Chapter 82: Entering the Realm of Zen

Seeing Zhao Mingyi and Zhao Hu trembling in fear for their lives, Lin Le felt a wave of disgust. There was some truth to what they said: killing people like them would indeed dirty his hands. Such trash didn’t even deserve to be killed by him!

“You don’t want to die?” Lin Le’s voice was icy.

Hearing this, the Zhao father and son sensed a glimmer of hope and nodded frantically, like chickens pecking at grain.

“Yes, yes, we don’t want to die! Please, Brother Le, spare us!” Zhao Mingyi looked at Lin Le with desperate hope.

“Fine. I won’t kill you. But tonight, you must leave Haizhou completely, and never set foot here again for the rest of your lives!” Lin Le never wanted to see these two ever again.

“Yes, yes, we’ll leave right away and never return to offend your eyes.” Zhao Mingyi nodded hurriedly. Zhao Hu, beside him, was so frightened his soul seemed lost, only able to nod in agreement.

“And the villa at Shengshi Huating you swindled from my father—you must return it to the Lin family immediately!” Though that villa was somewhat old and worn, it was a place filled with beautiful memories for Lin Le’s family, and he was determined to reclaim it.

“Yes, yes, that villa was originally tricked from President Lin. After we leave tonight, we’ll immediately arrange for it to be renovated and hand it back to you, Brother Le.” Zhao Mingyi, terrified Lin Le might change his mind and kill them, quickly offered this gesture to curry favor.

Lin Le was reasonably satisfied with his reply.

“Lastly...,” Lin Le glanced at his own car nearby.

The once pristine Phideon was now battered beyond recognition after the fierce battle.

“This car was a gift from Elder Gu. I heard it’s a global limited edition, valued at a hundred million. Now that you’ve wrecked it, shouldn’t you compensate me at full price?”

Global limited edition? Nonsense. He was just looking to squeeze them.

“A hundred million?” Hearing the figure, Zhao Mingyi’s mouth twitched involuntarily.

Come on, even if the car were made of pure gold, it wouldn’t be worth that much!

“What, are you saying Elder Gu lied to me?” Lin Le put on a puzzled look. “Should I call and ask him?”

“No, no, that’s not necessary. A hundred million it is. I’ll transfer the money first thing tomorrow morning!” Zhao Mingyi knew full well he was being fleeced, but dared not utter a single objection. If he could keep his life, what else mattered?

“Um, Brother Le, any other requests?” Zhao Mingyi asked cautiously.

“No. Now you may leave!” Lin Le said indifferently.

“Yes, yes, we’ll leave right now, immediately!”

Zhao Mingyi and Zhao Hu didn’t dare linger another second. They scrambled into their car, started it tremblingly, and vanished from Lin Le’s sight in moments.

Once they were gone, Lin Le let out a pained cry and collapsed to his knees.

The truth was, after his earth-shattering punch that defeated Tu Manjiang, the backlash from the fierce spiritual energy had already left him with internal injuries. His final blow, shattering the tree, had drained his last reserves, merely to intimidate Wu Dong and his group so they wouldn’t dare harbor any more malicious intent.

By the time he dealt with the Zhao father and son, Lin Le’s strength was already no different from an ordinary person. If Zhao Mingyi and Zhao Hu had joined forces, he might not have been able to resist them! Thankfully, the two were cowards, intimidated by his previous display, and didn’t dare resist.

“Damn it, when it rains it pours. I can’t let this happen again,” Lin Le cursed inwardly.

When he returned to the Longxi Mountain villa, it was nearly midnight.

Everything that had happened today left Lin Le feeling unprecedentedly weak.

Back at the villa, he hurried to sit in meditation, activating the Lingxiao Technique to absorb the spiritual energy from the mountain peak.

Two hours later, under the effect of the Lingxiao Technique, the depleted true essence in his body was somewhat replenished, but the internal injuries he had sustained from forcibly absorbing spiritual energy would take longer to heal. Only through continuous absorption could he gradually recover.

The method of forcibly absorbing spiritual energy instantaneously via the Lingxiao Technique was fraught with drawbacks, and Lin Le resolved to use it sparingly in the future.

Once his body had somewhat recovered, Lin Le lay on his bed, recalling what had happened earlier at Xu Xier’s home.

Xu Xier’s heart, wrapped in countless swastika symbols, and her strange condition were truly bizarre. What could it be...?

Suddenly, inspiration struck Lin Le. He remembered something.

In the memories of Emperor Lingxiao, there had been a similar situation to Xu Xier’s.

Thousands of years ago, when Emperor Lingxiao’s soul traversed from a distant world into the body of a tribal chief from ancient times, he witnessed the transmission of ancient Buddhist teachings.

From Emperor Lingxiao’s memories, Lin Le learned of something called the “Buddha Heart.”

According to Emperor Lingxiao, those with profound Buddhist cultivation could cultivate a Buddha Heart, achieve a golden body, and ascend beyond ordinary mortals, becoming higher beings no different from true Buddhas!

Such higher beings, in fact, were what the Daoists called the Innate Realm.

Buddhism and Daoism appeared to be distinct sects, yet in reality, they shared deep connections. In many ways, their teachings mirrored each other.

Xu Xier’s heart, wrapped in countless swastika symbols, immediately reminded Lin Le of the Buddha Heart.

But then, doubt arose in his mind.

The Buddha Heart was not something ordinary people could possess. Only those with extremely deep Buddhist insight who reached the “Zen Entry” stage could hope to cultivate it.

The so-called Zen Entry was equivalent to the Daoist “Entering the Path” in cultivation.

In Daoist cultivation, only those who reached a certain level and obtained the right teachings could enter the path and become true inner disciples.

Buddhist cultivation was the same: reaching the Zen Entry stage was no easy feat.

Moreover, Zen Entry was merely the starting point for cultivating the Buddha Heart. Truly achieving a Buddha Heart was comparable to reaching the Innate or even Golden Core realms in Daoist cultivation. Such a level was exceedingly difficult to attain!

But what about Xu Xier?

She was only about Lin Le’s age, and it was absolutely impossible for her to have cultivated a Buddha Heart.

How did she acquire it? Was it, like himself, due to some special encounter?

If that was the case, then Xu Xier should also be a highly skilled Buddhist cultivator. Yet Lin Le sensed no cultivation from her whatsoever.

More importantly, the Buddha Heart hadn’t brought her any improvement in cultivation; instead, it caused her endless pain. Clearly, her physical body was too frail to control the powerful energy within the Buddha Heart, resulting in the backlash.

To resolve the issue, either Xu Xier’s body had to be strengthened so she could fully control the Buddha Heart, or the Buddha Heart itself had to be addressed.

At this point, Lin Le felt he had begun to grasp the solution to Xu Xier’s situation.

However, with his current cultivation only at the early Foundation Establishment stage, helping Xu Xier resolve her troubles completely was still difficult.

It seemed only after he improved his cultivation further could he truly help her.

For now, he could only use the cumbersome Nine True Essence Burning Technique to maintain the status quo.

Thinking of this, Lin Le sighed deeply.

“Xier, my dear Xier, what trouble have you gotten yourself into, little girl...?”