The Secret Way of Immortality

Inner World, Sanxiang City.

At the midnight hour of Zi Shi, the city became deserted, with only the night watchman carrying a copper gong traversing the streets and alleys.

The night watchman was seventy or eighty years old. Although he rarely appeared during the day, he was aware of the recent rumors.

It had been more than nine years since the last Laba Festival. At that time, the number of Buddhist monks ascending to the Western Paradise was several times higher than usual.

With the cold month approaching again, the signs of the decennial Laba Festival were already emerging.

More and more people were committing suicide, and every morning, gang members could be seen pushing carts to dump corpses at the burial grounds.

From the frequency of transporting corpses, he could guess that the number of monks ascending during this year's Laba Festival would be even higher than nine years ago.

The night watchman had lived for decades and vaguely realized the truth behind it.

However, as a commoner, preserving himself was the limit, let alone daring to remind others to be wary of the Buddhist monks.

"Life is hard, often accompanied by jackals and wolves."

The night watchman sighed, wrapping himself more tightly in his cotton coat, hoping to get through the year peacefully and that the world would get better.

He headed to the streets of the western district, and after finishing this area, he would have fulfilled his duty.

But as the night watchman approached, he noticed several figures near the wall in the distance, standing on wooden frames, seemingly using rags dipped in paint to scribble on the wall.

"Who?!"

The night watchman was startled, vigorously struck the copper gong in his hand, and then pulled out a water and fire stick about the length of his forearm from behind his waist.

"Someone's coming, hurry!"

"Go, go, go, don't get caught."

The figures by the wall jumped off the wooden frames in a panic and ran into the alley in a puff of smoke, obviously already planned.

The night watchman frowned. The back of one of the figures looked more and more like the youngest son of the Li family, but hadn't the latter already passed the Tong Sheng exam and would be an official in the future?

His body was old, and it was impossible for him to chase after the figures.

The night watchman then walked closer to the wall with a lantern, wanting to see what kind of pattern it was.

He saw the words "Four Seas Dragon King" written on the wall in a flamboyant manner, as well as a celestial god with a dragon's head and a human body, as if about to walk out of the wall.

He couldn't help but shudder.

Over the past decade, there had indeed been rumors of celestial beings from the Heavenly Court in various places, but according to the Buddhist sect, they were all transformed from hellish demons.

How did the Heavenly Court do it? It was said that towns all over the country had been infiltrated, but they had always been suppressed by the Buddhist sect.

Now that the Laba Festival was approaching, was the Heavenly Court about to make a comeback?

The night watchman dared not think further and hurried towards the yamen.

Before the people gathered early in the morning, the patterns on the wall had been cleaned up by the yamen runners, but it still allowed many people to see it, and they discussed it in secret.

In the past twenty years, the Buddhist sect's exploitation of merit has become increasingly unscrupulous.

In fact, many people already knew the dirty things inside, but they dared not say more, fearing that they would become a corpse thrown into the wilderness.

They thought the wall patterns would fade with time, and the Buddhist sect would not be able to find the people spreading the Heavenly Court's message in Sanxiang City to punish them.

But unexpectedly, within a few days, several people were escorted to the market entrance.

No matter how much they cried out for injustice, the moment the guillotine fell, the hot blood gushing from their necks splattered the onlookers.

The night watchman deliberately did not rest, came to the market entrance to watch the public execution.

But he stared at the corpses for a long time and did not think of the figure that night.

When the night watchman discovered the secretly observing youngest son of the Li family, he was even more certain that the Buddhist sect was killing chickens to scare monkeys, and the matter was not over.

Sure enough, in just one month, more than thirty people were beheaded.

As if opening the prelude to war, chaos arose simultaneously in towns everywhere, and even some small temples were slaughtered overnight.

The Black Water Taoist saw it, but he was not the instigator.

In fact, Ren An's instruction to him was to spread the name of the Heavenly Court, so the Black Water Taoist never thought of confronting the Buddhist sect head-on.

But he did not realize that the number of Gu insect users with the Mouth Shut Gu was limited.

With so many supporters of the Heavenly Court, the Black Water Taoist could not possibly take care of a dozen towns, so he could only let the situation gradually deteriorate.

How could they hold back after knowing the truth about the Merit Monks?

Especially near the Laba Festival, when the Merit Monks were most unscrupulous, it was normal for tens of thousands of people to die in the two months of the Buddha's birth day.

"Something's wrong, Uncle."

Ma Shan approached the Black Water Taoist and softly interrupted the latter's thoughts.

The Black Water Taoist came back to his senses, looked at Ma Shan, who was no longer green, and couldn't help but ask, "Don't worry, what's wrong?"

"Someone in Linshan City leaked the news and was all arrested by the government."

The Black Water Taoist pinched his nose in a headache, quickly packed his things and rushed to Linshan City. If the Gu insect user who mastered the Mouth Shut Gu died, the Heavenly Court supporters in all towns would be purged.

They dared not delay and went from the secluded mountain road that had been opened up.

Then they entered from the side gate of Linshan City, but as soon as the Black Water Taoist set foot in the city, he felt an overwhelming oppression, with all kinds of rewards posted everywhere.

The Black Water Taoist looked surprised: "Is the Buddhist sect crazy?"

Because according to the reward notice, on the day of the Laba Festival, more than two hundred Heavenly Court accomplices would be dragged to the vegetable market to be beheaded.

Besides creating panic, what good would it do them?

"Could it be..."

The Black Water Taoist thought of the scene of monks ascending to the Western Paradise. Although it looked ordinary, it was the process of the body gradually dissipating, but it was still unimaginable for mortals.

The Buddhist sect should be planning to use this to establish its authority. The panic, under the support of the Buddha's enlightenment ceremony, would become the nourishment for the world's reverence for the Buddha.

The Merit Monks were likely to see that they could not hide their evil deeds and were preparing to go the other way.

As long as they opened up the quota for becoming a Buddha and allowed a small number of people to join the Buddhist sect, the rest would naturally willingly become appendages.

The Black Water Taoist felt a chill.

He began to gather his companions in Linshan City, but unfortunately, there were only a few days left until the Laba Festival, and Linshan City could only enter but not exit.

In the end, the Black Water Taoist only found three people to go with him, which could not control the situation at all.

The Black Water Taoist did have the intention to contact Ren An, but his means were limited, and the Gu insects he refined were all auxiliary law Gu.

He had no choice but to take it one step at a time.

The cold wind blew.

The fragrance of Laba porridge permeated the city. Compared to Sanxiang City, the Laba porridge in Linshan City had many more nuts and mountain goods.

The only platform in Linshan City for becoming a Buddha was at the vegetable market.

Under the festive backdrop of the crowd, there were men, women, old and young tied up and hung around, far more than two hundred, at least five hundred.

It could be seen that the Buddhist sect had not spared even the relatives of those involved.

The people looked complicated, but most did not want to get involved in the trouble.

At about noon, the warm sun shone on the streets.

Hundreds of prisoners greedily enjoyed a moment of tranquility, but the moment was broken when a dozen old monks surrounded by novice monks walked towards the vegetable market, greeting the people as they walked.

In the inner world, the Merit Monks were the incarnations of the Buddha, representing supreme authority.

The leading monk was named "Kong Xin", with a rough appearance, wearing an extremely gorgeous kasaya, holding a string of Merit Relics in his hand.

Kong Xin came to the platform, first let tens of thousands of people chant sutras with him, and then said, "Amitabha."

"Recently, there have been many troubles. Because of the influence of the Heavenly Court's evil, a total of 1,200 households in Linshan City have lost their lives. This poor monk is extremely ashamed."

Kong Xin shed a few tears, causing the prisoners hanging in mid-air to glare angrily.

However, they had not eaten for a long time and had no strength at all. Even if they could speak, they were drowned out by the voices of the crowd.

They were like meat on a chopping board, completely at the mercy of others.

The Black Water Taoist looked coldly and signaled his companions to disperse. After the Merit Monk became a Buddha and ascended, he would immediately take action to save people.

They waited patiently as the Buddha's enlightenment ceremony proceeded in an orderly manner.

Every half an hour, the Merit Monk would swallow a relic, and then gradually turn metallic in color from the skin.

At the same time, their bodies left the ground and sat cross-legged in mid-air.

Buddha Qi emanated from the Merit Monk's stomach, making them seem like a true Buddha reincarnated, and then their flesh and bones collapsed little by little.

"Found you."

Kong Xin opened his eyes with a smile, staring at the Black Water Taoist in the crowd.

The Black Water Taoist did not hesitate to pull out the soft knife hidden in his waist and killed the Nirvana Merit Monk as the people scrambled to escape.

"Amitabha."

Kong Xin said with his hands clasped together, and tens of thousands of people calmed down inexplicably.

"The Heavenly Court is composed of 3,746 men and women. When you showed up, the temples in all towns have already been dispatched, and I think they are all under control at this moment."

The Black Water Taoist felt a chill, because he realized that when the Merit Monk became a Buddha, he seemed to be able to possess the supernatural powers of the Buddha.

Kong Xin's expression was fanatical, and with his hands open, hundreds of mortals covered their necks.

Their faces turned red, and their limbs could not help but twitch due to the lack of oxygen and insufficient blood supply to the heart, and blood flowed from their mouths and noses.

Compared with the scene of the Merit Monk becoming a Buddha, the impending death of hundreds of people seemed out of place.

Even ordinary people felt a strong sense of absurdity.

The soldiers surrounded the vegetable market, like catching turtles in a jar, slowly approaching the Black Water Taoist.

The Black Water Taoist suddenly became sober. After looking around, he launched the ability of the law Gu, which could make the creatures that heard the voice remember what was said.

"Plague Envoy Immortal!!!"

"You don't really think there are Heavenly Court immortals in the world, do you?"

Kong Xin smiled and looked at the Black Water Taoist. When he noticed that the latter did not have a doubtful look, he suddenly realized belatedly.

How did he feel like he had really seen Heavenly Court immortals?

Ma Shan and others also called out the name of the Plague Envoy Immortal.

Kong Xin couldn't help but feel flustered, wanting to immediately execute hundreds of prisoners and then concentrate on ascending to the Western Paradise.

At this moment, the sound of bones colliding rang from the gaps in the ground wall tiles.

Bone hands stretched out from it, and smoke and dust scattered, and soon, under the witness of tens of thousands of people, the thick smoke presented a tornado.

A graceful woman came.

"This slave, the Heavenly Court Plague Department..."

"Plague Envoy Immortal."

Madam White Bone swept over the Merit Monks above her head, only to see that including Kong Xin, they had actually twisted off their heads.

The Merit Monks were still alive, holding their heads, welcoming the arrival of the Heavenly Court.

At the same time, under Ren An's deliberate arrangement, the Heavenly Gu Realm came to the inner world one after another.

Thanks to Heath Ice Tea, Three More Five Fires, Book Friends 2021207201524913, and the White Crane Hall Master for their rewards.