Chapter 228: I Almost Broke My Precept Because of You

Can a person still live after losing two ribs?

The answer is yes.

Even in the past, some women in European countries had their two lowest ribs removed so they could wear those corseted dresses.

But doing this causes great harm to the body, especially the waist.

But my situation is different.

After my two liquefied ribs disappeared, I only felt that something very important had been torn away from my soul.

It's not just the two liquefied ribs and the Great Witch's face that simple.

I feel my soul is incomplete.

And at this very moment, the firelight in the Buddha Lamp went out instantly.

This is the moment the oil is exhausted and the lamp wick burns out!

"Xiao Jiu, Xiao Jiu!"

Liu Junyan's voice was still there; he was trying to find a way to wake me up.

But my soul had already drifted out, floating beside the bed, watching him.

This time my soul drifting out is clearly different from before.

My soul is faint and unstable, flickering, as if it could scatter at any moment.

Liu Junyan seemed to sense something and suddenly lifted his head to look at my soul.

At the moment our eyes met, a powerful force suddenly wrapped around my soul and pulled me outward.

Liu Junyan cried out in alarm: "Xiao Jiu!"

I wanted to respond to him, but I simply couldn't.

My soul was seized by that force, burst through the closed window, and flew all the way deep into the canyon.

Besides the whooshing wind in my ears, there was also a steady chanting mixed in.

That chanting…… why does it sound somewhat familiar?

It sounds very much like Liu Junyan's voice when he chants sutras in the west room.

Strangely, at this moment, the long river in the canyon, like a white silk ribbon, appeared again.

Appearing at the same time was the tall tower by the riverbank.

The chanting came from the middle level of the tower.

And my soul, being pulled, flew toward the direction from which the chanting came.

As I rushed toward the tower, I felt the same powerful airflow fluctuation I had noticed when Liu Junyan brought me leaping across from the opposite riverbank.

But this time, my soul did not go straight through the tower; instead, it was pulled inside.

When my soul came to rest, the chanting also stopped abruptly.

I stood there motionless, staring at the scene before me, for a moment unable to react.

Three or four meters ahead of me, a monk sat cross-legged on a futon...

He wore a red kasaya underneath, an outer wide-sleeved white robe, had a string of Eighteen Arhats beads around his neck, his left hand rested on a sandalwood wooden fish, his right hand held before his chest, and another string of prayer beads hung from his hand.

He lowered his head slightly, as if chanting sutras devoutly.

What shocked my pupils was that this monk before me looked exactly like Liu Junyan.

A thought suddenly flashed in my mind: could he be... Dahui Chan Master Liu Xingyi?

The news I received earlier was that Dahui Chan Master had passed into nirvana at the Songshan Great Dharma King Temple.

There was also speculation that Liu Junyan might be the reincarnation of Dahui Chan Master.

Although I had my suspicions and was surprised, it paled in comparison to the shock of seeing this scene with my own eyes.

So, did Dahui Chan Master pass into nirvana inside this tower?

In my imagination, when a chan master passes into nirvana, he should be quite old.

And after so many years, even if the body were perfectly preserved, it should be withered and dry.

Yet this monk before me shows not a trace of deathly aura.

He appears to have an intact body, his skin ruddy; he does not look like one who has passed into nirvana, but rather like someone seated in meditation.

As I gazed at him, silently pondering, he... suddenly lifted his head and opened his eyes.

The corporeal form of the nirvana-passed Dahui Chan Master... can actually move?

No! Impossible!

I must be dreaming all along.

Yes, this is just a nightmare I'm having.

I am being haunted by a nightmare.

Liu Junyan, hurry and wake me up!

But Dahui Chan Master's corporeal form not only moved, he also spoke.

He seemed puzzled: "How did you... end up like this?"

I furrowed my brows: "Do you know me?"

Dahui Chan Master gave a bitter smile and said: "Back then, I almost broke my precept because of you, and now you ask if I know you?"

He then looked at my soul and said: "Forget it, forget it; seeing you like this, it's normal that you don't remember me."

He raised the hand holding his prayer beads and gestured to me, saying: "Ah Wu, come closer."

"Ah Wu?"

"Who is Ah Wu again?"

I feel my head is a bit muddled.

But I still involuntarily walked a few steps forward, drawing near to Dahui Chan Master.

Dahui Chan Master waved his hand down, and I lowered myself, almost half‑crouching before him.

"When that Buddha Lamp lit up, I sensed your breath." Dahui Chan Master said slowly, "At the same time, I also sensed that kid's arrival."

That kid……you mean Liu Junyan, right?

This feeling is really strange.

I couldn't help asking: "Are you Dahui Chan Master? Then Liu Junyan must be your reincarnation?"

Dahui Chan Master just smiled without speaking, neither admitting nor denying.

I continued asking: "If you have already been reincarnated, why……"

"Why hasn't your flesh decayed, and you can even speak?" Dahui Chan Master said, "Because of you."

As he spoke, he suddenly made a hand seal and muttered an incantation.

Immediately after, he pressed his sword‑finger to his own chest, raising it upward until he opened his mouth, and a fiery red bead floated out.

He then turned his sword‑finger and suddenly pointed it at my forehead.

I only felt a pain in my forehead, and a scorching heat instantly sank into my brow.

At that moment, I felt as if my entire soul were burning, that excruciatingly real pain—something I, as a Soul Body, should not have felt.

This process happened quickly, lasting only a minute or two.

But when Dahui Chan Master lowered his hand, he seemed to have aged decades in an instant.

His smooth, ruddy skin began to yellow and wither.

His whole body quickly turned into skin and bone, the color darkening.

Even his cheeks sank in.

"A Wu, this is the breath you once gave me, pulling me back from the Ghost Gate Pass." Dahui Chan Master's voice also grew hoarse, "Until the time of my parinirvana, this breath remained detached in my body, merging with my relics, and now I return it to you—I could thus be considered……merit fulfilled."

I was utterly shocked.

"Your soul is incomplete, but there are traces of witchcraft having patched it." Dahui Chan Master spoke with increasing difficulty, yet he persisted, "This breath together with my relics can help you keep your soul from scattering for a time, but no one knows how long that time will last."

"A Wu, quickly retrieve your missing soul; do not be careless."

He paused, then added: "Perhaps……you should return to Cangwu Mountain to have a look……that place was once your obsession……"