Chapter 426 - 224: A Blind Man Feeling Bones

Chapter 426: Chapter 224: A Blind Man Feeling Bones

"You’ll find out in a moment. Anyway, what brings you here?"

’Can’t I come to see you for no reason?’

Feng Bei grumbled inwardly, then said coolly, "It’s about the Monk."

Zheng Xiu froze.

"The Monk wants to return to Yunliu Temple. I assume he wants to find... no, he wants to get some answers from Xie Yunliu. He was going to leave without a word, but I stopped him. I told him you had to know, no matter what."

"Good! I understand!" Zheng Xiu nodded, tucking the little wooden fish into his robes before hurrying out.

Before heading out, Zheng Xiu closed his eyes. Within seconds, he entered a meditative state and slipped into his Heart Prison. Inside, an adorable, bald monk stood quietly on the Game Table. The Ascetic Monk Post Station was usable.

Relieved, Zheng Xiu went to the door. The Monk was waiting there, lightly dressed and carrying a simple travel pack on his back.

"Big Brother!" The Monk beamed upon seeing Zheng Xiu. He put his palms together and said, "I have imposed on you for too long. It is time for me to leave."

As always, the Monk was optimistic and pure. His smile seemed to have a magical, infectious quality, capable of dispelling anyone’s worries.

"You know I’m in need of people right now."

"I know. But I never said I wasn’t coming back. Whenever you need me, Big Brother, I will go through fire and water for you. I won’t hesitate!"

"As long as you do." Zheng Xiu clapped the Monk on the shoulder, no longer trying to hold him back. He smiled. "When you see the Master, what will you ask him?"

The Monk tilted his head in thought, then shook it. "I don’t know. Perhaps I’ll ask him why. Perhaps I’ll ask about what happened a hundred years ago, or why he took me in. Or perhaps," the Monk gave a bashful smile, "I just want to thank my master in person. That’s all."

Zheng Xiu couldn’t help but feel a surge of emotion. "You spent a hundred years as Xie Yunliu in the painting, but you never knew the real Xie Yunliu was alive the whole time."

"Yeah."

"Right, I never had the chance to ask. For that hundred years I was in the Cannibal Painting, what were you up to?"

"Me?" The Monk paused, taken aback. He didn’t hide anything and began counting on his fingers. "That day in the Imperial City, I had a moment of distraction, and Zhu took you away. I searched everywhere for two years with no luck. In the end, I heard that people with charmed lives like you always land on their feet, so I had to give up. After that, I wandered, and using Xie Yunliu’s memories, I found their hometowns."

"I set up a cenotaph for you and Xie Luohe."

"I set up a cenotaph for Old Chu and Miss Wen."

"I set up a cenotaph for Bai Xiaosheng."

"I set up a cenotaph for Old Xiao."

"I set up a cenotaph for the Iron Maiden."

The Monk counted them on his fingers, one by one, going from his left hand to his right, and then back again. Soon he had named dozens of people. In those final hundred years inside the World in the Painting, he and Zheng Xiu had parted ways. The Monk had traveled the land, spending all his time erecting cenotaphs to mourn the Knights who died in Richan Valley.

The Monk remembered all of their names.

"So, so many people. I didn’t know where their homes were, so I just walked and asked. Fifty years passed in the blink of an eye."

"Later, I don’t know how, but as I kept asking, I eventually ended up there. I took one look and thought, ’Isn’t that General Mountain?’ I built Yunliu Temple with my own hands and lived there. Hmm? Miss Feng Bei, what’s wrong?"

The Monk was rambling on when he suddenly noticed tears streaming from Feng Bei’s right eye. His words seemed to snap her out of a trance, and she began wiping at her eye, flustered. The more she wiped, the more the tears flowed. "It’s her," she said, her voice full of despair.

"Don’t say any more."

Zheng Xiu sighed softly.

"Big Brother, I have something I’d like to say to Miss Feng Bei in private."

"Sure!" Zheng Xiu agreed readily, taking a few steps back to give them some space.

"’Ey, lil’ sis," the Monk said, his voice suddenly coarse like a bandit’s, stunning Feng Bei. Then, just as quickly, he switched to a childish giggle. "Big sis, don’t cry now."

"Dammit! So what if one more person is livin’ in there? What’s there to be scared of!"

"It’s six!"

"The last one..."

"Shut up!"

"Not at all! Not everyone has a heart as big as this foolish monk’s, to accept everyone!"

The Monk spouted a few chaotic lines, his voice and expression shifting with each one.

A moment later, the Monk blushed, his expression turning coy. "To tell you the truth, I’ve had my eye on Big Brother for a long time~ Tee hee hee~"

In the distance, Zheng Xiu shivered violently.

Feng Bei stood frozen, her fists clenched. But then, a resigned smile touched her lips. She had a feeling she knew what the Monk was trying to tell her.

After a moment of shifting personas, the Monk’s face settled back into his own. He offered a calm smile. "You see, I have also suffered the torment of a Heart Demon for many years."

Feng Bei shook her head. "I’m not like you."

A smile touched the Monk’s face. "The Heart Demon is me, and I am also me. Since we are all ’me,’ why must we insist on separating one from the other?" It was unclear whether he said this for Feng Bei’s benefit or his own. Finally, the Monk put his palms together, his eyes flying open with sudden enlightenment. "So this is the true Seven Heart Zen! Lil’ sis, I’m off!"

Feng Bei listened to the Monk’s rambling, disjointed words, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Hold on."

Zheng Xiu clapped his hands, and someone immediately brought him a brush and paper. He quickly wrote a few lines, stamped it with the Zheng Clan’s official seal, and sealed the letter with wax. He handed the freshly prepared letter of introduction to the Monk, who accepted it and tucked it away solemnly. Before the Monk could ask, Zheng Xiu explained, "If you run into any trouble over there, take this letter to the Zheng Clan Chamber of Commerce in Shuzhou and find Si Youqing. He’ll take care of anything you need." Zheng Xiu paused, then added with a confident smile, "Anything."

Zheng Xiu wasn’t worried about the Monk. The man was an Innate Mystic with astonishing vitality. He had climbed Celestial Yin Mountain barefoot, and even when his feet were ruined by frostbite, they had simply grown back. With that kind of absurd resilience, it would be hard for him to die even if he tried. Besides, as long as the Monk remained the Monk, Zheng Xiu could teleport an avatar to his side at any time.