Chapter 664
Chapter 664
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 664
>Chapter Title: Qingqiu
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Hanging upside down from the rock layer above, Yang Kid tilted his head back. He had no idea what those surging strange waters overhead were, but right now, he could only feel his body melting away, his consciousness fading.
“Quick! Run!” Li Huowang grabbed Yang Kid and kept sprinting. Their bodies were shrinking bit by bit, and beneath them now lay a vast living ocean that had come alive. It roared and howled.
The splashing seawater lapped at them like tongues, greedily devouring every drop that fell from their bodies, determined to swallow the two whole.
Yang Kid’s head was starting to feel fuzzy, his limbs going limp. Just as he thought he couldn’t hold on any longer, he spotted an upside-down temple ahead.
Gilded scripture pillars, treasure vase ridge ornaments, towering halls—vast swaths of stalactites dangled like ribs, holding this colossal structure inverted against the cavern ceiling.
The entire temple was as massive as a mountain. Some of its peaks even pierced into that bizarre seawater, yet it stood utterly unmoved.
“Senior Brother Li, there’s a temple!” Yang Kid shouted excitedly, mustering his strength.
“I see it! That’s the Bardo Temple—the exit’s there! Hurry!” As they drew closer, the hanging temple loomed ever larger, its oppressive presence overwhelming.
The instant Yang Kid stepped into the Bardo Temple’s grounds, a thunderous bell toll rang out, echoing everywhere. It broke their grip on each other, and Li Huowang halted before the temple.
“Oh? Yang Kid? That’s rare.” Hearing this, Yang Kid whipped around to see Li Huowang eyeing him with a faint smirk.
The gesture was identical to Lv Juren’s earlier.
“Yang Kid, how’d you end up here?” Li Huowang waved lightly at him, beckoning him out.
But after a moment’s hesitation, Yang Kid shook his head gently and stayed put.
“What’re you standing around for? Come here. I wanna ask you something.”
As Li Huowang stepped toward the Bardo Temple again, the bell tolled once more, freezing him in place. “Yang Kid? How’d you get here? That’s rare.”
“Senior Brother Li... did you die too?” Yang Kid asked him fearfully.
“Die? Maybe. But my situation’s more like being forgotten. Come here—I’ll get you out.”
Yang Kid paid no heed to Li Huowang’s calls. Terror-stricken, he bolted straight into the inverted Bardo Temple.
Senior Brother Li was truly dead, just like Lv Juren before him. The man he saw now wasn’t even a ghost—just a lingering shadow, trapped in endless repetition in the mortal world.
The moment his foot crossed the temple threshold, everything behind him vanished. Li Huowang’s shouts, the sea’s roars—all gone.
The emptiness around him set Yang Kid’s heart racing. This didn’t feel like a temple at all. Not a single monk in sight.
“What’s going on? Didn’t Senior Brother Li say this was the exit? Did he trick me again?”
Just then, he heard a noise overhead. Looking up, he realized the Buddhas and monks were all there—only they were on the ceiling above him.
Rows of lamas in red robes turned golden prayer wheels, their voices rising and falling in resonant chant.
Yang Kid hadn’t realized it before—he was the one hanging from the ceiling. No wonder he hadn’t spotted anyone.
Before he could react, those esoteric sutras flooded his ears. The instant he heard them, a numbness shot through his body, and his mind shattered.
“. . . Om Mani Padme Hum . . .”
Yang Kid, fully unconscious, toppled limply, merging completely with the sutras. He spun endlessly within those bone-handled prayer wheels, over and over.
“Boss! Boss! You can’t die!!” In his hazy stupor, Yang Kid seemed to hear a voice—very familiar.
“Boss, if you die, how am I supposed to live?! Waaah~~”
As the voice grew louder, Yang Kid struggled to open his eyes. It was no easy task; his eyelids were sealed shut with dried blood.
With a stab of pain, he pried them open a crack. And there was Zhao Xiumei’s tear-streaked face.
“Boss! You’re awake! Thank goodness!” Overjoyed, Zhao Xiumei grabbed her gourd and poured out some pills, feeding them to him.
“Cough~ Don’t take too many Blood Nourishing Pills, or all your blood’ll clot up.” Yang Kid swallowed three and spat the rest out.
She held the gourd to his lips. After a few gulps, his foggy mind finally cleared.
Propping himself up, he scanned his surroundings. He was in a narrow crevice, like the bottom of a split in the earth. No Bardo Temple, no ocean—just rock and dirt on either side.
“Boss? You okay? Do you remember who I am?”
Yang Kid looked down at himself. His left arm was smashed crooked, fingers bent at horrific angles.
His head throbbed too—must’ve hit it on the way down. He’d taken quite a tumble.
“Boss, what’s wrong? Don’t scare me! You didn’t damage your brain, did you?” Zhao Xiumei was on the verge of tears at his dazed expression.
The three monkey kids nearby hopped about frantically, scratching their ears and cheeks.
Yang Kid touched his head and felt a clump of blood matted in his hair. He reached into his robes next—the rotten wooden ruyi from Niuxin Village was back.
“I... I think I had a dream just now. A really weird one. I saw Lv Juren. And Senior Brother Li. They... they’re both dead.”
His voice wavered with uncertainty. He couldn’t tell if what he’d seen was real or not.
“Boss, never mind that. Let’s get out of here.”
Zhao Xiumei carefully cradled him, took a rope from one of the monkey kids, and bound him securely. Grabbing the dangling line nearby, she started climbing up.
“Xiumei, you... you won’t make it like this. Let me rest and catch my strength.”
“I’m no delicate missus who never leaves the house. I was plowing fields with my dad at ten. I’ve got strength to spare.” With that, she wedged her feet against the walls and climbed, step by step.
The three monkey kids scampered up and down the rock faces without ropes, chittering encouragement.
Finally, after her clothes were soaked through twice with sweat, Zhao Xiumei wriggled out of the fissure.
Yang Kid laboriously lifted his head and looked around. The landscape of Qingqiu had changed entirely. Distant hills had vanished, while new ones thrust up from the earth.
(End of chapter)