Chapter 43: God-Making Ritual
“I... killed myself?”
Huang Mao muttered, trembling all over. His mind was a mess. He staggered backward a few steps and fell to the ground.
He couldn’t understand. He had clearly slain the Heavenly Demon minion, so why...
...had it turned into himself?
“A person has three corpses, which in turn transform into three insects, governing one’s own desires. With all three insects present, one cannot attain purity.”
“Slay the three corpses!” Huang Mao suddenly awoke, puzzled. “Isn’t that supposed to lead to immortality?”
“That’s only because those people have sufficient cultivation and can firmly hold onto their true self. Only then can they eliminate vexations without disturbing themselves. An ordinary person slaying them prematurely is courting death.”
Jiang Yan said speechlessly, “Everyone knows about slaying the three corpses, but they don’t understand that the corpses are divine masters. Their existence is both a source of vexation and a stabilizing force for oneself. You casually slew them, and with your soul having nowhere to rely on, it naturally left your body.”
“Others fear that their soul may become unstable, but you’re something else—slaying three demons in a single day, refining your own three souls to offer them for the Monkey King’s eye-opening. When the time comes, will the one who wakes up be the Monkey King? Or you?”
“Isn’t that right, Abbot of Longevity Calamity?”
The Abbot of Longevity Calamity recited a Buddha’s name silently, his prayer beads turning as he spoke calmly:
“Donor, you are attached to appearances.”
Huang Mao’s face turned pale, cold sweat streaming down. Only now did he realize that his life was like a flickering candle in the wind—limbs weak, bones spiritless.
He asked in a trembling voice, “Then why did the man in the suit, Xiao Hei, and Xiao Bai all kill the three demons, yet nothing happened to them?”
Jiang Yan said meaningfully, “Who said they were people?”
“Aren’t they all History Walkers...”
Huang Mao instinctively rebutted, but when he looked back, he found that the suited man who had been nailed down had vanished. Xiao Hei and Xiao Bai wore silent expressions.
At that moment, he suddenly recalled a detail.
All of the mission information and mission progress had always been them asking him. They had never proactively spoken of it.
Even when hearing the name Sima Luoshui, none of them found it strange.
Most crucially, though they dressed in a modern style, their speech rarely included modern vocabulary.
And they kept describing how powerful the abbot was...
Their behavior was odd.
But if they were all natives of the Sick Domain, in the same faction, then it all made sense.
Huang Mao lowered his head to look at the historical panel made of invisible Historical Dust. The previously displayed [Progress 18%] suddenly turned into [Progress 3%].
Everything was but the moon in water,
The flower in the mirror!
From the very beginning, he had been deceived.
The so-called historical progress was nothing but illusion.
This massive blow nearly drove Huang Mao to collapse. He muttered, “Then why... did you save me?”
“I didn’t save you. I saved myself!”
Jiang Yan said softly, “You... are me!”
“I’m you? How is that possible!?”
Huang Mao’s face twisted, wanting to refute and state his real name, but he realized...
His memories of the past were fragmented, like rootless duckweed.
Who am I?
Where did I come from?
Why did I come here?
Never having existed—what past could there be?
Huang Mao seemed to understand something. He gave a bitter laugh as his body gradually became transparent. The Life Lamp on his body floated forth, illusory like a bubble, identical to Jiang Yan’s Ash Lamp.
Only, it bore no burning flame.
The Ash Lamp devoured it, adding a single wisp of flame. The proficiency also rose to Entry Level 30%.
“As expected of a Turbid Stream Grade A instance—truly terrifying.”
Jiang Yan sighed. If not for the unique perspective granted by the Immortal God Relic [Lamp-Igniting Hell Visualization Method], he wouldn’t have discovered...
...that from the moment he entered the instance, a special memory had been implanted into him, creating another “self.”
Possessing all his arrogance and conceit.
Fortunately, the Ash Lamp’s flame protected his own will, preventing this mysterious power from analyzing core memories and making a one-to-one copy.
Only a crude replica emerged, fabricating memories and abilities.
For example, the Bone Flying Knife was actually just an attack using blood threads wrapped around bones.
However, it couldn’t even light the Ash Lamp, let alone replicate the Dark God Embryo.
The warm attitude of the suited man and others toward Huang Mao, and their coldness and disdain toward Jiang Yan, were also means to blur the line between truth and illusion.
From the very first mention of “obstacle of perception,” the cause and effect had already been revealed.
Unfortunately, his perspective vision had remained active all along.
Even so, Jiang Yan witnessed Huang Mao slaying his own three souls, offering them to the Abbot of Longevity Calamity to awaken the Monkey King Sculpture.
Although it was only a copy, Jiang Yan vaguely felt that something terrible was bound to happen.
“So I’m normally this stupid too?”
Jiang Yan stroked his chin, indeed needing to rid himself of arrogance and impatience.
“Amitabha.”
The Abbot of Longevity Calamity, who had been silently observing, finally spoke:
“Congratulations, Donor. You have broken through your inner demons and perceived your true nature.”
“In that case, please awaken the eyes of the Monkey King.”
As he spoke, several tiger-shaped Ridge Beasts nearby slowly approached, their presence aggressive.
Clearly a posture of forcing submission.
Their silent observation all this time wasn’t due to foolishness but because they held the winning hand.
The advantage was his!
Jiang Yan said with a half-smile, “You’ve been watching like an audience member this whole time—do you think you’ve got me completely figured out?”
The Abbot of Longevity Calamity smiled faintly. “Why would you say that, Donor? This humble monk merely wished to offer you a stroke of fortune.”
“You’ve eaten the Blood Peach nurtured from the Monkey King’s blood essence and are already linked with this Sick Domain. Even if you escape the Monkey King Temple and return to the real world, unless you achieve the Grand Supreme Elderly Lord’s detachment from emotions, then...
...as long as you have obsession, you will be endlessly invaded by Heart Monkeys. The only path forward is to suppress the malevolent spirits.”
Huang Mao was one such Heart Monkey!
Born from the heart, transformed into a wicked entity.
Xiao Hei spoke up, “We are also trapped here... Everything, everything we’ve done, was just to survive.”
Xiao Bai’s expression was conflicted. At last, she said, “Sima Luoshui, I never meant to harm you. Sometimes, when paths diverge, conflict is inevitable—unless we walk the same road.”
“The taste of lies is not pleasant.”
Jiang Yan sneered lightly. “The clothes you’re wearing probably belonged to History Walkers who came before.”
Their fates need no elaboration.
“So, there’s no convincing you.”
The Abbot of Longevity Calamity sighed. “Originally, I wanted you to offer yourself willingly; it would have worked better. But since it’s come to this, let me offer the final sacrifice for the Monkey King’s birth.”
As his words fell, the Ridge Beasts roared and charged.
They were preparing to forcibly make Jiang Yan awaken the eyes of the Monkey King.
But in the next second, from the Shadow-Eating Serpent behind Jiang Yan, the shattered head suddenly regrew into a complete serpent head.
Then shattered again!
Then regrew again!
This transformation happened in mere moments.
“Roar!”
The Dual-headed Shadow-Eating Serpent made a domineering move, biting two of the approaching Ridge Beasts to death, while the remaining two were swept away by its hooked tail.
The Abbot of Longevity Calamity, who had previously held the upper hand, froze upon witnessing this scene, crying out in shock:
“Impossible!”
Wasn’t this guy at the Spirit Awakening Stage?
How could he wipe out Ridge Beasts at the Foundation Establishment Stage?
“All of this couldn’t have happened without your hospitality!”
Jiang Yan wore a playful smile. After all, he had always been cautious and disliked eating food of unknown origin.
So he let the Shadow-Eating Serpent hide in the shadow of his throat and swallow all the food, pretending he had eaten it.
But unexpectedly...
The Blood Peach actually provided a massive amount of blood and qi, repairing the injuries of the Shadow-Eating Serpent.
It could be confirmed that it came from the flesh and blood of some lifeform.
There had to be something wrong inside.
But... Jiang Yan had always enjoyed stripping away the sugar coating and firing the shell back.
This period of indulgent eating and drinking was all to repair the head of the Shadow-Eating Serpent.
It was just that the monks of the Monkey King Temple were too stingy. If he ate even a bit more, they would refuse to provide any.
So Jiang Yan chose to let the Shadow-Winged Snake take the Coffin Spirit to the back mountain and dig up the mysterious blood-colored figure beneath the peach tree.
As expected, during the daytime they were all in a dormant state, and one by one were buried, transformed into massive amounts of blood and qi.
The core tactic... take without asking.
At this moment, in the peach grove of the back mountain,
The Coffin Spirit used ash to condense small clay shovels, digging continuously, then handing them to the Shadow-Winged Snake in the coffin to swallow.
Wherever Jiang Yan rampaged, there was always the Coffin Spirit bearing the burden behind him.
“Master, let Grandpa Coffin dig out a bright future for you!”
The Coffin Spirit was full of fighting spirit, digging with all its might.
The gains were naturally tremendous. Not only did it use the Devoted Assistance skill, it even repaired one more head.
“Since you’re so eager for the Monkey King to awaken, then...”
Jiang Yan fixed his gaze on the Monkey King Sculpture and said softly:
“Let it wake up early then.”
As he spoke, the Dual-headed Shadow-Eating Serpent swung its hooked tail like a long whip breaking through the air, lashing toward the Monkey King Sculpture.
“You dare, brat!?”
The Abbot of Longevity Calamity’s eyes nearly burst, just about to stop him, but the two heads of the Shadow-Eating Serpent intercepted him. He could only watch helplessly as the Monkey King Sculpture was struck.
“No!”
Xiao Bai murmured, closing her eyes, unable to bear watching.
With a crack, the copper-cast gilt Monkey King Sculpture shattered, and inside was not solid—it contained an earthen jar.
The earthen jar broke, and out flowed internal organs, scattering all over the ground. The heart inside was still beating slowly, shrouded in immense spiritual energy.
In an instant, the entire temple's scenery warped. Pupils grew upon the incense burner, and the ground was covered in flesh and blood.
They stood atop a massive corpse.
“To mold a Golden Body and stuff it with divine organs—you truly were trying to make a god!”