Where to Go

A trace of a smile appeared on Bolo’s face as he reached up and removed the jade token pressed against his forehead. Without probing it with his spiritual sense, he spoke with an air of certainty:

“What you’re talking about must be that evil cultivator named Xu Si who surfaced, trying to refine an entire nation into bloody qi for his tribulation crossing. The Black Crow are all drawn to it, planning to join in... am I right?”

Zhong Su cast a sidelong glance, his triangular, somewhat downward-tilted eyes giving him a fierce look:

“Your reach is quite extensive. Not long ago, you dealt with Bai Xuanling, and now so soon another act unfolds. Your target is clear. The Black Crow don’t know about your meeting with Bai Xuanling, and they don’t see the anomaly, but you should understand.”

“No cultivator of blood qi could resist such a massive temptation. The entire Evil Spirit Sect might be completely wiped out because of it.”

Bolo straightened up, though his rear still remained seated in the mud:

“Let it be wiped out then. It’s just the Evil Spirit Sect anyway; it was never going to escape Chu Xingchen’s hands. It’s only a matter of when he wants to deal with it and how he chooses to do so.”

Zhong Su gave a cold laugh, his eyes fixed on Bolo:

“More than half of the Evil Spirit Sect is under our control, and the deputy sect leader is one of our people. You’d throw all that away with a single word. Who do you plan to have handle all the dirty work from now on?”

Bolo reached into the mud beside him, fumbled for a moment, and pulled out a lotus seed caked in filth:

“What we need is the flower to bloom. All the mud before that is merely nourishment. Unless... you’re reluctant to let it go?”

Zhong Su stared at Bolo with a somewhat dazed look as he gazed at the muddy lotus seed in his hand. After enduring it for a moment, he couldn’t hold back any longer. He kicked out directly, scattering the lotus seed in Bolo’s hand into dust.

The terrifying shockwave sent the surrounding mud blasting upward, splattering everywhere.

Zhong Su grabbed Bolo by the sleeve, his tone vicious:

“Don’t give me that nonsense. You know my temper. Today, either you explain yourself clearly, or I’ll beat some sense into you! I’m asking you, why are you just giving away such a massive sect like the Evil Spirit Sect for nothing?”

Bolo looked at the purple light flickering in Zhong Su’s eyes like lightning, thought for a moment to choose his words, and then spoke:

“Given Chu Xingchen’s insight, he must have already understood that our hand is in the Evil Spirit Sect. Dealing with it is something he’s bound to do, after all, an evil cultivator organization under our control might not hurt Chu Xingchen directly, but it will definitely poison the mortal world and collapse its order. You can understand it now as Chu Xingchen already making moves to handle the Evil Spirit Sect in his spare time.”

“So, whether this time is actually Chu Xingchen taking action or not, we cannot get too involved in the process. That would only draw fire to ourselves, expose our tracks, and ruin our plans.”

“What we need to do is not to stop it or warn anyone; instead, we need to fan the flames. Verbally, we can offer unlimited support, and even the forces we’ve already invested in the Evil Spirit Sect should be backed fully. But that’s where it ends.”

“If it’s Chu Xingchen’s scheme, when he sees such a big push from us, he might think we’ve fallen into his trap, and he’ll delay, trying to catch our tails. And time is exactly what we lack; if we can stall for time, we won’t lose.”

“But if it really is some unhinged high-level evil cultivator, then Chu Xingchen will naturally have to take time to deal with it. In that case, the Evil Spirit Sect won’t have been thrown away to Chu Xingchen for nothing; instead, it will have resisted him valiantly.”

“If you look at it from a different angle, the destruction of the Evil Spirit Sect is also a benefit to us.”

Zhong Su listened to the whole speech, thought for a moment, then slammed Bolo back into the mud pit with force, grinning fiercely:

“So you can talk straight after all. Do it like this next time. If you pull that monkish act again, my fist will be faster than your apology.”

Bolo lay in the mud, and upon hearing this, he suddenly burst out laughing.

The laughter was loud, echoing across the lotus pond.

A sliver of moonlight broke through the clouds, shining down.

Zhong Su frowned and said coldly, “What are you laughing at?”

“I’m laughing because we all want simplicity, wishing everything would just work out,” Bolo said, his expression strange—half smiling, half angry. “But we forgot that others can always find a way to complicate things.”

“Have you gone mad from being in the Buddhist sect?” Zhong Su demanded coldly.

Bolo shifted his gaze to meet Zhong Su’s eyes, and from his lips spilled something he had kept hidden in his heart for years:

“I’m not mad. I’ve seen through it, more clearly than any of you.”

“That year, when the Great Vehicle’s Buddhist teachings emerged, I listened to them as if awakening to the great Dao. This Dao wasn’t about cultivation, but the ultimate principles governing the world under heaven. the Great Vehicle’s doctrine made me understand the truths of the world. That Buddha was truly a genius beyond compare.”

“He might not have fully understood it himself, but I did. back then, the conflict between the great and small vehicles of Buddhism—I was the one who drove it.”

“Such a supreme principle could not become a new theory of the Buddhist sect, or else the Buddhist sect today would be far larger than it is now.”

“Nor could such a truth be passed down to the world, or else we would never have a chance to rise again.”

“To this day, I still believe that the Great Vehicle’s Buddhist teachings are the best in the world, and I admit that I have been converted by them.”

“That’s why I still wear the monk’s robe and dwell in the lotus pond.”

“Nothing is absolute; cause and effect turn in cycles. If the heart harbors greed, gain will surely become loss.”

“Only by holding firm to one’s original heart—without greed, without impatience, advancing step by step, letting gain and loss come as they will—can one achieve the great fruit in the heart.”

“Before the great fruit, all losses will turn into mud, becoming the soil for a single seed to bloom lotus flowers stretching for thousands of miles.”

Zhong Su could not hide the shock in his eyes as he stared at Bolo. In the end, he could only sneer:

“You really have gone mad! You are a celestial demon, not some monk.”

Bolo looked at Zhong Su with a pitying gaze, then stood up. A brilliant buddhist light began to radiate from him—a light bright and true, pure and clear:

“Buddhism has no cause; Buddhism is the fruit itself.”

“I can be a celestial demon, but I can also be a Buddha.”

“Such a wondrous teaching—pity that you cannot grasp it. That is as far as you can go.”

“I am not mad. I have simply found the way to achieve great things. Do as I say.”

“Just as I stripped away the Great Vehicle teachings back then, today I can strip away these shrouding mists before us and see your wishes and mine fulfilled.”

“Consider the Evil Spirit Sect a gift to Chu Xingchen. Until the dust settles on that matter, you and the others don’t need to come looking for me. I have other important matters to attend to.”

Zhong Su stared at Bolo, who was glowing with buddhist light, his eyes filled with lingering doubt and disgust:

“Once the Evil Spirit Sect is gone, let’s see what other tricks you have to stop Chu Xingchen and Bai Xuanling.”

Bolo smiled smugly at this, his gaze even more pitying as he looked at Zhong Su and said:

“If you haven’t grasped the truth of gain and loss, that’s how it is. Bai Xuanling is nothing special. I’ve said it more than once. when the time comes, I’ll handle Bai Xuanling myself.”

Zhong Su took a deep breath, feeling that trusting the arrangements of a half-mad celestial demon was truly infuriating.

It was a pity that Xu Linglong was dead, so now there was no one left to listen to but Bolo.

Thinking back carefully about it now, Xu Linglong’s death was probably deliberately arranged by Bolo.

All for the sake of controlling the overall situation now.

A madman, who knows where he will steer this wreck of a ship, already on the verge of running aground, in the end.