Chapter 17 The Cruel and Sad Truth

Chapter 17 The Cruel and Sad Truth

Chapter 17 The Cruel and Sad Truth

This memory was very painful. Fashan's face was gloomy, as if he was trying very hard to control his emotions. He slowly spoke: "That day I woke up in the middle of the night and sensed a familiar demonic aura floating in the temple. This was the first time this had happened. She was very good at hiding the demonic aura, but the demonic aura I sensed that night was very strong and undisguised."

"I had a bad feeling and quickly followed the evil spirit to search the temple. I wanted to find her before the guardian monks did and persuade her to escape quickly to avoid being surrounded and killed."

"I was very familiar with her evil aura, and I quickly found the source of the evil aura. It was an empty temple that had not yet been built. The location was very remote, and usually there would be no monks lingering there. I thought she deliberately emitted the evil aura to lure me to this secret meeting, so I broke in."

"When I broke into the hall, I saw the most absurd and terrifying scene in my life..."

……

The memory flashed back to the moment when Fashan broke into the side hall.

In the empty hall, there were constant sounds of gasping, groaning, and collision. Under the dim light, there were many intertwined bodies, and their shadows on the walls were shaking and deforming, like a group of demons dancing wildly.

This is no longer a holy temple where statues of gods are to be enshrined; it's simply like a sacrificial ceremony of an evil cult!

He recognized everyone who had gone crazy in the hall; they were his fellow apprentices who were usually dignified and solemn. The woman surrounded and entangled by them was actually her!

In addition to the foul odor, the hall was also filled with a strong smell of blood. There were already many corpses lying in strange postures, with hideous gashes on their necks and blood all over the floor.

Those who are not dead have fallen into madness and are completely unaware of the tragic deaths of their companions. They are addicted to lust and cannot extricate themselves, and are willing to have their magic power and even their bone marrow drained.

Fashan was only an eighteen-year-old boy at this time. This scene had completely destroyed his immature state of mind. He stood there in shock until the fox girl drained the magic power of the last living person, ripped open the man's neck and sucked his blood. Only then did he suddenly come to his senses and regained his ability to move.

The fox girl also found him, leaving the mummy behind, and slowly walked towards him, covered in filth and blood, but her eyes were strangely clear and flawless. She smiled like a flower and opened her arms to him.

“This is not a good place.”

The fox girl's voice was calm but slightly charming, full of inexplicable temptation: "I have killed all those who prevented us from being together. Come with me to the Cogao Lake... The water there is as green as emerald, the Gesang flowers on the lakeside are as red as fire, and in winter the lake freezes into ice as blue as the sky... There is no trouble there..."

Fashan stepped back in great fear, subconsciously made the Vajrasattva seal, and raised the demon-subduing pestle.

The fox girl looked at him in astonishment and murmured aggrievedly, "Are you afraid of me? Why should you be afraid of me?"

The confused expression did not last long. She seemed to have figured something out and asked herself, "Because I am a demon? You once said that demons are demons, and humans and demons are on different paths. You have devoted your life to Buddhism and will not follow me..."

After saying that, she turned around to look at the corpses scattered all over the hall and sneered inexplicably: "Hehe, hahahaha..."

Her laughter became louder and louder, more and more hysterical. When she turned her head, the clarity in her pupils was no longer there, having turned into orange-yellow demonic pupils, and the pupils also turned into narrow, vertical, deep slits.

"That's right, I am a demon. I just realized how happy it is to be a demon, and how sweet the taste of flesh and blood is!"

Sharp claws extended from her fingertips, sharp teeth grew in her mouth, her face became more ferocious, and her body moved extremely swiftly. She turned into a black shadow and pounced on Fashan without warning.

……

"Finally, I stabbed the demon-subduing pestle into her heart. After she died, she turned back into her original form. She still looked like the snow fox I first saw in my childhood. It seemed that she hadn't changed at all, but everything had changed."

Fashan whispered, "After that, I completely cut off all emotions and desires, and devoted myself to studying the scriptures. Soon, I obtained the highest academic title of the Golden Wheel Temple, 'Laranba Geshi', and was qualified to study in the Ajanta Caves. Not every 'Laranba Geshi' can go to the temple of Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva. I killed the fox demon and protected the temple, so I am also considered for promotion."

Wen Rui silently recorded and has not responded yet.

He Lingyun had mixed feelings. Her previous suspicions and guesses were all wrong. The past love-hate relationship between the evil monk and the fox girl was too complicated for her to judge who was right and who was wrong. She could only sigh that this was a tragedy caused by a trick of fate.

After saying all this, Fashan felt relieved and said, "Now that I have spoken my true feelings and examined my inner self, I feel like I have just woken up from a dream. This is the devil in my heart, and it is the source of my prejudice and hatred against the demon race."

"After breaking through the demon barrier, I once again recalled carefully. Back then, she absorbed the magic power of several brothers and devoured their flesh and blood. With her demonic power skyrocketing, I, who had only studied for five years, was definitely not her opponent. But she was stabbed in the heart by my demon-subduing pestle and died. She must have not had the intention to kill me until the last moment of her life..."

Fashan continued with a sad tone, "My life was saved because of her kindness before she died, but all these years I have only held hatred in my heart and even took my anger out on the demons, committing murderous acts indiscriminately. It is a sin, a sin..."

He looked up at Wen Rui sincerely and said, "I didn't believe it before, but now I understand. As you said before, I have no choice but to kill you. I deserve it and die with a clear conscience. I also want to thank you for your advice before I died, which helped me break through the demonic barrier. I will no longer have any hatred or evil thoughts on the road of reincarnation, and I will be free of worries."

As he spoke, he clasped his hands together, closed his eyes, and said slowly: "I respectfully ask fellow Taoist to help me free myself."

He Lingyun was stunned watching on the side. When she heard her senior brother say that he would make the vicious monk die with conviction, she thought it was just bragging. She never expected that her senior brother's bizarre actions would actually make it happen.

You know, killing is easy, but killing someone so that they are convinced and say thank you is a different level of difficulty. He Lingyun compared Senior Brother Wen with the teachers of Lishan Xianzong. Although Senior Brother Wen's cultivation is low, he is like an ant compared to those teachers who started at the celestial realm, but can the teachers at the celestial realm compare with his mind and means?

I'm afraid that if the leader of the sect, Mother Lishan, wants to enlighten the Western monks herself, the only trick she can use is to turn into a mama-san and take her three daughters to sell their bodies and play with them, right?
"Don't be in such a hurry to die. Your criminal psychological profile is basically complete. Combined with your confession and my investigation in the Snow Mountain, the case can be closed."

Wen Rui waved his hand, put away the jade slip, and said to Fashan: "However, during my investigation, I also found some hidden clues that I need to tell you so that you can die with a clearer understanding."

Fashan was stunned for a moment, and said, "I respectfully listen to your instructions."

"After investigating the tribe you came from, I set out for the Golden Wheel Temple, disguised as a believer who was giving alms, and sneaked into the temple to inquire about your past."

Wen Rui spoke eloquently, "Golden Wheel Temple is not a high-level temple after all. There are no high monks at the Arhat level in the temple, and it is open to ordinary believers to worship and pray, so it is not difficult to sneak in. It's a pity that many years have passed, and the monks in the temple have almost been replaced. Even the new abbot has only been in office for a few years. Most monks only know that a demon disaster occurred and was quelled by you, but they don't know what happened in the end."

"However, there are a few old friends who were able to extract clues from me using my memory recovery technique."

"What's suspicious?" Fashan asked doubtfully.

Wen Rui narrowed his eyes and said, "After the demon disaster occurred, the abbot issued a gag order, strictly forbidding any monks who knew about it to talk about it, especially not to disclose it to you. Those who violate the order will be stripped of their monk status and expelled from the temple."

"The gag order is to conceal the secret. Before the fox killing that night, rumors had already spread in the temple that you had an affair with the beautiful fox and broke the vow of chastity. Many of your fellow apprentices had heard about it. One of your senior brothers secretly colluded with a gang and gathered a group of people to plot something. These people later died, so there is no way to find out what they were plotting."

Fashan was extremely shocked when he heard this. He no longer had the calmness to face death. His breathing suddenly became rapid and his face changed drastically.

"No wonder. I did feel that the atmosphere in the temple was a little strange, but I was so depressed that I only focused on the scriptures and had no time to think about other things. Could it be that..."

"No need to guess, as for what those people are plotting..."

Wen Rui took out another green glass bottle while speaking. "Fortunately, I found a survivor. He has returned to secular life and became a sculptor, carving Buddha statues all day long. I found him and interrogated him about the fox demon. He seemed to be free, but he refused to confess. He bit off his tongue in front of me and just begged me to kill him quickly. Fortunately, I have a memory extraction device. I extracted this memory and completely restored the truth."

As he spoke, Wen Rui installed the green glass bottle on a strange machine, pressed the button of the strange machine, and a picture appeared on the screen.

In the picture, a group of monks surrounded the fox girl and shouted threats.

"It's so easy to fool her. She imitated Fashan's handwriting and wrote a letter to her. Then this slut came to her door."

"Witch, you don't want the scandal between you and your lover to be exposed, right?"

"Yes, yes. He was the best student in the temple and had the best hope of obtaining the title of 'Laranba Geshe'. However, he was expelled from the temple for breaking the precepts of chastity. It's a pity that he studied the scriptures for many years and devoted himself to Buddhism, but in the end, it was all in vain."

"Humph, what right does that brat have! He always gets praise from the abbot when he studies sutras, and he acts like a high-ranking monk, but he hooks up with a beautiful seductress. This hypocritical monk even dares to snatch the title of 'Laranba Geshi' from my Master Fake!"

"Demon girl, I have obtained the secret method of the hermit sect, which is the great secret of becoming a Buddha in the flesh. I just need a good cauldron. It is rare that although you are a demon, you have no karma and are as pure as jade, which is exactly what I want. I wonder what you like about that wooden block of Fashan that the Buddha can let you reach the realm of bliss, hahahaha."

"How dare you disobey? All of us cultivators are at a higher level than you. Today you are surrounded by us and you can't escape! We will use our magical powers to beat you back to your original form and drag you to report to the abbot. Let's see how Fashan can still live in this world!"

The fox girl raised her head, her eyes emitting a bewitching light, and she said in a delicate voice: "The masters are all powerful, how dare I disobey you? I only beg you to spare my brother. I will serve you wholeheartedly and send you masters to heaven."

Heavy breathing and strange laughter rang out.

The fox girl's tone turned extremely cold: "My brother once told me that if the disciples of the demon king Mara infiltrated the Buddhist monastic community, even the Buddha could only shed tears in vain."

She looked around at the hideous faces of the crowd with cold eyes, and said calmly: "You are the demons transformed by greed and desire. You have gathered together to ruin my brother's aspirations to practice. And am I not also the demon in his heart? Today, I will use my demon body as bait to lure you devils to hell. When all of us devils have gone to hell and given up the road to heaven for seeking the true scriptures, my brother may be able to seek the way he longs for and achieve the fruit he desires..."

……

"Combined with this memory flashback, I can reasonably infer that the fox girl turned into a demon and pounced on you but was killed instead. It was not because she was merciful and couldn't bear to kill you, but because she wanted to use you to commit suicide and clear you of suspicion."

Wen Rui narrated in a tone without any emotion: "If she had escaped, this killing would have been traced back to you, and you would have been killed as a demon monk who had broken the precepts and attracted evil spirits to kill the monks. She was afraid of disturbing your state of mind, so she didn't even tell you the truth. She silently took on all the sins alone and cleared the demonic obstacles on your future path of cultivation, which even included herself..."

After watching the scenes of memory time flashback and listening to Wen Rui's words, Fashan no longer looked like a cultivator at all. He roared and howled like a wild beast, and wailed like the hunter Zhang Qi in his last reincarnation dream.

The roars and cries startled the birds in the surrounding mountains and forests and caused the beasts to flee, and the sound echoed between heaven and earth for a long time.

(End of this chapter)