One Pound Meat, One More Attribute Point

Chapter 199: 170: Buddhist Secret Techniques, Heavenly Eye and Heavenly Ear

Su Heng and Li Lingxiu had arranged to meet in Liuzhou, Fen County.

The reason it was called Fen County was because of its proximity to the largest tributary of the long Guanjiang River, the Fen River.

The water level of the Fen River was rather shallow, and now, as summer was giving way to early autumn, the climate around Fen County was unusually hot and humid. At this time, amid a rather vast mangrove forest, large swarms of mosquitoes and flies buzzed incessantly under the leaves, creating an irritating noise.

Gurgle gurgle!

Bubbles rose to the surface in the black swamp.

A giant grey crocodile slowly emerged its head, waiting for its prey to arrive.

Slap!

A foot clad in cloth shoes and bound with black leggings landed on the top of the crocodile’s head.

The crocodile seemed completely unaware, not even causing a ripple on the black water below its body—it perceived the sensation as though a dry leaf had fallen on its head, no different.

The owner of the leggings had cultivated’s qinggong to a transcendent level, but his appearance was in stark contrast to his demonstrated skills.

Gliding over the swamp was an over two-meter-tall, spherical-shaped fat man. This fat man was dressed in monk’s robes, with a shaven head marked with the scars of a monk’s vows. However, the layers of fat and flesh stretched his grey robes so tight that they bulged, and his face shone with oiliness. One might doubt whether he had kept to the ascetic monastic disciplines since taking his vows.

This fat man was called Monk Hui Ming, an arhat from the Hundred Buddha Temple.

His mission was to assist the Black Sha Bodhisattva in dealing with Su Heng and Li Lingxiu.

To say assist, in reality, with Hui Ming’s ordinary Cultivation Realm at the level of refined impurity, he couldn’t play any role in a battle of such caliber. However, he had cultivated the secret technique of Heavenly Vision, which granted exceptional eyesight, and he did not need to engage in direct combat.

His task,

Was simply to release the half-mad Black Sha Bodhisattva after confirming the identity of the arrivals, alongside his junior brother.

Then, he and his junior brother would run far away. After the Black Sha Bodhisattva had eliminated the enemies, the two of them would lead the bodhisattva back to the Hundred Buddha Temple.

Though the mission sounded simple,

Each step was extremely perilous.

One misstep could result in a fatal loss of life and cessation of the dao.

But such tasks had been carried out many times before by Hui Ming and his Junior Brother, Hui Tong, so there was little sense of nervousness.

Whoosh!

Hui Ming’s figure flashed.

His layers of fat rapidly compressed as he passed through a patch of bushes in the forest, stealthily entering a shady and dry spot deep in the mangrove woods.

There was another monk dressed in black robes. At this moment, with his eyes closed, he was pressing his ears to the ground. Seeming to hear something, the monk slowly got up and looked towards his Senior Brother, Monk Hui Ming. ?

The black-robed monk was gaunt, but his ears were large and full, with earlobes reaching directly down to his shoulders.

In the dim environment, they emitted a faint, hazy glow.

These large and majestic ears resembled the sculptures of Buddhas on temple rocky walls.

But on Hui Tong’s frail and short stature, they appeared extremely disproportionate and could even be described as bizarre.

Monk Hui Ming was cultivating the Heavenly Vision.

This Divine Skill allowed him to see all forms and colors in the world without obstruction.

Monk Hui Tong, on the other hand, cultivated another secret technique called the Heavenly Ear Technique, which allowed him to hear all sounds in the world.

Together,

They were like eyes that could see in every direction and ears that could hear all, maximizing the efficiency of their intelligence gathering.

"Senior Brother, do you have any news?" the gaunt Hui Tong asked coldly.

"Nothing," Hui Ming replied, smacking a fly dead on his head before asking with a grin, "I wonder if Junior Brother, you have discovered anything."

"We still need to wait," Hui Tong answered.

"What about the Black Sha Bodhisattva, has he calmed down?" Hui Ming asked again, this time with a slightly reduced smile on his face.

"Uh…"

Hui Tong didn’t answer, instead looking back into the forest.

Below the lush branches of a parasol tree, an old rattan box with a size of a square zhang was placed on the ground. In the damp and stifling mangrove forest, mosquitoes and flies were buzzing everywhere, but there was silence around the rattan box, exuding a cool and eerie aura.

Through the gaps in the box, a pair of blood-red eyes could be seen looking out.

"Shh…"

Hui Tong inadvertently made eye contact with those eyes.

Feeling a chill in his heart, he hurriedly shifted his gaze away, not daring to look any further.

"The bodhisattva caused a ruckus just now, so I offered the Corpse Fragrance as an offering. After enjoying the Corpse Fragrance, the bodhisattva calmed down, but…"

Hui Tong’s face turned bitter, "The Corpse Fragrance we brought this time has already been entirely used up."

"If the bodhisattva goes mad again later, we’ll have a real problem,"

"Shh…" Hui Ming, with his head bowed, paced back and forth on the ground, also feeling troubled, "We can only hope that there was no error in the intelligence, and those two arrive soon."

Monks Hui Ming and Hui Tong chanted Amitabha in unison.

The so-called Corpse Fragrance offering was a blood meal made from premature infants, combined with various precious materials, employed to quell the evil energy of demons and was an essential component in the practice of "controlling" the path.

Legend had it that the highest quality Corpse Fragrance offering even required royal bloodlines as the main ingredient.

The last batch of raw materials was obtained by the living Buddha of the Hundred Buddha Temple from a princess of the "Great Moon" Empire a thousand years ago.

For a thousand years following that point, the Skull Plain had been ground beneath the heel of the current Zhou Dynasty. Now that the chaos of war had come, perhaps it presented an opportunity to obtain new materials—who could say for sure?

As Hui Tong the monk looked at the black grease left by the Corpse Fragrance offering on the ground, myriad thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant.

Just then—

"Brother!" exclaimed Hui Tong, his voice filled with joy, snapping the chubby monk back to reality.

"Hmm?" A jolt went through Hui Ming’s heart, and he quickly asked, "Is there news?"

"I heard footsteps," Hui Tong said, his entire body pressed against the ground. After listening for a moment, he slowly raised his head, "From the northwest direction."

Hui Ming’s face grew serious, a faint golden light shimmering in his eyes.

He looked in the direction his junior brother was pointing.

In front of him, the overlapping leaves and branches seemed to fade away under Hui Ming’s gaze, leaving only a transparent, shimmering shadow. His vision traveled miles away, finally settling on a high slope in the swamp.

There were no trees around the slope, and the bright sunlight fell unobstructed.

And within the golden sunlight, a giant with a robust physique and a tranquil demeanor stood alone.

As if he was waiting for something.

"This person..." Hui Ming retracted his gaze.

He rubbed his temples, recalling the portrait he had seen before the mission,"It should be that governor, not Li Lingxiu."

"I see," said Hui Tong, noticeably disappointed upon hearing this.

Their main target on this mission was Li Lingxiu; Su Heng was merely an extra gift. His worth was not high, not worth triggering the killer move of the Black Sha Bodhisattva.

"How is his cultivation?" Hui Tong asked again.

"If his cultivation is not high, we could join forces to take him down now to avoid future troubles."

"Wouldn’t that startle the snake?" Hui Ming felt it was inappropriate but didn’t want to outright dismiss his junior brother’s face.

He continued, "However, checking his cultivation level first is indeed a good idea."

The Heavenly Vision that Hui Ming practiced was not merely about seeing far.

It could also see through the disguises of demons and ghosts and unveil the cultivation realm of enemies. As one of the six Divine Skills secretly transmitted in Buddhism, the potential of Heavenly Vision was exceedingly high. Although Hui Ming, who hadn’t reached the Heavenly Deceit cultivation realm, couldn’t exert the full power of the Heavenly Vision Technique, he could still penetrate illusions to glimpse the truth.

Hui Ming once again used the Heavenly Vision Technique and looked toward Su Heng from afar.

At the same time.

On the other side of the swamp, on the dry hillside.

Su Heng furrowed his brows thoughtfully; just now, he had felt a sensation akin to a soft feather brushing against his skin. He hadn’t paid much attention the first time, but the second time, it clearly carried a hint of malice.

His eyes squinted slightly, and the Dragon Blood within him began to roil unconsciously.

Blood vessels burst within the whites of his eyes, turning them black and red, as he looked in the direction from which the spying seemed to come.

Whoosh—

A breeze blew by, and the air grew even more oppressive.

"Just like us, merely at the Qi Cleansing cultivation realm," Hui Ming laughed after discerning Su Heng’s cultivation realm through the Heavenly Vision Technique, "After hearing of his deeds, I thought he was something extraordinary, but it turns out he’s nothing special."

"That’s how the people of the Central Plains are, fond of boasting and creating myths."

Hearing this, Hui Tong also breathed a sigh of relief, laughing as he chimed in, "In the Skull Plain, we heard the abbots say that the Great Zhou Dynasty is filled with experts. Yet now we have breached the Hanwu Pass and entered deep into Great Zhou’s territory without encountering any obstacles."

"Since he’s not at the Heavenly Deceit level, why don’t we brothers join forces to capture this man first?" Hui Tong suggested.

"Alright, that sounds good..." Hui Ming was about to nod in agreement.

But just at that moment, to his astonishment, he saw Su Heng thousands of miles away seemingly become aware and look in his direction.

"He hasn’t reached the level of Heavenly Deceit to unlock super senses; how could he detect my gaze?" Hui Ming was shocked, and then unexpectedly made eye contact with Su Heng.

In that instant, time seemed to freeze, and then "boom"—a loud explosion rang out in Hui Ming’s mind.

Those black and red, ferocious pupils were like an angry dragon surging upriver.

The overwhelming Dragon Power spanned thousands of miles, causing ripples in the lush marshland. Countless birds panicked, flapping their wings to fly into the sky, only to be scared to death on the spot, tumbling from the sky as lifeless carcasses.

The bright light seemed to lose its color, and the sky turned a strange and bizarre iron blue.

And within Hui Ming’s spirit world—

Crack!

Crimson lightning flashed wildly.

His Heavenly Vision Technique shattered, and with it, both of his eyes exploded.

Hui Ming clutched his eyes, his body convulsing as he let out agonized screams, but the black and red, thick blood plasma still ceaselessly seeped out.

"Brother!!!" Hui Tong was shocked, taken aback by this sudden turn of events.

He pressed down on Hui Ming’s arms, and upon seeing Hui Ming’s mangled eye sockets, he gasped in shock and broke out in a cold sweat on his forehead.

"Monster! Run!" Hui Ming shouted in a panic.

Hui Tong still didn’t know what his brother had seen to be frightened to such an extent.

Even those undescribable great horrors of the Skull Plain didn’t seem capable of causing such a terrible backlash. He was anxious to ask what had happened, but a calm voice from behind struck him like lightning, leaving him paralyzed and unable to move—

"Who are you, and where do you think you’re running to?"