Chapter 623
Chapter 623
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 623
>Chapter Title: Buddha
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"This doesn't feel right, this really doesn't feel right! I'm about to be discharged from the hospital, and then this mess happens!"
In the empty corridor, Li Huowang paced anxiously with his phone pressed to his ear.
"Don't talk to me about thought disruption. I'm not autistic—my thoughts aren't disrupted! And I don't have hallucinations either; I'm better now!"
When he heard the voice on the phone, Li Huowang let out a sigh, his tone instantly calming down a lot.
"I do want to be discharged. I really don't want to be treated like a mental patient for the rest of my life, but..."
Li Huowang's face showed a hint of struggling pain as he spoke.
"But everything that happened on that ship felt way too real, just like I actually went through it! I really did get that copper coin sword! And that other guy's pit bull really did bite off one of my arms!! But now they're all gone!"
At the end of the corridor, several people from his therapy group sneaked their heads out, peering at Li Huowang.
"Look at him. He still claims he isn't sick. I've seen plenty like this in the hospital—classic schizophrenia," whispered the flat-headed young man with mild mania, Weishili.
"Doesn't seem like it. Listen to him talk—one thing after another. Schizophrenics off their meds don't have brains that sharp. Feels more like a personality disorder to me. My last roommate had that."
Everyone was very curious about what exactly was wrong with this new guy, even sneaking snacks as bets. In this boring mental hospital, it was a small way to relieve the tedium.
"Doctor Yi, I'm really scared that all those previous experiences were for nothing. My head is really messed up right now. I don't even know if it's real. Yeah, I'm hesitating too."
"Alright, then come over when you have time. Thanks." Li Huowang hung up the phone and paced the corridor with furrowed brows.
He had thought everything was finally getting back on track, but that inexplicable sea voyage had thrown his mind into chaos again.
If it was fake—if it was all hallucinations from a thought disruption episode—what kind of mental illness did he have? Could it even be cured?
But if it was real...
Li Huowang hesitated again. He felt like he was in big trouble and needed to handle it properly.
If he chose wrong, he'd probably end up in even bigger trouble.
But what made Li Huowang despair was that he truly had no idea what to do.
"Clop clop clop." An odd sound came from the window beside him. Li Huowang walked over and looked up to see the vast Great Liang army marching by.
The dense hoofbeats and the overwhelming murderous aura from the soldiers made his whole body tense to the extreme.
Only by seeing this could one understand what "ten thousand men, endless as the horizon" truly meant—not to mention the official army.
"Where are these soldiers headed?" Li Huowang asked in a low voice.
"Nowhere. As long as they're here to intimidate, the Dharma followers won't dare lead a rebellion."
"Heh, even if they do rebel, no fear. Once the Flying Leopard Army moves, they'll wipe out those cultists completely," said Liu Zongyuan, a hint of pride in his tone.
"Don't worry. Looks like the higher-ups are taking Great Qi's upheaval seriously too. With them here, plus the Celestial Surveillance Division's spies and pawns, we should be solid this time."
Hearing Liu Zongyuan's words beside him, Li Huowang finally understood the purpose of deploying so many troops.
Now he had a clear sense of Gao Zhijian's influence. The Great Liang Emperor wasn't just talking big.
Sensing the unabashed stares from Li Huowang and the others, a general glanced over. But when he saw the badges on their waists, he looked away immediately.
Once the Great Liang soldiers had mostly passed, Li Huowang said to Fo Yulu beside him,
"Forget these guys. Let's hurry up and resolve this big trouble."
He had to handle the Great Qi Dharma Cult issue properly. If he didn't, the entire Great Liang might fall into even greater trouble.
Then everyone mounted up and galloped toward Silver Mausoleum City, hoping to contribute to resisting the Great Qi Dharma Cult.
Over the short few days on the road, the ones who changed the most were the three from Zhengde Temple. When Li Huowang first met them, Zhengde Temple's abbot Chanzdu had been skinny as a skeleton.
But now, after just a few vegetarian meals, his flesh had fully restored to normal. This gave Li Huowang a new understanding of Zhengde Temple's divine powers.
"Abbot, besides turning into that fleshy Thousand-Armed Buddha, what else can that divine power from the Buddha do? In case we really run into the Dharma Cult, we can coordinate better."
Hearing this, Chanzdu on horseback released the reins and pressed his palms together.
"Amitabha. This poor monk has meditated for sixty years and has attained the realm of the Heavily Enjoying Freedom Heaven."
Li Huowang was utterly confused by this. What the hell was the Heavily Enjoying Freedom Heaven? Might as well say nothing.
"Abbot, can you explain it simply? I'm really a bit—"
Before Li Huowang could finish, a black vulture dove from the sky. As their eyes met, Li Huowang saw a black-robed lama in the vulture's eyes.
Next, he saw the lama point a diamond scepter from his right hand, spotted with age marks, straight at his brow.
"Honored One, realize the fundamental ground!"
In the next instant, Li Huowang felt a chill in his heart, like something inside him was empty, as if he'd lost something.
He thought something would happen to his body, but he felt no abnormality.
"Shing!" Li Huowang slashed hard with his purple-tasseled sword, cleaving the vulture in two.
"Watch out—enemy attack!"
As his shout rang out, countless vultures plummeted from the sky, swarming toward the other nine.
Beside him, Zhengde Temple's abbot quickly clapped his hands together. His body swiftly merged through the saddle with the horse beneath him.
But it wasn't over. After the three monks fused with their horses, their flesh began intertwining with each other.
The final flesh-thing resembled the "Buddha" Li Huowang had once seen at Zhengde Temple.
The Buddha had seven or eight pairs of arms, each forming diamond seals, lotus seals, lion seals. Over ten mouths began chanting sutras loudly.
"From Tusita Heaven, he proclaims the true Dharma, abandons that heavenly palace, descends into the divine mother's womb, born from her right flank, takes Buddha strides, opens the Dharma gates. Washes and pours out defilements..."
The sutras from the different mouths rose and fell, harmonizing to make them extraordinarily sacred and solemn.
As the Buddha's voice rapidly spread, the vultures' wings stuck to their bodies, eyes glued to eyelids. Then they plummeted like massive stones.
Looking up at the compassionate face of the abbot amid the Buddha, Li Huowang finally understood what the realm of the Heavily Enjoying Freedom Heaven meant.