# Chapter 942: Godlike Beings
Ye Fan readily agreed, setting a meeting place two days later, wanting to see just what kind of person this so-called master was, and whether he could truly manifest divine miracles.
City B had a long history, with some ancient sites scattered within the city, yet it was not lacking in modern vitality. As one of China's largest cities, it had become even more prosperous over the past twenty-plus years.
Ye Fan walked along the streets. People came and went, the flow never ceasing. After so many years away, walking in such a place again, he felt as if an entire lifetime had passed.
Although he had been back for some days, he had been immersed in his own world, unable to extricate himself, and had never seriously experienced the city's clamor.
One had to admit, City B had developed very quickly. Row upon row of tall buildings stood in close formation. This famous pedestrian street had grown wider, with various brand-name stores lined up continuously, and an endless stream of people brushing shoulders as they passed.
Suddenly, Ye Fan saw a poster. On it was an exquisite white-jade purifying vase, emitting a mysterious halo, truly like a divine artifact, magnificent to the extreme. His expression froze—this was a cultivator's artifact. After looking carefully, he couldn't help but laugh silently. Wasn't this the magical artifact he had broken into over a dozen pieces and entrusted for auction?
Only upon closer inspection did he realize this was promotion by the Guardian Auction House. To maximize profits, they had put considerable thought into it.
They had assembled the jade vase, but Ye Fan had not allowed it to be auctioned whole—only piece by piece. The jade quality was impeccable, truly premium white jade.
Each piece was very expensive. After selling two pieces, they became unwilling to continue this way and created this promotion, informing people that if they collected all the pieces, they could reassemble a complete jade purifying vase!
One had to say, the effect was excellent. In recent days, it had caused a huge sensation in City B, rapidly spreading to other places. Now it had been hyped to a frenzy, with posters everywhere.
These days, as the third and fourth pieces of white jade were auctioned off, the entire collecting world was boiling over. This was a rare treasure.
Sky-high prices!
Each piece of jade was auctioned at an astronomical price, the transaction amounts frighteningly high. All major media outlets were reporting it, and every portal website was competing to break the news.
This was indeed rare white jade, because when Ye Fan had refined it long ago, he had carefully purified it, leaving not a single flaw. From an aesthetic standpoint alone, it was indeed an exquisite piece rarely seen.
But being auctioned at such sky-high prices was not mainly due to this—it was all the power of hype. Now this mysterious white jade purifying vase had a price rivaling national treasure-level artifacts.
The Guardian Auction House employed high-level tactics, fully utilizing people's psychology, letting the truly wealthy experience the thrill and sense of achievement in collecting pieces one by one, making it even more valuable than when intact.
At the same time, they displayed various reference materials—stone Buddha statues, ancient texts with authentic depictions—to illustrate that this vase was identical to the legendary Guanyin's jade purifying vase.
This explanation was undoubtedly very appealing. Although people knew it couldn't be real, it still brought a sense of peace. Displaying such a precious vase would provide an inexplicable comfort.
"Maybe it really is Guanyin's vase left behind in the human world. Who has ever seen such flawless white jade? Such a large piece, without even a trace of impurity—it could be called a miracle."
Even ordinary people were discussing it. One could imagine how successful the Guardian Auction House's hype was.
This heated discussion reached its peak because of several masters who had come from India. Several old monks entered the auction house, and upon seeing the broken vase, all changed color, excitedly chanting "Amitabha."
This scene was captured on camera and posted online, naturally causing an uproar. Someone recognized that one of the old monks was a master from India.
Although Buddhism was now in decline in India, with believers less than one percent of the population, there was still a certain base.
"Guanyin's vase left in the human world"—a new hype topic emerged. The prices of the white jade vase fragments climbed once again!
Ye Fan stood speechless. This had not been his intention—otherwise, he wouldn't have broken it. He never expected it to develop to this point. He could only shake his head.
Two days later, Ye Fan met the four masters at an antique-style tea house, along with a group of attendants.
Upon first meeting, Ye Fan was a bit stunned, because he saw an Indian master skillfully using a mobile phone to talk with someone, hard to connect with the image of a cultivator.
The translator explained that the master had encountered an extraordinary matter and was urging India to wire a large sum of money—they wanted to bid on a jade purifying vase.
Ye Fan was petrified. The thing he had created had become internationalized—truly unexpected. With a slight probing, he could tell that the four masters barely counted as cultivators. They had opened the Sea of Suffering, and only one had stepped into the Life Spring realm.
He shook his head. At their age, these people would never break through the first human secret realm, the Wheel Sea, in this lifetime.
He did not despise them for this; on the contrary, he respected them somewhat. Because in this age of the end of the Dharma, being able to walk the path of cultivation was truly difficult, and such achievement was remarkable.
If they were in the Big Dipper Star Domain, these people might truly have achieved great things, becoming genuine "masters" worthy of the world's respect.
"Several masters, why are you interested in that jade purifying vase?" Ye Fan asked casually.
"That is a magical artifact. Although it is damaged and its power is gone, it still makes us yearn for it," an old monk replied, with someone translating beside him.
Ye Fan nodded. Although these people lacked cultivation, they had discernment, recognizing it as a magical artifact. It seemed that jade vase might cause some disturbances after all.
The several old monks were all over a hundred years old, especially the master who had reached the Life Spring realm, who was already one hundred and twenty years old. But they were all spirited, naturally anomalies among ordinary people.
They were very humble, true monastics who did not speak of divine powers or magical force, mostly discussing Buddhist scriptures. The so-called miracles were things the translator brought up.
He said that in India, he had once seen a master use one hand to hold back an elephant's foot, saving a child. He had also seen an old monk sit cross-legged in the void, motionless, though only for a brief moment. Additionally, he had witnessed an old monk whose white light emanating from his mouth and nose penetrated a steel plate.
Ye Fan nodded, saying nothing.
In this age of the end of the Dharma, it was a tragedy for cultivators. These few were perhaps ascetics who appeared only once in tens of millions of people, having reached this point purely through great perseverance.
He sighed softly. It seemed finding a true cultivator on Earth was truly too difficult.
Before long, the old monks directly brought up those ancient Sanskrit characters, their expressions serious and earnest, carrying a kind of piety.
That Sanskrit authority had also come. He was actually a disciple of one of the masters, very famous in the field of ancient texts, but he was extremely respectful before the several masters.
The several masters earnestly inquired, asking Ye Fan where he had obtained those ancient Sanskrit characters, which held great significance for them.
"Do you recognize these characters? What do they mean?" Ye Fan asked.
The masters did not speak, remembering that monastics should not lie. They did not want to deceive Ye Fan, but they also felt the matter was too important to speak of lightly.
Finally, one master asked all the attendants to leave, keeping only that ancient language authority, who was also proficient in Chinese and could serve as translator.
"My teacher says their true meaning is: they can open the path to Mount Meru."
"Mount Meru, where the ancient Bodhisattvas and Buddhas of the heavens resided?" Ye Fan's eyes flashed with sharp light.
"Yes," the old monks nodded.
"Do you believe such a place exists?" Ye Fan asked seriously.
"It does, in the western lands. But after the last Bodhisattva and ancient Buddha entered nirvana, that place could no longer be opened," one master spoke, saying this was a secret passed down orally through generations of eminent monks.
"Is it the original dojo of Buddhism? It seems there really might be a mysterious place, vast and not inferior to Mount Sumeru... I sensed it last time in the Tibetan region," Ye Fan murmured to himself.
The old monks earnestly begged to see the sacred object inscribed with the ancient characters.
Ye Fan took out the small stone Buddha out of thin air, startling the several masters greatly. They became even more convinced that this young man was likely a godlike being.
No matter how hard they tried, they could not perceive the mysteries inside the small stone Buddha. Finally, Ye Fan took out a stone slab, using his finger as a blade to carve on it, writing those ancient characters while imprinting Dao marks.
Ye Fan handed the stone slab over, saying, "Take this back to India, show it to your teacher. Have him come, or invite some true masters with cultivation to discuss the small stone Buddha in the Central Land."
The several masters did not dare to be negligent, carefully putting away the stone slab, deeply bowing, and taking their leave.
At the same time, inside the Guardian Auction House, a demonic young man stared at the white jade vase fragments, a strange light in his eyes, then let out a series of cold laughs.