Chapter 111: Method

Li Huowang, sitting on the ground, looked intensely hesitant and conflicted.

After staying in place and pondering for a very long time, he finally picked up a brush and began writing on the Xuan paper.

However, Li Huowang paused for a long time after writing just a few characters.

Not being accustomed to using a brush was one issue, but more importantly, Li Huowang was now starting to forget how to write many common characters.

Li Huowang understood that this meant he was becoming more and more like Dan Yangzi.

After writing a voluminous amount, Li Huowang concluded with five large characters: "Li Huowang's Final Words."

After finishing everything, Li Huowang blew the paper dry and handed it to the stout nun standing nearby.

"If my fellow disciples return looking for me," he said, "please be kind enough to deliver this letter to the tall one; he can read."

Then he handed over the Heavenly Book Gourd and the Taoist Bell. "Please also deliver these three items to them."

"They know how to use this gourd and the bell. As for the Heavenly Book, consider it a keepsake for them."

Miao Yin glanced at the three items, then her gaze shifted to the *Great Thousand Record* hanging from Li Huowang's waist.

"You're not sending that thing?"

Li Huowang placed his hand on the bamboo slips that had brought him endless pain. He shook his head slightly. "No, I'm not sending it. This item is inauspicious. If I leave it with them, I won't feel at peace. It's better it comes with me."

After putting everything in order, Li Huowang turned to the waiting nun, Jingxin. "Reverend Mistress, everything is ready. Let's go."

Reverend Mistress Jingxin nodded and turned, walking towards the deeper parts of An Ci Nunnery. Her loose, sagging skin dragged on the ground like a skirt.

She walked ahead, with Li Huowang following, clutching his abdomen. They remained silent.

They passed through a "swamp" of moldy food and walked past several dilapidated, filthy temples. A low, black pagoda gradually appeared before them.

Upon seeing the pagoda, Jingxin finally spoke. "Are you truly going to do this?"

Li Huowang nodded. "What you said earlier gave me a reminder. What I've always wanted to do is completely eliminate Dan Yangzi. As for whether I live..."

At this point, Li Huowang chuckled softly. "Now that I think about it, I don't actually care that much about my own life."

"Hoo," Li Huowang pressed his abdominal wound, exhaled, and a profound weariness appeared on his face.

"Reverend Mistress," he said honestly, "after experiencing so much, I'm tired. I don't want to see my mother suffer anymore, and I don't want to constantly endure Dan Yangzi's erosion. I really want to rest properly."

Thinking of his impending death, Li Huowang felt no fear as he might have expected; instead, he felt a sense of relief. "Ah, I feel so incredibly tired..."

Reverend Mistress Jingxin nodded and led him towards the pagoda. "Very well, as you wish."

"Thank you, Reverend Mistress. Of all the people I've met in this world, you are the only good one."

"I am a renunciant; renunciants harbor compassion. That is only natural."

"Reverend Mistress, since you are a Buddhist disciple, may I ask a question?"

"Oh? What is it?"

"Tell me, in this world, do people really turn into ghosts when they die?"

"Well, you are about to die. Do you think it would be better to become a ghost, or to vanish into thin air?"

"I think," Li Huowang said frankly, "being alive is tiring enough. When you die, just rest. Don't cause any more trouble."

Jingxin slightly tilted her head, looking at Li Huowang again with her withered eyes. "Are you truly certain you have no lingering attachments? Is there truly nothing in this mortal world worth holding on to?"

Li Huowang's expression stiffened slightly, and many thoughts came to his mind. "I do, but if I stay with them now, I will only harm them."

Seeing this, Reverend Mistress Jingxin said nothing more and continued walking towards the black pagoda before them.

As they drew closer, Li Huowang heard a rustling sound, a very peculiar noise, like leaves rubbing against each other.

Looking up towards the sound, he finally identified its source: cockroaches, packed tightly together inside the pagoda.

Jingxin did not stop walking; she simply led Li Huowang directly into the pile of cockroaches.

The sensation of cockroaches crawling all over him was very unpleasant, but Li Huowang, resolved to die, paid it no mind now.

He could only forcefully push aside the scuttling insects, barely managing to keep up.

After walking through the cockroach pile for about half an incense stick's time, Li Huowang found himself in an open space. But before he could catch his breath, what he saw before him sent a shock through his entire body.

Gray rats of all sizes had their tails intertwined, forming large, intertwined masses that moved together.

These rat piles connected, eventually forming a massive mountain of rats.

Now, the eyes of the rats, large and small, within the rat mountain stared directly at Li Huowang.

There was a hole in the squirming rat mountain, as if waiting for someone to enter.

"Is this it?" Li Huowang took a deep breath and stepped towards the rat hole in the rat mountain.

After only a few steps, Li Huowang stopped again and reconfirmed with Reverend Mistress Jingxin: "Reverend Mistress, are you sure that after I die, you can truly eliminate Dan Yangzi?"

His own life was a small matter; ensuring that cursed beast would suffer eternally was the main goal.

After receiving a very definite confirmation, Li Huowang finally let out a sigh of relief and stepped towards the rat hole.

In his final moments before death, the images of Yang Na and Bai Lingmiao appeared simultaneously in Li Huowang's mind. Gradually, their forms began to overlap.

"Farewell, this wretched place!" Li Huowang thought, raising his foot to step inside.

Just as Li Huowang was about to enter the rat hole, Reverend Mistress Jingxin's voice rang out from behind him.

"Since you're not even afraid of death," she said, "I can offer you another option. If it truly proves useless, it won't be too late to die then."

Hearing this, Li Huowang turned his head in surprise, looking at Reverend Mistress Jingxin. "There's another way?"

Jingxin nodded, pointing to the *Great Thousand Record* at his waist. "Seek help from the original owners of this item."

"Them?" Li Huowang looked at the red bamboo slips with great surprise. "Reverend Mistress, I never asked you before, where does this item that requires blood and flesh sacrifice come from?"

"Aojing Cult," Reverend Mistress Jingxin uttered a name completely unfamiliar to Li Huowang.

"In the past, they were two separate cults, the Ao Cult and the Jing Cult. Later, they somehow merged. The *Great Thousand Record* in your hand belongs to them."

"Aojing Cult?" Li Huowang murmured to himself, standing in place. He knew about Buddhism and Taoism, but this Aojing Cult was truly new to him.

"They can peel Dan Yangzi off me??"

"You can try to find them. If anyone in this world can solve your current peculiar situation, it's only them, with their even greater peculiarities."

"Of course, if they do help you, you might not be able to escape their influence later. But since you're not even afraid of death, you shouldn't be afraid of this either, should you?"

After speaking, Reverend Mistress Jingxin gently folded a loose piece of skin on her body, then sliced it with a finger, and a piece of human skin was cut off.

Her dark fingernails quickly moved across it, inscribing rectangular characters in Nüshu script onto the skin.

After writing, she walked over to Li Huowang and placed the item in his hand.

"Show this to them; at least they won't act immediately."

"And if they can't help either, it won't be too late to return here to die."

Li Huowang gently rubbed the skin letter in his hand. He had already resolved to die, yet now there was a glimmer of hope.

"Thank you, Reverend Mistress! If Dan Yangzi is truly dealt with, I will repay your kindness immensely in the future!"

It was better not to die if possible. Holding onto this last shred of hope, Li Huowang turned and walked back into the cockroach pile outside. "Reverend Mistress, it's a deal! If they can't solve Dan Yangzi either, then in two months, I'll return and let you kill me!"

Not long after Li Huowang left, a stout nun emerged from the rat pile and approached Jingxin.

"Reverend Mistress, why are you helping that Xin Su boy so much? You even used a 'skin letter' for him. This is a huge favor, and we're not even on good terms with those people."

Reverend Mistress Jingxin watched the direction Li Huowang had left with a very complex expression. After a long silence, she slowly began to speak.

"Earlier, that child held my face and called me 'Mom'."

"Do you know, he really, truly resembles Xu'er when she was young, both in his actions and his words."