"Soul? Impossible... Master, is what that old cat demon said true?"
The young monk Yuquan asked in surprise.
Master Xiangyun nodded and said, "Yuquan, she is right. I am indeed dead. What appears before you now is my 'golden body and soul'. It's just that my soul has not yet entered the underworld."
I stared at Master Xiangyun in amazement, because his soul looked just like a physical object. Although it was intangible, his "golden soul" gave people the same feeling as a normal person. Of course, his soul was lifeless, but filled with a layer of golden Buddha light.
When the young monk Yuquan heard what Master Xiangyun said, he showed a sad expression on his face. He muttered, "I'm sorry, Master. It's Yuquan who didn't take good care of you..."
Master Xiangyun looked at Yuquan kindly and said softly, "Yuquan, you are too kind. It's just that my life span has come to an end, not that you didn't take good care of me. Don't blame yourself."
Having said that, Master Xiangyun reached out and gently touched Yuquan's head.
Although there was no real touch, the young monk Yuquan still choked with sobs.
The two masters and apprentices then spoke a few more words.
After a while, Master Xiangyun's eyes fell on me. He smiled and asked, "Young man, you are Huang Susu's boyfriend, right?"
I nodded to Master Xiangyun and said respectfully, "Master Xiangyun, yes, I am Susu's boyfriend. My name is Yang Tianyi. I came to Xiangyun Temple to save Susu's life. Thank you for going to Yuanbao Mountain with me, so that I could find the soul of my girlfriend Susu."
"Um!"
Master Xiangyun nodded and said, "In fact, I had already predicted that you would come here. You are very good. You dare to take risks to save your girlfriend. You are also a good ghost-catching Taoist priest."
"Thank you Master Xiangyun for your praise! ... ... But I am now infected with the 'Mysterious Demon Qi' of the cat demon and cannot stand up to salute. I hope Master Xiangyun will forgive me."
"No problem... I am here today just to help you."
After saying this, Master Xiangyun’s soul trembled, and with a flash of golden light, he appeared beside me.
He was very fast and came close to me in almost the blink of an eye.
Master Xiangyun looked at me with a smile and said softly, "Young man, stretch out your right hand first. I will help you expel the mysterious evil spirit in your body!"
Hearing this, I was excited. I didn't expect that although Master Xiangyun was only left with his soul, he was still able to use the power of Buddhism.
The old cat demon Grandma Tianqi on the side had a gloomy face and resentful eyes.
"Okay, okay... Thank you very much, Master Xiangyun!"
I quickly reached out my hand.
Then, Master Xiangyun’s palm was imprinted on my palm.
Master Xiangyun chanted some kind of Buddhist mantra, and then I saw the golden light on his soul body became stronger. Then, I felt a warm sensation on my palm, and several golden lights gathered together like earthworms, and drilled into my body along Master Xiangyun's palm.
"Don't be nervous. My Dharma is very gentle and will not hurt your body."
"Yeah!" I nodded.
That’s right, Master Xiangyun’s Buddhist aura is indeed very gentle, and it can even be said that it makes people feel very comfortable.
Subconsciously, I slowly closed my eyes. My perception was pretty good, and I could sense that the energy of the Taoist and Buddhist dharma began to gather in my meridians and absorb the mysterious demons.
The energy drove them together.
Under the powerful Buddhist teachings of Master Xiangyun, the mysterious demonic aura did not struggle much and was directly enveloped by the golden Buddhist aura.
In a moment, Master Xiangyun shouted, "Go!"
Then, I saw that under the power of Buddhism, those mysterious demonic auras were easily expelled by Master Xiangyun's Buddhist power.
Surprisingly, Master Xiangyun did not dispel the mysterious demonic aura.
Seeing Master Xiangyun exorcise the evil spirit from me, Grandma Tianqi felt embarrassed.
She said to Master Xiangyun in a deep voice: "Well, Xiangyun, since your soul has not yet left the world of the living, I, Tianqi, will admit defeat today!"
"I admit that I am no match for you. Now that I have fallen into your hands, I have nothing to say. If you want to kill me, then kill me quickly. I only ask that you do not embarrass our raccoon cat clan."
Master Xiangyun smiled at Grandma Tianqi, shook his head and said, "Tianqi, you are wrong. I will not kill you. I know what happened that year, and you are still brooding over it. After all, I was the one who killed the cat demon named 'Xiaobai'. Although I wanted to save people, I also killed a life after all. So I was wrong too."
"You, the raccoon cat clan, are justified in wanting to kill me. But you shouldn't have added your hatred for me to your hatred for humans over the years. Because of hatred, you have harmed countless humans. But is this really a good thing? When will the cycle of revenge end? Have you forgotten your original intention of practicing Taoism?"
"You are a demon, but demons also have their own nature. In addition to increasing your cultivation and transforming into humans, isn't it all for the purpose of transcending yourself and attaining the Tao? This is your nature. And harming others is not acceptable."
Grandma Tianqi didn't listen to Master Xiangyun at all.
She said angrily, "Yes, it is bad to harm others, but are you humans allowed to harm us raccoon cats? If we raccoons have not practiced, we will be your prey. You will kill us and peel off our fur. Shouldn't we resist?"
Master Xiangyun was not angry because of what Grandma Tianqi said.
He shook his head and said, "Wrong is wrong, even if you try to make excuses. I have already admitted my mistakes, don't you think you have any realization? Monsters also have hearts, and losing their original hearts means they have become evil."
"If you do evil, you will be punished. If you want to make further progress in the way of the devil, it will be difficult as hell. This is why you haven't improved your skills in all these years. As the saying goes, the sea of suffering is endless, but turning back is the shore..."
Master Xiangyun said a lot to the old cat demon Grandma Tianqi.
But Grandma Tianqi didn't take Master Xiangyun's words to heart at all.
The young monk Yuquan was very angry when he saw the arrogant old cat demon. He said quickly, "Master, this old cat demon is simply stubborn and unyielding. I think we should just subdue her. She has harmed many people."
However, Master Xiangyun said to the young monk Yuquan: "Yuquan, you are also wrong. You cannot judge a person by his appearance alone, but by his inner qualities. You think that Grandma Tianqi has the aura of death and that she harms people, which is true. But you have to know who she harms. I tell you, in fact, the people she harms are all evil people."
"Even the civet cats on Yuanbao Mountain have the death energy on them because they harmed the bad guys. But the bad guys are alive after all. Everyone has a kind side, so the death energy is entangled in the civet cats."
Master Xiangyun’s words stunned the young monk Yuquan.
I stood aside and asked in surprise:
"Master Xiangyun, are you saying that although the civet cats have killed people, those people are all bad people?"
Master Xiangyun said calmly, "That's right, those people are guilty of the most heinous crimes! Although civilization in this world is highly developed, there are always some people who have evil thoughts in their hearts. And these evil thoughts will corrupt a person little by little, causing him to do unscrupulous things!"
At this time, I noticed that Grandma Tianqi's gaze towards Master Xiangyun had changed.
Grandma Tianqi asked suspiciously, "Xiangyun, how do you know so much about our civet cat clan?"
Master Xiangyun smiled and said, "That's because I have been paying attention to you, the raccoon cat clan. Although I cannot stop the killing, I can see through people's hearts. The human heart I mentioned actually includes the raccoon cat clan's 'demon heart'. In fact, in my eyes, there is not much difference between humans and monsters, they are all living beings."
Master Xiangyun's words made Grandma Tianqi fall into deep thought.
Grandma Tianqi kept muttering, "Is there no difference between humans and monsters? ... "
While Master Xiangyun was trying to persuade the old cat demon Grandma Tianqi, someone suddenly rushed in from outside the Xiangyun Temple. It was a woman in a green dress. She was very pretty, and I actually knew her. She was the cat demon girl, Qing'er, who was with the cat demon man in the demon cave of the civet cat clan.
But Qing'er was not in good condition at this time, her body was covered with blood, and one of her arms seemed to be broken, hanging on the side of her body.
Her face was as white as paper and there was blood at the corner of her mouth.
After rushing into Xiangyun Temple, Qing'er went straight to the Jade Emperor Temple, and she walked stumblingly.
Seeing the cat demon Qing'er, Grandma Tianqi frowned and said in shock: "Oh no, something happened! It must be that something happened in the demon cave of our civet cat clan."
Maybe it was because she was anxious, and Grandma Tianqi's demon body was sealed by the "Ice and Cold Air of Nirvana", so she rushed up and with a "puff" sound, she spat out a mouthful of red blood.
Seeing this, Master Xiangyun quickly ordered the young monk Yuquan, saying, "Yuquan, bring the little cat demon to the Jade Emperor's Palace as soon as possible!"
At this time, the little cat demon Qing'er had already fallen to the ground due to exhaustion.
"Yes, Master!"
After agreeing, the young monk Yuquan quickly rushed to the courtyard of Xiangyun Temple, chanting "Amitabha". He picked up Qing'er, the cat demon girl in green skirt who was lying on the ground, and quickly returned to the Jade Emperor Hall.
In the Jade Emperor Palace.
Seeing the little cat demon being brought in, Tianqi's grandmother hurriedly asked, "Qing'er, is there something wrong with the demon cave?"
The cat demon girl named Qing'er choked with sobs, her face blurred by tears.
Qing'er said weakly, "Grandma, it's bad. There are ghosts slaughtering our civet cat clan. You should go back quickly. Many of our clan members have been killed. Those two ghosts also said they want to find our civet cat clan's Seven Apertures Heart."
"What? A ghost broke into the demon cave of our raccoon cat clan? And we need to find the Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart!"
Grandma Tianqi's face was pale and gloomy. He asked anxiously, "Qing'er, what are those two ghosts?"
Qing'er cried out, "It's the Ghost King! Sister Hongyue said it was the Ghost King!... Two Ghost Kings!" Hongyue is also a cat demon from the civet cat clan who has practiced for a hundred years.
"How could this happen? How could this happen? ... ... Shouldn't the Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart really stay with our civet cat clan? Shouldn't I have taken the Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart back from the body of that woman in the mortal world?! Is this retribution?"
Grandma Tianqi seemed to look a little older in an instant.
(to be continued)
(End of this chapter) (End of this chapter)