Chapter 33#

After Hua Jinian calmed down a little, he hurriedly took a few steps to stand behind Hua Qianjue and asked in a low voice: “Father, what should we do…”

Hua Qianjue shook his head at him, then looked at the abbot with a wicked smile for a while, and asked with a low laugh: “Did the Abbot follow us down just to eliminate demons and defend the righteous path?”

The abbot remained silent, and after a long time smiled bitterly: “To be honest with the Fortress Master, I was pushed down by Benefactor Ruan.”

When he said this, both Hua Qianjue and Hua Jinian were slightly surprised, looked at each other, and didn’t know what to say for a moment. The abbot pondered for a while before whispering: “This poor monk has strived to have a clear conscience all his life, taking the world as his responsibility. Unexpectedly, recently, the more I cling to my beliefs, the further away I am from the Great Way I pursue bitterly. Within this one day, this poor monk was plotted against by descendants of famous sects one after another, watched close friends lose their humanity and harm fellow practitioners, and also saw people of the evil path disregard life and death for flesh and blood affection. Righteous is not righteous, evil is not evil. This poor monk can no longer comprehend his own Way at this moment. The Fortress Master always looks at things from a different perspective, can you enlighten this poor monk a little…”

Hua Qianjue laughed loudly: “You abbot are really ridiculous. An hour ago you were vigorously denouncing me as a demon, and now you have the nerve to talk about enlightenment…” Speaking of this, he looked at the abbot again, seeing him frowning tightly, looking like he was thinking hard. Obviously, the successive great changes caused a knot in his heart. Hua Qianjue was overjoyed in his heart and was about to speak to disturb his mind and make him suffer qi deviation. Unexpectedly, Hua Jinian suddenly interjected from the side and replied: “Righteous path, evil path, aren’t they all human?”

The abbot was stunned, his eyes seemed to recover a trace of clarity, and nodded: “Correct.”

Hua Jinian continued: “Since they are all human, they all have good thoughts and evil thoughts.”

The abbot was stunned there, repeating repeatedly in his mouth: “Righteous path is human, evil cult is also human. Being human means having both good and evil thoughts…” Hua Qianjue felt angry in his heart hearing this, and was about to scold the young man a few times. Unexpectedly, at this time, the abbot clapped his hands and laughed loudly: “Well said, well said. Righteous path is human, why isn’t evil cult human!” As he spoke, his dull eyes became warm and moist again.

Hua Qianjue snorted coldly and said to Hua Jinian using secret sound transmission: “Why help him. He threw you into this underground palace mercilessly before. Have you ever thought that you are making one more enemy for us?”

Hua Jinian frowned and couldn’t help retorting with lip language: “Maybe one more friend.” Hearing this, the man frowned greatly and patted the young man’s head neither lightly nor heavily.

Hua Jinian looked dissatisfied and was about to continue arguing with him. At this time, the abbot suddenly quieted down, turned back and asked the two of them: “Do you two hear any sound?”

Hua Qianjue listened carefully, and indeed heard the wind sound coming a bit more urgently, so he extended the torch in his hand in that direction. At the end of that gloomy road, under the turbid firelight, it seemed to be shaking slightly. Immediately following was the undisguised heavy footsteps. A man—or rather a sect leader who once had a prominent status—ran stumblingly towards this side covered in blood. As soon as he saw these three people, he shouted hoarsely: “Help me, help me, they are crazy, they want to eat people—”

That man seemed to be scared out of his wits, threw himself in front of those few people, crying and shouting: “Save me, save me, they, they are crazy, they ate Sect Leader Wu, and want to eat me too!—” Hua Jinian was stunned, hesitated to step forward to help him, but Hua Qianjue’s face turned cold and pulled him back.

Just at this time, silver light shot out from that man’s sleeve, stabbing towards Hua Jinian’s chest like a meteor. Hua Qianjue pulled the young man’s sleeve and leaped backward with him, but heard the wind sound faintly behind him. Hua Qianjue cursed loudly, reached out to protect the young man in his arms, and slapped the person in front of him with a backhand palm. Seeing that the surprise attack from behind was unavoidable, at this time, the abbot suddenly moved, fighting with the sneaker with a pair of bare palms. Hua Jinian broke free from the man’s embrace, reached out and pulled out the silver flute inserted obliquely at his lower back, assisting Hua Qianjue’s attack while asking in shock: “How did you, how did you know he was lying?”

Hua Qianjue hit the sect leader’s right shoulder with a palm. The man was hit hard against the stone wall and spat out a few mouthfuls of blood. Hua Qianjue gasped slightly and said: “Nonsense, look at his face, unbroken but with blood remaining at the corner of his mouth. Presumably a fool who ate something but forgot to wipe his mouth…” Before he finished speaking, the person who had just been knocked down crawled up as if feeling no pain and pounced on them again. Hua Jinian was caught off guard and his sleeve was torn open by him. He said tremblingly: “He… doesn’t he feel pain?”

Hua Qianjue kicked up a foot, hitting the sect leader’s lower abdomen hard. Seeing the abbot behind him showing mercy in every move against the other person and not killing, he attacked even more mercilessly. He replied disdainfully: “How could it not hurt? He is mad with hunger. You have always lived in luxury. If you were hungry for five or ten days, you would be just like him.”

Hua Jinian hit the person on the back with a backhand palm and mocked: “Don’t talk as if you have starved before.” Hua Qianjue sneered: “When I was plotted against at the age of six and pushed into this underground palace, you didn’t even know where you were. Rotten wooden doors, passing rats, withered dead bones, which one haven’t I eaten? Ask this person and you will know how delicious human flesh is.”

Hearing this, the person suddenly laughed strangely. Taking advantage of Hua Jinian’s daze for an instant, he pounced over and bit his arm firmly, actually biting off a piece of flesh abruptly, and then chewed happily. Hua Jinian cried out in pain, stumbled back a few steps, and sat on the ground. Hua Qianjue roared angrily, threw that person away, lured the person fighting with the abbot to his side, and shouted: “Monk, take my son and go, take the second road on the left, the one with a stone door at the end!”

Hua Jinian said tremblingly: “What about you?”

Hua Qianjue sneered, pierced a person’s abdomen with a palm, and laughed loudly: “I will come soon. I have to think about how to trap them so that you and I can eat slowly then…”

Hua Jinian shuddered hearing this, his stomach churning again. At this time, the abbot reached out his hand to him and whispered: “Benefactor Hua, follow this poor monk.”

Hua Jinian hesitated for a moment, then followed the abbot and ran towards the second road. At this time, Hua Qianjue suddenly used secret sound transmission behind him: “The stone door at the end of the road weighs a thousand jin… That monk is pedantic and will definitely not bear to let you, who are injured in the hand, do it. He will definitely lift it himself. After he lifts it, you go in quickly from the door, don’t care about him anymore. In this way, he will only be crushed by the huge stone, struggling to support until the moment he runs out of oil.”

Hearing these words, Hua Jinian’s face became even uglier, but at this time he could only run forward with the abbot. Leaving the corridor illuminated by torches, it became more and more bizarre. While running, the entire corridor seemed to be jumping and trembling constantly. The originally simple patterns on the two walls were also mottled like hideous monsters in the darkness. Hua Jinian gasped, holding the silver flute to protect his vital points, forming a flashing silver light. He seemed afraid that another “living ghost” would jump out from the corner and bite him again.

The stone door Hua Qianjue mentioned was soon in front of them, thicker and heavier than imagined, carved from a whole piece of huge granite, firmly blocking the way. The abbot was slightly stunned, then walked to the stone door, knocked a few times, reached out to push, and seeing the stone door motionless, whispered: “Benefactor Hua, it seems we have to lift it from below. Later, you and I will exert force together…”

Speaking of this, the abbot suddenly saw Hua Jinian’s arm still bleeding incessantly. The Bodhisattva heart of saving the world began to act up again, so he pondered: “You have an injury on your hand, let this poor monk do it alone. Benefactor Hua, after going to the other side later, please search carefully for the mechanism controlling this door. I’m afraid I can’t support it for long.” Saying this, he reached out to push aside the weeds under the stone door, clasped the crack of the stone door with both hands, and exerted force slowly. The stone door shook a little and was slowly lifted a crack. The abbot’s forehead was covered with cold sweat at this time. He shouted loudly, pushed his divine skill to the limit, and slowly lifted the stone door weighing a thousand jin inch by inch.

When the stone door was lifted to about four feet, the abbot shouted low again, veins popping up on his arms, shouldered the stone door, and shouted in his mouth: “Benefactor Hua, go over quickly!” Looking at the crumbling stone door, how could Hua Jinian dare to delay for half a moment? He immediately rolled on the ground to the opposite side. Before getting up from the ground, he subconsciously searched left and right with his eyes, and soon found a wooden wheel on the stone wall of the right door, which was obviously the switch controlling the stone door.

The abbot held on until Hua Jinian passed. After a while, his physical strength failed, and he knelt on one knee on the ground. The heavy stone door pressed blood marks on his shoulder, dyeing the monk robe red at a terrifying speed. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hua Jinian still standing in place, motionless, so he asked somewhat puzzledly: “Benefactor Hua, is there no switch over there?”

Hua Jinian’s face was deathly white, almost daring not to look at him, so he had to turn his face away, gritted his teeth and nodded, responding in a low voice. The abbot seemed to smile bitterly, but his voice was still unhurried, with a bit of tolerance and helplessness: “Then can I trouble Benefactor Hua to help me lift this stone door together? I know the benefactor has an injury on his hand, such a request is a bit rude…”

Hua Jinian stood there blankly, his heart full of desire to escape, but he seemed to be nailed there, unable to move a step. The abbot said those words a few more times. Seeing Hua Jinian not replying a word, he seemed to have understood something, so he quieted down. His face was full of fatigue, a bitter smile that couldn’t be dissolved at the corner of his mouth. His kind eyebrows lowered, he vomited a mouthful of blood with a “wah”, and said with a low bitter smile: “I always can’t understand why the harder I try, the further away I am from my Great Way, don’t understand…” As he spoke, his other knee also knelt on the ground, and a clear sound of bone fracture came from his right shoulder. This sound was no different from a deafening thunderbolt in a clear sky to Hua Jinian’s ears. The young man choked in his throat, suddenly rushed over and twisted the wooden wheel desperately. But this switch hadn’t been used for a long time. Twisting it was no different from a mayfly shaking a tree. After exhausting the strength of nine bulls and two tigers, he finally turned the mechanism, and the stone door was forcibly hoisted three feet above the ground. Hua Jinian panted for a while, stepped forward a few steps, and dragged the abbot out from under the stone door.

“Sorry, I…” Hua Jinian stood there, looking at the abbot whose right arm hung limply, his face white as paper. His lips trembled slightly, not knowing what to say for a moment. After a long time, he suddenly sneered: “Anyway… anyway, you were going to kill me too. I haven’t sought revenge on you yet. We are even. I didn’t let you down, I didn’t lie to you…” Speaking of this, his face looked ugly as if he was about to cry: “I didn’t…” he repeated.

The abbot covered his shoulder, looked up and quietly examined his expression, his eyes somewhat complex. He opened his mouth to say something, suddenly listened for a while, and then laughed quietly somewhat hoarsely: “Benefactor Hua, please wait for me ahead.”

Hua Jinian was stunned, reached out to pull him, and asked: “What’s wrong, can’t you stand up?” The abbot shook his head, let the young man support him, stumbled to stand straight, and laughed low: “No, I have some things to deal with. You go ahead and wait for me.”

Hua Jinian looked at him puzzledly, but still nodded. Just as he was about to turn and leave, he was suddenly stopped by the abbot. He took out a bright yellow small package from his bosom and handed it silently to Hua Jinian.

“What is it?” Hua Jinian asked in confusion. The abbot smiled and pushed him, whispering: “Go ahead and wait for me, Benefactor Hua, go quickly, don’t look back…” Hua Jinian took the small package without knowing why, walked a few steps forward quickly, and couldn’t help but want to look back again. Unexpectedly, at this time, the abbot suddenly shouted at him: “Go! Don’t look back!” Hua Jinian was startled and involuntarily ran forward with this stern shout.

The abbot silently watched Hua Jinian’s back disappear into the depths of the corridor, then looked back. Behind the stone door hoisted three feet high, three emaciated men had crawled out at some point. Seeing the abbot’s useless right arm, the faces of those three people showed an extremely gloomy joy. One of them laughed uglily: “So hungry, Abbot. The Buddha cut his flesh to feed the eagle. You also sacrifice yourself for the righteous path to ferry us.”

The young abbot seemed to smile extremely lightly. He slowly chanted a Buddha’s name, assumed a starting posture of the Great Sun Tathagata Mantra with his left hand, and whispered: “Good, I will ferry you…”