Chapter 89: What Is the Key to Completing a Quest?
The night was as dark as thick ink, while the dicinal garden carried the rancid scent of rotting earth mixed with herbs.
The soil beside the stone well had already been dug open, revealing a curled corpse.
Its shriveled flesh clung tightly to bone, robes rotted into spiderweb-like tatters, while its fingernails had blackened and lengthened, deeply embedded into the dirt.
However—
contrary to what the dicinal garden old man claid, the vajra had not been buried together with the corpse.
At this mont,
one corner of the wooden box had been smashed open by the pickaxe. The lid lay overturned upon the ground.
Inside—
it was completely empty.
The old man was already over sixty and naturally looked ancient to begin with. After all the digging and excavation, he was utterly exhausted.
Trembling, he fumbled through the wooden box in disbelief.
Muttering repeatedly:
“That shouldn’t be possible... shouldn’t be possible...”
He raised his head toward the Immortal Master Fang Chang standing above him, panic filling his eyes as he tried desperately to see whether the Immortal Master seed less angry.
But the night was pitch-black.
Moonlight illuminated only his own terrified old face, while not a trace reached the Immortal Master looming above him.
Just like that night—
when he raised the pickaxe and struck the young monk to the ground.
Fear flooded through his limbs like icy water. Every inch of his bones trembled, while his throat felt tightly strangled, unable even to scream.
Then he watched helplessly as the forest behind the Immortal Master twisted and stirred.
—A furry Ghost Monkey silently slid from the shadows. It walked on all fours, large and powerful as a tiger, black ghostly aura rising from its body like flas.
The dicinal garden old man shuddered violently and suddenly cried out:
“My Lord, it’s that Ghost Monkey!”
“That’s right! It must be that Ghost Monkey!”
“This beast has constantly caused trouble within the dicinal garden lately! Not only destroying the dicinal fields, but also digging through soil and roots. It must have unearthed the corpse and stolen the vajra!”
The Ghost Monkey moved on all fours, sturdy and massive like a tiger.
Its ghostfire-filled eyes stared fixedly at Fang Chang.
This was a spirit creature ford from a resentful soul, possessing almost no intelligence whatsoever.
Yet at this mont, it clearly sensed danger from Fang Chang and did not dare move recklessly.
Fang Chang stepped closer.
Blending together with the pitch-black night, it seed as though darkness itself pressed forward with him.
The dicinal garden old man noticed sothing floating in Fang Chang’s hand.
It was a pill ford from swirling blood compressed into a tiny sphere.
More importantly—
Fang Chang had finally turned his back toward him.
Suddenly—
purple-black intent surged through the old man’s eyes, while a mocking, exaggerated laugh escaped from his throat.
The flesh of one hand exploded apart, revealing a wolf claw larger than his own head, which slamd viciously toward the back of Fang Chang’s skull—
The force burst outward, the wolf claw crashing down violently.
Yet it felt as though it had struck an immovable bronze wall.
The old man raised his head in shock. Animal fur had already begun growing across half his face.
On the opposite side of the wolf claw—
stood the palm of a Thousand-Hand Dharma Appearance making a flower-pinching gesture.
“Amitabha.”
Zhang Su closed her eyes in pity.
“Demonic Body Path?”
Zhao Yuntong was unsurprised, though she still found it strange.
“No, the Demonic Body Path shouldn’t be this disgusting.”
“Hidden Treasure Path,” Fang Chang said.
Zhang Su’s body trembled.
“A Buddhist cultivator... no, the Hidden Treasure Path would never—”
“He succumbed to demonic corruption.”
What Fang Chang referred to was version 2.0’s demonic corruption.
“When inner demons remain impure, they attract external demons.”
The dicinal garden old man violently retreated several zhang.
His head twisted spasmodically. Human fear still lingered upon one side of his face, while the wolf-faced half displayed a contradictory arrogance and madness.
“Don’t interfere... it shouldn’t have beco like this... no... I hid for so many years, even hiding my mories away... wasn’t peacefully enjoying old age enough...”
“What are you afraid of?! Afraid of what?! AFRAID OF WHAT!!! Since I comprehended such a miraculous technique, it proves the Heavenly Dao favors !! I robbed and plundered for so many years outside, every day lived in fear! Those hypocritical righteous cultivators deserve to be slaughtered!!”
“I can’t beat him... can’t beat him... I was never soone good at fighting...”
“He’s Third Realm! So am I! We can fight! We can gamble! What’s there to fear?! Capture the leader first! Kill him first! As long as he dies, the two Yin Corpses won’t be able to move!!”
“N-No! Don’t!!”
The old man began speaking to himself like a lunatic performing a play alone.
Just as evil personalities always overpower kind ones—
purple-black corruption wildly spread across the wolf face, instantly consuming everything.
He viciously raised his head and stared fixedly at Fang Chang.
Then—
a Vermilion Bird Treasure Seal of gilded gold suddenly enlarged before his eyes, flas erupting brilliantly from it.
“Ah...”
The old man’s pupils contracted sharply.
Before he could even react,
the Fire Elent Treasure Seal swept past his body in a flash. Just before colliding with the ground, it suddenly shrank again, circling through the air before landing neatly within Fang Chang’s palm.
Amid piercing sizzling sounds, over half the dicinal garden old man’s body had been directly “cut away” by the Fire Elent Treasure Seal.
Yet not a single drop of blood spilled.
The extre heat had instantly cauterized the wound shut.
His entire body trembled stiffly in place.
“What nonsense are you babbling about?”
Fang Chang curled his lips.
The Blood Thorn Cord burst from the Blood Golden Core in layered coils, instantly wrapping the old man tightly like a rice dumpling.
Even his face beca densely bound. Finally reacting, the old man wriggled across the dirt like a maggot.
Fang Chang drew a page of golden paper from the man’s sleeve, then directly tossed him before the Ghost Monkey.
Throughout all this, the Ghost Monkey still had not acted rashly.
Even now—
it did not even glance at the old man on the ground.
Instead, it continued staring at Fang Chang, the greatest threat present. Yet the madness within its eyes had faded considerably, especially after Fang Chang used the Fire Elent Treasure Seal.
“Do as you wish.”
Fang Chang spoke.
Two talismans appeared in his hand.
One was a Relocation Talisman, lifting the monk’s corpse into the air.
The other was an ordinary Purifying Karma Fire Talisman, which he struck against the corpse. Instantly, flas burst forth brilliantly.
The flas were bluish-white and smokeless, licking across the rotted flesh while cleansing the surrounding filth and Yin corruption together.
The flas fell like tassels.
Burning through the dicinal garden seedlings.
“Your turn now, Martial Aunt Zhang. The uh... what was it called again? The Original Vow Sutra or sothing?”
Zhang Su replied in confusion:
“《Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva Original Vow Sutra》. But that is not a scripture for delivering souls.”
“Yet it’s the scripture soone kept longing for.”
Zhang Su froze slightly.
Looking toward the Ghost Monkey curled within the shadows, compassion gradually appeared within her brows and eyes.
Lowering her gaze with palms joined, she softly began chanting scripture.
The night remained heavy and silent. Her chanting was neither loud nor soft, yet resembled stones cast into a dry well, spreading ring after ring into the darkness.
Suddenly, a faint mournful cry echoed through the dicinal garden.
The Ghost Monkey poked its head from the shadows. Its tiny scarlet eyes stared toward the flas, while low whimpers rolled from its throat, sounding both sorrowful and grieving.
The flas stirred the wind.
Blowing the wooden box containing the vajra onto its side, revealing the front surface.
—A scene of the monkey riding joyfully upon the monk’s shoulders.
The Ghost Monkey’s resentnt was incredibly deep, its tail raised high like fire.
At the mont its master was killed, its own skull had likewise been smashed apart.
But unlike the monk’s corpse, which required disposal,
the monkey’s body had rely been casually discarded by the roadside.
The Ghost Monkey deeply glanced at Fang Chang.
A fierce ghost wind swept through, dispersing the clouds covering the night sky.
The dicinal garden old man disappeared from where he had been.
In his place—
lay a wooden vajra roughly the length of a palm.
Fang Chang bent down and picked it up.
Satisfied, he inspected it from top to bottom.
“Done.”
If one were to ask what the key to completing a quest was—
then allow quest expert Fang Chang to tell you—
it’s killing the person who issued the quest.
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