The Dharma Sea of ​​the Green Snake

Chapter 16 The Art of Painting Skin
It's night, and the sly moonlight seems extraordinarily bright tonight.

A little bit of starlight shines on the earth, and the breeze blowing the treetops becomes the only sound in this night.

In the west wing of Mulian Temple, the candlelight life was also extinguished as night fell, but the two people in the room did not fall asleep because of it.

"In other words, there might be a man-eating tiger demon hidden in this temple?"

After briefly exchanging their information with Pei Wende, Hui Ji asked as if he had realized something.

"I'm not sure about that..."

"After all, the ghost I killed is still an 'enemy' in the final analysis. Maybe she will deliberately mislead me and give me some wrong information."

Although he knew that Hui Ji might be a practitioner with supernatural powers, but adhering to the principle of "defense against others is indispensable", Wen Wende did not reveal all his details.

About why I came to this temple, and how did I come to this temple?
Pei Wende didn't go into details, he only said that he accidentally shot and killed a ghost, and learned some information about the giant tiger from the opponent's mouth.

In this regard, I don't know if I saw Pei Wende's intentional concealment.

Hui Ji didn't ask too many questions, but expressed his chivalrous and compassionate heart.

Not anyone would dare to stroke a tiger's beard knowing that there might be monsters in this temple.

Even if Pei Wende's original plan was to hide outside the temple and wait for the opportunity to shoot and kill the eye-catching white-fronted giant tiger, such courage is not something ordinary people can possess.

"As the saying goes, 'a man's words are good even when he is about to die', I actually believe that what the ghost finally said should be the truth."

Huiji has seen too many people who repent before dying, and knows that only under the great terror between life and death, those criminals who do many evils in ordinary times can repent.

"If what she said is not bad, the old abbot of this temple should know something."

Gently twirling the rosary in her hand, Hui Ji once again recalled the details of the time when she met the old abbot, and confirmed her guess again—the other party's behavior of refusing an outsider to stay overnight was too suspicious.

"There are also those girls and maids who choose to stay here, their origins are also very strange."

Pei Wende is not a fool. During the process of sending him to the wing, the maid in Tsing Yi kept emphasizing that "you must not go out at night" and "you will leave as soon as the day breaks". He has long secretly remembered these words.

Even if these ladies and maids didn't know about the existence of the giant tiger with eye-catching white foreheads, they must be aware of the tricks in this temple.

Especially the constant emphasis of the maid in Tsing Yi made Pei Wende feel like he had strayed into the set of a ghost movie - generally those who don't believe these words are either the protagonist or the first to die.

Pei Wende didn't know what kind of person he was, but he would definitely not stay in his room honestly as the maid in Tsing Yi said.

Pei Wende believed that the monk in front of him who called himself "Hui Ji" was also not the type who was obedient and just waiting to die.

"By the way, shouldn't practitioners like you have the ability to see through monsters at a glance?"

When he said this, what Pei Wende thought of was Zen Master Lingyou in his childhood memory.

Although Zen Master Lingyou didn't make many shots, what impressed Pei Wende was that he seemed to have the ability to see through evil spirits and ghosts with a single glance.

Whether it is a monster wandering in the mountain jungle, or an evil spirit sneaking into the town...

Zen Master Lingyou seems to be able to anticipate the enemy's opportunities, see their true bodies at a glance, and defeat them with the simplest and most brutal means.

"It seems that you have misunderstood 'practice'?"

Hearing Pei Wende's words, Hui Ji smiled without concealing her identity as a practitioner.

"The general purpose of Buddhist practitioners is to transcend, and the purpose of my practice is to live forever..."

"Being able to see through the real body of monsters at a glance is indeed a manifestation of profound wisdom and self-contained spirituality, but it is not an ability that every practitioner possesses..."

"The heavenly eyes of Taoism and the five eyes of Buddhism, one is magic and the other is supernatural powers."

"The former requires years of practice, while the latter requires the encounter of enlightenment, but neither of them is a 'necessary thing' on the path of practice."

However, Pei Wende was not fooled by Hui Ji's rhetoric.

Because the other party said before that he was aware of the "unknownness" of Mulian Temple, so he chose to stay here temporarily.

That is to say, even if Huiji hadn't practiced magical powers such as Tianyan and Wuyan, he must have a similar ability to be able to see "unknown".

"haha, okay!"

"I admit that I can indeed identify demons in a certain way..."

It seemed that she also knew that her rhetoric was a bit unsatisfactory, so after seeing Pei Wende's expression of "you continue to make up", Huiji couldn't help laughing.

"But this time, I really didn't feel any signs of demons in the temple."

After a short smile, Huiji straightened her face again, and then continued to explain calmly.

"There are only two possibilities. One is that there are indeed no monsters in this temple. The previous experience of you and me is just an illusion."

"But this is obviously impossible, so there is only another possibility..."

Looking past Pei Wende to Yuehui outside the window, Huiji's voice became deeper and deeper.

"The monsters in this temple have Taoism or treasures beyond imagination, and they can perfectly cover up their aura as monsters."

As soon as these words came out, Pei Wende immediately thought of those ghosts who could walk under the sun and not be afraid of the blood of black dogs.

As the master of those ghouls, a great demon who can lurk in human society for 20 years without being detected.

It seems that it is not difficult to understand that the eye-catching white-fronted giant tiger possesses an upgraded version of the "leather cage", a monster artifact.

"You seem to have thought of something?"

Keenly aware of Pei Wende's trance at this moment, Huiji asked softly.

"Painted skin, or human skin camouflage!"

Although there are still some details that are not quite figured out, Pei Wende is almost certain that the eye-catching white-fronted giant tiger must be hiding in this temple right now.

Being able to abandon all the weaknesses of the monsters and disguise them as ordinary mortals, even practitioners like Hui Ji cannot see through their disguise.

Apart from the eye-catching white-fronted giant tiger that could make a "leather cage", Pei Wende could no longer think of other possibilities.

"That tiger is able to exploit humans by stripping..."

"No, it is to peel off the skin of any animal, and then create an evil thing that can turn other people into 'skin owners'."

—Recommendation ticket—/—Monthly ticket—

(End of this chapter)