Hungry Ghost Path

The monks continued chanting for another half an hour before gradually falling silent as the old monk stopped.

The old monk slowly rose and walked out of the pagoda step by step.

As the group of monks followed him out, Hanyu flipped inside and finally saw the ground floor, where statues of various sizes were enshrined.

"How strange! A Buddhist temple, yet none of these statues look like Buddhas."

Hanyu muttered to himself.

The statues bared fangs and claws; some had four eyes and two arms, while others wore ferocious expressions, utterly devoid of any merciful or compassionate aura.

Suddenly, footsteps sounded from outside the door. Hanyu carefully hid himself. A gray-robed monk entered, and Hanyu watched as the monk pressed lightly on a double-headed, four-armed statue. A stone door slowly opened in the floor, revealing a staircase beneath.

Then he watched the monk descend the stairs slowly. Curiosity piqued, Hanyu followed.

There was nothing remarkable about the stairs—just a long corridor. Hanyu walked quietly, turned left at the end, and saw four dungeons.

The monk entered one of them and fiddled with something. Before long, Hanyu saw him hunched over, dragging out a skeleton. Calling it a skeleton wasn't quite right, though.

Because the bones were still wrapped in skin—it was more like a dried corpse. The corpse's face bore a terrified expression, its mouth agape even in death.

It seemed it hadn't been dead for long.

"Already this dead, and still so heavy."

The monk, drenched in sweat, cursed under his breath.

"Need a hand?"

A voice sounded behind him. The monk's face showed surprise as he turned around, only to see a massive fist flying toward him.

Bang!

One punch sent him flying into the cell, unconscious.

"Are you a layman?"

A hurried voice came from the adjacent cell.

Hanyu walked over. The fourth cell held a square-faced man with thick eyebrows and big eyes. Clearly, Hanyu's arrival startled him.

The man looked Hanyu up and down, his expression surprised. "Who are you?"

Hearing the man say "layman," Hanyu knew it had to be Yixian's group. But how did these people keep ending up so unlucky? Every time he ran into them, they were either captured or trapped.

Hanyu found it amusing. He raised the command token in his hand and said, "Someone here to save you."

The man saw the token, understood, and smiled bitterly. "I sent the signal hoping for help from another companion. I didn't expect Yixian to recruit a newcomer."

Hanyu punched open the cell door, but the man didn't move.

"Could you give me a hand? I've been cursed—my true essence and movement are completely sealed. I can't move for now."

The man said, looking embarrassed.

Hanyu grabbed him, hoisted him onto his back, and strode out.

"I'm Cousin from the Ziqiang Sect!"

The man felt awkward introducing himself under these circumstances.

Hanyu thought for a moment and gave his own alias. "I'm Medicine Master."

As they left the cell, a sinister laugh echoed. Cousin's face changed. "Can we break out?"

"It won't be easy to leave!"

Hanyu paused mid-step and sighed.

Because an old monk stood silently in the corridor, his gaze fixed calmly on them.

Cousin's breathing quickened as he urged, "Don't fight him! This old bald donkey is strange—like a Buddha but not. His methods are sinister. Run toward the passage behind!"

"Oh! This guy reeks of death!" Little Glazed, who had been silent for a while, suddenly spoke in his mind.

"Be careful! This monk's cultivation isn't high, but he seems unusual," Little Glazed warned.

Hanyu's heart tightened. He looked up and saw the old monk's usually calm face twist into a strange smile.

A prickling sensation ran down his spine.

"A rude guest sneaks in and watches for so long, only to try rescuing someone. Why not stay here as well?"

The old monk finished speaking, pressed his palms together, and suddenly the air filled with chanting.

"Don't listen! That's how I got my true essence suppressed. Run first!"

Cousin shouted urgently.

Hanyu's expression turned odd. Suppress true essence?

Good thing I have no cultivation for him to suppress. Steadying himself, he pushed off the ground and shot forward like an arrow from a bowstring.

Seeing the chanting had no effect, the old monk's face showed a flicker of surprise, but he quickly pressed his palms together again and resumed reciting the sutra.

A strange sound came from the void. Hanyu looked back and was startled.

In the air, a hell painting gradually took shape, with countless skeletons struggling to rise within it, as if trying to crawl out.

"That old monk cultivates the Hungry Ghost Path—it's a divine power. Don't look, don't turn back."

Cousin's face changed color. Though he hadn't looked back yet, he seemed to have guessed what was happening behind them and quickly warned.

Hanyu shut his eyes at once and sprinted along the tunnel.

"Jump up!"

Cousin urged urgently in his ear. Hanyu ran all the way to the end. Ahead was a dead end, but looking up, he could see a faint glimmer of light.

The end was actually at the bottom of a well.

"Hurry!"

Cousin pressed.

Hanyu carried him on his back, bent his knees, and leaped, relying on his physical strength to jump straight up.

The space above opened up. The moment he set foot on solid ground, Hanyu was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he froze slightly.

He had thought the well would lead directly outside, but instead he found himself surrounded by polished stone walls. Aside from a stone bed, the place was completely empty, with a ceiling of black brick.

"This is a tomb chamber. Don't stop—keep running."

Unexpectedly, Cousin suddenly urged him on.

Hanyu was now full of questions. First, they were caught in the temple; now, they had fled into a tomb.

"I'll explain when we're safe."

Cousin pressed again.

Just then, a buzzing of insects came, and soon cold sweat broke out on Hanyu's forehead.

A swarm of unknown red insects surged into the room at terrifying speed.

"These things are extremely poisonous. Don't let them bite you. Out the door and to the right, there's a high platform—the bugs can't climb it." Cousin shouted, his face pale.

The first wave of insects had already reached his feet. Hanyu didn't dare gamble on whether his body could withstand the poison. He leaped at once, landing on a mess of green pulp, but didn't dare stop, running straight out.

The high platform Cousin mentioned was actually a trapezoidal stone platform, seven feet wide on each side. Around it ran a one-foot-wide artificial moat. Hanyu jumped over it, and the pursuing red insects could only screech from the bank, unable to cross.

After setting Cousin down, Hanyu collapsed from exhaustion, panting as he said, "Alright, what the hell is going on?"

Cousin smiled bitterly. "That's a long story."

"I stole a tomb mechanism blueprint from the elders at home—one they designed for someone years ago. I wanted to come in and study it..."

Cousin's first words made Hanyu's expression turn strange. He'd only ever heard of people sneaking into tombs to steal; this 'studying' angle was quite novel.

According to Cousin's account, years ago in the cultivator world, there was a Buddhist senior. Before his passing, he had sought out Cousin's elders to design his tomb. Years later, Cousin stole the blueprint and sneaked in.

But his skills weren't up to par, and he got trapped inside. Later, in one of the tomb chambers, he found a dry well—and to his surprise, the well was hollow underneath.

So Cousin took a chance and went down the well. Then he got caught.

Cousin's face darkened. "The well must have been dug in from outside after the senior was laid to rest. The only ones who could have dug that accurately are either our family or the senior's disciples."

"Why did that old monk catch you?"

Hanyu asked curiously.

"Because I stumbled upon his cultivation. That day, I went down the well all the way to the dungeon and saw him practicing the Hungry Ghost Path divine power, draining five commoners into dried-up corpses."

"Given the old monk's age, he must be that senior's disciple. Building a temple next to the tomb was probably just a cover to secretly dig a tunnel and steal the Hungry Ghost Path cultivation method."

Hanyu stared at the passage toward the well for a long time, a little worried. "That old monk won't suddenly jump out, will he?"

Cousin shook his head. "The Hungry Ghost Path should be cultivated by feeding the divine power with one's own blood and essence. That old bald donkey took the evil path and has already fallen into demonic ways. This is a place where a high monk passed into nirvana. He's been here once, so he knows there's a Sarira from that high monk here. After cultivating the Hungry Ghost Path, he wouldn't dare come back."

Hanyu sighed. "But we don't dare go back down either."

Unless...

Their eyes met, and they said in unison, "Let's take the Sarira down with us!"