Chapter 88 Starting with You, the Village Chief
When Yuankong stepped out of the tavern again, he did not dare to look back no matter how loud the sounds behind him became.
After all...
Over there, limbs, heads, brains, and blood were mixed all over the ground.
Not a single person could stand to answer questions anymore.
The hell described in Buddhist scriptures was nothing more than this.
At this moment, Yuankong felt his stomach churning. The world outside the temple was indeed dangerous beyond measure, and he had indeed been too naive.
Moreover, he had actually watched calmly as Chu Xingchen, with a relaxed smile, dismembered that group of people into pieces.
Just to confirm a piece of information.
However, Chu Xingchen was still alright, but that fairy-like girl, her methods were far more ruthless than Chu Xingchen's...
At this moment, Yuankong felt as if he had gone astray.
It was as if he was being led by two evil cultivators to do bad things.
Chu Xingchen looked at Yuankong's ugly expression and lightly patted his small shoulder, saying:
"Smile, didn't we get the key information?"
Yuankong turned his head and revealed a very ugly smile to Chu Xingchen.
Chu Xingchen said with disgust: "Your smile now is uglier than my second disciple's, you'd better not smile."
Li Yingling couldn't help but laugh upon hearing this.
His spiritual sense quickly scanned the entire village, but Chu Xingchen did not find the village chief's house mentioned by the tavern owner and the group of waiters. In his spiritual sense, the village was extremely dilapidated, with no distinction between large or small houses.
They had all collapsed to the ground.
This path would probably have to be led by Yuankong.
The earthen houses that had collapsed in his eyes were brand new houses in Yuankong's eyes.
The village was not large, and with a fixed direction, Yuankong quickly led Chu Xingchen and Li Yingling to a ruin.
Li Yingling looked over and saw among the ruins a white-haired old man wearing burial clothes. He sat on a tattered red coffin, his head bowed, looking at his own feet.
The three of them stood still.
They all looked at this village chief together.
Chu Xingchen's tag system could not be used on this group of people; it was likely that they were no longer in a living state.
"Are you the village chief?" Chu Xingchen sized him up and asked, "Are you in charge here?"
The white-haired old man raised his head, his turbid eyes looking at the three people before him. He soon locked his gaze on Yuankong.
The village chief's voice was sticky and hoarse, as if he hadn't spoken for a long time:
"Buddha... Buddha Son?"
Yuankong opened his mouth to translate: "He said Buddha Son."
The village chief gave a bitter smile, then looked back at his toes and said:
"You're too late... everything is gone, you should leave."
Just as Yuankong was about to translate, he was interrupted by Chu Xingchen raising his hand.
Chu Xingchen looked at the village chief and asked: "What do you mean by late?"
"As you can see, good is like a bubble, evil deeds are everywhere." The village chief smiled as if in self-mockery, "Bodhisattva Jialan has lost, human nature is inherently evil..."
Yuankong watched Chu Xingchen communicate with ease and understood that this village chief was different from the other villagers.
Chu Xingchen asked: "So? Have all the things here been taken by others?"
"You... aren't you here to save this world?" The village chief looked up in surprise at Yuankong, "This Buddha Son, isn't he here to save souls?"
Hearing this, Yuankong felt his small face flush. He looked conflicted, but then said truthfully:
"I am here to find the Buddha Heart."
The village chief nodded in understanding, then untied his burial clothes, revealing his chest.
A dark black heart, beating continuously, emitted light that penetrated the village chief's skin.
"This is the Buddha Heart of Bodhisattva Jialan... If you want it, you can take it."
Yuankong stared blankly at this Buddha Heart. It didn't look like something that could prolong life.
If this were given to the Abbot, wouldn't he die even sooner?
Seeing that Yuankong's goal was achieved, Chu Xingchen then asked about his own purpose for this trip:
"Where are the spirit treasures or other precious items of Bodhisattva Jialan?"
The village chief also very straightforwardly pointed towards the illusory mountain in the distance and said:
"Wanzhang Mountain, the Buddha Son can reach it. But if you want to take the treasure, you must first go to Wanzhang Mountain. Once the Buddha Heart is taken, this realm will collapse."
The village chief's cooperative attitude caught Chu Xingchen a bit off guard, but seeing the village chief's sincere expression... he probably wasn't lying, right?
Forget it, even if he is lying, so what? At worst, we can just leave without taking anything and force our way out with my disciple.
Having made up his mind, Chu Xingchen looked at Yuankong.
"Wait..." Yuankong quickly asked, "Is this Buddha Heart originally this color?"
The village chief's cloudy gaze suddenly cleared somewhat. He carefully examined Yuankong, then a look of pity for this child appeared on his face.
Obviously, Yuankong's question was looked down upon by the village chief.
Yuankong ignored the look of contempt. With the opportunity right before him, he had to fight for it first:
"Then how can it be restored?"
The village chief sighed and said, "When the world they see is the same as the world you see, it will be restored."
Yuankong looked at Chu Xingchen and asked without much confidence:
"What... is the world like in your eyes now?"
Li Yingling glanced around and answered:
"A ruin, full of skeletons on the ground, a few completely dead wandering corpses stumbling blindly on the streets."
Hearing this, Yuankong felt his vision go dark.
Ruins can be rebuilt, skeletons can be buried, but damn it, these wandering corpses can't be resurrected, can they?
No wonder the village chief had such an expression.
It was already like this, so the other party had probably long given up all hope.
The other party must have long thought—tired, just let it be destroyed.
Yuankong had no choice but to look at Chu Xingchen with hopeful eyes, counting on this big shot to have some means.
Facing Yuankong's pitiful gaze, Chu Xingchen sighed helplessly and looked at the village chief to ask:
"Is this realm mind-based?"
The village chief looked over in surprise. Compared to this Buddha Son, this handsome young man seemed to have more spiritual roots.
He nodded lightly and said, "The inner scene is born from the mind, so it is naturally mind-based. But you are in the outer scene, how can you intervene in the inner scene?"
Chu Xingchen asked in a calm tone:
"I only ask the village chief, if the Buddha Heart changes, would you still be willing to part with it?"
The village chief smiled lightly and nodded slowly.
Forget it, this could be considered as being hired by the little monk Yuankong.
Chu Xingchen chose to state the harsh terms first:
"Yuankong, no one has absolute certainty about this matter. I can only try for now. If it doesn't work out..."
Yuankong quickly put his palms together and bowed, saying, "Naturally, Yuankong will bear all consequences. I will definitely go to this Wanzhang Mountain."
Getting a satisfactory answer, Chu Xingchen nodded lightly and looked at the village chief, saying:
"Stop watching. This world is in such chaos, and you are at least eighty percent responsible. We are short of a translator on our side, so it'll be you."
Hearing this, the village chief felt it made sense. The world was already like this; how much worse could it get?
Moreover, this handsome young man seemed quite confident, perhaps he had some means. At this point, what was the harm in trusting him for a while?
After all, it couldn't get any worse.
The village chief nodded and agreed, "Okay..."
————
Inside the tavern that had just been turned upside down.
Chu Xingchen stepped on a rotten head, sitting on a coffin pierced by a spiritual sword, his gaze fierce as he watched the tavern owner who was piecing together corpses.
"From now on! I'm in charge here! Your eating and shitting are all under my control! If I don't say you can shit, you'd better hold it in until you die, don't you dare let out a single fart!"
The village chief looked at Chu Xingchen with a slightly stunned expression.
Chu Xingchen looked towards the village chief and said:
Hey readers! If you're eager to dive into advanced chapters, consider joining our Patreon. By joining, you'll get access to 20 chapters ahead and enjoy 14 new chapters per week. Plus, we have 3 more exciting fics with the same chapter release rate, giving you a total of 42 chapters per week! Join now and keep the adventure going!
Patreon: https://patreon.com/Alex_Cruise
{Please join patreon. I am posting 4 chapters per day there, for any tier you join, you can read 4 chapters for all series i work on. and i currently badly need financial support to keep myself afloat. I will continue to do my best to provide you with good chapters daily. So i hope you can help me escape these troubled times.}