Zen Master Yinke

"Wish to see the Abbot? This... the Abbot likely had no time." The tall, thin monk said awkwardly.

"The monk should be there." Guo Ming stated the hours when monks were supposed to perform their daily devotions.

He had traveled through quite a few famed mountains and ancient temples; how could he not know such things?

"The Abbot was busy with other matters." The tall, thin monk hurriedly tried to patch up his excuse.

This only made Guo Ming's expression turn uglier. Even if he wanted to fool someone, he ought to have found a better excuse.

The mountain had already been sealed off. What could there possibly be to keep him busy?

"You bald donkey, you truly don't know what's good for you." Chu Danqing laughed and cursed as he took out a small silver ingot and tossed it over. "Your precious temple has taken us in, so we thought to offer some incense money."

"Then have the Abbot copy out two sutras for us to take back. You're dragging your feet over even this little matter."

After catching the small silver ingot and hearing that there would be more money, greed surfaced in the tall, thin monk's eyes.

But when he thought of what their Abbot truly was, his heart gave a shudder.

"I-I'll go ask the Abbot." The tall, thin monk gritted his teeth. Any man who refused money handed to him was a bastard.

Besides, he was confident he could persuade his own "Abbot" to meet these two.

With that, the tall, thin monk turned and left.

Chu Danqing and Guo Ming exchanged a glance, smiles appearing on both their faces.

The two had played the red face and the white face, then seized upon the other man's greed to make their breakthrough.

About ten minutes later, the tall, thin monk came to invite them, saying that the Abbot wished to see them.

Led by him, they soon arrived at a house with a stove burning inside, warm as spring.

There sat an old man who looked like a Zen master, his face brimming with kindness and compassion as he rolled Buddhist beads between his fingers, seemingly chanting sutras under his breath.

"This is our Abbot, Zen Master Yinke," the tall, thin monk introduced.

Chu Danqing and Guo Ming sat directly before him, while Da Bao stood behind Chu Danqing, ready to make a move at any moment.

"I heard that the two benefactors wished to obtain two hand-copied sutras. Lately, it has been inconvenient for me, so I can only offer sutras from the Scripture Repository as gifts." Zen Master Yinke opened his eyes and spoke slowly.

"Zen Master, this is indeed a generous gift. We are deeply grateful." Chu Danqing responded.

As they spoke, the Zen master's head seemed to swell by a full circle, looking exceedingly strange.

The two of them pretended not to see it and continued talking with Zen Master Yinke.

At first, the topics were fairly superficial, and Zen Master Yinke could answer a thing or two. But as the conversation gradually deepened, he began to find it hard to bear.

In the end, he could only say, "I am weary today. Let us speak again another day, two benefactors."

As he spoke, he secretly shot Da Bao a glance.

Chu Danqing and Guo Ming posed no threat to him, but Da Bao was another matter. He had to treat him with caution.

"Then we shall take our leave first." As Chu Danqing rose, he took the opportunity to use Scrutiny Technique on Zen Master Yinke.

In an instant, Zen Master Yinke's gaze turned vicious, and his lips peeled back to reveal sharp fangs.

Fortunately, he reined it in very quickly.

"Please forgive me. I caught a chill earlier, so my face is somewhat stiff." Zen Master Yinke hurriedly tried to cover it up.

Chu Danqing's expression did not change. "Abbot, you should take better care of your health."

After saying that, the three left the house. Guo Ming wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "That was close. It scared me to death."

When Zen Master Yinke changed just now, Guo Ming had thought they were about to fight. Fortunately, the other party was not hungry, so he had not attacked at once.

The three did not pause along the way. Only after returning to their quarters did Chu Danqing have the chance to examine the other party's data.

Zen Master Yinke

Attributes

Health: 10%

Mana Points: None

Strength: 1

Agility: 1

Constitution: 1

Spirit: 5

Perception: 5

Chu Danqing frowned at the attributes. Something was wrong. Could these be the Zhanji Tiger's stats?

The name was wrong, the attributes were low, and there were not even any talents or skills.

"So this Zhanji Tiger truly has become a spirit. Not only can it command chang gui, it can now don skin and transform into a human. It simply isn't proficient in this spell, which is why it is riddled with holes." Only after Guo Ming took huge gulps of tea to steady himself did he speak.

For the moment, Chu Danqing did not dwell on why Guo Ming knew these things. Instead, he asked, "Will wearing skin to transform into a human reduce the Zhanji Tiger's strength?"

"Of course not."

"But human skin is terribly fragile to a tiger. One careless move and it will tear apart, so it must be handled with the utmost care."

Guo Ming added, "Skin that has been flayed off is no ordinary thing either."

"If it remains draped over a vicious tiger for long enough, it will become a ghostly creature. It might even turn into a Painted Skin Chang Gui."

Now Chu Danqing understood. The attributes he had examined were not wrong, but they did not belong to the Zhanji Tiger. They belonged to that sheet of human skin.

The Zhanji Tiger's sudden outburst earlier had not been caused by Chu Danqing's Scrutiny Technique. Rather, when Chu Danqing examined Zen Master Yinke's human skin, the skin mutated somewhat. The Zhanji Tiger thought the fellow was rebelling, so it warned the human skin.

Zen Master Yinke and the Zhanji Tiger were not one individual.

"Pity that you and I are trapped inside the temple. These chang gui crave sour things most. If we could find fresh plums, dried plums, or other sour foods, we could draw away the chang gui in the temple," Guo Ming said.

Upon hearing this, Chu Danqing quietly said, "I... have some."

As he spoke, Chu Danqing took out a bottle of vinegar and asked, "Is this enough?"

Guo Ming looked mildly surprised. "Sleeve Universe? It does not seem like it. Brother Chu, to possess such a spell, your inheritance must be far from ordinary."

"Just Wild Fox Zen. It cannot compare to yours," Chu Danqing replied.

"If there are only three to five chang gui, this bottle of vinegar will be enough. Unfortunately..." Guo Ming meant that it was not enough.

Chu Danqing then brought out a whole case of apple cider vinegar drinks, along with quite a few sour fruits.

"Brother Chu, you carry such food when you travel?" Guo Ming felt his worldview shift a little.

"There was originally more. Da Bao ate quite a lot of it," Chu Danqing said honestly.

Guo Ming looked at Da Bao's size and found that perfectly reasonable.

"In that case, we act tonight!" Guo Ming immediately found his confidence. "Getting rid of the chang gui in the temple will not be difficult."

"Only the Zhanji Tiger..." Guo Ming paused, and a plan surfaced in his mind. "I remember there is a dry well in the Zhanji Tiger's courtyard."

"You and I will work together to trick the Zhanji Tiger over, push it into the well, and have Da Bao seal it with a large stone."

"That will delay it long enough."

Chu Danqing did not quite understand. "Why not draw away the chang gui and kill the Zhanji Tiger directly? There is no need to kill the chang gui first, is there?"

"Brother Chu, you do not know this: chang gui are tiger power. Killing them means weakening it."

"Once all the chang gui are dead, the Zhanji Tiger will lose at least thirty or forty percent of its strength, and it will no longer be able to devour chang gui to recover." Guo Ming explained why.

"I see." Chu Danqing came to a sudden realization, then said meaningfully, "Brother Guo's background is extraordinary indeed. Your family learning runs deep."