Sangqiwo Jataka Secret Technique

[Buddha Lamp Fire]

Another Na-Yin Five Elements!

Zhu Yuanzhang stared at the system interface, which remained clearly visible even within the Sea of Suffering.

He thought to himself.

He had not forgotten.

Back when he was perusing the visualization diagram for the Mountain-Shrinking Fist.

The prompt [Dagon (Great Ocean Water)] had appeared on his system panel.

"It seems you have successfully cultivated the first layer of the Dharma Aspect. I wonder, what is your Dharma Aspect?"

Beside him, the voice of the monk Faci drifted over, ethereal and faint.

"The Impermanence Aspect."

Upon hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's reply, Faci's voice immediately turned joyful.

"The Impermanence Aspect is the most supreme Dharma Aspect of our temple."

"That you were able to cultivate it must surely be due in part to the thousand-year-old blessings of our Tongtai Temple."

"Very good, very good!"

"Come here, Minghe! I shall impart the Sangqiwo Jataka Secret Technique to you."

"After I fall into eternal slumber, you are to don the Tiger-Skin Monk Robe, recite the secret technique, and suppress your breath for three days."

"Three days later, my two senior brothers will likely fail to survive this tribulation, and by then, they will be completely dead."

"At that time, you may depart on your own and seek that sliver of survival beyond Taicheng."

Zhu Yuanzhang lowered his head and replied.

"As you command, but this disciple has one thing he does not understand."

"Is it regarding your Dharma Aspect?"

"Precisely."

Zhu Yuanzhang thought of the continuous blessings he had received in the Sea of Suffering as indicated by the system prompts.

"When this disciple was breaking through, I often heard someone whispering in my ear."

"And they taught me the method to cross the Sea of Suffering."

"It is called the Four Noble Truths."

As Zhu Yuanzhang spoke, he observed the expression of the gaunt monk.

"I originally sought nothing, so why..."

"Why does that voice still ring in your ears?"

The monk, thin as a dried corpse, replied.

Those pitch-black eyes, resembling grape seeds, stared fixedly at Zhu Yuanzhang.

The gaze made Zhu Yuanzhang's scalp tingle.

"Do you know what the medicinal pill you consumed was refined from..."

The corpse-like monk said eerily.

"Was it not the blood essence of the Xiao Liang royal family?"

"Precisely."

The gaunt monk answered, then countered with a question.

"But do you know which member of the Xiao Liang royal family?"

"I do not."

Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head.

But looking at the monk's expression, a vague, ominous premonition surfaced in Zhu Yuanzhang's heart.

"It was the former Crown Prince of the current Southern Dynasty Emperor."

Having said this, the gaunt monk's smile turned bizarre.

The corners of his mouth curled up as he enunciated each word slowly.

"Xiao Tong, Xiao Deshi."

"!"

Zhu Yuanzhang looked up in disbelief and spoke.

He looked back out the window at the phantom of the Nine-Story Pagoda, built from gold, precious stones, and fine jade, reflected upon the glass.

This time, the magnificent structure, which symbolized Emperor Wu of Liang's devotion to Buddhism, was cast in a layer of ominous, bloody shadows in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes.

It was so direct, bizarre, and cruel.

"How could Xiao Yan go so far as to..."

Zhu Yuanzhang stopped mid-sentence.

He truly found it hard to believe that such a callous and ungrateful emperor could exist in this world.

Even his own crown prince was nothing more than a bargaining chip to be traded at will.

"What is so difficult to understand about that, Minghe?"

The monk's tone was eerie.

It carried a hint of mockery that Zhu Yuanzhang could not quite grasp.

"Naturally, it is because Xiao Yan deemed the loss of a crown prince to be a worthwhile trade-off compared to what he gained from the monks of Tongtai Temple."

"I still cannot understand it."

Outside the window, the sky had darkened.

Today was the twenty-first day of the tenth lunar month; there were three days left until Hou Jing breached Jinling and surrounded Taicheng.

There were exactly ten days left until Xiao Zhengde usurped the throne.

Zhu Yuanzhang's expression remained one of confusion.

But as he sat cross-legged, his tone grew much calmer.

"What could possibly be more important to a dynasty than the crown prince?"

As night fell, layer upon layer of fine, tough fur began to sprout from the gaunt monk's body.

It was a mix of black and white, resembling a fierce tiger.

It turned out that the Tiger-Skin Monk Robe was not some secret treasure, but a manifestation of the monk himself.

Zhu Yuanzhang speculated.

The technique the monk practiced must be similar to the Mountain-Shrinking Fist.

Both involved the subtle, gradual transformation of one's own physical body into a life form that did not exist in reality.

"But... in this world, do those things truly not exist?"

The gaunt monk's reply interrupted Zhu Yuanzhang's train of thought.

"Your thinking is too abstract, to the point that it detaches from the true nature of things, Minghe."

"Whatever sect, whatever dynasty, whatever organization... they are all just people, one after another, nothing more."

"Everything must be built upon the priority of satisfying human desire."

"Sacrificing Xiao Tong was naturally to fulfill Xiao Yan himself... Do you really think Xiao Yan's repeated self-confinement at Tongtai Temple was merely for the sake of worship?"

"If not for that, how could he have ruled the world alone for over forty years?"

"One man alone exhausted half the fortune of Xiao Liang."

"It is a pity that Heaven has decreed his reign shall not exceed fifty years."

"No matter how he and the monks of Tongtai Temple struggle, it is ultimately just a mantis trying to stop a chariot, nothing more."

Heaven-decreed reign.

Why does Heaven exist?

Zhu Yuanzhang desperately wanted to ask.

However, it was clear that Faci no longer wished to delve deeper into this topic.

At this moment, the candle flame in the room burned at its brightest.

Along with it, Faci's spirit and vitality reached their peak.

Large patches of black and white fur had completely covered Faci's body.

It made him resemble a humanoid tiger crouching in the center of the meditation room.

"The timing is perfect... Lean in close, and I shall impart to you the incantation to command the Tiger Robe."

Faci said, and through that opening and closing maw, Zhu Yuanzhang saw the dense, thumb-length, scimitar-shaped white fangs.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not suspect a thing.

He approached Faci and crouched down.

A cold gust of wind struck.

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly looked up, only to see a bloody maw lunging fiercely toward his neck!

[You have obtained the Sangqiwo Jataka Secret Technique]

[You have received a gift from the monk Faci of Tongtai Temple: Tiger-Skin Monk Robe (Can be taken out by spending Fortune Points)]

"Hm?"

"So, items from secret histories can actually be taken out?"

This was the first time Zhu Yuanzhang had seen something that could be brought out from a secret history.

A cold sensation radiated from his neck.

Zhu Yuanzhang could feel it as his own blood drained away.

Through the teeth Faci had sunk into his body, large amounts of a frigid liquid were being injected into him.

It was both a gift and a curse.

As Zhu Yuanzhang began to chant the Sangqiwo Jataka Secret Mantra.

Those icy fluids gradually dispersed into his limbs and bones.

Clusters of black and white fur began to sprout across the surface of his body.

"Not bad."

A whisper came from the desiccated corpse before him.

Faci had somehow already shed the tiger form of the Sangqiwo Jataka.

He was now gazing intently at the Zhu Yuanzhang before him, letting out a sigh of admiration.

The tiger-skin monk's robe that Faci had gifted to Zhu Yuanzhang was now firmly fixed upon him.

It caused his physique to expand rapidly.

He transformed into a bright yellow, striped fierce tiger.

"Having learned this technique, it will at least ensure that you can walk out of the Zen Courtyard alive after my two senior brothers perish."

"Many thanks, Master Faci."

The striped fierce tiger raised its head, swaying unsteadily as it took a few steps forward.

It seemed he could not yet adapt to this new body.

The tiger turned its head, its pair of fist-sized, dark tiger eyes reflecting the figure of the seated corpse.

He was actually able to speak in human tongue.