Chapter 38: The Great Evil King Is Born

In an ancient temple on the desolate land of Shen Zhou.

Several old monks chanted the true scriptures before Ku Xin Fo, using Buddhist power to suppress evil intent.

"Senior Brother Hui Guang, two months ago the Great Evil King awakened briefly due to a sudden stimulus; we gathered everyone's power to suppress him, and this fiendish weapon has since fallen silent. Senior Brother, why do you look so worried and say nothing?"

After the service, one monk saw the leading old monk's brow tightly furrowed, and felt doubt in his heart. The Great Evil King's crisis had been resolved, so why did Senior Brother wear such an expression?

"Amitabha!"

The leading old monk chanted a Buddha's name softly, his expression even more sorrowful and pained.

Two months ago, the Great Evil King awakened suddenly for unknown reasons, evil qi filling the sky with a terrifying presence. Fortunately, this awakening came quickly and went quickly, and with the monks working together to suppress him with Buddhist intent, the Great Evil King was finally sealed tightly within Ku Xin Fo.

At this time, there were still thirty years until the day the Monk Emperor prophesied the Great Evil King's birth into the world, and the Four Fiendish Weapons had not yet fully appeared.

And for the Great Evil King to be born into the world, all Four Fiendish Weapons must be gathered to seal off the four directions and challenge the Great Evil King, drawing out his evil nature.

Therefore, the monks optimistically believed this brief awakening was merely ordinary; with the monks working together to suppress him, the matter was settled.

But the leading old monk Hui Guang did not think so.

For hundreds of years, the Great Evil King had indeed awakened occasionally at first, but as time passed, generation after generation of guardian monks continued to suppress him, and in the past hundred years, the Great Evil King had not shown a single sign of awakening.

This awakening, I fear, must be suspicious.

The old monk sighed deeply, tapping his staff on the ground once to signal the monks to be quiet.

"Two months ago, I vaguely sensed an incomparably strong fiendish qi above the Tianqiong. This fiendish qi flashed like a stream of light and vanished in an instant, and that day was the day the Great Evil King awakened."

The monks were shocked and doubtful, and one monk asked uncertainly:

"Senior Brother, do you mean the Great Evil King's awakening is related to that fiendish qi from the Tianqiong?"

"I am only guessing. For the past hundred years, the Great Evil King has never awakened; this awakening must have a cause. I fear the martial world will face another calamity. Amitabha!"

Boom!

As the words fell, a crack appeared on Ku Xin Fo's chest, and it suddenly split open.

Boundless fiendish qi spread throughout the entire valley; a fiendish weapon within Ku Xin Fo trembled violently, as if trying to break free from the constraint that had imprisoned him for hundreds of years.

The monks were horrified and disbelieving. Ku Xin Fo, which had remained unharmed for hundreds of years, had actually split open. The fiendish weapon, the Great Evil King, who had fallen silent the moment before, was now trembling wildly.

The sorrowful look in Monk Hui Guang's eyes grew even stronger; Shen Zhou would once again be plunged into dispute.

"Senior Brother Hui Guang, this... what is happening?"

"Uncle Hui Guang, why did Ku Xin Fo suddenly split open for no reason?"

The monks were confused and panicked. At this moment, they seemed to have lost their faith. They were all orphans without fathers or mothers; some had been here for decades, and some monks had been adopted by other monks and grown up here. Their most important daily task was to chant scriptures before Ku Xin Fo and suppress the Great Evil King. They took it upon themselves to prevent the Great Evil King's birth into the world; this was their life's mission.

And now that Ku Xin Fo had split open and the Great Evil King was about to be born into the world, what meaning was left to their existence?

At this moment, they seemed to have lost all strength in their bodies, not knowing where to go.

"Amitabha. The Great Evil King's awakening, I fear, truly stems from that fiendish qi two months ago. Now, the Great Evil King is about to be born into the world; it seems that fiendish qi has matured and truly become a peerless fiendish weapon. The Great Evil King's status as the chief of fiendish weapons is threatened, and he breaks the seal to be born into the world."

After the old monk finished speaking, the rest of the monks were in an uproar. Even divine weapons like the Peerless Sword would rank below the Great Evil King. In this world, there was actually a more extremely fierce and evil divine weapon about to be born into the world, its fiendish might even greater—could it surpass the Great Evil King?

"Junior brothers and nephews, the Great Evil King will be completely unsealed soon. Staying here has no meaning anymore. For so many years, you have guarded Ku Xin Fo without sparing any hardship. You have worked hard."

"Everyone, go down the mountain on your own. I will write a letter of introduction for each of you junior brothers and nephews; any temple down the mountain will take you in."

The monks were sorrowful and at a loss. To them, where in the world was better than their own temple? This was their home!

"Then Senior Brother, what about you?"

An old monk suddenly asked.

"I won't leave. I grew up here since childhood, and now I am eighty-seven years old; I don't have much time left to live. Let me return to dust and earth here."

The old monk looked around at the scenery of the valley—the ancient pines on the half-mountain, the ancient temple where the Buddha resided, the morning bell and evening drum... in life, carrying endless attachment.

"You have all wasted your lives here, guarding Ku Xin Fo and the Great Evil King, who is about to truly be born into the world. It is time for you to leave. If you don't leave now, on the day he truly emerges, blood will surely flow like rivers. By then, you won't be able to leave even if you wanted to. Leave quickly."

"Senior Brother, let's leave together."

"How can that be, Uncle? Let's leave together."

"Senior Brother..."

The monks urged him. Having lived in this valley for so many years, Monk Hui Guang had always been their guide, able to give them correct instructions and guidance at any time. To many monks, Hui Guang was like a father and brother to them.

And now, Hui Guang was dispersing the monks and guarding the valley alone, which made them feel extremely tragic and heartbroken.

"Junior brothers and nephews!" Hui Guang circulated his qi and shouted loudly, his voice covering the noise of all living beings, but as a result, he began to cough violently.

"Don't act like little women. Cough... cough... cough. Are you trying to kill me? If not now, when will you leave? If you don't leave, I will smash my head against the ground right here and die."

Hearing this, all living beings immediately hurried forward to stop him. By now, they had understood Monk Hui Guang's determination to stay here. Although they very much wanted him to leave with everyone, Monk Hui Guang insisted on this, and they had no other choice.

Monk Hui Guang chanted the Buddha's name loudly and sat cross-legged, silently reciting the Heart Sutra. The monks stepped forward to kneel and bow, each taking a letter Hui Guang had prepared in advance, looking back at every step, gradually moving away from the valley.

The crack on Ku Xin Fo's chest grew even larger. The evil qi filling the sky dyed this valley with clouds dense as crows. The grass, trees, insects, and fish in the mountain were all dead silent, killed by the erosion of this evil qi.

Boom!

The dense black clouds surged, a bolt of thunder tore across the sky, resounding through Jiu Xiao. The lightning illuminated the entire valley, bright yet dim.

Raindrops as big as beans fell from the sky, dripping onto the corner of Ku Xin Fo's eye, as if the Buddha was weeping, crying for the calamity about to befall Tianxia.

Boom!

Ku Xin Fo completely exploded with a sound like thunder, revealing the fiendish weapon inside shaking wildly.

Monk Hui Guang, sitting cross-legged in place, chanted the Buddha's name softly, as if pitying the coming Shen Zhou Great Calamity, and then stopped breathing.

The heavy rain poured down howling. In the valley, the ancient temple at this time showed utter decay, as if foretelling something.

A footprint appeared in the valley. The steps were steady, walking on the surface of the water, yet the clothes remained dry, and even the shoes and socks were dry as before.

This was a middle-aged man, wearing hemp clothes, like an old farmer in the fields. But observing his bearing, he was unbridled and unrestrained, his gaze revealing an attitude of looking down on Tianxia.

"Soon. The curse of the Wu family for hundreds of years will finally be broken in this generation."

Looking at the Great Evil King slantedly stuck in the ground not far away, even someone as powerful as he could not help but feel his heart stirred with excitement.

It had been three hundred years; since his ancestor Wu Wu Er three hundred years ago, the Wu family bloodline had been harmed by the curse, unable to produce martial arts prodigies—a fatal blow to a martial arts ancient family.

Until Wu Wudi was born, possessing peerless cultivation talent, he relied on his wisdom and perseverance to break this impossible curse, and his martial cultivation realm broke through to the Myth Realm.

But the curse in the bloodline had not completely disappeared; the family's descendants still had mediocre aptitude, and the possibility of breaking the curse through their own efforts was too low, too low—one in a thousand, not two.

Generations of ancestors had devoted themselves to seeking a way to break the curse, but achieved nothing; the only known way to break the curse was to find the fiend weapon Great Evil King that had cursed the Wu family bloodline, defeat the Xie Wang Zhi Zhu who had cultivated the Ten Tribulations of the Evil King, and only then could the family bloodline curse be lifted.

But this sealed Great Evil King had vanished from the world as if it had never existed; for three hundred years there had been no news, and generations of ancestors had died with regrets, urging their descendants to find a way to lift the curse.

Heaven took pity; two months ago, the bloodline had a vague sense, and following that sense he came here, and actually found this fiend weapon Great Evil King that had caused the Wu family's decline for three hundred years.

"Ancestors of all generations above, your unfilial descendant Wu Wudi is finally about to unravel the family curse; Little Wu, you too shall be invincible under heaven like your father, and the Wu family shall produce outstanding talents generation after generation."

Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Wu Wudi walked toward the Great Evil King; he sought an evil-path expert to give to the Great Evil King, helping it cultivate the Ten Tribulations of the Evil King, and then personally defeat it.

Thus, the bloodline curse could be broken.

He, Wu Wudi, possessed this strength and belief.

(Chapter End)