Chapter 18 - Asian Tourist Visited a Temple And Abducted a Local Infant As a Souvenir
"What's wrong?" Fu Tong asked.
"There's someone in there."
"I know, but let's ignore them."
Fu Tong didn't care about the local monk or the residents here as he planned to leave this place after completing his mission. In addition, interacting with the natives of this deserted island seemed unnecessary since they had nothing to offer or trade.
But Jin Yu insisted. "There's something wrong with the child inside. I'm going to take a look."
"Hey!"
Fu Tong clicked his tongue. As it was almost midnight, he was afraid of losing stats. Thus, he turned away from Jin Yu and rushed into the temple.
Standing in front of the Buddha's statue, he knelt and placed seven karma coins on the floor like he had done on his first day at the ruined village. He closed his eyes, held his hands in prayer, and began reciting a soul releasing scripture for the vengeful spirits. His voice resounded in the hall.
As the scripture required Fu Tong to pray with his eyes closed, he didn't sense or see the emerging ghosts in the temple. More than 10,000 ghosts manifested and hovered over the temple, listening to the prayer. They surrounded Fu Tong, glaring at him in resentment.
However, 15 minutes later, these spirits gleamed in silver light, and their expressions brightened. Purified souls dispersed, returning to a reincarnation river for another chance in life. However, not all of them forgave the foxes and remained impure, refusing to pass on.
Fu Tong opened his eyes after he finished reciting 100 pages long scripture that he memorized from the library. He let out a long sigh and turned around.
He was greeted with horrifying faces of vengeful spirits whom he had failed to pacify. They glared at him and cursed him in resentment.
'You traitor.'
'How dare you join hands with the demons?!'
'You don't deserve happiness.'
After cursing him, they vanished. As for Fu Tong, he pursed his lips and rubbed his skin, getting goosebumps all over. Fu Tong grumbled and complained.
"Why are you cursing me?! I didn't do anything to y'all. Jeez!"
However, not all ghosts resented him. Some who had been purified whispered.
'Thank you for releasing us.'
'I can finally return to my family. Thank you.'
He felt a bit better. At least, the attempt was not for nothing. Perhaps the penalty mission was there for him to do some good deeds and remind him not to stray from his initial goals.
Your karma has been cleansed. The causality has been removed.
CLINK
A transparent pinky-sized glass ball manifested in mid-air and dropped on the floor in front of Fu Tong. Despite its fragile and delicate material, it didn't break upon hitting the hard floor. The ball rolled toward his feet and stopped.
Fu Tong touched it. Instantly, it exuded darkness, which devoured all light within the temple. A second later, it vanished into his palm, and a ball tattoo emerged at the back of his right hand.
The tattoo symbol was the merit coin storage, and the orb earlier was the mission reward.
Fu Tong didn't know how to feel about this useless currency. He wondered when he would be able to use it.
Changing his mood, he gazed forward and found Jin Yu standing in the middle of the courtyard, keeping a distance away from him.
In her arms was a thin infant, a boy. He looked malnourished as if he hadn't consumed any nourishment for days, yet his determined eyes fixated on Jin Yu's face.
Jin Yu noticed that Fu Tong had finally finished reciting a scripture. She approached him and brought the child over.
"What's that?" Fu Tong asked.
"I found a dead mother and her child in the building over there." Jin Yu pointed at the building that she had visited earlier. She also showed Fu Tong a wooden token with a name on it.
Fu Tong read the token.
Meng Tianrui
"Kek."
Fu Tong almost cursed and laughed at the same time. He knew this child.
Meng Tianrui was destined to become the third chapter's protagonist. This infant here was a reincarnation of a war saint, who had run out of lifespan in his previous life. He was cursed by karma and was forced to undergo a tribulation of rebirth—He needed to die and revive as a mortal 108 times, equal to the number of deities he had killed.
In-game, he was supposed to die and revive somewhere, but a fox family picked him up and brought him to the Celestial Fox City, raising him like a child of their own. But when he grew up, he would form a party with the protagonists from the earlier chapters and challenge Yuemei Xie's authority. In addition, Meng Tianrui was supposed to be Jin Yu's groom and had three children with her.
"Kek."
Thinking of his current situation, he kept kekking. The elation of stealing somebody's destined wife gave birth to a new sensation in him.
"What's the matter with you?" Jin Yu noticed Fu Tong's weird expression. She could tell that he was suppressing his laughter.
"Nothing, honey. Just… I didn't expect to see heaven's cursed child here."
"Heaven's cursed child?"
Fu Tong walked over a stared into the infant's eyes. The boy glared back. Despite being helpless, his deep eyes gleamed as though he was judging him.
Seeing Meng Tianrui's expression, Fu Tong couldn't help but prank him by exposing his origins.
"This child was once a war saint, feared by all in the saint realm. Unfortunately, he ran into a sage while he was wreaking havoc and being overly arrogant. What happened next? He got crippled and imprisoned. His enemies took advantage of his vulnerability and branded a karma curse on his soul. Because of the curse, he has to reincarnate as a mortal, live as a mortal, and die as a mortal 108 times. Of course, he has to grow old and die after the age of 80 to make it count. If he dies young, he has to redo the whole things again from the beginning."
Instantly, Jin Yu figured out the scheme of the saints.
"And they intentionally make him die young every time he reincarnates."
"Yup! That's the gist of it."
"…How petty of them. They couldn't fight the war saint, so they now trample on him when he is down?"
Fu Tong sighed and smirked at the boy. "Yeah. All saints, sages, and deities are like that. They hate seeing someone better. Am I right, Great General Meng?"
Meng Tianrui's eyes flickered. His arms trembled, and his mouth twitched, wanting to argue or say something. Realizing how helpless he was, he sighed and closed his eyes, waiting for his death in this life. He wondered when he would be reincarnated again.
Jin Yu pitied the infant. She looked at Fu Tong and suggested. "We should adopt him."
Fu Tong raised an eyebrow, surprised by the suggestion. He was thinking of snapping the infant's neck and getting rid of a headache at first. However, taking a protagonist under his wing didn't sound bad either, considering how nasty Meng Tianrui's unique abilities were.
Inspired, Fu Tong's expression turned solemn. He faced Meng Tianrui and made an offer.
"War Saint Meng Tianrui. If you're willing to accept our help and swear that you will not betray us, blink once. If you give up in this life or refuse to owe someone a favor, ignore us or blink twice."
At that moment, Meng Tianrui's eyes snapped open. He stared at Fu Tong for several seconds.
After a long pause of contemplation, he blinked once.
Both Jin Yu and Fu Tong smiled in satisfaction.
"Well, well, well. Fine. I'll take you in. You owe me one."