Jiang Wen stood by the river, listening to the sound of the flowing water and the chirping of insects at night. The moonlight was like water, scattered in the river, creating ripples. Weeds swayed on both sides of the bank, shadowy and indistinct, adding to the loneliness of the deep night.
He looked down at his feet, where the little girl whose leg had been broken for stealing was lying beside him. Her face was pale, and her cheeks were sunken. She was skin and bones all over, and one couldn't tell she was a girl.
Now she was lying in the river, her mouth open, staring blankly at the night sky. Her dying appearance made it seem as if her soul would fall into the trickling river at any moment.
Jiang Wen didn't know what had happened; he just silently walked to the little girl's side. He reached out and picked her up from the river, gently stroking her cheek. The little girl seemed to sense something, her eyes fixed on him. The turbidity and despair in her eyes slowly faded, and her spirit returned.
"Save, save me," the little girl begged. Her breath was unsteady, as if it could break at any moment. Beneath her tattered clothes were bluish-purple wounds everywhere. It was shocking to see. It was hard to imagine that a child could crawl out of the cold river after suffering such a beating.
How strong must her will to survive be? Jiang Wen wondered.
He didn't investigate why he was here, nor did he try to ask where this was.
He simply took off his robe and gently wrapped it around the little girl. Then, he took out a medicinal pill from his storage bag and fed it to the little girl. He touched her leg, healing the broken bone.
"Live well, and don't do these thieving things again." Jiang Wen felt that some force was repelling him, trying to push him out of this strange world.
He thought for a moment, then took out a tael of silver and a piece of jade, placing them beside the little girl. Then, his entire body was repelled from this world by an invisible force. The scene before him converged like broken glass, and then his thoughts returned to the memory of the worshiper of the gods.
Jiang Wen saw the little girl get up from the ground, holding the clothes he had given her, and sit quietly for a long time. She made the clothes into something she could wear, carefully hiding the tael of silver and the jade pendant in her bosom.
She fled the city, leaving the place where she had lived for so long. On the road to escape, she met many people, many who were fleeing like her.
On the road, the girl tried her best to disguise herself. She protected everything about herself very well, not exposing herself to the eyes of others.
But the bandits eventually caught up. They killed many people and robbed everyone's belongings, and even the girl's package was not spared. The bandits hurriedly rummaged through her package, but there was only a set of old clothes inside. Jiang Wen could see that it was the clothes he had once covered the little girl with, and he didn't expect her to keep them for so long.
The bandits didn't find anything valuable and left in a hurry, leaving a mess and the wailing of the people, a scene of absurdity.
When the officers rushed over, the girl and the fleeing people were relieved. But no one expected the officers to loot again, and the people who had already been squeezed dry were robbed again.
The silver that the girl was hiding was robbed, and the clothes she was carrying were thrown on the ground. She held the clothes tightly, carefully touching the jade pendant hidden in a secret place. It was something she couldn't lose, a treasure more important than her life.
Later on, mysterious people came to the refugee camp to preach. The girl looked at the clothes worn by those people, which were somewhat similar to the clothes in her hand. She tried to go in with curiosity, but unexpectedly, she really entered this sect called the God Worshipping Society.
Jiang Wen looked at the scene, and he finally saw how the early God Worshipping Society recruited people. It was nothing more than spreading the doctrine among the refugees, and then absorbing the qualified refugees into the church.
The girl entered the God Worshipping Society, and after being assigned a place to live, she was questioned. She told the story of being saved by someone, and the preacher said with a profound look: "The Three Bright World Honored One saved you. The Three Bright World Honored One is the one who saves from suffering, and all those who suffer will be protected by the World Honored One."
"Can I see the benefactor who saved my life again?" the girl asked expectantly.
"As long as you make contributions to the God Worshipping Society, you will see him again."
So she began to cultivate in the founding place of this God Worshipping Society, participating in God, and carrying out various brainwashing activities every day. Over time, everyone here became fanatical believers of the God Worshipping Society. They had experienced suffering since childhood and deeply believed in the God Worshipping Society's doctrine of saving the world and helping the people.
In the girl's memory, Jiang Wen saw that their behavior of recognizing themselves was to save the common people, and everything they did was to free the world from suffering.
"The World Honored One saves from suffering, and makes a great oath to the common people. All living beings are sacred, and all suffering is transcendence..."
The scriptures of the God Worshipping Society echoed in his memory. After Jiang Wen finished watching her life experience, he slowly retreated from the memory.
When he opened his eyes, Zi Le and Hong Luan were staring at him. A look of surprise appeared in their eyes.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Jiang Wen asked in confusion.
The two looked at each other, and then said in unison: "A strange thing just happened."
"Strange thing? What strange thing?" Jiang Wen asked in confusion.
"Didn't you feel it yourself?" Hong Luan blinked and asked.
"I don't know what happened." Jiang Wen shook his head.
"Brother, you disappeared for a while just now." Zi Le gestured and said what had just happened. She said that not long ago, Jiang Wen's body suddenly disappeared in front of them. It was the kind of complete disappearance, as if he didn't exist in this world at all.
"I really disappeared just now?" Jiang Wen was stunned.
"Yes."
Hearing the affirmative answer, he fell silent. If Zi Le wasn't lying, then he really went to the girl's time and space not long ago, and he really traveled through the past.
Thinking of this, Jiang Wen quickly entered his consciousness to check the stone tablet. The original 170,000 merit points were now only 100,000.
"..." Jiang Wen connected these two things together and understood the ins and outs of the matter.
That is to say, he spent 70,000 merit points to travel to the girl's time and space and save her. If it weren't for his intervention, could the little girl have survived? Maybe she would have survived? Jiang Wen wasn't too sure about this.
After all, he had only encountered this kind of time-traveling power in the spirit veins of the real world.
