Human flesh was rubbery to chew on especially for an old monk without teeth. So he concentrated on chewing it with his hollow cheeks moving slowly. Both compassion and greedy were reflected in his indifferent eyes.
As he chewed, swallowed and the flesh was absorbed, his deep sockets and hollow cheeks were refreshed. His face regained vitality.
The girl’s little arm was like a piece of lotus root washed away by the lake water, and with that heart-throbbing sound, it was eaten away alive with a piece of flesh. Blood ran down the wound, and her face was pale but strong and tight-lipped, refusing to utter a sound of pain.
The old monk stuck out his black tongue to lick off the blood near his mouth while maintained a compassionate expression on his face. The stark contrast was even more chilling.
Ning Que was stunned when he saw this and he found that things went beyond his expectation. Neither he nor Ye Hongyu saw this coming. They never expected that the venerable Master Lotus would be such a horrible monster. Moreover, the most important thing was that even though he knew there was something wrong with the old monk, he was unwilling to believe it.
After he completely ate that human flesh, even if his face was still covered with the girl’s blood, Master Lotus suddenly looked like a venerable and merciful Buddhism Sect Bhadanta.
He looked down at Ye Hongyu who was looking back at him desperately and resentfully. He swept across her young face and said, “How could I do this to you. You are so cute.”
Ye Hongyu’s sense of perception was blocked and she lost her body control. She could feel she was becoming weaker and weaker and the finger on her face was as cold as a snake.
“Why would I do that? Why didn’t I resist the temptation of your blood?”
The old monk’s eyes became hollow and perplexed. He murmured to himself and laughed, “I have saved all my Psyche Power for decades and I still have not been able to kill you two. Lotus you were too weak .”
He calmed down and explained to the three young people and himself. “I had to eat something because I was trapped here for a very long time. I had to.”
He said in such a normal voice that Ning Que and the girls felt grim.
Ning Que was sure that years ago when his Youngest Uncle broke the Front Gate of Devil’s Doctrine, he trapped Master Lotus with an inhibition and made him suffer for so many years instead of killing him.
Even if the old monk had a high realm of cultivation, he could not take such torment for so many years without breaking down. While he was about to die, the Front Gate of Devil’s Doctrine opened and Ning Que and the girls came in. They became his best bet for getting out of there.
So the old monk pretended to be merciful and he used his legacy to let them relax their guard. The Tao Addict then finally opened her spiritual world to him and he was able to control it.
Ning Que frowned and said, “Although I didn’t know you before, they did. They kneeled to you as soon as they saw you. Both Master Lotus and Divine Lord Lotus have a great reputation in cultivation and they trust you. Why didn’t you wait for them to help you get out, but instead took such a risk?”
The old man smiled and said, “Because you can’t unlock this array and I am the only one who can break this Confinement if I can get all my power back. I had to eat you up if I want my power back.”
“Even if we couldn’t break this Confinement, our sect elders could,” said Ning Que.
The old monk laughed and added, “There were only a few people who could break Crazy Ke’s Confinement, and yes, some of your sect elders could. But unfortunately, they all knew the story of what happened in that year, and they would rather kill me by pulling down half of the world than save me.”
Ning Que paused and said, “You are not well liked.”
The old monk sighed and continued. “With the bones for so many years, I had given up for a long time and I never saw hope coming. You, three poor kids, came here when the door opened. I think it’s destiny.”
Ning Que became silent and thought, “I, as the disciple on the Second floor of the Academy and the three addicts, are qualified to do something big in the world of cultivation. But in this former master’s eyes, we are just three cute poor kids. It means time really matters for a cultivator.”
“I hadn’t stored enough Psyche Power, so after you got in this room, I started my Buddhism Sect Torture Method to make you doubt yourselves. I thought you would be the weakest one, trapped in your delusion and never got out. I didn’t expect you are the only one who stayed conscious. How did you do that?”
The old monk smiled at Ning Que. Although he looked so skinny and ugly, he showed his arrogance to the world just like a free young man.
Ning Que thought that he was using every minute to absorb the human flesh and had no time to hurt them, so he tried to relax and prepare at this moment. He answered, “Maybe you haven’t tempted me enough.”
The old monk frowned a little and asked, “Doesn’t my legacy attract you?”
Ning Que answered, “I want power but I don’t believe you.”
The old monk said, “I didn’t lie to you. I have worked hard for many years to join the gods by connecting the Tao and the Devil.”
Ning Que froze and said, “I still need to join the Devil first.”
The old monk looked at him just like a goshawk looking at a chicken, and then he said, “I told you the Academy was degenerating. Look at you, even the words ‘join the Devil’ scare you off.”
Ning Que shook his head and said, “If I had to join the Devil to stay alive, I would like to do that. I will do what I need to. And since temptation has to carry some weight, the temptations that you showed in the Buddha’s Magic Sound earlier are not strong enough for me.”
He said that with contempt and disdain.
But Ning Que forgot that now Lotus was not the venerable Bhadanta he was before. Master Lotus quipped. “Is there anything more attractive than my legacy?”
Ning Que laughed at once. “I’m a disciple on the Second floor of the Academy and I’m going to take the Headmaster of Academy legacy. Even if I was going to join the Devil, I would learn from my Youngest Uncle. I think that is more attractive.”
When the old monk heard this, he choked. Even though he considered the three sects as the trash, he didn’t expect he was at the same level as the Headmaster of Academy. What was more, he was humiliated and hurt by Ke Haoran so badly.
“I haven’t met a truly unselfish man in my life and also believe that there is no such thing as a free lunch. So the more merciful you pretended to be, the weirder I felt,” said Ning Que.
“I’m wondering if the stories you told us were true or were they made up to fool us?”
He was curious about the stories because they were about his Youngest Uncle. But it looked so creepy when they were sitting on the ground and talking about old stories together in a crisis of life and death.
The old monk said, “They were true and I just skipped some important information. To Bloody Lanke Temple was planning by me. That beautiful dancer was also killed by me and I drank all her blood. She creeped me out that she died with a sweet smile on her pale face. I thought she was asking me why I killed her.”
He looked at Ning Que and said, “I was so scared when I saw her smile and I could not make that go away, so I had to cut her into pieces and eat her up. That was the first time I ate human flesh.”
Ning Que kept silent for a long time and suddenly asked, “Who was the dancer?”
The old monk smiled and said, “I killed her to drive Ke Haoran crazy, so of course, she was his girl.”
Upon hearing this, Ning Que though for a long time and then he asked, “Did you do this just because you wanted to start a war between the Academy and Divine Hall or for some other reasons?”
The old monk said coldly after a while, “There’s no other reason. But from then on, Ke Haoran saw through this in the end and Wei Guangming began to suspect me for no reason, so I had to leave the Peach Mountain and hid in Devil’s Doctrine.”
Listening to his turbid breath, Ning Que knew this old strong master had little vitality after being trapped for so many years by his Youngest Uncle. He planned all of this because he knew he couldn’t overcome them directly. What an insidious human-being.
However, when he remembered that this man was capable of starting wars among the three sects all over the world and he put them in such a dangerous situation so easily, he realized that seemed reasonable.
Ning Que looked at the old monk and asked what he cared for the most, “You can be an honorable bigwig no matter what you choose, Taoism, Buddhism or Devil Sect. Even if you don’t choose, you also can be a legend. Why did you choose such a bloody and boring way? Why? Why do you want to fight against the entire world?”
“It sounds familiar.” The old monk said slowly, “Many years ago, Wei Guangming examined himself in this way. He treated the entire world as his enemy because he believed he was right. But I was not like him. I did this because I knew the world was wrong.”