"Priest Hong, you just need to do your job. As for other matters, I will take care of them. I will never let that day come."
Wu Xie lowered his eyes, his long eyelashes trembling slightly.
"If I hadn't followed my own will and recklessly become a monk back then, I could have faced things together with my father and brothers, and perhaps there would have been a chance to change things instead of the situation we have today."
Chu Hong sighed, "Your Highness, you don't need to blame yourself. Who could have imagined what would happen later? None of this has anything to do with you."
“If you hadn’t left back then, you would have been cursed like everyone else in the city. It is because you are safe and sound and have been running around for the Western Regions and the Brahma Kingdom all these years that the inner city has been able to hold out for so long.”
“If it weren’t for Your Highness, the inner city would have become a dead city long ago. You have done a great job.”
“But what’s the difference between the inner city now and the dead city?” Wu Xie murmured.
"Today is the Muzhai Prayer Festival, and there will definitely be some fools who want to enter the inner city to find out what's going on. I'll handle that, and leave things here to High Priest Hong."
Chu Hong nodded. "Your Highness, won't you go and see the King first?"
"No, no matter how many times I look at it, the person won't wake up." Wu Xie resolutely walked outside. "Don't call me Your Highness anymore. I'm no longer worthy of that title."
Chu Hong watched Wu Xie's departing figure, a look of heartache appearing on his face.
But you will always be the fourth prince of the Western Regions Brahma Kingdom, and the son that the king is most proud of.
He watched the Fourth Prince grow up.
Although it is unknown why he chose to become a monk and live a secluded life, he rushed back immediately after the incident in the inner city and became the revered Grand Preceptor, a Buddhist disciple with profound Taoist knowledge.
He has been tirelessly working on matters concerning the inner city for the past few years.
He shouldered all the burdens, even though he was just a boy under twenty years old.
He is the one who is most deserving of the title of His Highness of the Western Regions Brahma Kingdom.
At this moment, in the inner city, Wu Xie sat on the roof of the highest pavilion, looking down at the situation on the street.
As the sun gradually set behind the mountains, the bustling scene of the daytime was long gone from the inner city, replaced by a deathly stillness and solitude.
A group of monsters with human bodies and animal heads, devoid of perception and consciousness, walked down the street.
They had no destination; they simply wandered the streets.
The clothes they wore were exactly the same as those worn by the people in the inner city during the day.
Wu Xie lay half-reclined on the roof, already used to the situation before him.
It's as if this kind of thing happens every day.
The monster that everyone fears is the people he wants to protect, and the people he tries his best to keep.
In a corner of the inner city, several people dressed in black scaled the city wall and entered.
One of the men surveyed the quiet inner city and spoke with the person next to him.
"I'd like to see what mysterious places this inner city has, and why there's this ridiculous rule that you can't stay overnight in the inner city!"
“But I heard that all those who trespassed into the inner city before are dead,” someone said in a low voice.
"It can't be that strange! They're all dead, it must be because they were too weak." The leader's face showed greed.
"The inner city is so tightly controlled, maybe there are treasures here that they don't want people to know."
"If we find the treasure, it will be ours," the leader reassured them. "I am a sorcerer, very skilled. Trust me, you won't go wrong."
“Of course we will follow your lead and obey your orders,” another person said obsequiously.
"You...you guys look, what's that...what is that!" One of the men in black pointed at the street ahead with a look of horror, his voice stammering.
Upon hearing his words, the others in the group quickly looked over and saw one after another half-human, half-beast monsters wandering the streets.
"A monster!" Some people were so frightened that they collapsed to the ground.
The leading sorcerer was also shocked by the scene before him. "So many monsters are hidden in the inner city. Could this be the reason why the inner city never accommodates outsiders?"
A sinister laugh suddenly rang out in the darkness, echoing through the streets of the inner city, "Now that you have discovered this secret, you cannot be allowed to live."
"Isn't it better to live a good life? Why have such a strong curiosity? Don't you know that curiosity can kill people?"
The men in black turned and looked around, trying to find the person who had spoken.
Finally, they saw Wu Xie dressed in white on the highest pavilion.
Behind Wu Xie was the bright moon, and he was like a refined and otherworldly enlightened monk, with a sense of transcendence and detachment from worldly affairs.
However, the reddened corners of his eyes and the murderous intent in them told the men in black that this was just an illusion.
"Imperial Advisor! What are you doing here?!"
"Because I'm here specifically to wait for you ignorant little mice." Wu Xie's lips curled into a sinister smile.
"There's even a sorcerer among the little mice. Doesn't he know that this national teacher hates sorcerers the most?"
Wu Xie fiddled with a string of purplish-black Buddhist beads in his hand, and in the next instant, he appeared in front of the leading sorcerer.
Before the sorcerer could react, a Buddhist bead pierced through his forehead.
The purplish-black prayer beads, unstained by a single drop of blood, returned to Wu Xie's hands.
The sorcerer, however, fell straight to the ground.
The remaining men in black panicked when they saw the sorcerer die like that.
They knelt down and begged for mercy, saying, "Your Excellency, please spare us! We didn't see anything."
“We’ll leave immediately, and once we’re out, we absolutely will not reveal a single word about what’s happening in the inner city.”
"The Imperial Preceptor is a Buddhist, a person of otherworldly wisdom, always compassionate and merciful. We beg the Imperial Preceptor to spare our lives."
Wu Xie chuckled lightly, "Only the dead can guard secrets. Anyone who dares to pry into the secrets of the inner city shall die!"
"The slaughter begins!"
As Wu Xie finished speaking, a purplish-black smoke rose around them, gradually stripping the black-clad men of their life force.
There was no room for those men in black to resist or escape.
In no time, those men in black were turned into corpses lying haphazardly on the ground.
Wu Xie remained dressed in pristine white, his hands untouched by any blood.
He fiddled with the purplish-black prayer beads in his hand, shook his head and said, "It is truly a sin. May you all be reborn in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss soon."
He silently recited Buddhist prayers for salvation.
A single thought of compassion can turn into a single thought of slaughter; a single thought can lead to Buddhahood or demonhood.
Whether he is a Buddha or a demon depends entirely on his single thought.
Ruan Xiyan and her companions, who had come with the men in black, hid in the shadows and witnessed the entire incident.
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