Chapter 786
I'll teach you how to brainwash someone before you kill them, so their soul will kn
Tang Sanzang was covered in blood, some his own and some from others. He glanced down at a shallow knife wound on his chest—it was a casual cut made by the burly monk at the Qi Refining stage as his blade retracted before he was sent flying.
The wound wasn't deep; it only broke the surface of the skin. The blood that had seeped out had dried, turning into a thin, dark red line.
Tang Sanzang ran his finger over the knife mark, then licked it. The metallic taste of blood spread on his tongue, and his eyes grew even deeper, something gleaming faintly in the depths of his pupils.
He strode up to Guangzhi, looked down at the trembling, thin monk, and said in a calm but cold voice: "The way I will help you pass on to the afterlife is very simple—from bandits to the dead."
"You have robbed and killed countless people in this mountain valley. Today, this humble monk will take your lives. This is my way of delivering you from suffering. What do you think?"
Guangzhi knelt down with a thud, his forehead slamming against the bluestone floor, leaving bloody marks. Between kowtows, he cried out in a distorted voice, "Grandpa, spare me! Grandpa, spare me! I was blind and didn't recognize your greatness, I offended you! Grandpa, please be magnanimous and don't hold it against us lowly people!"
Tang Sanzang raised his fist expressionlessly.
Above the clouds.
Lin Zhu flew out of the pine tree nest to inspect the progress of the Journey to the West tonight. Just as he flew over Guanyin Temple, he heard deafening shouts and screams coming from below.
He looked down and saw Tang Sanzang punch a hole in the screen wall, and a fat monk flew out of the hole, crashing through the wall of the woodshed behind the screen wall before stopping.
"My God."
Lin Zhu rubbed his eyes, carefully surveyed the situation below, and gasped.
The courtyard was littered with the bodies of monks, their blood splattered everywhere like spilled ink. Tang Sanzang stood shirtless in the center of the pool of blood, his muscles gleaming in the twilight, his face bearing an eerily calm expression.
In the corner huddled a dozen or so trembling monks, who seemed to have completely lost the courage to resist.
Lin Zhu quickly calculated what kind of calamity was coming today.
Golden light shimmered at his fingertips as the Merit System began to operate in his mind. A moment later, the system provided the answer—Chapter 18, Calamity: The Calamity of Guanyin Temple.
The original story of the ordeal was that Tang Sanzang stayed at Guanyin Temple, where the old abbot, Elder Jinchi, coveted his brocade cassock and sent men to set fire to the temple in the middle of the night. The monkey borrowed a fire-resistant cover to protect Tang Sanzang, and in the end, Elder Jinchi suffered the consequences of his evil deeds, burning down the temple and dying by crashing into a wall.
But that's the normal script for Journey to the West.
The Tang Sanzang standing below now is a completely different species from the Tang Sanzang in the script who rides a white horse and chants scriptures.
The brocade cassock? The brocade cassock was still wrapped in the luggage. These monks hadn't even seen the edge of the cassock. Just because they swore and revealed their thieving background to Tang Sanzang, they were directly pushed flat from the front.
As Lin Zhu was pondering, the system panel suddenly popped up, and a line of golden text appeared before his eyes.
[System Task: Chapter 18 of the Journey to the West Tribulation has been unlocked. A serious deviation has been detected in the current tribulation content. Although the monks of Guanyin Temple are monks in name, they are actually ruthless bandits who have been entrenched in this area for many years, committing murder and robbery, with hundreds of lives on their hands, and their sins are heinous.]
Please guide Tang Sanzang to use the correct method to deliver these murderous and thieving bandits from suffering.
[Task Reward: One Top-Grade Nine-Turn Taiyi Golden Pill]
Lin Zhu's gaze lingered on the words "Supreme Nine-Turn Taiyi Golden Pill" for a long time.
The Nine-Turn Taiyi Golden Elixir is not the highest grade in the immortal realm's alchemy system, but the word "top grade" carries immense weight.
Pills are divided into three grades: superior, middle, and inferior, and further divided into three levels: superior, middle, and inferior. The Nine-Turn Taiyi Golden Pill is already a top-grade pill among superior pills, and any one of them can cause a Golden Immortal cultivator's cultivation to increase by a large margin.
Those with the word "top-grade" added are the rarest of all pills, one in ten thousand. When the pill is completed, there will be extraordinary phenomena in the heavens and earth, and its medicinal effect is at least three times stronger than that of other pills of the same grade.
What does three times mean? Three times means that if someone else eats one pill, their cultivation will increase by three thousand years, but if you eat one pill, your cultivation will increase by nine thousand years.
Even in the Heavenly Court's alchemy workshop, such top-grade elixirs are rare, with only one batch produced every eight to ten years. They are usually stored in the Jade Emperor's own treasury and used to reward celestial officials and generals who have made great contributions.
Lin Zhu's eyes lit up when he saw the name of the pill. He read the sentence "Guide Tang Sanzang to use the correct method to deliver these bandits who killed and robbed" three more times, and then fell into deep thought.
What is the correct method?
In Buddhism, the term "deliverance" originally refers to the act of reciting scriptures and performing rituals to liberate the soul of the deceased and guide them to rebirth in the Pure Land. This is the standard Buddhist definition, embodying compassion and the universal salvation of all beings.
But Tang Sanzang is clearly not thinking this way now—when he punched that strong monk to death just now, he made it very clear that he was "to help you go from being bandits to dead people," which is obviously not a traditional form of salvation.
Lin Zhu stroked his chin and took two steps on the clouds.
His gaze swept over the chaotic battlefield in the courtyard below, and he saw Tang Sanzang lifting the skinny monk from the ground by the neck. Guangzhi's feet were off the ground, and he was kicking wildly in the air, his crotch soaked again.
The "correct method" mentioned by the system certainly doesn't mean making Tang Sanzang lay down his butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the spot. This group of monks are ruthless bandits who have killed and robbed hundreds of people. According to normal cause and effect, if such people were to live, it would be irresponsible to society.
If we let them go, they'll go off to kill and burn elsewhere tomorrow, and once Tang Sanzang is gone, no one will be able to control them.
From this perspective, physical extermination is actually the most thorough way to deliver the deceased from suffering, directly eliminating the possibility of the other party committing evil again from the root.
But then I thought, if it were just a matter of killing someone, which is what Tang Sanzang is doing right now, why would the system specifically issue a task for him to "use the correct method" to help them pass on? This shows that the system believes Tang Sanzang's current approach is not "correct" enough.
Lin Zhu fell into deeper thought. He analyzed it from the perspective of merit, saying that the essence of the ritual was to liberate the deceased and allow them to be reborn in a better realm.
If Tang Sanzang had killed these people, but hadn't resolved their resentment and karmic burdens before their deaths, they would still have gone to hell with their sins, spending hundreds of years there to cleanse themselves before being reborn as animals. What kind of liberation is that? From the perspective of merit, the merit gained from such violent killing would be minimal, or even nonexistent.
The correct way to help these evil people pass on to the afterlife is to first make them realize their sins, repent, and sincerely accept the help they receive, and then send them on their way.
The key to this process lies in "transformation," which is to transform the soul of an evil person from darkness to light, from delusion to enlightenment.
If the transformation is completed before killing the person, their mindset has already changed, and their sins will naturally be partially resolved. The time it takes to cleanse themselves in hell will also be greatly shortened.
As Lin Zhu thought about this, the expression on her face became subtle.
This logic sounds utterly absurd. First persuade the wicked to repent, then beat them to death—what kind of logic is that? Is it like slapping someone, giving them a treat, and then twisting their head off? But then he thought of Buddhist teachings, where some eminent monks did indeed do just that when converting wicked people.
Before converting someone, make them realize their sins, so that they feel remorse and a desire for goodness from the bottom of their heart. Then, although the physical body dies, the soul has been redeemed.
This is what is meant by "laying down the butcher's knife and becoming a Buddha on the spot." Although the physical body is bound to die, at least the soul is cleansed.
The more Lin Zhu thought about it, the more he felt that this was what the system meant.
He sighed and muttered to himself, "This system is teaching me how to preach and kill at the same time."
But then he thought again, the reward of that top-grade Nine-Turn Taiyi Golden Pill was simply too tempting. Taking such a pill back, whether for his own use or to give to the prison guards of the Heavenly Prison, would be a real fortune.
His current resources are too meager. Three thousand sets of top-tier magical artifacts, dozens of acquired spiritual treasures, and a few peaches and ginseng fruits may sound like a lot, but in reality, they can't support a truly powerful force.
A top-grade Nine-Turn Taiyi Golden Elixir is a valuable commodity, worth more than thousands of magical artifacts, no matter where you take it.
With that thought in mind, Lin Zhu no longer hesitated, and a beam of clear light descended downwards.
In the courtyard, Tang Sanzang had just brought Guangzhi in front of him, his five fingers pinching Guangzhi's neck, his knuckles sinking deep into the soft flesh on both sides of his neck.
Guangzhi's face had turned from flushed to bluish-purple, his eyes bulged outwards, his mouth was wide open but he couldn't breathe in, and a gurgling sound of suffocation came from his throat. He desperately tried to pry Tang Sanzang's fingers apart with both hands, but it was like an earthworm trying to break a stone, and he couldn't budge them.
"You were quite pleased with yourself when you called me an idiot just now."
Tang Sanzang looked at Guangzhi's face, which had turned as red as an eggplant, and asked in a calm voice, as if asking if the food was good, "Now? Is there anything else you want to say?"
Guangzhi's lips moved a few times, squeezing out a few breathy sounds: "Spare...spare..."
Tang Sanzang shook his head, and his five fingers began to slowly tighten.
Just then, a beam of clear light descended from the sky, and Lin Zhu's figure appeared in the center of the courtyard. He did not land, but hovered in mid-air, his feet resting on a pale golden cloud, his robes fluttering gently in the night breeze.
"Tang Sanzang, don't make a move yet."
Lin Zhu's voice was not loud, but it was extremely penetrating, and every word was clearly delivered to Tang Sanzang's ears.
Upon hearing the voice, Tang Sanzang immediately stopped what he was doing. He turned his head and saw Lin Zhu in mid-air—the figure he had longed to see for the past two months, but was unsure when he would be able to see again.
His eyes lit up instantly, and the cold expression on his face melted away like ice and snow, replaced by heartfelt joy.
His hand loosened, and Guangzhi fell to the ground with a thud, clutching his neck and gasping for breath, like a fish thrown ashore.
Tang Sanzang stepped over Guangzhi's body and strode towards Lin Zhu. When he got close, he put his hands together, bowed respectfully, and said, "Immortal Lord! What brings you here?"
His voice was filled with genuine joy, even a touch of excitement. Although he had thoroughly enjoyed his rampage over the past two months, he had always kept Lin Zhu in his heart—the immortal lord who had given him the Pillar of Strength and changed his life.
Now, seeing Lin Zhu suddenly appear in front of him, he was so happy that he couldn't contain himself. He was completely unlike the fierce bald man who had punched a bandit one by one just now. Instead, he was like a devout disciple who had seen a lifeline.
When Sun Wukong saw Lin Zhu arrive, he jumped off the white dragon horse, nodded to Lin Zhu, and called out, "Brother Lin Zhu."
His tone was much more casual than Tang Sanzang's; after all, he had spent more time with Lin Zhu and their relationship was closer. The white dragon horse also nodded to Lin Zhu, its eyes filled with a hint of awe.
Lin Zhu waved to Sun Wukong and the White Dragon Horse as a greeting, then looked down at Tang Sanzang. Observing him up close, he felt that Tang Sanzang's changes over the past two months were truly astonishing.
The last time they met, Tang Sanzang was just a fair-skinned monk who had just consumed the Pill of Spiritual Strength. Now, standing before him was a bald, burly bandit with bronze skin, bulging muscles, and an aura of wild power. The contrast was simply too great.
"I just happened to be passing by."
Lin Zhu casually made up an excuse and gestured with his chin toward the wailing monks in the courtyard, "What are you doing?"
Tang Sanzang followed Lin Zhu's gaze and glanced back, a sheepish smile on his face, like a child caught doing something wrong by their parents. He scratched his bald head and chuckled twice: "Immortal Lord, these people aren't proper monks, they're bandits."
They rob and kill here; this humble monk wishes to act on behalf of Heaven and cleanse them up.”
"Clean up".
Lin Zhu read the word aloud, his gaze sweeping over the monks with broken arms and legs, then looking at the burly monk embedded in the screen wall who was still spitting blood. "Your method of cleaning up is quite direct."
Tang Sanzang nodded solemnly: "This humble monk believes that such a person is a scourge to be alive. It would be better to kill him directly, which would also be considered as eliminating a scourge for the people and accumulating merit."
Lin Zhu landed from mid-air, walked up to Tang Sanzang with his hands behind his back, and looked up at the big guy who was a head taller than him.
He noticed that when Tang Sanzang spoke, a very faint black mist was swirling deep in his eyes—that was the residual demonic energy after the Pill of Profound Power was digested. Although it was suppressed, it was still affecting Tang Sanzang's mind.
This influence doesn't turn Tang Sanzang into a demon, but rather makes him prone to excessive killing intent and overly violent methods when facing evil people.
Lin Zhu understood. He knew why the system wanted him to guide Tang Sanzang to use the "correct method" for salvation. If Tang Sanzang were allowed to continue killing like this, physically performing salvation rituals for every evil person he encountered, the accumulated karma of killing would become heavier and heavier.
Although demonic energy can be released through killing, the karma of killing itself is also a kind of karmic obstacle, and accumulating too much of it will affect Tang Sanzang's future attainment of Buddhahood.
"Tang Sanzang, listen to what I have to say."
Lin Zhu stood with his hands behind his back, his tone gentle but with an undeniable authority, "You're right, these people are indeed bandits, with hundreds of lives on their hands, their deaths are not a pity."
But before you killed them, did you ever consider this—that their souls, filled with resentment and obsession, would go to hell, suffer there for hundreds of years, and then be reincarnated as bandits? (End of Chapter)