Chapter 100

Although he felt a little sympathy for the monks of Great Chan Temple, Zhou Shuo did not have an overflowing, uncontrollable sympathy; these monks were indeed pitiful, but whether Great Chan Temple itself was pitiful is another matter. Back then, the Great Qian dynasty's reason for exterminating Great Chan Temple was plotting rebellion; although it was a pretext to destroy the temple and seize its treasures, it probably wasn't completely baseless.

"Little monk Shenkong, I am a monk of the Deep-character generation of Great Chan Temple; I have seen you, benefactor, may I ask your name?" Facing Zhou Shuo's question, the monks fell silent for two seconds, then a young monk in his twenties stepped forward, palms together, bowed to Zhou Shuo.

"My surname is Zhou, given name Shuo; I also have a slight connection with your Great Chan Temple." Zhou Shuo looked at the young monk who stepped forward, nodded slightly, set aside his malicious suspicions about Great Chan Temple; these monks, even after Great Chan Temple's destruction over thirty years ago, still wore monk's robes, had not changed sects or surrendered, which earned his respect; adding to that, out of sympathy for their status, he overall felt no ill will toward these monks.

"Then may I ask, Benefactor Zhou, how will you dispose of us little monks?" Shenkong looked at Zhou Shuo nodding as he spoke; although he seemed a bit proud, he didn't have an overbearing air, so he asked cautiously.

"Hmm, I still need to wait a bit before deciding; anyway, the Universe Bag is now in my hands, I have no intention of returning it to you, you all escaped from the siege that day, right?" Zhou Shuo glanced at Shenkong, took a quick look; these monks were basically warrior monks, none practiced Dao, some seemed off in age.

"Back then the court attacked the mountain under the pretext of wanting the Universe Bag and our Great Chan Temple's treasures and wealth; our monks suffered many hardships because of it, benefactor, please take what you want, just don't harm us; I and my many fellow disciples, including myself, were all beggars on the road, taken in and raised by our master; except for our master, who escaped from the temple, only two of our uncles were out traveling when the mountain was attacked initially, and we only met them later." Shenkong bowed with palms together, lowered his head, then lifted his head, turned, glanced at his companions behind him, and pointed to a group of young monks and two elderly monks in their fifties as identification.

"Hmm, you're not lying, maybe you're hiding something from me, no need for this; I know your experiences, it's normal to keep some secrets, just don't bear ill will or ill thoughts toward me." Zhou Shuo looked at Shenkong speaking sincerely, nodded slightly, and when he saw the other about to panic and lower his head to explain, he quickly reached out to stop him.

"I dare not." Shenkong looked at Zhou Shuo's action, stopped his nodding and bowing motion, but his gaze still slightly lowered, indicating he absolutely had no harmful intent.

"Then that's best; stay in this bag for now, and when the time comes I'll send you out; uh, as for your master Master Jingren, sorry, because I seized the Universe Bag I didn't pay attention to his situation, whether he's alive or dead I don't know, I'm now far from the Wasteland." Zhou Shuo looked at these people, whose attitude was extremely humble, whose actions and words always looked at his expression, he felt a sigh inside, and also felt a little sorry.

"Thank you, benefactor." Shenkong's palms-together hands trembled slightly, tears appeared in his eyes, he again lowered his head and bowed to express gratitude; the old and young monks behind him also all bowed with palms together; although Zhou Shuo took the Universe Bag, he was probably the only one since their escape who hadn't treated them with a bad attitude, and along their flight they had seen too many people and things.

"Hmm, do you have anywhere to go?" Zhou Shuo looked at a row of monks with stubble growing on their bald heads, and couldn't help but ask.

"We have nowhere to go; if it's convenient for you, benefactor, you could send us to a small overseas country to settle; if not, you could just leave us on some deserted island." Shenkong, hearing Zhou Shuo's words, couldn't help but quickly say this; he felt a bit grateful toward Zhou Shuo, but gratitude didn't mean trust; he was afraid Zhou Shuo might have ill intentions, and along their flight to the Wasteland, following Master Jingren he had seen what those Witch Ghost Dao sorcerers did when practicing their arts: they took strong-built natives and turned them into corpses alive, then repeatedly sacrificed and refined them into Flying Corpses.

"If it's a deserted island, then outside is exactly that; do you want to go out?" Zhou Shuo looked at the many monks who felt unsafe deep down, couldn't help but smile and point to the bright gate behind him as he asked.

"Well..." Shenkong heard Zhou Shuo's words, turned his head to look at his uncles and fellow monks; after receiving their indecisive, scattered gazes, he for a moment also found it hard to decide, and fearing Zhou Shuo might lose patience, he could only turn his head and utter a meaningless remark.

"If you have business, benefactor, we dare not overstay."

"I think this: you go out first to have a look; outside is a remote deserted island; when I finish my business here and am about to leave, you can decide whether to come with me; uh, right, please have someone familiar with the Universe Bag guide me so I know what's in here." Zhou Shuo looked at Shenkong, couldn't help but suggest this, gazing at the space inside the Universe Bag, suddenly remembered something—he wasn't familiar with this place.

"Let me go! Two uncles, you two go out, restrain your breath and have a look; other fellow disciples must not act rashly." Shenkong, seeing Zhou Shuo had a request, quickly nodded in agreement, at the same time instructed his companions; he appeared to be experienced as well, and the two old monks also nodded in trust, showing no objection.

The two old monks' strength was not bad; although they didn't have Master Jingren's martial sage cultivation, they were also masters of body and spirit unity; having restrained their breath, they passed through the bright gate; Zhou Shuo didn't stop them, instead greeted Chan Yinsha and went to look at the things inside the Universe Bag; as for the Witch Ghost Dao people, they were to be watched together by his corpse servant and the monks, and if there were any suspicious signs, it would be cheap for the zombies.

The Universe Bag indeed contained many things; Zhou Shuo and Chan Yinsha simultaneously operated their souls, lifting Shenkong to fly up a hundred meters; they felt the barrier only a hundred meters above the ground, like a ceiling, yet unbreakable sky; following Shenkong's instructions, they flew to the center of the space.

The Cosmos pouch's whole spatial structure is like a great house, surrounded by a crystal membrane formed from a pure, brilliant light; whether sky or ground, it is thus; inside the space, its length and width span a hundred li; and at the center of this space are several planned areas, where countless supplies lie, from refined rice and white flour, to medicinal pills and scriptures, weapons and armor, gold, silver, pearls and jewels.

"Two True Persons, the wealth here, I heard from my master is one-fifth of what the Great Chan Temple accumulated back then, the ledgers are all here." Shen Kong carefully accompanied Zhou Shuo and Chan Yinsha on a walk around, then led the two to near the area displaying gold, silver, pearls and jewels, and took several ledgers from a stand.

"The gold vault holds about four million taels, the silver vault about thirty million taels, silk eighty thousand bolts, rice………… You also hide weapons and armor, no wonder the Great Qian dynasty back then……" Chan Yinsha casually picked up a volume, flipping through its records, her brow twitched slightly; she saw that this ledger recorded many military armaments and weapons, all of which are prohibited items, the Great Chan Temple storing such things—isn't that giving the court an excuse to attack?

"Amitabha, my master told me, these things are all left over from the Great Zhou dynasty back then, and it is because of these things that my Great Chan Temple has incurred this calamity of annihilation; karmic retribution, Amitabha……." Shen Kong looked at the astonished Chan Yinsha, his lips murmuring twice, he put his palms together and lowered his head to chant the Buddha's name; he also did not defend the Great Chan Temple, because the Great Chan Temple itself indeed possesses a dark history, having amassed huge wealth and having unclear ties with the previous dynasty, which is indeed karmic retribution.

"Do you have martial arts manuals and Daoist scriptures here?" Zhou Shuo looked at the monk chanting Buddha without speaking, not wanting to press further, he changed the subject; hearing his words, Chan Yinsha instinctively lifted her gaze from the ledger in her hand, her goal being the Great Chan Temple's three supreme scriptures—are they here?

"Yes, there, over there—the master said that the abbot once stored various rare classics and one-fifth of the wealth here, in preparation for future temple reconstruction; however, to prevent the three scriptures of past, present, and future from falling into the court's hands, these three sutras were not placed here." Shen Kong pointed toward the direction of the scriptures, also realizing Zhou Shuo and Chan Yinsha's goal, and explained what he knew.

"So you mean these three scriptures are not here?" Chan Yinsha looked at the nodding little monk, her eyes narrowing slightly, obviously distrustful.

"This, I really don't know," the little monk said. Shen Kong, seeing Chan Yinsha's probing gaze, panicked and lowered his head, shaking it repeatedly.

"He's not lying, just go see for yourself!" Zhou Shuo, seeing Chan Yinsha's fingers twitching, instinctively grabbed her and shook his head, urging her.

"All right!" Chan Yinsha, seeing Zhou Shuo restraining her, let out a slight sigh, projected her thoughts outward, and following Shen Kong's direction, went to scan and search for those scriptures; although many Buddhist sutras, notes, martial arts manuals, and Daoist scriptures are stored here, there indeed are not the three supreme scriptures of past, present, and future of the Great Chan Temple.

"It seems my luck isn't great! But what is this?" Chan Yinsha was searching with her thoughts when she suddenly saw an object; she wrapped it in a yin wind and rolled it up to her face, then asked Shen Kong.

"This is the War God Demon Classic of the Witch Ghost Dao." Shen Kong looked at the object brought by the yin wind, and let out a faint sigh; it is a huge bone plate, of unknown creature, its surface engraved with strange ancient black characters, at the center of the text is an image, that of a demon lord with spiraling double horns on his head, the whole image drawn in lines, the demon lord holds a bone hammer in his hand, exuding an ancient, desolate, and vast aura, as if about to step out of the picture.

"My master once said that this War God Demon Classic was originally also an orthodox path, representing the will of the ancient war god that never yields; but that war god was later suppressed by the Holy Emperor, and the Witch Ghost Dao began to decline, abandoning proper cultivation for blood sacrifices, refining corpses to nurture ghosts." Shen Kong explained softly to Zhou Shuo and Chan Yinsha.

"Indeed so……" Chan Yinsha looked at the softly speaking little monk, looked at the war god image on the bone plate, and nodded slightly; this war god's likeness is indeed a visualization image.