Chapter 616: Compassion

Chapter 616: Compassion

The sound of a wooden fish—*tap-tap-tap*—punctuated the air in relentless succession, and Li Huowang's blood began to boil with irritation.

"Li Sui, come on! Let’s see what kind of demon or monster this is!" Li Huowang pulled out several swords from under his pillow and, with Li Sui at his side, stepped onto the tiles and rushed toward the source of the noise.

Soon, he found its origin. It was a group of monks—more accurately, emaciated monks whose frames resembled skeletons.

These monks sat cross-legged at the village entrance, striking their wooden fish in rhythm. The famine-stricken people beside them had awakened, yet they dared not peek out; instead, they buried their heads deep into the straw, shivering violently.

At the moment Li Huowang appeared, all the monks turned their gaze toward him simultaneously. Some looked not with eyes but with the scars left by their precepts on their heads. Others' eyeballs, like maggots, darted in and out of their sockets.

"Om Amitabha, dear layman, I greet you with respect," said an old monk before him.

Though the man was skeletal thin, Li Huowang recognized him instantly—the face matched that of the illusionary monk by his side exactly. This was the abbot of Zhengde Temple in Great Qi!

"Om Amitabha, I have come for alms. May you be generous in your offering," the monk said, pushing the copper bowl on the ground forward. The wooden fish fell silent at once.

"Alms? I won’t give it! What can you do about it?" At once, black tendrils emerged from within Li Huowang, wrapping around talismans and torture implements that floated in midair.

Footsteps echoed behind Li Huowang. Bai Lingmiao arrived with a group of White Lotus sect believers who seemed to have materialized from nowhere, silently standing behind him.

Not only Bai Lingmiao, but even the more capable villagers of Niu Xin Village hurriedly dressed and rushed toward the scene.

In terms of numbers, Li Huowang’s side clearly held the advantage.

Just as Li Huowang thought the monks would go for real confrontation, the abbot of Zhengde Temple rose, glanced at the White Lotus faithful beside Bai Lingmiao, and then bowed respectfully with both hands clasped while holding the wooden bowl, before departing with his monks.

"Li... Senior Brother Li, what are these demonic monks doing? Why did they just leave?" Gouwa asked in bewilderment.

Li Huowang frowned as he stared toward where the monks had gone. After a moment of contemplation, he spoke to Bai Lingmiao: "Take your people and secure the village first. I’ll go check what these monks are up to!"

He feared not thieves, but those who linger in malice. He worried these monks weren't done yet.

"Senior Brother Li, be careful—they’re numerous."

"It’s fine. Even if we can’t win, we can still run," Li Huowang said, his body shifting and vanishing underground, slipping into invisibility as he followed closely.

He should’ve seen it coming. The people of Great Qi had come to Great Liang, and so too had the religious sects of Great Qi. Naturally, other sects and schools would follow.

The monks wore no shoes, leaving clear footprints on the concrete. Li Huowang slowed his pace and trailed them carefully.

They walked two li before Li Huowang began to suspect they were planning a detour to attack Niu Xin Village. Then, suddenly, he caught a familiar scent of meat floating through the air.

He remembered that smell—it was human flesh! His expression darkened.

Looking around, Li Huowang used his limbs and tendrils to climb a tall pine tree, surveying the area from above. Soon, he saw the source of the aroma.

Not far away in the woods stood a clay Buddha statue placed upon a stone platform. A large crowd of ragged famine victims knelt on the ground, bowing repeatedly before the statue.

Beside the Buddha, something chilled Li Huowang to the bone. Several monks with distended bellies lay on the ground, legs raised high, dark red blood mingling with amniotic fluid slowly flowing across the earth.

What they gave birth to wasn’t babies—but grotesque masses of flesh, bone, and hair entangled together!

These pulsating lumps, still tethered by umbilical cords, were carried by monks and thrown into large jars set over fires.

As each bloody mass was tossed into the boiling water, the scent of meat grew stronger.

Soon, the kneeling famine victims stood up, lining up willingly, bowls in hand, drinking the broth into their stomachs.

They were eating that. Li Huowang felt intense nausea rise within him.

"Dear layman, I greet you with respect," came a voice from beneath the tree, sending chills down Li Huowang’s spine—he’d been discovered!

Without hesitation, he gripped his spine sword and charged downward.

His strike cleaved the monk below cleanly in half, yet the severed halves writhed rapidly, rejoining instantly to reform into their original shape.

His blow had no effect on the old monk.

Li Huowang glared fiercely at the face identical to the illusionary monk before him. “Damn it, how disgusting! What the hell are you doing with the famine victims?!”

The old monk raised his hands, adorned with prayer beads, and bowed respectfully. “Dear layman, saving one life is better than building seven levels of pagoda. We are saving lives.”

“Though we know we cannot save all the world’s suffering, we must help those before us.”

“To feed others such filth is to save lives? Then why don’t you eat it yourselves?”

“Om Amitabha, dear layman, we are monks. We cannot eat meat.”

“But they have no choice. Though it goes against morality, they must eat this or starve.”

The monk’s words left Li Huowang speechless, unsure what to say.

Were these monks of Zhengde Temple using such bizarre methods to create food to save the famine victims?

“Dear layman, in these times of the declining Dao, we have no grain to offer. So we use the Buddha’s teachings to protect all beings and show compassion,” said the abbot of Zhengde Temple, his face full of benevolence, his skull-like visage seeming to radiate divine light.

“Ahh~! Good man, truly good! Taoist, this monk looks just like me and is a good monk!” the illusionary monk beside him praised enthusiastically.

Li Huowang shot him a glare, then returned his attention to the abbot, who continued: “So… when you approached my village earlier, you really just wanted some food? You’ve got no food left at all?”

“Dear layman, we came for alms, nothing else. Why would you oppose us, compassionate monks?”

Li Huowang disagreed strongly. “Compassionate? When you stuff those baby girls into bottles, you call it compassion?”

“Dear layman, how did we get here? They were abandoned. If not for us, they would’ve been drowned or buried alive. We are giving these women a way to live. That is a good deed.”

“And making eunuchs bear children is also a good deed?”

“A good deed! Indeed, a great good deed—helping someone have descendants is surely a good deed!”

Li Huowang had no more words to say. He now understood clearly: these monks of Zhengde Temple were indeed doing good, just according to their own twisted understanding of it.

If someday they decided that arson and murder were good deeds, they wouldn’t hesitate to commit them.

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Next chapter updates at 11:32 PM.

(End of Chapter)