Xin Hui

"Buddha?" Li Huowang looked up, his eyes wide with disbelief, staring at the grotesque mass in front of him. At least twenty meters tall, it was an enormous, twisted heap of flesh.

No matter what the old monk thought of the Buddha, in Li Huowang's eyes, what stood before him was a mass of distorted, sickly pink flesh. The skin resembled that of a toad, covered with thick, viscous blood-like fluid.

Various abnormal and deformed reproductive organs, encased in the blood, protruded from the skin, writhing with the motion of the mass. The whole grotesque form was covered in monks, their naked bodies wriggling in sync with the movements of the flesh, breathing heavily as they eagerly absorbed the pink mist emanating from the mass.

Women, same-sex, animals—everything seemed to blur into one, as the monks of Zhengde Temple seemed to be pushing the limits of their physicality.

"See! Isn't it grand? This is the largest stone Buddha I've ever seen!" The oblivious old monk praised it from the side.

Li Huowang's body froze in shock. He had always believed that figures like Dan Yangzi and their kind were considered extremely evil, rejected by the mainstream.

Since the monks of Zhengde Temple and Dan Yangzi had enmity, he had assumed that these monks must be somewhat righteous, at least following some rules.

But now he realized he had been completely wrong! There was no such thing as righteousness or evil! Perhaps, all the cultivation methods in this world were equally bizarre!

Dan Yangzi's enmity with these monks wasn't about good versus evil, it was merely a power struggle for territory.

No matter their reasoning, it was clear now that everything the old abbot had told him was a lie! He had been tricked!

"The Universal Salvation Feast! The old monk must have been lying! No, I have to leave this hellhole right now!"

Li Huowang turned to look at the oblivious old monk, still unsure why the monk's deception hadn't worked on him.

He knew that he wasn't discovered yet, and he had to use this to his advantage to escape.

Suppressing his urge to react, Li Huowang forced a neutral expression and turned around. "It's... okay. I'll go back now."

He said, quickly leaving the main hall and stepping outside into the disgusting sculpture yard.

The writhing heaps of flesh surrounded him, but Li Huowang ignored them, continuing forward.

"Hey, Taoist, don't leave! We've finally met, don't rush off!"

The old monk continued chattering, running after him. "The food here is quite good too, you know? The fried tofu here tastes even better than meat!"

Li Huowang pretended to be slightly annoyed, quickening his pace, with the old monk continuing to babble beside him.

Just as he was about to leave the heaps of flesh behind, a tall figure appeared, blocking his path.

It was a large monk, standing a head taller than Li Huowang, his expression stern, wordlessly staring at him.

"Master, is there something you need?" Li Huowang asked coldly, but his heart tightened with unease.

The large monk leaned forward, carefully scrutinizing Li Huowang.

Then, a bizarre sight occurred. A soft, flexible black tentacle with suction cups appeared from the monk's head, wriggling out of his topknot, stretching further and further, until it began twisting around Li Huowang's head as if sensing something.

"Amitabha, good, good, your heart is impure," the monk spoke slowly.

As soon as these words were spoken, the writhing masses of flesh stopped. The monks, who had been engaging in inappropriate acts, all turned to look at Li Huowang.

"He knows I've seen through their illusion! There's no turning back now!" With the situation escalating, Li Huowang made a split-second decision and drew his sword, slashing at the large monk in front of him.

With a "whoosh" sound, the monk's tentacle and clothes were severed, spraying yellow-green pus everywhere.

"Pop!" A pill flew into Li Huowang's mouth, and with a powerful push, his body shot three meters into the air, heading for the nearest earthen wall.

The moment Li Huowang moved, everything around him changed. All the monks on the flesh heaps leapt down and began charging at him with angry roars.

But that wasn't all. The ground shook violently, almost throwing everyone off balance.

By the time Li Huowang reached the wall, he instinctively looked behind him, only to see that the massive "Buddha" had broken through the wooden doors of the main hall and was rolling toward him!

"Run! Get out of this temple! They can't let the citizens of Xijing see the true face of the Buddha!"

With this thought in mind, Li Huowang sprinted toward the front of Zhengde Temple. The sounds of pursuit grew louder, but he couldn't afford to care about anything else.

As he made a turn, just as he was about to reach the gates of Zhengde Temple, a familiar face blocked his path. It was Xin Hui, the abbot of Zhengde Temple.

Li Huowang didn't hesitate. His hand reached for his bell, but the next second, his hand froze. The bell that could summon the old master had vanished.

"Amitabha, Master Xuan Yang, are you looking for this?" Xin Hui said, holding the bell, his expression still calm and composed.

Without waiting for Li Huowang to respond, Xin Hui slowly approached him and returned the bell to his hand. "This object is inauspicious, you must be careful with it."

Then, without waiting for any more questions, he turned to face the approaching monks, scolding them, "Hush, you are all monks, acting in such a disorderly manner is unbecoming."

"Abbot! It's not us who are panicking! This Taoist disciple suddenly attacked Master Jian Wei!"

Hearing this, Xin Hui turned and looked at Li Huowang with a puzzled expression. "Master Xuan Yang, is this true? Why did you suddenly attack one of my disciples? Was he not treating you properly?"

Li Huowang, confused by the situation, glanced at the monks and the bell in his hand. He couldn't understand what was going on. They knew he had seen everything, so why were they still pretending?

After a moment of thought, Li Huowang decided to lay it all out. "Abbot Xin Hui, you have a grudge with Dan Yangzi. I killed him. You don't need to kill me for that. I won't tell anyone what I saw here."

He paused. "Also, one word from me won't shake the reputation of Zhengde Temple."

But when Xin Hui heard this, his expression only grew more confused. "What did you see? What are you talking about, Master?"

The two stood there, both unsure of what the other meant. For a moment, the tension in the air was palpable.

"Wait, what? Could it be that the abbot and those things are not in cahoots?" Li Huowang thought, his mind in turmoil.

After thinking for a moment, Li Huowang decided to explain everything he had seen.

"Absurd! Nonsense!" Xin Hui's voice suddenly grew loud, and his two white mustaches twitched slightly. His powerful aura immediately forced the monks behind him to lower their heads in submission.