Chapter 145 Formless (1) I bow down and submit to Lord Feng. ...

The Ghost King vanished like black smoke, breaking free of the illusion. Feng Tan opened his eyes again, meeting the same pair of pitch-black eyes. "Benefactor, are you alright?"

Feng Tan was dazzled by his eyes, and her back slammed heavily against the lotus platform behind her. She almost stumbled and fell into the pool. The young man in front of her reached out and grabbed her arm, and the two collided head-on due to the force of the impact.

A cool, woody scent wafted into her nostrils, causing Feng Tan's pupils to dilate once more. She looked up to observe the person before her. He wore a dark black monk's robe, his hair was unkempt, and his face was gentle, yet exuded a coldness that kept people at a distance. Apart from his dark eyes, he bore no resemblance to Xiao Yinshi whatsoever.

Feng Tan's heartbeat gradually calmed down. She raised her arm to touch his face, wanting to see if he was wearing a human skin mask.

The young man released his arm from Feng Tan's waist, took a step back, and gently twirled the sandalwood prayer beads in his hand, saying in a calm voice, "You are overstepping your bounds, benefactor."

"It was my presumption," Feng Tan said, her doubts still lingering, her eyes scrutinizing the changes in his expression. "Are you a monk from Yongle Temple? What's your name?"

However, the young man's expression remained calm and composed. Upon hearing this, he merely raised his eyes to look at Feng Tan and said, "My Buddhist name is..."

Formless.

Feng Tan had read the Diamond Sutra, which contains the line "All phenomena are illusory," emphasizing the wisdom of transcending appearances.

Feng Tan nodded and asked again, "Master Wuxiang, what brings you to the Dark Hall?"

The candlelight flickered, and Wuxiang's silhouette was clear and sharp in the soft light. Upon closer inspection, it was as mellow as ancient wine, but Feng Tan intuitively felt that this person was cold-hearted at heart, and this intuition was completely unfounded.

Wuxiang stepped onto the lotus platform and gently tapped it with his slender fingers. The lotus platform bloomed like a lotus flower, and the stone petals opened outwards with a rumble, slowly revealing a blue jade ice platform in the center, on which lay a piece of tourmaline.

Unsure whether they were friend or foe, Feng Tan pulled out a gun.

The person on the stage, with his back to Feng Tan, seemed oblivious. However, when he heard a slight noise, his thin lips curled up slightly. When he turned to look at Feng Tan, the slight sarcasm on his lips was subtly suppressed, displaying a humble and gentlemanly demeanor.

The tourmaline's texture was like moonlight and dew, its edges shimmering with light. Wuxiang held it in his hand, stepped closer to Fengtan, and said, "Didn't you come here to get it? I'll help you."

Wu Xiang stopped in front of Feng Tan, the candlelight outlining his dark silhouette, his body shrouded in an elusive mist. He looked down at Feng Tan, his long eyelashes casting shadows that concealed the turbulent undercurrents in his eyes, his feigned gentleness and composure saying, "If you wish to seek revenge on Consort Su for your mother's death, you will need this."

He knew her plan! This realization made Feng Tan immediately cock her gun, the muzzle instantly pointing at Wu Xiang's chest, her voice as cold as ice, "Who are you?"

Water droplets formed from the mist in the dark palace fell into the lotus pond, creating ripples, and the reflections of the two people facing each other in the water rippled slightly.

Wu Xiang showed no fear. Her gun was pressed against his chest, which gave him a subtle sense of pleasure. She was very close, and he liked the strange feeling that came with killing intent. However, this perverse psychology did not show on his handsome face at all. He looked at Feng Tan and said, "My Dharma name is Wu Xiang."

Reversing cause and effect, he killed her when they first met, but now she has wielded a sharp sword and has the power to kill her enemies without restraint.

Upon hearing this, Feng Tan's brow twitched heavily, and he pulled the trigger with a slight force of his index finger. "Say another word of nonsense and I'll send you to see Buddha."

“Benefactor, there is no need to doubt that I am Consort Su’s man. If I were, Lord Feng would already be besieged by the Consort.” Wu Xiang ignored the gun in his chest, reached out and took Feng Tan’s hand, placing the tourmaline in Feng Tan’s hand. “Simply taking the Phoenix Seal is not enough. To defeat the enemy in one fell swoop, we need a crime that will make her die without a burial place.”

After speaking, Wu Xiang took two steps back and took out another jade seal from a side mechanism. It was five inches square and three inches thick. The border was carved with patterns of sea and cliffs, with waves surging and mirages and city gates appearing and disappearing. The border was locked with a meander pattern like a ring around the celestial pole. Each edge had been refined and polished a hundred times. It was engraved with the words "Treasure of the Emperor of the Great Brightness, Receiving the Mandate of Heaven".

This is the Imperial Seal!

After placing the imperial seal into the brocade box, Wu Xiang returned it to the lotus platform. He then turned around and looked down at Feng Tan, saying, "Lord Feng, if you only take the phoenix seal away and incite the officials to impeach you, the Imperial Concubine will only be unable to become Empress. Since you're here, why not put her to death so she can have no future?"

Therefore, by secretly switching the imperial seal with the imperial seal, when the Yongle Temple opens the imperial seal, it will be discovered that the phoenix seal has become the imperial seal. Regardless of whether Consort Su did it or not, the crime of disrespect will fall on her head.

If an emperor, whose destiny was ordained by Heaven, were to become a concubine in the palace, no emperor or courtier in any dynasty would not harbor murderous intent over such a thing.

It is indeed an extremely vicious plan, leaving the opponent with absolutely no chance of turning the tide.

Wuxiang stepped down from the high platform, his wide sleeves fluttering lightly with each step, sandalwood beads swirling between his fingers, their rise and fall all predetermined. "Now I will answer your question, benefactor: who am I?"

The swastika embroidered in gold thread on the young monk's robe appeared and disappeared in the shadows, like an eternal Zen koan in the world. However, the dark background of his body continued to emerge even though he was trying to hide it. "I am a disciple of Master Yunwu. I traveled with Yunwu in my childhood. However, I have no affinity with Buddhism. Therefore, I have decided to return to secular life today."

Monk Yunwu was a highly accomplished monk from the Dahua Dynasty. Three years ago, he came to Dahua to preach and became the abbot of Yongle Temple.

Feng Tan asked, "What do you mean by 'no affinity'?"

Wuxiang said, "I cannot cultivate good karma."

Feng Tan then asked, "Why can't I cultivate good karma?"

Wuxiang replied, “I have heard that the World-Honored One attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree upon seeing the morning star. If it were me, I would think, why does this star not belong to me alone? If it does not belong to me, why not imprison it, confine it, or kill it?”

Feng Tan narrowed her eyes upon hearing this. It seemed that he was indeed not a cultivator with the world at heart. She raised her eyes to meet Wu Xiang's dark eyes and heard him say, "All sentient beings, from the beginningless past, have been in a continuous cycle of birth and death. The true mind that is constant can be neither born nor die. However, in this vast world, all kinds of delusions confine my mind, and thus I am subject to the cycle of six realms of reincarnation."

Feng Tan sarcastically remarked, "The cycle of reincarnation is unpredictable. Is it that Heaven is blind that Master Wuxiang has fallen into the animal realm, or that Master Wuxiang cleverly concealed himself through meticulous planning?"

Always quick-witted and with a hidden smile, he turned to look at the huge Six Paths of Reincarnation mural painted on the dark hall wall and replied, "Although I have not cultivated good karma, I have never done evil."

So, does that mean he's a good person?

"What did you see in the Hungry Ghost Realm when you entered the illusionary trap just now?" Wuxiang stood in the dim and secluded hall, his black kasaya as black as ink, swallowing all the light around him. "You may not know, but this illusion can reflect the person or thing that you fear most in your heart. Judging from your appearance when you came out of the illusion just now, you looked tense as if you had encountered a nemesis."

Feng Tan raised an eyebrow, scrutinizing Wu Xiang. His features were cold and stern, his brow bone sharp as if carved by a knife, and the corners of his eyes slightly upturned as if tempered by a thousand years of ice. When his thin lips were tightly pressed together, a hint of sinister aura emanated from them. The feeling of familiarity with an old friend was too strong, but Xiao Yinshi was clearly dead. That shot hit his heart, and there was absolutely no chance of him surviving.

After a moment of silence, Feng Tan said slowly, "I saw a vicious dog in the hungry ghost realm. It was probably a wrong reincarnation, so I sent it to the animal realm."

"The vicious dog..." Wu Xiang's eyes darkened for a moment, but a slight smile appeared on his lips as he asked, "What has the vicious dog done to make Lord Feng so afraid?"

Every conversation with this man was led astray; he was a master at interrogating people without leaving a trace. It was a real shame he wasn't a judge.

Feng Tan said, "The human heart that the vicious dog gnawed is hotter than the iron balls of hell. I made it chew up its own heart in the hungry ghost realm and hang it on the Mirror of Retribution. Now it is in the animal realm, grinding down the canine teeth of the people it gnawed for a hundred years."

Wu Xiang suddenly chuckled, his voice like cracking ice scraping against a bronze gong, “The vicious dog has entered the Mirror of Retribution. Its previous life was probably that of a human. Since it has committed such a heinous act that has displeased you, how can you vent your anger by simply sending it to the animal realm? Why not use the vermilion pen in front of the Ten Kings of Hell to pierce the vicious dog’s belly, pull out its heart, liver, spleen, and lungs, and tie them into a knot to make the red rope for slicing on the Mirror of Retribution?”

Feng Tan said, "You seem to have no reservations about this important Buddhist site."

"I do not convert to Buddhism," Wuxiang suddenly approached Fengtan, his words dripping with blood, "There are no good people before the Mirror of Retribution, and many monks and Taoists before the Gate of Hell. The wandering monks have eighteen human eyes sewn into their robes, the Taoist priests have half a broken tongue hanging from their crown tassels, the old Taoist priests' water sleeves and Bagua symbols are dyed with the placenta of a woman who has just given birth, the novice monks' staffs are strung with prayer beads made from the Adam's apples of living people, and the alchemists' furnaces are filled with the skullcaps of seventy-two young children bubbling away... When the Mirror of Retribution is soaked in blood and becomes translucent, one realizes that the monks and Taoists of the underworld know better than the evil ghosts of the mortal world how to use their robes and feathered garments to cover their bellies full of knives that can kill people."

Feng Tan felt a chill run down his spine from what he said, and said, "The waters of the River of Oblivion swirl back into black lotuses, and a rotten-browed, black-hearted monk is reflected in the mirror! You describe it so vividly and cruelly, have you ever been to the Mirror of Retribution?"

The monk Wuxiang remained expressionless. "I've been there."

The two were less than half a foot apart. Feng Tan sneered, then suddenly reached out and grabbed his wrist, lifting the monk's robe and touching it with his fingertips. He did not feel any scars from suicide.

Then he looked up at the completely different face. The monk was as tall as Xiao Yinshi. So Feng Tan quickly grabbed his robe and pulled him down slightly before touching his cheek.

It's delicate and slightly cool, yet warm; it's real human skin, not a mask.

Her heart, which had been pounding with anxiety, eased somewhat. The eerie aura emanating from the monk before her was so similar to Xiao Yinshi's that it repeatedly gave her the illusion. Xiao Yinshi's ability to reincarnate was triggered by the system. When each generation of transmigrators appointed by the system traveled through time and space, he could also re-enter the world as a defender of women's rights. This life was different from the previous ones. Feng Youming was the last generation of transmigrators, and he should not be reincarnated again.

The bullet struck him squarely in the chest; given the medical conditions of that era, no one could have survived falling off the cliff.

Little did they know that the situation was even more bizarre when all their traits, without any deliberate concealment, were nowhere to be found.

Wu Xiang let Feng Tan's fingertips linger on his face until Feng Tan finished confirming his suspicions. Then he straightened his back, looked down at her suspicious expression, and said in a calm tone, "Does Lord Feng like my face that much?"

Feng Tan distanced himself from him, allowing the deep, cool woody scent that had been lingering in his nose to dissipate slightly. His voice remained steady. “A few days ago, there were rumors circulating that a handsome young monk had come to Yongle Temple, attracting many young women from the capital to come and offer incense. Today, I have learned that the rumors are true.”

Wu Xiang asked, "Does Lord Feng also appreciate physical beauty?"

Feng Tan said, "Beauty and ugliness are both just skin and bones, but those with outstanding appearances are naturally more pleasing to the eye. Master Wuxiang, you want to leave Buddhism today and have come to see me. What are your plans after you return to secular life?"

Wu Xiang reached out and peeled off his monk's robe, exposing his thin chest muscles in the dim Buddhist light. "Master Feng is indeed straightforward."

A dark robe fell to the ground, the wind it stirred causing the coarse spiderweb to sway. Through the web, one could see the young man's collarbone was deep, like the hollow of an ancient inkstone, and on his half-exposed chest, the bluish-green veins beneath the skin were visible. Below his heart, the rectus abdominis muscles were faintly visible as two shallow ravines, which, as he leaned toward Feng Tan, stretched out diagonally, like the shallow lines a craftsman lightly drew on mutton-fat jade with a carving knife, yet revealing a rugged, bony quality at the turning points, adding a touch of coldness even more than the Asura hanging upside down from the corner of the palace.

The cool, woody scent wafted over again, accompanied by the desire and allure of male beauty. Feng Tan remained calm and said, "Let's not beat around the bush."

Wu Xiang's Adam's apple bobbed slightly. He turned his head and leaned close to Feng Tan's ear, his voice becoming magnetic and husky, presenting an extremely seductive posture, "I wonder if Lord Feng's residence is lacking any advisors?"

Spider silk landed on her shoulder, and Feng Tan raised her finger to brush along the exposed shoulder line. The skin felt warm and cool against her skin. Her fingertips stopped on the bare shoulder, her slender fingers flicking as if exploring, the tips of her fingers gleaming with the luster of mother-of-pearl. She seemed to bewitch and entice Wu Xiang on her shoulder. "Little Master Wu Xiang returned to secular life to become my advisor? I don't lack advisors, but I do lack a male favorite."

Wu Xiang's Adam's apple bobbed in the shadows, his long eyelashes cast shadows on his eyelids, and a half-smile played on his lips. "Oh? If Lord Feng harbors such thoughts about me..."

Feng Tan's fingers slid down Wu Xiang's shoulder to his chest, his index finger continuing downwards until it disappeared at his waistline, successfully breaking his composed expression. "The scriptures say that during the Zhengde era of the previous dynasty, there was a male concubine who was called the Skin-Peeling Monk because his skin was peeled off and used to cover a drum. Every time a nobleman struck the drum, blood would seep out and congeal into the four characters 'Amitabha Buddha' on the drumhead. Looking at Master Wu Xiang's face, I think it's perfect for being that Skin-Peeling Monk."

Feng Tan felt the swelling in his chest and looked down at his back. Just then, Wu Xiang turned around, put his hands together, and said to the collapsing Buddha statue, "Wu Xiang's past life karmic ties have not been severed, and he has no fate with Lord Feng's lover."

The flickering candlelight burst forth in the shrine, illuminating Wuxiang's bare back. His shoulder blades stretched sharply beneath his skin, and his spinal grooves were deep, like the stone steps of an ancient temple. Each vertebra shone bluish-white in the candlelight. Fine Sanskrit tattoos covered his entire back like incantations, with the last character rolling down his ribs and disappearing into his buttocks.

Feng Tan glanced at him and left, finally confirming all the suspicious points about this person. He didn't have a human skin mask on his face, no suicide scars on his wrists, and he didn't have a phoenix totem when he was in love. He was not Xiao Yinshi.

"A wise man knows when to yield," Feng Tan smiled slightly and said, "Tell me, what exactly do you want to do by waiting for me here?"

"Everyone says immortals are good, but they can't forget fame and fortune..." Wu Xiang's dark eyes revealed a determination that startled Feng Tan. "Lord Feng has accepted me as his advisor, and I will bow down to Lord Feng."