The old monk appeared to have profound cultivation. The ropes binding him were specially made, covered in poisonous barbs, yet he endured and remained lucid, his eyes clear.
But Fo Lian sneered, "Fa Wu, Fa Wu. As the abbot of Dong Ling Temple for this generation, you truly disappoint. Still putting on a pious act even now."
Monk Fa Wu shook his head in agony. "The thirteen guards of Dong Ling have been subdued by you, the Dong Ling Guardian Zhu family cooperates with you, and even the temple's protectors, arhats, and the three hall masters are your people. All the Dong Ling believers in the world believe you are the reincarnation of the Peacock Ming King Buddha Mother. Why are you still not satisfied? Within Dong Ling and the East Sea, you are already the supreme deity..."
He pleaded, "Even the Baekje monks from Qing Long Temple on the Goryeo continent acknowledge your sect's status. Must you still do such wicked deeds?"
Fo Lian scoffed, "Fa Wu, do you know how vast this world is?"
"The four seas of Dong Ling? What a joke! That's merely a small island in the East Sea. The Goryeo continent? Just a few larger, dilapidated islands in the sea. Let alone the Nine Provinces of Great Xia, there are still seven continents and four oceans, a boundless expanse, an endless world! What I want is the entire world!"
Fo Lian's eyes became somewhat frenzied. "When my plan is complete and the Pure Land descends upon Great Xia, I will lead them to conquer overseas. I want my name to be known wherever starlight shines!"
What kind of ambition was this?
Such ambition in a young girl.
Fa Wu's voice trembled, "In my eyes, you are still just a child."
"Shut up! I am not your child. Blood ties mean nothing!" Fo Lian sneered, "When you violated my mother, were you so compassionate then?"
"How could a pitiful fishing girl from the East Sea stand against the future abbot of Dong Ling Temple? You were so proud back then. What disgusting things did you do yourself? Going to hell would be too good for you."
Fa Wu closed his eyes. "That... that was an accident. My cultivation failed, and I went into qi deviation..."
"Haha..." Fo Lian's laughter was filled with mockery. "All the high monks in Dong Ling Temple's history have cultivated, and all have experienced qi deviation. How come it only happened when it was you who caused trouble? Or are you implying my mother was shameless and deliberately seduced you?"
Fa Wu refused to discuss it.
What the truth was back then, it no longer mattered. It was all his fault.
He lowered his head and chanted Buddhist scriptures.
Fo Lian slapped him hard. "You dare to chant Buddhist scriptures? My mother was only nineteen. What kind of life did she lead after giving birth to me? That's not all. To ensure your succession as abbot, your master and his juniors personally led the Dong Ling Guards to kill my mother to silence her. That is Dong Ling Temple's greatest sin!"
Fa Wu's supposed composure finally broke, and he shouted, "I had no idea! I was in self-reproach and regret at the time, confined to the temple!"
Fo Lian chuckled, "Even if you had known, you would have tacitly agreed, because you wanted to be the abbot."
"No! If I had known, I would have taken off my袈裟 (jiāshā, Buddhist monk's robe) and fled with you and your mother!" Fa Wu's face was filled with tears. "By the time I learned the truth, it was too late."
Haha!
Fo Lian let out a sharp laugh. "You're saying that out of fear, aren't you? Just like your masters and their juniors. They never imagined that the seemingly weak and helpless fishing girl actually possessed the bloodline of the Demonic Cult!"
"That night, Mother awakened the power of the Rakshasa of the Demonic Cult, but she was still killed by you. Before she died, she passed on the knowledge and power of the Demonic Cult to me. And what you never imagined was that Mother also knew the resting place of Dong Ling's founding ancestor!"
"It's in a cave beneath the sea. That Dong Ling ancestor and the Hell Transformation Diagram are hidden beneath the coral reef."
Fo Lian's face was full of pride. "I entered the coral cave and consumed Dong Ling's founding ancestor's remains as food, drinking octopus blood. For three full years, I comprehended all of Dong Ling's spells and mastered the Hell Transformation Diagram!"
She took a deep breath. "When I reappeared before Dong Ling Temple, your fate was sealed!"
With the relics of Dong Ling's founding ancestor as sustenance, the demoness who had lurked in the depths of the sea for three years reappeared that night, which was Fa Wu's deepest nightmare.
He would never forget that stormy night. Outside the temple gates stood a ten-year-old girl, clad in seaweed, holding the Hell Transformation Diagram.
The hundred iron guards protecting Dong Ling Temple had no time to react before they were instantly absorbed into hell.
His master, his juniors, and those highly respected great dharma masters were powerless.
Finally, Fo Lian bound his master and juniors and stood them before the Bright Hall of the Buddhist temple. Beneath the statue of the Buddha, with a fish-scale knife, she made sixty-four thousand cuts.
His master and juniors were sliced into sixty-four thousand pieces.
However, that was merely the beginning of the nightmare.
All twelve hundred monks in the temple were forcibly made to eat a mouthful of flesh and blood.
That night, in Dong Ling Temple, a thousand monks ate human flesh, and blood flowed like a spring. That was the true hell on earth.
Fo Lian looked at her biological father. "You ate too!"
Fa Wu closed his eyes, speechless.
"You ate the hearts of those who killed my mother! I prepared it especially for you! Haha, I really miss that moment, watching the highly respected Grand Abbot of Dong Ling consume flesh and blood..."
"No, don't say any more..." Fa Wu's voice was hoarse.
Fo Lian seemed satisfied. She suddenly rolled up Fa Wu's sleeve.
The aged Fa Wu revealed two arms with skin like a woman's.
Snow-white like jade, delicate and petite!
This was the result of the Demonic Cult's secret technique, which Fo Lian maintained daily.
Now, a fake Hell Diagram was placed in Fa Wu's hand.
These hands, this scroll of the Hell Diagram, were exactly like the ones he showed from the van that day. Even a red mole on the back of his hand had been replicated.
"Qin Ye Xuan is a contemporary powerhouse. The biggest flaw of a powerhouse is overconfidence! That day, I deliberately exposed my hand to make him remember it clearly. That way, you can be my scapegoat! When he sees these hands, he will believe you are the mastermind."
Fo Lian smiled faintly, then turned the chair, revealing strange rune arrays beneath.
"These are three sets of mutually restraining arrays. I've used all the materials I've accumulated over the years. Soon, due to spiritual energy conflict, they will explode. And Qin Ye Xuan will personally witness the Hell Transformation Diagram and its master being destroyed on Spirit Dream Mountain!"
This plan might not be exceptionally brilliant or intricate, but every detail was executed to perfection.
Fo Lian was supremely confident because she believed she had thoroughly studied Qin Ye Xuan.
"No matter what, I will go to hell to atone!" Fa Wu seemed despairing. "Daughter, give me a quick end. Let me die here immediately, and no longer defile Dong Ling's Buddhist gate."
"You want to die? You want to go to hell? Is it that easy?"
Fo Lian chuckled softly. "I will inject your soul into a comatose woman and send her to a Thai massage parlor. That woman is twenty this year and can work in the parlor for at least thirty more years. Fa Wu, enjoy the rest of your life! Men from all over the world seeking pleasure will like you. You can even delve into Buddhist studies, haha, saving all sentient beings..."
Humans could not devise such a wicked method.
A punishment more cruel than any torture!
Fa Wu instantly collapsed, roaring hoarsely.
Fo Lian clasped her hands together, a sinister smile on her face. Her fingers contorted, and she suddenly pressed down on his head.
A wisp of white energy, invisible to the naked eye, drifted from the old monk's head.
Fo Lian reached out and grabbed, producing a white jade bottle from her sleeve. The white soul was captured within the bottle.
She hummed a little tune, shaking the bottle triumphantly, then put it away.
Outside, Qin Ye Xuan had already appeared at the foot of Free and Easy Peak, slowly walking up the mountain path...