Chapter 15: Bodhi

## Chapter Fifteen: Bodhi

"What's wrong?" Pang Bo's voice reached Ye Fan's ears, as he vigorously shook Ye Fan's shoulder.

Ye Fan awoke as if from a dream. There was no Buddhist chant, no solemn singing; the ancient temple remained, covered in a thick layer of dust. The others seemed to have heard nothing at all.

"Is this really the Great Thunderclap Temple?" he murmured to himself. What he had just heard and seen, though brief, felt incredibly real. This left him in a daze, pondering deeply.

Ye Fan gazed at the ancient bronze lamp in his hand, but it no longer felt special. It was adorned with some ancient, natural, and ordinary patterns, showing no hint of anything unusual.

"A prayer mat!" a male student exclaimed, unearthing an old cushion from a pile of ashes. Time had failed to obliterate it.

Soon after, a female student found a purple sandalwood prayer bead beneath the thick dust. It was completely undamaged by the passage of time; after the dust was blown away, it still retained a faint luster.

At the same time, Cade discovered half of a broken wooden fish in the dust before the stone Buddha. Carved upon it were three lifelike Bodhisattvas, depicted as either solemn or compassionate.

At this moment, Ye Fan's mind raced. If this truly was the legendary Great Thunderclap Temple, a place abandoned by deities, then all the unearthed artifacts must be extraordinary!

"Clang!"

Wang Ziwen's foot seemed to hit something, producing a metallic resonance. He dug away the dust in that corner, revealing a broken bronze bell, about the size of a palm, with a missing section of its wall and an ancient design.

"Clang..." He shook the bell, and a melodious chime instantly resonated, like a lingering Buddhist sound, bringing peace to the mind.

Ye Fan's thoughts were interrupted, and he couldn't help but look at the bronze bell. It was inscribed with flowing cloud patterns, simple yet imbued with Zen meaning and Buddhist charm.

Pang Bo muttered softly. He had entered the ancient temple first but found nothing, a testament to his ill fortune.

Almost simultaneously, Li Xiaoman found half of a jade Ruyi scepter at the foot of the stone Buddha. After she wiped away the dust, the clear, translucent broken jade immediately shimmered with faint points of light.

The ancient temple appeared empty, yet several people had found artifacts beneath the accumulated dust. The others immediately sprang into action, eagerly searching as well.

Ye Fan paid little attention to those artifacts. With the ancient bronze lamp in his hand—the only spotless, perfectly preserved, and perpetually glowing item in the temple—other objects clearly could not compare.

"I refuse to believe I won't find anything..." Pang Bo grumbled.

"Search carefully here, and collect anything you find," Ye Fan said, handing the ancient lamp to Pang Bo so he could use its light to search. Although the broken Buddhist artifacts didn't appear miraculous at the moment, Ye Fan knew that if deities truly existed, these items must be extraordinary!

Ye Fan temporarily entrusted the bronze lamp to Pang Bo, then stepped out of the ancient hall and walked towards the Bodhi tree in front of the temple. By now, he had shed his initial skepticism, allowing himself to believe, for the moment, that deities truly existed.

Since the ancient temple was the Great Thunderclap Temple, he couldn't possibly overlook the accompanying Bodhi tree. If Buddhas existed in the world, that withered ancient tree must be extraordinary!

The Bodhi tree is a sacred Buddhist tree. According to records in "Records of the Western Regions by the Great Tang Dynasty," the Buddha once told Ananda that there are three types of objects in the world that should be venerated: Buddha's relics, Buddha's images, and Bodhi trees.

This is because the Buddha attained enlightenment under a Bodhi tree, and to see a Bodhi tree is like seeing the Buddha.

The withered ancient tree before him was as robust as a coiled dragon, too wide for six or seven people to encircle. Its main trunk was hollow. Only one withered branch, hanging two to three meters above the ground, bore six emerald-green leaves, sparkling and translucent like green agate.

Regardless of whether this ancient tree was connected to the Buddha, those six jade-like green leaves alone were enough to demonstrate its extraordinary nature.

Ye Fan approached and carefully examined the ancient Bodhi tree. Its enormous branches almost completely overhung the ancient temple; if fully covered in leaves, one could imagine it obscuring the sky.

Just then, Ye Fan's heart stirred. He noticed faint, almost invisible green wisps emanating from the six translucent green leaves. A small portion drifted towards the distant five-colored altar, while the majority seeped into the tree's roots.

The green wisps, delicate as threads, continuously flowed from the six green leaves, conveying a sense of life and an endless surge of vibrant vitality.

Ye Fan crouched down and dug away the soil at the tree's base, wanting to see what lay beneath that could possibly condense the green wisps emanating from the Bodhi leaves.

Beneath the soil, he saw nothing miraculous, only a single Bodhi seed. It didn't shimmer, gather radiance, or emit any glow. Its color was dull and ordinary; if one weren't paying attention, it could easily be mistaken for a clod of dirt.

Its only special feature was its size: ordinary Bodhi seeds are no bigger than a fingernail, but this dull Bodhi seed was as large as a walnut.

Ye Fan was astonished. Could the green wisps emanating from the Bodhi leaves be absorbed by it? After observing for a moment, he saw the thread-like green wisps flow downwards, but they vanished about three inches away from the Bodhi seed.

Although he didn't witness it absorbing the essence of the Bodhi leaves directly, he could almost certainly confirm it was responsible for their disappearance.

Ye Fan cradled the Bodhi seed in his palm. Upon closer inspection, a look of surprise crossed his face: the natural patterns on this dull and ordinary Bodhi seed, when connected, formed the image of a compassionate Buddha!

The Buddha image was naturally formed, arising purely from the interplay of natural textures, yet it appeared as if meticulously carved onto the surface.

The dull Buddha image was ancient and natural, faintly exuding a sense of Zen.

"A naturally formed Buddha image... Could it be that Sakyamuni truly attained enlightenment because of the Bodhi tree 2500 years ago?"

The Bodhi tree also has other names: the Tree of Wisdom, the Tree of Enlightenment, the Tree of Thought. Legend says it can awaken one's divine nature and lead to self-realization.

Ye Fan held the Bodhi seed above his head, facing the six green leaves. The rate at which the green wisps emanated immediately accelerated significantly, and the vibrant life force grew denser, all converging towards the Bodhi seed. Of course, the light still vanished three inches away from it.

"Pop!"

A soft sound reached his ears. One of the translucent Bodhi leaves released its final wisp of green light, then disintegrated into dust, floating downwards.

At this point, Ye Fan finally confirmed that the Bodhi seed, though seemingly unremarkable, was indeed extraordinary. He carefully put it away.

It was then that he noticed a lot of powder on the ground, identical to the dust from the disintegrating Bodhi leaf. Could it be that all the leaves on the Bodhi tree disappeared this way? This greatly surprised Ye Fan.

The Bodhi seed with the naturally formed Buddha image felt incredibly significant to him. He vaguely sensed it was even more important than the ancient bronze lamp that had always accompanied the stone Buddha.

There were still five green leaves on the ancient Bodhi tree, but they were not as translucent as before, having dulled considerably. Ye Fan did not pick them. Finding one Bodhi seed was enough, and he didn't want to draw attention to himself.

No one had emerged from the Great Thunderclap Temple yet. Ye Fan left the Bodhi tree and returned to the ancient temple.

At this moment, another seven or eight people had found various Buddhist artifacts. Liu Yunzhi, surprisingly, found half of a golden vajra scepter behind the stone Buddha. Although it had been buried in the dust for countless years, it still gleamed brilliantly upon re-excavation, conveying a sense of heavy, condensed power. Had one end not been damaged, it could have been considered a perfect and potent masterpiece of craftsmanship.

This staff-like implement is known in Buddhism by the powerful name 'Vajra,' indirectly signifying "destroyer of foes." It symbolizes invincible and indestructible wisdom and true Buddha-nature, serving as the ritual implement held by various revered saints.

If Buddhas truly existed in the world, this Vajra would undoubtedly be a sacred object, surely displaying extraordinary phenomena. It would be no surprise if it possessed mysterious powers capable of splitting mountains and cleaving rivers; however, at present, no miraculous qualities were discernible.

Liu Yunzhi swung it with force. The half-Vajra sliced through the air like a golden lightning bolt, shining brightly, and the sacred implement possessed an imposing presence.

"What if," Liu Yunzhi mused, "these artifacts were once wielded by deities? If we discovered how to use them, imagine the earth-shattering events that could unfold..."

Hearing Liu Yunzhi's words, everyone who had found a Buddhist artifact was filled with longing.