CH 45

"Master, you don't have to explain so much to a guest like me. I can't control you anyway. Please leave, I want to sleep."

Jiandun folded his hands together and bowed to Li Huowang before walking towards the door. As he passed by Li Huowang, he said in a light and airy tone, "Don't underestimate Buddhism. Before I became a monk, I was a Taoist. The two are actually the same, you just don't know it."

After Jiandun left, Li Huowang was alone in the room. He turned his head to look at the dark temple in the distance, feeling no sense of awe or solemnity.

Li Huowang let out a slow breath towards the darkness and muttered, "This place is so dirty. Isn't there a clean place here?"

Since the incident that night, Li Huowang had been staying indoors at night as much as possible, so as not to disturb the monks and incur their resentment.

As time went by, Li Huowang's mental state improved, and he hardly had any nightmares anymore.

Just as he was about to go ask the abbot when the next event would be, someone came to him earlier than expected.

"Xuan Yang, the preparation for the Great Offering is about to begin. It costs a lot to prepare for this event, so please don't wander around in the near future."

"Okay, tell the abbot I already know." Li Huowang said to the little novice in front of him.

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As soon as the novice left, a familiar figure appeared, looking pleasantly surprised. "Little Taoist, so you live here. Why didn't you tell me?"

It was the old beggar from before, but now he looked completely different from his previous ragged appearance. He was now wearing a new yellow monk's robe, and his face and body were clean, making him look much sharper.

Although he had only met this monk briefly before, Li Huowang felt close to him, especially since he had encountered a familiar face in this unfamiliar place.

"How are you doing here, monk?"

"It's not bad. I have enough to eat and wear warm clothes every day, but I can't do any good deeds in the temple, so I feel a bit uncomfortable."

At the mention of good deeds, Li Huowang immediately thought of the incident that night and let out a sigh as he looked at the old monk. "Don't worry too much about it. Just stay here and take care of yourself. Although this temple is a bit dirty, at least you won't go hungry."

"Come on, little Taoist, let me take you to where I work. It's a really interesting place." The old monk was eager to show Li Huowang around and pulled him towards the door.

"It's so sunny out. Let's do it next time." Li Huowang wasn't very interested in sightseeing the temple.

"Come on! You won't regret it if you come see it! There are so many interesting things there!" Li Huowang was dragged out of the room by the old monk.

After following the monk through several twists and turns, Li Huowang arrived at a spacious outdoor courtyard in the temple. It was only then that he realized how big the temple really was.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!" Dust flew in the air as some monks with gauze tied around their mouths held chisels and hammers, sculpting Buddha statues. The statues were arranged in two rows, extending towards the far end of the courtyard.

In the sunlight, the monks' bald heads shone brightly as they worked tirelessly on their art pieces.

"Is this where you work? The environment is not great." Li Huowang covered his nose with his hand and furrowed his brows to avoid inhaling dust."Yes, I am responsible for moving useless pieces of gravel. I also have a part in these Buddha statues," the old monk seemed very proud of his position.

The two walked between two rows of unfinished Buddha statues, observing these works of various shapes.

The passing monks didn't stop them, completely ignoring their presence.

"Zhen De Temple definitely didn't carve these things for themselves. It's obvious they're selling them to pilgrims. It seems that these monks are very good at making money," Li Huowang sneered inwardly.

But after what happened earlier, Li Huowang wasn't surprised by these things at all.

"There's more of these! There's more ahead!" the old monk exclaimed excitedly and started walking towards the front gate.

As he walked forward, Li Huowang followed, but suddenly he felt a dizzy spell and his body began to sway.

"Hey, hey, hey, little Taoist, what's wrong?" Seeing that something was off, the old monk quickly ran back to help him.

"What's going on?" Li Huowang shook his head hard after regaining his balance, and that strange feeling gradually disappeared.

"Are you okay? Did you catch a cold? Do you want to rest first?" The old monk offered kindly.

Li Huowang declined his offer. "I'm fine, let's continue walking."

"Okay, even if you really caught a cold, you need to get more sun. Let's keep going."

After realizing that there was nothing wrong with his body, Li Huowang lifted his foot to follow the old monk.

But as soon as he lifted his foot, he noticed that the sound around him had changed. It was no longer the sound of chisels hitting stones, but the sound of flesh hitting each other.

"Hmm?" Li Huowang turned his head in confusion and looked at the stone carving on his right. His body stiffened instantly.

The stone carving from before disappeared, replaced by a pile of white flesh, all of them monks.

The stone carvings that had been carved into Buddha statues before were now piled together with their eyes closed, wriggling like white maggots, doing things that only men and women would do.

"This is... this is?" Li Huowang's eyes widened as he took a step back.

Li Huowang slowly lifted his head and squinted at the dazzling sun above. He wasn't hallucinating.

He turned around slowly and looked at the statues behind him. As expected, they had all changed. Under the bright winter sun, there were dozens of flesh mountains.

"Taoist! Hurry up and come!" The old monk shouted excitedly ahead, like a child eager to show his companion something.

Li Huowang trembled as he took a deep breath and lifted his foot to continue walking. They passed through the huge gate and another spacious courtyard appeared before them.

There were still flesh mountains everywhere, but there were no longer just people, but also some other things, like pigs.

They were screaming in pain, but this flesh mountain formed by the faces of devout monks was like mud, trapping them inside.

"You see, this carved qilin looks so much like a real stone lion. I wish I had this skill," the old monk said as he walked ahead, and Li Huowang mechanically followed him, continuing to observe the "works" of the Zhen De Temple monks. He saw dogs, horses, cows, and donkeys.After careful observation, he discovered even more abnormalities: all these monks were intersex people, half male and half female!

At this moment, Li Huowang's mind was in chaos, buzzing with confusion.

Suddenly, the old monk reached out and pulled him a few steps into a spacious hall.

But the sound of slapping not only did not disappear, but became louder, echoing in the hall.

Li Huowang stiffly turned his neck to look into the hall. As he raised his head higher and higher, his pupils shrank smaller and smaller.

"Look!" The old monk pointed upwards with his hand, a childlike smile appearing on his face. He said with emotion in his tone, "What a huge Buddha statue!"