1843 Monk Hushu's Offer

Lin Mu had no idea that there were multiple people talking about him.

He also didn't know that the request he had received back at the Black Candle Pavilion was linked to all of them. Whether it was fate or luck, he was now a part of it all.

~huu~

A deep breath was let out as Lin Mu opened his eyes. He was still floating in the air, and the lotus platform underneath him had become very faint. 

It was clear that the platform was almost out of energy now and could no longer maintain its form.

"You're finally awake!" Lin Mu heard a surprised voice. 

"Come quick, Daoist Mu Lin is awake!" the voice spoke again, causing several presences to appear.

These were none other than Crown Prince Feng Shun, Crown Princess Shang, Daoist Chu, Commander Dui as well as Monk Hushu who had been monitoring him.

Lin Mu could see that they were all dressed in different clothes and and reckoned some time had passed.

"How long has it been?" Lin Mu asked, checking his body.

"It's been a little over six days." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "I must admit, I didn't expect you to go through all this." He added.

"Go through what?" Lin Mu questioned furrowing his brows but then realized the changes in his body. 'I'm fully healed?' he sensed.

Crown Prince Feng Shun noticed the slight change in expression and understood what Lin Mu was thinking. "Guess you figured it out too now." He said before gesturing to Monk Hushu. "It's best you tell him."

"Yes." Monk Hushu said walking to to the front. "Daoist Mu Lin… I am honored to inform you that you have been baptized by the Buddhist energies." The bald man said before bringing his hands together in a praying gesture.

"As a monk of the Green Lotus Temple, I welcome you. Amithabha~" The man formally greeted.

Lin Mu was a bit taken aback by this and didn't speak right away.

"I… was baptized by the Buddhist energies? But how?" Lin Mu wondered as the memories returned to him. "Was it from the technique you used?" he asked.

"Indeed. The technique wasn't intended for that, but your body is naturally inclined to the Buddhist path and took it as the baptism." Monk Hushu answered. "I am surprised that you never knew this… and that no one else noticed it so far." He had genuine confusion about this.

'Considering that Daoist Mu Lin does have a master, they should have been able to tell that he has a natural affinity to the Buddhist path.' Monk Hushu thought before realizing something. 'Or they might have decided against it since they were teaching Mu Lin differently. The master's path might be of the Sword Path or the body tempering path perhaps.' He questioned the possibilities.

Lin Mu already had an answer for this as he had thought about this beforehand. It wasn't just the Buddhist path either, he had actually thought of a possible scenario where his affinity to the other paths would be revealed to others.

As such Xukong had advised him to think about what he would be telling others.

Thankfully, the first one to be revealed was the Buddhist path which was of the orthodox paths. It was considered righteous, pure and peaceful. 

As such, majority of the cultivation world would not take offense to them and had a genial or neutral approach to them.

It was also the best cover for Lin Mu, as being part of the Buddhist factions meant that he would never be thought of belonging to the Demonic path or even the Devil Path.

The Demonic path was still fine as several powers considered them violent but reasonable. But the Devil path was entirely different.

Even those of the unorthodox path would be enemies with the devil path as the practitioners of the Devil path would kill everyone regardless of their background.

People of the Devil path fought and killed people of their path too, thus their enmity was equally applied against all. Very few factions actually had positive relations with practitioner of the devil path and they were hard to maintain.

Most of the time it was an arrangement of mutual benefit. Thus when the benefit ran out, the relationship would turn sour before eventually breaking apart.

"What does this mean for me?" Lin Mu finally asked, seeing that the monk had greeted him formally which was limited to the people of the Buddhist path.

"As a member of the Buddhist path, I am obliging to invite you to our temple." Monk Hushu spoke calmly. "The choice is up to you of course, but I assure you that your treatment will be nothing less than excellent.

In fact, I can state on my personal belief that you shall be chosen by the abbot himself to be guided. I know that you already have a master and as such might not want to become the disciple of another person, but our temple does not discriminate in this.

They were fine guiding people on the Buddhist path and are always willing to accept excellent people like you." He explained in detail.

Hearing the offer, Lin Mu was flattered.

'Just like Senior Xukong had said in the past, people of the Buddhist path would openly accept me if I ever wish to go there.' Lin Mu recalled. 

"Thus I ask you, Daoist Mu Lin… Would you be willing to come with me to the Green Lotus Temple?" Monk Hushu questioned slight anxiousness on his face.

~sigh~

"I do not think I can do that." Lin Mu rejected him. "I still have a lot of goals to fulfill and joining a Buddhist temple is not something that will fit my goals." 

"I see…" Monk Hushu's face showed a bit of disappointment but he quickly shook it off. 'Considering his capabilities it is normal for him to not limit himself to one power. Plus we don't know what else is hidden in his background.' He thought.