How To Die As Heavy As Mount Tai

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Translated by: Niladri

Edited by: celes

This chapter is sponsored by Missbutton.

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The moon set and the sun rose.

When Lu Heng woke up, he felt as if something was covering his eyes. He rubbed his eyes; his vision slowly cleared, and then he found a warm palm in front of his eyes. Appearing to have sensed him waking up, the palm was moved away and was rested on top of his head. Reflected in Lu Heng’s eyes was Shi Kong’s sharp chin.

Only then did Lu Heng realize that he had been sleeping on Shi Kong’s thighs. Shi Kong’s body only wore a robe, revealing a robust chest and abdominal muscles. On his shoulder, several indistinct scratch marks were visible.

Realizing that the scratch marks were his own masterpiece, Lu Heng frantically sat up and exclaimed, “You, why aren’t you wearing clothes?!”

After asking this question, Lu Heng realized that he was stupid indeed, because it was Shi Kong’s innerwear that slid off of him.

“Are you feeling well?” Shi Kong put down the Buddha beads in his hand and stretched out his hand to arrange some of Lu Heng’s messy hair.

“Hmm,” Lu Heng answered, and he felt that he was really pathetic. Last night, he embarked on such a bold undertaking, but now he was actually embarrassed in this situation.

“You’ve broken your vow of celibacy,” Lu Heng said.

Shi Kong, hearing this, unexpectedly smiled. This was Lu Heng’s first time seeing his smile with this breezy, moon-like face, lighting up like a lotus blossom in front of the Buddha. Lu Heng ended up staring at him foolishly.

“The sect has always been this disciple’s home. After finishing everything here, I will leave the sect and live in the secular world.”

“Then your cultivation will be…” Lu Heng felt guilty again. Every cultivator had his own Dao, and if Shi Kong returned to the secular world, it was equivalent to completely overthrowing his own Dao. [T/N: This is a high level concept and literally means path or blade. Here it means “code of behaviour” or principles.]

“Don’t worry too much, Buddha resides in the heart. External rules and regulations are mere pretenses.” Seeing Lu Heng’s uneasiness, Shi Kong gently gathered his scattered hair: “Come here, I will comb your hair bun for you.”

As Shi Kong combed his hair, Lu Heng described the events that took place in the forbidden area the previous day. Lu Heng intended to tell him that he was not a demon king but someone from a different world. In his view, when two people had the same heart and mind, no matter should be concealed. However, when he tried to speak, Lu Heng found that he could not voice it out. It seemed that there was an invisible force that prevented him from sharing this information.

Lu Heng had to inform Shi Kong that although his demon core had recovered, he still could not remember what had happened before, and his strength couldn’t bear the weight of the Demon King’s prestige.

“Don’t worry too much; providence will aid in dark times. The only way to grow strong is to slowly cultivate.” Shi Kong paused for a moment. “I will always be with you and protect your dao of cultivation.”

When they came out together, the Fox King was still waiting outside. Seeing that Lu Heng had recovered, she looked happy: “Congratulations on Your Majesty’s recovery.”

Later, she saw Lu Heng and Shi Kong together, and since the estrus of the Snake clan during their transition to adulthood was well known among the demons, the forthright Fox King also bowed in salute towards Shi Kong: “Greeting the queen.”

Lu Heng was embarrassed and didn’t know what to say. However, Shi Kong was very calm and accepted the salute. Then Lu Heng heard Shi Kong’s voice again: “It’s just appellation, doesn’t matter much.”

Lu Heng informed Xi Xi of the fate of Min and could barely catch her say the phrase, “thank you.” Xi Xi listened and stood still for a long time, then said, “The spirit of the ancestors have accepted him, and one day, Min will return to the clansmen’s side.”

Lu Heng and Shi Kong bid farewell to the Fox King and left the demon race to visit Fanyin Temple.

Fanyin Temple.

The Karma Plate was the treasure of the Fanyin Temple Sect. It only needed the blood of those who needed to be monitored, and then one would be able to trace back to anyone that had karma with them.

A life tablet lay still on the Karma Plate. In mid-air, there floated an illusion of Shi Kong sitting with his eyes closed, emitting an assortment of thin light rays. Yellow for relatives, green for friends, black for enemies, blue for teachers, red for affection. If one was an ordinary person, there would be a link in every light and more than one link for each color.

Being born with Huigen [wisdom roots] and very little karma on his body, Shi Kong was the person in Fanyin Temple most likely to become a Buddha in thousands of years. For a long time, among the lights from Shi Kong’s body, only the blue light had a link to his master Yuan Zhen, and the light was dim; the force of Karma was not heavy.

Buddhist cultivators did not have to overcome heavenly thunder, but there were fewer people who reached Buddhahood than those who ascended into immortals. For those who became Buddhas, what they had to overcome were heart devil tribulations. When one became a Buddha, one must sever all karmic relations with the world, so that one could survive the tribulation of the heart devil. As long as the heart was burdened, the force of Karma would be heavier. However, there were few people in the world who could sever all karmic relations.

For thousands of years, no one from Fanyin Temple had become a Buddha, and their connection with the higher plane had almost been broken. Sects that lose the protection of the higher plane would eventually go down the road of decline. Therefore, it could be said that all the expectations of the people in Fanyin Temple were placed on Shi Kong.

At this time, at the other end of the red light from Shi Kong’s body appeared a link connected with a man in a gorgeous black robe. The red light bursting out from the ray was so dazzling that people did not dare look straight at it. The immense weight of Karma was evident from this.

“This evil creature, from top to bottom is unexpectedly the demon king.” The man who opened his mouth had a body like a bronze bell with a wide, dark face. He was the chief punisher and first seat of Fanyin Temple’s Disciplinary Hall.

During the assembly, the first seats of all the halls in Fanyin Temple were present. This was not surprising. It involved the most important disciple in the sect, Shi Kong. Fanyin Temple had never neglected its prominent disciples.

A few days ago, the head of Clear Spring Sect, Qing Kongzi paid a visit. Qing Kongzi accused Fanyin Temple’s disciple, Shi Kong, of colluding with demons, injuring their disciples, and seizing treasures of their sect, and took out photograph beads to testify. Fanyin Temple had always been impartial and strict in the celestial realm. If disciples of the sect committed evil, they never tried to hide it.

No one in the sect believed that Shi Kong had committed these crimes. In order to prove his innocence, Fanyin Temple consulted the Karma Plate. But unexpectedly, the results astonished everyone.

Fanyin Temple was in a state of chaos, but the culprits of this chaos, Lu Heng and Shi Kong, were relaxed and carefree.

Fanyin Temple was located at the northern end of the mainland. It was the length of an entire continent from the demon race’s territory to Fanyin Temple. Lu Heng complained that he had been cultivating all the time and had not fully experienced the local traditions and customs of the mainland. Since there was no urgent matters at present, they decided to study the common people. So instead of having Shi Kong use his flying skills, they slowly trekked across the entire mainland towards Fanyin Temple.

More than a month later, they reached the mountain forest where Lu Heng had been originally picked up by Shi Kong. Seeing this familiar place, he recalled their first encounter. On the spur of the moment, Lu Heng decided to stay here for a night.

After Lu Heng confessed his love to Shi Kong, the two people’s modus vivendi didn’t change much, and their primary focus was still on cultivation. But while cultivating at night, the two people sitting face-to-face were of one mind, and with the support of the moon goddess, their attachment to each other grew.

Perhaps it was the trip back to their old home, or perhaps the moonlight was too beautiful. In short, right now, Lu Heng had no intention to cultivate. He just watched as Shi Kong cultivated with closed eyes. Regardless of the place, Shi Kong could effortlessly enter the state of meditation.

Lu Heng’s mischievous heart flared up. He sat down next to Shi Kong and extended his hands to embrace his shoulder. “The night is long and sleep won’t come. Why not spend the night conversing under the moonlight together?

Shi Kong opened his eyes, with a trace of helplessness between his eyebrows, but looking closely, they were full of indulgence: “What do you want to talk about?”

Obtaining Shi Kong’s cooperation so easily, Lu Heng was rendered dumbfounded.

After a moment of silence, he thought of something: “How were you able to find me in the beginning?”

At that time, Lu Heng was only a small snake as thick as a chopstick, and his scales’ colour was not conspicuous in the shadows. He was also in the midst of a thick patch of grass. Without looking for him specifically, it was impossible to discover him.

Instead of answering Lu Heng’s question directly, Shi Kong said, “Ever since I can recall, I have been in Fanyin Temple. I don’t know who my parents are, and I never cared. People in the sect said that I was born with Huigen and was destined to become a Buddha. Even before I had achieved Buddhahood, they had already regarded me as a Buddha.”

All the people around him put him on a pedestal like a god. Lu Heng could not imagine this feeling. If they had switched places, he would have probably gone crazy by now.

Seemingly sensing Lu Heng’s mind, Shi Kong consoled, “To other people, such treatment may have been unbearable. But In my eyes, there is nothing special. Everything in the world, be it human, demon, plant, bird, or beast, all are the same in my eyes.”

“Until that day, I was merely passing by. In my eyes, amidst the originally dreary universe, the dazzling vivid colours of life suddenly appeared, glaring as a light in the dark night.

Although there was no contradiction in Shi Kong’s words, and his tone was steady and smooth, Lu Heng felt a little uncomfortable: “Then why did you throw me away in the wild mountainous forest? I begged you with my eyes not to.”

“From fear of the unknown, human instinct has always chosen to escape. I am no exception.”

“Was I so horrible?”

“The only thing in the world that can move my heart being horrible…” Shi Kong gently pinched the back of Lu Heng’s neck and pulled him over, the rest of his words disappearing between two pairs of entangled lips and teeth.

On the second day, when Lu Heng woke up, he regretted his recent slack in cultivation. Lu Heng looked at the beautiful monk under the tree in the morning light and sighed in his heart. Beauty will cause my downfall.

A breeze blew through the treetops, and the morning sunshine was warm and intoxicating. Shi Kong seemed to sense that Lu Heng had woken up, and he blinked his eyes, sporting a tender look. Lu Heng smiled back at him, trying to say something, but he saw Shi Kong’s expression grow cold.

Looking around, Lu Heng saw flashes of golden lights dotting the sky. Apparently, a large number of cultivators were speeding in this direction.

Shi Kong came up and stood side by side with Lu Heng. “They are people from my sect. I don’t know their purpose in coming here. It’s better to be careful.”

Lu Heng nodded and held his breath, waiting for the arrival of this unknown blessing or misfortune. But there was a strong sense of uneasiness in his heart. He thought about the high precision of the demon race’s intuition. Secretly operating his demonic energy, Lu Heng made full preparations.