Chapter 604: Please, Fozhu, Go to Your Death!

Who exactly is this "fellow Daoist" in the Fozhu's mouth?

"..."

Ren Yidao's brows furrowed slightly; he felt more and more that the current situation was somewhat strange.

Something was wrong, very wrong.

According to past situations, he was always the one making others feel that something was wrong, but this time, he truly experienced what it felt like for others when facing him.

A massive sense of dissonance filled his heart.

And what was even stranger was that no one else present reacted; only he alone felt this immense sense of crisis.

"This intuition... it comes from that half of the Future Method."

After successfully learning that half of the Future Method by relying on the Ten Thousand Dao Buddhist Dharma, although Ren Yidao was very disappointed that he hadn't managed to sever a half-section of a future body—unable to see whether it should be cut horizontally or vertically—fortunately, he still gained something.

He had obtained an astonishing intuition similar to future sight!

Ren Yidao's original intuition was already astonishing; it was a combination of an innate sixth sense and the wild instincts of a Demon Beast, and at this moment, this ability had been greatly strengthened.

Just when even Yaoyue felt there was no problem, Ren Yidao's instincts were already frantically sending him warnings.

Danger!

Danger!

And what made Ren Yidao even more silent was that the source of the warning was not the Fozhu, but the small, seemingly withered tree behind Him, which had a hint of blood-red color on its bark.

What is that small tree?

Is it about to undergo a change?

Ren Yidao did not act rashly, keeping his mind as calm as an ancient well, observing carefully as if inadvertently.

The Fozhu seemed to completely ignore him, His gaze fixed on the Divine Dao Bell that had transformed into a Bell.

After a moment, seeing that the Divine Dao Bell still did not react, He sighed slightly.

"Unwilling to meet? Sigh... I suppose you, fellow Daoist, have your own hidden difficulties. It was this poor monk who was reckless. Since that is the case, there is no need to force it."

The Fozhu shook His head with some regret, as if He had endless helplessness to express, but in the end, He calmed down and finally turned His gaze to the others: "It is truly fate that this poor monk can meet the three of you here today. If you do not mind, may you listen to this poor monk tell two stories?"

"Hmph, tell what stories, tell stories, stop talking nonsense. The matter from back then isn't over yet, I want to find you... hmm?" Yaoyue's brows flickered, and she let out a cold snort, but before she could finish, Ren Yidao behind her raised his hand and grabbed her slender wrist.

Ren Yidao shook his head without explaining, pulled Yaoyue to sit down together on the prayer mat in front of Mingxin, and nodded slightly toward the Fozhu: "Please, tell them."

Intuition told him that sitting down and listening to the Fozhu finish the stories was the optimal choice; there might even be unexpected gains.

Yaoyue wanted to resist, but thinking of Ren Yidao's repeated exhortations before leaving the Divine Dao Bell, she pouted and sat down, finally poking her disciple's flank with her finger in retaliation.

Ren Yidao:???

How old are you? Are you a child?

Ren Yidao really wanted to turn around and strike back hard, but the situation did not allow it now, so he could only swallow this anger and pretend that nothing had happened.

A gentleman takes revenge, ten years is not too late.

You just wait for me, Huhu!

The Fozhu did not care about the small movements between the two, sighed lightly, and said: "The first story this poor monk wants to tell is not complicated."

"Back then, there was a monk who possessed transcendent talent. He studied Buddhist Dharma his whole life and was regarded by everyone as a future Buddha, the backbone of Buddhism's future. And he truly lived up to expectations; he did not encounter any obstacles on his path of cultivation, reaching the peak of the Earthly Realm early on, guarding a region of Heaven and Earth, and receiving the reverence of all."

"It is just a pity that while reaching the peak early, he also reached a bottleneck early. He encountered an insurmountable threshold for the first time; no matter how hard he tried, he could make no further progress."

"At the beginning, he was still calm and could face it with equanimity, thinking it was only temporary, continuing to educate all living beings and guard the Earthly Realm."

"But as time passed, as he grew old, after failure upon failure, he finally recognized the reality—he could no longer progress by normal means."

"Thus, when his time was near, he finally made a decision. He secretly accepted an olive branch extended to him by an organization, betrayed his former beliefs, and secretly became one of the leaders of that organization."

"After doing many things for the organization, he successfully obtained what was promised; his cultivation took another half-step forward, and his lifespan was extended."

"You have surely guessed the identity of this monk; he is the Buddha Lord Wunian, that organization is called the Heaven Mending Alliance, and the position he took over was the White Tiger Lord among the Four Symbols Lord."

The Fozhu was telling the story of the "Fozhu." Even though He was telling a story about Himself, it was as if He were telling the life of another person, but none of the three, Ren Yidao included, were surprised.

Everyone present knew clearly that the Fozhu before them was not the original one; He had long since been occupied by an Evil spirit from the past.

"At the beginning, he was still somewhat unaccustomed to it, but as time went on, he slowly got used to these two identities. In front of people, he was the highly respected Fozhu, the compassionate living Buddha revered by everyone in the Western Desert, but in secret, he was the White Tiger Lord who presided over slaughter, with countless souls dead under his hands."

The Buddha Lord continued to narrate, telling the story of Wunian.

"He kept these two identities very separate: the compassionate Fozhu saved all living beings, while the cold and ruthless White Tiger Lord killed on behalf of Heaven."

"And under such subtle self-cognition, another side was born in his heart, a reflection that completely gathered his dark side of murderous Evil; he was forcibly split into two existences by himself."

Just as the Fozhu was narrating this, the shadow beneath Him swayed slightly, and a pair of blood-red eyes slowly opened in the shadow, silently watching the three people in front of Him.

!!!

When Mingxin was watched, his body shook; he felt a chill all over, feeling as if the blood in his body had been frozen.

In this instant, he saw a scene.

The Fozhu sat upright on Spirit Mountain, the Buddha light radiating from Him illuminating all directions, sweeping away all darkness.

But right at the foot of Spirit Mountain, there was a world that also reflected it, where a ferocious-looking Fozhu sat upright in a sea of blood and a mountain of corpses, surrounded by countless wailing souls.

Mingxin understood, this was the Heaven of the Western Desert Divine Continent!

The deepest darkness hides beneath the most dazzling light!

The two were originally one body, enemy and self of the same origin, indistinguishable from each other.

And in a flash, the terrifying scene before his eyes disappeared, and he saw the back that blocked his line of sight.

In all fairness, Daoist Ren's shoulders were not broad, but at this moment, they brought Mingxin incomparably huge comfort and confidence.

Thanks to Daoist Ren being here, otherwise...

"He continued to fulfill his duties as the White Tiger Lord in this way, eliminating potential opponents for the Butian Alliance. Many people died under his hands; some he had met before, some he had never known at all, and some were even his former close friends."

"No one had ever been his opponent, and no mistakes had ever been made, until that day..." Speaking to this point, the Fozhu turned His head to look at Yaoyue, whose brows were already furrowed, "He met you. Your strength far exceeded his imagination. Do you know what impression you left on him?"

Impression?

Yaoyue raised one eyebrow and asked, "Uh, beautiful?"

"No, a monster."

The Fozhu's expression remained calm, unchanged by Yaoyue's quirky answer, "A monster who, relying on a severely wounded body, shattered his golden body with three punches and severed half the meridians in his body with a single palm."

The three of them: "..."

Yaoyue was expressionless, feeling the two gazes from the person beside her, and shifted her shoulders somewhat unnaturally.

【"Cough, as expected of Master, a beautiful monster is not bad either."】

【"Shut up."】

Poke, poke, poke!

The Fozhu continued to ignore the rude behavior of this master and disciple flirting while ignoring Him, and said softly, "That was his first time failing, and also his last."

"If you wish to seek revenge on him, this poor monk can only regretfully tell you that you have come too late."

"He did not walk out of Feiyun Ravine, or rather, he did not walk out of Feiyun Ravine unscathed."

"In fact, after you fled, he was also unable to suppress his injuries and was left in a critical, dying state."

"At the moment of life and death, he found a broken Buddha head statue in Feiyun Ravine, survived by absorbing the residual power on the Buddha head, and finally succeeded in escaping, returning to Spirit Mountain, where he went into seclusion for a full hundred years."

!!!

Ren Yidao's pupils constricted slightly, but he concealed the change in his emotions the very next instant; unless one was paying attention to him every single moment, it would truly be impossible to discover this change that lasted less than one-thousandth of a breath.

A Buddha head?

Upon hearing this term, Ren Yidao couldn't help but think of the headless Buddha statue he had dug up in Zhongzhou... Could it be the same one?

If it were, then why would the head and body be separated, with one in Zhongzhou and the other buried in Feiyun Ravine?

Perhaps because this matter concerned Yaoyue, the Fozhu had been facing her while narrating and had not placed his attention on Ren Yidao, thus failing to notice this instantaneous change.

"And this is the first story I wish to tell, and the second story..."

"Wait a moment." Yaoyue interrupted the Fozhu, frowning, "How did he know my whereabouts at that time?"

"It was an order." The Fozhu recalled for a moment and shook his head gently, "An order issued personally by the Alliance Leader, telling him to go into Feiyun Ravine to ambush a cultivator at the Ask Dao Peak."

The Alliance Leader of the Butian Alliance.

Thoughts surged through Ren Yidao's mind as he analyzed the clues revealed in the Fozhu's words.

Why did this Alliance Leader have the White Tiger Lord attack Yaoyue?

The order issued was somewhat vague, not appearing to target any specific person... Was something calculated?

After pondering for a moment, Ren Yidao raised his head and took the initiative to ask the Fozhu, "What about the second story?"

"This second story..." "The second story is that He is the great Demon remaining within that Buddha head."

Just after the Fozhu spoke, a cold, hard voice interrupted Him, and the Fozi Jiexing, dressed in black robes, walked out from the darkness.

The Fozhu did not seem surprised by Jiexing's appearance; He nodded at him and said with a chuckle, "You have come."

"..." Jiexing was silent, then nodded with difficulty, closed his eyes, and said, "Yes, disciple has come."

"Fozi-daren!?"

The suddenly appearing Jiexing ignored Mingxin's cry. When he opened his eyes again, they were blood-red. His eyes held only the Fozhu, and the ferocious killing intent on his body raged through the space without concealment.

"He took advantage of the Wunian Buddha Lord being severely wounded to seize everything from him and occupy his body!"

"It was He who altered the Buddhist Dharma, and He who allowed the Demon path to merge into Buddhism!"

"He is the sinner of this world! He is the source of all this!"

As Jiexing roared, his black robes danced, and a blood-colored shadow could be seen flashing past beneath the robes, his Blood Demon Blade striking and eye-catching.

Compared to the Fozhu, who radiated Buddhist light, Jiexing looked more like a demonic monk who had fallen into the Demon path.

Yet some things are just this twisted; the demonic monk Fozi who had fallen into an evil path rebuked the compassionate-looking Fozhu, loudly questioning, "Is what I said wrong!?"

"Heh heh, basically not wrong." The Fozhu smiled and nodded, then added, "However, you got one thing wrong. It was not that I took the initiative to occupy his body, but that he wanted to devour my sleeping Divine Soul, yet suffered a backlash because he overestimated his own strength, and was completely devoured by my Divine Soul during an unconscious counterattack... If one must say, this poor monk is the victim."

"..."

Jiexing was silent, seemingly not having expected the truth to be this way—that the Wunian Buddha Lord he revered was actually the one who had taken the initiative to harm others, and the other party had merely reacted passively.

"... But regardless, you still occupied the identity of Wunian Buddha Lord and committed these evil deeds."

"Hmm, that point cannot be denied. With this identity, the things I wish to do are much more convenient." The Fozhu nodded, sighing, "This poor monk never imagined that upon waking up, I would be able to become the Master of Spirit Mountain once again."

Once again?

Ren Yidao narrowed his eyes, reacting to the keyword in the Fozhu's words.

"Fozhu, why would you do this!?" Jiexing, however, did not care about those minor details; he only knew that this greatest Demon of the Western Desert had completely dropped his disguise, and he loudly questioned, "Why did you destroy our Buddhist orthodoxy? Why!?"

Forming a sharp contrast with the about-to-explode Jiexing, the Fozhu remained peaceful, smiling as He said, "Heh heh, this reason is in the second story I am about to tell..."

"Enough!!! I do not want to hear the stories you fabricate!" Jiexing roared in anger, and with his shout, the entire Spirit Mountain began to tremble.

"Do you still not understand? This is useless..." The Fozhu raised a hand, but the trembling of Spirit Mountain did not stop; instead, it grew more intense and more violent!

"Hmm?"

He felt surprised for the first time, because this trembling did not come from Spirit Mountain itself... but from the bottom of the mountain!

From those prisons, from the mouths of those monks who were already withered and dying from various tortures.

They were chanting the most pure Buddhist Dharma.

The Fozhu understood, and said with some surprise, "All these years you imprisoned those traitors and drove them to extinction—so it was for this moment."

Jiexing, with a ferocious expression, performed the disciple's kneeling kowtow to the Fozhu and said, "Fozhu-daren, please pass away here today!"

"Disciple Jiexing, requests the Fozhu to go to his death!"