CHAPTER 179: CHAPTER 150: FROZEN

THUMP!

A Buddha statue, maintaining a one-legged stance, had its ceramic outer layer burst open, revealing the gray-white body of Buddha’s shed skin hidden beneath the shell. It extended its arms through the gap, smashing the surrounding ceramic shell and freeing itself from its bindings.

Like a chick freshly hatched from an eggshell and still mastering its balance, the Buddha’s shed skin body stepped out of the broken ceramic shell only to slip and fall. With an expressionless face, it supported itself with its hands and slowly rose, seemingly adjusting to its new body.

CRACK. CRACK.

One by one, pale Buddha’s shed skin bodies emerged from the statues, devoid of the sacred purity of new life, instead evoking an indescribably unsettling nausea.

Everyone instinctively ceased attacking each other and raised their weapons, aiming them at the eerie Buddha’s shed skin bodies crawling out of their shells. Kou Huai’an squinted, pulling Kou Wukui’s wheelchair as he slowly retreated.

The first Buddha’s shed skin to emerge clenched its fist, slowly bent its knees, and then suddenly leaped forward.

SWISH—

Everyone saw only a blur flash before their eyes. Unable to react in time, a Devil Sect Member, standing slightly ahead of the others, lowered his head in shock, staring at his chest, which had been pierced through by the fist of one of the Buddha’s shed skin bodies.

The gray-white Buddha’s shed skin slowly withdrew its bloodstained fist, crushing the furiously beating heart in its grasp. Blood splattered, a signal that unveiled the prelude to a massacre.

The Buddha’s shed skin bodies came to life one after another, pouncing on anyone within their sight. Screams and wails echoed through the cavern as dismembered limbs and blood flew through the air.

Li Ang’s eyes glinted, his gaze fixed on the source of the anomaly before them—Shixing Monk’s corpse.

He was not the only one with this idea.

Ya Jiu’s fingers trembled slightly. The Mind Threads extending from his fingertips moved like living vipers, weaving past countless Buddha’s shed skin bodies and stabbing toward Shixing Monk’s stationary corpse.

Kou Huai’an also twisted a Golden Needle, controlling Kou Wukui to launch a wave of Telekinesis at Shixing Monk.

However, numerous Buddha’s shed skin bodies surged forward, forming a wall in front of Shixing Monk. They used their own bodies, which were blasted apart, as sacrifices to shield him from the attacks. The remaining Buddha’s shed skin bodies then dragged Shixing Monk’s maimed corpse backward, retreating.

Just a little more.

Kou Huai’an gritted his teeth in regret, scanning his surroundings. Most of the Buddha’s shed skin bodies in the cavern had awakened, and the people they had brought were dying one by one. The tunnel exit to the upper level, created by the Mountain Rat Claw, was now blocked by even more Buddha’s shed skin bodies, leaving no chance for escape.

"Group up!"

The situation was urgent. Kou Huai’an shouted, releasing Telekinesis to repel the swarming Buddha’s shed skin bodies, then led his subordinates toward the Devil Sect Members.

The Demon Sect Young Master held the longevity lock, continuously releasing the Unmovable Ming King Fire to form a dome-shaped Fire Shield. These eerie Buddha’s shed skin bodies seemed to fear the flames. They hesitated before the fiery barrier, providing a much-needed respite for the Devil Sect Members.

Seeing Kou Huai’an and his group approach, the Demon Sect Young Master’s expression turned ferocious. He desperately wanted to incinerate them with the Unmovable Ming King Fire but forcefully stopped himself at the last moment, allowing Kou Huai’an, his people, and Wu Huo to enter the Fire Shield for refuge.

Following Ya Jiu, Li Ang also took refuge within the ring of fire. Glancing back, he saw that half of the Buddha’s shed skin bodies surrounded the Fire Shield, their gray-white, emotionless faces flickering in the unsteady firelight. The other half of the Buddha’s shed skin bodies, meanwhile, protected Shixing Monk’s corpse on the other side of the cavern.

"What about the tunneling equipment?" Kou Huai’an bluntly asked Ya Jiu.

Even with Ya Jiu’s shrewdness, his face couldn’t help but contort slightly. "You play the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind, and you have the nerve to ask me?"

If Kou Huai’an hadn’t suddenly appeared, Shixing Monk’s corpse wouldn’t have gone out of control.

Taking a deep breath, Ya Jiu forcibly suppressed his emotions and said solemnly, "Tunneling takes time. Guard me, and I will create an escape route."

With that, he took out the Mountain Rat Claw, infused it with Spiritual Power, pressed the tip of the claw against the ground, and activated the Tunneling Melt Soil Technique inherent in the Mutated Objects.

SPLASH—

Under the effect of the Melt Soil Technique, the soil quickly dissolved into mud. However, only a few feet down, a THUD was heard as they encountered resistance.

"Ruby?!"

Ya Jiu’s expression changed slightly. Below the mud was a thick layer of ruby floor tiles. The Melt Soil Technique of the Mountain Rat Claw was completely ineffective against them.

"How could this be?" Kou Huai’an’s expression also changed. Ruby, a gemstone mineral from Tianzhu, was extremely hard and typically used for jewelry and as a material for certain types of Magic.

The Pure Thought Sect is a part of Zen. They revered ruby, using it for the floor tiles of Buddhist Towers as a sign of piety. This meant that Kou Huai’an and the others couldn’t escape by tunneling.

Should they try to escape through the dome?

Kou Huai’an looked up at the cavern ceiling, which was over a hundred meters high and studded with stalactites. Buddha’s shed skin bodies were climbing among them.

"What exactly are these things?!" Kou Huai’an squeezed the question through clenched teeth.

"They are the petrified bodies of Pure Thought Sect Monks," Ya Jiu said gravely.

"The Pure Thought Sect follows the ancient Zen of Tianzhu. Its highest echelons believe that in a distant, unseen Heavenly Realm, there exists Haotian’s antithesis—the Devil, who symbolizes ultimate darkness and evil.

"They believe that one day, the Devil will lead eight billion followers to obliterate all good, beauty, and love in the world, destroying the foundations of Buddhist doctrine and causing all living things to wither.

"Therefore, they spread the Buddha Sutras and seek enlightenment to attain the Buddha’s fruit, so that the world’s people may cultivate purity and delay the Devil’s arrival."

The Demon Sect Young Master and Kou Huai’an narrowed their eyes; they too had heard similar accounts.

Kou Huai’an said, "My father mentioned that the Pure Thought Sect emphasizes escaping this wretched world and being reborn in paradise. Shixing Monk was indeed put to death for presenting slanderous counsel to the Holy Empress regarding the Pure Thought Sect’s Reincarnation Technique."

"That’s right," Ya Jiu quickly added. "The Pure Thought Sect’s Reincarnation Technique actually involves sealing those near death inside Buddha statues. Their five senses and six consciousnesses are sealed, and their breathing, heartbeat, and pulse are reduced to the bare minimum.

"Over time, they might even lose the ability to think, enduring through long ages, unaware, like stones.

"The Pure Thought Sect believes that if the process is designed ingeniously enough, this method can keep people alive for extended periods. For example, they could survive a world-ending cataclysm caused by the Devil, allowing the devout sons and grandsons of Buddha to be resurrected in a new world after the disaster.

"At the very least, it could allow someone to live for hundreds, even thousands, of years.

"Being awakened then would be akin to being reincarnated."

Is this a fantasy version of cryonics?

Li Ang was slightly astounded. The Pure Thought Sect’s practice of encasing people in Buddha statues was similar to the cryogenic hibernation technology he remembered from the Otherworld.

However, in the Otherworld, cryogenics involved freezing patients with currently incurable diseases. They were preserved until future medical advancements could cure their illnesses, at which point they would be revived and treated.