Chen Zhou looked at him, smiled, and then took out two items.
A tattered patchwork robe and a golden, glittering sarira.
"Here, your relics," Chen Zhou said, pushing the items toward him. "Your clothes, and your gallstone."
Wu Gou caught a glimpse of them, and a look of disgust instantly crossed his face. He shrank back.
"Take them away, take them away! How filthy. Don't you find a dead man's things unlucky?"
Chen Zhou raised an eyebrow. "You're in my City of the Wrongfully Dead, and you find your own relics unlucky?"
"You said it yourself, they're relics. That means they belong to a dead man."
Wu Gou spoke with righteous conviction. "Besides, didn't you say I was the True Buddha before I died?"
"How can a True Buddha let filth touch his body? Take it away, take it away! Don't ruin my mood for wine."
Chen Zhou was amused. This old monk had lived a second life only to become quite finicky.
"You really don't want them?"
"I don't!" Wu Gou shook his head firmly, then seemed to remember something. "Wait, I remember you have a little monk under you who cultivates the Way of All Beings, right?"
"Ku Chan?"
"Yes, that old boy." Wu Gou nodded.
"Give them to him. That kid's heart is decent; he's barely a good seedling. The patches on that robe are actually cloth from a hundred families—fragments of clothing from those I delivered to the afterlife."
"Let him wear the relics of all beings on his body and bear their weight. Don't let him stray from his cultivation path."
Chen Zhou thought about it and felt it was a fine idea.
He truly had no use for Buddhist items. He had already given the Dream-Weaving Shuttle from Sukhavati to the pink nightmare.
Giving the sarira and the patchwork robe to Ku Chan would be putting them to good use.
That old boy was about to stumble into another great stroke of luck.
Chen Zhou put away the two relics and then took out a pale-gold egg. It was only the size of a fist, and its surface was covered in earthen patterns.
It was the egg of the realm earthworm.
"Surely you won't reject this one?" Chen Zhou handed the egg over.
Wu Gou, who had been drinking, felt as if he had been struck by lightning the moment his peripheral vision caught sight of the egg.
Clang—!
The wine jar fell onto the table, spilling wine everywhere, but he ignored it completely.
His hands trembled as he reached out, carefully cradling the egg as if it were the most precious, fragile thing in the world.
Tears instantly welled up in his eyes, large droplets rolling down his cheeks and dripping onto the egg.
"Old partner... is it you..."
Wu Gou's voice was choked with emotion, his body shaking.
In his past life, in the hellish despair of the Northern Region and the sunless depths of the abyss, only the realm earthworm had stayed by his side.
It had stayed with him to suppress the death qi of the earth veins, helped him bear the weight of all beings, and finally accompanied him to the end of his life.
"It's starting its cultivation anew as well."
Chen Zhou's tone softened slightly. "It's your old partner. You'll look after it yourself, no problem?"
Wu Gou cradled the egg, pressing his face against it to feel the resilient pulse of life within.
He wept and laughed at the same time. "No problem... of course no problem..."
"Fiend..." Wu Gou looked up, his face covered in tear tracks, yet he smiled brilliantly.
"I won't say thanks for such a great favor. I will remember this kindness, this monk promises."
【You have gained a new Saint.】
【You have gained Evil God Points: +2,000】
Chen Zhou heard the system notification in his mind, and his heart jolted slightly.
A Saint.
This was his second Saint after Jian Huaishuang.
Moreover, this was a man who had once been a true Buddha.
The weight of this acquisition was incredibly high.
Wu Gou's emotions came quickly and left just as fast.
After crying, it was as if he had set down a thousand-pound burden, and he seemed even more translucent as a person.
He carefully tucked the realm earthworm egg into his robes, keeping it close to his chest. He even patted it from time to time as if afraid it might go missing.
"Since you've come back to life, what are your plans for the future?" Chen Zhou asked, pouring himself a cup of snow lotus wine and taking a sip.
Wu Gou haphazardly wiped his face with his sleeve, returning to his lazy demeanor, and countered with a question.
"Plans? I should be asking you. When do you plan to welcome the Descent of the Golden Buddha?"
Chen Zhou's movement paused.
That phrase again: the Descent of the Golden Buddha.
Since he had transmigrated to this world, the frequency with which those words appeared was far too high.
Jieyin of Sukhavati was plotting, the lunatics of the Aspect of All Beings were preparing, and even Su Xue had mentioned that the Shanhe Pass of the Eastern Region's Sea Race had opened, seemingly for this very reason.
Whether human or demon, everyone seemed to be flocking toward this so-called Golden Buddha.
But Chen Zhou had never quite figured out what this Golden Buddha actually was.
Was it a statue?
A divine artifact?
Or something else entirely?
"I'm not sure," Chen Zhou said candidly. "What exactly is this Golden Buddha?"
In front of a Saint, he could afford to be a bit more honest.
Even if he didn't say it, with Wu Gou's experience, he could likely tell that Chen Zhou wasn't actually cultivating the Bone Buddhist dharma of the Bone Temple.
Upon hearing this, Wu Gou sat up a little straighter, his expression becoming slightly more serious.
"The truth of this matter is indeed known to very few."
"The vast majority of people treat it as an opportunity—a supreme chance to wear down the eerification mutations and escape the slavery of symbiosis."
Wu Gou explained, "Buddhist scriptures record that if one gains the pity of the Golden Buddha, they can eliminate the stagnant death qi and pollution within their body and wash their divine soul clean."
"If all goes well, one can even use it to steadily reach the eighth-stage Siming stage, completely breaking free from the influence of death qi on the mind and removing the risk of losing control."
Chen Zhou caught the key point in Wu Gou's words.
Eliminate pollution?
Steadily reach the eighth-stage?
"That miraculous?" Chen Zhou raised an eyebrow, his lips curling into a mocking arc.
"There's no such thing as a free lunch, especially in a world as disgusting as this."
"If there is, there's definitely a hook hidden inside the bait."
"Smart." Wu Gou gave him an appreciative look. "It's certainly not that simple, yet the rumors are indeed true."
"Is it contradictory? Not at all."
Wu Gou held up a finger and wagged it gently. "The Golden Buddha descends once every thousand years in the provincial capital dynasties."
"The so-called Golden Buddha is not a statue of clay or wood, nor is it some high monk of great virtue."
"It is a lump of meat."
"Meat?" Chen Zhou narrowed his eyes.
"Yes. A lump of flesh and blood containing immense vitality, pure vow power, and certain rules of heaven and earth."
Wu Gou's voice lowered slightly. "You can understand it as an antidote birthed by this world every thousand years to balance the death qi."
"But this antidote is toxic."
Wu Gou sneered. "For those powerful experts plagued by death qi and on the verge of mutation..."
"Or for races like the Sea Race, who must find a way out due to death qi pollution, the Golden Buddha is the only life-saving straw."
"Eating it or refining it allows one to reshape their body and cleanse their divine soul."
As soon as Chen Zhou heard this, the setup sounded incredibly familiar.
He blurted out, "Isn't that just Tang Monk's meat? Eating it grants immortality and lets one become an immortal."
"Tang Monk's meat?" Wu Gou blinked, clearly never having heard the term, but he quickly grasped the meaning.
"I don't know who this Tang Monk is, but that analogy... is quite fitting. That is exactly how it is. That's why everyone is fighting with all their might just to get a single bite."
Rate on N.U.
