“Great Master, is your temple’s food always this good?”
“Patron, you jest. It’s merely ordinary vegetarian fare. How can there be good or bad?”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk, this is hardly ordinary. Where do ordinary vegetarian meals get a child's heart and liver, or an elder's brain and marrow?”
As he spoke, the young man slowly raised his head, revealing red lips, white teeth, and a handsome face.
However, upon hearing these words, the monk before him grew wildly in size. Twisted flesh ripped through his yellow monk’s robe, and the once bright dining hall lost its color, becoming rotten and dilapidated.
A foul stench assaulted the senses!
“Patron, you jest. This is merely ordinary vegetarian fare. How could there be heart, liver, or brain?”
“Perhaps the patron has been possessed by an evil spirit, and your eyes are clouded!”
The fleshy monk’s steps were distorted, his limbs twitching as he spoke.
“Patron, fear not! I shall cleanse this evil spirit right away!!!”
As he spoke, the fleshy monk’s lower jaw split open, and a vertical mouth filled with sharp teeth opened, lunging to bite Dan Liang’s head.
It was clear that this monk’s determination to cleanse the ‘evil spirit’ was resolute.
Pfft.
Before it could bite, two red chopsticks pierced its left and right eyes.
The Strange Monk wailed, its already twisted and deformed hands reaching for its eyes, trying to pull out the chopsticks.
The young man, however, acted as if he saw nothing. He turned and pulled up a silver briefcase beside him, pressing a button. An exaggerated long saber shot out from within!
He gripped the hilt with one hand, a cold glint flashed, and the massive monk's head fell to the ground, rolling far away.
Pfft!
A gush of fresh blood erupted from the severed neck, spraying high!
But as the blood touched the rafters, it corroded, producing wisps of white smoke. Seeing this, the young man covered his mouth and nose, turned, and broke through the window to reach outside.
The once clear sky was now gloomy and eerie, and the benevolent Buddha statues were stained with blood.
Strange laughter and wails occasionally came from various corners, making the surroundings feel like a ghost realm.
The young man flicked the blood from his saber, teasing.
“So, your blood is red too.”
His words seemed to violate some taboo. The giant Buddha statues standing in the temple slowly turned their heads, staring at him like living beings.
“Evil spirit!”
“Evil spirit!!”
“Evil spirit!!!”
The voices grew louder with each utterance, until finally, they were like thunder, chilling to the bone.
Dan Liang, however, let out a sinister laugh, not only showing no fear but instead an expression of ecstatic madness.
“Evil spirit?”
“I like it!”
“Hahahahaha!”
As he spoke, he leaped up, the long saber in his hand flashing with a cold light, directly splitting the incense burner in front of him in two!
Screech!
A sharp wail echoed from within the incense burner, and a large rat with half its backside severed scurried out, quickly fleeing to the side.
The large rat was exceptionally corpulent, its plump face vaguely resembling a human’s.
“Evil spirit!!!”
“Evil spirit!!!”
“Evil spirit!!!”
The giant roars grew even louder, as if they wanted to devour the young man alive.
Crackling.
Sounds of crumbling wood and earth arose. In the deepest part of the Buddha hall, a blood-flesh Buddha statue over ten meters tall slowly rose.
Its posture was exceptionally bizarre, its entire body scarlet, reeking of blood.
The young man squinted, only to realize that this Buddha statue was pieced together from an unknown number of skinless corpses!
“The Sea of Suffering is boundless; turn back and you reach the shore!”
The fleshy Buddha statue’s voice was compassionate, yet in its hand, it held prayer beads strung from skulls.
The young man casually twirled his saber, a playful smile on his face.
“The one thing I dislike most is turning back!”
As he spoke, crimson mist emanated from the young man’s body.
Upon sensing the mist, all the surrounding Buddha statues revealed expressions of extreme greed.
“Medicine!”
“Great Medicine!”
“The great medicine that will help me achieve Buddhahood!”
The Buddha statues all spoke in unison, and with a series of cracking sounds, they broke free from their stone lotus pedestals and charged towards Dan Liang.
At this moment, there was no trace of benevolence on their faces, only greed and ferocity.
The young man burst into laughter at the sight.
“Scum, come on!”
Boom!
The red mist suddenly erupted, rapidly converging onto the long saber in the young man’s hand!
The once ordinary long saber actually grew flesh, which expanded wildly, fusing the saber with the young man’s right hand!
The original hilt disappeared, replaced by a mass of still-wriggling crimson flesh!
Vein-like tendrils pierced into the saber, channeling crimson energy into it, making the entire blade glow with a scarlet light!
At this moment, Buddha statues had already reached the young man. Before they could act, the long saber in the young man’s hand had already slashed out!
Swish!
The crimson long saber seemed to cut through darkness, leaving a trailing red streak as it bisected the Buddha statue in front of it!
Even so, the Buddha statue did not die. Its large hands, made of flesh and stone, reached for the young man, its eyes filled with greed.
“Medicine, my medicine!”
The red saber light flared again, and its two hands were also severed by the young man.
Those Buddha statues were incredibly clumsy before the young man, allowing him to butcher them at will!
In just a few breaths, the small plaza where he stood was covered with severed limbs.
Perhaps it was an illusion, but the blade seemed to have grown a little longer, and the area of Fusion had increased.
“Are you full?”
Thump-thump.
The flesh at the Fusion point emitted a heartbeat.
The smile on the young man’s face grew even more sinister. He tilted his head to look at the still ‘benevolent’ fleshy Buddha statue and chuckled.
“Hey, these little minions of yours aren’t tough enough to kill. Do you want to give it a try?”
The fleshy Buddha statue acted as if it heard nothing, continuing to twirl the skull prayer beads in its hand.
“Do you really not want to taste what I’m like?”
The young man spoke again, even emitting another burst of red mist to ‘entice’ the other party.
The fleshy Buddha statue, however, sighed and said.
“The Sea of Suffering is boundless; turn back and you reach the shore.”
The young man’s face showed mockery after hearing this.
“You keep telling me to turn back, so why don’t you turn back?”
“Are you afraid of seeing the believers who were made into vegetarian meals, or are you afraid of seeing the bones used to fill the foundations?”
The fleshy Buddha statue spoke again, its voice faint.
“All things in the world have Karma.”
“How many of these sentient beings do not suffer in the Mortal World?”
“Letting them become foundations, or vegetarian meals, might not be a form of liberation.”
The young man could no longer hold back his laughter.
“Interesting, truly interesting.”
“You evil spirits are really interesting!”
“You speak so well, I absolutely love it here.”
The fleshy Buddha statue did not reply, but continued to twirl the skull prayer beads in its hand, as if it were something very important.
The young man advanced with his saber.
“Since you’ve liberated so many people, I’ll send you off to liberation too.”
“Learning from Lei Feng and doing good deeds is our tradition, but I like to leave my name when I do good deeds.”
“Remember my name.”
“Dan Liang!”
(shan, liang)