Chapter 43: The God-Making Ritual (Thanks to Guangdong Shoumaile for the donation)

"I... killed myself?"

Huang Mao murmured, his whole body trembling, his mind a blur of mush. He stumbled backward several steps and fell to the ground.

He couldn't understand it. He had clearly slain the Heavenly Demon's minions, so why...

... did he turn into himself?

"Humans have three corpses, which also transform into three worms, governing one's own desires. As long as the three worms remain, one cannot attain purity."

"Slashing the three corpses!" Huang Mao suddenly snapped out of it, asking in confusion, "Shouldn't that lead to attaining the Dao and becoming an immortal?"

"That is because only those with sufficient cultivation can cut away troubles without disturbing themselves while holding fast to their true selves. For an ordinary person to cut them prematurely is to seek death."

Jiang Yan was speechless. "The world knows of slashing the three corpses, yet does not know that the corpses are the gods of the self. Their existence is both a trouble and a stabilizer for oneself. If you casually cut them away, the soul has nowhere to rest and naturally departs the body."

"Others fear their souls will become unstable, yet you, good sir, slashed three demons in a single day, refining your three souls to present them to the Monkey King for the eye-dotting ritual. When you wake, will it be the Monkey King? Or you?"

"Don't you agree, Abbot Shou'e?"

Abbot Shou'e silently chanted Buddhist mantras, his prayer beads clicking, and said calmly:

"Benefactor, you are attached to appearances."

Huang Mao's face turned pale, cold sweat dripping down. Only then did he realize his life hung like a dying candle in the wind; his limbs were weak, and his hundred bones held no spirit.

He asked in a trembling voice, "Then why were the man in the suit, Little Black, Little White, and the others unharmed after slashing the three demons?"

Jiang Yan said with deep meaning, "Who said they were humans?"

"They are all History Walkers..."

Huang Mao instinctively refuted, but turning his head, he discovered the man in the suit, who had been pinned to death, had vanished, while Little Black and Little White remained silent.

In that moment, he suddenly recalled a detail.

All the mission information and mission progress had been questions they asked him; the group had never voluntarily spoken of them.

Even upon hearing the name Sima Sima Luoshui, they felt not the slightest strangeness.

Most crucially, though they dressed very modernly, they rarely used modern vocabulary when speaking.

And they kept describing the Abbot's immense power...

Their behavior was bizarre.

But if they were all natives of the Sickness Domain and a single faction, then it made sense.

Huang Mao looked down at the historical panel composed of invisible historical dust. The originally displayed 【Progress 18%】 suddenly changed to 【Progress 3%】.

All these things were merely a moon in the water,

A flower in the mirror!

From the very beginning, he had been deceived.

The so-called historical progress was also an illusion.

This massive blow brought Huang Mao to the brink of collapse. He murmured, "Then why... did you save me?"

"I did not save you; I saved myself!"

Jiang Yan said softly, "You... are me!"

"I am you? How is that possible!?"

Huang Mao's face twisted into a grimace. He wanted to refute and speak his true name, but found...

Memories of the past in his mind were shattered, like a rootless duckweed.

Who am I?

Where do I come from?

Why did I come here?

If one never existed, how can one speak of the past?

Huang Mao seemed to understand something. He couldn't help but give a bitter smile as his body gradually faded. The life lamp upon him appeared, illusory like a bubble, exactly like Jiang Yan's Ash Lamp.

It simply had no candle flame burning.

The Ash Lamp devoured it; the candle flame increased by a wisp, and proficiency rose to Entry Level 30%.

"Truly, a Turbid Flow Grade A dungeon is terrifying."

Jiang Yan sighed. If not for the special perspective of the Immortal and Divine Relic 【Contemplation Method of the Burning Lamp Fire Prison】, he would not have discovered...

That the moment he entered the dungeon, special memories were implanted in him, splitting off another "self."

This self possessed his arrogance, conceit, and various other personality traits.

Fortunately, the candle flame of the Ash Lamp guarded his own will, preventing this mysterious power from analyzing his core memories, so it could not replicate him one-to-one.

Only a crude copy appeared, fabricating memories and abilities.

For instance, the Bone Flying Knife was actually blood threads wrapping around a bone to attack.

However, since it couldn't even ignite the Ash Lamp, let alone replicate a Demon God Embryo.

The enthusiasm of the man in the suit and others toward Huang Mao, and their coldness and disdain toward Jiang Yan, were also methods to make him unable to distinguish truth from falsehood.

From the very beginning, the phrase "obstruction of knowledge and perception" had revealed the cause and effect.

Unfortunately, his X-ray vision had never been turned off.

Even so, Jiang Yan witnessed Huang Mao slaying his own three souls and giving them to Abbot Shou'e to dot the eyes of the Monkey King statue.

Although it was merely a clone, Jiang Yan vaguely felt that something very bad would definitely happen.

"So I am usually this stupid?"

Jiang Yan stroked his chin; indeed, he must curb his pride and impetuosity.

"Amitabha."

Abbot Shou'e, who had been silently observing, spoke up:

"Congratulations, Benefactor. You have pierced through the heart demon and seen your true nature."

"In that case, please bestow the eyes upon the Monkey King!"

As he spoke, several tiger-shaped spine beasts on the side slowly approached, their momentum fierce.

It was clearly a posture of forcing a coup.

Watching the show the whole time wasn't because he was foolish, but because he held the victory in his hands.

The advantage was with him!

Jiang Yan smiled faintly and asked, "You've been watching the show just now; did you think you had me completely beaten?"

Abbot Shou'e smiled lightly and said, "Why do you speak thus, benefactor? This humble monk merely wishes to gift you a great opportunity!"

"You have consumed the blood peach nurtured by the Monkey King's essence blood, and you are now linked to this sick realm. Even if you can escape the Monkey King Temple and return to the present world, unless you can achieve the state of the Supreme One forgetting all emotions, otherwise..."

"As long as there is an obsession, you will be relentlessly attacked by heart apes. The only path is to suppress the evil spirits."

Huang Mao is one kind of heart ape!

Born from the mind, it transforms into an evil thing.

Xiao Hei spoke up, "We are trapped here as well... all of this is just to survive."

Xiao Bai's expression was conflicted; finally, she said, "Sima Sima Luoshui, I never thought to harm you. Sometimes, when the Dao differs, one must inevitably walk toward opposition, unless we walk the same path."

"The taste of lies is not good at all."

Jiang Yan sneered and said calmly, "The clothes you wear must have come from the History Walkers who arrived before."

Their fate need not be spoken of.

"It seems reasoning is impossible."

Abbot Shou'e sighed, "Originally, I wanted you to offer yourself willingly, as the effect would be better, but since that is the case, let me offer the final Sacrificial Offering for the birth of the Monkey King."

As his words fell, the spine beasts roared and surged upward.

They prepared to forcibly compel Jiang Yan to bestow the eyes upon the Monkey King.

However, in the next second, from the Shadow-Eating Great Snake behind Jiang Yan, a shattered head suddenly grew a complete snake head.

Then it shattered again!

Then it grew again!

Such a change occurred in the blink of an eye.

"Roar!"

The two-headed Shadow-Eating Great Snake acted with overwhelming force, biting two approaching spine beasts to death, while the remaining two were swept away by its tail hook.

Abbot Shou'e, who had originally held victory in his hands, saw this scene, his expression froze, and he cried out in shock:

"Impossible!"

Isn't this fellow at the Awakening Spirit Realm?

How can he sweep away the spine beasts of the Foundation Realm?

"All of this is inseparable from your hospitality!"

Jiang Yan's smile was playful; after all, he was always cautious and disliked eating food of unknown origin.

So he let the Shadow-Eating Great Snake hide in the shadow of his throat, swallowing all the food and pretending he had eaten it.

But he didn't expect...

The blood peach actually provided a massive amount of vital energy, repairing the injuries of the Shadow-Eating Great Snake.

It could be confirmed to be flesh and blood from some life form.

There must be something wrong inside.

But... Jiang Yan always liked to strip away the sugar coating and fire the shell back.

Eating and drinking heavily during this period was just to repair the head of the Shadow-Eating Great Snake.

It's just that the monks of the Monkey King Temple were too stingy; they wouldn't give more after he ate a little extra.

So, Jiang Yan chose to let the Shadow-Winged Snake take Coffin Spirit to the back mountain to dig up the mysterious crimson figure beneath the peach tree.

As expected, they were in a state of slumber during the day, so he buried them one by one, transforming them into a massive amount of vital energy.

The main principle was... taking without asking.

At this moment, in the peach forest of the back mountain,

Coffin Spirit condensed a small shovel from ashes, constantly digging, and then handed it to the Shadow-Winged Snake inside the coffin to swallow.

Wherever Jiang Yan acted tyrannically, Coffin Spirit was inevitably toiling behind the scenes.

"Master, let Coffin Grandpa help you dig out a bright future!"

Coffin Spirit was full of fighting spirit, digging desperately.

The harvest was naturally huge; not only did it use the 'Powerful Assistance' skill, but it also repaired an extra head.

"Since you want the Monkey King to revive so badly, then..."

Jiang Yan's gaze locked onto the Monkey King statue, and he said softly:

"Let it wake up sooner!"

As he spoke, the two-headed Shadow-Eating Great Snake swung its tail hook like a long whip breaking the air, striking the Monkey King statue.

"How dare you, you rascal!?"

Abbot Shou'e's eyes were about to burst; he just wanted to intervene, but was intercepted by the two heads of the Shadow-Eating Great Snake, and could only watch helplessly as the Monkey King statue was hit.

"No!"

Xiao Bai murmured, closing her eyes unwillingly.

With a crack, the bronze-cast and gold-gilded Monkey King statue shattered; inside, it was not solid, but contained a ceramic jar.

The ceramic jar shattered, and internal organs flowed out, scattering on the ground; its heart was still beating slowly, surrounded by immense spiritual energy.

In an instant, the entire temple scene twisted, eyes grew upon the incense burner, and the ground was covered in flesh and blood.

Standing atop a colossal corpse.

"Molding a golden body, installing divine organs—you truly intend to create a god!"

I didn't expect that upon opening the backend, I'd see the alliance of the Guangdong Junk Buyer Boss; I was overwhelmed with gratitude and will make up for the extra chapters later.



(End of this chapter)