The majestic peak was imposing, situated up in the clouds.
The green cliff had trees twisting around like dragons with a cave by the midpoint. The entrance was an eight-meter-tall door made of stone. It looked like the dwelling of an immortal.
Feiyun was now wearing a white Buddhist robe, sitting in a meditative position beneath a Bodhi Tree outside of the entrance.
Complexion - perfectly white; brows - thick and tidy. His black-as-ink hair fluttered in the wind.
Anyone who sees him right now would see the word “calm” just an immovable boulder.
The Bodhi Tree towered at 300 meters. The leaves have grown for three hundred years yet still haven’t fallen. It carried an aura of vicissitudes.
The leaves rustled when the breezes came. A single leaf finally fell down, looking like a green b.u.t.terfly.
A woman wearing a white buddhist dress came out; hair tied up in a buddhist bun with lotuses beneath her feet.
She was shrouded in a buddhist aura; only around the age of twenty but her eyes carried a sad and profound flash. This pair of eyes was polished by time. One would only have them after experiencing several hundred years.
She stood on the platform outside the entrance like a saintess. Her left hand held a string of green beads as she calmly said: "This is your sixty-fourth day of meditation, fifteen days longer than the previous. It looks like like the Calmheart Mantra is effective for you.”
Feiyun has been here for nearly one year, cleansed by the mantra for the eighth time. The hatred in him has dispersed by half but the evil affinity remained, evident by his face’s appearance.
His hands were down at his dantian. He slowly opened his eyes with a faint, red circle around them, still cold: “How do you know I’ve awakened?”
His voice became normal again, no longer hoa.r.s.e like before.
“I knew when the leaf fell down.” The elegant woman stretched out two fingers and that exact leaf land on them.
Each of her action was beautiful, in tune with the rhythm of the heavenly dao.
She was the lord of Beastmaster Camp, Tan Qingsu. She was full of spirituality as if her very body was made from the laws of Buddhism, bereft of a single impurity.
She has cultivated for 470 years without taking a single step out of her sect. She spent half of her time on Skyhigh Peak and had reached a state of indifference. She resembled a drop of clear water and viewed everyone else in the same manner, including Feng Feiyun.
This was a mental state of Buddhism - all things are water.
“Beastmaster Camp is a sacred ground of Buddhism; no men are allowed to enter, so why did you want to save me?” Feiyun asked this question for the eighth time.
He did so after each of the previous cleansing processes.
Tan Qingsu looked like she was inside a painting of clouds. She calmly responded: “Because if I don’t, you will continue your rampage. It’s better to have a person instead of a bloodthirsty demon in this world.”
Feiyun remained quiet.
He wouldn’t believe such sanctimonious words from just anyone. After all, who would save people for no reasons? No self-gains?
But it felt so natural coming from her - the love of Buddhism wanting to grant salvation to all. Perhaps this was because of her current mental state.
Qingsu said: “I didn’t answer you before because of the blind hatred. Just hearing the word, “kill”, would have stimulated your evil affinity. But after the eighth cleansing and meditation, your sanity has regained control.”
“Then shouldn’t you remove the seal so I can leave?” Feiyun smirked.
Qingsu disagreed: “Far from enough. You need to experience the ninth cleansing and more than just that, stay and meditate in Buddhism for one hundred years then I can be sure enough to remove your seal, allowing you to leave.”
“Why is that?” Feiyun’s eyes started to have a b.l.o.o.d.y color with some ferocity leaking out. His palms had a demonic glow.
“When Miss Dongfang brought you here, she wanted to ask for the help of my two Senior Uncle Ancestor. Unfortunately, one has left for Sacred Spirit Palace while the other is roaming the world and hasn’t returned for three hundred years. That’s why I personally chanted for you to chase away the heart devil and calming the beast souls. Of course, I can’t do it as well, so you need to cultivate Buddhism for a hundred years.” She slowly said.
Feiyun closed his eyes, aware that Qingsu was only temporarily suppressing his evil affinity. Just a little stimulation could turn him into a demon again.
Feiyun had too many nefarious aspects looming within. Even the Nine-doves Gown couldn’t suppress all of them.
First one - the demonic energy in his blood.
Second - the evil energy of Yama’s Spine.
Third - the evil energy of the Evil Woman.
Fourth - His murderous intent because of Nangong Honyan’s death.
Fifth - the beastly bloodl.u.s.t from the Myriad Beast Physique.
All of these nefarious powers combined and were activated together. An ordinary person would have exploded to death but Feiyun cultivated the phoenix physique. This powerful const.i.tution on top of the phoenix soul allowed him to barely make it through.
Thus, she required him to stay here for one hundred years, away from the chaos outside.
From another perspective, this was house arrest of sorts to stop him from killing people.
After a long while, Feiyun opened his eyes. The redness had subsided as he asked: “Where is she?”
Qingsu knew who he was referring to right away: “Miss Dongfang left right after she brought you here.”
Feiyun became quiet for the second time, aware of why she left so quickly. She looked just like Shui Yueting whom Feiyun despised. She was afraid of affecting him and making the cleansing less effective so she chose to leave.
Below were a group of cranes. Each of them was around six meters long with white feathers and had a girl on them. They were the recently-accepted disciples learning the basics of beast taming.
These cranes quickly disappeared into the clouds.
“You have been here for a year, it’s time to go out.” Qingsu said.
“You’re letting me leave?” Feiyun asked.
“Only around the camp for three days to relax. I will let Rhino protect you, and of course, it will bring you back if you try to leave. We’ll start the ninth cleansing process in three days.”
Having said that, she turned into a gust and returned to her cave.
Feiyun naturally knew what she was thinking. He was infamous for being a murderer and rapist in the cultivation world, not to mention his evil affinity being out of control right now.
In her eyes, Feiyun was indeed the evilest monster. At the same time, this place was full of beautiful girls. If he were to go crazy, the consequence would be unimaginable.
She wanted to save the devil but was afraid as well. Despite sealing his cultivation, she still let her strongest spirit beast accompany him, not allowing him any chance to do something unsavory.
‘If she’s letting me out for three days to relax, then this ninth cleansing session should be quite tough. I need to be mentally prepared before starting.’ Feiyun’s grin seemed quite evil now.
He stood up and explosions detonated within his body.
Though his dantian has been sealed and the ten thousand beast souls were sleeping, Qingsu didn’t know that Feiyun’s strongest aspect was his body. The phoenix physique has reached the second stage - bone refinement.
After getting his first bone, his physical prowess far exceeded ordinary people.
He noticed something and turned around. The sight made him stagger backward. A white rhino towering at nine meters came out of nowhere and looked like a hill. Feiyun was so tiny in comparison.
It had thick scales with a gentle glow containing the essence of Buddhism, akin to the divine beasts wors.h.i.+pped in shrines.
Its eyes were bigger than a was.h.i.+ng basin, fixated on Feiyun.
“You’re Rhino sent by Tan Qingsu to watch over me? Not bad, 1,200 years of cultivation already.” Feiyun had barely visible runes on his face. He came over and patted the rhino’s gigantic foot.
He couldn’t use his divine intent and heavenly gaze right now. Nevertheless, he was insightful enough to see the beast’s cultivation.
Any beast that had cultivated for more than 1,000 years would be called a spirit beast. It had some intelligence and could understand humans. Some could even speak and were just as smart.
“Brat, you dare to call the master by her name? So lawless. The master is too nice to you, but your father will teach you a lesson.” Rhino has been long annoyed at Feiyun so it raised its leg to crush him.
Feiyun sharply darted to the side with an evil smirk before punching the rhino’s leg.
The beast felt pain, not expecting Feiyun to be so strong even with a sealed cultivation.
“No time to play with you!” He directly jumped off the cliff and was swallowed by the clouds.
Ordinary cultivators would die horribly after jumping off this height. However, Feiyun’s body and bones were ten times tougher than steel. Falling to the ground like this was no problem.
“Brat, don’t’ think you can run!” Rhino jumped off as well to give chase.
The master had repeatedly told it to protect this devil as well as not letting him escape the camp or cause any trouble.