"Hm? What's that?"
Turning around to glance over at the blinding golden light, the man in white held a smile on his face.
"Doesn't matter," said the man in white with a shake of his head and he continued to walk amongst the various monks.
A pair of eyes lit up within the darkness and stared at the man in white walking away.
'Food?'
…
Staring at the golden light in the distance, Leo was captivated by quite a sight along with the other three rankers.
"Woah, who would have guessed that the monks even knew how to celebrate," said Leo as he nodded in appreciation.
The other three rankers nodded in agreement as they looked at the golden light with amazement.
Whilst enthralled by the beauty of the golden light, the four rankers heard a childish voice behind them.
"Amitabha! Who are you benefactors?"
Turning around to look at who it was that was talking to them, Leo and the rankers looked at the small monk looking at them with bright eyes.
"Kid, what are you doing here by yourself?" asked Leo after he looked around, looking for any adult.
It would be difficult to find an adult where they were, not many people would walk in the alley after all. Unless they used the alleys as a shortcut, people would hardly frequent the alleys.
The young monk kid looked up at the four men and smiled, "Would the kind Benefactors play with this monk?"
Leo chuckled and shook his head, "I have no time to play games with you kid."
The other three rankers agreed with Leo and nodded their heads.
"Just go home, we have important business to deal with," said one of the rankers, waving his hand in a dismissive manner.
"Awhh…" the little monk sighed sadly. He looked at Leo with teary eyes, hoping to get Leo to play with him.
"Just go home kid," said another ranker.
Leo looked at the kid for a while longer before shaking his head and turning around, "Let's just go guys."
Lowering his head in a depressed manner, the little monk sniffed as he watched Leo and the three rankers walk away.
"Maybe…" the monk muttered before wiping his tears away. "Maybe I can make them play with me!"
Turning around, the little monk ran over to a quiet corner where a statue of a monk was there. With an excited gaze, the young monk got in front of the statue and said, "Elder! I found four people that would like to know about the eccentricities of life!"
After the monk finished speaking, he excitedly looked at the statue with no trace of it diminishing.
Rumble!
Suddenly, the statue began to tremble, cracks began to start appearing all over it's surface.
Crack!
A piece of some fell off the statue and fell on the floor at the feet of the little monk.
"Amitabha…"
A hoarse voice came out from the statue with a tone filled with wisdom.
The little monk bowed to the statue.
"The eccentricities of life…" muttered the statue before turning to look at the young monk before him. "Looks like some lambs have begun to follow the correct path…"
The young monk remained quiet and just listened to the statue monk earnestly.
Crack!
All the stones fell off the statue monk and revealed a burly looking old monk wearing an orange robe.
Remaining quiet, the young monk looked on as the buff old monk walked away towards where the four rankers had walked off to. With a look of excitement, the young monk looked at the fading back of the old monk with glee.
"Haha! I can have some fun," said the little monk before following closely to the buff old monk.
…
"Where's Ken?" Leo asked in anger as he glanced into an empty house.
After going around from house to house in search of Ken, Leo and the other rankers had found that there weren't many monks out over in these sides of the city.
It was strange, they had seen many earlier when they were near their meeting spot.
"Something about this feels weird," said one of the rankers as he looked at the various empty houses.
Occasionally there would also be one or two monks walking by, but other than that, this side of the city was very quiet and empty.
"Yeah, it's pretty weird," muttered another ranker.
Leo narrowed his eyes and turned around, "Why are you following us?"
The rankers were surprised by what Leo suddenly said and turned around to see what it was that he felt.
When they turned around they saw a short bald kid with a wide smile on his little face.
"I'm just here to have fun!" said the young monk with a smile.
Leo frowned and suddenly felt something behind him.
Turning around quickly, Leo threw out a fist without warning.
"Calm down, young man," said a figure, easily catching Leo's fist in his old withered hand.
Leo frowned, "Who are you?"
"Me? Just an old fool enlightened by the Great Sage," said the old buff monk with a smile.
Having said that, the monk moved his other hand and patted Leo on the shoulder.
"Wait here."
Leo's eyes widened as he felt his body become out of his control. The space around him locked him down and prevented him from moving even a smudge.
"Hngh…"
The rankers looked at Leo, wondering why he wasn't moving and instead listened to the old man.
"Bro, why are you just standing there?"
One of the rankers walked past the buff old man and walked straight over to Leo, who was standing still.
The old man just glanced at the rangers before looking at the other two rankers.
"You kids should join me to know about the eccentricities of life," said the old man with a smile.
"Huh? The eccentricities of life?"
"What the hell is that? Some type of method to meditate?"
The old man smiled and kept quiet as he approached the two rankers standing still.
"Join me," said the old man as he stretched out his hand in a weak manner.
"Shit, what?"
Both rankers looked at each other, confused as to what was happening. Were they joining some type of cult or something?
Despite that thought, both rankers arrived at the same question.
'Will this help me get stronger?'
"Okay."
"Yeah, for sure!"
Both smiled and nodded to the old man, making the monk smile, "Amitabha! May these monks lead the way for you."
At the monk's words, many monks suddenly appeared from the shadows. They came out quietly and calmly, surrounding the two rankers.
"Amitabha!"
Countless monks greeted the two rankers and slowly began to drag them away and out of sight from Leo and the ranker next to him.
"Those dumbasses, what are they thinking…" the ranker next to Leo grumbled.
Smiling, the buff monk turned to Leo and the ranker, "Now, let's take you to discover the eccentricities of life!"
…
At this very moment, the man in white was in a deadly confrontation!
Staring into the eyes of his opponent, the man in white slowly approached the pair of eyes staring at him. Narrowing his eyes, the man in white smirked before suddenly kicking at the space where the pair of eyes were staring at him.
Rrrr-woof!
"A dog?!"
Quickly stopping his kick, the man in white watched in shock as a normal dog jumped out of the bushes with its mouth open. It's teeth were sharp and it's fur was a nice silver color.
"Sit… down!"
The man in white quickly reacted to the dog's sudden attack and quickly lifted his hand before pointing down to the ground in a powerful manner.
The dog was pulled straight to the ground after feeling a powerful sensation pull it from underneath.
Bang!
The dog couldn't move and could only remain sitting still before the man in white.
'Mahn…. No… food…' thought the little dog, shaking in fear.
Seeing the dog 'obediently' sitting down, the man in white smiled and rubbed the head of the dog.
'Hm… it looks somewhat intelligent. Maybe it saw who it was that had made Ken into a Fallen Traveler…'
Arriving at that thought, the man in white quickly stared into the eyes of the dog before using his telepathy ability.
At the actual use of his ability, the man in white quickly sent his consciousness into the mind of the dog and search through its memories to look for the culprit.
In an instant, the man in white's surroundings has changed and he appeared within the dog's mind.
'Why is it pitch black in here?' thought the man in white as he looked around. No matter where he looked, there would only be darkness.
It freaked him out a little.
Ever since the man in white had received the Telepathy skill and got better at using it, he was able to enter the minds of others.
Once he entered their minds, everything about them would be revealed to him. He would stroll through memories and become one with it. With this particular ability, he would perfectly copy someone's mastery and experience in an instant.
With this ability, he casually grew stronger in an instant before he knew it!
However, at this very moment, he couldn't even read the memory of such a dumb dog?
"Preposterous!"
Quickly walking around, the man in white inspected the black mind of the before arriving in a perfectly white room. A small pond was in the middle, its depth unknown and only pitch black darkness could be seen within it.
"A pond?" the man in white's gentle voice broke through the silence in the white room.
Looking around, the man in white found a figure casually sitting down on a wooden chair with a fishing rod in his hands and a conical hat over his head, hiding away his face.
Taken aback, the man in white looked at the man wearing the conical hat with a wary expression.
"Who are you?" asked the man in white as he approached the man in the conical hat.
The figure twitched and lifted his head, casually gazing at the man in white with a bored expression on his face.
"Hm? A visitor?"
Standing up, the man in the conical hat left the fishing rod to the side before approaching the man in white.
"Don't get close to me!"
The man in white quickly took a couple of steps back, wary against the unknown figure inside the head of the dumb dog.
'Does the dumb did have some type of hidden past or something like a hidden master?'
"Ho~, that's an interesting thought there," muttered the man in the conical hat, seemingly reading the thoughts of the man in white.
"Huh?!"
The man in white's eyes widened and he quickly jumped back once again in fear.
"W-who are you?"
The man in the conical hat smiled and said, "Me? I'm your mother's dream come true."
'Haha, this kid's got quite an interesting ability,' thought the man in the conical hat as he looked at the man in white. 'I should be able to do more stuff with this ability…'
The man in the conical hat smiled and waved his hand, "I'm, Qing Tian, the man you've been looking for."
"What? That's impossible!" said the man in white as he glared at Qing Tian.
Qing Tian smiled and sat down on empty air, "Nothing's impossible."
Suddenly, the man in white felt his vision blur and he appeared right next to the pond from earlier whilst where the man in the conical hat sat down on the chair that was left by it.
'This… how'd he move me…' thought the man in white, shook by this ability of the man.
Qing Tian smirked and said, "I gained many new and nifty abilities when I broke through my limits. One such ability I gained is to live within the mind and body of every being that lays their eyes upon me."
"I-impossible!" stammered the man in white.
He had heard about such an ability before, one that the Emperor of [Isekai Kings] has. Luckily, or unluckily, he had never met the Emperor.