Xinci Temple.

In the hall.

Li Xuan turned around and looked at the mirror.

In the mirror, he distinctly appeared as the previous "Headless Buddha".

Rose also jumped in fright, and whispered, "Young master?"

Li Xuan responded.

Only then did Rose pat her chest and let out a sigh of relief.

Li Xuan pondered for a moment and suddenly called out, "Mother."

Rose: ...

The next instant, she reacted and responded, "Yes."

Li Xuan asked, "Mother, have you had lunch?"

Rose said oddly, "I’ve had it."

Li Xuan said, "It’s spring cold now, mother should wear more clothes, don’t catch a cold."

Rose said, "Got it."

Li Xuan continued his nagging.

Rose responded to each one.

Between the two, it was a scene of maternal kindness and filial piety.

Before coming, Li Xuan had carefully asked how the previous "Corpse-eating Rat interacted with Rose daily." At that moment, he was merely reenacting a scene.

Later, for more than half a day, he continued the daily interactions with Rose.

He remembered that the Corpse-eating Rat said, "It knows how to eat the meat of the Peacock Great Ming Monarch," and wanted Li Xuan to spare it with this secret. But in that situation, Li Xuan couldn’t possibly let it go.

Thus, the question of "how to eat the meat" became a puzzle.

Of course, Li Xuan didn’t necessarily have to eat the Peacock Great Ming Monarch’s meat. But he was clear in his mind, firstly, the Peacock Great Ming Monarch is the Peacock Great Ming Monarch, and Rose is Rose; the two are not necessarily equal. Secondly, eating the Peacock Great Ming Monarch’s meat doesn’t necessarily affect Rose. Thirdly, even if you decide not to eat the Peacock Great Ming Monarch’s meat, you should at least understand how to eat it, what could happen, and what meaning it represents.

"Eating meat" was Li Xuan’s guide to exploring the "Incense Fire Divine Realm".

He didn’t know how to eat it, so he could only investigate the anomalies of the Corpse-eating Rat.

And this anomaly was the daily life shared between the Corpse-eating Rat and Rose.

The reason was simple.

Think about it, the Corpse-eating Rat is not a Buddha, yet it still served Rose as "mother." If you say it had no purpose or reason, no fool would believe it.

Therefore, Li Xuan planned to perform this scene.

He tasted the sweetness of incense fire and felt its necessity, compelled by circumstances and his own needs, he had no choice but to act.

Li Xuan was very serious about what he did; even when acting, he performed with immersion.

Essentially, he imagined Rose as his mother and threw all previous disrespectful thoughts out of his mind.

In doing so, by evening, Li Xuan felt a sensation coming.

He began to feel itchy.

His neck felt itchy.

He started to feel a strong discomfort: lacking a head on his neck, and the severed part seemed unable to heal, continuously causing a soul-deep itch.

He needed a head and wanted to remove one and attach it to his neck.

The surrounding incense fire was dense; with just a thought, he could transform it into a tentacle, selecting the head he wanted from the surroundings. He could just move it lightly and the head would vanish from another’s neck and land on his own.

Li Xuan forcefully suppressed this thought, and with a sharp mindshift, hastily removed the waxy incense oil from his surroundings, putting it back in the bottle, then frantically scratched at his neck with both hands.

Even though the surroundings were clearly a tranquil scene of ancient lamps with Buddha statues and incense smoke curling, to him it appeared chaotic beyond measure, and the vision shifted into a vibrantly colorful world from the dark-toned serene zen room.

He also heard booming sounds, like many people outside yelling and laughing, chanting and praying, or like his heart thumping crazily, pumping madly, inducing an ear-ringing sensation like that caused by high blood pressure.

Iss~ Iss~ Iss!

He applied more force in scratching his neck.

Though he now had a head, the itchiness didn’t dissipate.

"My son, what is wrong with you?" Rose continued to uphold her Buddha Mother persona and asked with concern.

As soon as she spoke, Li Xuan felt itchier, as if his bones also started to itch.

He suddenly lunged over, pushed Rose down, straddling her, and said: "No more acting! No more acting!"

With just that shout, breaking the original "mother-son relationship," the itchiness on his neck suddenly stopped and began to gradually dissipate.

Li Xuan sat quietly, feeling the retreat of this bizarre itchiness like a wave of poison.

He took several deep breaths, slightly tilted his head to find his neck scratched into bleeding, as if this body instinctively believed "his head wasn’t fit to be the head of Headless Buddha."

He gasped in fear, even his hair was wet, like it had just been rained on.

The chaotic scene, sounds around him all calmed down.

The incense quietly burned, the outlines of furniture and incense tools in the zen room becoming clear.

A stark contrast between before and after, like comparing clouds to mud.

Rose felt the weight on her body, gently tugged at the waistband, revealed white flesh.

As more was about to be exposed, Li Xuan abruptly grabbed hold.

Rose pouted and said, "Weren’t you done acting? If you’re done acting, you’re my young master, I’m your maid. You’re male, I’m female. Why don’t you sleep with me?"

For some reason, with this language that reversed the "Buddha Mother and Buddha" relationship so thoroughly, Li Xuan’s itchiness almost disappeared completely.

He couldn’t bother to reply, adjusting Rose’s pants while pondering.

Rose, irritatedly, attempted to remove his pants, murmuring, "Has young master abandoned me after all this time?"

Li Xuan grabbed her hand.

Rose huffed angrily.

Li Xuan chuckled and said, "Don’t you feel I was acting so oddly and frighteningly just now?"