Chapter 58 Chapter 58 Buddha Fruit
Huo Xin sighed, "I should have thought of this earlier. The blood of the Buddha Flower Demon must be very rare. The Yun family naturally wouldn't give too much to the children of the side branches."
Yun Miao, hanging in the air, had his head down and a gloomy expression. At first glance, he looked like a hanged ghost who had been dead for a long time. Only his mouth was still mumbling.
"What should I do? Do you think it would be helpful if I used water to make this little blood into bloody liquid? If it's not thick enough, can I add some flour to thicken it? Or should I drink the bloody liquid and then try bleeding again?"
"How about I just acknowledge Futu as my father? I'll change my name to Fuyun. They say even a tiger won't eat its own cubs. Maybe he'll let us go?"
Tan Xiaobai was frightened: "Boss, what are you mumbling about? Cheer up!"
Huo Xin also advised her that as long as the person was still alive, there was still hope. If the three of them put their heads together, they would definitely be able to find a way out.
"A way out. Oh, I can still look for clues over there."
Yun Miao concentrated her consciousness and headed towards the dilapidated temple. She first carefully checked other places, and when she found nothing unusual, she went straight to the strange meat fungus on the altar.
This thing looks unusual, there must be some clues, right?
However, as her spiritual consciousness successfully penetrated into the meat ganoderma, before she had time to check the specific situation of the meat ganoderma, she felt that her spiritual consciousness was connected to another spiritual consciousness.
Yun Miao was so frightened that her breathing quickened. It felt like she had put her hand into a palm-sized box, and there was a person as big as her hiding inside, and this strange person suddenly grabbed her hand!
This meat ganoderma is actually alive? Does it have consciousness?
Her first reaction was to withdraw her spiritual consciousness and consult Huo Xin's encyclopedia to find out whether the meat ganoderma was a dead or alive thing, and whether it had the potential to become a spirit. But just as she was about to withdraw her spiritual consciousness, the spiritual consciousness within the meat ganoderma pulled her deeper.
Yun Miao's eyes widened slightly, because through her spiritual sense, she saw a person who had died long ago.
*
A massive pagoda tree obscured the sun, its branches bent with the weight of countless pure white pagoda flowers. The pale golden veins on the petals gleamed in the sunlight. The wind blew, and the petals fell like rain. Dots of gold drifted in the air, like a hazy dream.
There were tables and chairs under the tree, with a pot of wine and two wine glasses on the table. A female cultivator in white was sitting beside the table, her black hair loose, her eyes like cold stars, and a hint of unruly heroism all over her body.
She raised her head and looked accurately at Yun Miao's spiritual consciousness from a distance.
Yun Miao scanned the surroundings with his spiritual sense, lingering on another empty chair for a moment before sizing up the female cultivator with suspicion. "Are you Xinyi?"
Xinyi nodded: "It's me."
Yun Miao: "Where is this place?"
Xinyi turned her head to look at the pagoda tree beside her, her eyes melancholy. "This is the depths of my consciousness. You can think of it as the inside of my sea of knowledge. These are illusions I have constructed with my memories."
"I've been trapped in the Buddha Fruit for too long. I was anxious to discuss something with you, so I asked you to come here. Please don't blame me."
"Your presence here must have been captured by Futu as blood food, right? Once Futu completely digests those three corpses, he will go all out against you. I believe you need help."
Yun Miao seemed to understand something: "What do you need me to do?"
Xinyi did not answer immediately. She just poured herself a glass of wine but did not drink it. She just looked at her reflection in the wine in silence and slowly recounted the past that was buried by time.
"During that catastrophe, the period of the Great Cataclysm you mentioned, a sect called the Immortal Cult emerged in the world of cultivation. They believed that by inserting a human soul into a Buddha fruit, and then inserting that fruit into an immortal's molt, and reproducing it, they could transform the person into an immortal and ascend to heaven instantly, thus escaping the catastrophe of the human world..."
"He couldn't accept my...Xinyi's death. Ultimately, he believed the lies of the Changsheng Cult. After Xinyi's death, he extracted her soul and stuffed it into a Buddha fruit, then hid the Buddha fruit in his immortal body..."
"He killed many people and used their flesh, blood, and souls as nutrients to feed the Buddha Fruit, but this was not enough, far from enough..."
"That catastrophe swept across the entire human world, and he was no exception. Sensing his own death, he set about building a massive tomb, refining his own body into a corpse puppet, and then refining his own soul into the core that controlled the corpse puppet..."
"The blood of those three men awakened him from his slumber. His plan has already begun. As long as he gathers a little more strength, he will tear open the boundary of this secret realm and take root in the outside world. The spiritual energy, plants, monsters, and even everyone in the outside world will become his blood food."
"He wants to resurrect Xinyi, no matter the cost. But I don't want his hands to be stained with blood. His hands are beautiful, but only suitable for holding a pen. When I was alive, I was responsible for wielding swords and guns."
"What's more, the Buddha Flower Demon was born with a pure and kind heart. He never killed anyone in the difficult times, but now he has committed so many sins for me..."
"But he has no idea that when he committed these sins, Xinyi's soul had already chosen to self-destruct in pain. Today, I am nothing more than the product of the union of the Buddha Fruit and Xinyi's remaining soul..."
"I am also Xinyi, but I am not his Xinyi..."
Xinyi's voice trembled slightly, but her expression remained resolute. "So I want you to persuade him and tell him everything. If you can persuade him to turn back, you, your companions, and all the living beings in that land outside can be saved."
She told Yun Miao that the core was inside the immortal shell, next to the pagoda fruit.
Futu had already been insane, and after his death, he cruelly refined his soul into the core of a corpse puppet. Therefore, she had no idea how much consciousness Futu still had. Yun Miao's consciousness had to penetrate the deepest part of the core, awaken his consciousness, and persuade him to turn back.
Yun Miao was a little suspicious and asked Xinyi why she didn't tell Futu herself.
Xinyi said that she couldn't. The Buddha Fruit was the cradle that nurtured her, but also the prison that trapped her. Her consciousness was trapped in the Buddha Fruit and couldn't get out. The consciousness of people from the outside world couldn't get in either.
Futu couldn't communicate with her when he was alive, and even less so after he died and became a cadaver without much reason. She and he were so close, yet so far apart.
As for why she knew so much about the outside world, it was because the nutrients provided by Futu to the Futu Fruit were mixed with the residual souls of the victims. She was forced to absorb their residual souls and naturally obtained their scattered memories, among which the memory of their despair before death was the clearest.
And when Futu was about to die... she also saw some fragments of Futu's memories.
"At that time, he wasn't sure if everything would go according to his plan. He also didn't know if the Changsheng Sect's method could really revive Xinyi, so he chose to merge part of his flesh, blood, and soul with Xinyi."
At this point, she looked deeply at the young girl in blue. "I don't know why it's you, but you're the only one who's special. You're the only voice I've been waiting for in these hundreds of thousands of years." "I can feel he's in pain. Please, help him."
A petal of a pagoda flower fell into the wine glass, causing ripples in the clear wine, and the reflection of the white-clothed female cultivator in the glass became blurred.
"After the matter is completed, the Immortal Transmutation, the Buddha Fruit, and everything in this secret realm will be at your disposal."
She said that the Buddha Fruit could not only help people conceive and reshape their bodies, but was also a good thing for refining external incarnations. She thought Yun Miao would like it.
Yun Miao was indeed moved, but she quickly thought of a question: "But if this happens, you will die, right?"
Xinyi smiled, picked up the wine glass and drank it all in one gulp. At that moment, she seemed to have reconciled herself with the confident and flamboyant female cultivator in the portrait. "Why do you ask, fellow Daoist? I would have died long ago, and I should have died long ago."
Yun Miao was curious: "Why did you die?"
Xinyi smiled faintly, "When lifespan ends, one will naturally die. Billions of creatures in this world are destined to die the moment they are born. I am just one of those billions of creatures."
Yun Miao: "What exactly was that ancient catastrophe that wiped out only one in ten humans?"
Xinyi was stunned, then shook her head gently. "It's better for you not to know. In my lifetime... Xinyi cultivated the Great Dao of Destiny, so I can sense a strong sense of karma in you. Perhaps you are also heading down this path. Sometimes, knowing too much in advance sows the seeds of karma, which is not beneficial to your cultivation."
At this moment, the originally peaceful forest began to become turbulent, and the surrounding scenery, including the magnolia itself, began to fade and disappear.
Xinyi bowed and said, "Fellow Daoist, my strength is only enough to sustain me for this long. You may go on. The success or failure of this matter depends on you."
Yun Miao: "One last question. Futu is so crazy, what should I do if I can't persuade him?"
"Then... destroy the core and kill him."
The figure of the white-robed female cultivator had completely disappeared, leaving only a faint whisper: "No matter what, please stop him."
*
The speed of the spiritual communication was very fast. Yun Miao seemed to have been talking with Xinyi for a long time, but in fact, in the eyes of Huo Xin and Tan Xiaobai, she was just stunned for a moment.
Just when they were wondering what Yun Miao was thinking, Yun Miao suddenly turned around and looked at them, saying with surprise that she seemed to have a solution!
Yun Miao quickly repeated her conversation with Xinyi to Huo Xin and Tan Xiaobai.
"What do you think of this Xinyi? Is it trustworthy?"
Huo Xin analyzed that they were unable to tell whether Xinyi's words were true or false for the time being, but one thing was certain, no matter what Xinyi's intention was to interfere, she and Futu should not be in the same group. They had no better way to break the deadlock now, so they could only believe it reluctantly.
Upon hearing this, Yun Miao immediately rubbed his hands together and said, "Okay, I will use my spiritual sense to explore that core now."
Huo Xin: "No, let's just choose the second option."
The second one?
Yun Miao and Tan Xiaobai looked over in confusion.
Huo Xin looked at them with dismay, saying they weren't like Xinyi, who had mixed feelings about Futu. Why bother trying to persuade him to change his ways? Even if he did, what would happen? Could those he had killed ever be resurrected?
What's more, he had gone mad before his death, and became a mindless corpse puppet after his death. Even Xinyi, who knew him best, was not sure how much of his consciousness remained in that core.
You have to know that they tried their best but couldn't leave any scar on Futu's tree roots. You can imagine how big the gap in strength is between them and Futu. If Yun Miao's spiritual sense penetrates into the core and fails to persuade Futu to turn back, but instead angers Futu, then wouldn't she be dead?
So it would be better to just destroy the core of Fu Tu and kill him, and be done with it!
Tan Xiaobai exclaimed: "Great! I agree!"
Yun Miao also suddenly realized that she had played too many games and was used to following the NPC's instructions step by step. She never thought that she could skip the previous steps and go directly to the last one.
Tan Xiaobai soon discovered a new problem. They were tied so tightly that they couldn't get into the dilapidated temple at all.
Huo Xin said without hesitation: "My family has a secret technique called Burning Blood, which can instantly increase my strength to the upper level of the Foundation Establishment Stage. Wood overcomes fire. When the time comes, Yun Miao and I will definitely be able to work together..."
"no!"
Yun Miao firmly disagreed: "You absolutely cannot use Burning Blood, I won't allow you to use it!"
Huo Xin's eyes flashed with surprise: "You... know the effect of burning blood?"
Yun Miao said firmly, "Yes, I know."
Huo Xin really wanted to ask Yun Miao why he knew that?
Although the Huo family is not as far away from Yunzhou as the Tan family, there is still a state between them. Yun Miao obviously has only a vague understanding of many common sense in the world of cultivation, so how could he know her family's secret skills.
However, Huo Xin knew that now was not the time to ask this question. Just as she was silent, Yun Miao said, "Anyway, doing this will put the three of us in danger. It's better to be safe. I will use my spiritual sense to persuade Fu Tu first..."
Huo Xin: "No, this is too dangerous for you."
Tan Xiaobai nodded in agreement.
Yun Miao: "It's just a little dangerous. I will be careful. Besides, you should know that two is better than one."
"That's not how you count human life!"
Huo Xin's face turned cold: "Yun Miao, don't always say such stupid things. Our lives are lives, your life is also life, no one's life is cheaper than anyone else's!"
"Don't always think about standing in front of us. We are your friends, not your followers. Xiaobai and I want to fight alongside you, not always be protected by you!"
Yun Miao wanted to say that a player’s fate really cannot be predicted. When she was playing computer games in the past, she even controlled the game character to rummage through the trash can and ate the garbage to death.
But she didn't dare to say this in front of Huo Xin's cold face, so she could only look at Tan Xiaobai: "But Xiaobai is my little brother, isn't the boss supposed to protect the little brother?"
Tan Xiaobai immediately sneered: "Boss, where did you hear this rumor? It has always been me who has been fighting for you. When did it become your turn to protect me?"
"You don't have the qualities of a boss at all. It really makes me sad. I don't want to be your little brother anymore!"
Yun Miao was shocked as he watched Tan Xiaobai turn against him and say, "Okay, you're going to rebel!"
Tan Xiaobai stiffened his neck and said, "We're all going to die sooner or later, so let's die together! If you die first, I'll never acknowledge you as my boss again. I'll even draw a turtle on your tombstone to piss you off!"
Huo Xin didn't say anything, but just reached out to the storage bag with difficulty, ready to swallow the family secret medicine directly.
Yun Miao hurriedly stopped Huo Xin and said that she agreed that the three of them should act together, but Huo Xin could not use Burning Blood, so she had another method to try.
*
In the dark underground mezzanine, light appeared for the first time in hundreds of thousands of years. Three young men were hung in the air by tree roots, and a jade ball was spinning above the head of a girl in green. The rays of light that fell from it made the surroundings glow with a layer of faint green.
No one knew how many ghost spiders were kept in this underground mezzanine. They crawled restlessly on the spider web, their heads always facing the three people, their ferocious mouthparts rubbing constantly, and the faint insect-attracting scent on the three people continued to seduce them.
But the fear of the tree roots always prevailed. A big ghost spider turned around suddenly and bit off the head of a small ghost spider behind it.
The large ghost spider then began to cling to the headless body of the smaller one, devouring its round, delicious belly. Crumbs of carapace continued to fall from its mouthparts.
Seeing this, the other ghost spiders in the darkness couldn't help but show their ferocity and bite their smaller counterparts, just like they would do after waking up from a long sleep.
The girl in green obviously saw that they were enduring very hard, and she looked like the other two.
"Are you ready?"
After receiving a positive answer, she immediately looked down at her storage bag.
Bang!
Several cans smashed heavily on the crisscrossing roots on the outer layer of the "nest", but they did not cause any damage to the hard roots, so those roots remained motionless, completely ignoring the sudden attack.
However, as the jar shattered, the white ointment instantly stained the tree roots and slowly slid down.
The black-clothed girl released a flame to ignite it, and a large ball of ointment suddenly burst into high flames. Large patches of pale flames stuck to various places around the "nest" like ugly scars.
They still couldn't cause any damage to the hard tree roots, but the fishy smell emitted by the burning mermaid oil instantly attracted the attention of the ghost spiders in the surrounding area.
Whether it was the ghost-back spider that was eating its own kind or the ghost-back spider that was being eaten, they all raised their heads as if bewitched and looked in that direction.
The dazzling firelight illuminated the surroundings. A ghost-back spider as big as a human head had crawled to the top of the tree root where the girl in green was hanging. Its dense black compound eyes reflected the scene in front of it.
A portrait flew lightly past, as if trying to pass through the gap between the fire wall and the tree roots and float into the dilapidated little temple, but the pale flames suddenly jumped up and climbed onto the portrait.
The pagoda tree in the painting twisted in flames, and the smiles shared by the two beneath it were gradually replaced by charred holes. A rising air current sent a streak of ash drifting through the cracks in the tree's roots, about to fly into its "nest," only to be instantly shattered by a whipping root.
It was also at this time that the insect-attracting incense on the portrait was completely evaporated after being roasted by the flames. This time, even Yun Miao and the other two could clearly smell the sweet and fishy smell.
The rustling sounds in the surrounding darkness suddenly disappeared, and the entire underground mezzanine fell into an eerie silence.
But the next second, a more rapid and louder rustling sound came. Under this double stimulation, the ghost spiders finally went completely crazy and rushed towards the inverted "nest" impatiently and ferociously.
The tree roots guarding the "nest" immediately pulled out of the soil and began to attack the surging army of ghost spiders. However, there were so many ghost spiders kept in this underground mezzanine that as soon as the tree roots swept across and crushed a group of ghost spiders, more ghost spiders would swarm in, stepping on the corpses of their companions.
Soon, scattered ghost spiders arrived at the "nest". They rushed into the cold flames like moths to a flame, and excitedly gnawed on the tree roots stained with mermaid oil.
They were also unable to damage the tree roots at all, but as more and more ghost spiders climbed up, one of them finally accidentally passed through the fire wall and the tree wall and stood on the open space inside the nest.
The ghost-back spider, pushed over by its companions, slowly turned its head and looked at the fairy shell that looked like a pink and white meat ball in the ruined temple. That thing seemed... more delicious.
However, just as the ghost-back spider was crawling towards the ruined temple, a tree root fell from the sky like a giant's hand and crushed it in anger.
Immediately afterwards, the entire underground mezzanine began to shake, and the earth emitted a slight whine.
Countless tree roots in the "dense forest" came alive and started a ruthless killing. Even the upside-down "nest" began to wriggle, and the tree roots that made up the "nest" were pulled out one after another, crushing towards the ghost spiders regardless of anything.
If Futu was still alive, he would never remove the "Nest" protecting the ruined temple. Unfortunately, he is dead. Now this corpse puppet named Futu has only one thing in his mind, he must work hard to provide Futu fruit and wait for Xinyi to appear again.
But before that, he had to protect the temple and kill all creatures that tried to get close to Xinyi!
Kill, kill, kill!
The army of ghost-back spiders that had previously frightened Poison Lady and the others was like fragile, juicy berries beneath those terrifying tree roots. The sound of berries popping could be heard continuously. Fragments of shells and limbs were tossed up and down by the furious and frantic waving of countless tree roots, and dark green juice splashed everywhere.
The tree roots that originally wrapped up Yun Miao and the other two had joined in the occupation at some point. After being released, Yun Miao and the other two immediately acted according to the plan.
Huo Xin and Tan Xiaobai quickly retreated to the corner and looked up, only to see a flash of precious light from the ladder above Yun Miao's head, and Yun Miao's figure disappeared out of thin air.
Then the ladder to heaven retracted its precious light and became like an ordinary small ball. Yun Miao, who had used this trick several times, sat cross-legged on the clouds inside the ladder to heaven, and skillfully controlled the ladder to float slowly forward close to the ground.
Huo Xin and Tan Xiaobai held their breath nervously. Once Yun Miao succeeded, it would definitely alarm Fu Tu, and then it would be time for them to take action.
Although Yun Miao was also very nervous, to her it was all just a game, so her nervousness was less than one-tenth of Huo Xin and Tan Xiaobai's.
Perhaps because she was in the foundation-building stage, her speed in climbing the ladder had changed from a snail to a turtle, and she quickly bypassed the tree roots and ghost spiders that were still fighting fiercely.
During this period, Yun Miao was also worried that the tree roots would suddenly discover her. Fortunately, these tree roots had no eyes and could only perceive the surroundings with spiritual sense, so she was really fooled.
In this way, they floated into the ruined temple safely, and Yun Miao saw the strange flesh mass called immortal shedding at close range.
Xinyi seemed to have said before that the immortal's body is the corpse of an immortal after death.
Can gods die too?
The gods in myths seem to be mortal.
However, Yun Miao didn't care about this question. She only knew that this ball of greasy dead meat contained a precious Buddha fruit and the core of a Mahayana corpse puppet.
Although this corpse, dormant for over a hundred thousand years, hadn't fully revived and was currently only at the Nascent Soul stage, it was still easy for Karami to kill the three little ones. But what she wanted to do now was to steal from under the nose of this terrifying boss.
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Author's Note: Yun Miao smiled confidently: "Ask the Three Thousand Questions?" No, this is my custom-made Thief Simulator.
Huo Xin and Tan Xiaobai quickly popped up: Didn’t you say that they were all picked up?
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