Faci's Backstab

"A person lives a lifetime, and there are always so many regrets."

"The Buddha says 'delusional thoughts shift and flow,' 'one snap of the fingers is sixty kshanas,' and 'in one kshana, there are nine hundred births and deaths.'"

"Even for things one believed in firmly just a second ago, the next second could bring forth deep-seated remorse from the bottom of one's heart."

Accompanied by the soft whispers of Faci, a thick, bloody stench suddenly wafted in from all directions.

It surged into the Zen Courtyard.

Outside the Zen Courtyard, the remains of dead princes, nobles, palace maids, and eunuchs had long since piled up like mountains.

The dense aura of blood cast a layer of crimson over Faci's eyes, which had previously been somewhat clear.

The Zen Courtyard shook as Faming and Fajue left one after another.

They began a massacre of the Xiao Liang nobility.

They did this to seize the little remaining dragon vein royal aura of the Southern Dynasty.

The terrifying balance that had kept the three monks of Tongtai Temple in check was broken.

The Zen Courtyard began to sway and crumble.

Until blood and black mist began to pour into the room.

But unlike the crowds kowtowing outside the room, both the blood and the black mist turned a blind eye to the desiccated corpse and the white tiger inside.

"Do you regret it, Zen Master? If you hadn't given that precious medicine to me, surviving these three days would have been the simplest thing in the world for you."

Zhu Yuanzhang's voice was heavy.

"I have never regretted it..."

"Just as Yongjia Xuanjue said in the Ode to Cessation and Contemplation."

Faci shook his head gently.

Red and green intertwined in his withered, shrunken eyes, flashing with a hint of struggle.

"When the mind is exactly in use, it is exactly when there is no mind to use."

"The consciousness is like a galloping horse! It is also like a rushing torrent!"

"If one wishes to stop it, it only stirs up more chaos."

"..."

Zhu Yuanzhang, who could only be considered an ordinary person in his previous life, fell silent.

It was not that he did not want to answer.

It was that, as a semi-illiterate man of this era, he had no idea what Faci was talking about at all.

"Minghe! The karmic affinities of this world are truly wondrous..."

Suddenly, Faci's voice became ethereal in Zhu Yuanzhang's ears.

"My two senior brothers originally only harbored evil intentions and kidnapped me here."

"Yet, unexpectedly, I have become the one among the three who has lived the longest."

"And the moment I saw you, I had intended to accept the invitation of Junior Brother Fahui to help him continue the lineage of Tongtai Temple and perform a good deed."

"Yet, unexpectedly, I stumbled upon it and cultivated you into this Human Pill Great Medicine that is just right for me."

Hearing this, the hair on Zhu Yuanzhang's body stood on end.

The fierce tiger rose abruptly, attempting to flee.

However, such a violent movement immediately drew the scrutiny of the surrounding drifting black mist and blood.

"Therefore... there is no need for regret at all."

Fahui had appeared behind Zhu Yuanzhang at some point.

But at this moment, looking at the resisting Zhu Yuanzhang, a bizarre smile appeared on his face.

Immediately after, his head tilted, his body suddenly split open to the sides, and a glistening white skeleton stepped out from within.

The jaw of the skeleton that emerged from Faci's desiccated corpse moved slightly, assuming an expression of great compassion as it spoke.

"Many thanks for your sacrifice, Minghe... If I pass this trial, I shall surely rebuild the lineage of my Tongtai Temple upon the ruins of Xiao Liang."

Zhu Yuanzhang felt as though he had been frozen in place.

Whether it was the Dingguang Demon-Subduing True Fire or the Mountain-Shrinking Fist, both had become exceptionally difficult and obstructed to circulate.

It was this tiger-skin monk's robe!

And this Sangqiwo Jataka Secret Mantra.

Damn it!

Zhu Yuanzhang awoke as if from a dream.

No wonder Faci had suddenly been seized by such greed.

Faci's primary cultivation was the Sangqiwo Jataka Sutra, which he had surely refined to the pinnacle of perfection.

And by using the Sangqiwo Jataka Secret Mantra to don Faci's Tiger-Skin Monk Robe, he had walked right into a trap.

Having swallowed the blood of Xiao Tong, he was like a piece of fat meat that had voluntarily jumped into Faci's mouth.

It was enough to make one drool with desire!

Only Zhu Yuanzhang knew that he had reached this point through constant trial and error.

To outsiders, his smooth journey thus far was undoubtedly proof that he was a man of great destiny.

Furthermore, he had just consumed the Precious Blood Elixir of the former Crown Prince of Xiao Liang.

The medicinal power had not yet been fully digested.

To Faci and the others, he was now nothing more than a walking, human-shaped tonic.

A dead end! An absolute dead end!

Zhu Yuanzhang could not move; he could only watch helplessly as the skeletal hand reached toward him.

To onlookers, the bright yellow tiger appeared as if it had been frightened senseless by the bones before it, standing frozen and immobile.

But only Zhu Yuanzhang knew the truth.

The moment the Tiger-Skin Monk Robe draped over his body, his internal chakras felt as though they had been sealed by something, making their circulation incredibly sluggish and difficult.

The skeleton before him also seemed to possess the power to suppress an enemy's cultivation.

It completely extinguished the last shred of possibility for Zhu Yuanzhang to resist.

He could only watch, wide-eyed, as the skeleton approached from the front.

"Skull, skull! Who are you!"

As the bones drew near, chants of men and women, young and old, suddenly echoed throughout the meditation room.

It sounded as if countless people were chanting in unison, yet there was an eerie sense of overlap.

It was as if the "childhood," "youth," "adulthood," "middle age," and "old age" of the same person were all speaking at once.

"Heroes in life! Desolate graves in death!"

The eerie voice drew closer, causing blood to instantly stream from Zhu Yuanzhang's seven orifices.

His muscles, bones, and veins began to rupture inch by inch.

"Dukes and nobles now! Skulls in a hundred years!"

The falling flesh and meridians were actually beginning to cover the skeleton before him, piece by piece.

It was attempting to possess him!

Zhu Yuanzhang knew he did not have much time left.

He had to find a way, at the very least, to create favorable conditions for his next entry.

But—

Without cultivating the Sangqiwo Jataka Secret Mantra, he could not don the Tiger-Skin Kasaya.

Without the Tiger-Skin Kasaya, he could not escape the indiscriminate slaughter Faming and Fajue would unleash within three days.

Yet, by donning the Tiger-Skin Kasaya, he became the life-extending medicine in Faci's eyes.

"A dead end... is Minghe truly destined to die?"

His head aching from the strain, Zhu Yuanzhang decided to throw caution to the wind.

He looked at the skeleton, which was becoming plump and radiant as it replenished itself with his flesh and blood, and sighed.

"That is not necessarily so."

He had not expected the skeleton Faci had transformed into to actually respond.

"In the dark, there is always cause and effect."

"You borrowed my Tiger-Aspect Dharma Body to avoid disaster; you were always destined to repay me with your flesh and blood one day."

"But the Heavenly Dao is merciful and always leaves a glimmer of life."

"You originally had no hope of survival, yet you have actually cultivated the Mountain-Shrinking Fist alongside the Dingguang Demon-Subduing True Technique... truly incredible."

"If you had circulated the Mountain-Shrinking Fist before donning the tiger skin..."

"Your physical body would have been protected by the Outer Path Demon God."

"In that case, even if I seized your flesh and blood, what use would it have been, other than adding to the karmic debt before your death?"

The Merciful Bone Dharma Aspect was now pressed against the tiger form Zhu Yuanzhang had taken.

As the two bone claws gouged toward Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes.

The surrounding scenery suddenly plunged into darkness.

However, his sense of hearing became increasingly acute.

He could only hear the tone of the chant gradually growing higher and more piercing.

"Skin bags of pus and blood! White bones linked together!"

"Offer this body and mind! To the dust of the Buddha's realm!"

"This is the White Bone Aspect, Minghe. Just like your Impermanence Aspect, it is one of the thirty-two marks of our Buddha."

"If you contemplate it diligently in your daily life, you can achieve the White Bone Contemplation, which is also a method to cross the sea of suffering with your physical body."

Faci spoke eloquently, attempting to put his good disciple at ease as he walked the final leg of his journey.

He patiently explained the secret, oral teachings of the Pure Land Sect preserved within the thousand-year-old Tongtai Temple.

However, upon hearing Faci's words, a smile that left the monk feeling bewildered appeared on Zhu Yuanzhang's face.

"You said it yourself."

Zhu Yuanzhang watched with his own eyes as Faci removed his internal organs and stuffed them into the skeletal torso.

Yet there was no fear, only joy.

[You have died.]

"Damn system!"

"Start over!"

Zhu Yuanzhang roared as he returned to the loading screen.

"I'm going to kill that old schemer Faci!"

"Damn it! Is there not a single decent person among these bald donkeys of Tongtai Temple?"