Chapter 182: Don't Tell Me I Was Right All Along?
"Damn, that's some thick ghostly and demonic aura. What kind of temple is this supposed to be? It looks more like a demon's lair than a Buddhist monastery—more so than even the Tower of Euphoria!"
Li Gexiao drew the embroidered spring-blade from his waist and silently stepped in front of Chu Yang to shield him.
Though not as strong as Chu Yang, he still had to fulfill his duty.
Lu Xiaofeng watched the scene with a thoughtful look.
Hua Manlou, blind as he was, focused entirely on the faint sound of scripture chanting. He said softly, "That's the sound of a young girl chanting sutras for her deceased mother. I heard she's Boss Qian's daughter…"
"Huh?" Li Gexiao was stunned. "A daughter this filial, and yet her father's a demon who helps other monsters prey on people?"
Lu Xiaofeng pointed at him and laughed. "As the man who killed her father, you're hardly in a position to say anything."
Li Gexiao smacked his lips. "First I kill the father, then I come to kill the daughter—man, I really am heartless."
Hua Manlou shook his head. "Right and wrong still remain unclear. Sir Li, best not jump to conclusions. I've met that girl once before. She doesn't seem like someone cut from the same cloth as Boss Qian."
Chu Yang waved his hand and said, "Let's go in first. Whether she's human or ghost, we need to see it with our own eyes."
The four slowly stepped into Yunjian Temple. As soon as they crossed the threshold, a wave of resentment and ghostly aura surged toward them. Li Gexiao immediately slashed with his blade, sending out a surge of sword intent that pierced through the miasma of death and grievance.
"That's an interesting move—you strike with a blade, yet release sword energy. You've improved quite a bit since last time."
Lu Xiaofeng looked at Li Gexiao in surprise. As far as he remembered, Li Gexiao had long suffered from a hidden injury. Barely one-tenth of his martial arts remained, making him significantly weaker than Lu himself.
Yet now, the Li Gexiao before him felt like an entirely different man.
"You might not believe it, but I ran into the number one swordsman in the world, Yan Nantian, on my way here. He said my natural aptitude was extraordinary and insisted on transferring all of his internal energy to me. I had no choice but to accept!"
Li Gexiao grinned smugly at Lu Xiaofeng.
"That's the most ridiculous story I've ever heard. At least try to make your lies more believable next time."
Lu Xiaofeng rolled his eyes in exasperation.
"But really," he continued, "what about you, Young Master Chu? You even managed to beat a major demon. I remember you couldn't even get the basics of a single Surging Waves Palm technique back in the day."
Compared to Li Gexiao, Lu Xiaofeng found Chu Yang even more baffling. The saying goes that a man should be seen in a new light after three days apart, but Chu Yang had changed beyond anything he could have imagined.
"You might not believe this either, but on my way here, I—"
"Stop, stop, just stop! Could you at least put a little more effort into your bragging? Try a new version next time!"
Chu Yang paused for a moment, then said, "Actually, I've been a martial arts genius since childhood. I only pretended to be average so I could blend in with you all. But all it brought me was distance. So now, I'm done pretending—I'm coming clean!"
Lu Xiaofeng stared at him, dumbfounded. "That's a fresh one, at least."
Hua Manlou listened to their banter with a faint smile on his lips. Surrounded by interesting people, even venturing into a den of demons could feel amusing.
Li Gexiao took the lead, cutting a path through the endless waves of eerie ghostly aura with his blade and sword energy. Strangely enough, for a demon's lair, the ghost aura was noticeably stronger than the demonic aura.
"That demon's probably on the brink of death. She's turning into a demon-spirit hybrid. When demonic aura turns into ghost aura, the result is doubly vicious."
Lu Xiaofeng, widely experienced, instantly deduced the reason behind the overwhelming ghost aura.
Chu Yang said, "That's not the only reason."
Lu Xiaofeng looked at him in puzzlement.
Chu Yang didn't explain right away. "Just watch."
The four of them continued onward until they reached the main Mahavira Hall at the temple's center. Here, the ghostly and demonic energies were at their most intense—and yet a faint gleam of Buddhist radiance flickered within the hall.
The three forces swirled together, forming a barrier that sealed off the hall.
Li Gexiao stepped forward, raising his blade high and gathering his momentum. The Divine Sword Manual activated inside him, cycling both sword and blade intent. In the air, a sword and a blade materialized, resonating with a hum like a tidal wave.
They flew out simultaneously like twin beams of dazzling light, slamming straight into the solemn Mahavira Hall!
The three streams of energy hanging over the hall clashed with the sword and blade, creating eerie illusions and emitting horrifying howls like living creatures.
Boom!
With a thunderous roar, the temple's golden doors blasted open, falling aside and revealing the scene within.
All three—Lu Xiaofeng, Chu Yang, and Li Gexiao—showed strange expressions.
The half-dead Rosy-Boned Beauty was lying in the arms of Yunjian Temple's old abbot. The two clung to each other like lovers, and beside them knelt a young girl, chanting sutras through her tears.
The scene was grotesque in the extreme.
"Amitābha. Please wait, all of you. Allow this old monk a moment to send off my late wife's soul before you kill me."
The abbot's face was filled with sorrow.
"Wife?" Lu Xiaofeng was stunned. "That skeleton demon is your wife?"
The abbot nodded. "The remains of my late wife, transformed."
Li Gexiao barked coldly, "A monk with a wife? You've fallen to the demonic path—you should be executed!"
With that, he raised his blade, ready to strike down the old abbot.
"Don't kill my father!"
The chanting stopped. The girl rushed to shield the abbot, weeping in panic.
"Huh? He's your father? Then who's Boss Qian?"
Li Gexiao froze in place. The situation had taken such a sudden turn that his brain struggled to keep up.
The girl said softly, "My mother died giving birth to me. My father buried her beneath a locust tree outside the temple and left me in the care of Shopkeeper Qian's family. Then he became a monk here at Yunjian Temple."
Hua Manlou continued, "Locust trees gather yin. Your mother's remains absorbed that yin and became sentient—but you and your father both know that skeleton demon isn't your mother."
The girl sobbed, "My father loved her too deeply and lost himself to obsession…"
Hua Manlou sighed. "Which is why he helped evil do evil."
Lu Xiaofeng suddenly asked, "So where did all the ghostly resentment in this temple come from?"
The girl trembled uncontrollably.
Chu Yang glanced at her and said coldly, "I'd wager all those eminent monks were fed to the demon by her father. Otherwise, how do you explain the thirty-six Buddhist relics?"
The girl collapsed to the ground, her expression vacant.
Li Gexiao cursed, "What a disgrace!"
The old abbot gripped the skeleton's hand bones tightly, seemingly deaf to their words. He just kept murmuring, "Those relics weren't yours to begin with. You couldn't refine them and only ruined your cultivation."
"Eat me instead. I have another relic inside me. I'm different from them. I share your heart and mind."
Upon hearing this, the dying Rosy-Boned Beauty's eyes snapped open with a flash of ferocity!
"No!" Lu Xiaofeng shouted in alarm. "She's still trying to feed!"
"Father!"
The girl screamed and lunged forward, but Hua Manlou held her back.
Li Gexiao drew his blade to strike, while Chu Yang watched coldly from the side.
But unexpectedly, the Rosy-Boned Beauty didn't attack. She reverted to her living form and gently caressed the old abbot's face—
Then perished, her soul dissipating.
She didn't kill the old abbot in the end. No one expected that, not even Chu Yang.
"If a sliver of kindness still lingers in the heart… then why couldn't she spare the others?"
Hua Manlou murmured, his eyes filled with confusion.
No one could answer him.
Kindness isn't always black and white.
Many heinous criminals, once they return home and close the door, become loving children, doting spouses, or cherished parents.
The contrast between the cruelty they show strangers and the affection they show family is often stark.
When the demon died, the thirty-six relics tumbled to the ground.
The old abbot stared blankly at the pile of ashes in his arms and the scattered relics.
From the beginning, one relic—his—would've sufficed for the demon's cultivation.
But she refused.
That refusal led him to believe she was his wife reborn.
A single delusion of obsession—by the time he realized it, it was already too late.
"My sins can only be cleansed in Avīci Hell. Greed, hatred, and delusion—all are born in a single thought. May you all avoid falling to darkness as I did. Amitābha."
With those words, the old monk lowered his head and stopped breathing.
"Father!"
The girl let out a heart-wrenching scream and threw herself on his corpse, sobbing uncontrollably.
In the end, she was the one who suffered the most.
The only thing the old monk could do was carry his sins with him in death, to give his daughter a clean start in life.
Lu Xiaofeng bent to gather the relics, intending to stuff them into his robe, only to be blocked by the quick-eyed Li Gexiao.
"When are you going to break that thieving habit you learned from Sikong Zhaixing? Are these yours to take?"
Li Gexiao snatched the relics away in irritation.
"Don't mention that bastard to me. We got caught together, but only he escaped—no loyalty at all!"
Lu Xiaofeng ground his teeth. He swore to beat the guy up next time they met.
"I think he probably went to find reinforcements. But the Tower of Euphoria is protected by natural illusions. If he only visited once, there's no way he could find his way back."
Hua Manlou offered this explanation from the side.
"Maybe…"
Lu Xiaofeng nodded, saying no more. Deep down, he hoped that was true.
Li Gexiao handed the relics to Chu Yang and asked quietly, "Young Master, what should we do with the abbot's relic?"
Chu Yang shook his head. "Let the girl keep it. She'll want to bury her parents together."
The girl raised her tear-streaked face. "Thank you for your kindness, sir."
Hua Manlou walked toward her, following the sound of her voice. "Shall I help you? Should I call you Miss Qian, or…?"
The girl replied, "Father never gave me a name. Uncle Qian just called me Xia'er. My real surname is Yue. My father's name was Yue Qing, heir of the Divine Axe School of Luban."
"Miss Xia'er…" Hua Manlou nodded and gently helped Xia'er to her feet. Then he nudged Lu Xiaofeng with his foot.
"I got it!" Lu Xiaofeng glared at him, then remembered he was blind and couldn't see. With a grumble, he picked up the old monk's body.
"This pile of ashes—er, I mean, your mother's remains. Do we need something to store them in?"
He looked a little troubled.
"Please wait a moment." Xia'er quietly left the hall and returned from the back courtyard with an urn.
"My father prepared this for himself. He originally planned to cremate himself and give the relic to my mother, hoping she'd walk the right path. But in the end, he couldn't bear to leave me. He lived in torment his whole life…"
Tears flowed as she knelt to collect the ashes. At that moment, a sudden gust of wind swept through the hall, gathering the remains and depositing them neatly in the urn.
Xia'er turned to Chu Yang and gave a grateful nod.
"Huh?" Lu Xiaofeng looked at Chu Yang in shock. "That wind-controlling technique belongs to the Daoist sects. Where'd you learn it?"
Chu Yang replied coolly, "I just wanted to live as a normal person—"
"Oh, shut up already! My head's starting to hurt."
Lu Xiaofeng quickly hoisted the corpse onto his shoulder and ran out of the main hall. Xia'er, holding the urn, followed alongside Hua Manlou.
A short while later—
The group arrived beneath a locust tree.
This was where Xia'er's mother had been laid to rest. Now, her father would be buried here as well. But before that, they needed to cut the tree down.
Locust trees attract yin energy, and this one had begun to show signs of spiritual awakening. Given enough time, even the old monk might transform into a demon.
If a monk or priest with a certain level of cultivation experienced corpse transformation, it would be a terrifying occurrence. Even if they didn't become a full-fledged demon, they would most likely end up as a drought demon or some other malevolent entity.
While Wang Cai dug a pit for the old monk's body, Li Ge Xiao drew his Embroidered Spring Blade and chopped down the tree.
The moment the locust tree fell, a powerful gust of yin wind surged forth, so fierce it forced everyone to shut their eyes. The whistling wind in their ears sounded like weeping.
"All things possess spirit. When we snuff out that spirit like this, how is it any different from killing a person…" Hua Manlou shook his head and sighed.
Chu Yang said, "If nothing had happened, there would've been no harm in letting it grow outside the temple. But now that it's caused trouble, it cannot be allowed to continue existing."
Hua Manlou seemed to disagree and countered, "Madam Yue's bones turned into a demon, but that wasn't the locust tree's fault. It was merely a coincidence. Humans and demons both live under heaven and earth—neither side has the right to strip the other of their space to exist."
Chu Yang's expression gradually turned indifferent. "Maybe you're right. But the human race is already in decline. The smallest misstep could mean disaster. Under such circumstances, our actions must be centered on humanity above all else."
"If the day comes when the demon race has no foothold left in the human world, then perhaps I'll consider extending them what little kindness I have left."
"Until then—be they powerful demons or lesser monsters—I'll kill every last one I see."
Wang Cai, who was digging the grave, shivered violently at those words. His movements suddenly sped up, and he was almost on the verge of excavating a full two-bedroom grave for the old monk.
Hua Manlou listened to Chu Yang's killing intent-laced words but couldn't find a rebuttal for a long time—because Chu Yang was speaking of the greater good of the human race, and not a word he said was wrong.
If it weren't for the chaos caused by demons, war between humans and demons would be inevitable. That war would not end until one side had no chance of rising again.
In such a context, anyone with even a shred of conscience wouldn't sympathize with the demon race.
"…I misspoke."
Hua Manlou let out a heavy sigh.
The atmosphere grew stifling due to the tension between the two.
Lu Xiaofeng, caught in the middle and feeling awkward since both were friends, rolled his eyes and chuckled, "Young Master Chu, back when you were drinking with courtesans in the brothel, you didn't seem this concerned about the country and its people. What, have you turned into a whole different person now?"
"Even if you really are a prince, you're still not the emperor, right? What's all this 'people of the realm' stuff got to do with you? If the sky falls, the emperor's the one who holds it up!"
"Don't tell me you're thinking about rebellion…"
Lu Xiaofeng burst into laughter after finishing—but no one joined in.
He awkwardly fell silent, only to find Li Ge Xiao staring at him with a very strange expression.
Lu Xiaofeng swallowed hard.
Goddamn it.
Don't tell me I actually hit the mark?