master Wang, what brings you here?"

The richly dressed young man, without a word, shoved the reins into his hand and said:
“This is a top-quality Hequ horse. It’s worth at least seventy or eighty taels of silver. Here, I’ll trade it for that donkey.”

Before he could finish speaking, and before the stunned waiter could recover, he had already jumped onto the donkey's back.

"Giddy up! Giddy up! Let's go!"

The richly dressed young man slapped the donkey's rump hard. The donkey, in pain, let out a reluctant bray and carried him wobbling out of the inn's backyard, disappearing into the thick night in the blink of an eye.

The bewildered waiter and the red stone, still with the fragment of the text stuffed in his mouth, stared at each other wide-eyed.
-
On the other side, the elegantly dressed young man, who had already run more than ten miles under the cover of night, felt slightly relieved after glancing at the vanished Buddha light.

"Oh dear, even though we're so far away, I'm still entangled in your karma. Buddha, you've really put me through a lot of trouble!"

But after saying that, looking at the donkey beneath him, he felt a surge of self-satisfaction.

"Hehe, the last karmic connection between you and me, Buddha, was that spirit horse. Now, not only have I severed all ties with it, but I've also traded my own horse for this donkey. It's a clean break!"

In immense satisfaction, he stroked his own non-existent long beard and said:
"The most wonderful thing is that you, Buddha, have a very deep karmic connection with that person, so even you have already reached the Great Dao and the Earth. But the southwest I am going to is a place of good water for the Great Dao, which not only directly contradicts your current Great Dao, but also directly opposes that person."

"Between you and me, there is absolutely no possibility of any further entanglement of cause and effect!"

The elegantly dressed young man riding a donkey laughed loudly and rode away.

(End of this chapter)