“You can’t say it like that… child.”

Auntie Tong was extremely patient. Although Baiyang had shown aggression in his words countless times, trying to force her to back down in the face of difficulty, she acted as if she hadn’t heard anything at all.

I always felt that Auntie Tong’s way of thinking was different from normal people… or perhaps her thoughts were on a higher level of understanding?

“Although ‘casting aside lingering thoughts’ might earn the ‘Mother Goddess’s’ favor, that doesn’t mean having ‘lingering thoughts’ won’t work,” Auntie Tong continued. “Child, the fact that we two can stand here and converse is also due to the ‘Mother Goddess’s’ intervention in mysterious ways, so she should have already noticed you.”

“Is that so?” Baiyang made an ambiguous sound of doubt. “Then is your ‘Mother Goddess’ prepared to help me?”

“She will. Before that…” Auntie Tong smiled. “I need to ask you a question on behalf of the ‘Mother Goddess.'”

“Speak.”

This time, Auntie Tong didn’t reach out to press against Baiyang’s chest. Instead, she used both hands to hold up one of Baiyang’s hands.

Then, bells rang in the distance, and a strange atmosphere manifested around Auntie Tong.

Baiyang seemed to also sense that the situation was somewhat bizarre, but he didn’t pull back his hand. He just looked at Auntie Tong expressionlessly.

“Child, how many ‘good deeds’ have you done?” Auntie Tong asked out of nowhere.

“‘Good deeds’…?” After hearing this, Baiyang’s eyes were dazed for a few seconds, then became stern again as he answered, “Almost none. I’m a fraud—I rarely do ‘good deeds.'”

After hearing this, I was slightly startled. I had imagined Baiyang’s profession in the real world many times. I had even hypothesized “negotiation expert,” but I had never imagined “fraud”…

How should I describe this feeling…?

Simply put, I had been in contact with Baiyang for quite a while, but had never sensed any aura of “evil” from him.

Could it be because Baiyang’s level was truly too high… and I had no way to perceive it?

“So you’re a ‘fraud’…?” After hearing this, Auntie Tong nodded. “It seems I still have no way to understand the ‘Mother Goddess’s’ will…”

After saying this, she gradually frowned and looked at Baiyang, saying, “Child, are you really a fraud?”

“Do I need to lie to you?” Baiyang asked.

“Always been a fraud?” Auntie Tong asked again.

“Believe it or not, it’s up to you.”

Just as Baiyang was about to pull back his hand, Auntie Tong once again gripped it firmly.

“Is there something else?” Baiyang asked.

“Child, I often can’t understand the ‘Mother Goddess’s’ will,” Auntie Tong said. “But every time, I unconditionally believe in her, because she is everything. Since she made me meet you, there must be her own reasoning.”

Baiyang didn’t speak, only stared at Auntie Tong in silence.

“I thought that only enough ‘good deeds’ could accumulate enough ‘good karma,’ and everything would fall into place naturally. But I didn’t expect the ‘Mother Goddess’ would also extend an olive branch to a child like you. I’m sure you also have your own exceptional qualities.”

“I don’t understand,” Baiyang said. “Are you activating some kind of ‘Echo’ on me? Or are you telling me that this ‘Mother Goddess’ is actually a product of your ‘Echo’?”

“The ‘Mother Goddess’ is a product of ‘Echo’?” After hearing this, Auntie Tong shook her head. “Wrong, child. All ‘Echoes’ are products of the ‘Mother Goddess.’ She bestows these extraordinary abilities upon us and hopes we will use these abilities to sense her existence.”

“Heh.” Baiyang nodded. “Then what is the ‘extraordinary ability’ the ‘Mother Goddess’ bestowed upon you?”

“Child, I am ‘Karma.'”

“Karma…” After hearing this, Baiyang was slightly stunned, his eyes full of doubt. “What kind of joke are you playing with me? Would there be an ‘Echo’ here called ‘Karma’?”

Not just him—even I felt puzzled.

Up until now, all the “Echoes” I had heard of could at least reveal some of their abilities from their names, but how should one understand a religious term like “Karma”?

Auntie Tong smiled and turned her head to look at Jiang Ruoxue, saying, “Little Jiang can be ‘Causality,’ so why can’t I be ‘Karma’?”

“Causality…?” Baiyang also followed Auntie Tong’s gaze to look at Jiang Ruoxue. After a long silence, he finally said a few words: “Somewhat interesting.”

“Child, I thought you had done many ‘good karmic deeds,’ and thus would receive good results in the future,” Auntie Tong said. “But your behavior has been improper, accumulating ‘bad karma,’ and therefore your future path is unclear.”

“Then how will you distinguish my ‘good karma’ from my ‘bad karma’?” Baiyang said. “Perhaps what appears as ‘bad karma’ in your eyes is actually ‘good karma’ that I’ve been planning for decades. What then? There are a thousand people in this world with a thousand different thoughts—how can my actions be judged?”

“Child, good and evil don’t depend on me, nor do they depend on the views of the multitude of beings in these three thousand worlds…” Auntie Tong said. “They depend on yourself.”

“What…?”

“As long as you believe what you’re doing is ‘good karma,’ one day the ‘Mother Goddess’ will definitely let you receive the blessings that belong to you,” Auntie Tong continued. “These blessings will manifest in places you can see or cannot see—as small as changing the writing on a slip of paper, as large as influencing a person’s fate. In this world, one reaps the fruits of one’s own karma; all beings are thus.”

“One reaps the fruits of one’s own karma; all beings are thus…” Baiyang muttered this phrase slightly, as if he had suddenly understood something.

“So when you said you’re a ‘fraud,’ your ‘bad karma’ was confirmed by yourself,” Auntie Tong said. “But the ‘Mother Goddess’ is ultimately the ‘Mother Goddess.’ We ordinary people have no way to fathom her thoughts. It’s like you confirmed your own ‘bad karma,’ yet the ‘Mother Goddess’ is still willing to bestow favor upon you. This is her will, and I’m only following her will.”

“‘Causality’… ‘Karma’… I understand…” Baiyang’s eyes flickered slightly, and even his tone carried a hint of respect. “I seem to… suddenly understand… The ‘Mother Goddess’… might truly exist here.”

“Child,” Auntie Tong said. “There’s no ‘might.’ You will see her. She will give you what you deserve.”

After hearing this, Baiyang stared at Auntie Tong for a long time, then slowly lowered his head. “I was rude earlier. Thank you.”

“The one you should thank isn’t me,” Auntie Tong smiled. “It’s the ‘Mother Goddess’ and yourself.”

Jiang Ruoxue and I stood behind Auntie Tong in a daze for a long time, completely unable to interject.

Even someone with Jiang Ruoxue’s personality had no way to interfere with their conversation… what more could I say?

“Ruoxue…” I asked quietly from the side. “Did you understand?”

After calling her once and getting no response, I turned my head to look and found she had long since stopped listening. She was just hiding behind me, flipping through the manga that Baiyang had dropped on the ground earlier.

“Ruoxue!!” I called out anxiously.

“Huh?” Jiang Ruoxue lifted her head with a blank expression and asked, “What’s up? Are those two masters done?”