Stranger Danger

“Where did that corpse take me to?”

Ye Qing’s eyebrows were locked tight as he scanned his surroundings with his demonic thought. Thankfully, he couldn’t sense any danger within the room.

He was unable to poke his demonic thought beyond the boundaries of the room, however. Whatever this bluestone was, it could insulate his demonic thought and prevent him from sensing beyond.

Besides that, Ye Qing could sense a mysterious power permeating the room. He couldn’t make heads or tails of it, but it was profound in a way that was beneficial toward one’s meditation and cultivation.

Obviously, Ye Qing was in no mood to cultivate right now, and he wouldn’t be until he was sure he was safe. A brief moment of hesitation later, he gingerly reached out and grabbed the door handle.

The second he pulled open the door, every hair on his body suddenly stood on end. His senses were warning him that something terrible would happen if he so much as poked his toes out of the threshold.

He hesitated again, but he ultimately steeled his resolve and walked forward. As soon as he stepped out of the room, a terrible chill gripped his body, and a Buddha abruptly appeared in the distance.

The Buddha had three heads and six arms, and the arms wielded a monk knife, prayer bead, golden alms bowl, monk staff, wooden fish, and seal each. He was radiating a Buddha’s light throughout his body like a sun, and each time his foot left the floor, sweet spring water would gush forth and spill lotuses everywhere.

This would be a most pleasing sight if not for the fact that the Buddha had no face. All three faces of the Buddha were completely blank. Strangely, Ye Qing could tell that the Buddha was wearing a merciful expression even though he didn’t have a face.

Buddhist mantras bounced off the corridor as the Buddha walked toward an unknown destination. Ye Qing could vaguely identify the famous quote, “The sea of bitterness has no bounds, turn your head to see the shore. Lay down the butcher's knife, become a Buddha on the spot” within the chant.

The Buddhist quote was meant to persuade people to abandon evil and strive for goodness, but the strange Buddha kept changing his pitch and volume. Sometimes it was loud, and sometimes it was soft. Sometimes it was high-pitched, and sometimes it was low. As a result, the peaceful quote sounded strange and disturbing.

When Ye Qing heard the quote, guilt suddenly welled inside his heart. He couldn’t help but regret everything he ever did to the point he wanted to kill himself.

Realizing that something was amiss, Ye Qing hurriedly shielded his mind with his demonic thought. Once his demonic lotus wobbled a little and eliminated the unnatural emotions that were taking root inside his heart, he immediately returned to normal.

It was then Ye Qing saw five or six people stepping out of the darkness. There were men, women, old, young, weak and strong. The strongest warrior he spotted was a Spirit Purifier, whereas the weakest was a Vessel Augmentor.

They all shared one common trait, however. Their expressions were dazed, and they were all walking toward the faceless Buddha. Once they had reached the entity, they abruptly dropped to their knees and began bawling their hearts out. That wasn’t all. One person began severing his own veins, another began slamming her head against the floor, a third drew his saber and cut his own neck...

Just seconds later, every single one of these warriors were dead.

The faceless Buddha didn’t react toward their deaths whatsoever. He continued to walk in Ye Qing’s direction. As the chanting grew louder, guilt and regret began welling inside his heart once more.

What the hell is this thing?

Shocked and wary of the entity’s power, Ye Qing was just about to beat a hasty retreat when suddenly, he heard a familiar voice, “It’s you, brother! Thank the heavens!”

Ye Qing turned and saw a head poking out of a nearby room. He exclaimed in astonishment, “Yi Pin?!”

The person was none other than the cunning Taoist he had journeyed with at the Demon’s Tomb, Yi Pin. Ye Qing wasn’t expecting to find a familiar face in this place at all.

“What are you standing there for? Come in already! Before the Faceless Buddha gets us!” Yi Pin urged.

Ye Qing didn’t hesitate this time. He immediately dashed toward Yi Pin’s room.

Y Pin slammed the door shut as soon as he entered the room. He looked worried and fearful.

Yi Pin’s room was no bigger than his own, so it was fairly cramped all things considered.

“What is this place, brother? And why are you here?” Ye Qing asked.

“Shh!” Yi Pin shushed him with a stern expression. At the same time, the Buddhist mantra began growing louder and louder. Clearly, the faceless Buddha was walking straight toward them.

“The sea of bitterness has no bounds

Turn your head to see the shore

Lay down the butcher's knife

Become a Buddha on the spot”

The bizarre mantra kept changing in pitch and volume, and Ye Qing’s mind wobbled with it. He began feeling like everything he did since arriving in this world was wrong. His weakness had resulted in the destruction of August Hill Village, his involvement had caused many deaths in Anyang, his presence had caused many Luo Shui citizens to suffer, and his mistake had plunged Tian Yong city into chaos.

Wrong...

Wrong...

Wrong...

It was bad enough that everything he did was wrong, but his hands were covered in blood as well.

His killing of Strangers showed how little he regarded life,

His murder of humans showed how little he cared for his kindred;

The fact that innocents were dragged into his mess proved his lack of ethics,

And the fact that he practiced a heretical art proved his inability to differentiate right from wrong.

Regret...

Regret...

Regret...

As guilt, regret, and all sorts of negative emotions took root inside his heart, the blurry silhouette of a faceless Buddha radiating a Buddha’s light appeared before his eyes.

... The Buddha is merciful. Lay down the butcher's knife, and become a Buddha on the spot...

Ye Qing felt the urge to kneel before the Buddha and repent. He felt the urge to cut open his own neck and atone for his sins.

“No. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I do not regret a thing either.”

“Why should I atone when I did no wrong, and I regret none of my decisions?”

Suddenly, Ye Qing tapped the space in front of him with his fingers. The image of the faceless Buddha wobbled, but it didn’t shatter. The Buddhist mantra grew stronger.

“I don’t worship the Buddha, so why are you disturbing me?”

Ye Qing’s eyes slowly turned as dark as the night. Inside his headspace, the demonic lotus with only three unfurled petals began bobbing up and down and absorbing all of the negative emotions that had taken root inside his mind. Once they had been converted into refined demonic qi, a blurry silhouette slowly appeared atop the lotus.

The silhouette was his Yin God. It looked blurry, fluid and indistinct because he had just begun to create his Yin God.

“There is no Buddha in me, so how can you bind me?”

“Begone!”

The Yin God floating atop the demonic lotus lowered his fingers, and Ye Qing’s demonic thought transformed into a razor sharp blade. It swung down on the faceless Buddha and divided it into two instantly.

The Buddhist mantra that pressed him to kill himself immediately vanished.

“Oooo... I’m useless...”

“Ahhhh... I am guilty. I failed to bring glory to my sect. I do deserve to die...”

It was at this moment Ye Qing heard a sobbing noise coming from beside him. It would seem that Yi Pin was also affected by the Buddhist mantra because he was kneeling on the floor and weeping uncontrollably.

At first, Ye Qing was worried that Yi Pin would rush out of the room and commit suicide in front of the Faceless Buddha just like the warriors he saw earlier. However, he slowly realized that Yi Pin was only crying and screaming to the world how useless and worthless he was. Seeing as he showed no signs of committing suicide, Yi Pin clearly knew a way to shield himself from the mantra’s deadlier effects.

It was at this moment the Buddhist mantra restarted anew. Seeing that Yi Pin was fine, Ye Qing concentrated on himself and fought back against the anomalous mantra. At the same time, he watched the door closely just in case the faceless Buddha decided to barge into the room.

Time passed slowly, and the Buddhist mantra outside his doorsteps only grew stronger. Luckily for him, the “Paranirmitava?avartin Heavenly Demon Sutra” was a profound cultivation art that not only shielded his mind from its mental influence, but also absorbed the negative emotions sprouting inside his heart to fuel its growth. Even so, he slipped bit by bit as time passed, and his concentration began to falter.

As for Yi Pin, his tears had run completely dry. He was dry sobbing and screaming incoherently.

The only silver lining was the fact that the faceless Buddha hadn’t rushed into the room. Otherwise, the consequences would be unimaginable.

An indefinite amount of time later, when Ye Qing felt like he was floating inside a dream, the volume of the Buddhist mantra finally began to weaken. It felt like the faceless Buddha was slowly walking away from their room.

A dozen or so breaths later, the Buddhist mantra disappeared completely, and silence finally returned to the room. Or at least, it would have if Yi Pin wasn’t still dry sobbing at the top of his lungs.

“You can stop screaming now, brother,” said Ye Qing while hitting Yi Pin’s face lightly. You think this is a funeral or something?

To be honest, Ye Qing really wanted to dish Yi Pin a hard slap just like that time at the Demon’s Tomb. To say that that slap was one of the most pleasing experiences of his life would be an understatement. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a scapegoat this time, so had no choice but to hold himself back.

“Is the Faceless Buddha gone?” Yi Pin asked as soon as he snapped out of his incoherent state.

“Yep.” Ye Qing asked, “Do you know what that thing is?”

Yi Pin wiped away the snot and tears on his face and exhaled deeply. Then, he sat down on the floor with his legs splayed and said, “That’s the Faceless Buddha and the Deadly Mantra.”

“Faceless Buddha? Deadly Mantra?” Ye Qing asked with a frown.

Yi Pin answered, “The Faceless Buddha is a Phenomenon-class Stranger with the appearance of a Buddha, but the heart of a wretched monster. Born from the dark side of a senior Buddhist monk who passed away, everything the late monk ever learned would transform into a Deadly Mantra that tempts its victims into death. Those who are weak-willed would feel such unbearable guilt and regret that they had no choice but to kill themselves to atone for their sins and partake in the Buddha’s light.”

Ye Qing nodded in understanding.

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