Chapter 364: The Reason Duan Tianwu Went Mad

364. Chapter 364: The Reason Duan Tianwu Went Mad

Qin Manyuan's expression immediately changed; after bowing to Lei Wan, he smiled with great enthusiasm and said:

"So Law Enforcer Lei is the renowned Lei Wan; I have long admired your name. I never expected the strongest expert of the Central Border to become a Law Enforcer of Gu Emperor City. Meeting you today is truly the fortune of three lifetimes for me."

"Law Enforcer Lei's fame spreads far and wide; naturally, I trust and admire your strength. However, what truly worries me is not the issue of victory."

"What I worry about most is his Devouring Demon Gu."

Qin Manyuan revealed an extremely grave expression and spoke with great apprehension: "The Devouring Demon Gu is not so easy to deal with. Although as long as one's Cultivation Realm is higher than his, one can ignore the power of the Devil Devouring Domain..."

"... but the Devouring Demon Gu is one of the Ten Great Forbidden Gu; how could its power be so easily broken?"

"Gu Cultivators with a higher Cultivation Realm than him merely avoid having their Spiritual Power drawn away from a distance within his Devil Devouring Domain; yet once there is physical contact with his body, their Spiritual Power will still be absorbed by him."

"If there are external injuries, the speed at which Spiritual Power is absorbed becomes even faster."

"This means that whether we Gu Kings win or lose in battling him, we will all have large amounts of Spiritual Power absorbed, and it is even possible for us to collectively drop a rank."

"Under such circumstances, how can we possibly fight without restraint?"

"Once we become hesitant and look before we leap, our combat power will inevitably weaken significantly. If he attempts to flee, no one would even dare rush forward to block him. Under these conditions, how could we have any chance of victory?" Qin Manyuan asked with concern.

"Correct! This is exactly what I am worried about," the gray-haired Abbot of the Great Buddha Temple clasped his hands together, frowned tightly, and said with deep worry: "We, the Great Buddha Temple, sealed Duan Tianwu; Duan Tianwu will surely seek revenge against the Great Buddha Temple."

"Therefore, Law Enforcer Lei intends to gather everyone here, preparing to set up a Heaven and Earth Net to wait for Duan Tianwu to fall into the trap."

"But Law Enforcer Lei, by placing the battlefield here, have you considered the ordinary monks here?"

"Their Cultivation Realms are low; they can have their Spiritual Power drawn away from a distance by the Devil Devouring Domain of the Devouring Demon Gu. Once a chaotic battle erupts, the Great Buddha Temple will inevitably suffer heavy losses."

"Except for a few experts above Gu King Mid Stage, all monks of the Great Buddha Temple will become cripples. After this battle ends, the Great Buddha Temple will likely be erased from existence."

"Furthermore, we cannot evacuate all the ordinary monks; otherwise, once the Great Buddha Temple becomes an empty city, Duan Tianwu will surely become suspicious."

"I wonder if Law Enforcer Lei has a method to completely counter the Devouring Demon Gu?"

The Abbot looked at Lei Wan with a tense expression.

Long Xuan nodded; this was exactly what he wanted to say. He too was a low-realm cultivator who could have his Spiritual Power irrationally drawn away from a distance by the Devouring Demon Gu, with no way to defend against it, and he was currently headache-ridden over this.

Lei Wan glanced at the two of them, smiled, and said: "You must not forget that I, Lei Wan, will also participate in this Demon Slaying Mission. Moreover, as the strongest expert here, I naturally must take charge of the main attack, so the amount of Spiritual Power drawn away from me will inevitably be the greatest."

"How could I not consider this issue?"

"The method to completely counter the Devouring Demon Gu is very simple; one only needs a Purification Gu."

"The Purification Gu can eliminate all negative effects, including various Domains that would affect oneself."

"I have already applied for and obtained the usage rights for the Purification Gu in Gu Emperor City. Since my Cultivation Realm is higher than his, once I activate the Purification Domain of the Purification Gu, I guarantee his Devouring Demon Gu will be completely crippled."

"Under the Purification Domain, you need not worry at all about low-realm monks having their Spiritual Power drawn away by the Devouring Demon Gu."

Hearing this, the Abbot breathed a huge sigh of relief and finally felt at ease.

At this moment, Long Xuan also put down the stone in his heart and finally felt reassured.

Lei Wan's smile vanished, and he spoke gravely again: "I am not at all worried about his Devouring Demon Gu; what truly worries me is that he possesses the Demon Emperor Heart. This is the only variable in this battle."

"This person actually created a Heaven-defying Evil Art that allows him to splice various special organs from under the heavens onto his own body."

"The Demon Emperor Heart transplanted within his body is what I fear most. The owner of that heart surpassed the Gu King realm by who knows how many levels, possessing power that does not belong to a Gu King."

"The power of the Demon Emperor is truly too terrifying; it is absolutely not something our group of Gu Kings can contend with."

"Now, who has a method to cripple that Demon Emperor Heart? As long as someone can cripple that Demon Emperor Heart, I guarantee the chance of victory in this battle will be one hundred percent!"

Lei Wan looked around and asked seriously.

"I have a plan, though I dare not guarantee its success," Qin Manyuan said, frowning slightly at this moment.

"Just speak your mind," Lei Wan said, looking at him.

Qin Manyuan sighed, his cloudy eyes revealing a look of reminiscence, and sighed: "Two hundred years ago, the Yan Ting Empire and the Huiyue Empire fought a great war, which ultimately ended with the defeat of the Yan Ting Empire. Forced into a corner, the Yan Ting Empire sent Princess Xi Yue for a marriage alliance."

"Unexpectedly, Princess Xi Yue had already been involved in a secret affair with a terrifying monk from the Great Buddha Temple, which ultimately led to this great disaster."

"On the day of the marriage alliance, that monk suddenly jumped out to snatch the bride, charging in and out of the Hundred Thousand Army seven times. Countless Gu Kings from both nations died at his hands."

"In that battle, that monk revealed a Forbidden Gu. Under the power of the Forbidden Gu, countless experts from both nations perished; ultimately, both sides suffered heavy injuries and took a very long time to recover their strength."

"I do not know what happened afterward. At that time, after the monk killed until no Gu King dared approach, only the high monks of the Great Buddha Temple were conducting the final pursuit and killing."

"The reason I mention this past event is to tell you all that that monk had extremely deep feelings for Princess Xi Yue; as soon as he sees Princess Xi Yue, he will inevitably lose his sanity."

"Furthermore, my Qin Clan has a Female Gu King who looks exactly like Princess Xi Yue. This Female Gu King might be able to ambush him; piercing his Demon Emperor Heart is entirely possible."

Qin Manyuan looked toward a stunningly beautiful Female Gu King wearing a white Veil not far away.

Hearing this, the entire hall fell silent; for a long time, no one spoke.

Many people knew about this matter, and many did not, but even those who did not know could easily guess from this story that the protagonist was none other than Duan Tianwu.

At this moment, many people turned their gaze toward the Old Abbot of the Great Buddha Temple.

Lei Wan looked at the Abbot, narrowed his eyes slightly, and asked first: "Duan Tianwu is a monk of your Great Buddha Temple, and after that battle, it was also the high monks of your Great Buddha Temple who conducted the final pursuit."

"After my Gu Emperor City received news that someone was refining a Forbidden Gu, we paid attention to this matter. Yet you explicitly claimed that Duan Tianwu had already died under the pursuit and killing of the Great Buddha Temple."

"And now he has actually come back to life; can you give us a reasonable explanation?"

All the Gu Kings in the hall focused their gazes on the Abbot, waiting for his subsequent statement.

The Old Abbot's face was covered in wrinkles; after remaining silent for a long time, he finally sighed: "Since the disaster originated from my Great Buddha Temple, naturally it should be ended by the Great Buddha Temple."

"Indeed, the final pursuit of him in that battle back then was conducted by the Great Buddha Temple."

"Originally, with our strength, it was impossible to successfully kill him; we had all prepared ourselves to die."

"However, when we pursued him to a desolate mountain, we discovered him sitting paralyzed on the ground, motionless, with lifeless eyes. Princess Xi Yue, wearing a smile with her eyes tightly closed, had already passed away in his embrace."

"Duan Tianwu had successfully brought Princess Xi Yue out, but Princess Xi Yue was not a Gu King; her physical body was simply too frail."

"Duan Tianwu fought consecutively against powerful Gu Kings; the residual force generated by the battles was simply too strong, far beyond what her Spirit Sea Early Stage realm could withstand."

"Although Duan Tianwu successfully snatched the bride relying on his Heaven-defying combat power, lovers could not ultimately become spouses."

"Once Princess Xi Yue died, Duan Tianwu completely lost his sanity; under our surprise attack, we successfully killed him without sustaining any injuries!"

"Since he was already killed by you all, why is he alive now?" Someone in the crowd immediately asked impatiently.

"Alas!" The Abbot heaved a heavy sigh and lamented, "It is true that we killed him, but what we killed was only his physical body; his soul was not completely destroyed, and a wisp of his remnant soul still remains."

"After all, we were fellow disciples, and we could not bear to see his soul scatter completely, leaving him no chance to reincarnate."

"Thus, we used a great Divine Ability to seal this wisp of remnant soul right there on the spot."

"Once the Lifespan of this wisp of remnant soul is worn away, that Duan Tianwu will be truly dead."

"Duan Tianwu had very special requirements for a physical body; even if some accident occurred allowing his remnant soul to escape, he would be unable to perform Possession on anyone, destined to have no possibility of making a comeback, so we gradually grew lax in our vigilance against him and slowly forgot about him."

"We did not expect that accidents are everywhere, and ultimately, this wisp of remnant soul still managed to be reborn by borrowing a body."

Lei Wan's confusion deepened, and he hurriedly asked, "Didn't you say it was impossible for him to perform Possession on anyone? Then how did he succeed in possessing a body now?"

The Old Abbot shook his head, smiling bitterly, "He indeed cannot perform Possession on anyone; the reason he could be reborn by borrowing a body was not achieved through Possession, because that shell was his own, and what difficulty is there for one's own soul to return to one's own body?"

At these words, many people revealed looks of shock; for one person to have two physical bodies is undeniably an extremely bizarre matter.

Although many Gu Kings in this world possess External Avatars, those are not physical bodies in the true sense, and no one can achieve rebirth by possessing their own Clone, otherwise, this world would be thrown into chaos.

At this moment, the confusion in many people's hearts grew heavier and heavier as they quietly waited for what came next, while Long Xuan also showed a look of curiosity.

He harbored no small amount of curiosity regarding what kind of existence the Little Medicine Boy truly was; previously, he did not know the Little Medicine Boy's name, nor did he know the Little Medicine Boy's origins, as everyone referred to him only as the Little Medicine Boy.

Perhaps today this mystery could be solved, and Long Xuan turned his gaze toward the Abbot.

The Old Abbot did not beat around the bush and soon stated, "Our Great Buddha Temple possesses a powerful Forbidden Technique called the 'Two Pure Corpse Slashing Technique,' whereby a cultivator can force all their evil thoughts out of their body, thereby leaving not a single impure thought in their heart, allowing their progress to advance by leaps and bounds, making reaching Gu King Peak an exceedingly easy matter."

"Furthermore, monks whose hearts are completely devoid of evil thoughts are most suitable for cultivating Buddhist Dharma; monks who cultivate the 'Two Pure Corpse Slashing Technique' possess high morality, high Buddhist attainment, and high comprehension, so their combat power naturally advances by leaps and bounds."

"It is precisely because of this Forbidden Technique that our Great Buddha Temple has produced countless enlightened high monks who do not kill, with experts gathering like clouds, and thus the Great Buddha Temple became the head of the Five Great Sects of the Yan Ting Empire thanks to this technique."

"However, powerful Forbidden Techniques often have one benefit accompanied by one drawback, and any Forbidden Technique is extremely dangerous."

"The danger of this Forbidden Technique lies in the fact that when a cultivator separates all their evil thoughts from their body, those evil thoughts will transform into another person with a physical form; the body of evil thoughts and the body of good thoughts belong to different souls, possess different thoughts, and have no distinction between primary and secondary."

"Therefore, the body of evil thoughts will inevitably devour its master, while the body of good thoughts, having not a shred of evil and disliking killing, often cannot bear to kill the body of evil thoughts, thereby leaving behind endless calamity."

"The bodies of evil thoughts separated by all the high monks of our Great Buddha Temple are basically never destroyed; instead, they are all sealed inside Demon Sealing Boxes, and all these Demon Sealing Boxes are concentrated within the Tower of Sealing Demons for permanent sealing."

"The fewer evil thoughts a person has, the younger the age and the weaker the strength of the body of evil thoughts separated after cultivating the 'Two Pure Corpse Slashing Technique'; conversely, the more evil thoughts a person has, the larger the size and the stronger the power of the separated body of evil thoughts."

"The one Duan Tianwu separated at that time was a youth of eight or nine years old," the Old Abbot suddenly narrowed his pupils, sighing heavily, "However, we were all deceived by him."

"We had long known about the secret affair between Duan Tianwu and Princess Xi Yue, and when we learned that the Imperial Family intended to use Princess Xi Yue for a marriage alliance, we knew trouble was brewing."

"Therefore, all our abbots forced Duan Tianwu to cultivate the 'Two Pure Corpse Slashing Technique,' thinking that once Duan Tianwu separated all his evil thoughts from his body, he would become a person of utmost goodness."

"To avoid reigniting war between the two nations and causing widespread suffering among the living, he would surely sever this relationship with Princess Xi Yue and would not cause trouble during the marriage alliance between the two countries."

"But he deceived us; on the day he cultivated the 'Two Pure Corpse Slashing Technique,' what he separated from his body was all his good thoughts, not his evil thoughts."

"At that time, we did not discover his trickery, ultimately leading to a grave mistake."

"Devoid of even a shred of good thoughts, Duan Tianwu began to become ruthless and cruel, completely inhuman; even when fellow disciples tried to stop him from snatching the bride, he would kill them without mercy, eventually causing rivers of blood to flow in that battle, completely falling into demonic ways, alas..."

"Could it be that the physical body Duan Tianwu is using right now is that youth transformed from his thoughts of utmost goodness?" Lei Wan asked with a look of shock.

"That is correct; the physical body he is currently using is indeed that shell transformed from his good thoughts."

The Old Abbot's face suddenly appeared much older, and he spoke bitterly, "All living beings sealed within the Tower of Sealing Demons will have their consciousness, Lifespan, souls... everything of their existence halted by the Tower of Sealing Demons."

"In this state where everything is halted, no one can escape from the Tower of Sealing Demons."

"From ancient times to the present, spanning countless tens of thousands of years, no one sealed by the Tower of Sealing Demons has ever successfully escaped, including the strongest experts of this world."

"Therefore, we felt very assured sealing the evil thoughts separated via the 'Two Pure Corpse Slashing Technique' here."

"The only thing capable of breaking the Tower of Sealing Demons is human calamity, and several decades ago, the Demon Sealing Box containing Duan Tianwu's good thoughts was lost."

"The good thoughts within the Demon Sealing Box escaped their confinement and, under the temptation of Duan Tianwu's evil thoughts, sought him out, which led to Duan Tianwu's rebirth, alas..."

Hearing this, Long Xuan suddenly realized the truth, finally understanding what kind of existence the Little Medicine Boy truly was; he had not expected that the Little Medicine Boy he encountered in the Far West Market would have such an extraordinary origin.

However, how exactly he traveled from the Central Earth to the distant Far West Region remains unknown; perhaps there are still secrets hidden here.

Long Xuan showed a look of contemplation, as he was pondering another matter.

Because this Tower of Sealing Demons can halt everything about a person, it can perfectly seal an individual, making escape impossible for anyone.

But for anything, one benefit comes with one drawback; halting everything about a person seems like a perfect Seal, yet how can it not have drawbacks?

Halting everything includes halting Lifespan, and the Abbot just mentioned that the Tower of Sealing Demons can halt Lifespan, which makes this a very big deal.

The good thoughts outside died because their Lifespan was exhausted, while the evil thoughts inside the Tower of Sealing Demons remain permanently preserved because their Lifespan was halted.

Every monk has left their evil thoughts within the Tower of Sealing Demons, so as time accumulates day by day and countless tens of thousands of years pass, just how many strong experts' evil thoughts will accumulate inside the Tower of Sealing Demons? Just thinking about it reveals that the number must be unimaginably vast.

If someday someone opens the Tower of Sealing Demons and releases all the evil thoughts of those strong experts inside, the consequences would be dire; wouldn't an ultimate boss whom no one can deal with emerge, throwing the world into chaos?

Just thinking about it made Long Xuan's scalp go numb; releasing so many strong experts' evil thoughts might truly bring about the end of the world, and he could only pray that such an event would not occur at the Great Buddha Temple during his lifetime.

This group of old bald donkeys truly harms people deeply; they created a group of demonic creatures but refused to kill them, insisting on keeping them instead—their brains must have been kicked by donkeys.

Just wait, they will inevitably burn themselves by playing with fire; Duan Tianwu has already become a living example of this.

However, what Long Xuan did not know at this moment was that the Old Abbot was gazing in the direction of the Tower of Sealing Demons, his expression grave and his heart heavy.

There was a sentence he dared not speak just now: several decades ago, what was lost was not merely Duan Tianwu's Demon Sealing Box, but every single Demon Sealing Box within the entire Tower of Sealing Demons.

He truly dared not speak this matter aloud, fearing he would be beaten to death by the angry crowd here... (End of Chapter)