Escape the Predicament

"Royal aura drifting east? Mermen... what are these things?"

Zhu Yuanzhang asked.

"The Great Thousand Worlds are full of wonders."

Faci closed his eyes, offering no further response.

Ever since Zhu Yuanzhang had expressed his inability to revert from his merman form back into a human, Faci's attitude toward him had grown noticeably colder.

After passing on the full set of incantations for the Tiger Skin Monk Robe Control Technique and warning him not to court death at the Qinhuai River, Faci had simply closed his eyes, ignoring Zhu Yuanzhang's questions entirely.

He had entered a state of deep meditation.

Zhu Yuanzhang could only withdraw his doubts with a sense of chagrin.

He sat cross-legged as well, beginning to attempt the integration of the Sangqiwo Jataka Secret Technique into the Sangqiwo Jataka Secret Mantra.

Three days later.

Inside the meditation room on the right.

Faci, the desiccated corpse who had been in seclusion for three days, suddenly opened his eyes.

"My senior brothers, Fajue and Faming, are both on the verge of entering nirvana."

Outside the meditation room.

Ghostly shadows swarmed, and a sea of blood surged.

Accompanied by the intermittent screams of the palace maids and eunuchs of Taicheng, it was a scene of a living hell.

"Steady your spirit! Restrain your breath! Do not be deceived by the terrifying manifestations of the outside world."

"Three days from now, my two senior brothers will surely die, and the Daoist Sin within them will break free."

"At that time, you may leave on your own and seek a way to escape Taicheng."

Faci's voice echoed eerily beside his ear.

Zhu Yuanzhang, currently in the form of a white tiger, nodded.

At this moment, following the loss of control by Faming and Fajue, the walls of the meditation room—originally bright and pristine with white paint—suddenly turned withered and dry.

The plaster peeled away continuously, revealing the rotting wooden walls beneath.

Massive amounts of blood gushed incessantly from the gaps between the walls.

It actually coalesced into a blood-colored humanoid creature within the room.

"Minghe... Junior Brother Faci."

This creature, standing a full three meters tall with a slender frame, possessed a face familiar to Zhu Yuanzhang.

It was Fajue.

However, his head was currently rotated a full 180 degrees on his neck, scanning the entire meditation room.

A pair of pitch-black pupils darted within his eyes at a speed that defied the laws of physics.

They flicked violently left, then right, moving so rapidly that it seemed as if they might pop out of their sockets at any moment.

"Why not show yourselves..."

The blood-man's voice was bizarre, sounding as if the voices of countless men, women, and children had been forcibly blended together.

It was bone-chilling.

"Do you not wish to leave Taicheng?"

"Do you not want to know what has become of Tongtai Temple?"

Zhu Yuanzhang remained motionless.

He kept his tiger eyes open, silently reciting the Sangqiwo Jataka Secret Mantra in his heart.

And a miracle occurred.

The slender lifeform composed of blood acted as if it were completely unable to see Zhu Yuanzhang.

It swung its two-meter-long legs and stepped straight over Zhu Yuanzhang's body.

Without deviation.

Without error.

It stepped directly onto the mummified corpse that Faci had transformed into.

"Junior Brother Faci..."

The blood-corpse leaned down, a stiff smile appearing on its face.

It was as if it had only just learned how to make that expression.

It was filled with all sorts of discord and unnaturalness.

Its eyes, trembling back and forth, drew close to the desiccated corpse before it.

"You—"

Snap.

As the blood-corpse clenched its hand.

Faci's mummified corpse shattered inch by inch.

In an instant, it turned into a handful of dust.

"Dead?"

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes flashed.

"No! There is no White Bone Dharma Image."

"It seems he faked his death to escape."

"..."

The slender, blood-colored figure fell silent for a moment.

Then, that fake smiling face vanished in an instant.

It became "expressionless."

Literally.

The facial features disappeared completely, turning into a smooth, blood-colored surface as flat as a mirror.

"Junior Brother Faci..."

Accompanied by a sigh tinged with annoyance.

The blood-colored entity, still unwilling to give up, swept its hand across the entire meditation room.

Only after smashing every place in the room that could hide a person—the cabinets, the rafters, the bed—into splinters.

Did it finally, reluctantly, turn back into a puddle of blood and depart.

Zhu Yuanzhang closed his eyes slightly.

He instinctively let out a sigh of relief.

However, a voice suddenly rang out in his heart.

"Do not lower your guard. Minghe and Senior Brother Fajue are not yet fully dead; they are still lingering nearby."

"For these three days, you must recite the Sangqiwo Jataka Secret Mantra at all times."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded silently in agreement.

The candle flame that served as the room's only light source had been extinguished the moment the blood-corpse entered the meditation room.

The Bright Yellow Tiger remained motionless, still leaning lazily against the wooden floor of the meditation room.

But its pair of massive tiger eyes looked slightly behind it.

It saw a skeleton, crystalline as jade, that had appeared behind it at some unknown moment.

Holding the Impure Seal, it sat cross-legged in place.

A pair of faint green flames burned within its eye sockets.

It was silently staring at the tiger before it.

It made a chill run down Zhu Yuanzhang's spine.

Three days later.

Zhu Yuanzhang ceased the Sangqiwo Jataka Secret Mantra.

He transformed into a Deep One, shed the tiger skin, and bowed gracefully toward the white bone behind him.

"Many thanks, Uncle-Master Faci, for helping me survive this tribulation."

Although the white skeleton before him did not speak, nor did it have any expression.

Zhu Yuanzhang could still sense the trace of disappointment that was difficult to resolve, unintentionally revealed on its face as it looked at his Deep One form, which had not yet reverted to a human.

Finally, Faci let out a long sigh.

"Within this formation, the three of us brothers originally had our life-forces interconnected."

"And now, Faming and Fajue have both perished, their souls scattered."

"The day of my nirvana, I expect, is but a few days away."

The white skeleton that Faci had transformed into watched Zhu Yuanzhang in silence.

Zhu Yuanzhang, showing great tact, took the initiative to ask.

"Is there anything I can do for you, Martial Uncle?"

"If you can truly escape Taicheng and survive this heaven-and-earth death trap, go to the Jing and Yang regions to rebuild the orthodoxy of our Tongtai Temple."

The jaw of the skeletal dharma form parted slightly.

"Remember to list the Sangqiwo Jataka Sutra as a mandatory text for our temple."

"Ensure that future monks strictly observe the precepts, study the sutras and secret mantras diligently, and pay homage to the Buddha."

"They must never again involve themselves in the political affairs of the mortal world."

"Do not let today's tragedy repeat itself in the generations to come."

As he spoke, Faci's voice carried a hint of profound emotion.

It seemed as though he were lamenting the fate of Tongtai Temple, or perhaps mourning himself.

"This disciple obeys."

Zhu Yuanzhang bowed his head to reply.

Even though Faci's protection of him had not been entirely selfless.

Upon seeing that there was no further opportunity to exploit him, Faci had not continued to harm him either.

Instead, he had provided him with many conveniences.

Therefore, as far as Zhu Yuanzhang was concerned, it could be said that Minghe owed Faci a debt of gratitude.

Moreover, Zhu Yuanzhang was very curious to see what would happen after the task was completed.

What would the world within the "Secret History" look like?

Would it simply vanish, or would it continue to unfold in accordance with history?

And would Tongtai Temple be able to endure after Minghe escaped Taicheng?

Or would it be unable to escape its fated destruction, ultimately fading into the dust of history?

Moonlight, like water, spilled across Taicheng.

Watching as the skeletal monstrosity Faci had become devoured the corpses of dozens of innocent passersby before vanishing into thin air within the meditation room—just as Fajue and Faming had done—Zhu Yuanzhang felt no relief, only a heavy heart.

Because, according to the resonance between the Sangqiwo Jataka Secret Mantras.

Faci's body had not disappeared.

Instead, it had manifested out of thin air somewhere else in Taicheng.

[Grand Marshal Gate]

Zhu Yuanzhang climbed the Pagoda and gazed into the distance.

Though it was already deep into the night, the forbidden palace of Taicheng remained brightly lit.

Clearly, as Hou Jing tightened his siege of Taicheng.

The monarch and ministers of Southern Liang grew increasingly desperate in their desire to find a way out.