Chapter 397: Colossal Entity

I instinctively raised my hand to cover my abdomen, warily watching that phantom.

I knew it was the reincarnated spirit child of a Living Buddha.

And it was the sole heir of the entire Living Buddha system in Zàng Qū; its Buddhist affinity must be immeasurably deep, so it should be a person of great compassion and mercy.

But it was brutally slaughtered back then, its soul torn apart!

Such a huge blow, I'm not sure whether it carries a tremendous amount of resentful qi.

As the saying goes, one thought can make a Buddha, one thought can make a demon.

Whether it is Buddha or demon, based solely on this phantom's single thought before me, I absolutely cannot tell.

Hehe…

That phantom suddenly laughed out loud, lifted its little foot and walked in.

It stepped toward me step by step.

The stone hut is this small; soon it stood before me.

As it walked toward me, I planned to jump out the back window; although it faced the canyon cliff, with my current cultivation, jumping down posed no problem.

The canyon is vast enough for me to stay away from the phantom.

But whenever I moved, my stomach hurt, as if a hand were ruthlessly twisting inside my abdomen.

It was the little guy in my belly resisting; it didn't want to leave!

At that moment, the phantom had already reached me.

It reached out its little hand and touched my belly.

A chill instantly spread across my belly, all my hairs stood on end, and in that instant I became extremely tense.

Hehe…

The phantom laughed again, as if meeting an old friend after many years, laughing heartily.

The little guy in my belly was obviously also excited.

Excited?

It's just the size of a peanut; how could it have emotions?

I felt like I had truly become surreal.

The next moment, the phantom opened its arms, pressed itself against me, lying flat on my flat belly, still laughing.

This process lasted only a few seconds, and my belly was already icy cold.

The phantom finally released me, stepped back a little, then raised its little hand and waved at my belly, as if saying, 'Come with me.'

The next moment, the phantom vanished inside the stone hut.

I stood dazed in the stone hut, then felt an invisible force driving me outward.

Walking out of the stone hut and descending to the canyon from the side, I saw the phantom joyfully running in the canyon.

It ran while laughing, the hehehe laughter echoing continuously in the canyon.

As it ran, another phantom appeared in the canyon, fainter and smaller than the first, with no discernible gender.

The two phantoms held hands, like the best friends in the world, laughing and jumping, utterly delighted.

I was completely bewildered—where did the second phantom come from?

I just stood there watching the two little guys frolic, noticing that their area never exceeded the range of the Seven Star Spirit Gathering Array.

Tonight the stars in the sky were especially brilliant, twinkling like pairs of loving eyes watching over all the beauty of this world.

I don't know if it's my illusion, but I felt the two phantoms became somewhat more substantial as they ran, the first even grew a bit taller… I actually fell asleep lying on a large stone amidst that laughter.

I had a strange dream.

In the dream, I was still in this canyon.

The two children quieted down, sitting cross-legged facing each other, heads bowed, one hand placed before the chest, the other turning prayer beads; the chanting drifted from far to near, continuous and unbroken.

As they moved, behind them in the canyon, at each anchor point of the Seven Star Spirit Gathering Array that I and Liu Junyan had specially confirmed earlier, a tower after tower suddenly appeared.

There were seven in total.

When those seven towers appeared, they were also phantoms, with incense aura continuously drifting from within the towers toward the two phantoms.

Over time, the first phantom grew larger, from the appearance of a six- or seven-year-old child to that of a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old teenager.

The teenager's body gradually solidified, acquiring flesh and blood.

Meanwhile, the second phantom beside him remained faint and tiny, with little change.

This serene, warm yet strangely eerie scene persisted for a long time.

Amid their chanting, my mind became unprecedentedly tranquil, sinking deeper as I slept.

Later, the incense aura drifting from the towers enveloped my whole body, making me feel completely comfortable.

Until an abnormality occurred silently.

First I smelled a hint of blood mixed into the incense aura; then I noticed the chanting had gone awry, hurried footsteps came from the canyon—it was the second phantom.

It lunged at my body and slammed into me; I only felt a sudden warmth in my abdomen, I flung my eyes open and sat up from the large stone.

I sniffed; the air indeed carried a faint trace of blood that dissipated when the wind blew.

In the canyon, those seven towers had vanished, leaving only a helpless thirteen- or fourteen-year-old teenager standing there; his body, which had just solidified, became insubstantial again.

His pleading gaze turned to me, his youthful face full of despair.

I don't know what happened; just moments ago everything was fine.

At this moment I also inexplicably felt a bit panicked, because my first thought was, could the Seven Star Spirit-Sealing Array have been exposed?

Or perhaps something happened to Liu Junyan's side?

In that brief lapse of attention, the teenager's figure faded to transparency and vanished into the canyon.

No!

The Reincarnated Spirit Child's soul was summoned and gathered through those three altars, the incense smoke... In other words, it is the offerings of all beings in the world that are the key to his soul being re‑condensed.

Why did a trace of bloody smell suddenly appear in the incense smoke?

Does this mean something happened over at the altars?

Thinking of this, I no longer hesitated, turned and ran toward the Great Dharma King Temple.

Liu Junyan told me to wait for him at Shi Wu; he said he'd go and come back quickly, but he's been gone for almost three hours now—if things went smoothly, he should have returned by now.

All along the way I kept thinking, I would sneak over, learn from Liu Junyan how to climb over the side courtyard wall and get in—I've been to the Great Dharma King Temple several times already, I know the route to the meditation hall well, and at night it wouldn't draw anyone's notice.

But when I arrived outside the side courtyard wall of the temple, I suddenly stopped in my tracks.

There were fighting sounds inside the temple.

Not only were there fighting sounds, but also a strange, wild howl… and even more frightening, that howl was accompanied by a teeth‑grating chewing sound…

Inside the temple there was still the sound of sutras being chanted, the incense smoke was thick, but mixed in was a strong smell of blood, making one uneasy.

I didn't dare enter through the side courtyard wall anymore; I could only sneak around to the front.

But the front gate was tightly shut, outside it was calm and peaceful, and there were no signs of the gate having been forced open violently.

I frowned—the intruder didn't come in through the main gate, and outside there were no signs of a fight either; so how did they get in?

Or… could there be an insider inside the temple itself?

As I was thinking that, I heard disordered footsteps running toward the gate.

With a creak, the gate was pulled open from inside, and a little monk lifted his foot to step over the threshold… a howl…

The next moment, a huge beast lunged at him from behind, and in an instant blood poured forth…