Lord Xu’s gaze followed the direction of the fan. Although the man hadn’t taken the vows, judging by the monk’s robes, he was clearly ordained.
Giving meat to a monk? That was hardly appropriate.
Chu Yue gave him a light pat on the back and said softly, “Just do as our young master says.”
Lord Xu had nothing to say to that. He could only go into the city and buy a roast chicken.
When he returned to White Pagoda Temple and asked around, the group had already gone up the mountain and reached the temple’s main hall.
Lord Xu hurried into the hall, where a golden Buddha sat enshrined. The statue held a lotus flower and gazed down in compassion upon all living beings.
Below the Buddha, Master Wuji sat on a meditation cushion. A group of pilgrims bowed low before him, kneeling in neat rows to listen to his chanting.
Li Lanxiu stood at the other end of the hall, Chu Yue and Ming Changsheng at his side. Lord Xu clutched the roast chicken in his arms and walked over uneasily.
In front of Wuji sat a singing bowl filled with clear water. A blooming bowl lotus floated atop it. He chanted scripture while lightly striking the bowl.
Lord Xu recognized it as a mantra for sending off the dead. It seemed Wuji was offering rites for the civilians who had fallen to the Red Sect’s cruelty.
When the simple ritual ended, the pilgrims got up one by one and bid farewell to Wuji. Before long, he was the only one left sitting before the cushion.
Wuji turned and looked at them. His gaze lingered a moment on Li Lanxiu before he walked over with a calm smile. “Are you all waiting for me?” he asked.
Li Lanxiu glanced him over and lifted his chin slightly.
Lord Xu pulled the roast chicken from his robes. He couldn’t bring himself to bully a monk, so he turned to Chu Yue for help.
Chu Yue folded his arms and studied Wuji, entirely unmoved by Li Lanxiu’s act of making a monk eat meat.
Lord Xu looked toward Ming Changsheng again.
Ming Changsheng stood behind Li Lanxiu, head bowed in obedience. Whatever Young Master Li chose to do, he must have his reasons—Ming Changsheng would not interfere.
Lord Xu had no choice but to peel back the oily wrapping paper layer by layer, revealing glistening, juicy roast chicken. The savory aroma spread through the solemn and reverent Buddha hall.
Wuji took a step back and covered his nose with his fingers. He withdrew his smile and spoke sternly. "Patron, we do not consume meat in this temple."
Li Lanxiu held the chicken in one hand and offered it toward him with a gentle, smiling tone. "You’ve misunderstood, holy monk. We’re not eating it. It’s for you."
The White Pagoda Temple was packed with monks—from the abbot to the novice monks, there were thousands in number.
He didn’t know how deeply the Red Sect had infiltrated. He needed to cause a scene big enough to draw everyone out. Once the entire temple was watching, he could find out what was really going on.
Unfortunately, this Master Wuji had to bear the brunt of it.
Wuji froze. He gave a light cough and said, "Thank you for your kindness, Patron, but I do not eat meat."
Li Lanxiu tilted his head slightly, as if he didn’t believe him. His clear eyes fixed on the monk. "You’re mistaken again, holy monk. Whether you want to or not, you’re eating it today. Not a bite less."
Wuji met his gaze and frowned. "Patron, are you threatening me?"
"Mm." Li Lanxiu let out a light, cheerful sound, as if completely unaware of how vile he was being.
Wuji looked at the black blade strapped to Chu Yue’s back, then at the coffin beside Ming Changsheng. His snow-white robe swayed as he put his hands together and said, "The Buddhist path I follow forbids the consumption of meat. If you force me to eat it, it’s no different from killing me. Though I am a monk, I do not fear death. Patron, do as you please."
Li Lanxiu had never intended to force him with threats of death. That would be far too dull. He held the roast chicken in one hand and strolled leisurely in a circle around Wuji. "Fine. If you won’t eat it, then I’ll replace every Buddha statue in the White Pagoda Temple with Daoist deities, and cast a concealment spell over them. After a year or so of worship, you’ll finally realize what you’ve been bowing to."
Wuji's pupils contracted sharply. He stared at Li Lanxiu in disbelief. "You..."
He hadn’t expected that anyone could be so vicious.
Li Lanxiu pointed at himself and let out a delighted laugh. "Me? I’ve got even more fun ideas. I have a kind of spiritual medicine that gives off the scent of meat. I’ll hide it all around your temple, so the monks will smell meat day and night. You might resist breaking precepts, but can everyone else?"
"Mmm—" He drew out the sound slowly. Standing in front of Wuji, he held the roast chicken right up to his face. "If the pilgrims catch wind of meat fragrance all through your temple, what do you think they’ll assume?"
Wuji’s face, already pale, turned even whiter. He coughed violently, too angry to speak. Between coughs, he forced out, "You're…going too far."
Li Lanxiu circled him, waving the roast chicken under his nose. He had endless ways to torment people. Amused, he asked, "This is what you call going too far? I’ve got another idea. I’ll drag every monk in your temple to the Daoist sect and force them to convert. And it’ll all be because of you, Master Wuji."
Wuji let out another violent cough, covering his mouth as he wheezed and stared at him in shock.
Lord Xu was in awe. Every one of Li Lanxiu’s schemes was more vicious than the last, ruthless enough to kill without laying a finger. He had never seen a cultivator like this.
Chu Yue’s lips curled. He took out a handkerchief and gently wiped the grease from one of Li Lanxiu’s fingers. "Young Master is truly clever."
Ming Changsheng nodded in agreement. The young master’s mind was as sharp as a blade. He himself would never have come up with so many brilliant ideas.
Li Lanxiu narrowed his eyes slightly, then burst into laughter. "Right, I just thought of another one—"
"I’ll eat it." Wuji cut him off before he could finish. He took the roast chicken from Li Lanxiu’s hand. The stench of meat made him gag, but he still tore off a leg and shoved it into his mouth.
Li Lanxiu held out his now-free hand to Chu Yue, signaling for him to clean it. He lifted his chin and said, “Don’t eat here. Go eat in the plaza outside the hall.”
Wuji shot him a long look, then carried the roast chicken out of the Buddha hall.
It was the most crowded time of day at White Pagoda Temple. Pilgrims filled the grounds. A man in monk’s robes holding a roast chicken was such a shocking sight that all eyes turned toward him.
Wuji walked into the plaza. All the monks of White Pagoda Temple had gathered. He waved away those who tried to stop him, grabbed a chicken leg, took a deep breath and closed his eyes before shoving it into his mouth.
Li Lanxiu stood atop the high steps and swept his spiritual sense quickly over the plaza. He noticed two unusual individuals.
One was a tall man among the pilgrims, dressed like an escort with a long blade on his back. He had concealed his cultivation perfectly, showing no aura at all, but Li Lanxiu detected the pulse of spiritual power from the man’s blade.
The blade was clearly no ordinary weapon, and anyone who possessed it couldn’t be ordinary either.
The second was a monk within White Pagoda Temple. He revealed no flaws at all. While everyone else was focused on Wuji, that monk had just stared intently at Li Lanxiu. In the blink of an eye, he vanished back into the crowd, his presence completely erased.
The Red Sect had indeed hidden itself within White Pagoda Temple. Li Lanxiu flicked his wrist lightly. The Coldiron Fan snapped open with a sharp sound. “Let’s go. We’re heading back to the residence.”
Wuji knelt on the steps. Pilgrims and monks alike watched him from a distance, puzzled as to why he would break precepts in public. He tore off a piece of chicken and forced it into his mouth. The moment it touched his tongue, he gagged.
It felt not like meat, but like swallowing knives. As Li Lanxiu walked past him, Wuji’s face turned deathly pale. He clutched the greasy wrapping paper with both hands. Every bite was pure torment. The veins on his forehead bulged as he choked back the urge to vomit.
A soft, smiling voice sounded above his head, each word drawn out lazily and pleasant to the ear. “Eat slower. Don’t choke.”
With that, Li Lanxiu descended the steps and left.
That night, inside the Buddha hall of White Pagoda Temple, the scent of sandalwood drifted gently through the air. The candlelight flickered faintly, casting the Buddha statue’s merciful expression into relief.
Red candles burned brightly. Drops of wax fell onto the copper lamp plate with soft plop sounds.
Master Wuji knelt before the statue, tapping the wooden fish as he recited scriptures in a low voice.
Two dark figures appeared at the hall’s entrance—one was the tall man Li Lanxiu had seen, the other a slender young woman.
They entered together and knelt behind Wuji with a thud. In unison, they asked, “Buddha Son, are you all right?”
Wuji’s upright body suddenly pitched forward. He began coughing violently, and blood gushed from his mouth in torrents, crashing down onto the meditation mat like a waterfall.
In an instant, the winding stream of blood reached the knees of the two behind him.
“Buddha Son!”
The man in black hurried forward. Wuji braced himself against the altar table in front of the statue. Blood poured from his mouth in heavy waves. His face had turned a ghastly white, yet the corners of his mouth, stretched wide by the flow of blood, seemed to curve into a deranged smile.
He pushed away the man’s supporting hand and sat upright. Blood seeped from between his teeth and flowed down his chin. He slowly wiped his lips, the blood mixing with grease to smear across them.
He chuckled faintly as he coughed up more blood, speaking in halting gasps. “This is the price of the Vajra Method I practice. If I violate the precept against meat, the technique turns against me.”
The man in black looked at him in anguish. “Why did you eat meat, Buddha Son? You should have just killed him.”
The woman in black nodded. “If it’s inconvenient for you to act, just give us the word.”
Wuji looked up at the towering Buddha statue. The Buddha’s gaze, cast downward, seemed full of loving compassion.
Suddenly, he grinned. Bright red blood, mingled with shredded fragments of his internal organs, spilled from his mouth. “Because my Buddha is merciful and wishes to see me through this trial.”
The man in black froze, then burst into a look of ecstatic joy. He exclaimed, “That’s wonderful!”
The woman in black looked puzzled. “You can be saved?”
The man in black beamed. “The Vajra Method cultivated by Buddha Son is unmatched in ferocity and force. Across the entire Jiuzhou continent, few can rival it.”
“The longer it is cultivated, the deeper the power grows. One could call it invincible beneath the heavens.”
“But the Vajra Method is a monastic technique. Practitioners must follow monastic precepts—no killing, no meat. Any violation will trigger a backlash.”
The woman in black frowned, still confused. “But Buddha Son is gentle and kind-hearted, merciful and intolerant of evil. Why would the Vajra Method turn on him?”
“Well…” The man in black looked at Wuji’s kneeling figure and slowly shook his head. “He’s never broken the precept against lust. As for meat…there was only a minor lapse in the precept against killing.”
“Buddha Son broke the precept against killing?”
“At the time, I was traveling with him. We passed through a small town where a merchant was selling his old horse to a butcher. No one tried to stop such a cruel act of betrayal. It was clear the world had fallen into decay, and human hearts had grown cold. Buddha Son, moved with compassion, slaughtered everyone in that town and rescued the old horse from the butcher’s stall.”
“The old horse wept, its eyes brimming with tears. It knelt on its forelegs to thank Buddha Son for saving its life…”
The woman in black looked at Wuji’s figure with admiration. “Buddha Son truly has a bodhisattva’s heart.”
"Yes. It’s precisely because the Buddha’s heart is kind, because he saves all living beings and cannot bear to see any creature suffer, that he keeps suffering backlash from the Vajra Technique.”
“The only way to save him is through dual cultivation with someone who possesses the yin-gathering vixen physique. Only through such dual cultivation can he recover fully, go a step further, and become truly invincible.”
“Have you found one?” The man in black couldn’t hold back and asked at once.
Wuji gazed devoutly at the towering statue of the Buddha, gently rubbing his own lips with both hands. The remaining oil on his skin spread as he smeared it across his cheek, and his expression was consumed with frenzy and obsession.
It didn’t seem like oil that had shattered his organs and made life unbearable. It was more like the scented kiss of a beautiful person falling on his cheek, so lovely it made his soul waver.
His lips moved silently for a few moments before he finally uttered a single line. “I found him. It’s him.” At this moment, it felt as though he was no longer worshipping the statue above his head but rather Li Lanxiu, whom he had met for the first time earlier that day.
The man in black turned pale with shock and sprang to his feet. “Him? Ming Tian just left to avenge the sect master!”
Wuji closed his eyes and licked the remaining oil off his fingertips, intoxicated as though savoring celestial nectar. “Call him back. Otherwise, he’ll die.”
The man in black dashed out of the Buddha Hall and raced toward the City Lord’s Manor.
At that moment, in the manor, Ming Tian—the monk Li Lanxiu had seen earlier—had found his way to Li Lanxiu’s courtyard. He held a small, crimson snake in his hand.
Sensing that Li Lanxiu was alone in the room, Ming Tian gently flicked the snake. It slithered swiftly toward the door.
Just before it reached the threshold, a lark suddenly shot out from nowhere and dove straight at the snake.
The snake, which had been carefully raised by Ming Tian as a spiritual pet, was clever and fearless, showing no fear even before the Buddha himself. But for some unknown reason, it froze entirely upon seeing the bird, unable to move an inch.
At the same time, a stream of shadows poured from the crack under the door, flowing like black liquid toward the snake and instantly enveloping it.
The snake writhed violently, its tail thrashing wildly. The shadow wrapped around it like a living creature, tightening until it strangled the snake to death.
Ming Tian’s heart skipped a beat. The next instant, a shadow lunged toward him and the lark swooped at his face.
He turned to flee, but behind him stood a youth who had appeared from nowhere. A black blade rested coldly against his throat.
Ming Tian opened his mouth, trying to say something, but only managed to let out a silent whimper. “Ah…uh…”
A dark red slash split his neck in two.
Ming Tian fell backward. Chu Yue sheathed the black blade, narrowed his eyes and looked toward the shadow and the lark.
Man, shadow and bird.
They stood at the three corners of the courtyard like a three-legged tripod.
“……”
“……”
“……”
Chu Yue’s gaze shifted between the shadow and the lark. His expression grew darker and darker, the depths of his eyes black and lightless.
Li Lanxiu—just how many people have you provoked in places I don’t know about?!
Tension crackled between the shadow and the lark. Though Chu Yue and the others knew both were Li Lanxiu’s people, none of them had known the others existed. Now they probed one another cautiously in their own ways.
Gu Zhengxing had sensed the overwhelming demonic aura when the lark revealed its yao powers. He had seen this same lark just yesterday, and yet had noticed nothing unusual at the time.
An extraordinary yao.
The lark trembled slightly on the branch, its feathers shimmering with light. Through its eyes, Bai Zhenchuan gazed coldly at Gu Zhengxing and recognized him as the ghost who had gambled his life against Li Lanxiu at the casino.
Even a petty, lowborn ghost dares to come and compete for a share of Li Lanxiu?
The courtyard was utterly silent. No one spoke, but everyone understood what was happening.
Li Lanxiu’s allure was powerful. He was not the only one to have fallen for it.
The wordless standoff held on for the space of a long breath.
The shadow was the first to take a silent step backward, retreating into the house before disappearing without a trace.
The lark gave Chu Yue a cold glance, then shook off its wings and flew to a high branch, vanishing into the complex leaves and branches.
Thanks U for the ch:D.
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