Chapter 45: Buddha

"Master, you don't need to explain so much to a mere guest like me. I have no authority over you. Please leave, I need to go to bed."

Jian Tun clasped his hands together, bowed to Li Huowang, and headed towards the door. As he brushed past Li Huowang, a light, airy voice drifted from him.

"Don't look down on Buddhism. Before I became a monk, I was a Daoist. Esoteric schools are all the same; you just don't know it."

Jian Tun left, leaving Li Huowang alone in the room. He turned to look at the distant temple shrouded in darkness, no longer feeling any sense of majesty or solemnity.

Li Huowang slowly exhaled towards the darkness. "This wretched place is truly filthy. Is there nowhere clean?"

Ever since that night, Li Huowang had tried his best to avoid going out after dark, so as not to disturb the monks' activities and incur their resentment.

Days passed, and Li Huowang's mental state steadily improved. He was essentially free from nightmares.

Just as he was about to ask the abbot when things would begin, the abbot sent someone to him first.

"Benefactor Xuanyang, preparations for the Great Universal Salvation Ceremony are about to begin. The preparations for this Dharma assembly are very costly, so please refrain from moving around in the coming days."

"Alright, go back and tell the old abbot that I understand," Li Huowang told the young novice monk before him.

No sooner had the young novice left than a familiar figure darted in, exclaiming with surprise, "Little Daoist, so you've been living here! Why didn't you tell me?"

It was the old beggar from before, but he looked noticeably different from his previous disheveled state.

He was wearing a brand-new yellow monk's robe, and his face and body were free of any stains, making him appear much more spirited.

Although his encounter with the monk had been fleeting, Li Huowang still felt a sense of closeness encountering a familiar face in this strange place.

"Monk, how have you been faring here?"

"Not bad. I eat well and dress warmly every day now. It's just that I can't do good deeds in the temple, which feels a bit unnatural."

At the mention of good deeds, Li Huowang immediately recalled what had happened that night. He looked at the old monk before him and let out a soft sigh. "Don't dwell on that too much. Just stay here. Even if this temple is a bit dirty, at least you won't go hungry."

"Come on, little Daoist! I'll take you to see where I work. It's a huge place!" The enthusiastic old monk pulled Li Huowang towards the door.

"The sun's too strong. Let's do it another time," Li Huowang said, lacking enthusiasm. He had no interest in sightseeing at the temple.

"Come on! You won't regret it! There's so much interesting stuff!" Under the old monk's persistent tugging, Li Huowang walked out of the room.

After following the monk through several twists and turns, Li Huowang arrived at a spacious open-air courtyard in Zhengde Temple.

Upon arriving, he realized just how massive Zhengde Temple truly was.

"Clang, clang, clang!" Dust billowed in the courtyard as monks, their hands wrapped in gauze, wielded stone chisels and hammers, carving Buddha statues.

The Buddha statues were arranged in two rows, extending left and right towards the far end of the courtyard.

Under the sunlight, the monks' bald heads gleamed as they intently carved their works of art, beads of sweat glistening.

"Is this where you work? The environment isn't exactly great," Li Huowang said, frowning slightly and covering his nose with his hand to avoid inhaling dust.

"Yes, I'm responsible for moving the useless broken stones. I also contribute to these Buddha statues," the old monk said, seemingly very proud of his position.

The two walked along the path between the two rows of unfinished Buddha statues, observing the works of various forms.

Monks occasionally walked past them but didn't stop, completely disregarding their presence.

"Zhengde Temple certainly isn't carving these for their own use. It's clear they're selling them to pilgrims. It seems these monks are quite good at generating income," Li Huowang scoffed internally.

However, after what had happened before, Li Huowang wasn't surprised by any of this.

"There's more than this! There's more ahead!" the old monk exclaimed excitedly, heading towards the gatehouse in front.

Seeing him walk forward, Li Huowang lifted his foot to follow. Suddenly, he felt a wave of dizziness, and his body swayed.

"Hey, hey, little Daoist, what's wrong?" Seeing something was amiss, the old monk quickly ran back to support him.

"What happened?" Once Li Huowang had steadied himself, he shook his head vigorously, and the strange sensation gradually faded.

"Are you alright? Did you catch a cold? Maybe you should go back and rest?"

Li Huowang declined the old monk's kind offer. "I'm fine, I'm perfectly well. Let's keep going."

"Alright, even if you did catch a cold, a bit of sun exposure is good. So let's keep going forward."

Hearing this, Li Huowang looked up at the scorching sun overhead. "Did I get heatstroke? It's barely been any time since New Year's, and I don't feel hot."

Feeling no other anomalies in his body, Li Huowang lifted his foot to follow the old monk forward.

But as soon as he lifted his foot, he noticed the sounds around him had changed. No longer was it the "clang, clang, clang" of chisels striking stone, but instead, the slapping sound of flesh hitting flesh.

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

The stone carvings from moments ago had vanished, replaced by mounds of pale flesh—monks.

The monks who had been carving Buddha statues were now piled together, eyes piously closed, their bodies writhing like white maggots, engaged in intimate acts.

"This is... what is this?" Li Huowang's eyes widened as he stepped back.

Li Huowang slowly looked up, squinting at the dazzling sun overhead. He wasn't hallucinating.

He slowly turned around to look at the statues behind him. As expected, they had all changed. Under the bright winter sun, dozens of mounds of flesh now stood.

"Daoist! Hurry up!" the old monk called out excitedly from ahead, like a child eager to show off something to a friend.

Li Huowang took a trembling deep breath, lifted his foot, and continued walking. Passing through a massive archway, another spacious courtyard appeared before them.

Here, too, were numerous mounds of flesh, but these mounds no longer consisted solely of people. There were other things mixed in, such as pigs.

They were screaming in agony, yet the mountains of flesh, formed by monks with pious expressions, trapped them as if they were sinking into mud.

"Look, these carved qilin and stone lions are so lifelike! I wish I had that skill."

Li Huowang mechanically followed the old monk forward, continuing to observe the "works" of the Zhengde Temple monks. He saw dogs, horses, cattle, and donkeys.

Upon closer inspection, he discovered even more abnormalities: these monks were all hermaphroditic, half male and half female!

At this moment, Li Huowang's mind was a buzzing mess.

Suddenly, the old monk's hand reached out, pulling him forward a few steps into a spacious main hall.

However, the slapping sound not only hadn't disappeared but grew louder, echoing within the empty hall.

Li Huowang stiffly looked inside the hall. As he tilted his head higher and higher, the pupils in his eyes grew smaller and smaller.

"Look!" The old monk pointed upwards with his hand, a childlike smile on his face, and said with a sigh of wonder, "What a massive Buddha!"