Ancestors Buried Upright, Descendants Sure to Thrive!

The next morning, as the sky began to lighten, Tang Sanzang pushed open the wooden door of his meditation room.

What hit us was not the freshness of morning dew, but the smell of burnt smoke.

He stood there, stunned, completely dumbfounded!

Where is the solemn Guan Yin Temple now?

Amidst the charred ruins, several twisted, burnt beams and pillars leaned precariously, emitting wisps of smoke.

The monks' quarters, scripture pavilions, and main halls have all become Kurozumi- like skeletons, with ashes falling in the wind.

More than a dozen monks lay sprawled on the ground, their faces covered in soot. Some were groaning while clutching their charred arms, while others were coughing up blood. The worst of them were curled up like charred corpses, their faces unrecognizable.

"This... this..." Tang Sanzang's lips trembled, and he staggered back half a step, stepping on a piece of charred wood with a crisp "crack".

"Oh, Master is awake?" Sun Wukong's voice came from above.

Tang Sanzang looked up and saw the Monkey and Fang Yu squatting on a half-broken wall, eating peaches.

"You... you..." Tang Sanzang pointed at the wailing monks on the ground, his voice trembling, "What terrible sins have you committed!"

Fang Yu slowly jumped down, patted the dust off his clothes, and said, "Old Tang, that's not right. They set the fire and poured the oil. What does it have to do with us?"

"But they don't deserve to die! We should save them!"

He had just spoken when he suddenly remembered, "Where is Elder Jinchi? He..."

"There it is," Sun Wukong pointed with his Golden Cudgel at the ruins of the main hall.

A charred corpse knelt before a broken Buddha Statue, clutching a box before it died. Its head had been burned into a skull, and its empty eye sockets stared blankly at the Sky Manipulation.

Tang Sanzang's legs went weak, and he collapsed into the ashes.

"Amitabha Buddha," he chanted mechanically, not even knowing who he was trying to help.

"Holy Monk!" A young novice monk suddenly rushed over, his face covered in soot and tears streaming down his face. "You, you're alright, that's so good! It's all Abbot the abbot was bewitched. We couldn't persuade him!"

Tang Sanzang stared blankly at the young novice monk, then suddenly grabbed his shoulder. "Why did you set the fire? Just for a cassock?!"

The young novice cried even harder, "The Abbot said that the robe is a Buddhist treasure and should be kept by a high-ranking monk like him. We... we dare not disobey!"

"Ha!" Sun Wukong jumped down and slammed his Golden Cudgel on the ground. "Old Bald Donkey, you're so greedy! You even dare to covet the treasures bestowed by the Bodhisattva. You deserve to be burned to ashes!"

Tang Sanzang suddenly looked up, his eyes bloodshot. "Goku! You knew the fire was controllable, why did you insist on doing it?"

Fang Yu suddenly squatted down, looking Tang Sanzang in the eye, and asked, "Last night you asked me why Buddhist monks would commit evil?"

He pointed to the charred corpse in Jin Chi, "Now the answer is right before our eyes: the one wearing a cassock is not necessarily a Buddha, and the one holding a torch is not necessarily a demon."

"But the price is too high," Tang Sanzang murmured.

"Big?" Fang Yu sneered. "If we were really just three ordinary wandering monks last night, we would be the ones lying in the ashes right now."

He grabbed Tang Sanzang and said, "Let's go. This fire was worth it."

Sun Wukong had already leaped ahead, his Golden Cudgel whistling as he swung it. "Master, hurry up! Old Sun smell Demonic Aura ahead, this is a good opportunity to stretch my muscles!"

Tang Sanzang was being dragged forward by Fang Yu, and couldn't help but look back.

In the morning light, the charred Guan Yin Temple looked like an ugly scar.

The broken Buddha Statue still lowered its head and looked down compassionately at all of this.

Walking along the road, Tang Sanzang was sullen and unhappy.

He always felt that the deaths of Elder Jinchi and the others were related to him.

"Goku, if you don't show the cassock to Elder Jinchi..."

Before Sun Wukong could even speak, Fang Yu immediately retorted, "So you're really invincible. You mean those girls who were raped and killed were because they were scantily clad, tempting others to commit evil deeds? And those who were robbed in the woods were because they went into the woods, giving robbers an opportunity?"

Tang Sanzang was speechless.

Fang Yu changed the subject, "Don't blame yourself too much. Actually, you should be happy."

"Happy? How could this humble monk possibly be happy!"

"Look at you, you still think like a mortal!"

Tang Sanzang scratched his head, "What exactly happened?"

Fang Yu stopped being mysterious and asked, "When you entered the temple yesterday, didn't you notice anything amiss? Like... the names?"

Tang Sanzang then came to his senses, "You mean, Guan Yin Temple?"

"Exactly!" Fang Yu plucked a foxtail grass from the roadside and put it in his mouth, saying, "Giving a name like that, while they're secretly making money off incense and such, Guanyin didn't enjoy much of it. As for the money, it all went to Jin Chi!"

Do you think it was by chance that you ended up on this path?

Tang Sanzang was indignant. "How could that be! How could Guanyin Bodhisattva do such a thing? Besides, you led the way, not her! And if Goku hadn't taken out that cassock..."

"That's what's scary." Fang Yu spat out the foxtail grass, his playful mood vanishing. "She lived in 610 BC. I can't outsmart her. Thinking about it carefully, I might get tricked and killed someday."

Tang Sanzang suddenly felt a chill run down his spine!

Along the way, although everything Fang Yu said shattered my worldview, not a single word of it was a lie.

Thinking about it this way

Was the entire journey to the Journey to the West to obtain Buddhist scriptures just a huge conspiracy?

Tang Sanzang dared not continue to speculate!

When the white light of the Main God dissipated, Zheng Zha opened his eyes and found himself standing in a courtyard with gray bricks and blue tiles.

The surroundings were shrouded in mist, and the faint sound of a night watchman's gong could be heard in the distance. The air was filled with the acrid smell of burning paper money.

He quickly scanned his surroundings. Zhao Yingkong and the others had gradually regained consciousness, while the newcomer was still slumped on the ground, his face filled with terror.

Fang Yu had already started studying everything in the courtyard.

He touched the door frame and complained, "Is this a mortuary? What bad luck!"

Before the words were finished, the cold notification from the Main God sounded:

[Assist Uncle Jiu in eliminating the zombie transformed from Old Master Ren, survive until the end of the story, and receive the following rewards: 3000 reward points for all characters, and 1 C-level Side Quests.]

At the same time, a semi-transparent light shield enveloped the Central Continent Team.

Through the cover, they could see the candlelight flickering in the main hall, where a middle-aged Daoist priest in a yellow robe with a solemn expression was reprimanding two young men.

"That's Uncle Jiu." Zheng Zha squinted. "The story is about to begin."

Uncle Jiu, holding Peachwood Sword, pointed at the coffin covered with Talismans on the table and said to Qiusheng and Wencai in a deep voice, "Zombies are born from the resentment of heaven and earth. They are immortal and indestructible. Anyone bitten by one will be transformed into one of their own kind within seven days!"

Wencai shrank his neck and muttered, "Master, why is black water constantly oozing from Old Master Ren's coffin?"

"Shut up!" Uncle Jiu glared at him. "The grave is being moved tomorrow. If there are any abnormalities in the body, it must be cremated!"

Qiusheng, however, leaned closer with a grin. "Master, I've heard that female ghosts can do 'that' too?"

Uncle Jiu was so angry that his beard twitched, and he picked up the ruler to strike him, but suddenly his brows furrowed and he turned sharply to look outside the courtyard.

There was no one there, but he always felt that dozens of eyes were watching him.

Fang Yu glanced at the countdown on the Reincarnation Watch, then turned to look at the crowd.

"Alright, the task is simple: take out a zombie. Not to mention me, even Lin Xiaoyu Jidu do it."

Zhou Mingxuan couldn't help but speak up, "Captain! Let's just end the cycle and return to the Main God Space!"

"Screw you!" Fang Yu gave Zhou Mingxuan the middle finger. "Although there's no cultivation in Mr. Vampire's world, there's still some essence of the sun and moon, and spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Otherwise, how would zombies appear? Since we're already here, we might as well train for a month or two; otherwise, we'd be wasting this easy dungeon!"

"However, speaking of cultivating immortality, there is someone in the Mr. Vampire world who is somewhat capable of it."

"You guys protect the main characters, I'm going to find that guy who plays with the thunder!"