Killing Monks

"Old bastard?" Guangyuan put down his wine glass.

"That's my master, the previous leader of the Mitian Sect." Ren Shan picked up a peanut, put it in his mouth, and chewed it with a crunching sound.

"I was adopted by him when I was a child. I watched him lead the Mitian Sect to sweep across the world, and then I watched him squander the Mitian Sect's wealth."

Guangyuan recalled what Lu Daobei had said.

"A hundred years ago, the Mitian Sect was very famous and once had the power to sweep across the world. At that time, people called it a demonic sect."

Ren Shan poured himself another glass of wine, his gaze somewhat unfocused.

"When I was very young, that old bastard loved to do all sorts of weird things. Once, during a ceremony to worship the god Mitian, he made us all raise our right hands and shout 'West Sea' towards the sky."

"..."

Guangyuan paused, his hand holding the wine glass still.

He was certain.

The "old bastard" Ren Shan mentioned is probably a time traveler.

"In the *Mitian Sutra*," Guangyuan asked cautiously, "did he also add things like 'fireflies in the darkness' and 'worship like a surging river'?"

"Not bad." Ren Shan nodded, his tone carrying a hint of disdain. "The 'Mitian Sutra' is a perfectly good text, even if it's difficult to understand."

"He went and added a bunch of nonsense. Many older members of the church opposed it back then, and the result was..."

He paused, then picked up his glass and took a sip.

"Those who opposed him were all killed by him."

Guangyuan remained silent for a moment.

"And where is this venerable elder now?"

"He died a long time ago." Ren Shan put his wine glass on the table. "I reckon it's been decades."

Guangyuan sighed inwardly.

He transmigrated into this world, and his script was that of a monk collecting loan sharks.

That fellow villager, on the other hand, seems to be playing the role of a demonic cult leader.

Transmigrated into a Demonic Sect as its Leader?

Well……

He thought for a moment, then asked, "Judging from what you've said, this old gentleman seems to be an extremely willful person. He must have lived a very happy life, right?"

Ren Shan glanced at him but did not answer immediately.

His gaze was somewhat strange.

"Happy?" He pondered the word for a moment, then slowly shook his head. "In my opinion, the old bastard isn't happy."

"How so?" Guangyuan pressed.

Ren Shan glanced at him again, this time with a more scrutinizing look in his eyes.

"You seem quite interested in that old bastard?"

"A little bit."

"Hmm." Ren Shan nodded, then suddenly blurted out, "You and him are somewhat alike."

Guangyuan was taken aback.

As the old bastard's adopted son, Ren Shan had been by that man's side since childhood, so he naturally knew him very well.

Looking at people from above often makes it difficult to see them clearly.

But looking from the bottom up, it becomes much clearer.

Just as a father cannot see his son clearly, but a son can see his father clearly.

"Where does it resemble?" Guangyuan asked.

Ren Shan thought for a moment, then frowned, as if he was carefully considering his words.

"I can't quite put my finger on it... it's just that feeling." He scratched his head. "How should I put it..."

He suddenly looked up and his gaze fell on Guangyuan's face.

"It's probably like... a state of being both confused and clear-headed."

"Confusion and clarity?" Guangyuan was taken aback.

Putting these two words together, he couldn't imagine what state it would be like.

Ren Shan ignored his doubts and continued talking to himself.

"When that old bastard was young, he was dashing and arrogant, looking down on the world and regarding all heroes as worthless. He led the Mitian Sect all the way here, beating those famous and righteous sects until they couldn't even raise their heads."

He paused, his gaze becoming somewhat distant.

"He killed without hesitation. He killed his strongest opponents. He raped the most beautiful women. Anyone in the cult who displeased him was also killed."

"She changes her mind faster than turning the pages of a book, is willful and capricious, and has unpredictable temper."

As Ren Shan finished speaking, his voice lowered, carrying a hint of lingering fear that even he himself didn't realize.

"Even I was terrified of him back then."

Anyone would be afraid under such a person, let alone young Ren Shan.

"But..." Ren Shan changed the subject, tapping the edge of the plate with his chopsticks, "One day, the old bastard changed."

"It wasn't sudden," he frowned, as if recalling a vague memory, "it changed gradually."

Guangyuan didn't interrupt, but listened quietly.

"He became... increasingly ruthless towards his own people. Anyone in the cult who displeased him in the slightest, he would find a pretext and kill them without hesitation."

"At that time, everyone in the church was in a state of panic, and no one knew if they would be next."

Ren Shan picked up his wine glass but didn't drink it; he just stared at the swirling liquid inside.

"But what's strange is..." He looked up at Guangyuan, "he often holds back against those young heroes in the martial arts world."

"Back then, Deng Liangxiao, known as 'The Sword of Wind and Cloud,' was just a greenhorn with nothing special about his swordsmanship."

"He challenged that old bastard time and time again. In the past, he would have been dead eight times over. But the old bastard never killed him, as if... as if he was just playing with him."

"Later, someone in the cult couldn't hold back anymore and went to ask the old bastard if he had any designs on Deng Liangxiao, and whether they should arrest him."

Ren Shan paused for a moment.

"That man is dead too."

Guangyuan frowned slightly.

This way of doing things is indeed strange.

"I was young and curious back then, so I secretly followed him a few times." Ren Shan's lips curled into a strange smile. "Guess what I found?"

Guangyuan remained silent, waiting for what was to come.

"I discovered that he had changed his face and clothes, and went out to roam the martial arts world with a strange title."

Ren Shan downed the wine in his glass in one gulp, and when he uttered those words, his expression was very complex.

"The Tathagata's Palm of the Stars".

The tavern fell silent for a moment.

Guangyuan's hand, holding the wine glass, froze in mid-air.

A ruthless cult leader who kills without blinking an eye has changed his identity.

Why are you going to the martial arts world pretending to be "Buddha's Palm Master Zhou Xing"?

The kung fu reference in this story is probably only known to him.

"Is this what you meant by being confused yet clear-headed?" Guangyuan asked. "Why do I feel more like loneliness and solitude?"

"Loneliness?" Ren Shan agreed, "It's probably there!"

"In my opinion, at that time he was the leader of the Mitian Sect. He had many wives and concubines, and beauties in the martial arts world all fell at his feet."

"He commands 100,000 followers, and all the major sects in the world tremble before his cult!"

"But he is still lonely."

"When that old bastard was young, he would kill someone every year on the Mid-Autumn Festival. I thought he was just cruel back then, but I found out later."

"He's only happy when he's killing someone."

"The most terrifying time for the Mitian Sect will be during the Lunar New Year!"

"In particular, they are all afraid to hear a single line of poetry."

"What poem?" Guangyuan asked.

Ren Shan said with a nostalgic tone, "Alone in a foreign land, I feel like a stranger; on every festive occasion, I miss my family even more."

"Whenever this line of poetry is recited, he kills someone!"

"Killed a lot of people!"

"Kill him until he's happy!"