"How could this be?!"
A murmured whisper rang through the silent grounds of Yunhe Temple's stone statues.
King Runner stared in disbelief at the sword piercing his chest. Blood spread across his front, dyeing his clothes red.
Wen Qingkong's sword had struck a vital point and pierced his heart. No matter how strong King Runner was, death was certain.
He drew his sword and threw a punch!
Wen Qingkong's Shaolin Hundred Step Divine Fist struck King Runner's jaw once more. With a crack of shattering bone, King Runner fell to the ground dead.
The moment King Runner died, the Black Stone assassins fled in every direction.
Jiang Asheng and Zeng Jing both grew anxious.
If any of them escaped and leaked the news, they would face endless pursuit. Neither of them would ever know peace again.
Wen Qingkong flicked both hands, sending silver needles flying.
His footsteps shifted as he spun and darted through the air. One Black Stone assassin after another fell to the ground.
Before long, every Black Stone assassin who had come here was dead.
Jiang Asheng and Zeng Jing finally let out breaths of relief.
Fortunately, Wen Qingkong was here. Otherwise, they might not have been able to kill every Black Stone assassin.
But how had Wen Qingkong learned the Flying Needle Technique?
Zeng Jing looked at the young man with a complicated expression.
External body training, peerless swordsmanship, flying needles...
For an ordinary person to specialize in a single martial art and reach the realm of a Martial Arts Grandmaster was already enough to make them an extraordinary genius.
Yet this boy was only fifteen and had already mastered three supreme arts that were utterly unrelated to one another.
Compared to him, her own talent was truly nothing remarkable.
"Give me Rama's Remains."
After killing everyone, Wen Qingkong held out his hand.
Zeng Jing tossed him the upper half of Rama's Remains. As for the lower half, they would need to retrieve it from King Runner's residence.
Fortunately, Jiang Asheng had long investigated King Runner thoroughly. Wen Qingkong only needed to accompany him later to retrieve it.
"This place is rarely visited, and it belongs to Yunhe Temple. Let's bury them here. No one will find them."
Zeng Jing looked around, slightly moved.
She wondered how Lu Zhu would feel if he knew that she had turned Yunhe Temple's grounds into a place for murder and burying corpses.
Wen Qingkong nodded in agreement. He still had to come here at midnight to stitch King Runner's corpse, so burying him here would indeed be convenient.
The reason he had not taken King Runner back to stitch him was that stitching the Black Stone assassin who had died at his home last night could still be explained away. But now that he had killed King Runner outside the city, bringing the body back home while risking discovery would inevitably arouse suspicion.
After the three buried the bodies, Jiang Asheng first told Wen Qingkong where King Runner lived. Then he and Zeng Jing fell silent.
Wen Qingkong understood. Holding Rama's Remains, he said to them, "I have something to do, so I'll be leaving first."
With that, he flew away, leaving the two spouses alone.
How Jiang Asheng and Zeng Jing, this pair of ill-fated lovers, would handle their relationship had nothing to do with Wen Qingkong. Now that he knew where King Runner lived, his most urgent task was to obtain Rama's Remains.
Entering Mingzhou City, Wen Qingkong followed the address Jiang Asheng had given him and found King Runner's residence.
He circled the area several times. Only after confirming that no one was watching or following him did he leap inside.
King Runner's residence was not large either, perfectly suited to his identity as a lowly eunuch.
That made things much more convenient for Wen Qingkong. He did not need to search too many places.
The lower half of Rama's Remains sat openly on a table in the bedroom.
It seemed King Runner had been extremely confident. He had not believed anyone could take Rama's Remains from him, so he had not bothered to hide it.
Wen Qingkong took Rama's Remains, left the residence, and returned home.
The moment he entered, he saw Li Lan let out a breath of relief, a smile appearing on her face.
"You're back."
"I'll heat up your meal."
Wen Qingkong nodded and placed both halves of Rama's Remains inside the Corpse Seamstress Workshop.
Then he looked at little Shuang'er, who was practicing her punches in the courtyard with meticulous seriousness. Smiling, he stepped forward to correct her posture and teach her carefully.
Li Lan heated the food quickly. Before long, she called Wen Qingkong to eat.
Wen Qingkong casually picked up Shuang'er. Though the little girl had never gone hungry after following him, she was still so light that she seemed to weigh almost nothing.
After they sat down, Li Lan and Shuang'er only began eating after Wen Qingkong picked up his chopsticks first.
Wen Qingkong had told them many times that he did not care about such formalities.
Yet Li Lan remained the same as ever.
"The problem should be resolved. You can interact with Zeng Jing normally from now on. There's no need to deliberately distance yourself from her because of this."
In this unfamiliar place, Li Lan had already gotten along well with Zeng Jing. If this matter caused Li Lan to distance herself from Zeng Jing, she would be far too lonely.
Li Lan shook her head. "Rest assured, my lord. I know how to handle it."
Wen Qingkong nodded and said no more.
Li Lan had always put his mind at ease when it came to such matters.
After nightfall, once Li Lan and her daughter had gone to sleep, Wen Qingkong entered the Corpse Seamstress Workshop.
After a bitter battle, it was time to reap the rewards.
Rama's Remains!
Who would not like a divine art capable of restoring what was lost and making up for what was lacking?
Wen Qingkong placed the upper and lower halves of Rama's Remains on the cold couch.
Rama had lived eight hundred years ago. By now, his corpse had long become a mummy, so there was no need to clean or apply makeup to it. Moreover, aside from having been divided into two halves, the body had no missing parts, so there was no need to use clay to mold anything together.
Wen Qingkong inserted Three Incense Sticks into the censer before the corpse's head. After lighting them, he muttered, "Eminent monk, I'm stitching you up to preserve your body intact. I hope you'll cooperate properly."
With that, Wen Qingkong moved his needle as swiftly as the wind.
In the silent night, candlelight flickered. Nine Harbinger Birds perched on tree branches, tilting their heads in the same direction as they watched Wen Qingkong's every move.
One incense stick later, the stitching was complete.
Though it was a mummy, it did not affect Wen Qingkong's stitching skill.
The upper and lower halves of Rama's Remains had become whole again, without the slightest trace of stitching.
Corpse Seamstress, life's flashback, behold the mortal world, obtain precious treasures The host has stitched one corpse. A life's flashback appears.
Rama was not from the Central Plains. He came from distant India and was an eminent Indian monk.
From childhood, he studied Buddhist teachings and became deeply versed in Buddhist doctrine.
After learning that there was a great nation in the east, he crossed mountains and rivers to come here, intending to spread his teachings and promote Buddhism.
Unfortunately, Rama met obstacles everywhere at first.
Later, in order to spread the Dharma, Rama began learning the Central Plains' writing, language, and customs.
He gradually integrated into the Central Plains, even becoming more like someone from the Central Plains than many native people.
Through such persistence, he eventually discovered the best way to spread Buddhism: make the emperor revere it.
As long as the emperor revered Buddhism, countless commoners would begin revering it as well. Then Buddhism would flourish!
To guide Emperor Wu of Liang into revering Buddhism, Rama decisively castrated himself, entered the Imperial Palace as a eunuch, and served at Emperor Wu of Liang's side.
Through his efforts and influence, Emperor Wu of Liang indeed began believing in Buddhism. He even twice withdrew from worldly life, only for his ministers to spend money to invite him back.
For a time, Buddhism flourished greatly. Four hundred and eighty temples stood throughout the Southern Dynasties, magnificent beyond compare.
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