The children hadn't taken a proper look at the monastery before because they were far too tired after climbing the stairs. However, now that they had gained some energy and started observing their surroundings, they couldn't but gasp in amazement.

In front of them was a huge gate with two large statues of monks, meditating on each side of the gate.

Yun Ling used his Divine Eyes to inspect the statues which Monk Wang Yang had noticed.

"Do not disturb them," Monk Wang Yang strictly told him. "They are meditating."

Yun Ling merely smiled at him.

"I didn't disturb them," Yun Ling responded. The only way he would disturb the statues would be if he showed some ill intention towards them. If he did show some ill intention towards those statues, they would be alarmed right away.

Yun Xia heard what Monk Wang Yang said to her papa and how her papa responded to him. She then looked at the statues in curiosity before looking at her papa as she asked, "Papa, are those statues alive?"

After hearing Yun Xia ask that question, the children turned to Yun Ling, waiting for his answer. They too were curious about the statues especially after hearing a little bit of what Yun Ling and the monk talked about.

Yun Ling nodded his head.

"They are alive... at least for now," Yun Ling answered.

"For now?"

Yun Ling smiled at their inquisitive minds and further explained.

"Under the stone statues are monks who are nearing the end of their life trying to mummify themselves while they are still alive. It's a really excruciating, dozens of year-long processes. In the span of dozens of years, they starved, dehydrated, and poisoned themselves, all the while meditating in a trance state inside those statues to achieve enlightenment and veneration," Yun Ling said, making the students gasp at how unnerving that was.

Though Yun Ling already explained that what they did was so that they could attain enlightenment, they couldn't understand why people would do that to themselves like the monks inside the statues.

Yun Ling could understand Yun Xia and his student's reactions since they were just children who didn't know much of the world yet. When they grow up and their horizons widened, then maybe they would start to understand the monks' inside the statues.

"Don't they feel pain, Papa?" Yun Xia asked worriedly.

"Pain is nothing. It is all in the mind. If one trains their mind properly, they can no longer feel pain," Monk Wang Yang answered Yun Xia's question before Yun Ling could.

"Even if they want to feel pain, I believe that is no longer possible," Yun Ling said as he watched the statues with his Divine Eyes. "Since both of them are about to reach their limits, they can no longer feel anything. Within a year, they will finally die."

That was actually one of the reasons why Yun Ling wasn't too worried about disturbing them. No matter what he was going to do, those two wouldn't move unless they feel a threat either for them or for the Great Buddhist Monastery.

"They won't die. They will just be in an eternal state of meditation," Monk Wang Yang argued.

"My eyes say otherwise."

"You might have the Divine Eyes but even the Divine Eyes cannot see everything."

Yun Ling smiled at him.

"Monk, do you want to engage in a debate with me?" Yun Ling asked with a narrowed eyes despite smiling at him.

At the side, the children looked at Yun Ling and Monk Wang Yang back and forth and slowly backed away as they sensed some tension between the two of them. On the other hand, Snow Fang ignored them as he picked up the unconscious Yun Feng and placed him on his back.

Monk Wang Yang was about to agree to Yun Ling's challenge but then, he stopped himself from doing just that and shook his head.

"I want to but I'm afraid I cannot. If we debate right now, it might take forever to convince that stubborn mind of yours," Monk Wang Yang said, trying to jab at Yun Ling a bit.

Yun Ling's brows twitched but he didn't let his words affect him.

"You're speaking as if you're any different," Yun Ling said coolly.

"Anyway, we are busy right now since tomorrow, we are going to the Law God Sect and cooperate with them to deal with the immortal in the Thousand Mountain Valley."

Yun Ling raised a brow.

"So you are going too. It makes sense since you are Tathagata's direct disciple, the core disciple of the Great Buddhist Monastery."

Yun Ling was told by his father who was informed by the emperor that many sects were bringing their most talented disciples with them so that they could gain experience in the upcoming war against the immortal. It was also one of the reasons why the emperor was planning on bringing the top ten of the Golden Dragon Elections with him. It would seem that even the Great Buddhist Monastery was doing the same.

"If you had stayed here, Tathagata would've also taken you in as a disciple," Monk Wang Yang said wistfully. He really wanted Yun Ling to stay in the Great Buddhist Monastery so that they could cultivate and gain enlightenment together.

Yun Ling didn't know how to respond to that. In the entire Great Buddhist Monastery, the only one that Monk Wang Yang was close to in his generation was Yun Ling. The latter also felt the same. Among the thousands of monks in their generation in the Great Buddhist Monastery, Monk Wang Yang was the one that Yun Ling treated as a friend.

"You might have lots of faults more than an average person does but we all can change. Isn't that one of the purposes of Buddhism? To develop morality, to meditate, and to attain wisdom, all to achieve enlightenment," Monk Wang Yang said. "If you had devoted yourself to Buddhism, the next Tathagata would be you. In time, I believe that you can even become Buddha."