Monk

After finishing the diary, Zhou You was speechless for a long time.

Killing his father first, then his wife, and then finishing off his own son and daughter—and doing it all so cleanly and efficiently, without a single trace of remorse...

"It's a real waste that this guy was born in the modern era. What's being the richest man in a city? If he had been born a few hundred years earlier, in ancient times, he would have at least been a bandit king wreaking havoc across the land..."

Closing the book, Zhou You felt a thousand emotions stirring within him.

"As for now... the system gave me two choices. One is to just walk away, and the other is likely to team up with the monk to fight that Jixiang Jimiao Guimu Bodhisattva—but judging by the clues I've seen lately, the difficulty of this thing definitely won't be low. So, how should I choose..."

He glanced at the diary once more, then finally shook his head.

"Forget it, I'll go see that monk first, then decide after I see the final plot."

Thinking of this, Zhou You directly summoned the system options and chose to enter the daytime of the fourth day.

However, as the scene transitioned, he suddenly felt as if he had forgotten something.

..

Well, if I forgot it, then forget it. Since I can't remember it clearly, it surely couldn't be anything important.

The sun outside the window was still bright.

Perhaps it was just an illusion, but Zhou You felt that the sunlight today was much warmer than before. The midday rays filtered through the window lattice, spreading over him like a light veil, making him feel a sense of warmth from the inside out.

The security office remained the same, a chaotic mess with no changes, except for the patrol map by the door, which had a specific location marked in red ink—a name that had never appeared before.

"Guanghua Temple."

The thin mist outside the security office had dissipated quite a bit, and the previously ethereal pedestrians had become tangible. Although their eyes remained dull and unresponsive, it at least gave this neighborhood a sense of reality.

Everything seemed to be moving in a better direction, but Zhou You always felt a sense of unease.

If the daytime was getting closer to reality, would the diametrically opposite night become increasingly closer to a demonic realm?

With that thought, his pace involuntarily quickened.

--About half an hour later, Zhou You finally arrived at the location.

However, although this "Guanghua Temple" was called a temple, it was actually not much larger than the security office. It was just a vermilion gate tower common in the neighborhood. Because it was so narrow, at first glance, it looked as if it had been forcibly "squeezed" between two residential buildings. There was no plaque hanging on the door, only a few sticks of incense burning in the censer at the entrance, indicating that this was a religious site.

Walking through the wide-open door, Zhou You discovered that although the sparrow was small, it had all the vital organs; it had everything a normal temple hall should have. In the innermost part, a wooden Buddha statue was enshrined—though he was not well-versed enough to recognize what it was.

At this very moment, an old monk was sitting upright in front of the Buddha statue, his head bowed, chanting vague scriptures as if praying for something.

Upholding the principle of politeness, Zhou You stood at the door and listened for a while—unfortunately, the man was so engrossed that he didn't notice a living person had entered the temple. After waiting for a long while, Zhou You couldn't help it anymore, walked up, and gently tapped the old monk on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, sorry to bother you, I am—"

Before Zhou You could finish, the old monk turned around with extremely slow, deliberate movements.

But this simple action nearly made Zhou You draw his small knife!

There was no other reason; the man's appearance... was simply too terrifying.

At first glance, that face had only a layer of wrinkled skin clinging tightly to the bone, with nothing filling the space in between. Muscles, fat, and even blood vessels were non-existent. It looked as if a skeleton had been forcibly covered in a layer of human skin; looking at it was like looking at a ghost.

One could even say—even the Landlady of Building No. 4 looked better than him.

But the problem was, the bell didn't ring.

And, this person still had human breath.

Seeing Zhou You acting as if he were facing a formidable enemy, the skeleton with only a layer of skin didn't seem to mind. He stood up tremblingly, then bowed his waist and performed a grand salute to Zhou You with great solemnity.

"Many thanks to the benefactor for breaking the seal and saving this old monk's life."

"Also..."

--His mouth opened slightly, his voice hoarse as if rusted.

"May I ask..."

"Could the benefactor get this old monk something to eat?"

A dozen minutes later, back in the same Buddha hall.

"...In short, that is what happened. This old monk was deceived by Liu Shang back then. That man claimed he wanted to donate money to reshape the temple's golden statue to strengthen the seal, but instead, he turned around and teamed up with Gui Po to seal me inside the temple. For three whole months, without water or food, he forced me to practice withered meditation to sustain my life, and the result was that I ended up looking like this, neither human nor ghost..."

Unlike his terrifying appearance, the monk's voice was very upright and peaceful, though it was somewhat slurred because his mouth was stuffed with food.

Zhou You sat on a meditation cushion on the other side, watching the monk tear into a chicken leg—the only thing he could swipe from a small stall outside—and asked in a low voice.

"Master, you eating meat like this... is that really okay?"

"Normally, it would matter, but now, even if it matters, it doesn't matter. Besides, if I don't take this opportunity to replenish my strength, how can I fight that thing to the death later? Compared to the lives of everyone in the city, I can still distinguish which is more important than breaking a commandment."

The old monk carefully tore off a strip of meat and put it into his mouth.

But this was not enjoyment.

Judging by his expression, he was also very unaccustomed to eating this meat; he had to furrow his brows with every swallow, yet in the end, he managed to finish everything with great difficulty, then wiped his greasy mouth with his hand and spoke to Zhou You.

"This benefactor, I roughly understand what you mean, but I must also tell you one thing: this Jixiang Jimiao Guimu Bodhisattva is not easy to deal with—though it is called a Bodhisattva, it was originally a demon suppressed here hundreds of years ago. It takes flesh and blood as offerings and feeds on internal organs. If those three temples were still standing, I could attempt to reinforce the seal, but now that the three temples have been corrupted, unless a Buddha descends to the world, no one can do anything."

Zhou You was stunned for a moment.

"...Then why did you say just now that you wanted to risk your life fighting it?"

"I cannot simply stand by and ignore so many people." The old monk's expression was remarkably calm. "Right now, it is only causing trouble within the illusory realm, but once it breaks free, this city will immediately be reduced to a ghost domain. I am indeed nearing the end of my life, but I still have a little bit of dharma power left. If I exhaust all my strength, I can bypass one of the vengeful spirits at the intersection, so..."

The old monk sighed softly.

"--I am merely doing what I can and awaiting the will of heaven. For now, I can only see if using one temple can delay it for a while. As for you, benefactor... this place is indeed not suitable for a long stay. As it happens, I have recovered some strength and can barely manage to send one person out. But I have one more request: I hope that after you leave, you will immediately head to Qingjing Temple on the nearby mountain and inform my senior brothers that the Bodhisattva has broken its seal, so they can quickly descend the mountain to evacuate the people in the city and prevent more innocent lives from being lost..."

His words carried an undeniable sense of refusal, not even giving Zhou You any room to offer an opinion.

Fine, it seems this dungeon ends here, though there appears to be a side quest. I just don't know if that Qingjing Temple is actually...

After listening to the old monk's rambling, which sounded like he was giving his final instructions, Zhou You could only pat his backside and stand up, just about to follow his lead and choose to leave—but the next second, his expression suddenly froze.

Zhou You had suddenly thought of a key point.

"Wait a minute, you said you can only bypass one supernatural entity. Does that mean if I can help you bypass the other two, you would be able to lift the seal on those three temples and reseal that Jixiang Jimiao Guimu Bodhisattva?"