Chapter 46 - Xin Hui
“Buddha?” Li Huowang asked. When he raised his head, all he saw was a massive heap of flesh that was at least twenty meters tall! Regardless of how Monk saw the Buddha, all Li Huowang could see was a twisted mass of pink flesh. The only way he could describe the thing was that it looked like the back of a toad, covered in veins and flesh. Various reproductive organs circled and shifted around on the mountain of flesh, moving in and out of the bits of skin that covered the mass of flesh.
Even though the mountain of flesh was absolutely disgusting, there were many monks around it. The monks were enthralled as they breathed in the pink mist emanating from it. They had an excited look on their faces as they filled in whatever ‘gaps’ there were on the ‘Buddha’ with their own bodies.
Women, men, and even beasts. The monks of the Righteous Monastery were challenging the limits of their bodies.
“How about it? Isn’t it big? This is the biggest stone Buddha that I’ve ever seen,” Monk praised it in an excited manner.
Li Huowang’s body was stiff. He knew that Dan Yangzi was evil and would be abhorred by the righteous sects of this world. While the Righteous Monastery held a grudge against Dan Yangzi, even though he couldn’t guarantee how righteous they were, at the very least he thought that they would have some rules.
But his hypothesis was wrong! There were no righteous sects, nor were there any evil sects! Maybe the cultivation process in this world was twisted at its very core!
Maybe the grudge between Dan Yangzi and the monks was not based on justice vs. evil! It could even be two evil sects fighting for the sake of territory!
Even if he ignored everything, he knew for certain that Xin Hui was deceiving him and everyone else!
The Great Fast?! That shitty monk must be lying to me! I need to leave this place right now!
He turned and saw that Monk was not at all repulsed by what he was seeing. While Li Huowang didn’t know how he had managed to pierce through the veil of deceit, he knew that at the very least he had not been found out. He needed to use this fact to his advantage and leave.
He suppressed his feelings of repulsion and tried to act as naturally as possible as he said, “Not bad. But it’s just a stone Buddha. I will take my leave now.”
Having said that, Li Huowang walked out and returned to the disgusting courtyard where the monks were ‘sculpting’ the sculptures.
The wriggling masses of flesh were still moving all around him, but Li Huowang just pretended that he did not see them and continued walking.
“Hey, little Taoist! Don’t go yet! Why the rush? It took you quite some time to arrive here,” shouted Monk as he chased after Li Huowang. “The food here is really good too. Why not have a meal with me? The fried tofu here is even more delicious than meat.”
Li Huowang just acted as if he was irritated and increased his pace while Monk continued to pester him.
However, just when Li Huowang was almost out of the accursed place, a large shadow blocked him. It was an extremely well-built monk with a serious face and was a head taller than Li Huowang. He stared at Li Huowang without saying anything.
“Is there anything I can help you with?” Li Huowang said coldly. All the while, his heart was racing wildly.
The monk leaned forward and silently observed Li Huowang.
What happened next scared Li Huowang to his very core. A slimy black tentacle, complete with suction cups, emerged from the scar on the monk’s head. Then, it started stretching longer and longer. The weird tentacle started wriggling in the air like a snake before slowly wrapping around Li Huowang’s head, as if it was trying to sense something.
“Amitabha! Dear sir, it seems that your heart is impure,” said the well-built monk.
As he said that, all of the wriggling masses of flesh in the area stopped dead. At the same time, the monks that were previously ‘working’ on them all turned around and stared at Li Huowang.
Shit! He knew that I’m not fooled by their illusion! Time to fight!
Seeing that the situation had taken a turn for the worse, Li Huowang pulled out his sword and slashed it at the monk in front of him.
The sound of metal tearing into flesh was heard as the tentacle and the monk’s shirt were cut in half, and a yellow-green goo sprayed in every direction.
At the same time, Li Huowang ate a pill and jumped past the well-built monk, and rushed straight toward the wall closest to him.
His action sparked an avalanche of movements around him; all of the monks working on the wriggling flesh jumped down and started chasing after him.
But that was not all. A sudden earthquake happened, causing almost everyone to fall down to the ground.
Li Huowang, who was now at the top of the wall, turned backward and saw that the massive ‘Buddha’ had breached the wooden gate and was rolling toward him!
I need to run now! This place is too dangerous! There’s no way their illusion could work on everyone in the entire Western Capital City! They wouldn’t risk showing the true nature of their ‘Buddha’ to the people.
Li Huowang ran as fast as he could, the voices behind him growing louder and louder. This was his only chance to escape, so he didn’t dare slow down.
Li Huowang ran faster and faster with a horde of people chasing after him. Li Huowang’s stamina and strength were almost inexhaustible after he ate the pill. There were a few times when he almost got caught but luckily managed to break free.
Just when he took a turn and was about to exit through the front gate of the Monastery, he saw someone with a familiar face blocking him. It was the Righteous Monastery’s very own abbot, Xin Hui.
Seeing him, Li Huowang didn’t hesitate and reached for his bronze bell. But when his hands reached into his sleeves, he found that the bell he used to summon the Wandering Gods was missing.
“Amitabha! Benefactor Xuan Yang, are you looking for this?” Xin Hui held the bell as he asked Li Huowang, his face still calm as usual.
Even before Li Huowang could answer him, Xin Hui approached Li Huowang and placed the bell back into his hand. “Benefactor Xuan Yang, this is an ominous object. Use it sparingly.”
He did not question Li Huowang any further. He walked past Li Huowang and saw the horde of monks chasing after Li Huowang before chastising them, “You are all monks, so why are you so anxious?”
“Abbot! It’s not that we are anxious! That guy suddenly attacked Senior Jian Wei!” said one of the monks.
Upon hearing this, Abbot Xin Hui turned around and questioned Li Huowang. “Benefactor Xuan Yang, is that true? Why did you hurt him? Did he do something to you?”
Li Huowang looked at the crowd and then back at the bronze bell in his hand, feeling confused by what the abbot was trying to do. He was certain that the abbot had seen everything that had unfolded, so why was he acting?
After a while, Li Huowang just decided to come clean. “Abbot Xin Hui, your monastery had a grudge with Dan Yangzi, and I’m the one who killed him. You haven’t even thanked me, but there should be no reason to kill me, right? I will keep my mouth shut about everything that I’ve seen in the monastery. No one will know. Plus, it would be almost impossible to ruin the reputation of your Righteous Monastery with just me alone.”
Hearing what Li Huowang had said, Xin Hui was even more confused. “What did you see? I don’t think I understand.”
Huh? Don’t tell me... the abbot is different from them?
Li Huowang decided to calmly explain what he had seen just now to the abbot.
“Preposterous! A bunch of lies!” shouted the abbot in a fit of rage.
This was the first time Li Huowang had seen Xin Hui get angry. His two strands of white mustache quivered while the other monks behind him lowered their heads in fear.
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