Chapter 107: Buddha

"The practitioner, seeing this, rejoiced greatly. He saw himself riding a Vajra platform, following the Buddha, and in an instant, was reborn in that land. Having been reborn there, he saw the Buddha's physical body, complete with all auspicious marks; he saw the Bodhisattvas, complete with all auspicious forms..."

The Buddhist scripture, recited by Li Huowang, gradually grew louder. Supported by the chanting, his face at that moment seemed enveloped in a sacred Buddhist glow.

Initially, it was just his voice, but soon, the monotonous chanting began to echo.

Chants and praises, some high, some low, began to accompany Li Huowang.

These voices came from the plump nuns and abbesses around him, their faces mirroring the same devotion as Li Huowang's.

Immediately afterwards, the sounds of Buddhist instruments – hand bells, chimes, and wooden fish – also resonated simultaneously from the surrounding temples and houses.

Accompanied by these instruments, Li Huowang's chanting grew increasingly majestic and imbued with Buddhist essence.

This unique sound began to alter things that shouldn't be affected by sound. For instance, all the colors around them gradually distorted, as if covered by a thick, dark yellow filter.

As time passed, the chanting grew progressively louder. Bai Lingmiao, Gouwa, Gao Zhijian, and even Jingxin Shitai's child in her arms, all began to sing along.

As the sound intensified, the awe-inspiring Fly Bodhisattva in the low pit began to move.

Accompanied by the chanting, it slowly floated towards Li Huowang's head. At that very moment, the buzzing of the flies' wings also seemed to harmonize with the chanting melody.

When the chanting reached its peak, the Flesh Bodhisattva abruptly opened its pitch-black eyes and descended sharply. Swarming greenbottle flies instantly enveloped Li Huowang completely.

The sound of the flies' wings began to vibrate wildly, their buzzing constantly overlapping with the surrounding Buddhist chants.

Once again, at that moment, everyone and the millions of flies became firmly linked mentally, indistinguishable from one another.

Humans knew the flies' thoughts, and the flies knew the humans' thoughts.

With a thought from Jingxin Shitai, the flies covering Li Huowang re-formed into a Bodhisattva, seated on a lotus throne, holding a pure vase. Its voice overpowered Li Huowang's, and it began to lead the others in chanting.

This solemn scene, however, did not last long; it was shattered by a clap of thunder. Everyone looked up in unison to see that the sky had fractured.

Danyazi, with three heads and a body covered in various repulsive organs, hovered there, gracefully treading on white clouds, his three pairs of eyes mockingly fixed on the entire An'ci Nunnery below.

"Heh heh... child... you are attached to forms..."

Without any further ado, all the plump old nuns, including Jingxin Shitai, quickly retrieved strings of pure gold prayer beads from the folds of their oily flesh.

They wrapped the beads around the web of their hands, one on each side, then bent their index fingers and thumbs towards their palms, forming the Amitabha Mudra. With an air of solemn dignity, they thrust their hands upwards towards their heads.

"Recite the Buddha! Recite the Dharma! Recite the Sangha! Recite the Precepts! Recite Generosity! Recite Heaven! Bhikkhus practice the six recollections! Attain immeasurable hundreds of thousands of Dharani gates!"

The buzzing resumed, and black flies, forming a Buddha, soared skyward, enveloping waves of Buddhist sounds as they flew towards Danyazi in the air.

Observing the black tsunami before him, all three of Danyazi's large faces simultaneously broke into extremely sarcastic smiles. Treading on white clouds and surrounded by floating immortal threads, he counter-charged towards the flies.

He vigorously swung his right hand, its palm a writhing mass of tentacles, and a copper coin sword, pieced together from eyeballs, tentacles, and flesh, emerged from within it.

With a powerful flick of the flesh-and-copper-coin sword, bits of flesh flew out. Any fly flesh spattered by it would rapidly distort.

Tiny, wriggling, screaming Danyazi heads replaced the flies' heads, quickly turning on their fly brethren to counterattack.

Below, Li Huowang remained unmoved, seated cross-legged with a solemn expression. He continued to chant the Buddhist scripture, his voice growing louder with each repetition.

Catalyzed by the chanting, all the white maggots wriggling on decaying food throughout the Nianci Nunnery rapidly transformed into flies. They flapped their wet wings and surged towards the utterly chaotic sky.

The sky became incredibly chaotic. Amidst the fierce battle, it even began to rain black, dead flies.

As the situation grew increasingly desperate, Jingxin remained unhurried. Having previously assisted Li Huowang, she naturally had full confidence.

Li Huowang slowly pressed his palms together, and with a compassionate expression, softly chanted: "Embrace the true Dharma, relinquish the three divisions, just as all forms merge into the realm of emptiness, so too do the Bodhisattvas' countless vows merge into this one vow. Excellent, excellent."

Accompanied by the ethereal sound of a Buddha's condensed essence, a beam of light pierced the fractured sky and descended, completely coating him in gold, transforming him into a golden Buddha, free from sorrow or joy.

The moment Li Huowang's body turned golden, Danyazi's horrific organs in the air also acquired a golden coating, making his movements exceedingly slow.

Seizing this opportune moment, the surrounding swarms of flies instantly surged forward, rushing him en masse and completely enveloping him.

"Buzz, buzz, buzz..." The mass of flies continuously expanded, eventually reforming into a giant Bodhisattva seated on a lotus, holding a pure vase, slowly descending towards the ground.

With every inch it neared the ground, the Bodhisattva contracted slightly inwards, and the extraordinary phenomenon of the fractured sky above also diminished.

The chanting, the wooden fish, the bell tolls – all sounds gradually softened. It was as if everything had concluded.

On the ground,

Two plump nuns held mop-sized brushes, their tips coated with incense ash from the censer, and watched the Fly Nun with expectant eyes.

Witnessing this scene, a hint of greed flickered in Jingxin Shitai's heart. Under normal circumstances, once the ritual was concluded, whatever was inside the fly-Bodhisattva would be hers.

"This thing is quite rare," she thought, "I wonder what it tastes like."

Just as she believed everything was progressing favorably, an unexpected event occurred.

Li Huowang, still enveloped in golden light, suddenly began to cough, and the coughing grew progressively more severe.

"What's happening?!" an old nun exclaimed. "I can't feel what he's thinking anymore! That little rascal has actually severed our connection to the pure mind!"

No sooner had she spoken than Li Huowang, clutching his throat, opened his mouth wide, and a deeply repulsive retching sound emanated from him.

Immediately afterward, everyone present witnessed an utterly bizarre sight: several writhing black tentacles, glistening with viscous fluid, emerged from deep within the throat of the Taoist priest in the red robe.

It was the Black Grand Sui, but not entirely. At the base of one of the tentacles hung half a face – Danyazi's face!

"Oh no!!" they cried. "This Buddha isn't dead!! He hasn't fully become a Buddha yet! The Buddha has actually been mixed with the Black Grand Sui, hiding inside Li Huowang's stomach the whole time! We were mistaken! This is the true master!"