Could I Have Actually Called It?

"Good grief, such dense Ghost Qi and Demon Qi—what kind of Buddhist temple is this? It looks more like a Great Demon’s lair than Paradise Pavilion!"

Li Gexiao drew the Embroidered Spring Blade at his waist and silently positioned himself in front of Chu Yang.

Though he was no match for Chu Yang, he still had to fulfill his duty.

Lu Xiaofeng watched the scene thoughtfully.

Hua Manlou was blind, and his attention was fixed on the faint sound of chanting. He said softly, "That is the sound of a young woman in the temple chanting scriptures and praying to Buddha for her mother. I heard she is Manager Qian’s daughter…"

"Huh?" Li Gexiao froze. "A Demon Person who aided a tyrant actually has such a filial daughter?"

Lu Xiaofeng pointed at him and laughed. "As the man who killed her father, you have no right to say that."

Li Gexiao smacked his lips. "Killed the father, then came to kill the daughter. I really am ruthless."

Hua Manlou shook his head. "Right and wrong, good and evil have yet to be determined. Hero Li, do not jump to conclusions. I have met that young woman once before. She does not seem to be like Manager Qian."

Chu Yang waved a hand. "Let’s go in first. Whether they’re human or ghosts, we need to see for ourselves."

The four slowly entered Cloud Dwelling Temple. The moment they passed through the gates, Resentful Energy and Ghost Qi rushed toward them. Li Gexiao raised his blade and slashed, sending sword qi tearing through the Resentful Energy and Death Qi.

"That move of yours is quite novel. You use a blade technique, yet unleash sword qi. We have not met for years—how has your martial arts improved so much?"

Lu Xiaofeng stared at Li Gexiao in surprise. In his memory, Li Gexiao suffered from a Hidden Illness, and less than one-tenth of his martial arts remained. He had been far weaker than Lu Xiaofeng.

Yet the Li Gexiao before him seemed like an entirely different person.

"You may not believe this, but on the way here, I encountered Yan Nantian, the greatest swordsman under heaven. He saw that my innate talent was extraordinary, so he passed all his cultivation to me. I couldn’t refuse even if I wanted to!"

Li Gexiao looked at Lu Xiaofeng smugly.

"That boast of yours has no logic whatsoever. Next time you brag, please use your brain first."

Lu Xiaofeng shook his head irritably.

"But speaking of which, where did Young Master Chu learn his skills? You even defeated a Great Demon. I remember that back then, you could not even properly execute a set of Surging Wave Palm techniques."

Compared to Li Gexiao, Lu Xiaofeng found Chu Yang even more outrageous. People said that after three days apart, one should see another in a new light, but Chu Yang’s transformation had far exceeded all imagination.

"You may not believe this, but on the way here, I encountered—"

"Stop, stop, stop! Cut it out! Could you at least put some effort into it and come up with a different version of your bragging?"

Chu Yang pondered for a moment before saying, "Actually, I was a martial arts genius from childhood. I had intended to get along with you all as an ordinary person, but all I got in return was distance. So I’m done pretending. I’m coming clean!"

Lu Xiaofeng was left dazed. "That is certainly a fresh explanation."

Hua Manlou listened to their banter at the side, the corners of his lips lifting slightly. Being with a group of interesting people was always enjoyable, no matter when or where—even as they ventured deep into a tiger’s den.

Li Gexiao led the way, using blade light and sword qi to cut apart countless strands of chilling Ghost Qi. Strangely enough, though this was a Great Demon’s lair, the Ghost Qi was currently stronger than the Demon Qi.

"That demon is dying. It may turn into a demon ghost, transforming its Demon Qi into Ghost Qi. That would make it even more vicious!"

Lu Xiaofeng was exceptionally knowledgeable and immediately identified the origin of the Ghost Qi filling the skies.

"It’s not just that," Chu Yang said.

Lu Xiaofeng looked at him in confusion.

Chu Yang did not explain at once. "Keep watching."

The four continued onward until they reached the Great Buddha Hall at the center of the temple. This was where the Demon Qi and Ghost Qi were densest. Beyond that, a faint trace of Buddhist Light flickered within the hall.

The three auras mingled together, forming a barrier that tightly protected the main hall.

Li Gexiao stepped forward and raised his blade high, gathering Blade Intent. At the same time, the God Sword Style within him activated. Sword qi and Blade Intent circulated without end as a blade and a sword appeared in the void, their hum resembling a roaring tsunami.

The blade and sword flew out together like two brilliant auroras, hurtling straight toward the solemn Great Buddha Hall!

The three auras outside the hall descended and clashed against the blade and sword, producing bizarre phenomena and all manner of shrill howls, as though they were living things.

With a thunderous boom!

The main doors were blasted open. The gold-painted gates crashed to either side, revealing the sight within the Buddhist hall.

Other than Hua Manlou, the expressions of the other three turned strange.

The dying Red Skeleton lay in the arms of Cloud Dwelling Temple’s Abbot. The two pressed close together like a loving married couple, while a young woman knelt beside them, tears streaming down her face as she recited Buddhist scriptures.

The scene was bizarre to the extreme!

"Amitabha. Benefactors, please wait a moment. Let this old monk perform rites for my departed wife, then I shall accept death."

The Abbot wore a sorrowful expression.

"Departed wife?" Lu Xiaofeng said in shock. "This skeleton demon is your wife?"

The old abbot nodded. "She was formed from my late wife’s remains."

Li Gexiao shouted coldly, "What wife could a monk possibly have? You demon monk have fallen into the demonic path and deserve to be slain!"

With that, Li Gexiao raised his blade and stepped forward, intending to kill Cloud Dwelling Temple’s Abbot.

"Don’t kill my father!"

The chanting abruptly stopped. The young woman scrambled before the Abbot in panic, tears filling her eyes as she begged desperately.

"Huh? He’s your father? Then who is Manager Qian?"

Li Gexiao’s movement froze. Before one wave had settled, another rose, short-circuiting his mind.

The young woman said softly, "My mother risked her life giving birth to me during a difficult labor. After she passed away, my father buried her beneath a locust tree outside the temple, entrusted me to Manager Qian’s family, and then became a monk at Cloud Dwelling Temple."

Hua Manlou continued, "Locust trees gather yin energy. Your mother’s remains became spiritually aware and turned into a demon because of this, but you and your father should both know that Red Skeleton is not your mother at all!"

The young woman wept. "My father loved my mother too deeply. His heart became clouded by obsession, and he refused to awaken."

Hua Manlou sighed. "That is why he aided evil…"

Lu Xiaofeng suddenly asked, "Where did all the Ghost Qi and Resentful Energy in Cloud Dwelling Temple come from?"

The young woman’s delicate body trembled without pause.

Chu Yang glanced at her and said coldly, "I fear the many eminent monks of Cloud Dwelling Temple were fed to the demon by her father. Otherwise, where did those thirty-six Buddha Relics come from?"

The young woman collapsed limply to the ground, her expression vacant.

Li Gexiao cursed furiously, "What a wicked abomination!"

The Abbot tightly held Red Skeleton’s hand bones, as if he had not heard them. He merely muttered over and over, "Those relics were never yours. You could not refine them, and instead they hindered your cultivation."

"Eat me. I still have one relic here. Unlike them, I am united with you as husband and wife."

Upon hearing this, the dying Red Skeleton suddenly opened her eyes, murderous light blazing within them!

"Not good!" Lu Xiaofeng hurriedly tried to stop her. "That monster still wants to eat people!"

"Father!"

The young woman screamed and scrambled up, only to be held back by Hua Manlou.

Li Gexiao drew his blade, intending to strike, while Chu Yang watched coldly from the side.

Unexpectedly, Red Skeleton did not make a move. Instead, she transformed into her appearance from before death and gently caressed the Abbot’s face.

Scattered Soul.

Red Skeleton ultimately did not kill the Abbot, exceeding everyone’s expectations. Even Chu Yang was somewhat surprised.

"If there was still a trace of kindness in her heart, why could she not spare others?"

Hua Manlou murmured softly, his eyes full of confusion.

No one could answer his question, because kindness and evil had never been simply black and white.

Some utterly vicious bandits might return home and close their doors, becoming devoted children to their parents, loving spouses to their wives or husbands, and beloved parents to their children.

Their kindness toward family and their cruelty toward strangers often formed a stark contrast.

As the skeleton Great Demon died, the thirty-six Buddha Relics within her body rolled onto the ground.

The Abbot held a pile of ashes and stared blankly at those relics.

In truth, from the very beginning, the demon’s cultivation only required his one relic.

But she had been unwilling to stop there.

It was precisely this unwillingness that made the Abbot believe the Great Demon was his wife.

Once demonic thoughts arose in the heart, it was already too late for anything else.

"This old monk’s sins can only be redeemed in Avici Hell. Greed, Hatred, Delusion all arise from a single thought. I hope you benefactors do not fall into the demonic path as I did. Amitabha."

After saying this, the old monk’s head drooped, and his breath vanished at once.

"Father!"

The young woman let out a scream and threw herself onto the old monk, crying until she nearly fainted.

In the end, she was the most pitiful one. The only thing the old monk could do was take all his sins away with his death and give his daughter a chance to live a clean and innocent life.

Lu Xiaofeng picked up the thirty-six Buddha Relics and prepared to stuff them into his pocket, only for sharp-eyed Li Gexiao to stop him.

"When will you get rid of that bad habit you picked up from Sikong Zhaixing? Are these yours? And you’re just taking them?"

Li Gexiao snatched the Buddha Relics away irritably.

"Don’t mention that bastard to me. We were caught together, yet he was the only one who escaped. No loyalty at all!"

Lu Xiaofeng gritted his teeth, swearing that the next time he saw Sikong Zhaixing, he would give him a thorough beating.

"I think he probably went to find reinforcements, but after getting out, he could not find the way back to Paradise Pavilion. The place is concealed by a natural illusion formation. Anyone who has only been there once would certainly be unable to find it."

Hua Manlou explained from the side.

"Perhaps…"

Lu Xiaofeng nodded without saying more. He hoped that was the case as well.

Li Gexiao handed all the Buddha Relics to Chu Yang and asked quietly, "Young Master, how should we handle the old monk’s relic?"

Chu Yang shook his head. "Leave it to this young lady. She probably wishes to bury her father and mother together."

The young woman raised her head at those words and said through tear-filled eyes, "Thank you for your kindness, Young Master."

Following her voice, Hua Manlou walked up to the young woman and said softly, "Let me help you. I simply do not know whether to call you Miss Qian or…"

The young woman replied, "My father never gave me a name. Uncle Qian usually called me Xia’er, and my surname is Yue. My father’s true name was Yue Qing. He was a descendant of the Lu Ban Divine Axe Sect."

"Miss Xia’er…" Hua Manlou nodded and reached out to help Yue Qing to her feet, then kicked Lu Xiaofeng with his foot.

"Got it!" Lu Xiaofeng glared at him, then suddenly remembered that the other man was blind and could not see him at all. Thus, while sulking, he hoisted the old monk’s body onto his shoulder.

"This pile of ash… uh, no, your mother’s remains—should we find something to put them in?"

Lu Xiaofeng was somewhat troubled.

"Please wait a moment." Xia’er silently left the hall and went to the meditation rooms in the rear courtyard. Before long, she returned with an urn.

"My father prepared this for himself. He had wanted to cremate himself and give the relic to my mother, hoping she would return to the right path. But he could not bear to leave me, and he spent his whole life in torment…"

As Xia’er wept, she bent down to gather the ashes on the ground into the urn. At that moment, a gust of wind suddenly swept through the hall, wrapping up every trace of ash and sending it into the urn.

Xia’er nodded gratefully at Chu Yang.

"Huh?" Lu Xiaofeng looked at Chu Yang in astonishment and asked curiously, "This wind-controlling technique is a Daoist method. Where did you learn it?"

Chu Yang said indifferently, "I had intended to get along with you all as an ordinary person—"

"Ah, shut up! My head hurts just listening to you."

Lu Xiaofeng immediately ran from the hall carrying the corpse, while Xia’er hugged the urn and followed with Hua Manlou.

A while later.

The group arrived beneath a locust tree.

This was where Xia’er’s mother had been buried. Now her father was to be buried here as well, but first they needed to cut down the tree.

Locust trees gathered yin energy, and this one already showed signs of gaining spiritual awareness. Given enough time, the old monk might undergo demonification as well.

When monks or Daoists with a certain degree of cultivation underwent corpse transformation, it was an exceedingly terrifying matter. Even if they did not become demons, they would most likely turn into a vicious creature such as a Drought Demon.

While Wangcai dug a grave for the old monk’s body, Li Gexiao drew the Embroidered Spring Blade and cut down the locust tree.

The instant the tree fell, a fierce yin wind swept over them, blowing so hard that no one could open their eyes. The howling wind by their ears sounded like anguished sobbing.

"All things possess spirits. By erasing its spiritual nature like this, are we not also killing?"

Hua Manlou shook his head and sighed.

Chu Yang said, "If this incident had never happened, there would have been no harm in letting it grow outside the temple. But now that it has brought calamity, it cannot be allowed to live."

Hua Manlou seemed to disagree with Chu Yang’s view and argued, "Madam Yue’s remains gained spiritual awareness and turned into a demon. That was not this locust tree’s fault; it was merely an accident. Humans and demons live together beneath heaven and earth. Neither side has the right to deprive the other of its living space."

Chu Yang’s expression gradually turned cold and detached. "Your thinking may be right, but the human race is weak now. A single misstep could bring ruin. We can only put humans first in all that we do!"

"If one day the demon race has no place left to stand in this world, perhaps I will consider giving them what little kindness I possess."

"Before then, whether Great Demons or other demons, I will kill every one I see."

Wangcai, who was digging the grave, shuddered violently. His movements instantly became much faster, and he nearly dug the old monk a grave chamber with two bedrooms and a living room.

After hearing the killing intent overflowing from Chu Yang’s words, Hua Manlou could not think of anything to say in rebuttal for a long while, because Chu Yang spoke of the greater cause of humanity, and he was not wrong at all.

If not for the chaos caused by demons, a war between humans and demons would have been inevitable, ending only when one side no longer had any chance to rise again.

Under such circumstances, anyone with even a little conscience would not sympathize with the demon race.

"I misspoke."

Hua Manlou let out a heavy sigh.

The atmosphere became exceedingly oppressive because of their argument.

With friends on both sides and himself caught in the middle, Lu Xiaofeng’s eyes darted about before he laughed awkwardly. "Young Master Chu, when we used to drink with courtesans in brothels, I never saw you worry so much about the nation and its people. Why do you seem like a different person now?"

"Even if you really are a prince, you are not the emperor. What does all the common people under heaven have to do with you? If the sky falls, the emperor will hold it up!"

"Don’t tell me you want to rebel…"

Lu Xiaofeng burst into laughter after saying that, but no one joined him no matter how long he laughed.

He stopped awkwardly and noticed Li Gexiao staring at him with an extremely strange expression.

Lu Xiaofeng swallowed hard.

Damn it.

Could I have actually called it?