As soon as Chen Shi said this, Blackie Pot, who was sitting in the wooden cart munching on a steamed bun, jolted alert. He hurriedly stuffed the bun into his mouth and eyed Ying Rumeng warily.
A阴 wind quietly stirred around him, ready at any moment to come to Chen Shi's aid.
The wooden cart, looking utterly clueless, kept shoving food into its mouth, oblivious to the dire situation.
Ying Rumeng burst out laughing.
“Bun? Where’s a bun? There’s only hot, fluffy steamed buns. Would you like one?”
Chen Shi stared into her eyes, as if trying to discern her true nature, but saw nothing there. He smiled and said, “I heard that the golden body Buddha of Gongzhou was hollowed out by mycelium, and the demon endangering Gongzhou has escaped.
I know that Zen Master Kuzhu and Brother Wuchen entered Gongzhou but never saw Uncle Ying.
I thought you might be that demon, so I was just testing you.
Please don’t take offense, Uncle Ying.”
Ying Rumeng gazed into his eyes, as if peering into his heart, but all she saw were demons far more powerful than herself.
After a moment, she chuckled. “Of course not.
As an ordained nun, I’m detached from all four elements—how could I get angry? I went to Gongzhou because I heard the news of Brother Kuzhu’s death and rushed there to handle his affairs.”
She raised her hand to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear. Her sleeve slipped down unwittingly, revealing a smooth, porcelain-white arm.
Chen Shi ignored the allure and fixed his gaze on the tavern entrance. “If you’re truly detached from the four elements, then once dead, one is dead. Why bother with funeral arrangements?”
Ying Rumeng’s chest rose slightly, her robes seeming to grow a bit thinner as a faint smile played on her lips. “The body is but a foul sack of skin, still mired in the mortal world, so it must be dealt with.”
Chen Shi glanced at the bustling tavern. “Read too much Buddhist scripture, and will a demon become a Buddha?”
Ying Rumeng turned to him. Chen Shi laughed heartily.
“I was just testing you! Look how scared you got!”
Ying Rumeng giggled.
“What did your test reveal?”
Chen Shi shook his head. “Nothing at all.”
Blackie Pot heard a pop from the top of his head. He pawed at it and found a mushroom sprouting there, instantly on edge.
The wooden cart popped repeatedly, soon covered in little mushrooms.
Blackie Pot trembled in fear, praying his young master would stop testing.
Chen Shi asked,
“Does the Great Bao Guo Temple have female cultivators too?”
Seeing him unmoved by her charms, Ying Rumeng thought,
“His mental fortitude is impressive...
Wait, could he be ignorant of matters between men and women? Then all my earlier efforts were wasted on a blind man?”
She smiled faintly. “Detached from the four elements, what distinction is there between man and woman?”
Chen Shi said earnestly,
“The body is a foul sack of skin, still in the mortal world, so naturally we must distinguish between men and women.”
Ying Rumeng stared into his eyes. She had used those very words against Chen Shi earlier, and now he threw them back at her!
Chen Shi met her gaze.
He stuffed food into the cart, while Blackie Pot anxiously watched it pluck mushrooms from itself.
Chen Shi suddenly burst into laughter. “I was just testing you again, Uncle Ying. No need to get worked up.”
Ying Rumeng’s earlier seriousness vanished as she giggled. “You really scared me!”
Blackie Pot gritted his teeth, yanked the mushroom off his head, and shoved it into his mouth, glaring viciously at the two.
The wooden cart quietly sprouted arms, picked off its mushrooms, tasted them, found them decent, and harvested more to eat.
At that moment, Monk Wuchen hurried out of the tavern, laughing. “Uncle, Benefactor Chen, I begged another meal! Let’s eat together!”
Chen Shi pulled a small round table from the cart and set it up under the street corner’s shade, then fetched a few stools. “Blackie Pot, come down and eat too.”
Blackie Pot shook his head like a rattle, his ears slapping against his face with sharp smacks.
Chen Shi didn’t press him. The three sat and ate the meal Monk Wuchen had begged—plain vegetarian fare, but palatable enough.
Chen Shi said, “Monk, why are you still in Xinxiang instead of returning to the Great Bao Guo Temple?”
Monk Wuchen replied, “Uncle said I still harbor worldly attachments and must temper myself more in the mortal world before my Buddhist arts and the Great Wheel Bright King Golden Light Mantra can advance further.”
Chen Shi glanced in surprise at Ying Rumeng. “Does Uncle Ying know the Buddhist arts and Great Wheel Bright King Golden Light Mantra too?”
Ying Rumeng smiled.
“After Brother Kuzhu’s death, my mastery of the Great Wheel Bright King Golden Light Mantra is unmatched in the world.”
Chen Shi raised an eyebrow. “I heard that demon in Gongzhou drained Zen Master Kuzhu’s golden body with its mycelium. Its golden body attainment must rival yours, no?”
“Pfft!”
Monk Wuchen snorted rice from his nose and coughed violently, face flushed red.
Ying Rumeng met Chen Shi’s gaze with a half-smile.
Chen Shi ate on, then laughed. “Just kidding! Eat up, Uncle.”
Ying Rumeng ground her teeth but smiled. “Joke too much, and you might die. Last time someone joked around and dropped dead mid-meal.
Guess how?”
Chen Shi leaned in, eyes full of curiosity. “How?”
“Curiosity killed him!”
Ying Rumeng giggled. “Funny, right? Hahaha!”
Chen Shi laughed too, tears streaming from his eyes.
Monk Wuchen quickly changed the subject. “I stayed in Xinxiang also because I passed the provincial exam.
As a juren now, I can post my tablet anywhere and travel freely.
Benefactor Chen, on the results day, your name topped the list, above even the noble heirs.”
Chen Shi knew the monk was a social climber, impressed by his high rank, so he asked, “What are your plans now that you’re a juren, Monk?”
Monk Wuchen said, “Follow Uncle to wander the provinces, see the lands and peoples,
temper my resolve.”
He hesitated. He’d studied sutras diligently, not to live ascetically.
He’d planned to go to the capital and leverage the Great Bao Guo Temple’s name to befriend nobles for a good position, but Ying Rumeng mocked his worldliness and dragged him into a beggar-monk life on the road.
Unable to resist, he followed this demon in cultivation.
After the meal, Monk Wuchen packed his begging bowl, pressed his palms together, and bowed to Chen Shi. “Benefactor Chen, Uncle and I must continue our journey. Farewell.”
Chen Shi returned the bow with a smile. “Will you take the capital exam for jinshi next year?”
Monk Wuchen said, “To advance in the temple as a lecturer, I’ll need to take it.
Farewell.”
Chen Shi nodded lightly and watched them leave. Once they were far off, his legs buckled, nearly collapsing him to the ground. He grabbed the cart to steady himself.
His body trembled, legs too shaky to stand. Ignoring the table and stools, he crawled into the cart and lay down, gasping for breath. Sweat poured from him like a flood.
The spark in Chen Shi’s eyes was gone, his gaze scattered—he was utterly terrified.
He’d been feigning calm all along, even bantering repeatedly with Ying Rumeng. Now the fear hit full force.
Blackie Pot watched without sympathy, a clear “you deserved it” look on his face.
After a long while, Chen Shi stopped shaking, exhaled heavily, and murmured,
“Read too much Buddhist scripture—can a demon really become a Buddha? I don’t buy it.
What is this demon planning... Better not linger here. Blackie Pot, let’s go!”
Blackie Pot fetched the compass and drove the cart out of Fragrant River Town.
They’d planned to eat fragrant fish in town, but now scrapped that idea—
no telling when Ying Rumeng might sprout into a giant mushroom, turning the place into another demon realm.
Monk Wuchen and Ying Rumeng left Fragrant River Town, with Wuchen ahead. Suddenly, Ying Rumeng’s voice came from behind. “Walk... walk slower...”
Monk Wuchen stopped and turned. Ying Rumeng leaned against a tree, legs shaking, unable to walk.
“Uncle still unfamiliar with a human body?”
Monk Wuchen hurried over. “Uncle could reveal your true form and hop along.”
“No.”
Ying Rumeng shook her head, eyes full of fear. “I thought I’d shaken him off, but he tracked me down! He’s here to capture me, seal me away. Good thing I was clever and played it off without slipping.”
Monk Wuchen was stunned. Why did Uncle see Chen Shi as so terrifying?
He couldn’t fathom the horrors Ying Rumeng had glimpsed, so he couldn’t share her dread.
Ying Rumeng rested a moment, then recovered. “Let’s leave now and never cross paths with him again!”
Monk Wuchen assented, thinking, “Uncle wants me to temper my heart, but she needs it more to face Chen Shi without fear.”
Just then, cart wheels sounded behind them. They turned—Ying Rumeng paled instantly and whispered,
“He won’t let me go! Should I fight him?”
Chen Shi, in his cart, spotted them too and went ashen. “This demon’s waiting for me! Fine, thinks it’s got me cornered, huh?”
Ying Rumeng’s eyes flashed murderously, steeling for the kill.
Chen Shi manifested the little shrine behind his head, ready to seal the demon inside without a word!
They drew closer. Then a woman’s laughter rang in Chen Shi’s ears. “What a long, sound sleep! Superior Envoy, I overexerted myself and grew exhausted, sleeping so long—not intentional neglect.
Did Her Ladyship send you to rescue me? Oh, there’s a demon here!”
“Lady Shiji?”
Chen Shi’s heart leaped with joy, relief flooding him. “Lady, you’re awake? To be honest, my godmother sent me to rescue you!”
He recalled the stone boat: he’d stored Lady Shiji in the little shrine, and she’d hailed him as Superior Envoy. Since Godmother gave him the shrine, he borrowed her name.
“Godmother?”
In the main shrine of the little temple behind his head, Lady Shiji regarded Chen Shi with deep respect.
Others might not know his godmother’s origins, but she did—perfectly.
She was the foremost goddess of Huaxia, origins ancient beyond measure, divine power boundless, ruling all above and below ground.
Though Lady Shiji was a goddess too, she was earthly; compared to that lady, one was heaven, the other earth—subordinate.
“Her Ladyship took him as her foster son! No wonder he’s the Superior Envoy!”
Lady Shiji said joyfully, “Her Ladyship sent the Superior Envoy to rescue me—does she mean to remake my true body?”
Desperate to survive, Chen Shi played along. “Exactly.
She said you suffered injustice, harmed by villains, and endured much after reaching West Ox New Continent, so she insisted I remake your true body.”
Before he finished, Lady Shiji sobbed bitterly.
Chen Shi froze, wondering, “Did she truly suffer in Huaxia Divine Continent?”
Lady Shiji cried a bit, then composed herself, choking back tears.
“The Superior Envoy mocks me. I did suffer—bullied by a master-disciple pair without cause, my true body shattered.
No place for me in the Divine Continent, my broken form used as building stones. I barely saved my head.
So I sailed the Dark Sea to this new continent, hoping to restore my lineage and remake my body.
But the True King found me and imprisoned me for thousands of years.”
She nearly cried again.
Chen Shi cut in. “Lady, how do you compare to this demon?”
Lady Shiji quelled her grief, looked from the shrine at Ying Rumeng, and said calmly, “Before the Superior Envoy, I am your servant; before her, I am the palace itself.”
Chen Shi’s courage surged. He ordered Blackie Pot to halt, laughing heartily. “We meet again! Who’d have thought here of all places.
Since fate keeps throwing us together, allow me to see Uncle Ying on her way!”
Lady Shiji said, “But my divine power was borrowed ten years ago by some old coot to suppress a fellow called Creation Little Five. What remains is scant—against this little demon, I may not prevail.”
Chen Shi’s heart sank; he wanted to retract his words, but they’d spilled out too fast.
Ying Rumeng sensed unfathomable divine power from the little shrine behind his head and tensed. “He’s striking first! Fine, mutual destruction it is!”
She prepared to attack!
Lady Shiji said,
“Superior Envoy, allow me this impertinence!”
Suddenly, Chen Shi’s vision blurred. His awareness was in the shrine, while Lady Shiji occupied his body.
“This little shrine is fine in every way but can’t contain true experts!”
Chen Shi sighed inwardly. Creation Little Five, Qianyang Mountain Lord, and Lady Shiji could all come and go freely—imprisonment impossible.
They could even possess his body at will, using it as a vessel!
“Girl!”
Chen Shi’s body erupted with terrifying demonic energy laced with immortal aura. In a chilling voice, it said, “Dare you defy your superior and strike at this palace?”
“A demon immortal!” Ying Rumeng shuddered, bowing gracefully.
“Predecessor, this junior dares not.”
Chen Shi’s body flicked its sleeve. “If you dare not, why stir murderous intent?”
Sweat beaded on Ying Rumeng’s forehead under the demon immortal’s crushing pressure.
“Considering it your first offense, you’re spared this once! Next time you show disrespect, no mercy!”
Lady Shiji delivered the line, then returned to the shrine. Chen Shi regained his body and laughed. “Superior Envoy, I’ve scolded her. She won’t dare act rashly now.”
Chen Shi’s mind reeled. “Demon Lady Shiji too—a demon! And I promised a demon to remake her true body...”
