Bodhisattva Descends to the World

--What, I'm going to be the Buddha?

--Are you serious?

Zhou You scrutinized the Old Monk's face, trying to find any sign of insanity, yet all he saw was absolute resolve.

"Yes, I do hope you will act as the Buddha, but do not worry, I do not mean for you to stay up there motionless like a real statue," the Old Monk explained steadily. "In truth, as long as there is incense and faith, whatever sits atop the throne can fulfill the duty of suppression. The problem is that to receive this faith, the statue must be reconsecrated. I need you to sit there first, to act as the Buddha for a round, and once I have finished the consecration, you can step down and I will take your place."

"However, there may be intense pain involved—after all, we cannot perform a standard multi-day consecration and must resort to unorthodox methods—I just wonder if you can endure it?"

--Given the situation, what else could Zhou You say?

As he had thought before, the worst-case scenario was just losing a single Resurrection Coin.

So, he climbed onto the Lotus Throne cleanly and decisively, sat cross-legged, took a deep breath, and said.

"Let's do it."

The Old Monk stopped wasting words, used one hand to scrape the paint off the Buddha statue, gathered it onto his kasaya, and then grabbed the statue's water-bag-like abdomen and slashed it open with force!

The ghost blood collected within the body poured out, mixing with the oil paint to form a messy, eerie substance.

Zhou You's heroic expression instantly stiffened.

...Uh, to be honest, I'm having second thoughts.

But before he could voice his opinion, the Old Monk pulled out a box of extremely long golden needles from somewhere, dipped them into the mixture, and plunged them into his body all at once.

Just from that single strike, the man nearly jumped up!

--This is fucking painful!

This was incomparable to mere flesh wounds or self-mutilation; it felt as if someone had driven a steel nail directly into his medulla oblongata, and his entire brain was screaming the word "pain"!

Yet, Zhou You did not jump up in the end. He looked at the Old Monk's cautious expression, gritted his teeth, and swallowed his cry.

Thus, only the sound of the Old Monk chanting remained in the hall.

"At that time, the World-Honored One entered the samadhi known as the Vajra-Installation Samadhi of all Tathagatas. Rising from samadhi, he spoke of the adornments for sculpting and painting all Buddhas..."

"Commanding the Dharma-knowing Acharya to follow the ritual of the true word, to invite the Buddha and install the image with offerings and celebrations, so that the holy ones of the Tathagata may descend and rejoice to fulfill the merits..."

He did not know how much time had passed, but just as Zhou You clearly remembered the forty-sixth needle being driven into his body, the Old Monk's voice suddenly stopped.

Following that came a sigh of relief.

"It is done!"

...Is it over?

Zhou You lifted his head with great effort and saw a face full of apology.

--Even with such a perfect opportunity, this monk still did not make a move against him.

"My apologies for the suffering you endured, Benefactor. Leave the rest to me."

Saying this, the Old Monk reached out a hand to help Zhou You down, but Zhou You just grinned, gently pushed the arm away, and climbed off the Lotus Throne on his own.

"No need, I can still manage such a small thing myself. I just don't know about you, Master..."

His words came to an abrupt halt.

It wasn't that Zhou You had discovered anything unusual, but rather that a mechanical female voice suddenly rang out beside his ear.

"Congratulations, Player. You have obtained a buff: Protection of the Sanzhi Xiumo Mantra."

"Buff Rank: Blue."

"Sanzhi Xiumo is one of the Twenty Heavens of Buddhism and the son of Hariti (Ghost Mother). The Dharani Collection Sutra records: The Ghost Mother had three sons, the eldest named Weishewen, the second named Sanzhi Xiumo. Those who receive this buff will have their physical attributes improved to a certain extent."

"Your talent: Keen Observation has mutated due to this buff."

"Keen Observation has become: Eye of Insight (Green)."

"Effect: You can occasionally identify the attributes of items, and under certain specific conditions, glimpse the past of those you come into contact with."

...What is this?

A reward after the pain?

Before Zhou You could process this, the Old Monk had finished his preparations.

He placed all the golden needles stained with Zhou You's blood onto the Lotus Throne, forming something resembling a bed of nails.

--The Old Monk was not consecrating Zhou You himself, but these terrifying long needles.

Then, he lifted his monk's robe and sat down cross-legged without hesitation.

The long needles pierced right through his flesh!

The sharp tips passed through his withered legs, but there was no sign of pain on the Old Monk's face. Instead, he lowered his remaining hand naturally, palm outward, fingers extended downward, forming the Buddhist Varada Mudra.

Then, his outer skin began to harden rapidly like wind-eroded stone, revealing an earthy color, while his head stiffened just as quickly, becoming indistinguishable from the Buddha head on the ground in a trance-like state.

But before he completely turned into a divine statue, the Old Monk struggled to open his mouth and said.

"Benefactor, I must remind you one last time. Because I have become the Buddha with my own body, I can no longer complete the final step, and the suppression of this Three Venerables Temple will be incomplete. Therefore, if you wish to completely seal that Jixiang Jimiao Guimu Bodhisattva, you must find a way to evade her pursuit, then find her sacrificial offerings and smash them to pieces. Remember, they must be destroyed into fragments, otherwise—"

Before the words had even finished, the person froze solid.

When he looked again, only a statue of Sanzhi Xiumo sat there in meditation.

...In a typical story, this would be considered a magnificent sacrifice; for the sake of the entire city's survival, he had willingly turned himself into a clay and wooden idol to save thousands of lives.

Even before his sacrifice, his thoughts were not of himself, but of how to completely seal away the ghost that was the root of all this.

But the problem was...

For some reason, Zhou You felt a faint sense of dissonance in his heart, though he could never quite put his finger on what it was.

It wasn't exactly like a bone stuck in his throat—after all, the old monk had never harmed him in the end—but it was just...

Very strange?

--But just as he frowned in deep thought, he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

He didn't have time to dwell on it; he hurriedly grabbed the incense, rushed out of the temple entrance, and looked toward the distance.

Over at Chang Song Slope in the distance, a beam of blood-red light shot into the sky. Following that, countless chunks of flesh surged into it from all directions, piling up layer by layer, building higher and higher, until they finally formed a pillar of meat over ten meters tall.

The next moment, the crimson pillar split open, and a hideous Bodhisattva stepped out from within. Its entire body lacked a single patch of skin, covered only in deep red blood vessels and stark white fat.

--Having finally sensed the danger, this terrifying monster had actually forced its own birth two days ahead of schedule!

Then, the Bodhisattva turned its head, faced the direction of Zhou You, and softly chanted a single syllable.

"Hum."

In an instant, he felt the thick scent of blood drown his nasal passages—in the blink of an eye, he found himself amidst a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. Countless flayed creatures screamed miserably all around him, and they only shrieked two phrases.

"Save me."

"Kill me."

"Save me!"

"Kill me, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!"