Chapter 1 Nightmare Assault

Fu Ji is the abbot of the Abstinence Temple. Last night, he mentioned that he would try to awaken the monks in the illusory realm. What they need to do tonight is to help those who have been awakened to completely break free from the illusory realm. The more people they save, the stronger Huicong’s good thoughts will be, and the greater the chance of success.

"I believe you." Jiang Cheng untied the rope on Huiqing's hands.

Seeing this, Commander Zhao was unhappy. He was about to step forward and ask for clarification when Song Tianming stopped him. "Don't interfere with Little Friend Jiang's work."

After comforting Huiqing with a few words, Jiang Cheng got to the point, "I'm asking you, where is the missing child now?"

"In...in the Merit Hall. You must hurry, those...those beasts aren't human, they will kill him!" Huiqing began to shed tears again in her anxiety, her pale face becoming even more pitiful.

Jiang Cheng turned around and looked at Ye Qiutang. Ye Qiutang nodded to Jiang Cheng very seriously, saying in a solemn tone, "Tell us what to do, and we will do it tonight."

"Let's go, first to the Merit Hall."

The group hurried through the night. Huiqing led the way in front. Taking advantage of no one noticing, Song Tianming winked at Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng slowed down and stepped back with Song Tianming. Song Tianming cautiously stared at Huiqing's figure, his voice very low, "Little Friend Jiang, it's not that this old man doesn't trust you, but this Huiqing seems quite strange. Have you thought about how she escaped, even if she really woke up? Would those monks let her go easily?"

Watching Huiqing's hurried steps, Jiang Cheng replied in a low voice as well, "Senior Song, don't worry, I have a plan. However, we must come to this Merit Hall tonight, there's no avoiding it. Let's follow her and see what happens for now, but we can't rely on her for everything."

"It's good that you have a plan, Little Friend. We must be careful." Song Tianming frowned, quite worried about tonight.

Finally, they saw the Merit Hall, which was still brightly lit. They could hear the noise coming from that direction from afar.

"Quick, they're inside. Let's find a place to hide and observe. After they've drunk too much, we'll save the person." Huiqing pointed to the window where Jiang Cheng and the others had hidden before, "Let's go, we'll hide there."

However, before Huiqing could lead the way, a hand pressed on her shoulder. Huiqing turned her head in surprise, meeting Jiang Cheng's face. Jiang Cheng had a warm smile on his face, "Little Master Huiqing, don't be anxious. I don't think that place is very good. Let's go, let's find another place."

After saying that, without waiting for Huiqing to agree, he pulled her towards another direction. Last night's hiding place had been exposed, and those evil monks like Huide and Huiming might be keeping a close watch on it. Jiang Cheng wasn't that stupid. As for whether Huiqing really didn't know or was pretending, it was still difficult to judge.

Suddenly, Huiqing seemed to realize something, stopping and looking at the team behind her, "What's going on? Where are...where are those people?"

The original team of eight was now only four people: Jiang Cheng, Fatty, Song Tianming, and Huiqing herself.

"Don't worry, Little Master Huiqing. There were too many of us, making the target too obvious, so I had them split up. They'll find a place to hide, don't worry," Jiang Cheng said with a smile.

"How can that be? Those monks sometimes come out to relieve themselves. What if they accidentally bump into someone..."

"It won't happen, they're not even near here, they've gone somewhere else," Jiang Cheng replied, "They didn't even come."

Without saying anything more, the group found a hidden place to hide. There was a side window here. The Merit Hall was very large, and there were many places like this.

Using a finger to poke a hole in the thin window paper, the four of them looked inside through the hole. Inside was still the same scene. The monks sitting around the table were drinking and eating large pieces of meat, and there were naked monks indulging in lasciviousness, groaning, chewing, the sound of wine bowls colliding... These images combined together created extreme discomfort.

Of course, there was also the abused monk Huicong, who was even thinner, with his ribs protruding one by one. Tonight he was even more miserable, stripped naked by the burly monks around him and forcibly pressed onto another woman lying on the table. "Junior Brother Huicong, hurry up and cultivate merit! Senior brothers are waiting to see!"

Scanning the licentious Merit Hall, Jiang Cheng frowned slightly. He noticed that there were some different things this time.

On the far right side of the Merit Hall, under the Bodhisattva statue that lowered its head to look down on all living beings, there were three huge offering plates, with pig heads, sheep heads, and bull heads placed in front of them respectively. It seemed that they were offering the Three Sacrifices.

The three offering plates were covered with red cloth. From the shape, it could be seen that underneath were the bodies of pigs, cows, and sheep that had been decapitated. Among them, the volumes of the pigs and cows were obviously larger, while the sheep's body in the middle was much smaller.

These livestock all looked very fresh, probably having been slaughtered not long ago, and the surrounding area was covered with patches of blood.

In front of those offerings, there were also a dozen futons, and at the moment, several bare-chested monks were sitting cross-legged on them, drinking and eating meat right under the Bodhisattva's eyes.

After a moment, with a "creak—" sound, the hidden door behind the bookshelf was pushed open, and a familiar figure walked out, "Hehe, fellow junior brothers are working hard, truly great merit!"

Monk Huiming, who had several moles on the corner of his mouth, came out of the secret passage accompanied by three monks.

Seeing Huiming appear, the surrounding monks stood up one after another, putting their greasy hands that had grabbed wine and meat together, their faces a little excited, but more of an unusual piety, "Senior Brother Huiming, you've finally come, quickly kowtow to the Bodhisattva, we can't miss the big day!"

Huiming turned his head and looked at the Three Sacrifices offering in front of the Bodhisattva statue, his eyes slightly narrowed, "Well, it was really not easy to gather these Three Sacrifices. Fellow junior brothers have worked hard."

"Come, how can I enjoy such great merit alone? Quickly bring our Junior Brother Huicong here, let him worship the Bodhisattva, and cultivate to achieve enlightenment and dispel the demons in his heart." Huiming waved his sleeves and shouted at the monks nearby.

Monk Huicong, who was panting from being tormented, saw someone pull him up and walk towards the Bodhisattva statue. The whole person seemed to receive a great shock and struggled non-stop. For a moment, several people couldn't hold him down, "No...no! I...I won't worship, I won't worship the Bodhisattva who eats two-legged sheep!"

After hearing the three words "two-legged sheep", Jiang Cheng was stunned for a moment, and then his face instantly changed, while Song Tianming breathed out a heavy sigh.

Seeing Huicong's intense reaction, the nearby monks burst into laughter. The scarred-face monk with a dirty cloth tied around his waist grabbed the red cloth behind the sheep's head and suddenly lifted it.

Fatty was stunned for a moment. What was in the offering plate was not a sheep at all, but a bloody corpse of a child.

The corpse was strangely curled up, arranged in the posture of a sheep, and its head was also chopped off, being held in the arms of the corpse.