The Monastery

The next day at noon, Wu Shang Tang picked up Jia Bi Yu and brought him outside of A City.

Located on top of a lush green mountain next to the metropolis was an ancient Buddhist monastery.

Surrounding the monastery in the center was a big courtyard made of stone with elaborate carvings.

Wu Shang Tang had parked at the feet of the mountain and the two of them hiked their way to the top.

Arriving at the bottom of a large stone paved staircase, a young monk who was sweeping the temple grounds spotted them.

The young monk leaned the broomstick inside of his left elbow and brought both of his palms together at shoulder height.

His thumbs were against chest and fingers pointed upwards.

"Namaste," he bowed slightly in greeting.

Wu Shang Tang copied the young monk's actions and greeted back.

Still at a lost, Jia Bi Yu also did the same.

"Namaste."

The two then climbed their way up to the top of the stairs, finally reaching the entrance of the temple.

Jia Bi Yu followed Wu Shang Tang to wash his hands at a fountain right next to the entrance.

They each took the wooden ladle to scoop up some water onto their hands before taking a small sip from it and rinsed their mouths.

Having done a simple purification, they walked into the temple.

A whiff of incense seeps through their nostrils and into their body and soft hums of mantra chanting can be heard from all corners.

Seated on a cushion in the very center facing the big Buddha statue was an old monk.

One of his hands was holding prayer beads and the other was holding a small wooden mallet and hitting a wooden block at a constant rhythm.

Each time the mallet strikes the block, the old monk moves one of the beads back with his thumb.

Wu Shang Tang and Jia Bi Yu kneeled down on cushions behind the old monk and brought their hands together in prayer to the Buddha.

They both sat in silence and waited for the old monk to acknowledge their presence.

When the old monk finally finished, he stood up and turned his whole body towards the two and offered a Buddhist greeting.

"Namaste."

"Namaste," they both greeted back.

"You have come again, Benefactor," the old monk said to Wu Shang Tang.

"Abbot, I am here today to borrow your training grounds," Wu Shang Tang replied. "This here is my martial arts master, Jia Bi Yu."

"Amitābha. My dharma name is Shi Su Xuan Wa," the Abbot introduced himself to Jia Bi Yu. "I am the head of this monastery."

"Namaste Abbot," Jia Bi Yu gave a Buddhist greeting.

"Us meeting here today is preordained by fate," the Abbot did a few unknown calculations by pressing his thumb against different fingers.

He opened his eyes in surprise and glanced down at Jia Bi Yu.

Restraining back his shock, he put his palms back together, "Namo Amitābha."

"May Buddha bless you, foreign one," he said mysteriously.

Jia Bi Yu looked up at the Abbot with slightly enlarged pupils.

[This world really does have a lot of mysterious masters. My identity was found out so easily.]

Besides the initial emotions shown, the Abbot did not show any other curiosity towards Jia Bi Yu.

In his calculations, he had found that Jia Bi Yu was not a person of Earth.

The Abbot did not know exactly where he came from and just assumed he was from a higher realm.

He did not know his purpose for coming to the mortal realm, but sensed no malice from this otherworldly being.

The Abbot personally led Wu Shang Tang and Jia Bi Yu to the monastery training grounds in the back.