Chapter 39

When the final name was engraved onto the yellow silk, the thin, gossamer-like scroll of the ten thousand people’s petition began to roll itself up, ultimately gathering into Xun Ruosu’s palm. She had thought both hands wouldn’t be enough to hold it once the karmic obstacles transformed into names, but a single palm had already enveloped it.

In Xun Ruosu’s half-bright, half-blind eyes, chains sprouted thickly. From a distance, it merely looked like she had zoned out for a moment, but Xue Tong knew the truth: those karmic obstacles had become part of Xun Ruosu’s body. Karmic obstacles were indestructible; they could only be dissolved—and dissolved into merits.

The merits born from heaven and earth came from her but did not return to her.

The bell tolled endlessly in their ears. Xun Ruosu slowly closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, a smile curved her features. “That dance just now wasn’t bad.”

“…” Xue Tong stared at her. “Don’t you feel uncomfortable anywhere? Doesn’t your heart ache? Don’t you want to become a Buddha? Don’t you want to deliver more people? You…”

Xun Ruosu pressed her index finger to Xue Tong’s lips, silencing her endless stream of questions.

“I’m still me. Aside from a stuffy nose and a sore throat, I don’t feel uncomfortable anywhere,” Xun Ruosu said. She crooked her finger and withdrew it. “Xue Tong, I’m just an ordinary mortal. I know my limits. I don’t want to become a Buddha.”

Xue Tong continued to stare at her for a while. Her hands twitched with the urge to move, and suddenly she yanked at Xun Ruosu’s clothes to peer inside. Xun Ruosu paled in shock and clutched her chest as she stumbled back two steps. “We’re not close enough for that kind of honesty between us, are we?”

“What are you thinking? I just wanted to check if you’ve turned into some monster like that Bodhisattva statue!” Xue Tong bristled. “Would I look any worse stripped bare?!”

“Who knows? I’ve never seen you like that.” Xun Ruosu shot back without thinking.

The two women stared at each other, then both panicked in unison.

“I… I didn’t mean it like that.” Xun Ruosu hurriedly explained, only to bite her own tongue. She hissed in pain.

Xue Tong clamped her mouth shut. In this atmosphere, any more words would only make things worse.

After a long moment, Xun Ruosu let out a faint sigh. “Xue Tong, there’s room for people between Buddha and demon. I’m just someone who can’t let go of the seven emotions and six desires but can restrain them with kindness. Don’t think of me as something so grand.”

Xue Tong vaguely sensed that Xun Ruosu had realized something, but the expression on her face was too candid—even if it was a mask, Xue Tong couldn’t just reach out and rip it off. So she said, “Let’s get out of here.”

Wuchang had a playful nature. Normally, even a sparrow flitting by would tempt it to pounce, though it never killed—just scared them off. But today, it had behaved itself. Amid all the spectacle in the Ten Thousand People Pit, it hadn’t stirred. When Xun Ruosu and Xue Tong emerged, Wuchang was still lounging on its side, the lotus lantern tucked under its belly.

It was getting a bit warm under there.

Seeing that her owner was unharmed, Wuchang’s cat eyes suddenly widened. Its hind legs kicked out, as if unsure whom to pounce on first, leaving its rear and head nearly parting ways. Fortunately, even in its shrunken cat form, Wuchang could stretch to over half a meter long. It sprawled across both women’s laps.

Xue Tong raised a hand and smacked its cat rear. “It’s not like anyone’s dead. You don’t need to play the dutiful child right now.”

Wuchang was a wanderer by nature, its roving temperament not formed overnight. Normally, it only showed mercy and dug a pit for Xue Tong after she’d suffered some karmic backlash—like getting half-killed by lightning. But ever since Xun Ruosu appeared, it had started fretting over this and that. On second thought, Xue Tong realized her cat had some loyalty after all. But as for a certain someone… “Even Wuchang was worried about you. You should reflect on how negligent you’ve been.”

“Hm?” Xun Ruosu blinked with innocent eyes.

Wuchang paid no mind to that. It just sensed that its owner had returned with a familiar scent filling her body, so it twisted around, rubbing furiously in an attempt to rub its own appearance back to normal.

Though Wuchang was willful, playful, and eager for fights, most of those flaws had been picked up from Xue Tong. Besides, in its cat form, its body was frail and weak. All it could really do was intimidate sparrows and mice—or aspire to be a street tough, earning wary respect from stray cats and dogs within a hundred li.

Even so, it wasn’t like the old days, when it had lazed by the lotus throne, opening its eyes only when pleased to glance at the mortal world. When displeased, it simply closed its eyes, drooped its ears, and tuned out everything for peace.

After rubbing for ages without result, Wuchang let out a whimper. Xue Tong scooped it up entirely. “Stop daydreaming.”

If Wuchang had picked up any virtues from Xue Tong amid its flaws, it was “non-attachment.” All things were like passing clouds—nice if you got them, but if not…

Xue Tong’s “non-attachment” was different from others’. Clinging without gaining was true attachment; gaining and releasing freely was open-mindedness.

So, no result from rubbing today? Wuchang was certain there’d be a day when it wouldn’t need to rely on this pitiful form.

It whimpered again, then hopped down proudly, its cat eyes brimming with parental hopes for its greatness. Xun Ruosu couldn’t help but sweat a little.

The Ten Thousand People Pit no longer held the ghostly shadows from when they’d entered. The bloodstains on the ground weren’t deepening anymore; instead, they showed signs of drying. The damaged Bodhisattva statue retained its compassionate expression, stretching deep underground. Unknown tangled vines and branches sprouted tender buds from its severed palm. Golden Buddhist rain still fell, though no longer as dense as before.

The buds swayed, unfurling flower buds in short order. A blue-purple Putuo flower bloomed in the Buddha’s palm, followed by another and another. Faint sounds came from below ground as sprouts emerged from the soil—one for each of the thirteen thousand six hundred eighty-two corpses: thirteen thousand six hundred eighty-two tiny flowers.

Xun Ruosu gazed at the Bodhisattva statue and murmured softly, “This is them paying homage to you.”

It was a pity they hadn’t connected hearts back then. The grudge souls blooming Putuo flowers around it had been thanking it for a thousand years of unwavering devotion, taking on their tribulations to deliver them from suffering. Some hatreds had faded slowly over time. But trapped by karmic obstacles, the Bodhisattva statue had instead seen the Putuo flowers as tools for vengeance.

These Putuo flowers, nurtured by grudge souls, had an extremely short bloom. They barely registered before scattering from the branch, mingling with the wind into the golden rain. Finally, thirteen thousand six hundred eighty-two raindrops sank entirely into the flowers’ hearts. The vines withered in an instant, drained of life.

Zhong Li was still crouched by the broken cage. She’d never seen so many souls delivered at once. But after watching for a bit, she deliberately closed her eyes.

“Why stop watching?” Yuan Jie asked.

“Any longer, and I might impulsively run off to take the vows,” Zhong Li said solemnly. “I kinda like eating meat.”

“…Amitabha. No need to worry, benefactor—we don’t accept minors.” Soaring Firmament Temple’s incense burned brightly, and it wasn’t small in scale. As its abbot, Yuan Jie spoke with authority.

With the flowers scattering and the rain fading, the true sky finally emerged. Framed by ancient towering trees, a deep crimson dusk painted the heavens. Unnoticed, twilight had arrived.

No souls lingered in the Ten Thousand People Pit—only the layered lotus lantern, the patched-together Yuqin, and the “malicious grudge souls” fashioned by the Bodhisattva statue’s hand remained.

Each carried entanglements that couldn’t be simply exorcised.

Xue Tong and Xun Ruosu were half-crouched on the ground. Xun Ruosu held a freshly snapped dry twig and doodled in the dirt. “I’ve figured out the karma in the lotus lantern; just need to wrap it up. I have no experience with patched-up remnant souls like Yuqin. As for that ‘Child-Granting Guanyin’ that’s not even a proper soul… I haven’t a clue.”

With that, Xun Ruosu swept the twig across. “All yours.”

“…” So I’ve spent half a day just watching you draw stick figures? And so badly?!

Xue Tong huffed coldly. She was about to fight for her rights when she saw Xun Ruosu bracing the dry twig against the ground. Half her weight leaned on it. The twig was too slender for such force; the end in the dirt snapped into three pieces. Xun Ruosu’s voice was so faint it was barely audible. “Xue Tong… catch me.” Then her whole body collapsed forward.

Xun Ruosu’s body temperature was high, but she still clung to consciousness. Her voice was soft, lacking its usual sharp wit and cool edge. “My head hurts. Let me lean on you a bit.”

“You didn’t actually burn out your brain, did you?” Xue Tong felt uncharacteristically tense. But Xun Ruosu simply raised a hand and pinched her lips shut. “Don’t talk. Every word you say makes my head hurt more.”

“…”

Moments later, Xun Ruosu regained some strength. Her face still looked poor, but at least she no longer appeared so sickly frail.

Xue Tong held her original position until Xun Ruosu pushed up from her shoulder. Only then did Xue Tong realize her legs and feet had gone completely numb… Her own numbness set off Xun Ruosu’s, and with one push, she toppled right back down.

Wuchang watched from the side with wide cat eyes, full of disdain at their messy tangle. Not until Xue Tong started to tip backward did it suddenly revert to its original form, cushioning her from behind. Thus, the two numb-legged women both tumbled into its fur.

Xun Ruosu asked at the most inopportune moment, “It must be hard to give Wuchang a bath, right?”

“It washes itself.” Xue Tong prodded Xun Ruosu’s shoulder. “If you keep pressing on my upper body, that’ll go numb too.”

Xun Ruosu gave up. “No strength left. Just shove me off.”

So the two lay flat on the ground until the numbness passed. Xue Tong crawled up first. She looked down; Xun Ruosu lay there with eyes closed and face to the sky, pale enough to see through. Xue Tong knew full well it wasn’t illness causing the sudden dizziness. The karmic obstacles from the Ten Thousand People Pit had drained Xun Ruosu dry. Without granting half her body, Xun Family’s constitution alone might have led to her complete dissipation.

“No need to stare. I’m still alive,” Xun Ruosu said, opening her eyes with a faint smile. “Go finish your work. Wuchang’s guarding me here.”

“I didn’t…” Xue Tong trailed off, chuckling at herself. Sometimes even subconscious reactions got noticed. She lowered her head and murmured assent. “Once this is done, we’ll go to the hospital.”

Following Xun Ruosu’s earlier instructions, Xue Tong ignored the Lotus Lantern for the time being. The final cleanup wasn’t urgent. After all, the two souls trapped inside the Lotus Lantern had already waited a thousand years—they could afford to wait a little longer. Between Yuqin and the Malicious Ghost, Xue Tong chose the latter.

Since the Bodhisattva Statue required human souls to be of any use, it wouldn’t simply chew them up a few times, swallow them, and digest them. No matter how closely one examined this Malicious Ghost in its current form, it resembled nothing more than a three-meter-tall white porcelain statue, the kind used in fountains. Its interior was most likely hollow, with no filling material. Resembling a piggy bank in that regard, it should have kept those swallowed souls preserved within.

With the Malicious Ghost’s outward appearance deceiving even the eyes of the Heavenly Dao, the souls trapped inside were useless even if they were free of attachments and ready for immediate reincarnation upon death. The Heavenly Dao would not acknowledge them, nor could the lords of Yama’s Palace receive such souls.