Chapter 185 A Monk

After hearing those five words, Feng Bujue almost blurted out, "To know… is to know, to not know… is to not know?"

As soon as he said that, the mouth on the right side of the sky-high braid responded, "Is to know."

"Hmm…" Feng Bujue didn't understand why the other party was discussing the Analects of Confucius with him, but he still had to find a way to continue the conversation. "This brother… what are you doing?"

"I, see, you, look, like, you've, read, a, few, years, of, books, too…"

From this sentence onward, the sky-high braid stopped speaking properly. Every sentence he spoke after that was uttered by alternating words from the left and right mouths.

To avoid suspicion of padding, the comma usage like the sentence above will be omitted in the following text. Please use your imagination.

"…I have three questions I want to ask you," the sky-high braid continued in his unique way of speaking. "I wonder if you dare to answer them?"

"I dare…" Feng Bujue raised an eyebrow, "But if you can't stump me… what then?"

"Aren't you and your companion trying to go up?" the NPC said. "If you can answer my questions, I'll let you go up." Before Brother Jue could ask, he added, "If you can't answer… or don't answer, you'll have to become my hair."

Hearing this, both Brother Jue and Xiao Ling behind him turned their gazes to the top of his head, staring at the sky-high braid.

"Could it be… that this peculiar bundle of black, long, straight hair on your head…" Feng Bujue seized the opportunity to retort, "Each strand used to be a person?"

"That's right," the other party replied bluntly.

"Oh…" Feng Bujue continued, "I'll ask a question while I'm at it… How did Miao Xuzi, Hong Ying, and Lu Bufu get through here not long ago?"

"Miao Xuzi is quick-witted, has outstanding literary talent, and is well-versed in Chan philosophy. It can be said that… his answers flowed smoothly," the sky-high braid replied.

"Tch… even that guy could answer?" Brother Jue said, "Then ask away." As he said this, he seemed to have thought of something and added, "Oh, by the way, I haven't asked for the pleasure of knowing your name?"

"My name is Congming'er," Congming'er replied, "Cong is the cong of clever, ming is the ming of clever." (Congming'er = Clever Boy)

"Understood," Feng Bujue replied, "Then… Er, ask whatever you don't understand."

"How are you talking?" Congming'er interrupted with a slight rebuke, "Taking advantage of me?"

"Alright, alright~" Brother Jue pointed to the mouth on the left side of the other party, "Can I call you Xiao Cong?"

At this moment, the mouth on Congming'er's right side spoke a sentence alone, "Are you going to give me the name Tofu next?"

"Hehe…" Feng Bujue laughed, "Brother Congming is indeed worthy of his name."

"Hmph…" Congming'er sneered, "Do you think that's very funny?"

"It's alright," Brother Jue said, "Anyway, I feel quite happy."

"But I'm not very happy to hear it," Congming'er said.

Feng Bujue's smile grew even wider, "That's one of the reasons I'm happy."

"You…" Congming'er seemed to want to curse, but he held it back and then smiled, "Hehe… forget it, I won't bother with you."

Clearly, the key flags for conversing with this NPC had already been seen through by Brother Jue. The first was to answer with the phrase "To know is to know, to not know is to not know," and the second was to clearly express that you wanted to answer the questions. As long as you hit these two key points, the other party wouldn't easily attack the player.

"Listen carefully, the first question…" After a few seconds, Congming'er directly began to recite the question, "One yin and one yang, one short and one long, one day and one night, combine to form a pair. This is…"

"’Ming’ (bright)," Feng Bujue blurted out the answer before the other party could even finish the question.

"Hmm…" Congming'er's expression (although he didn't have eyebrows, some changes could still be seen) changed slightly, "…You do have some skill."

"Hmph… Isn't that obvious?" Brother Jue had an indifferent look on his face, "Hurry up and ask the second question."

"Alright, I'll give you the first line of a couplet, you match it…" Congming'er cleared his throat and recited in alternating words from his two mouths, "Mountains and rivers, high and low, everywhere clear and beautiful."

"Ha! Hahahahaha…" Feng Bujue laughed for a while, then remained silent.

"What are you laughing at?" Congming'er asked, "Can't match it, using laughter to cover up your guilty conscience?"

"I can't match it? Ha!" Feng Bujue paced around the other party, "I, a great~ literary master, can't match this kind of couplet?" He snorted coldly, "I just think your couplet is laughably simple."

"Then match it!" Congming'er shouted.

"Match it then, I can just spout this kind of thing out~" Feng Bujue really did just spout it out, and he turned around and recited, "Shit and piss, big and small, always smelly and sticky."

At this moment… the whole world was shocked.

Congming'er, the NPC, was shocked. Gu Xiaoling, the teammate, was shocked. Miss An, the observer and Brother Jue's editor, was shocked. All the viewers watching the match were also shocked…

"This…" Congming'er was stunned for a long time, not knowing what to say.

"How is it? Such a perfectly matched, profound second line, you must have never seen anything like it in your life, right?" Seeing this, Feng Bujue added triumphantly.

"Hmm… this matching… is really perfect…" Congming'er muttered, "It's true that I've never seen anything like it…" As he said this, his tone began to reveal a feeling of being screwed over, "As for the artistic conception…"

"I doubt you can appreciate it," Feng Bujue interrupted before the other party could finish, "Your cultural cultivation and taste are too far apart from mine, you should go read a few more years of books before discussing artistic conception with me." After shamelessly saying this, he immediately changed the subject, "Now… let's talk about the third question."

"Alright…" Congming'er didn't want to talk about that couplet anymore. Anyway, as long as the second question was matched, it was considered a pass. So, he adjusted the expression on his face and then asked, "Listen carefully, please answer me… What is hell? And what is heaven?"

This third question was clearly a question about Chan philosophy.

Earlier, Congming'er described Miao Xuzi as "quick-witted, with outstanding literary talent, and well-versed in Chan philosophy," which was actually hinting to the players that the next three questions would be riddles, couplets, and Chan philosophy, respectively.

And such obvious hints had naturally already been seen through by Feng Bujue…

Pa—

Half a second later, before Congming'er could finish speaking, Brother Jue slapped him fiercely.

This sudden action stunned Congming'er. But after a brief daze, what followed was a burst of anger… In an instant, a tangible baleful aura bloomed from Congming'er's body, and it looked like he was about to attack.

However, in the next second, Feng Bujue recited in a very calm tone, "This… is hell."

As soon as he said this, Congming'er was stunned.

Then, Brother Jue took a step forward and smoothly pulled out [Bell's Everyday Knife] from his waist, grabbed the sky-high braid on top of Congming'er's head with one hand, and cut it off easily with the knife in the other hand.

For some reason, Congming'er didn't resist Feng Bujue's actions at all. He just stood there, watching Feng Bujue cut off his hair and then casually threw it away.

The black, taut strands of hair dissipated into the air on their own after leaving Brother Jue's palm, turning into wisps of black smoke. As the smoke dissipated, a cacophony of weeping seemed to faintly echo in the inter-layer of this fourth level.

At the same time, the baleful aura on Congming'er's body also disappeared with the black smoke, and his appearance quickly returned to the state of a normal human. In addition to the number and position of his facial features returning to normal, looking at the top of his head… the place that was originally covered by the base of the sky-high braid revealed six jiedian xiangba (precept-receiving incense scars).

"Amitabha…" Congming'er put his hands together, chanted a Buddhist prayer, and bowed deeply to Feng Bujue.

And Brother Jue was still as lazy and casual as ever, replying, "This… is heaven."

Congming'er nodded and continued, "Benefactor's wisdom is vast, and his realm transcends the mortal world. This little monk prostrates himself…" As he said this, his figure became blurred, "Thank you, benefactor, for your completion…"

"You're welcome~" Feng Bujue cupped his fists in salute, "Farewell forever."

After saying this, he turned his head and gave Xiao Ling a look, signaling the latter to follow.

As the two stepped onto the stairs leading to the fifth level, Xiao Ling couldn't help but look back, only to find that there was no one behind her…