Chapter 45: King of the Deceitful Beasts

Abbot Shou'e closed his eyes, savoring the lingering aftertaste of victory, waiting quietly for the corpses beneath the temple to be refined.

One hour...

Two hours...

Five hours...

A full twelve hours had passed, yet the temple remained as intact as ever under the burning flames.

This bizarre sight caused him to completely lose his composure, and he roared hysterically:

"What is going on!?"

The novices around him were so terrified they knelt on the ground, continuing to chant scriptures.

"You fool, it is because this temple is your own tribulation!"

Jiang Yan’s voice rang out.

"What!?"

Shou'e was struck with terror, searching everywhere for Jiang Yan’s location, but all that met his eyes were the burning temple, the surrounding novices, and Xiao Bai lying on the ground.

"Stop looking, I am right here!"

Above the burning Monkey King Temple, a Lamp of Ashes emerged from the void; the flames rose and transformed into a human shape, then shifted from void to reality, becoming the likeness of Jiang Yan.

He sat in the lotus position in mid-air, hands in the meditation mudra, while the flames in the temple leaped like blooming crimson lotuses, lifting him up.

Like an ancient Buddha sitting upon a fire lotus.

Abbot Shou'e’s gaze was somber: "Are you the one playing tricks?"

"When the false is taken as true, the true becomes false; what is seen and heard is not necessarily real. You said this yourself, yet you still cannot see through it."

Jiang Yan’s gaze was filled with pity as he sighed: "Deluded soul, it is your heart that is in chaos; you cannot let go!"

"Nonsense! As long as I kill you, everything will return to how it was!"

Abbot Shou'e snorted coldly, and just as he was about to strike, the sky suddenly darkened.

A massive blood coffin appeared, blotting out the sun.

A single eye emerged upon the coffin, looking down at the earth with indifference, its aura vast and sweeping across the land.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The coffin lid opened, and thousands of blood threads fell like raindrops, piercing the bodies of Shou'e and the many novices with irresistible force.

A clean sweep in an instant.

Seeing this, Jiang Yan felt neither sorrow nor joy, and sighed:

"I did not expect that I, too, had fallen into a cognitive barrier. Indeed..."

"It is easy to slay the tiger in the mountains, but difficult to conquer the ape in one's heart."

"The path was clearly beneath my feet, yet I remained in place. Only by letting go... can one perceive their true nature and see themselves."

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Before he could finish speaking, countless blood threads from the blood coffin swept out, dragging him inside to be buried together.

However, Jiang Yan felt no death approaching, only a gentle breeze.

He slowly opened his eyes to see a massive, six-armed, four-eared ape skeleton with its internal organs hollowed out.

Blood-colored trees grew from the skull like crimson hair, bearing heavy fruit; the rotted flesh had long since turned to soil, covered in waist-high weeds and rubble.

The gold leaf that once coated the surface had long been weathered and eroded, leaving it covered in rust.

Its hollow eyes looked down at the earth, devoid of joy or sorrow.

It was the mountain, and the mountain was it!

Jiang Yan looked up at it, feeling a chill run down his spine as he sensed the vast disparity in their levels of existence.

Like an ant encountering a mountain that could collapse at any moment, he subconsciously wanted to flee.

It was hard to imagine how terrifying it must have been when it was alive.

Jiang Yan whispered softly: "Catch them!"

The Two-Headed Shadow-Eating Serpent beneath his feet surged out, and a multitude of Shadow-Winged Snakes flew up, diving into the dense weeds.

"Let me go!"

"Help!"

Accompanied by terrified screams, they soon returned.

The Shadow-Winged Snakes brought back gray rabbits with human faces that struggled incessantly, among them the human-shaped Xiao Bai.

As for the Shadow-Eating Serpent, its mouth held a plump, blue-gray rabbit bearing the face of Abbot Shou'e.

It struggled continuously, roaring: "Let me go!"

"We meet again, Abbot Shou'e, or should I say..."

Jiang Yan said meaningfully: "King of the Deceitful Beasts!"

The *Classic of Divine Wonders* records: "In the southwestern wilderness, there is a Deceitful Beast; its form is like a rabbit, with a human face, capable of speech. It often deceives people, saying east when it means west, and calling evil good. Its meat is delicious; eating it makes one’s own words untrue."

To translate: this is a creature full of spiritual energy that looks like a rabbit, is eloquent and skilled at deceiving others. Eating its meat allows one to master the power of lies, making others believe them.

Jiang Yan said: "No wonder you had the other Deceitful Beasts disguise themselves as History Walkers and mingle among the crowd; your goal was to use lies to craft your own greatness and thereby fabricate power."

"It is just a pity that a lie is, in the end, a lie."

"Once pierced, you are forced back to your original form, and because of the unique nature of your abilities, your true body is even more fragile than demons of the same realm."

Speaking of which, he looked the fat rabbit up and down; Zhao Yinman’s notes seemed to say they tasted savory and were delicious.

But having a human face...

It was truly off-putting!

Jiang Yan said indifferently: "I only realized at the very end that the people and rabbits in the murals were not two different creatures at all, but rather the process of you stealing the power of the Heart-Ape to craft a golden body, transforming from a rabbit into a human."

Shou'e knew the game was up and said coldly: "Wasn't there only that dead monkey in the murals? Where did any rabbits come from?"

"But I guessed it; it must have been that monkey hiding in the shadows helping you, right? A move made is a move made; I accept my loss."

"You truly lack wisdom; you still don't understand even now."

Jiang Yan interrupted it, saying softly: "The Monkey King had long since died. It was only because you feared its power, fearing it would return from the dead, that your heart nurtured it anew, turning it into the Heart-Ape—which is that temple that suppressed the Monkey King."

Upon hearing this, Shou'e trembled all over, its fur standing on end, and it roared: "You are lying to me! How could the Heart-Ape be a temple?"

Jiang Yan shook his head and sighed: "Who said the Heart-Ape is only a human shape? All things in the world are but appearances; it is your heart that gives them meaning."

"Just like you, clearly living in the Zen-Resolving Hall, yet you only borrowed slanderous thoughts, turning it into the Slander-Borrowing Hall; your six senses are impure, and desires run rampant."

"If you want to break it, the method is simpler than for anyone else. You don't need a sacrificial ritual; just walk out, and the Heart-Ape will collapse on its own."

"It is a pity; you thought you had suppressed the Monkey King with the temple, not realizing that it had, in turn, trapped you."

At this, Jiang Yan could not help but sigh.

Who would have thought the key to clearing the Disease Domain instance was hidden right at the very beginning.

The mission information provided by the River of History had already given a hint: it was the abbot who stated the rules, not the rules of the Disease Domain itself.

Mission One was an even greater warning: do not get lost after staying the night, or you would be infected by the disease.

It was because sleep blurs the concept of time, leading one to believe this place is real and falling into a cognitive barrier.

Jiang Yan relied on the Lamp of Ashes for early warning, and the discovery that the Three-Corpse Insects could manifest out of thin air and be slain, to realize this world might be false.

Those blood-colored figures under the peach trees were not the Monkey King’s resentment, but rather...

The obsessions of the Deceitful Beasts.

They wanted to approach the temple to awaken themselves.

Yet they could never reach it, only turning into blood peaches to be devoured by themselves.

Eternal reincarnation.

From the very beginning,

Jiang Yan had entered a false Disease Domain that had shifted from void to reality under the dual influence of the Heart-Ape’s remains and the King of the Deceitful Beasts deceiving itself.

Therefore, even killing Shou'e a hundred times in the Monkey King Temple would have been useless.

Likewise, as long as Jiang Yan firmly believed he was not dead, he would not die.

Even the Two-Headed Shadow-Eating Serpent was restored because of his firm belief.

The only victim was the Coffin Spirit.

Not only did it not get a single bite, but it also spent all that time digging for nothing.

As compensation, Jiang Yan finally let the Coffin Spirit kill the opponent instantly.

However, the inner layer of the Disease Domain was just an illusion, completely meaningless.

The method to break it was also very simple.

That was to not walk into the temple, and then commit suicide.

Only by letting go can one see their true self,

And glimpse the real Disease Domain.

"It sounds simple, but the unity of knowledge and action is the hardest part."

If Jiang Yan had not possessed the Lamp of Ashes and the ability to perceive emotions after the white candle burned, he would not have been able to find himself within the illusion.

He had even come close to getting lost because his heart was not firm enough.

This trip to the Disease Domain had indeed yielded him quite a lot.

Within his gaze, the dust of history gathered, quickly forming a mission panel.

[Turbid Stream Grade A — Monkey King Temple]

[Main Quest 1: Completed]

[Main Quest 2: Exploration Progress 95%]

[Evaluation: A+]

Seeking monthly tickets, follow-up reads, and recommendation tickets.

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(End of chapter)