The Wound

“Fff—shhh—” The hissing sound continued without pause as black fluid sprayed from the gaping wound in Li Huowang’s body.

It was his own stomach, after all. His face twisted in agony as he staggered and collapsed to the ground.

But when he saw Danyangzi’s twisted body beginning to waver as well, a grim satisfaction flickered across his features.

As long as he could kill Danyangzi, he didn’t care how much he suffered!

“Ungrateful whelp! If Daoist Master hadn’t stepped in, you’d still be drowning in your delusions!”

Li Huowang gritted his teeth, his blade trembling as he pressed down harder.

“Who the fuck asked you to step in?! It’s because of YOU that I live in this much pain!!”

“Fine! Very fine!!” The three pairs of eyes in Danyangzi’s face blazed with murderous intent, and that intent infected Li Huowang as well.

In that moment, no other emotion remained in Li Huowang’s heart. The only thing he wanted was to kill Danyangzi!

Just as the suffocating tension reached its peak, a thick swarm of flies descended from the sky, wrapping both of them in rot and filth.

In the distance, the six nuns led by Jingxin pressed their prayer-bead-wrapped hands together with force, and began chanting along with the massive Buddha statue.

“No suffering, no cause of suffering, no cessation, no path. No wisdom, no attainment, and no non-attainment. Because nothing is attained, the bodhisattva, relying on Prajnaparamita, has no hindrance in the mind. Because there is no hindrance, there is no fear. Far beyond all inverted thoughts, they reach ultimate Nirvana. All Buddhas of the three times, relying on Prajnaparamita…”

As the chanting rose, the decay, filth, and obesity on their bodies began to diminish at a visible speed.

These things intermingled, spreading endlessly into the air.

In response, a change occurred in the sky. Where it had split open, a colossal eye appeared—the eye of a pure, undefiled, wrathful Arhat, blotting out the sky.

“HAH!” A shout of rage pierced the air for several dozen li. The entire space shuddered, and every unnatural thing in Anci Nunnery began to rapidly scatter—including Danyangzi.

—

Bai Lingmiao woke in a daze. When she finally came to her senses, she found herself face-down over a huge wok of greasy fried rice, both hands shoving the food into her mouth.

“Ugh—!” She spat out the cloying rice and looked around in panic.

After a moment, she realized she was sitting normally in Anci Nunnery’s kitchen, surrounded by fat nuns eating, their chewing and swallowing drilling into her ears.

She turned back to the iron wok and saw that the rice wasn’t just for her—it was for the whole table.

Gouwa, Xiaoman, Baolu, Yang Xiaohai, Gao Zhijian—they were all there, wolfing down food just like the nuns.

But soon, they snapped out of it too, staring around in alarm.

“What… what happened? How did we end up here?” The others clearly hadn’t processed what was going on yet.

Bai Lingmiao quickly scanned the room. Everyone was there—except Li Huowang.

“What the hell’s going on? Weren’t we doing an exorcism for Senior Brother? How did we end up eating here? They didn’t even put vegetables in it—it’s too greasy to swallow.”

Gouwa glanced at the other tables. The nuns there didn’t bother acknowledging him; they were frantically stuffing themselves, though they weren’t eating fried rice but moldy steamed buns and other food.

A hint of urgency in her voice, Bai Lingmiao walked up behind one of the fat nuns. “Master, have you seen my Senior Brother Li?”

“Senior Brother Li? That Heart-Element kid? He’s with Jingxin. Go find her there.”

The nun answered without turning around, still grabbing for food as she spoke, afraid of missing out.

When the group crossed the swamp of moldy food again and reached Jingxin’s quarters, they saw Li Huowang standing there, talking to a nun with a very strange appearance. She was strange indeed—her eye sockets held no eyes, the whole cavity sunken inward.

Her frame was emaciated, but her skin hung loose, excessively wide. The skin under her chin sagged to her belly, and the skin on her belly pooled on the floor, draping her like an oversized robe.

Hearing their footsteps, Li Huowang turned around. A smile spread across his face as he waved them over.

Bai Lingmiao felt a jolt of surprise. This was the first time she had seen Senior Brother Li smile.

“You’re here? Were you scared? The masters of Anci Nunnery have some powers that are hard to fully retract—it’s normal to be affected.” Li Huowang explained to the others.

As Bai Lingmiao drew closer, she was struck by the appearance of the gaunt, skeletal nun. She was far too beautiful.

Even with the woman’s strange form, even though Bai Lingmiao was a woman herself.

She pulled Li Huowang aside and whispered, “Senior Brother Li, who is this person?”

“This is Jingxin. What, you don’t recognize her?”

As Li Huowang finished speaking, the blind, skin-dragging young woman in the distance nodded at the others.

“Her?! That’s Jingxin?! The massive fatty who couldn’t even walk?”

Everyone’s eyes went wide. The contrast was too extreme.

“Anci Nunnery’s methods are different from anywhere else. Let’s not ask questions. But thankfully, with Jingxin putting in so much effort, it worked. My trouble is gone. Danyangzi won’t be coming out again.”

When they heard Li Huowang’s final words, everyone’s faces lit up with relief, offering their congratulations.

After a brief exchange, a genial Li Huowang raised his hands to calm their flood of questions.

“I still have some business to take care of here. It’ll probably take a while. You all head out first. Once I’m done, I’ll catch up as soon as I can.”

“Senior Brother Li, what kind of business takes so long? Why don’t we stay and help you?” Bai Lingmiao was the first to object to splitting up.

“Don’t be difficult. You can’t help with cultivation matters. Go on ahead. At most ten days, and I’ll catch up.”

“Besides, you need to get home, don’t you? Hurry up. You’ve already been delayed this long. Any more and you’ll be spending another New Year out on the road.”

“It’s not like I’m not leaving. Relax. As long as you follow the route I’ve drawn on the map, I’ll definitely catch up.”

After Li Huowang’s persuasion, the others were finally convinced. They turned and left Anci Nunnery.

As their figures gradually disappeared from view, the smile on Li Huowang’s face slowly faded, replaced by pain.

He undid his red Daoist robe and pulled up his shirt. A massive gash gaped in his abdomen, filled with dense white maggots crawling in and out.

“Within Anci Nunnery, this wound will heal in a few days. What you should be worried about is something else. You know what I mean.”

(End of chapter)