Above the shrine, an oil lamp flickered.
The crazy beggar ate with his face covered in grease, gnawing on a wolf leg that was now pitted and scarred, with a few unplucked tufts of fur still clinging to it.
He showed no disdain, taking a bite of meat and a swig of wine. Only after he had eaten his fill did he casually wipe his hands on his clothes.
This garment was quite interesting.
It was impossible to tell how many years he had worn it; its original color had long since vanished, replaced by a dense map of patches.
However, Chen Zhou had a keen eye. He saw at once that every patch on the clothing was made from a different material and texture.
Some patches were coarse hemp, the cloth of a manual laborer.
Some were silk; though filthy, it was clearly the material of a wealthy household.
There were even pieces of blood-stained animal hide and fragments of a child’s bellyband.
Thousands of needles and ten thousand threads had sewn together this foul, tattered outfit.
It was a patchwork robe.
"Interesting." The corners of Chen Zhou’s mouth twitched upward. "The burden you carry in that outfit is not light, Your Excellency."
Wu Gou’s movements paused, followed by a wheezing laugh. "How could that be? I’m light as a feather and fit as a fiddle. Everything I eat tastes delicious. How could there be anything heavy about me?"
"On the contrary, Your Excellency, coming here in the middle of the night to tear down a temple... aren't you afraid of the Buddha's wrath?"
Chen Zhou pointed to the offering table beneath the beggar's rear and the shrine he was using as a cutting board. "You use the Buddha as a footstool and the offering table as a butcher's block, covered in filth. If you aren't afraid, why should this deity be?"
"Ah, you're getting caught up in appearances, aren't you?"
Wu Gou wasn't annoyed; instead, he swayed his head like a man who was the only sober one in a world of drunks.
"The Bodhi is not a tree, the bright mirror is no stand. Fundamentally, there is not a single thing—where could dust collect?"
He patted his grease-stained chest. "My body is dirty, but that is merely the husk. My heart is bright and clear."
"On the other hand, those golden bodies in the great halls are polished to a shine, yet their insides are filled with filth. That is what’s truly dirty."
Chen Zhou raised an eyebrow. It was rare to meet such an interesting mortal.
Chen Zhou didn't mind the filth. He simply crouched down, joining Wu Gou in the corner sheltered from the wind.
"The people of Jiuquan Village are busy worshiping the Buddha to beg for life, yet here you are, eating meat and drinking wine."
"Didn't I just say? Wine and meat pass through the intestines, but the Buddha remains in the heart." Wu Gou spat a bone onto the ground.
"Besides, if I didn't eat it, it would have died in vain."
"This wolf committed sins while it lived, having eaten humans. By eating it, I am performing a rite for its soul."
"You practice Buddhism too?" Chen Zhou asked.
"I do, why wouldn't I?"
Wu Gou took another bite of wolf meat, speaking indistinctly. "You saw it long ago, didn't you? In this Jiuquan Village, in this Northern Region, who doesn't practice Buddhism?"
"Without the Buddha, one cannot survive."
"If there were no Buddha in one's heart, this endless snow and the snow demons everywhere would have driven people mad long ago."
"As for you, Benefactor..."
Wu Gou suddenly leaned closer. His eyes, hidden behind tangled hair, were terrifyingly bright.
"You are covered in death qi, colder than the ten-thousand-year ice of the Northern Region and more pungent than the stench of a mass grave."
"Clearly a living person, yet you are more like a corpse than the dead themselves."
Chen Zhou found Wu Gou increasingly fascinating.
Stains and hair obscured the beggar's face, making his age impossible to tell. His voice sounded young, yet his tone was strangely ancient, like an old monster who had lived through several lifetimes.
"You think I'm a living person?" Chen Zhou said with a faint smile, the Hatred Fire in his palm suddenly flaring up.
Wu Gou laughed loudly, completely unafraid.
He pointed at Chen Zhou as if appraising a rare treasure.
"I misjudged. Your death qi is bottomless, and your karma-fire could burn the sky and boil the sea. Mortals fear you, and ghosts and gods fret at the sight of you."
"Yet you are graced by providence and overflowing with merit. You truly aren't a living person. You are..."
Wu Gou intentionally left the sentence hanging, dragging out the final note.
Chen Zhou waited patiently for the conclusion, wanting to see what insight the man could offer.
Wu Gou tossed the wolf bone into the snow and said seriously:
"You are a great Buddha capable of attaining a golden body."
Chen Zhou: "..."
Chen Zhou almost couldn't resist the urge to slap him to death.
Who are you calling a Buddha?
As if sensing Chen Zhou's displeasure, Wu Gou didn't explain. He simply pointed at the clay statue of Ksitigarbha of Great Vows.
"You were able to follow the vow power here, so you must have deep insight into the path of faith."
"You were about to strike just now because you wanted to destroy this statue, right?"
Chen Zhou didn't deny it. "This clay hunk is an eyesore. Since you know that, why stop me?"
Wu Gou sighed, picking up some snow to wipe the grease from his hands.
"So you found out. This is indeed the reason they do not die."
"This statue is connected to the earth veins and the hearts of the people—the so-called vow power."
"As long as the statue remains, even if they freeze to death, starve to death, or are mauled to death by wolves, they will wake up the next day perfectly fine to continue being human."
"If you destroy the statue, you shatter their dreams and cut off their lives."
"At that moment, the hundreds of people in this village would drop dead instantly. Will you bear that karma?"
Chen Zhou frowned slightly. "This deity has his own ways to save all beings."
"Seeing the way you protect this Ksitigarbha of Great Vows, you don't look like a follower of that old bald ass. You look more like a watchdog."
"Great Vows?"
Hearing the name, Wu Gou showed no reaction. Instead, he seemed to find it funny.
"Ksitigarbha of Great Vows? That old lunatic who wants to turn all living beings into a piece of meat on his own body?"
Wu Gou sneered, his eyes full of disdain. "If I were his follower, I should be kneeling on the ground right now, begging you to give me a killing blow so I could reach Sukhavati early."
"Then step aside. This deity has his own way to save people; I don't need a crazy beggar to teach me how to do things."
As long as he destroyed this node of Ksitigarbha of Great Vows and severed the connection to the vow power, Chen Zhou naturally had ways to take over these villagers using death qi.
Jian Huaishuang was still around; he could just give everyone a piece of resurrection armor.
"Sigh, why won't you listen?"
"Are you planning to use evil spirit methods? I tried that before, but it doesn't work."
"Their vows belong to Ksitigarbha of Great Vows. Where the heart leans, the soul follows. Even if they die, their souls return to Great Vows. They cannot be saved."
Wu Gou sighed and shook his head.
In the next second, he attacked.
Without any fancy moves, he acted like a common street thug, picking up the rusty kitchen knife from the offering table and swinging it toward Chen Zhou’s forehead.
Clang!
Chen Zhou didn't even move to dodge.
The kitchen knife was blocked by death qi three inches from Chen Zhou’s body, instantly shattering into bone fragments.
Chen Zhou: "..."
Weren't we just having a nice chat?
Wasn't I usually the one who flipped the script like this?
Chen Zhou hadn't expected Wu Gou to be so insane.
He gave a casual wave of his hand.
Boom!
Wu Gou was struck as if by a giant hammer, flying backward dozens of meters and crashing heavily into a snowdrift. A large section of his chest collapsed; it looked as though he wouldn't survive.
Rate on N.U.
