After Transmigrating, I Died of Depression Without My Phone - Chapter 98.1
In order to reform herself, Long Xiang decided to keep herself busy every day. She had to stop daydreaming during the day to avoid those kinds of dreams at night.
Coincidentally, she had arranged to meditate with a monk, which would surely help clear her mind and suppress desires.
Early the next morning, while still on vacation, Long Xiang set off for the temple.
Since she left early, there weren’t many visitors when she arrived. The chilly morning air of late autumn made her pull her long coat tighter around herself.
It wasn’t that she was cold. She was just worried that staying in the temple too long, as someone who wasn’t a monk, might cause some trouble or inconvenience for others.
She thought she would have to wait a while to meet the monk, but as soon as she entered, even before reaching the spot where they had met yesterday, she saw a familiar face waiting by the entrance.
“You’re here, Lady Benefactor. Let’s go this way.”
The monk looked quite young, at most around twenty-seven or twenty-eight. His smile was warm and radiant. Though he couldn’t be called particularly handsome, his peaceful and pleasant demeanor made being around him comfortable.
Long Xiang’s outfit looked a bit odd, and the monk glanced at her a few times. As they walked, she explained, “I dressed like this to avoid unnecessary trouble.”
The monk was stunned for a moment before he laughed. His smile carried a certain clarity, like the cold, bright moon.
“I still don’t know your name, Lady Benefactor. If you don’t wish to share, that’s fine.”
There was nothing secretive about her name. Long Xiang replied, “My name is Long Xiang.”
The monk nodded in acknowledgment and introduced himself, “My Dharma name is Yu Xie.”
Such a strange name. It reminded Long Xiang of the white marble pavilion in the deepest part of the temple.
She felt an odd sense of unease, but she couldn’t suspect anything just because of a monk’s Dharma name. After all, he had kindly invited her to meditate. She swallowed her doubts and followed Yu Xie through an employee passage to a quiet, secluded side hall.
Perhaps it was because she had come early, but they didn’t encounter anyone else along the way—just the two of them.
The side hall looked unfamiliar from a distance. Even though she had grown up passing by the temple almost every day, and had brought countless friends here to burn incense, this was the first time she had seen this place.
It must be a place where the temple staff stayed, which was why she had never had the chance to see it before.
“This meditation room is for your use, Lady Benefactor.”
Yu Xie opened the door for Long Xiang. She leaned closer to peer inside and saw that it was small but well-equipped, with a low table and a meditation cushion, and an incense burner that filled the room with a calming fragrance.
Although it wasn’t quite time for heating yet, the meditation room was slightly chilly, but Long Xiang, possessing spiritual energy, didn’t feel the cold.
“If this room feels too small, I can find a larger one for you,” Yu Xie offered.
“No, no, this is already perfect,” Long Xiang replied apologetically. “I didn’t even buy a ticket, and I’m using this space for free. I feel really bad about it.”
Things weren’t going as she had expected. The treatment was too good. Her initial plan to save on the entrance fee suddenly felt really shameful.
Just as she was pondering how to repay the favor, maybe by at least buying a ticket, Yu Xie said, “Your willingness to meditate with me is the best repayment, Lady Benefactor.”
Their eyes met, and Long Xiang began to understand Yu Xie’s meaning. She asked, “Are you going to meditate in this room too? There’s only one cushion.”
Yu Xie pointed to the adjacent room. “As a monk, it’s not appropriate for us to be alone in the same room. I’ll meditate in the next room.”
Long Xiang nodded in agreement. Yu Xie turned to leave but, after taking only a few steps, suddenly said, “If possible, please come a little earlier tomorrow, Lady Benefactor.”
Long Xiang was confused. She had arrived at eight, and the temple didn’t open until nine. Wasn’t that early enough?
But it didn’t matter. She could come a bit earlier. Cultivation was important.
“Alright.”
Hearing her agree, Yu Xie opened the door to the next room and went inside.
The door closed quietly, and Long Xiang found herself thinking again about the pavilion in the deepest part of the temple.
Feeling a little uneasy, she entered the meditation room, locked the door securely, took off her coat, and sat cross-legged on the cushion. After forming the meditation seal with her hands, her mind became much clearer.
“One deals with the soldiers who come, and the water with earth that floods — overall, it doesn’t seem like a bad thing, so let’s not worry about it for now.”
Before beginning, Long Xiang worried she might slip too deeply into meditation and miss any calls from her family. So, she sent a WeChat message to her mother, letting her know where she was and when she would return. After setting her phone to Do Not Disturb, she finally began her practice.
With no one bothering her and the environment serene and comfortable, Long Xiang meditated for an entire day.
It wasn’t until nightfall, when darkness blanketed the sky, that she was awakened by a knock on the door from Yu Xie.
“It’s late, Lady Benefactor. You should head home now.”
The temple was already closed, and Long Xiang indeed needed to leave quickly.
She put on her long coat, and Yu Xie led her down a narrow path she had never seen before, out through a side door. From start to finish, they didn’t encounter a single other person.
“Amitabha. Until tomorrow, Lady Long,” Yu Xie said, bowing deeply with utmost politeness. Long Xiang quickly returned the bow.
Yu Xie’s lips curved into a gentle smile before he turned and re-entered the small door. The door closed quietly behind him, and through the narrow gap, Long Xiang could see Yu Xie’s face gradually fading into the night. Instead of appearing eerie, his face in the moonlit temple exuded a kind of serene holiness.
Long Xiang stomped her feet at the entrance. Since nothing strange had happened all day, it seemed that, no matter what kind of person Yu Xie might be, there wasn’t much to worry about.
Perhaps she had been involved in too many conspiracies and tricks in the other world, making her overly suspicious at the slightest movement.
All in all, she just hoped things would go smoothly from now on.
She really didn’t want any more unexpected twists.
From that day onward, Long Xiang spent nearly her entire vacation on cultivation.
Her days followed a strict routine, leaving early and returning late. It almost felt like she was going to work, even though she was supposed to be on holiday.
On the last day of her break, Long Xiang bid farewell to Yu Xie. Now that her spiritual energy had recovered, she could continue her cultivation at home and wouldn’t need to return to the temple anymore.
It seemed Yu Xie had anticipated her farewell. He reached into his pocket and took something out to give to her.
“After these days of meditating together, I’ve benefited greatly from Lady Long’s presence. Please accept this as a small token of my gratitude.”
Long Xiang instinctively wanted to refuse, but when she glanced down at what Yu Xie was holding, she froze completely.
It was a shimmering scale.
A scale so familiar that it made her heart ache.
She clutched her chest, and before she could reach for it, the scale floated into her palm of its own accord.
When she finally came back to her senses and looked up, Yu Xie had already vanished, and the small side door they had used for days had disappeared without a trace.
Her heart pounded in her chest as she tightly gripped the cool scale in her hand. Could this be anything other than Beiting Xue’s protective scale?
Before she had returned, the protective scale had saved her life when Bai Qingyin had tried to kill her.
Not long after that, her wound had healed, and she hadn’t been sure if the scale was still on her.
Now, it was clear it wasn’t.