Chapter 128 The Secret Realm of Love and Lust (Twenty-Three)

“The illusions and magic array from before were probably the work of that Bodhi tree spirit.” Wei Feng straightened his sleeves. “Master, now that the Bodhi tree spirit is dead and the magic array has disappeared, where should we look for the Sumeru Heart?”

"Things are probably not that simple," Jiang Gu said, but he didn't follow up on what he meant.

"What does Master mean?" Wei Feng looked at him in confusion.

“The Bodhi tree can cultivate a primordial spirit and become a monster, which requires a hundred years of arduous cultivation. However, when we encountered the Bodhi root in the south, it did not cause any trouble, which shows that it is inherently kind. Therefore, what it should possess is not the Sumeru Heart, but the Relic.” Jiang Gu said thoughtfully, “Rather than saying that he wants to trap us, it seems that he is preventing us from getting closer to something.”

Wei Feng lowered his brows. "Master doesn't believe what I'm saying?"

Jiang Gu lifted his eyelids and glanced at him. "It's not that I don't believe you, but there's something fishy about this."

"Could the thing on him be a relic?" Hu Jingchen, who had been quiet all along, suddenly spoke up.

Wei Feng gave him a cold look.

Hu Jingchen, however, did not care about his gaze, but looked at Jiang Gu instead, "Those Buddhist cultivators are powerful, but they are still human. Humans have selfish desires, so the relic should not be so easy to make."

"Then guess why this place is called the Tomb of Ten Thousand Buddhas?" Wei Feng crossed his arms, leaned closer, and chuckled. Dark, ghostly markings suddenly spread across his face, and he stared at him with his empty white eyes, saying, "Perhaps some evil spirit is sealed here—"

"Wei Feng." Jiang Gu's indifferent voice sounded behind him.

Just as Bai Tong was about to shatter Hu Jingchen's Dao Heart, he suddenly narrowed his eyes. Wei Feng straightened up with a smile, then turned around with an innocent and obedient expression, "Master, I was just joking with him."

Hu Jingchen was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat. Just now, when those white eyes stared at him, he was almost unable to move, and his Dao heart was on the verge of shattering. Now he felt like he had survived a calamity.

Jiang Gu walked straight to the shattered Bodhi tree root and summoned a compass-shaped magical artifact with mercury floating on it, which was shaking wildly.

Wei Feng curiously leaned closer to take a look, and reached out to take it, but Jiang Gu simply handed it to him, saying, "There's something underground, go down and take a look."

"Okay." Hu Jingchen trusted Jiang Gu almost unconditionally, so he didn't say anything.

Wei Feng couldn't stand the sight of him. He weighed the magical artifact in his hand, licked his slightly itchy canine teeth, and tilted his head to look at Jiang Gu.

“…Eat it.” Jiang Gu paused, “but don’t eat the mercury.”

Wei Feng grinned and took a big bite, making a satisfying crunch. Hu Jingchen, standing beside him, looked horrified. This was the first time in his life he had ever seen someone eat a magical artifact raw. His face practically contorted in shock. "This... this can be eaten?"

“Anyone can eat it.” Wei Feng looked at him with a grin.

Hu Jingchen twitched the corner of his mouth and dodged to the other side of Jiang Gu.

Jiang Gu needed to control the puppet with his spiritual power, so he used complicated talismans to save some spiritual power. He also borrowed some evil energy from Wei Feng. When he grabbed the evil energy, he said indifferently, "You just returned to your original body?"

"Ah, right." Wei Feng didn't expect him to be so perceptive, and said nonchalantly, "It's easier to kill when he turns back to his original form, otherwise it's difficult to use his skills while he's in puppet form."

"There are still people chasing us, be careful," Jiang Gu reminded him.

"Understood, I'll try not to use it next time," Wei Feng replied obediently.

Soon a large hole was dug out where the tree root had collapsed, and a long staircase appeared at the entrance. Jiang Gu and Wei Feng exchanged a glance, and Jiang Gu was about to go down when Wei Feng stopped him.

“Master, the Yin energy down there is extremely heavy. I have the Ghost Mark that can block it.” He spoke with reason and evidence, “And I can run away quickly when the time comes.”

So Wei Feng took the lead, and the three of them went underground together.

“This should be the Tomb of Ten Thousand Buddhas.” Hu Jingchen’s voice rang out softly, as if afraid of disturbing something. He held up the luminous pearl in his hand and looked at the flowing golden Sanskrit on both sides of the passageway. “Before I came here, I did some research. It is said that these Buddhist cultivators came from the Chenyao Continent and were invited here to suppress a powerful ghost cultivator. As a result, they all perished here. However, this is just a legend. I don’t know if it is true or not.”

The sound of dripping water echoed underground. Heavy boots pounded on the wet floor tiles. Wei Feng chuckled, "The information you can get in Wangyue is all just legend. The real information has to be bought from the auction house with spirit stones."

Hu Jingchen touched his nose somewhat awkwardly. He had already spent all his spirit stones, so naturally he had no money left to buy any more information.

Jiang Gu glanced at Wei Feng. He seemed to have just seen the spirit pet pouch at Wei Feng's waist move slightly. "The auction house belongs to the Life and Death Pavilion. All the information from the Ten Towers, Eight Pavilions, and Misty Rain Terrace of the Moon Gazing Pavilion can be gathered at the auction house. The authority of the Life and Death Pavilion is a bit too great."

"The Tower of Life and Death is just a dumping ground. The auction house and the White Bone Pavilion are actually serving the Misty Rain Terrace." Wei Feng said in a calm tone, "On the Moon Gazing Continent, all resources will be tilted towards the Misty Rain Terrace. The Tower of Life and Death is just a figurehead for the people above, so naturally they can say whatever they want."

His tone was cold, and his back view seemed somewhat unfamiliar. Jiang Gu's gaze darkened, and then he saw the person walking in front suddenly turn around and smile at him as if seeking praise, "Master, I know so much, isn't that amazing?"

Jiang Gu glanced at him but ignored him.

Wei Feng sighed in disappointment, turned around, and continued walking forward.

Jiang Gu didn't know how long the three of them had been walking before he finally realized something was wrong—they seemed to be going in circles, and Wei Feng's figure was getting further and further away from him.

Jiang Gu stopped in his tracks.

Wei Feng, who was walking at the front, did not stop. As Jiang Gu's vision gradually became blurry, Hu Jingchen behind him had also disappeared.

The bell rang in Jiang Gu's ears again, but this time it became increasingly indistinct, gradually turning into a regular rhythm.

Thump—thump—thump—

It's like... the sound of a heartbeat.

It's the heart.

Jiang Gu reached out and touched the stone wall beside him, drawing a spirit-gathering talisman on it to confirm that this was not an illusion, but now he had lost track of Wei Feng and Hu Jingchen.

But Wei Feng had clearly destroyed the Sumeru Heart, so why would he—

'Could what he has on him be a relic?'

Hu Jingchen's words suddenly echoed in his mind.

All things in the universe are interconnected and mutually restraining. Where relics appear, the Sumeru mind usually appears as well. Relics represent the ultimate good of universal salvation, while the Sumeru mind represents the ultimate evil of stubbornness and delusion.

If the Bodhi tree spirit possessed relics, then Wei Feng's burns from forcibly destroying his hand... would make sense. Wei Feng's primordial spirit was impure, so it wouldn't be surprising if the Bodhi tree spirit mistook him for an evil being. Therefore, it would be deceived into believing the relics were the Heart of Sumeru. The tree spirit guarding this place was probably to protect the things within the Tomb of Ten Thousand Buddhas, but...

Jiang Gu added layers of Dharma seals to his Dao heart.

It's still not right.

He reached out and touched the wall again, only to find his hand covered in stickiness. He pinched a talisman and saw that his hand was covered in blood. The wall, which had been damp and cold just moments before, had turned fleshy red and was covered with bluish-black pipes, inside which seemed to be swollen with bulging liquid, just like blood vessels.

Thump, thump, thump.

Along with the sound of a heartbeat in my ears, the wall began to throb rhythmically, the pungent smell of blood assaulted my senses, and a jumble of thoughts flooded my mind like a tidal wave.

Is this really the entrance to the Tomb of Ten Thousand Buddhas?

Or is it that he and Hu Jingchen are still in that Bodhi Root Forest?

Hu Jingchen's appearance was suspicious from the start. What if the Bodhi tree spirit wasn't actually dead, and even Wei Feng might have been a fabrication...

Is this a relic or the heart of Mount Sumeru?

Human nature is inherently wicked. Wei Feng was ordered to infiltrate his side, so why hasn't he made a move yet? He should have acted decisively and eliminated the threat long ago. He shouldn't have left such a menace like Wei Feng by his side. Soft-heartedness is a major taboo in the ruthless path, and he has committed the most taboo mistake he shouldn't have made...

He should tear the person behind this to pieces.

Jiang Gu's vision turned dark red, and the sound of his heartbeat grew louder. He forced himself to calm down, banished these chaotic thoughts, and directly sealed several acupoints on the puppet's body.

The Sumeru Heart can cause people to lose their true nature, and Jiang Gu extremely hates having his mind exposed, so losing one's true nature is an insult to him.

Setting aside those distracting thoughts, he vaguely formed a rough guess in his mind.

As if unable to discern his true thoughts, the heartbeats around them grew increasingly rapid, and the originally blood-soaked scene gradually faded, transforming into a dark and gloomy prison.

Jiang Gu had never seen a prison like this in Pingze.

Dozens of iron chains, as thick as a forearm, pierced through the flesh, and two extremely thick chains fastened to the wrists that were reduced to white bones. The disfigured monster was sealed within the magic array, a defiant smile on its face. Its body was extremely large, so much so that it was forced to lower its head, its neck pressed against the prison roof. In its hand, it was clutching a half-eaten "corpse," though calling it a corpse wouldn't be accurate. The person was still screaming shrilly, and the crunching sound of bones being chewed by the monster was particularly horrifying.

The monster, its face smeared with blood, seemed to sense his gaze and stared directly at him.

Jiang Gu's vision blurred for a moment, and the person he was holding transformed into Jiang Gu's own appearance. The scarlet tongue licked over, and half of "Jiang Gu's" body turned into bloody white bones, with drops of blood falling onto the hideous shark tail.

The monster chewed on the flesh and blood in its mouth, looking at him with a provocative yet intimate gaze.

Jiang Gu's expression turned slightly cold. "Wei Feng, that's enough."

The surroundings were deathly silent, save for the sound of the monster chewing bones.

Jiang Gu was certain that he could hear him.

He didn't know how much time had passed when a hoarse voice finally reached his ears from afar, "Master, how did you find out?"

“You crushed the relic, not the Sumeru Heart, otherwise you wouldn’t have the injury on your hand. You probably led us into the Sumeru Heart as soon as we entered the underground.” Jiang Gu said unhurriedly. “Since you are so curious about my inner world, why not just ask directly? Why go through all this trouble?”

Under the Bodhi tree, Wei Feng looked at the beating heart in his hand and Jiang Gu trapped in the Sumeru Heart, then looked up at the Bodhi tree spirit bound to the tree.

The other man had two bloody holes ripped into his chest, one on each side. He weakly smiled and said, "Young benefactor, have you gotten your answer?"