True Dharma Blessing, Flesh Offering

Before the words had even finished ringing out, a burst of bullets sprayed toward where the voice had come from. Fortunately, the shooter's aim was atrocious, and every shot went wide, striking distant trees. Bark exploded and splinters flew, frightening the person hidden beneath the pile of dead leaves into shrieking again and again.

"Ahhh! Don't kill me, don't kill me!"

Seeing this, Yuan Zhu hurriedly shook his head and raised both hands, signaling that it had not been him.

"I-I-I was a little nervous. I couldn't control myself and pulled the trigger." Only then did Lü Rang belatedly speak up. Panic was impossible to hide from his voice, while his face was filled with the remorse and terror of someone who had accidentally killed a person.

"Holy shit! It was you?!" Pink Hair, walking in front of him, cried out in alarm and hastily dodged aside as though fleeing for her life, afraid she would be shot in the back.

The captain did not speak to reprimand him. They were rookies—wasn't this how everyone started out?

And if someone was unlucky enough to get hit, didn't Mao Mao King's Uniform provide defense? If even that could not block it, then it was fate. If even the gods could not stop it, what more did you expect?

"Come out. Don't be nervous—you're safe now."

The captain took the first step forward, walking at the very front and shielding everyone behind him. It looked responsible and reassuring. Yet Yuan Zhu somehow felt that the captain simply had no hope for the rest of them and could only take matters into his own hands.

Another fit of terrified trembling came from the dead leaves. At last, a short, scrawny figure rose to its feet and timidly walked toward them.

Only after they drew closer did Yuan Zhu see that he was a dark-skinned, rather ugly Little Novice. His distinctive tattered monk's robe draped over his shoulders and his signature shaved head made him look somewhat like the monks of Southeast Asia on Earth.

"A monk?" Meng Xiyue, who had hidden herself near Yuan Zhu, muttered with curious surprise, "Is this Foam World set against a Buddhist Sect backdrop?"

The Little Novice gathered his courage and looked up at the crowd. Finally, he said to the captain, "H-hello. I'm Ku Cao, a resident of Na Ye Buddhist Kingdom. Are you here to save us?"

"Save?" The captain caught the keyword. "Can you tell us about Na Ye Buddhist Kingdom? What exactly happened that you need outsiders to save you? You look like you've been hungry for a long time. I can give you some food."

Seeing the boy called Ku Cao looking ravenous, weak, and starved, the captain directly took two red-wrapped energy bars from his bag. He tore one open and handed it over. "Tear it from here. The food inside can be eaten directly."

The scent of food he had never smelled before immediately made the young monk swallow his saliva, while his stomach rumbled with hunger. Forgetting everything else, he snatched it over and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing and swallowing in great mouthfuls. He ate like a starving ghost reborn, so quickly that he nearly choked himself to death.

The captain handed him a bottle of water. "Drink."

"Cough, cough, cough... Thank you, thank you! Benefactor, you are truly a great and kind person. Buddha will surely bless you!" The young monk painfully swallowed the food stuck in his throat, then, as though a heavy burden had been lifted, fell to his knees and kowtowed to everyone in gratitude.

"Get up. Tell me about Ye Country, and what you've experienced." The captain helped the young monk up and asked again.

The scrawny youth carefully put away the other energy bar before nodding repeatedly. "O-okay. Na Ye Buddhist Kingdom is Buddha City built by the Buddha Masters. There are a full hundred thousand residents within the city, and even its walls are three zhang high! Originally, we people of Ye Country lived peaceful lives, revering the Dharma and worshipping Buddha, without contending with the world. Then, two months ago, many skeleton ghosts that had risen from the dead crawled out of wild graves in the wastelands and kept attacking the residents working the fields."

"More and more people died or were injured. Then another kind of monster appeared, one invisible to the naked eye. They slaughtered people wantonly and could possess others to hide themselves. Even the Buddha Masters in the temples were caught off guard, suffering terrible casualties. About a month ago, we heard that Vajra Temple in the eastern part of the city had been overrun by invisible ghosts, and a terrifying Buddha Corpse Ghost was born. The Great Buddha Master, Dragon Sound Abbot, decided to personally subdue the demons, but ghost slaves hidden among the monk-soldiers harmed him in secret. He fell into a trap, and whether he lives or dies is unknown."

"Seeing that Ye Country was about to be breached, we were saved by a Dharma Master. He drove back countless Demonic Beasts and ghosts along the way, rescuing several hundred of us. We escaped the Buddhist Kingdom and fled into the wilderness forest, where we hid for over half a month. During that time, the Dharma Master wanted to contact other escaped residents and Buddhist Sect sages, rally again, and retake the Buddhist Kingdom. Then we heard that another Buddha Master had turned the tide at the critical moment, suppressing the evil ghosts, reclaiming the Buddhist Kingdom, and taking in refugees far and wide."

"Later, we don't know what happened. Dharma Master Xiang Wen abandoned the plan to return, stopped the other refugees from going to the Buddhist Kingdom, and continued staying in the wilderness. It was fine at first, but hunting became harder and harder. We heard that the large animals in the forest were rapidly disappearing. Once there was no food, some refugees could not bear it any longer and secretly fled back to the Buddhist Kingdom. The rest kept searching the forest for food."

"Then, around ten days ago, Dharma Master Xiang Wen returned gravely injured. He did not have time to explain much. He only gathered a group of us youths, transmitted the Dharma and administered the Precepts before his death, and inducted us into the Buddhist Sect. After that, a hunting party encountered a terrifying wild beast. Three adult hunters died, and four were injured. We children were forced to join the teams looking for food as well, but more and more dangerous beasts appeared. Some people said they would go to the Buddhist Kingdom and ask a Dharma Master to come rescue us. In the end... everyone got separated."

After hearing the youth's account, the captain asked, "Apart from Na Ye Buddhist Kingdom, are there any other countries?"

"Huh?" The youth looked completely baffled, unable to understand what he meant. He asked in return, "Is there a second Buddhist Kingdom in this world? How have I never heard of one?"

"Outside Ye Country, are there any other human settlements?"

The youth nodded. "Yes, there are. There are still some villages in the deep forests outside the city. They all long to settle down and live in the Buddhist Kingdom. Also, sinners who anger the Buddha Masters in the Buddhist Kingdom, violate the Precepts, or break the laws are exiled far away to atone and clear wasteland."

With their back-and-forth exchange, Yuan Zhu could picture a remote, backward, ancient, primitive city-state system just by listening. The civilization level of this world did not seem very high. He wondered whether the "Buddha Masters" the youth spoke of would wear Mao Mao King's Luxury Children's Wear? Or perhaps they could sell "luxury children's kasayas" to the Buddha Masters' Buddhist sons and grandsons. He also wondered whether the Buddhist Sect here forbade women. From the youth's description, they seemed to belong to a meat-eating sect?

The captain said, "Let me see the Precepts you received."

"Okay!"

At once, the youth tore open the tattered monk's robe draped over his body. Then he raised his right arm high, exposing his filthy armpit.

At the point where the youth's armpit met his chest was a protruding purplish-red lump of flesh. Its surface was densely covered in blood vessels, as though it might burst at any moment. Even stranger was the shape of the lump—it vaguely formed the outline of a Buddha Head.

However, the area corresponding to the face was still blurred, and no distinct facial features could be seen. Yet its structure as a Buddha Head could be identified: the topknot area atop its head, the blank area of its face... It sent an inexplicable chill through the heart, as though a twisted, invisible face were staring back at you.

"Hiss...!" Meng Xiyue made a disgusted noise and backed away repeatedly, no longer willing to look.

The others, however, showed no reaction. They continued staring blankly at the purplish-red lump, no larger than a pigeon's egg. Their noses seemed to catch the rich, gentle scent of sandalwood, filling their hearts with a sense of purity and detachment.

Beep beep beep! Abnormal contamination fluctuations detected. Your mind is under a tampering attack.

Yuan Zhu's mind jolted, and he stopped looking at the bizarre lump on the youth's side. Something still in its infancy seemed to be incubating within that thing.

Yet the captain said, "A Buddha Cocoon. It seems to be a True Dharma Blessing. Tell me about the process of receiving the Precepts..."

"I don't know either. At the time, Dharma Master Xiang Wen was already at death's door. He brought out a bowl of thick blood soup mixed with minced flesh from a stone cave and had each of us drink a mouthful. Then we collapsed in a daze and slept without waking. When we woke up, Master Xiang Wen had already passed into nirvana." Ku Cao still seemed somewhat saddened when he spoke of this.

"It appears to have been a flesh offering. That Dharma Master Xiang Wen crushed his own Buddha Cocoon and mixed it into the meat broth, having you consume it to transmit the Dharma to you. He hoped it would protect you from this calamity. As for those ghosts you mentioned rising from the dead..." The captain raised his head and took a long, deep breath. He then closed his eyes and sensed carefully before muttering in confusion, "Yellow Springs?"

Standing to the side like a mere lackey, Yuan Zhu wore an expression of not understanding but finding it impressive. In truth, he wanted very much to join in, but his knowledge reserves were far too lacking. All he heard were incomprehensible technical terms.

It seemed he had encountered another new system: the Buddhist Sect's Buddha Cocoons. And what was all this "True Dharma Blessing, meat broth offering"? No matter how he looked at it, it seemed bizarre—perhaps even worse than the Holy Temple's Holy Light.

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