They chirped and chattered, speaking in a ghostly language that Sangmo couldn't understand. Then, one by one, they reached into the iron cage, pushing the two people together.
Sangmo was pushed into the monk's embrace, her forehead slamming hard into his chest, making her grimace in pain, but the little ghosts kept pushing her.
"What are they trying to do?!" Sangmo yelled as she lifted her head, only to see the monk's face, which was flushed red. She then realized his body was alarmingly hot.
The monk was slightly bowing his head, the Nian Hu in his hand flipping rapidly.
"What's wrong with you?" Sangmo asked.
The monk didn't answer, but simply quickened the pace of his chanting.
Sangmo had never known the monk could chant so quickly, so fast that his chanting lips seemed to blur.
Yet his enunciation was still very clear.
Great, the lad must have gone mad.
The whole altar was bathed in a ghastly bluish-green hue under the illumination of ghost fire, with more and more ghosts swarming toward the iron cage.
At this critical juncture, an ethereal female voice suddenly rebuked from mid-air.
Seeing this, all the ghosts backed away from the cage.
Only then did the two of them breathe a sigh of relief. Sangmo looked up in the direction of the voice, only to see nothing but darkness overhead.
Sangmo turned to look at the monk again, his face was beet red, his forehead glistening with large beads of sweat, and veins faintly protruding.
"What's wrong with you?!" Sangmo feared he might suddenly collapse, having noticed since a moment ago that something was terribly wrong with the monk. His heartbeat was too fast, like a drum, and his body was very hot.
The monk shook his head, "It's nothing, this monk can resolve it himself."
Sangmo wanted to ask more, but that ethereal female voice spoke again, "Monk, you've been struck by my Love Potion. If you don't engage in pleasure soon, you will continue to suffer like this."
Love Potion?!
Suddenly, Sangmo understood why the monk's heart was racing and his face was flushed—it was the Love Potion!
But what the voice said about engaging in pleasure...
Could it be with herself?!
Sangmo was horror-struck and hastily pulled away from the monk.
The voice continued to tempt, "Open your eyes and look at the girl I've found for you. Not only does she have excellent spiritual roots, but she's also top-notch in her looks."
"The skin on her cheeks is so delicate it could be broken with a puff; just a little bit of pressure and it will turn red. Don't you want to see how her fair skin would redden under your touch?"
"She is indeed a virgin. Don't you want to explore this body?"
Hearing these words, Sangmo quickly hugged herself in fright.
"I assure you, I only consume pure Yang and Yin. You can take your time with this body, and let it mature. Trust me, the feeling is indescribable."
"Silence!!" The monk interrupted sharply, and after the voice did not continue, he turned to look at Sangmo again, "Please believe me, benefactor."
Sangmo tightly clutched her collar, nodded hurriedly in response to his words, and didn't forget to verbally threaten him, "I have been listed to be recruited by Changli Mountain, my father is Su Yuanliu from the aristocratic family of cultivators, and my fiancé is the Family Head of the Gu Family from the First Horse Field..."
But in reality, she had been thrown out by her dad, Gu Chao was a cripple himself, and now her spiritual power was sealed; she was a lamb to the slaughter.
The monk simply gave a letting-go smile, "Fine, if this monk behaves improperly towards you, then let your fiancé chop me to pieces, and ask your father to scatter my soul, so that I may be obliterated."
Sangmo felt like she was sitting on pins and needles. Yet at this moment, she was pushed again.
She fell into the monk's embrace once more, and just as she was trying to retreat, the ghosts surged in, pressing them tightly against each other again.
The scorching heat of the monk's body only intensified Sangmo's panic.
"This monk has been disrespectful," the monk's restrained voice came from above her head.
Sangmo felt as if she had fallen into an ice cellar and shouted loudly, "What are you going to do?!"
The monk chanted "Amitabha" with each breath, yet his hand reached towards his own collar.
Sangmo yelled in fright, "Don't mess around! You are a monk!"
The monk only murmured an apology, but his hands deftly pulled open his clothes.
Sangmo quickly covered her eyes with her hands, but the next second, she realized something was amiss.
The ghosts suddenly started screaming and scattered, those too slow turned into wisps of smoke and dissipated into the air.
Sangmo slowly spread her fingers apart and, through the gaps, she saw that the monk's robust body was covered in Sanskrit characters, like tattoos, which were now emitting a faint golden light.
She slowly moved her hands away from her face, and all the ghosts around her had dispersed.
The monk took two steps back, automatically increasing the distance from Sangmo.
"Benefactor, just think of me as a page of scripture," he said.
The atmosphere turned somewhat awkward for a moment as Sangmo chuckled and moved back to the edge of the cage.
"The scene just now could've been misunderstood by anyone..."
The monk bowed his head in a Buddhist salute. "This poor monk is glad not to have been chopped up by the benefactor's fiancé."
Sangmo couldn't help but laugh, "What is your name?"
The monk performed another Buddhist salute, "This monk's Dharma name is Guan Nan."
Just as the two of them felt relieved for surviving the ordeal, those little ghosts lit the incense around the altar.
The ethereal female voice sounded again, "Monk, try the taste of this Burning Fragrance."
Here we go again!
Both of them quickly covered their mouths and noses, but since people can't stop breathing forever, it wasn't long before Sangmo realized she'd been affected.
She pressed down on the base of her thumb, trying to keep herself alert, but the Burning Fragrance was too overpowering. Plus, those ghosts were burning incense like they were setting fire to a haystack, practically fumigating them as if they were rats.
Sangmo leaned on the iron cage, "Monk, what exactly did you do to provoke them?"
Guan Nan was already gasping for air. With his eyes half-closed, he said slowly, "Nothing, right after I left Wuxiang Country, I was targeted by demons and ghosts."
"One day, I encountered a farmer who begged me to conduct a ritual for his child. When I investigated, I found that the child had become a Red Fierce Ghost. To convert it, I first had to subdue it..."
Suddenly, there was silence. Sangmo opened her eyes to look at him, only to see Guan Nan's whole body had turned the color of a cooked crab, his well-defined abdomen with bulging veins.
At that moment, he was closing his eyes and reciting the Heart Clarity Spell.
Sangmo didn't dare to speak anymore and turned her head away, just hoping he could hold on a little longer.
But after only a pause long enough to recite the Pure Heart Technique three times, the monk began to speak again, "I chased the child's ghost into a barrier."
"Inside the barrier were all Infant Spirits. Through investigation, I found that the place used to be where people abandoned baby girls."
"The Infant Spirits inhabited the bodies of wild wolves and then returned to the village to carry off the boys from the homes."
"To convert all the Infant Spirits in the barrier, I had to meditate and chant the Miao Fa Lian Hua Jing for forty-nine days."
Sangmo couldn't help but interject, "And then you really closed off your senses and entered a meditative state in that kind of place?!"
The monk: "..."
There, as good as an admission.
Sangmo pursed her lips, "I don't know what to call you, stupid or pure of heart?"