When Tathagata asked him that, Yun Ling raised a brow at him as he asked with curiosity, "Do you want me to convert to Buddhism?"

Tathagata smiled at him and shook his head. Though Tathagata hid it well, there was a look of disappointment in his eyes that hadn't gone unnoticed to Yun Ling when he asked him that question.

"In practice, Buddhism might seem like a religion from the outsider's perspective, however, Buddhism is a philosophy. It is a way of life, the philosophy of the universal truth. Therefore, you cannot convert into it since it is not a religion," Tathagata said as he gave Yun Ling a deep look. "You stayed here for a while, you should've known that."

Yun Ling let out a sigh as he responded, "I'm not a good student."

"Simply because your mind isn't in the proper place. In your first few months of stay here, you were trying so hard to tempt Wang Yang here instead of learning the doctrines," Tathagata said as he gave him a knowing smile.

"You knew?" Yun Ling asked.

"I knew."

It was at this moment that the children finally noticed Tathagata who was talking to Yun Ling while Monk Wang Yang stood silently at the side.

"Who is that?" one of the children asked Shi Zhong. They asked him since he was the only one among all of them who were listening to Yun Ling and Monk Wang Yang's conversation earlier, well, if they had to exclude Yun Xia. However, they asked Shi Zhong instead of Yun Xia because they were much closer to him.

Shi Zhong looked at Tathagata and shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know but he seemed like a big shot seeing how Master and master's friend are acting towards him," Shi Zhong responded.

Snow Fang looked at the children.

"Do not disturb them," he told the children though his Divine Sense to which they complied. They had no intention of doing that in the first place since that would just be rude.

"Ugh," Yun Feng groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. He sat up and found himself on a blanket placed on the floor with Yue Dongmei lying unconsciously a few meters away from him.

He was placed there by Snow Fang after Yun Ling placed Yue Dongmei on the blanket. However, since Yun Feng was unconscious the whole time after climbing the stairs, he had no idea about that.

"You're finally awake," Snow Fang said as he came near Yun Feng.

Yun Feng looked at Snow Fang with a tired gaze.

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"I finally know how the formations in the stairs worked... Snow Fang, how did you manage to bypass the formations?" he asked curiously.

Yun Feng wasn't able to get it right away but he later found out that the formations in the staircase would put more pressure in an individual the more impure thoughts he had. With that in mind, he just had to remove the impure thoughts in his mind to counter that.

That was the most logical thing to do.

However, that was easier said than done. He might have been able to stop thinking of improper things but the formations went even beyond that. It could also see the improper thoughts hidden in the deepest parts of his mind. In the end, he really wasn't able to bypass the formations. He just climbed the staircase forcefully and went past his limits. That was why after climbing the top, he lost his consciousness.

"Oh, you mean that pressure... I just endured it," Snow Fang answered.

As a response to his answer, Yun Feng looked at him speechlessly.

While Yun Feng and Snow Fang talked to each other, Yun Ling finally noticed that his younger brother had finally woken up though he just ignored him as he continued talking to Tathagata and Monk Wang Yang.

"Do you know? I really wanted to take you as my disciple," Tathagata started.

Monk Wang Yang didn't have any reaction since he had long since known about that. He felt the same as Tathagata. He wanted Yun Ling to become Tathagata's disciple just like him so they could both study together and achieve enlightenment in their world which was full of suffering.

"Is it because I'm a Divine Being that you want me to be your disciple?" Yun Ling asked. He really wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.

"No," Tathagata answered. "I wouldn't treat you any differently just because you are a Divine Being. In my eyes, all living beings are the same. I might be Tathagata and you might be a Divine Being but we are the same just as you and Wang Yang are the same."

"Then why?"

Tathagata looked at him and said, "Every living being has a Buddha nature inside them but it is suppressed by the pleasures that this world has to offer. The reason why I want to take you in as my disciple is to cleanse your heart from those pleasures and make that Buddha nature come out."

Yun Ling sighed at him.

"You can't even cleanse the heart of the monks in this monastery... what makes you think that you can clean mine?" Yun Ling was referring to the hypocritical monks in the monastery when he said that. "Why are you not cleansing their hearts instead?"

Tathagata answered, "I have all the time I need to cleanse their heart since they aren't going anywhere but it is not the same for you. You won't stay here for long. That is why I wanted to take you as my disciple so I will have enough time to do that. It is the way that I've thought of to make you stay here."

Yun Ling closed his eyes for a moment before responding.

"It is a really tempting offer but I'm afraid I'll have to refuse..."

Tathagata wasn't surprised by his response nor was he disappointed. Monk Wang Yang, on the other hand, was quite disappointed despite already knowing Yun Ling's response.

"Now that I've refused, are you no longer going to heal her?" Yun Ling asked.

"No... we will still remove her curse. Whether you have accepted becoming my disciple or not, we will help her regardless."

Yun Ling heaved a sigh of relief.

"I'm grateful for that."

"Get ready today. Tomorrow, we are going to depart to the Law God Sect," Tathagata said before disappearing right in front of Yun Ling and Monk Wang Yang's eyes.

"I will..." Yun Ling said even if Tathagata had already left since he knew his words would still reach him.

He then looked at Yue Dongmei and smiled.

He came there to find temporary shelter for Yun Xia and the others but he didn't expect that Tathagata would also be able to do something about the backlash that Yue Dongmei had suffered.