Yamafu Military Affairs

Chapter 653 King Ming
"You destroyed my mountain gate, killed my Dharma protectors, and rashly broke into the hall. Are you a devout Buddhist or a blasphemous guest?"

A dry, rough noise, like two pieces of burning coal rubbing against each other, came from the charred body at the top of the tall pillar, its tone quite questioning.

Seeing that the charred corpse didn't immediately attack but instead spoke up, Qin Huai's eyes flickered slightly. He gripped the Seven Star Sword tightly in his hand and said fearlessly, "That depends on what god you worship and what Buddha the Manjushri Monastery enshrines. I am Qin Wu, the Great Western Slaughtering Lord, here to exorcise evil spirits and clear away demonic influences!"

"So you're a recruit from the Killing Division. You must be a new official. Since the Great Western King took control of Sichuan, Wenshu Monastery has been a prestigious and orthodox sect recognized by the court. Otherwise, why would Chief Fisherman Yu have ordered you to come to the mountain gate to fetch the Dragon Shedding Wine?"

Upon hearing Qin Huai introduce himself and invoke the banner of the Great Western Killing Tribe, the charred figure, though still not turning around, softened his tone considerably.

'The Heavenly Eye? The Heavenly Ear? Or some other Buddhist supernatural power?'

Upon discovering that the charred figure could clearly discern the contents of the Killing Department's reward simply by turning its back to him, Qin Huai found it hard not to suspect what kind of bizarre methods this strange thing might possess.

"A prestigious and righteous sect? If they are truly a prestigious and righteous sect, then why have the pilgrims who have come to Wenshu Monastery to worship Buddha these days, and the Wang family from the town at the foot of the mountain, been so late in returning home?"

Qin Huai's heart stirred, but he did not lower his guard just because the charred figure knew the names "Fisherman's Assistant" and "Dragon-Shedding Wine". Instead, he continued to speak deceitfully.

“All the faithful have had their wishes fulfilled, escaped this evil land, crossed the sea of ​​suffering, and gone to the other shore.”

The charred figure paused, then asked inexplicably, "Does your question mean you also wish to convert to Buddhism, study the profound Dharma together, and ascend to the Pure Land?"

Qin Huai grinned, raised the giant sword in his hand, and said, "That thing enshrined in the main hall? It's bizarre and grotesque. Does it even deserve to be called a Buddha?"

Hearing Qin Huai's arrogant and disrespectful words, the charred figure remained unperturbed, simply saying, "Destroying all evil views, wisdom arises from the fire of Prajna. The Buddhas manifest wrathful forms to teach and guide difficult-to-tame beings; these are the Vidyarajas. Immovable One, Subduer of the Three Worlds, Kundali, Yamantaka, and Vajrayaksa are collectively known as the Five Vajras. Master, you were able to subdue the five poisons with the five wisdoms, attain Nirvana, and ascend to the Pure Land. Why can't you be enshrined in the Great Buddha Hall?"

"Master? Your master is Cidu?"

Almost instantly, Qin Huai extracted the key information from these seemingly unrelated words and connected them to the Zen Master Cidu, who founded Wenshu Monastery.

"Your Excellency possesses great wisdom. If you wish to take refuge in the Buddha, the Bright King will forgive your disrespect and cleanse your sins of killing with blazing flames."

At this point, the charred figure finally turned around, still with its hands clasped together, its two dark, charred eyes staring straight at Qin Huai.

The moment Qin Huai saw this man, he knew that this man was definitely closely related to the statue in the glass Buddhist niche, because his facial features, which had been melted and fused together, leaving only his lips, were exactly the same as the statue.

“But I am from the Great Western Killing Tribe, and I cultivate military strategy. I can’t bend my back.”

Qin Huai pressed on relentlessly, not giving an inch in the conversation.

“I can cultivate both schools and become a monk-soldier. There are lay disciples of the Manjushri Monastery in the Killing Department.”

The charred figure seemed extremely interested in attracting Qin Huai. Before he finished speaking, the level of the crimson wine pool slowly dropped, and in its place appeared a stone platform about half a person's height.

At the top of the stone platform, there is a well-sealed bronze box.

"This is the [Drinking God Technique] of Wenshu Monastery. You can read the general outline before deciding whether you want to enroll."

Perhaps having ascertained through a few words that Qin Huai was merely a clueless young man with little knowledge of the art of the invisible, the charred figure fell silent after speaking, becoming as still as a true sculpture.

Qin Huai used his sword to pry open the top of the stone box, glanced at the dark blue leather scroll inside, thought for a moment, then wrapped his left hand with his Qi, picked it up, shook it open, and examined it carefully.

The dark blue leather scroll felt like treated snakeskin, with many tiny white burn marks from flames on it, which looked very strange and unlike any kind of written symbols that had ever appeared on the land of China.

Qin Huai was certain he had never seen this kind of writing before, but when he looked closely, he found that he could actually recognize what was written on it.

"Wine...mellowing...the immortal drinker...living a life of blissful oblivion..."

This general outline mainly introduces the cultivation method of Wenshu Monastery, the "Drinking God Technique," such as how to control the proportion of raw materials, how to use all things in the world and evil spirits to brew wine, what issues to pay attention to when drinking it, and how to avoid harming oneself when mobilizing the fire of wine to protect the body.
One of the brewing recipes used as an example is a snake wine called "Seven-Day Intoxication," made with Yunqi green bamboo and morning dew as raw materials, wine larvae as yeast, and five kinds of snakes with the same toxicity soaked in wine.

The snake wine and bamboo leaf green wine brewed in the town at the foot of the mountain were a simplified version of this extraordinary wine. Although it had no magical properties, it could still make people stronger and prevent the spread of plague.

However, without exception, all these extraordinary wines will bring "wine staining" to the drinker, or, in the words of Manjushri Monastery, "demon staining" caused by the mixing of "wine essence".

The higher the quality of a French wine, the more alcohol it contains, the lower its taint level, and the rarer, even unusual, raw materials it requires.

Next, it teaches practitioners how to mobilize their own alcoholic essence to ignite various alcoholic fires to protect themselves and fight against evil spirits.

"The essence of alcohol can only be replenished by drinking ritual wine, but the more ritual wine one drinks, the more demonic influence one gains. So how do these wine monks fight against demonic influence?"

Qin Huai frowned. The contents recorded on the dark blue leather scroll were limited and there was no answer to this question, but it could be guessed that the method these drunken monks used to suppress the demonic influence must be different from that of the Great Western Military School.

Aside from a general introduction to the [Drinking God Technique], the character mentioned most frequently in the small print is Si Chen, named [Drunken Fear].

Fear, or the Five Victorious Kings, is the source of all extraordinary powers in the [Drinking God Technique], and also a powerful celestial being who controls wine and fire and has a craving for fear.

Legend has it that once it reaches that level, it no longer uses ordinary ingredients to brew wine, but instead uses the fears of all living beings as its raw material to refine the divine wine of ascension, helping devout believers to achieve Nirvana and become Buddhas.

"In such a hopeless and turbid world, the fear of all living beings is simply endless and inexhaustible. No wonder the power wielded by the King of Fear is so strong."

As Qin Huai pondered this, he put down the dark blue snakeskin scroll, raised his head, and glanced once more at the almost completely carbonized face and features of the charred figure.

As a high-ranking member of the Manjushri Monastery, this person must have drunk a lot of sacred wine, and the degree of corruption caused by demonic influence must be quite high. However, he did not transform into a terrifying monster, and he was even able to maintain his rationality and clear logic and talk to himself.

Apart from the fact that his whole body looked like it had been burned to a crisp, there was nothing else unusual about him.

"Could it be that these drunken monks' method of suppressing demonic corruption is self-immolation?"

Seeing Qin Huai's thoughtful expression, the charred figure seemed to sense what he was thinking and immediately spoke up: "If you have any doubts, please feel free to ask, and this humble monk may be able to answer them."

"How does your Manjushri Monastery deal with demonic corruption? Do you all do it like you, by self-immolation?"

Since the charred figure had said so, Qin Huai was too lazy to beat around the bush and asked directly.

"There's no way to cure demonic possession. Only by relying on a pure and clear mind can one barely delay the day of falling into demonic possession. The monks of Manjushri Monastery brew wine and drink divine beverages every day, and their Buddha-hearts will naturally become purer and more resilient. When the wine and essence are fully absorbed, they can transcend their physical form and ascend to immortality, achieving Nirvana and becoming Buddhas. At that time, the demonic possession will remain in their old bodies, and there's no need to worry about it crossing the sea of ​​suffering and defiling the Pure Land." "You mean you're all just drinking to tough it out, getting drunk so the demonic possession erodes more slowly, and then ascending when you're almost drunk, regardless of whether you succeed or not, you won't have to worry about the demonic possession anymore."

Hearing this explanation, Qin Huai felt that the monks of Wenshu Monastery had a carefree attitude, as if they didn't care about the flood after their deaths.

"Of course."

The charred figure paused, then spoke with certainty.

"So, in your current state, have you succeeded in ascending to immortality, or have you failed?"

Qin Huai took the subject a step further and pressed for an answer.

"The Nirvana tribulation has passed, and the divine wine is ready. It's just a pity that this pool of blood wine is not pure. Compared to Master's skill, this humble monk is ultimately lacking."

Before the words were even finished, the carbonized shell of the charred black figure began to drift away in the wind, and in the blink of an eye, only a small portion remained.

"Your Excellency has a karmic connection with Buddhism, for you were able to comprehend the scriptures on your own without this humble monk needing to use his telepathic abilities. Your talent is exceptionally rare in this world."

"If one can become engrossed in drinking the divine beverage, one may one day attain Buddhahood."

As the mountain wind blew, the charred figure who had just been exchanging witty remarks with Qin Huai instantly turned into ashes and disappeared.

"So, did this monk succeed or not?"

As if in answer to Qin Huai's question, a seven-colored, shimmering Buddha relic rolled down from the top of the tall pillar, arced across the wine pool, and landed right at Qin Huai's feet.

Looking at the only remnant left after the charred black figure vanished into thin air, Qin Huai flicked his toe, and the round Buddha relic flew into his hand, emanating a warm, radiant sensation.

"Was it one wrong step that led to this abyss?"

With a complex expression, Qin Huai stroked the Buddha relic, which clearly contained immense power, and murmured, "...Or is it that even knowing it's destined to die, one still goes without hesitation?"

After tossing the somewhat heavy relic over his shoulder, Qin Huai did not hesitate at all. He put it and the dark blue leather scroll into the stone box in front of him, picked it up along with the Dragon-Shedding Wine Pot, and walked towards the lecture hall behind the wine pool.

Admittedly, cultivating the [Drinking God Technique] would accelerate the erosion of demonic influence, but for Qin Huai, who possessed the [Jade Dew], this was merely a trivial matter.

Compared to the potential risks, Qin Huai was more interested in adding more methods to the host body and, incidentally, studying the nature of the [wine essence] to see what connection it had with the power of the Fearful King.

Upon entering the lecture hall of Wenshu Monastery, one is greeted by rows of wine jars, each over a foot tall, with a sign hanging on it covered with densely packed small characters, presumably the recipe and introduction. Next to them are cups and wine containers, making it no different from an ordinary bulk winery.

Qin Huai took out a palm-sized storage bag from his pocket and used this space tool, which he had prepared in advance, to loot and store all the hundreds of jars of Dharma wine in the lecture hall.

On the second floor of the lecture hall, Qin Huai saw many glass wine jars, each containing different kinds of wine, such as dragon's beard seed, blood wolfberry tears, nine-layered whale glue, and ghost face orchid, which were quite abundant.

However, Qin Huai's attention was not on these things, but on the dark blue-green paper sheets on the glass wall of the wine jar.

Looking at the recipe for the magic wine that originated from the same source as the general outline of the "Drinking God Technique", Qin Huai did not say a word. After ransacking the entire lecture hall, he did the same thing and emptied the Chenjing Building as well.

Unfortunately, Qin Huai was somewhat disappointed that he couldn't find the various techniques for invoking the essence of wine in the "Drinking God Technique".

After wandering around, Qin Huai returned to the crimson wine pool between the main hall and the lecture hall. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly noticed that the liquid level, which was originally half a person's height, seemed to have dropped considerably, and the upper parts of some charred corpses were exposed.

"Did it evaporate? Or is there a secret passage?"

Qin Huai, with his extensive experience in the martial arts world, immediately squatted down and carefully observed the surface of the liquid, which was rippling in the wind.

Qin Huai quickly discovered the location of the secret passage by observing the changes in the flow of the wine.

It was right below the pillar that had just supported the protruding stone box.

"I should have realized there was a trap down there, but it's not too late to notice now."

Qin Huai, who had just witnessed the charred figure disappear into the wind, was focused on the Buddha's relics and had no time to ponder the mystery of the wine pool's location. Now that he had some free time, he naturally wanted to investigate it thoroughly.

Soon, Qin Huai uprooted both stone pillars, revealing a deep tunnel entrance.

The crimson wine flowed and surged down the steps, until in a moment only the dried-up wine pool remained.

Qin Huai took a deep breath, took out a tinderbox, lit it, bent over, and slowly crept into the very narrow tunnel that was very small for him.

After walking for about half an hour through the slippery, damp tunnel, enduring the strong stench of alcohol, Qin Huai finally saw a figure lying on the ground. To call it a person was an understatement; it was more like a swarm of insects with only human-shaped outlines.

Countless red tapeworms crawled up and down inside and outside the corpse in the corner of the dark passage, occasionally spitting out glistening saliva, which looked extremely disgusting.

Looking at the crimson flesh worms he had seen in the Demon-Infected Illusion, Qin Huai, who had already read the general outline of the [Drinking God Technique], knew that this was the bridge connecting Manjushri Monastery and the King of Fear, as well as the yeast for brewing many kinds of Dharma wines and the foundation for the monks to accumulate wine essence.

Alcohol addict.

When Master Cidu first arrived at the ruins of Xinxiang Temple, he brought it with him and used various kinds of Buddhist wine to relieve the worries of the worshippers, which led to the later flourishing of Wenshu Temple.

In this turbid and evil world, it's hard for anyone to say whether a compassionate act is right or wrong.

Without dwelling on the choices people make in this era, Qin Huai crosses the threshold where the insect swarm is located and can see hundreds of large, dark brown vats neatly stacked in the cave. Sculptures of charred black corpses are placed in an orderly fashion between these vats, and at first glance, they look no different from those outside.

"Are these all failures who wanted to rise from the ashes and ascend to immortality?"

Qin Huai raised an eyebrow, took two steps forward, and only when the firelight got closer did he realize that these sculptures were not human corpses, but simply stone sculptures.

(End of this chapter)