The words "Blazing Sun and Dark Shadow" were like an activation incantation. The golden Buddha opened its half-closed eyes, revealing a gaze laden with the foulest filth and darkest chaos in the world.
It was the materialization of all evil, like a thousand-year-old demon in hell staring out upon the mortal realm.
Driven by instinct, everyone in the hall unconsciously looked up into the golden Buddha's eyes.
*Boom!*
Everyone's minds detonated. Their memories, thoughts, and emotions scrambled into utter chaos... Blood seeped from their eyes, ears, noses, and mouths.
Members collapsed haphazardly across their prayer mats, clutching their heads and screaming in agony.
"Amitabha..."
At the critical juncture, Master Wuhen steadied his emotions. A Buddhist chant echoed through the hall, and the golden Buddha's eyes slowly closed, returning to their half-lidded state.
Infused with the power to soothe trauma and quell chaos, the chant instantly alleviated their splitting headaches.
The agonizing screams subsided into ragged gasps.
With a gentle wave of Master Wuhen's hand, the congregation dissolved inch by inch, like a painted scroll erased by a sponge, leaving Zhang Yuanqing alone.
In the large suite on the hotel's second floor, everyone reappeared simultaneously, seated once again in their original places.
They slumped across the benches, panting heavily with pale faces, like travelers who had narrowly escaped a tiger's jaws.
"What happened?" Chief Instructor Lin Chong stumbled to his feet, wearing an expression as if the apocalypse had arrived. He bellowed, "The Buddha opened its eyes? The Buddha opened its eyes! Did the Master lose control!?"
The others wore equally panicked expressions, turning their gazes toward the grim-faced "Aunt Pot"—no, Aunt Fang. She was a Level 6 Dream Master, the same class as Master Wuhen. If he had lost control, she would be able to sense it.
Aunt Fang kept her face set, saying coldly, "What is there to panic about? If the Master had lost control, would we have made it out alive?"
Hearing this, their expressions eased slightly. Xiao Yuan whispered, "Still, the Buddha statue did open its eyes. That hasn't happened once in over a decade."
"Which means the Master almost lost control just now," Uncle Yang said, his tone heavier than ever before.
Why had the Master lost control?
"It was Yuanshi Tianzun." The honest-looking middle-aged man revealed an eerie smile. "What did that kid say to the Master? Not the confession—I mean the very last sentence."
The people in the room exchanged glances, seeing confusion and incomprehension in each other's eyes.
"I... I didn't hear it," Kou Beiyue said, scratching his head. "I only heard him say he'd give the Master a chance to confess. *Hiss*, offering the Master a chance to confess—has Yuanshi Tianzun gone mad?"
The others ignored the rebellious teen's nonsense.
Aunt Fang said in a low voice, "Yuanshi Tianzun's last sentence was concealed by an illusion. The person who cast that illusion is higher-level than me, so it's normal that you couldn't hear it. But there's no denying that those words nearly caused the Master to lose control."
"So what did he actually say?" Brother Chong widened his eyes.
No one could answer him, for that was precisely what they were all wondering.
"Master Wuhen won't be in danger, will he? Is the official faction coming after us?" Zhao Xintong wasn't very old, but she was exceptionally prone to assuming malice in others.
"No!" Uncle Yang shook his head. "The official faction wouldn't send Yuanshi Tianzun to throw his life away."
The room fell silent as everyone tried to recall the scene before the Master nearly lost control, attempting to remember Yuanshi Tianzun's lip movements. But he had been sitting too far forward; they had only seen his back, not his face.
After a long while, the glamorous bank teller clicked her tongue. "How fascinating today turned out to be. Yuanshi Tianzun is actually a far more perverse, dangerous character than any of us. And he came prepared, holding back a big move to spring on the Master.
"Xiao Yuan, you've known him the longest and know him best. Were you aware of this side of him?"
Everyone turned to Xiao Yuan.
Ever since leaving the hall, Xiao Yuan's brows had remained furrowed. After a moment of thought, she said, "His mental state has indeed been troubled—extremely radical, even. But it shouldn't have been this exaggerated. It's also possible..."
Pausing, she sighed. "I never told you the details of what happened in the dungeon. He was possessed by the boss in there, and he paid an immense price to turn the tables..."
Xiao Yuan recounted the events of the dungeon in detail.
The others listened in silence. Kou Beiyue, who already knew the story, had no interest in hearing it again. Glancing around, he spotted Little Fatty curled up in a corner, hugging his knees—the very picture of someone abandoned by the world. Or rather, someone desperate to avoid the world's attention.
"What's wrong with you?" Kou Beiyue walked over and asked.
Little Fatty raised his head, his eyes vacant and devoid of will to live. "Boss, I want to go back to the Southern Sect..."
"Why?"
"Just consider me dead. Social death is still death. When you suffer social death in one place, the best option is to move somewhere else," Little Fatty said sorrowfully.
"Oh, go ahead then."
"Huh? Boss, aren't you going to try to keep me?"
"No need. Later, I'll just spread your past exploits to the black market. Once you suffer social death in the Southern Sect too, you'll come back."
"...Boss, you've been playing a Fire Master all along, haven't you? You're actually a cunning Bewitching Demon."
"Are you an idiot? I *am* a Bewitching Demon."
***
Inside the quiet, antique Buddhist hall.
Zhang Yuanqing panted heavily as beads of sweat rolled down his cheeks. He breathed raggedly for a long time before his erratic heartbeat finally slowed and the tearing sensation in his soul subsided.
Once he had the strength to speak, Zhang Yuanqing took a deep breath. "Master, do you still remember the Xiaoyao Organization?"
"Amitabha. The past is like smoke; why bring it up again?" Master Wuhen's deep voice held a tinge of pain. "How does Benefactor know of this poor monk's past?"
"The Zoo's artifact spirit told me," Zhang Yuanqing answered.
This time, Master Wuhen fell silent for several seconds before replying, "Why did it tell you?"
Zhang Yuanqing glanced at the quietly burning candle flame and caught the faint scent of incense. Now that the moment was here, he felt a flicker of hesitation.
Before coming, he had examined his physiognomy, read the stars, used Xiahou Aotian's divination prop on himself, and reported today's itinerary to Fu Qingyang and Fu Qingxuan.
After weighing it for a few seconds, he asked, "Master, do you know my real name?"
Master Wuhen sat motionless without answering.
Zhang Yuanqing stared at his back, speaking solemnly, "My surname is Zhang. The Zhang of Celestial Master Zhang."
The moment the words left his mouth, the golden Buddha's half-closed eyes seemed to tremble, showing faint signs of opening once more.
The entire hall shook violently before quickly returning to calm.
This Buddhist hall was a manifestation of Master Wuhen's state of mind; its tremors reflected his emotions.
Having said this much, Zhang Yuanqing threw caution to the wind. "My father was Celestial Master Zhang. He passed away just as I started elementary school, and I have almost no memory of him. It wasn't until I became a Night Walker and joined the official faction that I accidentally entered the Zoo. Based on my bloodline, the artifact spirit mistook me for Celestial Master Zhang.
"I searched the official database and learned about the Xiaoyao Organization. Recently, a series of events occurred in Songhai. The Grand Marshal killed Dark Night Rose's Grand Protector and discovered he was Mountains and Rivers Endure, a former elder of the Taiyi Sect. The official faction already knows Ling Tuo is the leader of Dark Night Rose.
"So I went back to the Zoo and confessed my identity to the artifact spirit. It didn't know what happened back then, but it told me who you were. You were that most mysterious Son of Dark Shadow."
Having said all this in one breath, Zhang Yuanqing straightened his back and leaned forward. "Master, I came here today to ask about the past. In 1999, what exactly did the four of you do?"
The hall fell dead silent.
After a long, long time, Master Wuhen pressed his palms together and murmured a chant: "Amitabha! So you are the son of an old friend."
Zhang Yuanqing pressed his hands together, bowing low. "Please enlighten me, Master."
"Benefactor Zhang, the past has already turned to smoke. Why remain so obstinate?" Master Wuhen sighed. "What good will knowing too much do you?"
Zhang Yuanqing smiled bitterly. "Master, someone told me my father left me something, and I suspect it's the core fragment of the Compass of Light. I am already in the game. If I do not know both myself and my enemy, I might not even know how I die in the future.
"Master, for my father's sake, and for ours, please tell me."
There was genuine goodwill between him and Master Wuhen as well.
Master Wuhen remained silent for a long time before speaking slowly. "What the mirror revealed earlier was your truest self. You do not possess the core fragment of the Compass of Light."
"Master, back when I was in high school, something went wrong with the compass fragment, and it suddenly tore my soul apart—"
Before he could finish, Master Wuhen cut him off, his voice laced with gravity and bewilderment. "What did you say?"
"I said the compass fragment tore my soul apart."
"The compass fragment possesses no such power."
Zhang Yuanqing froze.
"You... you..." His expression turned agitated, his voice rising into an interrogation. "The compass fragment can't tear my soul? How could that be? You saw it yourself just now—my soul really was stitched back together! The person who told me is the closest to me in the world. She wouldn't lie to me. We are people who entrust our lives to each other!"
Overwhelmed by emotion, he shifted from sitting cross-legged to kneeling upright, leaning forward as he stared fixedly at the Master's back.
Master Wuhen's tone did not waver. "It will not tear anyone's soul. Yuanshi, the core fragment of the Compass of Light is not on you. The issue with your soul stems from something else."
Zhang Yuanqing slumped back, sinking down dejectedly. "Then... what was the reason?"
"This poor monk does not know."
After a few seconds of silence, Master Wuhen began to speak in a calm, measured voice:
"Back then, the four of us used the fragment of the Compass of Light to open a mysterious passage leading to the deepest depths of the Spirit Realm. There, we witnessed the truth of the Spirit Realm—a truth that brought only despair.
"We did not dare linger. We used the compass fragment to return to reality, but that expedition divided us. Ling Tuo believed the matter should be made public, while Celestial Master Zhang felt it would only sow panic and cause society to collapse.
"Before we could reach an answer, something even more troublesome happened: we were cursed. A terrifying curse that not even the divine power of the sun, renowned for purifying all things, could dispel. We could not find its source, nor could we detect any issue within our spirits or physical bodies, yet our condition deteriorated day by day, edging us toward ruin."
Snapping out of his daze, Zhang Yuanqing ventured a guess. "Was it a curse from the Spirit Realm?"
"It was not the Spirit Realm, yet it could also be said to be the Spirit Realm," Master Wuhen said.
"At first, we knew nothing about the curse. Chu Shang and Ling Tuo returned to their family and sect, scouring every record, yet found no way to resolve it. What truly revealed the curse's nature to us was an experiment Ling Tuo conducted."
"What experiment?" Zhang Yuanqing pressed.
"Ling Tuo told the secret of the Spirit Realm's depths to an ordinary person. As a result, that person was immediately afflicted by the curse and met an untimely death." Master Wuhen sighed. "The curse was something we brought out from the depths of the Spirit Realm. The moment we learned the truth of the Spirit Realm, we were cursed. Anyone who learns the truth will be cursed."
Zhang Yuanqing thought for a moment and tested, "Did you try telling a demigod?"
"Ling Tuo tried. He told the Taiyi Sect Master."
*So it was ineffective against demigods?* Zhang Yuanqing sighed. "In other words, I'm not yet qualified to know the secret in the depths of the Spirit Realm, am I?"
Master Wuhen remained silent.
*At least I gained something.* Zhang Yuanqing pinched the bridge of his nose, pondering for a long while before asking, "Have you sat here in meditation for over a decade just to fight this curse?"
Master Wuhen nodded slightly.
"The curse intertwined with the traits of an evil class. As the curse deepened day by day, I gradually lost control over my nature, tormented daily by bloodthirsty desires—an agony beyond measure."
Hearing this, Zhang Yuanqing pressed his palms together and reverently murmured, "Amitabha."
Not toward the Buddha, but toward the Master.
Fighting his instincts for over a decade, enduring torment for over a decade—such willpower and resolve humbled him.
Zhang Yuanqing continued, "Then do you know how Ling Tuo died? Why didn't Chu Shang use the Mother Goddess's Womb to resurrect him?"
Master Wuhen fell quiet for a moment, his deep voice resounding through the hall:
"Because Ling Tuo was killed by the three of us."
Chapter 526