Chapter 38: Sandalwood Buddha Carving

Qin Yun visited several craft shops and finally acquired a piece of premium Indian old-sandalwood from a shop owner, who claimed it was his personal collection—normally not for sale—but relented under Qin Yun's persistent pleas.

This piece of old-sandalwood weighed over two hundred grams, and the owner demanded twelve thousand yuan to sell it.

Qin Yun didn't haggle at all—he paid promptly and bought it. After all, this sandalwood was aged material, sinkable in water, free of cracks or scars, richly oily, and fragrant for eternity. The owner hadn't lied—it was truly top-grade.

With good luck, such old-sandalwood could fetch an even higher price; twelve thousand yuan was practically a steal for Qin Yun. He also asked the owner to throw in a few handy tools, since the carving knives at the guesthouse weren't particularly good—since he was using premium material, he couldn't afford to use inferior tools.

With the sandalwood in hand, he returned to the rooftop of the guesthouse.

Su Ying was sitting across the way, scrolling through her phone while listening to music, unaware of Qin Yun. He glanced at her but didn't call out.

He sat down in the corner, held the old-sandalwood in his hands, and began planning how to use it. If you carved directly without planning, you'd waste enormous material—every gram was money, so every gram was precious.

After thinking it over, he decided to carve a Buddha pendant for his mother using deep relief with openwork techniques; the rest he'd make into about ten standard wearable pieces to give to family, and he'd carve himself an Avalokiteshvara.

Once planned, he set the tools aside on the table, picked up the fine-tooth hand saw from the ground, and began cutting the old-sandalwood. Since the wood was expensive, Qin Yun didn't want to waste any, so he used a bow saw to shape the curves, minimizing material loss.

His carving skill was master-level—his eyes were his ruler—and he effortlessly cut out fourteen small blanks for carving.

The old-sandalwood was fragrant—while he worked, several people had already gathered nearby drawn by the scent.

One aunt pointed at the wood and asked: "Young man, why is this wood so fragrant?"

Qin Yun smiled, put down the saw, and explained: "Auntie, this is sandalwood—it's naturally fragrant."

"Oh, so this is sandalwood! I thought the smell felt familiar." The aunt chuckled. "Young man, could you give me a piece? I'd put it in my bathroom—it'd work great."

Qin Yun was momentarily speechless, but before he could refuse, a nearby uncle spoke up: "Sister, this sandalwood is extremely expensive. Don't let its small size fool you—this tiny piece costs hundreds."

The aunt was startled, then looked skeptical: "What kind of wood is that expensive? Impossible! Young man, are you kidding me?"

Qin Yun smiled: "Auntie, I paid twelve thousand yuan for the whole block—each small piece is roughly a thousand."

"That expensive!?" The aunt's eyes widened, but she no longer dared ask—she turned and walked away immediately.

The uncle beside her, however, stayed put, as if waiting to see what Qin Yun would carve. Others who passed by or paused to watch soon drifted off.

Qin Yun paid no mind to those around him—he thought about recording his carving process, but his tripod was in his room.

He stood up, called out to Su Ying, who was still scrolling on her phone: "Su Ying."

Su Ying looked up at the sound and immediately walked over: "When did you get back?"

"Just now. Can you watch this for me? I'm going to get the tripod from my room."

"Okay, go ahead." Su Ying glanced at the wood on the table—the sandalwood scent hit her strongly.

Qin Yun returned quickly, fetched the tripod in minutes, set it up, and mounted his phone to face his hands.

"You can do wood carving?" Su Ying was surprised—carving was difficult for ordinary people, and those who practiced it were usually art students. In daily life, she'd never met anyone with this skill.

"Yeah, I know a bit."

Qin Yun tapped record, then prepared to begin carving.

Fortunately, the rooftop lights were bright—no darkness to cause noise in the phone's camera.

He first used a flat file to quickly smooth the sawn edges, then switched to a round file to follow the wood grain, gradually shaping the rounded contours of the Buddha's shoulders and back and the base outline of the lotus platform—the file rose and fell, the blank becoming increasingly precise.

Su Ying didn't understand carving; neither did the uncle. Neither could judge professionally. But in Qin Yun's hands, the wood seemed to contain a fixed form inside—he was merely using tools to slowly remove the outer shell, revealing its true shape.

Qin Yun's right hand was steady as an old dog—his blade's pressure, angle, and wrist force flowed effortlessly.

Neither blinked much, yet the Buddha's flowing robes, the layered lotus petals, even the auspicious clouds and halo gradually emerged. As he worked, more and more onlookers gathered—soon, seven or eight people surrounded him.

Everyone watched curiously; some even pulled out their phones to film.

Qin Yun's blade rose and fell, each cut aligned with the wood's grain, movements precise and delicate. When carving the openwork lotus petals, he switched to a fine openwork chisel, first drilling a tiny hole at the lotus base with a pointed awl, then slowly inserting the blade and gently cutting along the petal outline. He held his breath, moved with focus through the layered petals, removing excess wood while deliberately preserving sufficient thickness at the petal roots to stabilize the structure.

He occasionally checked to ensure all his movements stayed within the phone's frame, avoiding a wasted recording.

Su Ying's initial surprise gradually turned to admiration, and when the Buddha finally took shape, a deep desire arose within her—it was simply too exquisite.

Qin Yun carefully inspected the piece, then began polishing and buffing. After displaying the final product in the camera's view, he turned off the recording.

At that moment, one of the onlookers called out: "Brother, will you sell this Buddha? I'll give you three thousand yuan."

Qin Yun turned and smiled: "Sorry, I carved this for my mother."

The man immediately knew he had no chance and chuckled. But he pointed to the other pieces of wood: "Brother, you've got more wood here—sell me one. I'll pay you for the labor."

Hearing this, several other uncles and aunts also began asking to buy. But Qin Yun had already planned all the wood. Even if he hadn't, he wouldn't have sold.

Three or five thousand yuan? Too cheap.

A plain old-sandalwood pendant like this, if sold in a shop, could easily cost ten thousand yuan—and you still might not get it. Add Qin Yun's craftsmanship, and its value soared further.

Besides, if he agreed, they'd buy it and still think three thousand was too much. Buying from an individual versus buying from a store carries entirely different psychological weight.

"Sorry, I've already planned all these pieces. If you want to buy, check nearby shops—they all have finished products."

Several pleaded again, but Qin Yun shook his head each time.

The young people didn't mind, but some older aunts spoke sharply. Qin Yun ignored them as if the wind brushed past. Su Ying, however, grew angry and shot back, driving the aunts away in frustration.

Qin Yun glanced at her with amusement, as if reading her thoughts.

But giving it away? Impossible. If she asked to buy, he wouldn't mind.

He planned to give the first carved Buddha to an aunt in his family, mainly to practice on something simple first.

The piece meant for his mother? He couldn't finish it quickly—even at his master level, it would take two or three days, and he'd need to pour his full focus into it.

With some time left, he carved two more, then stopped.

Until they returned to their respective rooms, Su Ying never made her request—and Qin Yun naturally said nothing.

They were strangers—he wasn't that generous.

…

The next day, he descended from the Alchemy Peak to the east, walked ten minutes to Yueling Ciyun Chan Yuan, lit incense there, then followed the Incense Cloud Path up Mount Putuo, checked in at Xianghui Pure Courtyard, and directly ascended to the summit of Buddha's Crown Mountain, arriving at Huiji Chan Temple.

Qin Yun looked down at the valley—the winding mountain path, dense forests, and temple buildings half-hidden among trees—all visible. Farther still lay the vast sea and mountains; under the sunlight, the ocean shimmered golden, breathtakingly beautiful.

At that moment, a video quietly went viral on TikTok.

Content tied to Mount Putuo naturally drew traffic—the uploader was just an ordinary tourist who had fully recorded Qin Yun carving the Buddha and uploaded it to TikTok.

With the Algorithm pushing it along, the number of viewers on the video slowly grew, and so did the comments.

"So impressive, which great master is this?"

"Buying? I want a Buddha pendant like that too."

"If it's hand-carved like this, I'd pay willingly, but most of the ones on Mount Putuo are machine-carved — not a trace of craftsmanship."

"Holy crap, that's old sandalwood. This guy doesn't even pause when he cuts — that's insane."

"Doesn't anyone else think the carver's back view looks a bit like that rock-climbing master?"

"It does… it really does look alike, but it's nighttime and he's facing away, so you can't see his face. Still, I don't think it's the same person — who'd be great at both rock-climbing and carving?"

"I actually think it's very likely the same person. Climbers have powerful hands — that's exactly the kind of raw talent you need for carving."

When Su Ying woke up in the morning, she came across this video too. At first she was puzzled by the comments, but once one comment led her to another video, her eyes nearly popped out of her head.

She truly hadn't expected that the seemingly refined and gentle Qin Yun was also a rock-climbing master.

That terrifyingly dangerous sequence at Fan Cliff left her utterly dumbstruck.

She then, without hesitation, left a reply under the carving video: "The person doing the carving is exactly the rock-climbing master. I'm at Mount Putuo right now — I saw it with my own eyes last night."

Unfortunately, her comment was quickly buried, not making even the tiniest splash, which left Su Ying fuming.

She posted several more comments in a row, all the same, and one person even replied to her: "Stop trying to be a show-off." Su Ying was so angry she nearly smashed her phone.

Qin Yun knew nothing of this. After coming down from the Ancient Cave of Sudhana, he took a boat directly from Short Aunt's Wharf to Luojia Mountain, checked in at Yuan Tong Chan Grove, Great Compassion Hall, Great Enlightenment Ciyun Chan Yuan, and Universal Gate Nunnery, then took a boat back to the main island and headed to the final stop, Mei Fu Ciyun Chan Yuan.

After a ten-minute stop at Mei Fu Ciyun Chan Yuan, all thirty temples on Mount Putuo had been successfully lit up, and the check-in task was officially complete.

【Check-in task complete. Random reward obtained: Combat Skill +1】

【Combat Skill LV1: Strikes flow from the heart, mastery of all techniques — every punch and every stance decides victory and defeat.】