Chapter 43: God-Making Ritual (Thanks to the Guangdong Buyer Alliance Leader for the tip)

"I... killed myself?"

Huang Mao muttered, trembling all over, his brain a complete mush, stumbling back a few steps before falling to the ground.

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

...did it turn into himself?

"Humans have three corpses, which manifest as three worms, governing one's desires. If all three worms remain, one cannot find peace."

"Slaying the three corpses!" Huang Mao suddenly woke up, asking in confusion, "Isn't that supposed to lead to attaining the Dao and becoming an immortal?"

"That is because those people already had sufficient Dao cultivation and held fast to their true selves, allowing them to eliminate troubles without disturbing their own nature. Ordinary people who slay them prematurely are just courting death."

Jiang Yan said speechlessly, "The world knows of slaying the three corpses, but they do not know that the corpses are the masters of the spirit. Their existence is both a source of trouble and a stabilizer for the self. You cut them away at will, leaving your soul without a foundation, so naturally, it departed from your body."

"Others are terrified of their spirits being unstable, but you—you're something else. You slew three demons in one day and condensed your three souls to offer them to the Monkey King for the eye-dotting ritual. When the time comes, who will wake up? The Monkey King? Or you?"

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

Abbot Shou'e recited a Buddhist chant, flicked his prayer beads, and said indifferently:

"Benefactor, you have become attached to appearances."

Huang Mao's face turned pale, cold sweat pouring down. Only then did he realize his life was like a candle in the wind; his limbs were weak, and his bones lacked spirit.

He asked with a trembling voice, "Then why are the man in the suit, Little Black, and Little White all fine after killing the three demons?"

Jiang Yan said meaningfully, "Who said they were human?"

"Aren't they all History Walkers..."

Huang Mao subconsciously retorted, but when he looked back, he found the man in the suit who had been nailed down had disappeared, and Little Black and Little White were silent.

At this moment, he suddenly recalled a detail.

All the mission information and progress were things they asked him about; the group had never taken the initiative to speak of them.

They didn't even find it the least bit strange when they heard the name Sima Luoshui.

Most importantly, they dressed very modernly, yet rarely used modern vocabulary when speaking.

And they had been constantly describing the Abbot's power...

Their behavior was strange.

But if they were all natives of the Sickness Domain and were in on it together, then it made sense.

Huang Mao looked down at the history panel composed of intangible historical dust; the originally displayed [Progress 18%] had suddenly changed to [Progress 3%].

Everything was merely the moon reflected in water,

flowers reflected in a mirror!

From the very beginning, he had been deceived.

The so-called historical progress was also an illusion.

This massive blow left Huang Mao nearly broken, and he muttered, "Then... why did you save me?"

"I didn't save you; I saved myself!"

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

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

Huang Mao's face twisted hideously, wanting to retort and speak his true name, only to find...

The memories of his past in his mind were fragmented, like duckweed without roots.

Who am I?

Where do I come from?

What did I come here to do?

If one never existed, how could there be a past?

Huang Mao seemed to understand something and couldn't help but smile bitterly. His body gradually turned ethereal, and the life lamp on him emerged, illusory as a bubble, identical to Jiang Yan's Ash Lamp.

Only, it had no candle flame lit.

The Ash Lamp devoured it, the candle flame grew by a wisp, and his proficiency also rose to 30% at the Entry level.

"As expected of a Turbid Flow Grade-A instance, truly terrifying."

Jiang Yan sighed. If not for the special perspective of the Immortal/Divine relic [Lamp-Lighting Hell Contemplation Method], he wouldn't have discovered...

...that the moment he entered the instance, he had been implanted with special memories, splitting off another "himself."

One possessing his arrogance, conceit, and various personality traits.

Fortunately, the Ash Lamp's flame guarded his own will, preventing this mysterious power from analyzing his core memories, making it impossible to replicate him one-to-one.

It only produced a clumsy replica, fabricating memories and abilities.

For instance, the Bone Flying Knives were actually just blood threads wrapping around bones to attack.

But it couldn't even light the Ash Lamp, let alone imitate a Demon God embryo.

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

From that first sentence about "cognitive barriers," the cause and effect had already been stated.

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

Even so, Jiang Yan had witnessed Huang Mao slay his own three souls and offer them to Abbot Shou'e to dot the eyes of the Monkey King sculpture.

Although it was only a replica, Jiang Yan faintly felt that something very bad would definitely happen.

"So I'm usually this stupid?"

Jiang Yan touched his chin; he really did need to curb his arrogance and impatience.

"Amitabha."

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

"Congratulations, Benefactor, for seeing through your inner demons and realizing your true nature."

"Since that is the case, please dot the eyes of the Monkey King!"

As he spoke, the several tiger-shaped spine-beasts nearby slowly approached, looking aggressive.

It was clearly a posture of forcing a confrontation.

Watching the show the whole time wasn't because they were stupid, but because victory was already in their grasp.

The advantage was with them!

Jiang Yan smiled mockingly, "You were watching the show just now; did you think you had me in the bag?"

Abbot Shou'e smiled faintly, "Benefactor, why say such things? This monk merely wanted to bestow a stroke of fortune upon you!"

"You consumed the blood peach nurtured by the Monkey King's essence and blood, and have already become linked to this Sickness Domain. Even if you could escape the Monkey King Temple and return to the world of the living, unless you can achieve the state of 'Supreme Forgetting of Emotions,' otherwise..."

"As long as you have obsessions, you will be continuously invaded by the Heart Ape. There is only one path to take: suppressing the evil spirits."

Huang Mao was a manifestation of the Heart Ape!

Born from the heart, transformed into an evil object.

Little Black spoke up, "We are also trapped here... everything, everything we do, is just to survive."

Little White looked conflicted, finally saying, "Sima Luoshui, I never intended to harm you. Sometimes, when the paths are different, one must inevitably head toward opposition, unless one walks the same path."

"The taste of lies is not very good."

Jiang Yan sneered and said lightly, "The clothes you are wearing must have come from the History Walkers who arrived before, right?"

Their fate need not be spoken of.

"It seems there is no reasoning with you."

Abbot Shou'e sighed, "I originally wanted you to offer yourself voluntarily; the effect would have been better. But since it has come to this, let me offer the final sacrifice for the birth of the Monkey King."

As his voice fell, the spine-beasts roared and charged.

They prepared to force Jiang Yan to dot the eyes of the Monkey King.

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

Then it shattered again!

Then it grew again!

Such changes happened in the blink of an eye.

"Roar!"

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

Abbot Shou'e, who had been certain of victory, saw this scene, his expression frozen, and he exclaimed in shock:

"Impossible!"

Isn't this guy in the Spirit Opening Realm?

Why can he sweep through spine-beasts of the Dao Foundation Realm?

"All of this is inseparable from your hospitality!"

Jiang Yan smiled playfully. After all, he had always been cautious and didn't like eating food of unknown origin.

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

But he hadn't expected...

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

It could be confirmed that it came from the flesh and blood of some living being.

There must be a problem inside.

But... Jiang Yan had always liked to strip off the sugar coating and fire the cannonball back.

He had been eating and drinking during this time just to repair the head of the Shadow-Eating Great Snake.

It was just that the monks of the Monkey King Temple were too stingy; they wouldn't give him any more once he ate a little too much.

Therefore, Jiang Yan chose to have the Shadow-Winged Snake take the Coffin Spirit to the back mountain to dig up the mysterious blood-colored figures under the peach trees.

Sure enough, they were all in a dormant state during the day, so they were dispatched one by one and converted into a large amount of Qi and blood.

The main strategy was... taking without asking.

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

The Coffin Spirit used ash to form a small soil shovel, digging continuously, then handed the spoils to the Shadow-Winged Snake in the coffin to swallow.

Wherever Jiang Yan acted tyrannically, the Coffin Spirit was surely there behind him, bearing the burden.

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

The Coffin Spirit was full of fighting spirit, digging with all its might.

The harvest was naturally huge; not only was the "Full Strength Assistance" skill used, but an extra head was also repaired.

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

Jiang Yan locked his gaze on the Monkey King statue and said softly:

"Let it wake up a little earlier!"

As he spoke, the Two-Headed Shadow-Eating Great Snake swung its tail hook like a long whip breaking through the air, lashing toward the Monkey King statue.

"How dare you, you brat!?"

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

"No!"

Xiao Bai murmured, closing her eyes, unable to bear the sight.

With a crack, the gilded bronze Monkey King statue shattered; it turned out not to be solid inside, but contained an earthenware jar.

The earthenware jar broke, and internal organs spilled out, scattering across the ground; the heart was still beating slowly, wreathed in massive spiritual energy.

In an instant, the scene of the entire temple twisted; pupils grew on the incense burners, and the ground was covered in flesh and blood.

They were standing upon a giant corpse.

"Sculpting a golden body, installing divine organs—you really are trying to create a god!"

I didn't expect that upon opening the backend, I would see a grand alliance from the big boss "Guangdong Buyer"; I am flattered, and I will make up for the extra update later.



(End of this chapter)