Chapter 543: Praise to Kill

However, most of the accounts of suffering heavenly punishment in Wǎngsǐ Chéng are Liu Junyan's speculations about everything she witnessed.

We don't know how far these speculations are from the truth.

I probed and asked, "A Cheng, who captured Dìshì back then? What punishment did he receive? Do you know?"

"I don't know anything about what happened later," A Cheng said aggrievedly. "Sister told me that no matter what I hear outside, I must not go out; A Cheng is too young, I only listen to sister…"

I couldn't help but hug A Cheng's shoulders again, my guilt deepening.

But just that hug instantly lifted A Cheng's spirits, and he voluntarily said to me, "If I can find my head, when I meet Dìshì again I will be able to activate the ancient witchcraft and see everything that happened back then; sister, you can ask me anything you want to know."

A Cheng was showing off his ability to me, but I keenly caught something: "Your head is very important to you, right?"

As soon as I asked that, I realized how foolish a question it was.

Of course the head is important.

"A Cheng, sister expressed it wrongly." I hurriedly corrected, "Sister meant to ask whether, compared to your body, the ancient witchcraft awakened in your head is more extensive and complete, right?"

"Yes, the head is in charge; without it, the memories of this body will continually deteriorate, greatly affecting everything about me." A Cheng said, "So back then they only took my head and abandoned my body; the fact that my body could come back to life is itself an accident."

Yeah, who could have thought of that?

If they knew A Cheng's body had revived, this small mountain would probably have been flattened long ago, and A Cheng couldn't have waited for my return.

This is a blessing in misfortune.

"A Cheng, I know where your head is."

I described to A Cheng everything Liu Junyan had seen in Wǎngsǐ Chéng.

"From this, it seems Dìshì's mastery of witchcraft should all come from your head, but lacking your talent and being unskilled, his tampering with memory caused too many side effects; however, your head lies within the most important formation array he set up, so retrieving it safely will likely require careful planning."

A Cheng remained silent for a while.

I thought he was pondering how to retrieve his head, but after a long while he said, "Sister, without my head I can only periodically help suppress the evil bone skull's influence on my little nephew; I cannot pull the evil bone skull completely out of the eggshell, and over time the evil bone skull will still grow with my nephew's skeletal development and invade his body."

I gave a wry smile and said, "For now, your help in suppression is already good enough; I think our final encirclement of Dìshì won't be far off, and I hope there's still time."

A Cheng wanted to speak but held back.

He anxiously kept picking at the cloth bag with his hands, frightening the eyeballs inside to scuttle out repeatedly.

I asked, "A Cheng, what's wrong? Do you still have something you want to tell sister?"

"Sister, Dìshì placing this evil bone skull in my nephew's eggshell is purposeful." A Cheng reminded, "Don't you remember what I just told you? Each time the three‑legged crow grows a golden true feather, it receives a 'Buddha's light shining everywhere' power; back then, the Ancient Feng Clan's incense and merit nourished it to grow its first golden true feather…"

A Cheng didn't continue, but I understood.

It seems this is the fundamental reason Dìshì has been obsessed with the Zàng Qū Divine Temple and Buddhism, even reaching for the Dragon Clan's Dragon Qi.

He needs these powers to nourish the evil bone skull, just as the Ancient Feng Clan did.

And now he has placed the evil bone skull inside the eggshell again.

The Little Guy is a reborn Dharma‑body Buddha, born into the Buddhist fold; he grows by absorbing Spiritual Qi, Merit, Dragon Qi and so on, and these happen to be exactly the nutrients for nourishing the evil bone skull!

When I go into labor, the evil bone skull will be born together with the Little Guy; the higher the Little Guy's attainment in Buddhism in this life, the greater the opportunity for the evil bone skull!

Dìshì's abacus beads are really clacking loudly!

I raised my hand and firmly pinched my brow, saying, "We can only block soldiers with earth and water with soil; we'll take each step as it comes."

I've done everything I can; the rest is up to the Little Guy himself.

A Cheng himself still looks like a child, yet he has also started caring about the Little Guy in my belly.

"A Cheng, do you believe that evil cannot overcome good?"

"Sister, I do."

"Then do you believe in the principle that extremes reverse and fullness leads to loss?"

This time, A Cheng did not immediately answer my question.

Liu Junyan has praised A Cheng as a kind, sensitive, and very smart child who can instantly sense my emotional fluctuations.

And his emotions instantly tightened with mine: "Sister, what are you going to do? I… I won't let you harm yourself or harm the little nephew; I will try to find a way to get my head back, sister, wait for me."

"A Cheng, don't be afraid; sister isn't going to act rashly." While soothing his emotions I said, "We have no way to deal with Dìshì; according to our speculation, his name should have been struck from the Book of Life and Death on the day he suffered heavenly punishment, so theoretically this world no longer has this person, meaning ordinary means cannot kill him."

Not only can he not be killed, he can also split into infinite copies.

Each surviving copy could potentially become a great disaster for this world.

"To completely resolve Dìshì, there are two methods: one is 'evil reaches its full extent,' and the other is… 'praise‑to‑kill.'"

"The 'evil reaches its full extent' approach likely won't work much on Dìshì; he's too cunning, his copies are his henchmen, and whoever he controls becomes his scapegoat, so no matter how much killing he does, he keeps it within the bounds of 'evil reaches its full extent.'"

"But 'praise‑to‑kill' is different."

"He wants to nourish the evil bone skull through the Little Guy's Buddha nature and the mother's Merit, so as to grow another golden true feather; then we'll help him."

"Two golden true feathers might not be enough; he still needs a third, and the existence of the Zàng Qū Divine Temple, the Nine Dragons' Coronation momentum, and even the emptiness that has lingered for years in the Great Dharma King Temple are all linked, likely ultimately for those three golden true feathers."

"He needs one 'Buddha's light shining everywhere' after another to ferry him to ascension, so we will lift him to that height, letting him stand fully in the sunlight, in the sight of all beings……"

"Perhaps only then can he truly reappear before the eyes of the three realms and six paths, and be truly judged……"