Buddha

At night, in a dense thicket, Li Huowang sat wrapped in a quilt, keeping silent watch.

Nights without a campfire were bitterly cold, especially since it was only March.

But he did not dare light one now, lest its glow in the darkness draw the monks into pursuing him.

By the faint moonlight overhead, Li Huowang reached into his clothes and took out the Dao Bell.

He had nearly finished the immensely powerful pills Danyangzi had given him. This was the only thing he had left that he could use.

Yet when he recalled how easily the abbot had held it, Li Huowang felt a fierce unwillingness well up inside him.

The other side wanted to deal with him, yet all he could do was run. That feeling was unbearable.

"This chaotic, bizarre world respects strength above all else. If I want to gain a foothold here, I have to become strong enough!"

"Even someone like Danyangzi could become so powerful. Why can't I? No matter how grotesque this world's cultivation methods are, I have to get them."

"I want to protect myself, and I want to protect those I wish to protect. If I can't beg for it, I'll steal it. If I can't steal it, I'll seize it. If I can't seize it, I'll resort to underhanded tricks!" Li Huowang's expression gradually turned savage.

Just as that thought crossed his mind, Li Huowang froze. Frowning in puzzlement, he reached up and touched the back of his neck, seemingly lost in thought.

"Namo~ He Luo Da Na~ Duo Luo Ye Ye~"

An ethereal chant shattered the silence of the forest.

Almost by reflex, Li Huowang sprang to his feet and swiftly scanned his surroundings.

But it was pitch-black all around. He found nothing, and none of the crude traps he had set earlier showed any reaction.

"Namo~ A Li Ye~ Po Lu Jie Di~ Shuo Bo La Ye." The ethereal chanting rang out from the darkness once more, closer this time.

"Quick! Everyone get up! Run! Split up! Forget the Donkey Cart! Fool! Do what I taught you!"

At Li Huowang's warning, Bai Lingmiao instinctively started to follow him, only for Fool to hoist her onto his shoulder and charge eastward in long strides.

Li Huowang leaped over the bushes and jumped back onto the road, gritting his teeth as he sprinted forward. No matter what, those monks only wanted him. If he truly could not escape, there was no need for everyone else to die with him.

Li Huowang ran endlessly through the darkness, but the chanting, coming from nowhere he could identify, clung to him like a shadow. Then his nose began to catch the scent of temple incense.

As he ran, Li Huowang suddenly stopped. His pupils contracted as he stared at the pitch-black road ahead, where countless fly-sized red specks trembled faintly.

"Pu Tuo Ye~ Pu Tuo Ye~ Mi Di Li Ye~ Na La Jin Chi." The chanting grew louder and louder.

At last, the thing in the darkness slowly emerged. It was a Buddha—a giant-headed, towering, pot-bellied Buddha with absurdly thin legs.

The red points Li Huowang had seen in the darkness were actually bundles of incense sticks embedded in the Buddha Body. As the enormous body swayed, the incense thrust into its flesh trembled with it.

A towering Buddha wreathed in white smoke should have looked immortal and divine. But on a dim Forest Path in the wild, it became something entirely different.

There was more than one such Buddha. There were seven, standing side by side as they swayed toward Li Huowang.

They stepped in a simple, repetitive rhythm, swaying left and right. They looked human, yet not quite human; their expressions seemed to smile without smiling, rage without raging.

When they stepped fully into the moonlight, Li Huowang saw the face of the foremost Buddha. He recognized it—it was Jian Dun's face. "Amitabha. Benefactor, your heart is not at peace."

Li Huowang looked up at the fleshly Buddha, at least four meters tall before him. "So you've finally stopped pretending, have you? You trash who worship monsters!!"

"Benefactor, this humble monk does not know what you mean. Come back to the temple with us. Danyangzi's karma is upon you. If you leave with it, you will face great trouble, and all living beings under heaven will face great trouble as well."

When Jian Dun finished speaking, he pressed his palms together heavily. The sound of flesh tearing rang out as skinless, fleshless palms swayed into existence from behind his back.

In an instant, like peacocks spreading their tails, the seven Buddhas transformed into seven grotesque, horrifying Thousand-Hand Buddhas of flesh and blood.

"Ring ring ring~!!" As Li Huowang shook the Dao Bell in his hand with all his strength, the surrounding world began to warp. The lines of the nearby branches twisted rapidly, forming Lord You.

Yet amid the ringing, the chaos surrounding them did not affect the Buddhas at all. They stood there like reefs against the waves.

As Li Huowang scooped up mud from the ground and stuffed it into his mouth, "Kan Lang Ken!" Lord You streaked along the ground with afterimages, flying toward the Buddhas.

"Ha!" A massive Buddha palm slammed down, kicking up a cloud of dust.

But Lord You, lacking a physical form, completely ignored the attack. It passed straight through the back of the hand and lunged for the Buddha's enormous face.

When Lord You burrowed completely into one Buddha's head, the towering figure began to sway. Its huge palms flailed again and again as if swatting flies.

But it was useless. Before long, the enormous Buddha crashed heavily to the ground. Its facial features began to melt, and its body, which should have been unaffected, twisted along with the surrounding illusion.

Bang bang bang!! The remaining six Buddhas swiftly formed a back-to-back circle. Then, like stone pillars, they slammed themselves down hard against the ground, pressed their palms together, and began chanting an obscure, difficult Buddhist scripture. "Ru Lai A Duo Luo~ San Mo~ San Pu Ti~"

The moment the chanting began, Li Huowang, far away, immediately saw that something was wrong with Lord You. The lines comprising its body began writhing of their own accord.

Seeing this, Li Huowang gripped the Dao Bell and shook it even harder. "Chi Jian! Gou Kao Gao Yun Qu!!"

When Lord You heard that Li Huowang was willing to sacrifice more of his lifespan, it barely managed to hold its body together and charged toward one of the Buddhas.

Amid a rumble that shook the earth, another Buddha collapsed to the ground. Yet this was already the limit of what Lord You could accomplish.

Amid the resounding chanting, Lord You fell from midair to the ground.

Seeing that Lord You was no longer useful, Li Huowang stopped ringing the bell. But as everything around him returned to normal, Lord You on the ground did not disappear.

Every line on its body began to fade from its original color, turning the pinkish color of flesh and blood. The being that had always been formless had actually been granted mortal flesh by the Buddhas' chanting.

With a physical body, Lord You looked like a huge mass of earthworms tied into a dead knot, slowly wriggling across the ground.

A giant palm bearing a swastika symbol slammed down heavily.

"Splorch." Lord You's body instantly became a heap of pulp.

The giant palm, smeared with Lord You's flesh, slowly lifted and pressed its palms together heavily. The remaining five Thousand-Hand Buddhas swayed forward and lined up before Li Huowang. "Amitabha. Benefactor, please return with us."