The Heads

"We must not open the door!" The Abbot exclaimed in fear. "If the seals were to be come undone then the consequences will be dire!"

"It's alright Abbot," Jia Bi Yu calmly assured the old monk despite not knowing much about the underworld creatures in the first place.

"I just want to go in and take a look."

The Abbot was utterly speechless.

What was so interesting about a fissure to the underworld?

Even if he wanted to go to the underworld, as an upper realm being, he could have easily travelled between the two planes.

When this tear in space and time first appeared, vile creatures from hell gained another access point to the mortal realm.

They brought terror and diseases to the lands and its people.

It took the combined efforts of a lot of cultivators at the time in order to push those beasts back and seal it up.

The monastery was then built on top of this fissure with its main duty to protect the seals.

And now, here was someone wanting to open the seal up and 'take a look' at the fissure?

The Abbot really did not know whether he should be crying or laughing.

There was also nothing he could do about it.

Jia Bi Yu was a senior from the higher realms, someone he could not go against.

Even if he wanted to go against him, there were no ways he can possibly retaliate against such superior strengths.

He gritted his teeth against each other and the palms of his hands started to sweat as he unwillingly made his decision.

"Please wait a moment," he finally let out.

The Abbot then walked towards the platform.

Standing right outside the edge, he placed his palms together and bowed deeply in respect towards the group of apparitions.

"Amitābha."

He then said a few things to them, all incoherent to Jia Bi Yu even with his remarkable hearing abilities.

There seemed to be some sort of barrier surrounding the platform, preventing any outside interferences from entering or leaving.

The group awoken and became rowdy as they argued about something.

There were constant stares on Jia Bi Yu, seeming to want to burn right through his body.

Most of those stares were of curiosity, while some contained a bit amusement.

It seemed like they were able to see right past all of his disguises.

Jia Bi Yu smiled bitterly inside at having guessed their thoughts.

Soon, the group quieted back down seeming to have came to a decision.

They all nodded towards the Abbot and he turned and walked back towards the waiting figure.

He bowed towards Jia Bi Yu.

"I apologize for the wait. The heads will now begin the process of unsealing."

"As great precautions must be taken to prevent any mishaps, this will take a bit of time," the Abbot explained.

Jia Bi Yu merely nodded in reply.

"Please, let us return to the surface to wait," the Abbot said. "It might also be better for Mister Wu to return first as this can take until the morning of three days later."

Jia Bi Yu thought he might as well stay here for the time being and learn more about the three realms.

The both of them then climbed back up the rope ladder and slowly made their way back to the small bamboo house before leaving the painting world.

When Wu Shang Tang finally see them return, he jumped up from his seat excitedly.

"You guys took so long, I thought I was going to become dried bones by the time you got back," he complained with a slight pout on his face.

Jia Bi Yu wiggled his eyebrows at his expression, a bit put off by it, as he took a step back.

As though not noticing his actions, Wu Shang Tang asked if Jia Bi Yu was ready to leave.

He was smart enough to know not to ask about where the two had gone.

To his surprise, Jia Bi Yu shook his head at his inquiry.

"I'll be staying here for a few days," Jia Bi Yu said. "You don't need to wait for me."

Wu Shang Tang was gobsmacked and could only go down the mountains alone.

He told Jia Bi Yu to call him when he was going back to the city and promised to come pick him up.

The Abbot prepared a lone room for Jia Bi Yu, which only contained the basic necessities.

These Buddhist monks were taught since young to not go after the riches and luxuries and lived frugal and simple lives each day.

Even having a modern bathroom inside the room was already a luxury in itself and was usually reserved for guests to use.

The monks themselves have to share a communal bathhouse and each day, the monks on duty would have to manually fetch the water and heat the baths up.

Finally alone, Jia Bi Yu relaxed.

He had not taught someone how to fight in a long time.

Despite how easy he made it seem, having been out of practice for so long, he had to keep his guard up constantly, only able to relax the longer he fought and got used to the feeling.

He quickly threw his clothes into his spatial dimension and jumped into the shower.

He could use magic to clean himself, but it was a waste of mana that was hard to refill and also he quite liked the feeling of a hot shower or bath after a long day.

It seemed to be able to relax both of his body and mind.