Episode 190

Everything fell silent.

Night suddenly came upon them.

Nothing could be seen, heard, smelled, or said.

The shattering of the sky seemed nothing more than a mirage.

The violent shaking of the ground was like a dragon beneath, turning its body.

The storm of qi was like the tsunami of a great ocean.

“If I may ask…” Gu Suihan could hear a murmur slowly ring in his ears from the deep silence.

“You must be tired of living!” He immediately realized what was going on as he opened his eyes. The chilling look in his eyes that looked more like a frozen lake instantly glowered with murderous intent.

“What…are you? How dare you attempt to convert me?” Gu Suihan pursed his thin lips. His expression was one of mockery, disdain, contempt, nonchalance, and more.

The darkness slowly faded, and a light shone on them once more.

It felt like the dark clouds had parted to reveal the bright moon. The giant eye in the sky had long disappeared and was replaced by a very misty evening sun. The remaining clouds in the sky were red, like blood or fire, or like what remained after the cleansing of the world.

The whirlpool expanded again, and devils poured into the world once more. The Buddhist cultivators were horrified as they looked at Gu Suihan, who had removed his disguise and had gotten up with the help of the Evil Ghost.

The leader of the devils looked warily at You Hantian, Zhan Wuchang, and the rest and quietly made sure to stand in front of Gu Suihan to protect him. It didn’t matter who this young man was. That technique had wiped out the will of the world in the sky, which meant that they were in the same camp. Or at least they were for the time being.

Everything fell completely silent for a moment.

“Monk, were you trying to convert me?” Gu Suihan’s lips parted, and his teeth gleamed too brightly for anyone to look at directly.

“Amitabh. Dear donor, the sea of suffering has no borders. Turn around, and you will find the shore,” chanted the elderly monk. His gray beard and white eyebrows were trembling slightly as he put his palms together and looked down with a merciful expression on his face.

Gu Suihan’s bright and narrow eyes were as indifferent and unmoved as an abyss, like the deep sea, and like a mysterious set of laws of nature. “The sea of suffering? The entirety of the world is a sea of suffering. Where would I find a shore?”

“The shore is right beneath your own feet. When there is a shore in your heart, you only need to lift your feet, and you will arrive there.” The elderly monk rubbed his prayer beads. A bad premonition slowly seeped into his bones from his heart, which made his body shiver slightly.

“And what happens after you arrive at shore?” Gu Suihan smiled faintly.

“After you arrive at shore, you will find ultimate bliss,” said the monk like it was second nature to him.

“HA! HAHA! Ultimate bliss?” Gu Suihan snorted loudly. His disdainful laughter was mixed with contempt as it echoed in stark contrast to the terrible silence. It was so ear piercing. “I cultivate in the Way and I put my heart through testing. I experience the noise of worldly desires and with one thought, I can move freely anywhere I like without any trouble at all. Why should I want to seek ultimate bliss?”

The elderly monk’s face trembled slightly upon hearing these words and it seemed like the wrinkles on his skin had increased in number. He had a look of disdain on his face even as he continued to stare indifferently at Gu Suihan. He sighed quietly and said, “Dear donor, your obsessive streak is too deep. Put down your weapon and you can become a buddha.”

“My weapon?” Gu Suihan pulled himself away from the support of the Evil Ghost and gently touched the lifeless saber on his belt. He looked oddly at the elderly monk who seemed like he wasn’t sure what else to do and said softly, “If I put it down, will I really be able to become a buddha? And if I become a buddha, what happens to the lives that died by my hands?”

“Chant scriptures and help others in order to erase the karma you have created,” said the elderly monk, his face unflinching even though a look of glee appeared in his eyes when he saw Gu Suihan’s reaction.

Gu Suihan smirked at the old man. He removed the saber from his belt and held it in his hand. “I’ll put it down, I’ll put it down.”

He suddenly let go of the saber and it stabbed into the ground below.

But before the monk could say anything, Gu Suihan took a step forward and said softly, “I’ll put it down, but do you dare to take it?”

WOONG!

In that instant.

The skies boomed, the earth shook.

Lightning cracked in all directions, its light blinding the world.

The wind and clouds were suddenly stirred up, a sea of blood appeared.

The blade emerged three inches from its sheath, sending fiendish qi soaring into the sky.

The miserable wails of ghosts, rang through the heavens.

A blood-red glow shimmered, while the laws of nature spread out.

Everyone was in shock as they stumbled in retreat.

“If buddha has no desires and no wants, then why do they enjoy the donations of mere humans?”

“If buddha believes the world is but an illusion, then why do they keep fighting to become the one and only way?”

“If buddha has compassion on all living things, then why don’t they fulfil every plea?”

“If buddha says to put down your weapon, then why don’t they state clearly where murdered souls belong?”

“If buddha says they want to convert the world, then why don’t they state clearly that you have to become a puppet in order to get to ultimate bliss?”

“If buddha says there are consequences to being good or evil and karma will come along with every action, then why haven’t the vengeful souls in the world decreased in number?”

“What is good? What is evil? Who the hell do you even think you are? You think you’re qualified to decide what’s good and what’s evil, or what’s right and what’s wrong?”

“The blood on my hands measures way more than one ocean and I’ve massacred way more than a million people. If I put my weapon down now, would you…dare to take it from me?”

“Buddha? You’re all nothing but people who fool the world and steal fame for yourselves, a people who are filthy and impure. If that weren’t the case, why would you twist the meaning of morality and justice and stray from the Way?”

After he said all this, Gu Suihan snorted. He took one step back and pointed at the saber at his feet that was spewing with enough fiendish qi to break through the clouds and sufficient violent qi to cover the sky, then said indifferently, “What’s the use of buddha? Buddha often talks about converting the world. I’m right here – do you…dare to convert me?”

“Do you dare to convert me?”

“Do…you?”

All the followers of Buddhism immediately had a look of horror on their faces. They subconsciously took several steps backward even as they kept their eye on Gu Suihan. There was a look of indescribable terror as they all turned to look at the elderly monk.

The elderly monk’s face paled suddenly and he spat out a mouthful of pale gold blood. He stared sadly at Gu Suihan as the faint smile on his face faded. He opened his mouth, but did not say anything.

“You are…a man with no heart.”

The elderly monk’s voice trembled and it took great effort for him to keep his eyes open. He looked at Gu Suihan and said in a cracked voice, “You are a man with no heart. Your heart has no sense of good and evil, true and false or right and wrong, so it is natural for you to not feel guilt, shame and regret. Your very nature is messed up, so I…will not convert you!”

“You won’t convert me?” Gu Suihan chuckled. He pulled his saber out of the ground and pushed it back into its sheath. “Buddhism…is the Way huh. I should be the one converting all of you and not the other way round. You want to convert me? You’re not qualified enough.”

“According to legend, the world of ultimate bliss has 100,000 arhats, 300,000 bodhisattvas, and 800 buddhas. I wonder how many are truly buddhas among them?” His laughter echoed loudly after uttering these words. Gu Suihan then slowly turned around and didn’t bother to look at the monks anymore. He gave the Evil Ghost a look to signal that he had recovered a bit while bantering with the monk about Buddhism and Taoism.

The two of them exchanged knowing glances, then sped off into the distance at an insane speed, tearing through space and traveling over lands in a few steps.

You Hantian, and the rest gave each other sad smiles. They wished they could run after them, but the leader of the devils was glaring warily at them. Zhou Lingfeng and the rest weren’t afraid of these devils, but it would take more than a few minutes to take care of them all.

“You…” The Evil Ghost seemed to have trouble forming sentences as he carefully chose his words and tone and said cautiously, “Just now, you really…shocked the world!”

“Shocked my ass.” Gu Suihan’s face was pale as he leaned against the Evil Ghost’s back and weakly pointed in the direction of the Seven Kill Sect. “Grabbing any opportunity to make a run for it is the right thing to do. If those monks didn’t all just love talking and doing nothing, we wouldn’t have had the chance to escape.”

“What the hell…” The Huangquan Evil Ghost rolled its eyes and cursed under its breath as it ran faster while swallowing the pills that Gu Suihan gave it continuously.

The argument with the monk had been short, so Gu Suihan hadn’t been able to recover his strength fully. He grew too weak to move after covering some distance, so he had to get the Evil Ghost to carry him.

Even though the Evil Ghost wasn’t too happy about doing that, it decided to obey Gu Suihan after considering how formidable and mysterious the young man was.

“Let’s look for the innermost storeroom of the Seven Kill Sect first. But if you ask me, I don’t hold very high hopes for that place. After You Hantian came down to this world, I think he would have cleaned out that storeroom a long time ago. But we’ll try our best anyway. The most important thing is to stay alive,” said Gu Suihan slowly. He never stopped swallowing pills and using his cultivation technique to recuperate as much as he could.

“Why are you so obsessed with this?” The Huangquan Evil Ghost simply couldn’t understand.

He had realized that ever since he met Gu Suihan, this young man never stopped thinking about the Seven Kill Sect’s…innermost storeroom.

It was as though there was something in there that he had to get his hands on.

“This is…my Way!” Gu Suihan chuckled, then slowly closed his eyes and focused on calibrating his body.

“Your…Way?” A glimmer flashed in the Evil Ghost’s eyes. It was quickly followed by a dazed look as though he felt lost.

“What…what is MY Way?”

Hesitation and confusion slowly appeared in its heart even as it sensed that Gu Suihan had gone into recovery mode.