Chapter 106
Chapter 106
-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 106
>Chapter Title: Greed
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
Looking at Bai Lingmiao standing before him, Li Huowang seemed somewhat hesitant at the moment. He wasn't sure if he should take her up the mountain with him.
Her ability to jump the god could indeed help him to some extent, but he didn't want to put her in any danger.
At that moment, the others began to chime in with their persuasion.
"That's right, Senior Brother Li, let us come along too."
"If we run into any trouble, we can help out. Didn't you say those nuns aren't dangerous?"
"Yeah, not to mention anything else, but in case... in case you have another episode nearby, there'll be someone to look after you."
Gouwa's final remark made Li Huowang relent. "Baolu, stable the carriage at the inn, then we'll head up the mountain."
The Black Tai Sui's ability to suppress his hallucinations was fading rapidly. He could fall into hallucinations at any moment, and he couldn't afford to be alone right now.
Hearing this, smiles appeared on the others' faces as they hurried to follow.
The dirt path up the mountain wound this way and that, but Li Huowang and the others were already used to it.
After resting midway up, they finally arrived at the gate of Anci Nunnery just before nightfall.
Peering inside from there, Anci Nunnery still looked as rundown as before. Weeds sprouted thickly from the cracks between the stone slabs on the ground, and the holes in the roofs of the distant temple buildings remained unrepaired.
As Li Huowang gazed at the women's script couplets flanking the gate, his heart began to race.
He had fought tooth and nail for this very day.
The thought of finally escaping that bizarre master filled him with uncontainable excitement.
Standing in place, he took a deep breath before turning to give the others a heads-up.
"Anci Nunnery is filthy and chaotic inside, and the nuns are very fat. Once we're in, don't make a fuss about it, got it?"
After receiving firm affirmations from everyone, Li Huowang gripped Lanyue Shiba's eye in one hand, took a deep breath, and stepped inside.
He had barely passed through the gate into the temple when a wall of putrid stench slammed into him.
"What are these nuns doing? It reeks even worse than before."
Li Huowang wrinkled his brow and covered his nose with his hand as he pushed forward against the odor.
At that moment, the other decoys started to regret coming along. There was no danger, sure, but this was worse than danger—it stank too much.
Entering the first temple building of Anci Nunnery, Li Huowang's right foot sank into something soft the instant he stepped in. When he quickly lifted it, he saw he had stepped on a lump of soggy peach pastry.
"Watch your step. The people inside aren't big on cleaning up."
Glancing up at the dust-covered Bodhisattva statue that hadn't changed a bit, Li Huowang circled around the hall toward the statue's back.
As expected, behind the Bodhisattva lay a towering little mountain of flesh. This fat nun had a massive pot helmet stuffed over her head, vaguely munching and dozing at the same time.
"Good grief, is that... a person?"
The others following Li Huowang were stunned by the sight.
With his experience from last time, Li Huowang had no intention of trying to wake her— she probably wouldn't wake anyway.
The group passed through a side door in the nearby wall and formally entered the interior of Anci Nunnery.
But they had barely taken a few steps when they realized there was nowhere to put their feet.
Looking around, the ground and even the rooftops were covered in all sorts of rotting food. To their right loomed a moldy mountain of steamed buns, crawling with all manner of flies and white maggots.
And yet, despite all this, there wasn't a scrap of meat among the food—it was all vegetarian.
Seeing this, Li Huowang immediately understood. This was clearly the result of the gold he had sent up before.
The moment they got the money, these nuns had rushed out to buy all kinds of food.
"Step over it." Li Huowang extended his foot into the rotting sludge and slowly advanced, as if traversing a swamp.
The others looked reluctant, especially the cleanliness-loving Bai Lingmiao.
But when she glanced at the distant figure ahead, she gritted her teeth, lifted her foot, and followed.
"Why do these nuns buy so much food just to let it rot? What a waste! It's a famine year—these provisions could save a lot of lives!"
Having once been a beggar himself, Yang Kid couldn't stand the sight and spoke up unusually.
Li Huowang shot a glance at the young Daoist boy. "Because they're greedy."
Yang Kid pressed his lips together and said nothing more.
After trudging along like this for the time it takes one incense stick to burn, Li Huowang led the others to the spot where the nuns had eaten before and saw more of them.
"Urp~" One fat nun vomited massively right in front of Li Huowang, heaving up everything in her stomach.
Sweating profusely from the effort, she didn't bother wiping the sweat from her face and instead used her belly like a table to resume her frenzied gorging.
"Master Miaoyin, long time no see?" Li Huowang greeted the fat nun.
Miaoyin opened her mouth, spraying bits of food residue mixed with saliva toward Li Huowang's face. "Oh, it's you. Need a guide again? Price is going up this time—at least one tael of gold."
"No need for that. Might I ask if Abbess Jingxin is still in her usual room?" Li Huowang backed away as far as he could from her range.
Seeing there was no gold to be had, the extreme greed on Miaoyin's face swiftly turned to disappointment. "Obviously. She's so fat she can't even walk—where else could she go?"
Li Huowang nodded and turned to continue down the previous path.
The others stuck close to Li Huowang, trudging onward through the swamp of rotting food.
But when Yang Kid, at the rear, passed by the gluttonous nuns, he finally couldn't hold back.
"You're wasting so much like this! Do you know how many people outside are starving, even dying of hunger? Do you know how awful it feels to go hungry?"
Miaoyin's response was utterly matter-of-fact. "Exactly, so we can't waste it. Can't you see it's all rotting? If we don't eat it now, there won't be another chance."
With that, she turned her head and vomited up what she had just swallowed, her eyes gleaming with greed as she dove back into her binge.
Following the original path past the pigsty, Li Huowang finally reached Abbess Jingxin's room. Only in this relatively secluded spot was the ground free of so much rotting food.
Arriving here felt much better for them. The stench was still there, but they were gradually getting used to it.
As Li Huowang entered, holding up his fluorite, he saw Abbess Jingxin stuffing something into the folds of her flabby flesh.
"Ah, it's you, kid? How'd it go? Did you find Lanyue Shiba?"
Li Huowang nodded gravely and opened the lacquered box in his hand.
Though it had no eyes, Abbess Jingxin seemed to sense something. A look of extreme greed spread across her baggy face.
As the abbess's sagging folds of fat shifted toward Li Huowang, the entire room seemed to tremble.
(End of chapter)