Esoteric Buddhism: To live as king in America

Something incredible happened.

The grotesque scratch, along with the surrounding grayish-brown hue, vanished instantly, like a wiped-away stain or a peeled-off fake sticker.

What was revealed below was Li Zhaoning's originally smooth, fair, and flawless skin, as if the deep, bone-revealing wound, filled with eerie candle incense and deathly aura, had never existed.

Even the dark red blood beads that had been slowly seeping out earlier had vanished without a trace, as if the wound had never been opened.

"Well……"

Li Zhaoning's body trembled violently, and she subconsciously pressed her hand on the wound harder, feeling that it was indeed smooth and intact skin.

She suddenly looked down, her eyes wide with disbelief as she stared at her perfectly intact abdomen, then suddenly looked up at Mian.

"Dude, what did you do this time? How did you do it?"

Mian could only shrug at this.

"It's still that inexplicable power within me."

Mian rubbed her temples to relieve the pressure of playing a guessing game with her own cheat code.

"Just like how I could see through some disguises and traps before, this time it tells me that the wound... might not be entirely real."

"Unreal?"

Li Zhaoning frowned, quickly lifting the corner of her clothes to repeatedly confirm that the wound had indeed disappeared, feeling the lingering pain inside her body caused by the repair also dissipate.

"What do you mean? Was that zombie's claws an illusion?"

"No, the claws are real, and the attack is real too."

Mian shook her head, trying to organize her thoughts, combining the hints from the cheat system with her own observations.

"But that force that prevents your wounds from healing, causes them to worsen and even spread... might not be a physical toxin or curse. It's more like... a kind of hallucinogenic magic."

He looked into Li Zhaoning's eyes and voiced his speculation.

"It may not be deceiving your whole body, but rather... the 'body perception' of that small area of ​​your wound. It makes your body tissue 'believe' that it has suffered an unhealable, deathly wound, and continuously simulates this state."

"That's why you can't really repair it, because what you're giving the order to repair is just a bunch of intact tissue struggling with itself in the eyes of the body cells that are responsible for repair."

Upon hearing this speculation, Li Zhaoning couldn't help but stick out her tongue, not because she didn't believe the deduction, but because she felt a deep sense of trouble.

"This level of hallucination? In that case, it's quite clear what kind of supernatural being cast this spell."

""moth"……"

Mian murmured.

"Tsk, Mian, remember the chaotic battle just now?"

Li Zhaoning brought up the chaotic battle that had just taken the initiative to speak.

"Mercenaries, police, us... It's obvious that those two policemen and the mercenaries don't seem to be on the same side. The only question is which side those zombies who later wandered in belong to? But since it's confirmed that these zombies have 'moth' markings, then the answer is clear."

Mian nodded and slowly said:

"Those mercenaries were able to evade your senses most likely by using 'moth' magic to conceal themselves. It now seems the owner of those undead is probably in cahoots with the mercenaries. The question is, what is their purpose? And what does their behavior have to do with the cannibalistic legends here, or with Carol?"

"Anyway, it seems they're definitely not very friendly to us."

Li Zhaoning waved his hand and said this.

After thinking for a while, Mian asked Li Zhaoning again.

"Who do you think is our 'old friend,' the nudist religion, and who is the 'outsider' trying to take advantage of our misfortune?"

After thinking for a while, Li Zhaoning said with a headache:

"The Nativity is a deeply entrenched local power in Freedom, while the other side is probably another secret cult that came to seize the opportunity to take over their territory. Those two policemen... whether they are real or fake, since they have become that convincing, this kind of infiltration and exploitation of the official system is more like the work of a local force that has been operating for a long time."

Mian sighed.

"Has the infiltration and control of the nudist religion in Freedom City reached this point? Even the police station has become their stronghold?"

"Perhaps, perhaps, my lord."

Li Zhaoning's tone also carried a hint of annoyance and helplessness.

"I knew these guys had a long reach. But they even managed to infiltrate the police system with superhumans. The Celestial Cult is definitely something that needs to be eradicated as soon as possible."

"But worrying about that now is useless. The most urgent thing is to find Ain and the others. Ain is with Carol, a mere mortal, and that skuas that might be an experimental product. Although she's strong, she's still immature and could easily be deceived by the 'moth.'"

"That's true."

Mian nodded. He immediately composed himself and focused his mind.

Ain is a Silver Knight appointed by Mian. Through the cards she carries, Mian can roughly sense Ain's location—a strategy the group had discussed before setting off to prevent getting separated.

Actually, Mian had been able to vaguely sense Ain moving around before. It was because of this that Mian knew there was nothing seriously wrong with Ain that he dared to stop and regroup.

But to obtain a more precise location, one must concentrate and calmly sense the surroundings.

Mian had learned the method of concentration meditation for extraordinary individuals from Ryan. It was not difficult, even excessively simple.

In the blink of an eye, Mian's consciousness had temporarily detached itself from the interference of its physical body and environment, and like a drop of water falling into a river, it rippled into the distance until it touched the reef called Ai Yin, and then it oscillated back.

Li Zhaoning asked with concern:

"Did you find it?"

"Found her, I can feel her..."

Mian kept her eyes closed, only opening her mouth to answer Li Zhaoning's questions.

"Ever since we parted ways, she's been moving southwest. Following this trajectory, if we want to find her, we should go to…"

He quickly sketched out a route in his mind based on the changes in location and distance that he sensed.

Suddenly, his expression changed, and he opened his eyes.

This sudden change in expression immediately caused a hint of worry to appear on Li Zhaoming's face.

"What's wrong?"

"She stopped."

Mian rubbed her forehead, a look of anxiety on her face.

Li Zhaoning immediately pressed for an answer:

"Perhaps she's just tired?"

"No, no, no, that's irrelevant."

Mian shook her head and said through gritted teeth.

"The key is where she stopped; she stopped at the Nian Gang stronghold that we had previously raided."

"That auto repair shop!"