113: The Night Banquet of the White-Bone Bodhisattva

Oak Tree City, Oak Tree Cathedral.

Abbott walked out of the confessional and strolled alone down the silent, long corridor.

During this period, the church's affairs were not running smoothly.

The upheaval within the Punishment Knights had caused some nobles in the city to become restless.

Even the payment of tithes had been significantly delayed, which greatly annoyed him.

He walked forward along the deep, quiet corridor.

The light of the setting sun streamed through the high stained-glass windows, casting mottled shadows on the smooth stone floor.

When he reached the empty prayer hall, his steps involuntarily halted.

A slender, graceful figure stood silently beneath the enormous statue of the Lord of Radiance, seemingly praying in silence.

Abbott slowly walked over.

Celestine turned around, her clear eyes quietly looking at him.

"Lord Abbott, it's time for evening prayers."

Her voice was soft, carrying a strange charm.

Abbott paused slightly, an indescribable sense of unease rising in his heart.

His gaze fell upon Celestine.

Golden wavy hair cascaded over her shoulders, and a silver-white nun's habit clung to her body, outlining an alluring figure.

Her holy and pure face was utterly flawless.

The light of the setting sun streamed down from the stained-glass windows above the cathedral, casting a soft golden glow around her graceful figure.

A surge of desire instantly rose from his lower abdomen, dispelling the strange feeling in his heart.

"Yes, it's time for evening prayers."

Abbott's face showed a subtle smile.

"Tonight, what kind of program should we prepare...?"

...

Deep within the cathedral, in a dim prayer room.

The heavy wooden door slowly closed, cutting off all light and sound from the outside.

Several figures in platinum-white robes stood casually around the room.

White candles were lit, and the entire room flickered with light and shadow, exuding a mysterious aura.

"Lord Abbott, with so many matters recently, it's finally time to relax."

"Since Knight Captain Tyr's incident, everyone's pressure has increased quite a bit."

"Work-life balance, as loyal servants of Our Lord, we should pay attention to our physical and mental health..."

The few people conversed with each other.

Their words carried an unspoken ambiguity.

At this moment, Celestine slowly emerged from the deepest shadows of the prayer room.

She was still wearing her silver-white nun's habit, but on her fair wrists and ankles, there were several exquisite white bone bells.

As she moved, they produced a series of clear and pleasant sounds.

She surveyed everyone in the room, a pure smile on her face.

"My Lords, let me dance for you."

Celestine began to dance in the center of the prayer room.

The faces of the several high-ranking church officials in the room were filled with undisguised lewd smiles, their gazes greedily appreciating her captivating figure.

Their faces gradually flushed, and their breathing became heavy.

"Ding-a-ling... Ding-a-ling..."

However, as the clear bell sounds rang out,

Celestine's dance gradually became more and more sinister.

Her slender, long arms intertwined and weaved in a bizarre manner, full of an eerie beauty.

In the air, faint whispers gradually arose, and strange chanting sounds began to echo from an unknown source.

"This is..."

Soon, on the faces of the several high-ranking church officials,

The subtle smiles gradually froze, revealing struggling and bewildered expressions.

"Thump..."

One of the high-ranking officials slowly knelt down.

His expression was frenzied, and he crawled towards Celestine on all fours, madly pursuing her graceful figure.

"Thump... Thump..."

Gradually,

The struggle on the faces of the others completely faded, leaving only fanaticism and bewilderment.

They all knelt on the ground and began to crawl towards Celestine's figure.

"Crack... Crack..."

Along the way, their bodies began to twist in an inhuman manner.

The sound of breaking joints was particularly eerie in the quiet prayer room.

Yet, their faces showed no pain, but instead were filled with extreme pleasure.

The limbs of these people bent, intertwined, and overlapped with each other,

Like birds building a nest, forming a bizarre lotus platform made of flesh and limbs in the center of the prayer room.

In the room, only Abbott remained.

He stood in place, his expression incredibly conflicted, the platinum-white Holy Light in his eyes flickering on and off.

Gradually, his body trembled, and he slowly half-knelt and half-crawled on the ground, moving towards Celestine.

Celestine gently sat upon the human lotus platform.

She raised one leg and, with her flawless bare foot, gently lifted Abbott's chin.

"Hehehe..."

She let out a joyful laugh.

One side of her face was flushed with extreme frenzy, while the other side was as calm and compassionate as a deity.

After an unknown amount of time,

Abbott suddenly woke up.

He found himself, at some point, kneeling before Celestine.

And the familiar faces of the church's high-ranking officials were all twisted into extreme postures, intertwined beneath Celestine, forming a disgusting nest of limbs.

"Ah!!!"

He suddenly recoiled.

He crawled backward a few steps on all fours, his back heavily hitting a group of people.

Abbott looked back.

At some point, the prayer room was already packed with people.

Almost all the deacons of the Oak Tree Cathedral were there.

Every person's face bore an expression of extreme infatuation.

"Evil demon! Evil demon!"

Abbott's expression showed shock and anger.

A thick, platinum-white book suddenly appeared in his hand.

The pages rustled, turning by themselves, emitting a holy glow.

He was about to begin praying and unleash a divine spell.

Just then, all the deacons in the room,

Including the grotesquely intertwined human bodies beneath Celestine, began to softly chant a strange scripture.

"One should observe one's body as a skeleton, making it extremely pure, allowing the head to fall into the hip bones."

"Clarify the mind in one place, making it extremely distinct."

"Once this thought is complete, observe the four sides of the body, all around, and there are skeletal figures everywhere."

"...Until one sees immeasurable and boundless skeletal figures, scattered and intertwined, some large or small, some broken or complete."

"...Having observed this thoroughly, one should contemplate, where am I, and where are others, among these scattered and intertwined bones?"

"At that time, the practitioner, contemplating non-self, feels at ease in body and mind, peaceful and joyful."

Pale white flames silently ignited on everyone in the room.

Their flesh and blood rapidly melted in the flames, turning into glistening white bones.

Those white bones twisted in the flames, intertwining and merging.

A strange aura of joy and pain, filth and sanctity,

Reached its peak at this moment, completely filling the entire prayer room.

"Merciful Radiance... White bones..."

Abbott's prayer words became fragmented.

"Lord... Observe the four sides of the body... There are skeletal figures everywhere..."

Unconsciously,

The words he recited had already become completely identical to the strange scriptures in the room.

Abbott's expression grew increasingly terrified, yet the scripture he recited became more complete and fluent.

Finally, the terrified expression on his face slowly faded, becoming utterly fanatical.

"One should observe one's body as a skeleton..."

He chanted loudly.

Pale flames also burned on his body, his flesh and blood rapidly dissolving.

"Crack... Crack..."

He transformed into a skeleton, and in a bizarre posture,

He voluntarily crawled into the white bone lotus platform, becoming a part of it.

...

"Creak..."

The wooden door of the prayer room slowly opened.

All the high-ranking officials and deacons of the Oak Tree Cathedral had vanished without a trace.

Celestine walked out calmly, holding a white bone scroll in her hand.

She gently unrolled it.

On the scroll, there was a White Bone Bodhisattva with a compassionate yet demonic expression.

Surrounding it were countless intertwined white bones, creating a scene full of evil, absurdity, and extreme bliss.

The White Bone Bodhisattva Blissful Night Feast Painting.

This was a core Magical Artifact she had carefully selected from the White Bone Bodhisattva World-Destroying Heart Sutra.

It was also the prototype of her future Lifebound Treasure.

Celestine slowly raised her head.

In her eyes, burning with white bone holy fire,

Above the cathedral, threads of incense power flowed in from all directions, converging into the deepest part of the cathedral.

She slowly made a gesture with her hand.

A small portion of the incense power flowing into the depths of the cathedral slowly flowed into her body.

The white bone holy fire on her body flared up, becoming even more intense.

Celestine looked towards the depths of the cathedral.

Feeling the vast incense power accumulated for a thousand years, like an abyss or a sea, a greedy expression appeared in her eyes.

Suddenly, deep within the cathedral.

Several dormant auras subtly began to fluctuate.

Celestine abruptly cut off her pilfering of the incense power.

She could sense that deep within the countless incense powers, more than a dozen incredibly condensed Holy Light auras were sleeping.

Those were the more than a dozen reclusive Cultivators who had been practicing in seclusion in the cathedral for years.

Celestine extended her crimson tongue and lightly licked her flawless lips.

"Let's take it slow."

"One by one..."

In the Void Realm around her, countless skeletal figures flickered into and out of existence, performing a graceful yet eerie dance around her.