A heretical cultivator in Bureau 749, I'm the fiercest at pulling out tendons and skinning peop

Dog Lord lay sprawled on the cold, hard ground of the Demon-Locking Array, like a lump of mud.

But on that dog's face, those gleaming, thieving eyes were still darting around, fixedly staring at the outside of the formation.

That slap from Faming just now was really hard.

It made a crisp "snap" sound.

In fact, Dog Lord felt that there were probably very few good bones left in his body, from his spine to the tip of his tail.

That glossy black dog skin that had been with him for almost a hundred years was now hanging in clumps like tattered rags.

The true form of the inner demon that was revealed underneath.

It really hurts, the kind of pain that seems to drill into your bones.

Even so, Dog's mouth, which stretched all the way to its ears, never closed; instead, it only got wider and wider.

He revealed two rows of sharp teeth stained red with blood and foam, his smile was both chilling and exuded an indescribable sense of pleasure.

"Hehe...hiss...hehehe..."

"Senior brother, oh senior brother..."

"I know all the tricks you're up to."

"You want to kill me, don't you? You dream about it. Chop me up, stew me, refine me, carve out that half-hearted Bodhisattva status, and put it on your own forehead, seeking complete fulfillment, a clear and bright Buddha-heart. Tsk, what a beautiful plan!"

Dog Master took a deep breath, his throat wheezing like a broken bellows.

"But you wouldn't dare, my dear senior brother."

His voice suddenly dropped, carrying a smug, all-knowing smugness.

"You're afraid. Afraid that if you kill me, all those jumbled, filthy thoughts that have accumulated in my body will have nowhere to go, and they'll all rush back into your mind..."

"Heh heh, with your current state of being half-determined, hanging on by a thread, and being roasted by karmic fire to the point of being neither human nor mortal, can you handle it? Can you withstand it? You'd probably go mad on the spot, turning into a mad dog even more wicked than me!"

Faming stood still, his body still radiating Buddhist light, but his face had turned as black as ink after being bombarded with one hurtful word after another by Gouye.

His lips were pressed into a hard line, and the golden light in his eyes flickered uncertainly, clearly indicating that he was desperately suppressing his anger.

Doggy didn't care whether he could save face or not, and just kept falling down as if he wanted to shake off all the old grievances that had been bottled up for decades.

"You've planned this brilliantly, truly brilliantly."

"Pull me out of your head and use me as a slop bucket, it'll save you so much trouble!"

"All your shameful greed, anger, ignorance, pride, and doubt on your spiritual path... throw them all at me! You climb upwards with an honest and upright heart, while my spiritual practice gets dirtier and stinkier with each passing day..."

"I was thinking that you originally planned to wait until you reached the Divine Power Realm, by which time my slop bucket would be overflowing, reaching a critical point. Then you'd step in and scoop up all this 'filth,' and wow! The garbage would be put back in its place, immeasurable merit, and your Buddha-heart would be like a crystal lamp polished a thousand times, dazzling people's eyes? You'd be ascending to heaven!"

As Dog Grandpa spoke, he laughed at himself, and then coughed up two mouthfuls of black blood.

"But you overlooked one thing—"

He suddenly raised his head, his neck looking like it was about to break, but his eyes were frighteningly bright, fixed on Faming's face.

"I've fucking gone mad!"

"This upheaval has lasted for almost a hundred years!"

Dog's voice suddenly rose, carrying an almost manic joy.

"I haven't been idle in these past hundred years! I've seen a whole bunch of dirty and rotten things in the world, and I've swallowed a lot of evil stuff."

"If you add that to your meager stockpile, it would have overflowed long ago!"

"Without that complete Bodhisattva status to uphold it, what are you using to contain this filth and stench?"

"Oh my goodness, this is getting interesting. Senior brother, look at yourself, aren't you stuck in a dead end, unable to find your way out?"

He counted the dog's paws one by one:

"If you want to regain your complete Bodhisattva status, you must first completely eliminate this evil nature within me. Otherwise, my Buddha-nature will be flawed, and I will not recognize your status."

"If you want to digest my evil nature, you need to have a complete Bodhisattva status to protect your heart meridian, otherwise your foundation will be defiled and you will go astray."

"Look, it's a closed loop! A dead end!"

Dog spread his paws, making a helpless expression, but his eyes were full of schadenfreude.

"This is what they call being too clever for your own good, or a snake trying to swallow an elephant. Back in the Dharma Realm, if you had hardened your heart and killed me, at least we would have been cleaned up."

"No way! Greed! Trying to take shortcuts, wanting to reach the top in one step—and what's the result? Heh heh, you lift a rock only to drop it on your own foot!"

"Bang!"

A muffled thud.

It was a bluestone slab under Faming's feet that was crushed into powder by a trace of Buddhist power that he inadvertently released.

The aura of Buddha surrounding him flickered violently a few times, and his dignified face was now so gloomy it looked like it could be wrung out of water.

Dog's words, every single one, were like poisoned needles, piercing precisely at his most painful and most vulnerable spot.

But he was ultimately Faming, the abbot of Jinshan Temple, and a Bodhisattva.

The intense emotional fluctuation lasted only a moment before he forcibly suppressed it with immense willpower.

He slowly raised his eyelids, his gaze returning to its cold, indifferent state, looking down at him as if his earlier outburst had never happened.

"Noisy."

Faming squeezed out two words through gritted teeth, his voice completely devoid of emotion.

"Do such base thoughts even deserve to disturb my Buddhist mind?"

He stopped looking at Dog Master, and instead raised his right hand, pointing his fingers like a sword, and made several empty gestures in the air towards the Demon-Locking Array.

"Buzz—!!!"

In an instant, the Demon-Locking Array shone with an intense light! It was more dazzling and magnificent than ever before!

Countless golden Sanskrit characters surged forth from the light wall, no longer flowing slowly, but as if they had come alive, swirling and converging wildly, emitting a magnificent chanting sound that shook the heavens and the earth!

The Diamond Sutra, the Surangama Sutra, the Lotus Sutra...

The scriptures of various supreme Buddhist texts transformed into a tangible surge of sonic waves, like a celestial river overflowing its banks, crashing down upon the limp Dog Lord in the center of the formation!

The sound wasn't harsh; it even had a strange, comforting rhythm.

But to Doggy's ears, it was even more deadly than Faming's bone-breaking palm strike!

Every word was like a red-hot chisel, relentlessly chiseling at his brain!

It's not about chiseling it open, it's about chiseling away, smoothing out, and covering up all the messy thoughts, evil ideas, and shameful memories in his mind!

"Listen to the teachings of Buddhism and cleanse yourself of all evil and defilement."

Faming's voice came through the magnificent chanting, calm and undisturbed, yet carrying an unquestionable absolute will.

"Seven days. Just seven days."

"Seven days from now, those inappropriate thoughts of yours will vanish completely. You will forget those absurd past events, forget that so-called freedom, forget those companions who led you astray..."

He paused, his gaze seemingly piercing through the golden light of the chanting, landing on Dog Master's eyes, which were gradually losing focus due to pain and resistance.

"You will become very well-behaved and obedient."

"Just like a real dog."

"As for those people you're counting on..."

Faming's lips curled into an almost imperceptible, extremely faint, and cold smile.

"Whether they remember you or not is still uncertain."

He took one last look at Dog, who was writhing in agony during the chanting and whose form was beginning to become unsteady, as if looking at an old object that was about to be wiped clean.

"Farewell."

"Accept your fate."

With difficulty, Dogye lifted his head up a little bit from his front paws.

His face was covered in something that looked like blood or some other kind of slime, and his hair was matted, making him look extremely disheveled.

Yet, amidst this disheveled state, a faint, yet persistent, sneer managed to squeeze out from his barely open eyes.

His lips trembled, and in an almost inaudible whisper, he let out a mocking laugh into the air:

"this one?"

"Cough... My brat used to have nightmares and howls that were louder than this..."

"Heh, I hope you're still this stubborn in seven days."

Having said that, Faming did not linger. He turned around, his robe fluttering, and walked up the stone steps one by one.

The figure quickly disappeared into the light at the entrance to the forbidden area.

All that remained was the endless, seemingly eternal chanting within the Demon-Locking Array, and the seemingly motionless, tattered black figure within the array.

A long, long time passed.

The mass in the formation moved slightly.

Dog, or rather, now perhaps only a lump of flesh barely retaining its dog shape, covered in eyes and cracks, slowly, bit by bit, flattened itself out.

He closed his only decent eye, then opened it again.

The stubborn, defiant expression on his face instantly crumbled, replaced by a grimacing, writhing look of utter misery.

"Oh my goodness..."

"This chanting... it's fucking brilliant..."

"Those bald monks at Jinshan Temple are mediocre at everything else, but their brainwashing skills are absolutely insidious, despicable, and downright wicked!"

He could feel the pervasive chanting, like molten lead, pouring into the deepest part of his soul through his ears, bones, and even every thought.

He wanted to melt away and cover up all his memories, experiences, his favorite pig's head meat, his favorite strong liquor, his three unreliable old friends, and that little bastard, little by little, until all that remained was awe and submission to Buddhism.

"Three days..."

As Dog Grandpa panted heavily, a hint of genuine anxiety finally flashed in his last remaining eye.

"At this rate, I can only hold out for three days at most..."

"In three days, I'm afraid I'll really turn into a stupid dog that only wags its tail..."

He struggled to move his eyes, as if trying to see through the thick mountain rocks into a very distant direction.

There are bustling cities there, and people he misses.

"Ji Zuodao, you brat..."

He muttered, his voice growing softer and softer.

"I'm afraid I really can't count on you this time..."

"You little ingrate, have you really forgotten about your old man like me...?"

Finally, as if he had used up his last bit of strength, he slumped his head on the cold ground and closed his eyes.

"Luckily, Dogman had a backup plan."

"Qiqi..."

"My dear Qiqi..."

"I'm betting my life on you this time..."

"You really need to remember this..."

"I still owe you a string of candied hawthorns..."

"The biggest and sweetest kind, with the thickest sugar coating..."

"You'll need to bring people to collect the debt..."