Wu Gou toyed with a jade cup in his hand, the liquor inside sloshing gently.
"But the problem is, although the Gold Buddha is a mass of bone and flesh, even possessing a soul..."
"Very few people know that the thing also has a consciousness."
Wu Gou pointed to his own head. "When it descends, it instinctively devours everything around it to strengthen itself."
"Moreover, the flesh of the Gold Buddha is addictive."
"Addictive?" Chen Zhou asked in confusion. "You mean eating it causes an addiction?"
"Exactly."
"You know how this world is—filth is everywhere, and everything is turbid and foul."
"Whether it's cultivators or demons, everyone is essentially rolling around in this mud pit. But the Gold Buddha... it is too pure."
"Once you have tasted the flavor of the Gold Buddha, you can no longer endure any other turbid energy in this world."
"You will become extremely desperate for purity. In the end, to chase that next bite of Gold Buddha flesh, you will bring about your own destruction."
Wu Gou sighed, his gaze distant.
"Those who seek it might initially only want to resolve the death qi in their bodies. They don't want to undergo a mutation during the eerification stage or be enslaved during the symbiosis stage."
"But they don't realize that while they've cured the poison of the death qi, they've contracted an addiction to the flesh. It's even more agonizing than the mutation itself."
Chen Zhou thought for a moment. "It sounds like a dead end."
"It is a dead end."
Wu Gou spread his hands. "In truth, even if they knew, they would still do it."
"A man dying of thirst who finds a cup of poisoned wine will drink it even if he knows it's toxic. Otherwise, he dies right now."
"If he drinks it, he can linger on for a while. If he doesn't, he mutates instantly."
Chen Zhou smiled as he looked at him, his eyes narrowing slightly. "You seem to know this quite clearly. Secrets like this shouldn't be common knowledge."
Wu Gou chuckled. "Originally, this monk didn't know either."
"But I have the realm earthworm, which allows me to travel between realms."
"A thousand years ago, when this monk had just reached the sixth-stage, I was suppressing myself, not daring to fully undergo eerification."
"At that time, the Gold Buddha descended upon Tianchi Province. It caused a massive stir, so I thought about whether I could find an opportunity there and perhaps solve my own hidden troubles along the way."
"Tianchi Province?" Chen Zhou searched his memory. "That legendary land of plagues?"
If he remembered correctly, the Plague Rat had mentioned that his hometown was Tianchi Province.
"Yes, that's the place."
A flash of sentimentality appeared in Wu Gou's eyes. "If you really count it, that place is a hundred times more tragic than the Northern Region."
"Tianchi Province is a true land of plague. Even the underground water is nothing but pus."
"The living beings there—even the wild grass by the road—are covered in poisonous sores."
Wu Gou poured himself another cup of wine and continued.
"The ruler of Tianchi Province at that time was known as the True Lord of Purity and Filth."
"This man was a ruthless character, but also a pitiful one."
"As the master of a province, he did have considerable ability."
"By his own power, he constructed a grand array to isolate the diseases, forcefully suppressing the plagues of the entire province and protecting tens of millions of lives."
"Every day, he had to devour a massive amount of plague energy, using his own body to filter and purify it to maintain the operation of the array."
Chen Zhou nodded. "He sounds like a saint."
"He was indeed a saint."
"But he was also being tortured day and night by the death qi of his symbiosis."
"Though he was powerful, his body had long been riddled with holes. Just as he was about to reach his limit, the Gold Buddha descended."
"A path to escape mutation—and even a smooth road to the eighth-stage Siming stage—was laid out before him. No one would remain unmoved."
"The True Lord of Purity and Filth was no exception."
Wu Gou laughed sorrowfully, his eyes wandering as if he had returned to that blood-colored twilight a millennium ago.
"This monk had some dealings with him back then; he even blocked a few tribulations for me."
"To fight for the Gold Buddha, he used himself as bait to lure it into his own formation."
"Did he win?" Chen Zhou asked.
"He won, yet he didn't," Wu Gou shook his head.
"He was the final victor of the struggle. After obtaining the Gold Buddha, his mind was indeed clear for a short time, his cultivation surged, and he progressed through the Five Symbiosis Contracts without any obstacles."
"In the end, he even managed to touch the threshold of the eighth-stage."
"During that period, the plagues of Tianchi Province truly dissipated. The sky was clear and the air was fresh, much like a celestial realm."
"But?"
"Yes, there is a 'but.' His addiction kicked in."
Wu Gou pointed to his head. "The consciousness of the Gold Buddha began to erode him."
"The True Lord of Purity and Filth developed an extreme cleanliness obsession. He felt that everything in this world was dirty—including his subjects, and even himself."
"He began to conduct a frantic cleansing, killing many people. Finally, in a state of madness, he decided that he himself was the source of filth and chose to end his own life."
Chen Zhou was silent for a moment. "So, the Tianchi Province of today has once again become a land ravaged by plagues?"
"It's worse than before."
Wu Gou sighed, his tone filled with regret for his old friend.
"After the True Lord of Purity and Filth died, his corpse became the source of the plague. I don't know what happened after that; later, I was cut away by Ksitigarbha of Great Vows and remained in the Northern Region."
At this point, Wu Gou gave a bitter smile. "However, at that time, I did indeed flee back to Gloomlight Province overnight."
"From then on, I began to research the path of reincarnation, hoping to find another way to solve the mutation caused by death qi."
"But in the end, you failed as well," Chen Zhou said, cutting straight to the point.
"Yes, I failed," Wu Gou did not deny it. "That lunatic Ksitigarbha of Great Vows cut me out from the main body and began researching how to refine all living beings into gu."
"He hasn't given up on the Gold Buddha. After all, the temptation is too great."
"He tried to let all living beings share the Gold Buddha's addiction, using countless souls to fill that bottomless pit in an attempt to keep his own mind clear."
"You should be familiar with what happened after that."
Chen Zhou nodded, his finger gently stroking the rim of his wine cup. "So, the Gold Buddha is such a thing—a cure that carries an addiction, a monster wearing the guise of a savior."
Chen Zhou felt that he didn't really need the Gold Buddha.
Death qi was his source of power; it wouldn't cause him to mutate at all.
So, from the sound of it, the Gold Buddha could only be considered a giant experience pack. Aside from being used as a sacrifice, it probably had no other use.
Seeing Chen Zhou in thought, Wu Gou asked casually.
"So, are you interested?"
"This is a treasure that gives you a chance to touch the eighth-stage Siming stage. With your fortune, it shouldn't be hard for you to obtain it."
Chen Zhou leaned back in his chair, his expression indifferent.
"We'll see."
"I'm not particularly tempted. My current path is quite stable. However, I should still fight for it—at the very least, I can't let the Gold Buddha fall into someone else's hands."
A cold light flashed in his eyes. "If someone else gets it and the tragedy of Tianchi Province repeats itself, I'll have to deal with an even stronger problem later."
"Instead of that, it's better to keep the initiative in my own hands."
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