Darkness gradually receded, giving way to the first light of dawn.
The sky was just beginning to brighten.
On a country path in the Liujin Region, a fat monk draped in an oily kasaya was strolling leisurely along the road.
It was none other than Monk Bu'er.
As he walked, he was munching on delicious food and sipping wine, his face flushed red, cursing and muttering something under his breath.
He had witnessed the entire scene that unfolded at Crimson-Letter Manor last night from beginning to end.
He had been at the manor all along, arriving even before news of Gu Qingfeng had spread, waiting for the manor's auction. Although he didn't know who wanted to auction that Soul Pearl, he did know someone intended to use the auction to lure out certain figures hiding in the shadows.
But he never expected that instead of the auction, he would encounter something that still filled him with panic and fear whenever he recalled it.
Those hidden figures were indeed lured out.
But not because of the auction.
They were violently forced out by that man's sheer brute force.
A Heaven-Decreed One, an Immortal-Decreed One, a Demon-Decreed One, and an Edict of Original Sin that he wanted to stay as far away from as possible.
Since Monk Bu'er had received the Buddha's Edict, he was essentially acting under the Great Buddha's command to investigate a matter of karma.
Since this matter involved karma, it was naturally not simple. Monk Bu'er had known from the start that the appearance of the Heavenly and Immortal/Demon Edicts wasn't surprising, but he never, ever imagined that even the Edict of Original Sin would show up.
This matter involving karma was already complicated enough; if Original Sin got dragged in too, it couldn't even be described as complicated anymore—it would become utterly incomprehensible.
Monk Bu'er didn't know why the Heaven-Decreed One and the Immortal/Demon-Decreed Ones had come, but the appearance of the Edict of Original Sin was undoubtedly to pass judgment.
Judgment for what crime?
Original Sin.
What was Original Sin?
Monk Bu'er didn't know, and if possible, he never wanted to know.
Original Sin was one of the most terrifying existences between Heaven and Earth.
Hailed as the Great Dao's Plague God, also called the Great Dao's Arbiter, even the damn Heavens themselves feared it somewhat, let alone other beings.
However.
None of that was important, nor was it the reason Monk Bu'er felt panic and fear. What truly horrified him was that white-robed man, Old Gu—Gu Qingfeng.
Back in the cave manor, Monk Bu'er had already witnessed Gu Qingfeng's methods and knew full well this lord was not to be trifled with. He had prayed that the karma he was investigating had nothing to do with him.
Yes.
He knew that lord was terrifying.
But no matter what, he never imagined that lord could be terrifying to such a deranged, utterly horrifying degree.
One step, one stratum; nine steps, nine strata, with billions of acupoints throughout his body opening completely.
Monk Bu'er had lived two lives and possessed extraordinary insight. In his previous life, he had seen countless geniuses. Forget geniuses who advanced one stratum per step during the Foundation Establishment phase among cultivators; he had even seen geniuses who advanced one realm per step during the True Person stage. Opening billions of acupoints during Foundation Establishment wasn't much in his view; if he wanted to, he could do it too.
But.
When that Old Gu advanced one stratum per step and opened the billions of acupoints throughout his body, Monk Bu'er was still startled—so startled he hadn't recovered even now.
Because he felt that Old Gu wasn't opening the acupoints of his body, but opening up Heaven and Earth itself!
Yes, that was exactly the feeling.
At that time, when that lord opened his acupoints, he saw with his own eyes that each of the lord's acupoints was like a miniature Heaven and Earth, containing all sorts of mysteries, Dao patterns, and principles of law. When each acupoint opened, it was like Yin and Yang intertwining, even more like the great explosion of Heaven and Earth.
Although Monk Bu'er didn't know what the concept of 'Heaven and Earth's great explosion' meant and couldn't imagine it, when Old Gu opened his acupoints, he felt that *was* the explosion of Heaven and Earth. Every single acupoint was like that. With one step, ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine acupoints were like ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine mysteries, like over ninety thousand Dao patterns, over ninety thousand principles of law, over ninety thousand instances of Yin and Yang, over ninety thousand Heavens and Earths exploding simultaneously—terrifying beyond measure!
What that Old Gu was opening weren't acupoints at all; they were clearly Heavens and Earths woven from various mysteries, Dao patterns, principles of law, and Yin and Yang!
Monk Bu'er couldn't fathom it no matter how hard he tried. What kind of physical body could be so terrifying?
So terrifying that the acupoints throughout his body actually contained all manner of Dao patterns and principles of law, and when opened, they were like the explosion of Heaven and Earth, containing the supremely profound and mysterious supreme Yin-Yang Dharma.
A Treasure Body?
An Immortal Body?
A Demon Body?
No!
Forget Treasure Bodies, forget Immortal or Demon Bodies—even a Saint Body couldn't possibly be this terrifying. Even a Great Dao Body wouldn't be this horrifying.
The more he thought about it, the more terrifying it became. Reaching this point, Monk Bu'er suddenly felt his scalp go numb, his heart panic, his soul tremble. He felt dizzy, as if the sky were spinning and the earth turning, finding it difficult to breathe. He plopped down on the ground, looked up at the sky, and asked with a grimace: "Buddha above, just what kind of person is that lord?
He's too terrifying!
Whose physical body's acupoints could be that horrifying!"
If it were only that, it wouldn't have reduced Monk Bu'er to such a state of utter despair.
He had also witnessed with his own eyes how, after advancing nine strata in nine steps, that Old Gu had wiped out the Immortal-Decreed One's avatar with a single palm.
Wiped it out completely.
That was a damn avatar refined with Dark Moon Stars, and yet...
And yet he just slaughtered it like that!
That was an Immortal-Decreed One!
Even if it was just an avatar, it was still the avatar of an Immortal-Decreed One!
Slaughtering the avatar of an Immortal-Decreed One was already defying the heavens and running wild, utterly lawless. But he actually...
He actually slaughtered the Immortal-Decreed One's avatar right in front of the Heaven-Decreed One, the Demon-Decreed One, and the Edict of Original Sin.
The Immortal Edict represented the Immortal Dao. Killing an Immortal-Decreed One basically meant defying the Immortal Dao. Not putting the Immortal Edict in your eyes was one thing, but you killed one right in front of the Heavenly Edict. The Immortal Edict represented the Immortal Dao, but the Heavenly Edict represented the Heavenly Dao! Even more terrifying was that an Edict of Original Sin was standing right there too.
Killing itself was a form of Original Sin.
Killing an Immortal-Decreed One was a sin.
Killing an Immortal-Decreed One in front of the Heavenly Edict was a sin upon a sin.
Not putting the Immortal Edict in your eyes, not putting the Heavenly Edict in your eyes—do you not even put the Edict of Original Sin in your eyes?
Original Sin was hailed as the Arbiter of the Great Dao, and you kill right in front of the Arbiter.
This is too tyrannical, too utterly lawless!
He's simply arrogant beyond measure.
What kind of person would dare do this?
How audacious must one be to dare do this!
Monk Bu'er sat on the ground, gazing at the firmament, at the great sun about to rise in the east, and murmured: "I understand now, finally understand. I finally understand why, during the Great Calamity, you didn't just judge me to death. You bastards had already made your calculations long ago, had already deduced that this matter involved waters too deep and too many entanglements, so you sent a sinner like me to do this dirty work."
"First the Heavenly Edict, then the Immortal and Demon Edicts, plus the Edict of Original Sin, plus that terrifying lord, plus a woman who hasn't awakened yet... The fact that she could play you all for fools back in the day means just thinking with your toes tells you she's a terrifying figure too."
"You bald donkey turtle-egg bastards didn't dare come yourselves, so you sent me to investigate. You're truly sinister."
Standing up, Monk Bu'er shook his head and sighed: "I'm not playing anymore. I quit. I can't afford to play. If I keep playing, I won't even know how I'll die when the time comes."