chapter 180 - Rat Netherkin: Haha, it's fake, all fake!
Luo Wusheng was slightly stunned upon hearing her words.
How come there is really something in the sky?
And what did this girl say? An ugly rat?
A thought crossed his mind, and he instantly extracted the relevant parts related to this keyword from his memory.
Since Yue Xuanji had calculated an ominous fate for him before and mentioned that breaking the recent great calamity required finding a Rat Netherkin that had recently converted ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) to Buddhism, he had been vigilant about rodents.
The memory related to a certain Rat Netherkin was kept in a corner of his mind, waiting to be brought out at a critical moment.
‘Could it be that Rat Netherkin?’
Luo Wusheng’s gaze immediately followed the direction Little Yuli was looking.
Beyond the temple gate, a faint golden light was visible in the sky.
Concentrating a bit, the outline of the golden light became clearer, revealing a figure within it.
It was an ugly little rat emitting golden light, with a tuft of red fur on its forehead.
It felt extremely familiar to Luo Wusheng.
“Oh— it’s really it!”
This sudden encounter left Luo Wusheng speechless for a moment. Especially when he noticed that the Rat Netherkin seemed to be heading in their direction, he felt a bit at a loss.
But soon, he furrowed his brows.
‘Its condition seems a bit off?’
Looking at the ugly little rat approaching and noticing Luo Wusheng’s sudden contemplative expression…
The straightforward girl in Luo Wusheng’s arms tilted her head, not harboring many complicated thoughts.
“Huh? The hard feeling really disappeared…”
…
In the distant sky outside the broken temple.
The current state of the once luxurious golden-furred rat was indeed abnormal.
After its failed rampage at the Demon Artifact Pavilion that day, it managed to escape with its Innate technique. However, as it left, it fell victim to a betrayal by its supposed ally.
After that day, it underwent a hazy transformation through Buddhist teachings, rapidly acquiring various supernatural abilities of the Buddhist sect…
But at that time, it was well aware that it wasn’t doing it willingly. It wasn’t even itself back then; it was a fanatic filled with Buddhist teachings!
Yet, it could only watch helplessly as its body was manipulated by some unknown will, becoming a devout believer solely focused on Buddhism…
The small remnants of its true self were finally shaken, feeling tremors from this terrifying manipulation.
And when it learned about the true identity of the Buddhist monk it had collaborated with previously, the one it thought was at most a Nascent Soul cultivator within the Buddhist sect, its heart was filled with fear.
No, it had to recover!
It wasn’t without a chance.
Ordinary Golden Core cultivators, or even Nascent Soul cultivators, might be powerless against its current situation, but it was different. It still had its own trump cards.
At this moment, its Innate technique became its last resort.
The Tail Severance Survival Technique, when pushed to the extreme, could remove the abnormal state afflicting it.
Though the price was enormous, it was far better than the appearance of death it had adopted.
Fortunately, the bizarre methods of the Buddhist sect, while terrifying, didn’t truly bring it into the fold of Buddhism. Instead, it was tasked with some uncontrollable missions.
If it were within the Three Thousand Pure Land of the Buddhist Sect, there would be no chance of escaping.
Soon, in the moment when it had grown powerful enough, it activated its trump card.
As for the results…
Perhaps it was only halfway successful?
“Damn it, stop chanting Buddhist scriptures in my rat head!”
At this moment, the escaping Rat Netherkin’s rat face showed pain and fierceness. It cursed loudly.
But in the next moment, that fierce expression turned into a bizarre gentle one. Its paws involuntarily folded together, exuding a sense of majestic benevolence.
“The donor sees the image, the donor becomes the humble monk, and the humble monk becomes the donor. Since the humble monk wants to achieve the great path of Buddhist law, the donor naturally must recite the Buddha with the humble monk, sculpting an unsurpassed golden body, establishing an eight-jeweled Dharma form, and attaining the tenth-stage enlightenment…”
“Do you have some mental problem?! It’s just my consciousness influenced by that guy. Next time, I’ll completely cut you off during the tail severance!”
“Hehe, without cutting the self, without overcoming inner demons, how can one achieve Buddhahood?”
The Rat Netherkin’s aura kept changing.
This was the aftermath of its previous tail-severance.
It couldn’t believe that it failed to completely sever the new consciousness born within its body.
Due to injuring its origin, there were signs of integration between its original self and the new consciousness…
This was very troublesome.
Its state had become erratic since then.
Often, it couldn’t distinguish who it really was.
Sometimes, it would be preparing to transform into blood mist to consume flesh and blood for self-recovery, and the next moment, it would be sitting cross-legged chanting Buddhist scriptures…
It could still separate the two selves clearly at this moment, probably because it had paid a huge price to sever its tail just last night.
However, even so, it still couldn’t completely separate the bizarre consciousness from its body.
The more it tried to separate them, the more it felt that the influence of that consciousness on its origin was deepening.
Continuing like this was not a solution. Perhaps after a few more attempts, its self would truly be assimilated.
It seemed to have understood why the monk in the Buddhist sect could trust it to act alone outside the sect.
At this moment, regaining its self, it looked ahead.
A hill, a broken temple.
“Ha– hahaha…”
“Five days– a whole five days! This damn secret realm trapped me for a whole five days! In the end, I’m back to square one! Hahaha…”
Its originally ugly rat face showed a crazed smile uglier than crying.
But in the next moment, its laughter abruptly stopped, turning into a contemplative expression.
“Amitabha, dependent origination arises and ceases, the beginning of causation is also its end. This secret realm aligns with the profound mysteries of Buddhism, skilled in battle, skilled in battle…”
“Tsk.”
Regaining control of its consciousness, the self-manipulated little rat clicked its tongue. It had planned to curse a bit more, but suddenly noticed that the broken temple seemed to have changed from what it had seen before.
There was a strange dark color in one part outside the broken temple, and a faint black mist lingered.
The temple’s door was wide open at this moment.
‘Someone else entered?’
Due to the struggle for control with another consciousness, it didn’t immediately notice the presence of outsiders within the broken temple.
After a brief hesitation, its eyes sparkled with golden light.
This was one of the techniques it had “learned” in the past few days—a form of Buddhist eye technique.
However, just like its innate abilities couldn’t be used against the other consciousness, the effectiveness of using this Buddhist technique was also greatly reduced.
But there was still some effect.
It quickly identified the figures within the broken temple.
From a human perspective, the woman might be considered exceptionally beautiful.
And the man leaning against her…
That handsome face, the familiar black attire…
Isn’t this the Holy Saint of the Demon Sect?
“Haha– Hahaha!”
Its rat face once again showed a mad laughter.
“Illusion– It’s another illusion! Haha, it’s fake, it’s all fake!”