Supreme Alchemist
Chapter 2498: 2488 The Origin of Tiancan Temple

Chapter 2498: Chapter 2488 The Origin of Tiancan Temple

At that time, it was winter, and the temple usually sat in the warm main hall singing Buddhism, with only a young disciple sweeping snow at the temple doorway.

As the young disciple was halfway through sweeping, he suddenly noticed something nearby in the snow. After all, it was winter, and it was rare to see Demon Beasts come out to hunt. Even if they did, the monks of Tiancan Temple would intervene to drive them back into the Demon Beast Mountain Range.

So, the little monk summoned up his courage and walked closer, only to find that it was a person lying in the snow. The person lay head down in the snow, and the little monk hurriedly turned the person over, discovering that they were breathing faintly. The little monk hurriedly took the person back to the temple.

A few sips of hot soup later, the person coughed twice; their pulse was nearing stability, and their life was saved.

Venerable Liaoran revealed a helpless bitter smile at this point, thinking if the little monk had not found this person or if Venerable Liaoran hadn’t saved them, there wouldn’t be so many subsequent events.

But now, it’s too late to say anything. At that time, Shiran, looking at the person’s carry-on package, surprisingly discovered a Ghoul-head Saber covered in blood, which startled Venerable Liaoran. Despite the many monks in Tiancan Temple over decades, no one had ever seen such a person.

But Venerable Liaoran was a soft-hearted person, so he temporarily let him stay here and sent a disciple down the mountain to see if any family had lost someone, leaning towards the hunters’ homes. Venerable Liaoran thought this person should be a hunter who went up the mountain.

“This person should be a bandit; both on him and the knife are human blood.”

Right after Venerable Liaoran arranged everything, Shiran said, gazing at the Long Knife in his hand, seemingly having seen something.

“Shiran, how… do you decide?”

Venerable Liaoran was quite surprised, looking at his small apprentice, very puzzled about how he came to such a conclusion. To him, this person should be a hunter from the usual mercenary town, how could there be someone with human blood on them.

“Because if he were local, he surely wouldn’t fall in the snow. At least the residents behind in the small town all know about our temple’s existence, only outsiders wouldn’t know about this temple deep in the mountains, not to mention the extent of blood splatter on this person, there are no Demon Beasts who splatter to the chest.”

Saying this, Shiran picked up the Big Knife next to the table again; if it were to splatter to the chest, the Demon Beast would need to be at least half human-height. Now is still a dozen years after the Human-Demon War, the birds and beasts in this mountain range are certainly not like this now, so what Shiran said is right.

“So, Master, let’s throw him out, right now is just the time to return his karma.”

Shiran abruptly raised his head and looked at Venerable Liaoran, his voice cold enough to be frightening, which startled Venerable Liaoran, not knowing what to say.

For the first time, Venerable Liaoran lost his temper with his most beloved disciple. Actually, Venerable Liaoran did not know why, but seeing the indifference on Shiran’s face always brought some inexplicable anger.

Even the Devilish Nature that was sealed by Buddhist stability showed signs of loosening. Helplessly, Venerable Liaoran could only first go to stabilize his seal on Devilish Nature, letting Shiran go and face the wall for reflection.

But Venerable Liaoran didn’t know, this time he really released a demon.

In fact, Shiran is very suited to Buddhism, but this legacy of tens of thousands of years naturally has its duality, Shiran being inherently indifferent, is also very obstinate, like a white paper, someone once smeared colors on it, even if those colors were erased, there would still be traces.

Shiran was becoming increasingly distant from the Buddhist principles that Venerable Liaoran deemed correct, yet still bore no hostility.

The little monk who went to the town returned, confirmed that the person lying in the Eastern Monk’s Room was indeed a murderer on the run, and not a town hunter. The little monk, in order to make Venerable Liaoran believe, even specially copied from the official notice, which neatly matched the person on the bed.

Considering the heavenly virtue of good, people decided to let this person remain in the temple for now and make plans once the officials arrived. Unexpectedly, upon learning that a group of monks saved him, the murderer even proposed wanting to be tonsured, staying in the temple to become a monk, even saying something about putting down the butcher knife and becoming a Buddha.

Venerable Liaoran naturally agreed, even relieved, wanting to let this person remain in the temple, eating vegetarian meals and chanting Buddha’s name day and night, to atone for his past sins.

But shortly after, one night, a scream utterly shattered the peace within the temple. Predictably, in Venerable Liaoran’s eyes, that person had already collapsed in a pool of blood, bleeding from his seven orifices, legs severed, simply killed in his own room.

Long Yan interrupted Venerable Liaoran’s recollection upon hearing this, if he guessed correctly, the person was indeed the little monk in the Eastern Monk’s Room, and the former was indeed a murderer, and he seemed quite dissatisfied with the people in the temple, likely having little gratitude towards Venerable Liaoran before him.

Venerable Liaoran merely sighed, for the case of the farmer and the snake naturally was vivid, then continued.

Unsurprisingly, seeing Shiran covered in blood beside the corpse, Venerable Liaoran conjectured almost all details correctly, but Shiran’s face, sullied with fresh blood, bore no expression.

“This person fundamentally doesn’t comprehend Buddhist principles, just sought to hide within our temple, even sharpening his knife each night, clearly not intending to become a monk, such a person should meet karmic retribution, his dying manner same as those he killed before; this is indeed his karma.”

For the first time, Venerable Liaoran saw his disciple smile, but this behavior to Venerable Liaoran was utterly inexplicable; in the year following, Shiran spent his days facing the wall.

Of course, until now, if Venerable Liaoran gently guided him, Shiran might have been steered back on track, but instead he chose to ignore this disciple until a year later, Shiran escaped from the wall-facing room.

The entire temple’s monks were thoroughly slaughtered, finally arriving at Venerable Liaoran’s meditation room.

“I didn’t expect you would become like this.”

Venerable Liaoran’s expression was somewhat bitter, eyes unwavering as he looked at Shiran in the doorway, a child he watched grow from young, wondering when he began to change into this form?

Shiran was covered in fresh blood, stemming from his fellow Senior Brothers, behind him, a pale white light slowly rose, as if stars holding the moon, even Venerable Liaoran’s powerful Buddhist cultivation was no match for Shiran’s, which contained Buddhist truths far stronger than Venerable Liaoran.

This indeed proved that Shiran not only twisted cultivation but even succeeded in cultivating it, until before his death, Venerable Liaoran didn’t know whether to be happy or sad.