Chapter 337: Collapse

"Master Xinzhi, are you sure you haven't made a mistake this time?"Li Huowang still couldn't overcome the internal hurdle, even though the Office of Heavenly Supervision might kill innocent people for their work.

The moment Li Huowang spoke, the little girl who was bowing to Buddha shriveled up, leaving only her clothes behind."Er Jiu! Why won't you listen to this monk?" Li Huowang sneered, looking at Xinzhi, who now resembled a fierce Vajra.He raised his knife and walked to the pile of clothes, forcefully plunging it into the yellow cushion. A yelp, like that of a small dog, accompanied a continuous gush of crimson blood from the cushion.The thing hadn't left; it had merely shrunk to an extremely small and flat form, hiding inside the cushion."Master Xinzhi, if everything you said was always so accurate, I wouldn't have to rack my brains like this."Furthermore, he didn't want to be used as a pawn, especially by such a repulsive entity.

Noticing the tense atmosphere between the two, Ji Xiang immediately intervened."Alright! This elder isn't dead yet! All you young rascals, behave yourselves! Don't forget why this elder brought you here!"Although Ji Xiang always wore a smiling and amiable expression, neither Li Huowang nor Xinzhi regarded him as someone easily manipulated. Seeing him speak, they fell silent.

Time passed quickly. They had already spent half an hour circling through the Buddhist Bone Temple, but apart from the previous ambush, they had found nothing.It was unclear whether the Sit-Forget Sect had left early or if they were deliberately avoiding them.Despite the time that had passed, Ji Xiang, as the leader, showed no signs of urgency; instead, his eyes grew brighter.This further solidified Li Huowang's earlier suspicion: Ji Xiang definitely had an ulterior motive for coming to this Buddhist Bone Temple.

As they re-entered a Buddhist hall filled with mummified corpses, Ji Xiang's expression suddenly turned ecstatic.His fingers, moving the abacus beads, began to accelerate, blurring into afterimages, with tiny sparks emanating from them."Quickly!"Ji Xiang stepped on the marble floor in a specific sequence. After he circled three times in an extremely complex manner, the image of a seated Bodhisattva painted on a pillar eerily began to move on its own.Witnessing this, Li Huowang's conviction grew even stronger: "I was right! Ji Xiang is here to find something! The so-called 'clearing out the Sit-Forget Sect' is just a pretext!"Then, on the pillar's image, the sorrowless, joyful Buddha quickly aged and withered, transforming into a mummified corpse within moments.The mummy's two hands reached into its ribs, slowly prying open its abdominal cavity.However, when Ji Xiang, with a joyous expression, looked up at the mummified image on the pillar, he froze.The image's abdomen was empty; there was nothing inside."Where's Xin Zhuo? Was someone already here? But that shouldn't be possible, only I can find this place."Xin Zhuo? Hearing the character "Xin" (heart/mind) in the name, Li Huowang, as a Xinsu, was particularly sensitive."Could there be other humanoid heavenly treasures similar to Xinsu? If Xinsu represents bewilderment, what are their side effects?"

Just as he was about to ask Tuoba Danqing beside him, a prolonged muffled sound made everyone simultaneously look up at the ceiling beams.Before anyone could react, Hong Da, dressed as a beggar, suddenly spoke, "Run! This hall is collapsing!"The moment he blurted out these words, accompanied by a tremor, the massive ceiling beams, carrying tens of thousands of pounds of tiles, crashed down heavily.After a tremendous crash, thick dust rose, enveloping everything.

"Pain." This was Li Huowang's sensation; his entire body ached everywhere.A thick fog obscured his vision, preventing him from seeing his surroundings. He tried to move but felt a thousand-pound weight on him, realizing he was pinned down.As he pondered how to escape, amid the sound of rubble shifting, a robust figure emerged from the swirling dust and appeared before him.When that person lifted the thousand-pound main beam off Li Huowang, Li Huowang finally felt able to move.He crawled out from the tiles, shook the dust off himself, and said to the person, "Thank you, Brother Tuoba."Tuoba Danqing, also covered in dust, lowered the beam from his shoulder. "Hey, what are you talking about? We're brothers who've drunk and wenched together. How could I just watch you die?""Are you alright? Where are the others? This temple collapsing must be the Sit-Forget Sect's doing." Tuoba Danqing also patted the dust from his clothes.Li Huowang nodded. "You can say that again," he said, subtly moving a few inches away from Tuoba Danqing, maintaining eye contact.

As the two spoke, a disturbance arose from the thin mist in the distance, and an extremely tall figure emerged—it was Zen Master Xinzhi.When he saw the two standing together, his expression instantly turned solemn, and he sharply pointed his thick finger at Li Huowang.The next moment, Tuoba Danqing beside him seemed to hear something, retreating rapidly and quickly putting distance between himself and Li Huowang.Then, the three stood in a triangular formation, with Xinzhi and Tuoba Danqing now glaring menacingly at Li Huowang.In this situation, Li Huowang immediately deduced that the monk Xinzhi must have used his Mind-Reading ability to tell Tuoba Danqing something.

Just as they were about to make a move, Li Huowang looked at Tuoba Danqing and said, "Brother Tuoba, it's fine if you suspect me of being from the Sit-Forget Sect, but why don't you suspect that this Xinzhi is fake?""Stop lying. Does the Sit-Forget Sect have Mind-Reading?" The previously warm Tuoba Danqing had clearly become unusually cold."Why wouldn't the Sit-Forget Sect have Mind-Reading? They steal all their divine powers from others!" Li Huowang, his face extremely grim, drew the sword from his back."We knew you'd try to sow discord like this, but Lord Ji Xiang calculated long ago that even if 'Fa Cai' were to come, it would take three hours to learn Mind-Reading. So, he's real, and you're fake."Faced with baseless accusations, the anger in Li Huowang's heart became uncontrollable."He's clearly fake!" Just as Li Huowang pointed his sword directly at the monk Xinzhi, a familiar voice echoed in his ear—it was the monk's Mind-Reading."Not so. This monk is real. And this monk knows Ear Benefactor is real, but now this monk's words are truth. If this monk says someone is fake, then they are fake.""What?!" Li Huowang's pupils widened immensely, staring in disbelief at the monk Xinzhi before him.He had considered many possibilities, but he never imagined that he would be ambushed by his own people first after coming here!"You're fighting among yourselves now? Are you crazy? Just because I talked back to you earlier?"Xinzhi's mouth curved slightly before quickly returning to a state of indifference. "Indeed, this monk is that petty."With that, he took a large step, joining Tuoba Danqing in a pincer attack on Li Huowang."You lunatic!" Li Huowang, roaring with fury, steeled himself, drew his Purple Sprout Sword, and charged towards Xinzhi.As Li Huowang drew closer, a cold glint pierced out from the mist nearby, aimed directly at Li Huowang's neck.It was a rusted short knife, wielded by Hong Da, the Blade-Peddler.Li Huowang was now caught in a three-sided attack, becoming extremely passive."What in the world is going on?! Have they discovered my identity?! Was this all a trap set for me from the start?"