Chapter 228
Chapter 228
Could a person survive with two ribs missing?
The answer was yes.
In the past, some European women had even had their bottom two ribs removed so they could fit into tightly corseted dresses.
Of course, doing so caused severe damage to the body, especially the waist.
But my situation was different.
After my two liquefied ribs vanished, I felt as though something vitally important had been torn from my Souls.
It wasn’t merely the loss of those two liquefied ribs or the Grand Witch’s face.
I felt as though my Souls were now incomplete.
At that very moment, the flame inside the Buddha Lamp abruptly went out.
The moment when the oil ran dry and the lamp died had finally come.
“Xiao Jiu! Xiao Jiu!”
Liu Junyan’s voice was still there. He was trying to wake me.
But my Souls had already drifted out of my body and were floating beside the bed, watching him.
This time was clearly different from the previous times my Souls had left my body.
They were faint and unstable, flickering in and out as though they might dissipate at any moment.
Liu Junyan seemed to sense something. He suddenly raised his head and looked straight at my Souls.
The instant our eyes met, a powerful force wrapped around my Souls and dragged me outside.
Liu Junyan cried out, “Xiao Jiu!”
I wanted to answer him, but I couldn’t.
Pulled by that force, my Souls shot through the tightly closed window and flew toward the depths of the canyon.
Along with the wind howling in my ears, I could hear the steady sound of sutras being chanted.
That chanting… Why did it sound so familiar?
It sounded a lot like Liu Junyan chanting in the West Room.
Even more inconceivably, the long river in the canyon, like a ribbon of white silk, had appeared again.
So had the tall tower beside it.
The chanting was coming from one of the tower’s middle floors.
And that was exactly where the force was dragging my Souls.
As I hurtled toward the tower, I once again sensed the powerful disturbance in the air that I had noticed when Liu Junyan carried me across from the opposite bank.
This time, however, my Souls didn’t pass straight through the tower. Instead, they were pulled inside.
The instant my Souls came to a stop, the chanting abruptly ceased.
I stood there frozen, staring at the scene before me, unable to process it for a moment.
Three or four meters ahead of me, seated cross-legged on a meditation cushion, was a… monk.
He wore a red monastic robe beneath a flowing white robe with wide sleeves. A strand of Eighteen Arhat Beads hung around his neck. His left hand rested on a rosewood Wooden Fish, while his right hand was held upright before his chest with another strand of Prayer Beads draped over it.
His head was slightly bowed, as though he were devoutly chanting sutras.
But what truly stunned me was that this monk looked exactly like Liu Junyan.
A thought suddenly flashed through my mind. Could he be… Chan Master Dahui, Liu Xingyi?
The information I had found before said that Chan Master Dahui had passed away at Dafawang Temple on Mount Song.
There had also been speculation that Liu Junyan might be Chan Master Dahui’s reincarnation.
The possibility had shocked me when I first considered it, but that was nothing compared to seeing the sight before me with my own eyes.
So, had Chan Master Dahui passed away inside this tower?
I had always imagined that a Chan Master would be very old by the time he passed away.
And after so many years, even if his body had been perfectly preserved, it should have been dry and shriveled.
Yet there wasn’t the slightest trace of death on the monk before me.
His body was perfectly intact, his complexion healthy and ruddy. He didn’t look dead at all. He looked as though he had simply entered a deep meditative trance.
As I watched him, silently trying to make sense of everything, he… suddenly raised his head and opened his eyes.
Chan Master Dahui had already entered nirvana… How could his body possibly move?
No! That was impossible!
This had to be because I was still dreaming.
Yes, this was nothing but a nightmare.
I was trapped in it, unable to wake up.
Liu Junyan, hurry up and wake me!
But not only did Chan Master Dahui’s body move — he spoke as well.
He seemed puzzled. “How did you… end up like this?”
I frowned. “You know me?”
Chan Master Dahui smiled bleakly. “Back then, I nearly broke my vows because of you, yet now you ask whether I know you?”
He examined my Souls again and said, “Never mind. Considering what you’ve done to yourself, it’s only natural that you don’t remember me.”
He beckoned to me with the hand holding his Prayer Beads. “Ah Wu, come closer.”
Ah Wu?
Who was Ah Wu?
My thoughts were a complete mess.
Yet I involuntarily took several steps forward and approached Chan Master Dahui.
Chan Master Dahui waved his hand downward, and I lowered myself without meaning to, ending up half crouched before him.
“The moment the Buddha Lamp lit up, I sensed your aura,” Chan Master Dahui said slowly. “At the same time, I also sensed that boy’s arrival.”
That boy… He meant Liu Junyan, didn’t he?
This all felt incredibly strange.
I couldn’t help asking, “You are Chan Master Dahui, correct? Then Liu Junyan must be your reincarnation?”
Chan Master Dahui merely smiled without answering, neither confirming nor denying it.
I continued, “If you’ve already reincarnated, then why…”
“Why has my body not decayed? Why can it even speak?” Chan Master Dahui finished for me. “Because of you.”
As he spoke, he suddenly formed a hand seal and began murmuring an incantation.
Then he formed a Sword Finger and pressed it to his chest. He slowly drew it upward until he opened his mouth, and a fiery-red bead floated out from between his lips.
He turned his Sword Finger and suddenly tapped the spot between my brows.
A sharp pain pierced my brow, followed by a wave of scorching heat that instantly sank into it.
At that moment, it felt as though every part of my Souls had caught fire. The pain was so vivid and real that it shouldn’t have been possible for me to feel it while in a Soul Body.
The entire process happened quickly, lasting no more than a minute or two.
Yet when Chan Master Dahui withdrew his hand, he seemed to have aged decades in an instant.
His smooth, ruddy skin began to yellow and shrivel.
His entire body rapidly wasted away until he was nothing but skin and bones, his complexion dark and dull.
Even his cheeks sank inward.
“Ah Wu, this is the breath of life you transferred to me back then. It pulled me back from the Ghost Gate,” Chan Master Dahui said, his voice now old and frail. “Even when I entered nirvana, this breath continued to linger within my body and fused with my Sarira. Now that I’ve returned it to you, I can finally say… my Merit is complete.”
I was utterly stunned.
“Your Souls are incomplete, but there are traces that Witchcraft was used to patch them,” Chan Master Dahui continued with increasing difficulty, stubbornly forcing out every word. “This breath, together with my Sarira, can keep your Souls from dispersing for a time. But no one knows exactly how long that time will last.
“Ah Wu, you must recover the missing pieces of your Souls as soon as possible. Do not let your guard down.”
He paused before adding one last reminder. “Perhaps… you should return to Cangwu Mountain and take a look… That place was once the focus of your deepest obsession…”