226: Obsession Becomes a Demon

Chu Mo and his group entered Jinshan Temple.

The once resplendent Jinshan Temple had again become dilapidated, with the ground covered in solidified greyish-black mud and sand, and verdant moss crawling over the broken walls.

Inside the main hall.

Countless dried skeletal remains of monks sat kneeling, still maintaining the posture of chanting Buddhist scriptures.

If one got closer, they could still hear a faint Buddhist chant, but these chants carried a crazy demonic quality.

A dense Devilish Qi ascended from the skeletal Buddha statue, slowly rising, and above the dome, the grey mournful clouds grew thicker.

White Cloud Zen Master led everyone into the hall, and then he performed a Buddhist salute to the skeletal remains of the monks.

"amitabha!"

"Wu Kong, please come and sit with me here. To resolve Fahai's obsession, we must first understand where his obsession truly originates."

As soon as Bai Lu stepped into the main hall.

The lifeless monks all turned their heads in unison, their gazes falling on her, their empty eyes filled with extremely dense resentment and Killing Intent.

The foot that had just stepped into the main hall quickly retreated.

"Oh my goodness, their eyes looking at me are so terrifying, like they want to flay me alive!" Bai Lu, who was just recovering from a serious injury, turned even paler after being startled by the skeletal remains of these monks.

"You're a snake demon, yet you're afraid of these monk skeletons? That's a bit too weak!" Li Tian Ce said with a smile, walking behind Chu Mo, waiting for the big boss to scout ahead.

Yan Chixia and Zhi Qiu Yi Ye were also waiting for others to enter, as everything in Jinshan Temple was too strange.

Especially the central Buddha statue, pieced together from countless skeletal remains, which appeared even more eerie and terrifying.

Even for them, practitioners of the Dao who frequently faced demons and evil spirits, at this moment, they had to be on high alert to face any evil spirits that might suddenly appear.

Glancing at everyone, Chu Mo boldly looked up and met the gaze of the skeletal Buddha statue.

He hadn't looked closely last time, but this time he had to thoroughly investigate Jinshan Temple.

As his gaze fell upon the skeletal Buddha statue, his pupils contracted.

This face was actually…

Fahai!!!

How could Fahai become like this?!

He had considered many scenarios where Fahai was seriously injured and died, with his obsession turning into a demon that controlled his body.

But he had never imagined Fahai sitting in the position of a Buddha, receiving the prostrations of all the monks in Jinshan Temple.

At this moment, White Cloud Zen Master's voice rang out.

"This is his obsession, the obsession with becoming a Buddha. This obsession has caused him to become like this. Jinshan Temple is his obsession with himself before becoming a Buddha, hence its grandeur and magnificence, and the monks are not greedy, angry, or foolish, all being Great Masters of virtue. Hang City is his obsession after becoming a Buddha, where all common people are saved, everyone has a Buddha nature, and everyone can become a Buddha, abandoning the evil of human nature and retaining only the good!"

"Present, past, future."

"These are the three thoughts!"

"And the carriers of these three obsessions are on us respectively!"

"Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing's demon souls carry his past, Xu Xian's human soul carries his present, and his Primordial Spirit carries his future."

White Cloud Zen Master spoke in an extremely profound manner, and those present listened in a daze, unable to comprehend his meaning, as if they had grasped something, yet grasped nothing at all, utterly bewildered.

"The two demon souls I slapped out of Bai Lu earlier should be Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing's demon souls. If so, does Bai Lu still carry his past? And you, who were slapped back into your original form by me just now, do you still carry his future as you claim?"

Chu Mo's gaze remained on the skeletal Buddha statue. As he spoke, he was constantly ready to launch an attack, feeling tense for a long time, but found that the skeletal Buddha statue was completely still.

White Cloud Zen Master did not answer him, but merely gestured for him to come forward and sit on the meditation cushion beside him.

Although Chu Mo was somewhat suspicious, he still walked over and sat down cross-legged on the meditation cushion.

However, no matter how he sat, he looked like a Daoist priest and not a monk, even if he took off his wig and revealed his shiny bald head, it remained the same.

Suddenly.

Chu Mo found that White Cloud Zen Master, who was sitting beside him, had disappeared, replaced by the young and handsome Fahai.

He himself had also disappeared from Jinshan Temple, appearing in a field.

This sudden change caught Chu Mo somewhat off guard, but he was not afraid. Instead, he calmly spoke: "Great Master Fahai, have you fallen into devilry? Or have you not?"

"Devil? What is a devil?" Fahai smiled in return.

This question stumped Chu Mo.

What is a devil?!

If the Righteous Path calls you a devil, then you are a devil?!

When did the right of interpretation belong to the Righteous Path?!

Then, doing whatever one wants, following one's heart in all matters? Isn't that the ultimate goal of Cultivating Immortals? To attain Great Freedom and Great Ease!

Burning, killing, plundering, committing all sorts of evil?!

What kind of low-class Devil Head would do such base things?!

Seemingly seeing Chu Mo's dilemma, Fahai laughed beside him and said, "The Great Dao is natural, and the human heart is inherently evil!"

"What is a Buddha? What is a devil?"

"Greed, anger, ignorance, hatred, love, aversion, desire—which of humans, demons, devils, ghosts, monsters, immortals, Buddhas, or gods can avoid these seven words in their lifetime?!"

Chu Mo was speechless for a moment.

This… there really isn't!

It's always said that monks are free from all worldly attachments and let go of everything, but there's also a saying: 'Man strives for a breath, Buddha strives for an incense stick.'

Since Buddha strives for this incense stick, then he has committed the sin of greed.

Buddha can also be greedy!

"Wait, why am I agonizing over this? I don't need to consider these things." Chu Mo looked at Fahai with a strange expression. He had almost been led astray by him.

"Great Master Fahai, I'll just ask you one thing: Are you conscious?!"

"Conscious, I am extremely conscious!"

Although Fahai said this, his gaze remained fixed on the three-year-old child playing in the field.

Chu Mo followed his gaze.

Oh, how come this child looks so much like Fahai?

Wait a minute…

"That wouldn't happen to be you when you were little, would it?!"

Fahai did not answer him, only looked ahead.

The child was catching grasshoppers in the field, while the child's father and mother were diligently working in the field.

This was a very ordinary family.

But the scene before them shifted, becoming a Shura field.

The ground was covered with corpses, and the child knelt beside his 'sleeping' parents. The heavy rain poured down, but it could not wash away the strong smell of blood.

A tall wolf demon walked towards the child, clearly treating the child as prey.

The wolf demon pounced, and just as the child was about to lose his life, a monk appeared. The Buddhist beads in his hand shot into the wolf demon's body like cannonballs, saving the child.

The wolf demon's foul-smelling blood splattered across the child's face.

The child did not cry or fuss, but merely stared blankly at the approaching monk.

"It's alright! You're safe!"

The monk held the child in his arms, wiped the blood from his face with his sleeve, and chanted the 'Rebirth Mantra', clearly performing a ritual to guide the souls of the entire village.

The child pointed at the corpses on the ground, somewhat unwilling to leave with the monk: "Where are Daddy and Mommy? If I leave, they won't find me when they wake up!"

The monk paused his chanting of the 'Rebirth Mantra'.

"Your parents have gone to the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. When you Cultivate to become a Buddha, you will be able to see them again!"

"Then how do I Cultivate to become a Buddha?"

"Learn Buddhist Dharma, save the world, and slay demons and evil! When your Karma is at Perfection, you will be able to become a Buddha!"

The monk patted the child's shoulder, then made him fall asleep.

The surroundings changed, and it was already a few years later.

The child had grown a little, sitting in the Grand Hall, chanting Buddhist scriptures before the Buddha statue.

He had already shaved his head and entered Buddhism, and he even had his own Buddhist name, Fahai.

"Master said that as long as I chant the Buddhist scriptures a million times, I can become a Buddhist Great Master. Now it's the one thousand three hundred sixty-fifth time. Come on, Fahai, you can do it!"

Looking at such a pure and adorable young Fahai, Chu Mo couldn't help but tease the adult Fahai beside him: "I didn't expect you to be quite pure when you were little. But your master really dared to say that chanting a million times would make you a Buddhist Great Master. Isn't he just taking advantage of your honesty!"

Fahai said nothing, only watched quietly.

Outside the hall, the monk who had saved Fahai earlier walked in. However, he was now Fahai's master.

"Fahai, during the time I'm not in the temple, you must study Buddhist Dharma well. Don't be lazy, understand?!"

"How long until Master returns?!" His master would occasionally go out to subdue demons and devils, and the frequency had been increasing recently, but Fahai still asked as usual.

However, his master's answer this time was unusually different.

"This time, going down the mountain to slay demons and devils, I might not return, or I might return! If I return, it means my Cultivation is not yet at Perfection and I still need to work hard to Cultivate. If I don't return, then you must strive to Cultivate to become a Buddha, because I will be waiting for you in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss!"

Inside the hall, the young Fahai this time did not chant Buddhist scriptures as usual. He merely stared blankly at the procession of his master and the other monks departing.

A few days later, the monks who had gone out to subdue demons returned.

They looked sorrowful, bringing back many sariras left behind by deceased monks, but only a damaged kasaya of Fahai's master, Chan Master Lingyou, was seen, with no sariras.

Fahai held his master's kasaya in his arms, and his master's words from before he left echoed in his mind: "If I return, it means my Cultivation is not yet at Perfection and I still need to work hard to Cultivate. If I don't return, then you must strive to Cultivate to become a Buddha, because I will be waiting for you in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss."

There were no sariras left after his passing, only a kasaya. Since this was the case, his master must have achieved Karma Perfection and gone to the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss!

Afterward, Fahai studied Buddhism even more diligently.

However, Jinshan Temple had changed greatly since the last time the monks went down the mountain to eliminate demons.

The familiar faces of the past were now gone.

The sariras left by those Great Masters after their Perfection were given to some high-ranking officials by the new abbot.

They were euphemistically called: 'These objects are fated with them.'

However, Jinshan Temple also attracted more pilgrims because of this, and more people were willing to donate incense money.

The scale of Jinshan Temple gradually grew, and the number of monks in the temple also gradually increased.

However, they had no Buddha nature at all, only a heart full of desires.

He saw the changes in Jinshan Temple in his heart but was powerless to do anything.

Ultimately, he could only continuously study Buddhist scriptures, attempting to find a way to save Jinshan Temple from within.

He hadn't fully understood the knowledge within the Buddhist scriptures.

Instead, he found a piece of scripture from the kasaya left by his master. Upon first reading the scripture, he felt an intense headache and blood flowing backward. Only the Buddhist scriptures beside him could alleviate his pain.

While studying the Buddhist scripture on the kasaya, whenever his head throbbed, he would pick up the 'Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva's Fundamental Vows Sutra' beside him and chant it.

Unexpectedly, he actually comprehended a Divine Ability Cultivation Technique from it.

"This... is truly Heaven-Defying!" As he watched Fahai's growth process, Chu Mo only felt that the Fahai before him was truly Heaven-Defying.

No one had ever taught him how to Cultivate, yet he was able to independently comprehend a Divine Ability Cultivation Technique from Buddhist scriptures.

Could one say he wasn't formidable?!

It was a pity that Chu Mo tried to glimpse the scripture on the kasaya from these scenes, but he could never see it clearly, as if it were obscured by a mist.

He knew that Fahai didn't want him to see it.

"How petty." Chu Mo muttered.