Chapter 547: True Intent Sword Dao

"Has Xiao Lu ever heard the story of the Monkey King going to fetch the scriptures?"

"Hmm?"

Lu Wushuang tilted her head.

"What do you mean?"

Li Miao waved his hand.

"*Heh*, nothing... it seems Dashuo doesn't have Wu Cheng'en."

He tucked his hands into his sleeves, pulled his cloak together to cover half his body, and walked forward slowly, talking as he walked.

"In short, it's a story about a monkey taking three animal friends and a pretty boy to the Western Heaven to fetch scriptures. On the way, they passed by a temple, with rays of light and auspicious energy."

"The pretty boy went in and saw Bodhisattvas everywhere and Arhats all over the place, thinking it was a Buddha's dojo, so he changed into monk robes and was about to dismount and kowtow. As a result, the monkey stepped forward and smashed it with a stick, smashing out a ground full of monsters."

"What Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, they were all turned into by monsters, making a magnificent dojo, just to lure people in to eat them."

Although Lu Wushuang didn't know why Li Miao suddenly wanted to tell such a story, she understood what he meant. While looking around, she nodded with a smile.

"It is indeed... 'the pond is shallow and there are many turtles'."

She used a "hidden word method" here, only saying the second half of the sentence, actually specifically referring to the first half that wasn't said, which is—"the temple is small and the monster wind is big."

Li Miao rubbed his nose and nodded.

His state was wrong now, but his five senses were inexplicably enhanced, even sharper than in his intact state. But precisely because of this, he became more and more annoyed.

Unpleasant.

The fragrance of incense ash, sandalwood, and burning paper money, mixed with the stench of rotting corpses, drilled straight into his nose.

There were few pedestrians on both sides of the street, only piles of incense ash stacked on the ground. Every door was hung with a string of Buddhist beads, polished until they were shiny, without a single fingerprint.

The sound of chanting scriptures came from all around, but even Nanako could feel that the fear in those sounds was far greater than the piety, and she could even faintly hear the sound of forcibly suppressed crying.

As for what this fear and crying were because of... a black object appeared on the edge of Nanako's vision. After realizing what it was, she lowered her head abruptly, holding the reins of the ox cart with one hand, while subconsciously taking a few steps forward and grabbing the corner of Li Miao's profound black cloak.

Lu Wushuang looked at her with disgust, curled her lips, looked at the black corpse swaying on the pole, and smiled at Li Miao.

"The craftsmanship is not good."

Li Miao nodded in agreement.

"Indeed."

"If you want to hang a corpse, you can't burn it. After burning, the whole body is full of grease, and no matter how tight you tie it, it's easy to slip off. You can't hang it by the neck either; the neck is the easiest to rot. After it rots, half the torso falls off, which is hard to clean up, and after shoveling, the ground is all smelly."

"It's best to pierce a rope under the shoulder blade, and then drive a wooden stake from the top of the skull, connecting the head and the shoulder blade, so that it can hang for a long time."

"It's best to lay oil paper underneath to catch the corpse oil, otherwise it will be like this now—no matter how much incense you burn, you can't suppress the stench."

Lu Wushuang nodded in agreement.

"Indeed, the work is too rough."

Akutagawa Mountain Castle.

After several hours of traveling, the group finally arrived at this city closest to the center of Japanese Buddhism, Enryaku-ji. But they didn't meet any soldiers guarding the city; the city gates were wide open, and no pedestrians were seen.

When they entered the city, what they saw was this bizarre situation—symbols of Buddhism were everywhere, chanting sounds lingered in their ears, but every few steps they could see a charred corpse hanging on a pole. Besides that, there was not a single person on the street.

Bizarre.

If they hadn't expected it after meeting those murderous monks, even Li Miao and Lu Wushuang would have been surprised.

While the two were talking, a whimper suddenly came from behind.

"*Ugh*... so smelly."

Miyoshi Ryota held his chest and rubbed his eyes, sitting up from the ox cart. For a moment, he didn't react, only rubbing his eyes. After becoming slightly clearer, he sniffed and opened his eyes to scan the surroundings, but suddenly opened his mouth wide.

"Akutagawa... Mountain Castle!?"

"How did I get here!"

Lu Wushuang turned her head and smiled. ===== CHAPTER 548 =====