Chapter 751: Standing on the Side of Reincarnation

"You're saying this monster came from the Animal Realm?" I stared at Master Tianxin's message in the chat, speechless for a long time as thoughts raced through my mind.

The obsessions in the Pig Cage Apartments were tied to the Animal Realm, and now they were manipulating the Red Building Tenants to hunt down a monster from there. Were they trying to extract something from the Phantom Pig? Or perhaps they didn't know the exact location of the entrance to reincarnation and wanted to use the beast to find the passage?

I had just fought the Phantom Pig. The creature resembled a wild boar, but it was far stronger than any mundane beast. Unless dozens of obsessions joined forces, they had absolutely no chance of hunting it down.

"The Faceless Woman is also an obsession. The Red Building Tenants deliberately lured her away—were they worried she might interfere while they teamed up?" I felt a headache coming on as I remembered the side mission regarding the shattered face. There were too many side quests in this Live Show broadcast. A single night wasn't nearly enough time.

I nudged the corpse at my feet, found a sharp piece of tile on the ground, and sliced the Phantom Pig's belly open along its existing wound.

No blood seeped from beneath its black hide. The beast's flesh was like putrid mud, all twisted and clumped together.

Faint human faces were imprinted across its organs and intestines. I could just barely make out their features; though each wore a different expression, they all belonged to the same person.

"Joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness... all etched right onto its organs. Were those faces what it looked like in its previous life?" I had no proof; it was merely a guess.

"Reincarnation is an enigma. No one truly knows what the world after death looks like. This broadcast is an opportunity for me. If I can grasp the nature of reincarnation, even just a fraction of it, the benefits will be endless." Advancing my Yin-Yang Ghost Art required a certain understanding of reincarnation. More importantly, reincarnation was tied to the Nine Dao Locks inside my body. My sealed, lost memories might very well be scattered within reincarnation.

I picked up my phone and aimed the screen at the Phantom Pig's corpse, broadcasting the human faces on its entrails to the stream. "Master Tianxin, this beast holds a heavenly secret in its belly. It has no blood and no vital points, yet human faces are branded across its intestines..."

Before I could finish, Master Tianxin's message popped up in the chat. "Move the camera away, quickly! How can you speak so carelessly of such heavenly secrets? Your reckless speculation will draw the wrath of heaven!"

Master Tianxin was usually calm and composed, yet he had interrupted me before I could even finish my sentence. Reading his message, I realized my mistake. Reincarnation involved the most fundamental order of heaven and earth. If I boldly declared its location in front of tens of thousands of livestream viewers, I would likely be ensnared by karma, unable to ever wash myself clean of it.

Heavenly secrets could not be leaked. It was just like how fortune tellers never read their own fates; they understood the weight of destiny better than anyone else.

Even if one managed to scrape through a disaster by sheer luck, an even greater calamity might come knocking in the future.

For ordinary people, health and peace were enough. Knowing too much would only bring them harm.

Not just anyone could become a Fate Usurper in this world, and even if they did, what good would it do? As far as I knew, every Fate Usurper met a tragic end. Even someone as powerful as the Two-Faced Buddha no longer dared to show his face in the living world.

"Thank you for the warning, Master. I almost brought a massive karmic burden upon myself." Ordinary people didn't know about reincarnation. If my guidance made them certain of its existence, I would be forced to shoulder their karma. Should any misfortune befall them, I would be implicated too.

Master Tianxin: "Those ignorant of fate are like the deaf and blind. You leaked heavenly secrets to wake them up, and your intentions were noble, but your methods were far too extreme. It will only damage your own Yin Merit. Listen to me, benefactor. The things you've broadcasted this time have already exceeded ordinary bounds; heaven will not tolerate you. Everything requires moderation—going beyond is as bad as falling short, so you must know when to stop. I think it would be best if you ended your stream early, or calamity will surely strike you in the days to come."

Master Tianxin was genuinely looking out for me; I could tell. But whether I ended the stream or not wasn't up to me. Truth be told, I was nothing more than a pawn in the hands of the Live Show.

While I now possessed a sliver of strength to fight back, I wasn't ready to rebel, let alone capable of bearing the consequences of failure.

"Master, I appreciate your kindness." I moved the camera and pointed the screen at myself. "In life, we are forced into things most of the time. But since some things are destined to be done by someone, I'm willing to be the first to do them."

It was just a casual lament, but I hadn't expected it to resonate with Master Tianxin. Amidst the chorus of boos from the livestream viewers, his message stood out like a crane among chickens, pure and transcendent. "Only when all living beings are saved will I attain enlightenment; until hell is empty, I vow not to become a Buddha! That is what I admire most about you. I dare not walk your path, but I am willing to lend you a helping hand."

Master Tianxin: "There is no path to reincarnation. The living can never set foot within it. Only by understanding this will you be able to see reincarnation."

After sending that message, Master Tianxin fell silent. It seemed he had leaked something very important to me and needed to leave immediately to escape the karma.

"There is no path to reincarnation?" I pondered Master Tianxin's words, not entirely understanding what he was trying to express. "The living cannot enter, and life corresponds to death. Does he mean I need to shed my physical body?"

After its hide was split open, the Phantom Pig's internal organs dissipated at a visible rate, crumbling away like a sand sculpture in the wind.

A torrential downpour raged outside the main building, and I guarded the corpse until the latter half of the night.

Just as the Phantom Pig's corpse was about to completely dissipate, unusual movement stirred within the Longchang Old Site.

Dark silhouettes darted quickly through the ruined buildings, and finally, carrying black umbrellas, they emerged from their various hiding places.

Their faces were expressionless, as if attending a funeral. Holding black umbrellas meant for visiting graves, they moved in perfect synchronization as they walked through the Ancient Building.

"I knew you would come." I swept my gaze over the distant shadows, my expression ice-cold. Some of these figures were very familiar to me, and the person walking at the very front was Zhu Li!

Dark clouds pressed down, making the rainy night even darker than usual.

Over a dozen figures surrounded me from all directions. Zhu Li rested his umbrella handle on his shoulder, his eyes darting repeatedly toward the Phantom Pig's corpse beside me.

"What's the matter? You came all this way, and you aren't going to say anything?" My voice was somewhat hoarse. Even as I spoke, I was already drawing upon the killing intent left by the Blood Fox.

"Just which immortal deity are you?" Zhu Li flashed his white teeth with a smile. The most terrifying thing about this man was that you could never guess what he was thinking.

"I wouldn't dare call myself an immortal. I only came to the Red Building to find someone." The Red Building Tenants had taken great pains just to hunt the Phantom Pig. I kept the beast's corpse; if they wanted to achieve their goal, they had to come to me. It was an open conspiracy. And as the facts proved, I had guessed correctly.

"Find someone?" Zhu Li cracked a smile. "There are plenty of pigs in the Red Building, but pitifully few people. Besides, haven't you already seen them all? The person you're looking for isn't here."

"Not necessarily." For our second meeting, everything was out in the open, and I didn't need to beat around the bush. "If you want this monster's corpse next to me, then show me your sincerity. I trust you all saw how I slaughtered the obsessions earlier. I hope you don't do anything stupid."

The Red Building Tenants' initial plan was likely to let the Phantom Pig and me fight to the death, ideally leaving both of us severely injured so they could swoop in and reap the rewards. But the outcome had wildly exceeded their expectations. The Blood Fox's undefeatable killing intent had undergone a qualitative improvement after devouring nearly a hundred obsessions, and killing the Phantom Pig hadn't cost me much effort.

Even faced with my threat, Zhu Li's expression hardly changed. "I can say with absolute certainty that the person you're looking for isn't in the Pig Cage Apartments, but just to show my sincerity..."

He waved a hand behind him. "Bring everyone from the Apartment Building over."

The black umbrellas parted to the sides, and a man, a woman, and a young child were shoved forward.

The child was the little boy who lived on the sixth floor of the Red Building, and the woman was Bai Ya'er. The man, however, was somewhat unfamiliar. He looked to be in his early twenties and was blindfolded with a black cloth. His shirt had been stripped off, and a large patch of skin had been torn from his back.

"These three are the only people in the Pig Cage Apartments. The rest have either turned into pigs or become corpses." There was no telling what sort of trump card Zhu Li was holding back; his expression was somewhat bizarre.

The three people sprawled in the mud didn't look like live show streamers at all. Deep in thought, I decided not to dwell on the issue for now and pointed a finger at the Phantom Pig's corpse. "What use is this thing to you? Why did you go so far as to use living people as bait to hunt it down?"