area51novel Page 390
Page 390
"If there is still a shred of kindness in your heart, why can't you forgive others?"
Hua Manlou murmured softly, his eyes filled with confusion.
No one could answer his question, because kindness is never simply black and white.
Some of the world's most vicious criminals, once they return home and close the door, may become good children to their parents, loving partners to their wives or husbands, and beloved parents to their children.
Their kindness to their family members and their hostility towards strangers often form a stark contrast.
As the skeletal demon died, the thirty-six Buddha relics inside her body rolled to the ground.
The old abbot held a pile of ashes, staring blankly at the relics.
In fact, from the very beginning, his relic alone was enough to satisfy the great demon's cultivation needs.
But she was unwilling.
It was this reluctance that led the old abbot to have the illusion that the great demon was his wife.
Once the evil thought arose in his mind, it was too late to say anything more.
"The sins of this old monk can only be redeemed by going to Avici Hell. Greed, anger and ignorance are all just a thought away. I hope that you all will not fall into the demonic path like I have. Amitabha."
After saying this, the old monk lowered his head and immediately stopped breathing.
"father!"
The girl screamed and threw herself onto the old monk, crying so hard she almost passed out.
In the end, she was the most pitiful one. The only thing the old monk could do was to take away all the sins with his own death and give his daughter a chance to live a clean life.
Lu Xiaofeng picked up the thirty-six Buddha relics and was about to put them in his pocket when Li Gexiao, who was quick-witted and agile, stopped him.
"When are you going to get rid of this bad habit you picked up from Sikong Zhaixing? Is this yours to accept?"
Li Gexiao snatched the Buddha's relic with a disgruntled expression.
"Don't mention that bastard to me. We were arrested together, and he's the only one who got away. He has no loyalty whatsoever!"
Lu Xiaofeng gritted his teeth and vowed that he would give Sikong Zhaixing a good beating the next time he saw him.
“I think he went to get reinforcements, but after he went out, he couldn’t find his way back to the Paradise Tower. It’s covered by a natural illusion array, so someone who has only been there once would definitely not be able to find it.”
Hua Manlou explained from the side.
"maybe……"
Lu Xiaofeng nodded without saying anything more; he hoped it would be the same.
Li Gexiao handed all the Buddha relics to Chu Yang and asked in a low voice, "Young Master, what should we do with the old monk's relics?"
Chu Yang shook his head. "Leave it to this young lady. She probably wants to bury her parents together."
Upon hearing this, the young girl raised her head, her eyes brimming with tears, and said, "Thank you for your kindness, young master."
Hua Manlou followed the sound and walked up to the girl, saying softly, "Let me help you, but I don't know whether to call you Miss Qian or..."
The girl replied, "My father didn't give me a name. Uncle Qian just calls me Xia'er. My surname is Yue, and my father's real name is Yue Qing. He is a descendant of the Lu Ban Divine Axe School."
“Miss Xia’er…” Hua Manlou nodded, reached out to help Yue Qing up, and then kicked Lu Xiaofeng with his foot.
"I know!" Lu Xiaofeng glared at him, then suddenly realized that the other person was blind and couldn't see at all. So, while sulking, she picked up the old monk's body.
"This pile of ashes... uh, no, shouldn't we find something to put your mother's body in?"
Lu Xiaofeng was in a bit of a dilemma.
"Please wait a moment, everyone." Xia'er silently walked out of the main hall and went to the meditation room in the backyard. Before long, she returned with an urn containing ashes.
“This was prepared by my father for himself. He originally intended to cremate himself and give the relics to my mother, hoping that she could walk the right path. But he couldn’t bear to leave me, and he suffered a lifetime of torment…”
As Xia'er wept, she bent down to put the ashes on the ground into the urn. Just then, a gust of wind suddenly swept through the hall, carrying all the ashes into the urn.
Xia'er nodded gratefully to Chu Yang.
"Huh?" Lu Xiaofeng looked at Chu Yang in shock and asked curiously, "This wind-controlling technique is a Taoist method. Where did you learn it?"
Chu Yang said calmly, "I originally wanted to interact with you as an ordinary person..."
"Shut up! You're giving me a headache."
Lu Xiaofeng hurriedly carried the corpse out of the main hall, and Xia'er followed with Hua Manlou, carrying the ashes.
After a while.
The group arrived at a locust tree.
This is where Xia'er's mother is buried. Now they will bury her father here as well, but before that, they need to cut down the trees.
The locust tree gathers yin energy and shows signs of spirituality. Given time, even the old monk might transform into a demon.
If a monk or Taoist priest with a certain level of spiritual attainment were to undergo a transformation into a corpse, that would be an extremely terrifying thing. Even if they didn't become a demon, they would most likely become a ferocious creature like a drought demon.
While Wangcai was digging a pit for the old monk's body, Li Gexiao drew his embroidered spring knife and chopped down the locust tree.
The moment the locust tree reached its bottom, a strong, eerie wind swept in, making it impossible for everyone to open their eyes. The howling wind sounded like weeping.
"All things have a spirit, and by suppressing its spirit, aren't we killing people?"
Hua Manlou shook his head and sighed.
Chu Yang said, "If it weren't for this incident, it would have been fine for it to grow up outside the temple like this, but now that trouble has arisen, it cannot survive."
Hua Manlou seemed to disagree with Chu Yang's point of view, and retorted: "The fact that Madam Yue's remains became a spirit and a demon is not the fault of this locust tree, but just an accident. Humans and demons coexist in the world, and neither side has the right to deprive the other of its living space."
Chu Yang's expression gradually turned indifferent. "Your idea may be correct, but the human race is now in decline, and it is in danger of collapse if we are not careful. We can only do things with people as the foundation!"
"If one day the demons have nowhere to stand in the human world, I might consider giving them the little kindness I have left."
"Before this, whether it was a great demon or a monster, I would kill it on sight."
Wangcai, who was digging the pit, suddenly shuddered and his movements became much faster. He almost dug out a two-bedroom, one-living-room tomb for the old monk.
Hua Manlou was speechless for a long time after hearing Chu Yang's murderous words, because what the other party said was about the greater good of the human race, and it was absolutely right.
Without the chaos caused by demons, a great war between humans and demons would be inevitable, and it would only end when one side had no chance of making a comeback.
Given this background, no one with even a modicum of conscience would sympathize with the demon race.
"I made a mistake."
Hua Manlou sighed heavily.
The atmosphere became very tense because of their argument.
Caught in the middle with friends on both sides, Lu Xiaofeng's eyes darted around, and he chuckled and said, "Young Master Chu, I've never seen you so concerned about the country and its people when we were drinking and carousing in brothels. How come you seem like a completely different person now?"
"Even if you really are a prince, you're not the emperor. What do you have to do with the people of this world? Even if the sky falls, the emperor will hold it up!"
"Do you intend to rebel or something...?"
Lu Xiaofeng laughed heartily after he finished speaking, but no one echoed him after he laughed for a long time.
He stopped awkwardly and found Li Gexiao staring at him with a very strange expression.
Lu Xiaofeng swallowed hard.
motherfucker.
Could it be that I was right?
Chapter 183. Urgent Report!
183.
After burying Yue Qing and his wife, it was already getting light.
Chu Yang and the others originally planned to take Xia'er away, but she insisted on staying at Yunjian Temple to keep vigil for her parents.
The group had no choice but to say goodbye to her and return to Jinling City.
Lu Xiaofeng and Hua Manlou returned unharmed, and the complete resolution of the silver note case made Magistrate Xu beam with joy. As the official in charge of Jinling City, he had been walking on thin ice these past few days.
Putting aside everything else, the disappearance of the seventh young master of the Hua family in Jiangnan alone is enough to signal the end of his official career.
The great demon was gone, and the man returned. Not only is he now blameless, but he can also have a merit recorded, which means his career is likely to advance further. It's a huge win for him.
Therefore, Magistrate Xu generously hosted a dinner for Lu Xiaofeng and Chu Yang, inviting them to the best restaurant.
Lu Xiaofeng didn't stand on ceremony and ordered a large table of fine food and wine, making Magistrate Xu look pained and keep sucking in cold air while eating.
After three rounds of drinking.
Magistrate Xu, unable to hold his liquor, was the first to leave the table. After he left, Chu Yang and the others were able to open up and chat freely.
"I never imagined that the two of you would leave the capital one day. I thought you would grow old and die in that gentle paradise."
Lu Xiaofeng couldn't help but sigh.
“A haven of gentle pleasures…” Chu Yang sighed. “That’s a fitting description. If I hadn’t gone out this time, I wouldn’t have known that the outside world was such a hell on earth.”
"Demons roam freely, and powerful monsters run rampant. Countless people can only survive in the cracks. On our way here, we came across a deserted village..."
As Lu Xiaofeng and Hua Manlou listened silently to Chu Yang's story, a thought suddenly occurred to them: he truly knew nothing about the outside world.