The master did not answer immediately.
Instead, he stared at Shen Sangyu’s eyes, no, more precisely, he stared at her right eye for a long time.
Then, as though he hadn’t heard her question at all, he said calmly, “The sarira in the main hall turned to powder yesterday morning…”
What?
Yesterday morning?
Wasn’t that exactly when she had been reborn?
Although she had already considered the possibility that the sarira might not appear in the Beijing Museum as smoothly as it had in her previous life, she had never imagined that it would simply turn into powder!
And, apparently, she had somehow ended up taking it into her own possession right on the spot!
In both her previous life and this one, Shen Sangyu had never felt so awkward.
Her throat felt as though someone had grabbed it.
“Master, I…”
She had absolutely no way to explain everything that had happened to her, let alone why the sarira had turned into powder.
“Young friend, there is no need to be nervous. This is also a blessing that has come your way. Perhaps you are simply destined to have a connection with Buddha.”
The master gently rolled the prayer beads between his fingers as he spoke, his voice reassuring.
“I can see that you have a broad forehead and clear, bright eyes. Since the sarira chose you, perhaps this is simply fate. Why don’t you take a look at the rear hall today?”
After saying this, the master stood up.
Was he telling her to leave?
And asking her to go look at the rear hall?
Before Shen Sangyu could ask, the master merely waved his sleeve and gestured for her to head outside.
“Young friend, my Dharma name is Bukong. If you ever encounter something you cannot understand, you may come find me…”
…
There was a narrow path lined with green bamboo leading from Master Bukong’s meditation room to the rear hall.
Shen Sangyu walked slowly through the bamboo grove.
Although this was part of Chongfu Temple, the rear hall clearly wasn’t an area open to ordinary visitors.
She hadn’t seen a single person along the way.
“Third Master, we’re almost out of time. Should I go and urge Master Bukong?”
Shen Sangyu had just passed through a covered corridor when she caught sight of the rear hall in the distance, partially hidden behind the bamboo.
She was about to take another step when a respectful male voice reached her ears.
Someone was here?
“No need. Someone has arrived.”
The reply was calm and utterly devoid of emotion.
The voice was slightly deep, with a faint roughness to it that seemed to brush across her eardrums.
It was obviously cold and detached, yet somehow irresistibly alluring and sensual.
Shen Sangyu had heard them mention Master Bukong.
She couldn’t help thinking to herself, Could these two have been tricked into coming here by Master Bukong too?
She quickened her pace and soon arrived in front of the rear hall.
She was just about to speak when she saw the man standing behind one of the round pillars in front of the hall.
The legendary ruthless big shot?!
The lone star of misfortune whose fate had been switched with someone else’s in her previous life?
Third Master Fu?
Third Master!
Fu Yingqi!
He simply stood there.
At around 1.9 meters tall, he wore a black suit beneath a long gray overcoat.
His presence was as cold and aloof as a snow-covered pine, lonely yet unmistakably noble.
Shen Sangyu happened to meet his eyes when he casually glanced in her direction.
His gaze was deep and unfathomable.
His sharply defined face held nothing but indifference.
Seeing Shen Sangyu suddenly appear instead of the person they had been expecting, the man standing beside Fu Yingqi looked somewhat surprised.
Fang Li had never expected that the person Master Bukong had told Third Master to wait for, the person destined to cross paths with him, would actually be a woman!
And not just any woman.
She was an extraordinarily beautiful woman with an almost otherworldly appearance!
Everyone knew that Third Master had been told since childhood that his fate was marked by shallow family ties. In all twenty-five years of his life, there had barely been any women around him.
It’s just…
Well, this destined person looked a little young…
No!
What was he even thinking?!
Assistant Fang immediately pulled his thoughts back and cleared his throat.
“Ahem…”
He was just about to introduce himself to Shen Sangyu when Fu Yingqi, standing less than an arm’s length away, spoke softly.
It was almost as though he were afraid of startling her.
“Miss, was it Master Bukong who asked you to come here?”
Assistant Fang gave his boss a strange look.
Master Bukong had already said that the first person Third Master encountered here would be the person destined to cross paths with him!
Why ask?
And what was with that tone?
Shen Sangyu had already recovered from her initial shock.
She gave Fu Yingqi a sweet smile and obediently nodded.
“Yes, Master Bukong asked me to come to the rear hall. Did I disturb you?”
She had always had a favorable impression of this legendary ruthless big shot.
After all, in her previous life, he had indirectly helped the Shen family as well.
But why wasn’t he in the capital?
Why had he come all the way to Haishi?
And to Chongfu Temple, of all places?
From what she could hear, they had also come here to find Master Bukong.
While Shen Sangyu was lost in thought, she failed to notice just how much that casual, sweet smile of hers had affected Fu Yingqi.
Fragments of green bamboo leaves drifted down around them, forming a striking contrast against the girl’s rosy lips.
Fu Yingqi was caught off guard by her radiant eyes and bright smile.
For a moment, he froze.
He suppressed the sudden urge to reach out and touch the girl’s lips, his hands remaining firmly at his sides.
Only after a long moment did he answer.
“You didn’t disturb us. Would you mind coming over to the bamboo pavilion so we can talk?”
“Ah… sure.”
Shen Sangyu was also eager to figure out why Master Bukong had specifically sent her to the rear hall to find Fu Yingqi.
As they walked, Shen Sangyu noticed something unusual.
Fu Yingqi habitually kept a distance of roughly one arm’s length from everyone around him.
Whether he was walking or simply standing still, he maintained the same distance.
So…
The rumors from her previous life that anyone who got too close to Fu Yingqi would suffer bad luck were actually true!
“Excuse me, Mr….”
“My surname is Fu. I’m the third son in my family. You can call me Fu San.”
Shen Sangyu certainly didn’t dare do that.
This was the powerful Third Master of the Fu family in the capital!
Not to mention the political influence wielded by the Fu family’s eldest and second branches, even the third branch’s power in the business world was enough to make her cautious.
There was no way she would casually call him by his nickname.
“…Mr. Fu, my name is Shen Sangyu. Did Master Bukong tell you anything?”
Seeing the slight distance in Shen Sangyu’s tone, Fu Yingqi’s eyes flickered.
His long, powerful fingers gently rolled the Buddhist prayer beads around his wrist.
“He didn’t. Originally, I wanted to borrow the sarira from Bukong for a while. But… I heard that the sarira has already turned into powder.”
All right.
She understood everything now.
This was all her fault!
He needed the sarira, but she had taken it for herself!
Fu Yingqi had personally traveled all the way from the capital to Haishi.
That sarira must have been extremely important to him at this point in his life.
Shen Sangyu couldn’t help feeling a little guilty.
Fu Yingqi’s search for the sarira probably had something to do with the ominous aura surrounding him.
She had taken a few extra glances at him earlier.
In her previous life, she had only ever seen him in financial magazines and television interviews.
Now that she was seeing him in person, she was certainly stunned by his exceptional appearance.
But more importantly, through her Relic Eye, she could see the thick black mist lingering around the meridians throughout Fu Yingqi’s body.
The black mist coiled around his meridians, giving her the faint impression that it was trying to devour everything in its path.
Shen Sangyu suddenly remembered the ancient book she had read.
Could this be the “ghost aura” mentioned in that book?
Sarira could purify ghost aura.
So that was why Master Bukong had sent her to the rear hall.
He wanted her to help Fu Yingqi!
Seeing that Shen Sangyu hadn’t answered, Assistant Fang hesitated for a long time before finally speaking.
“Miss Shen, Master Bukong said that you are Third Master’s destined person. You can resolve the predicament Third Master is facing right now…”