Chapter 159
Chapter 159
In the Tibetan Region, the Dalai Lama lineage was passed down through the Living Buddha reincarnation system.
Before each Living Buddha passed away, he would divine the location of his next reincarnation. After his death, his followers would follow the direction he had divined to find the reincarnated child.
But what if, just as Liu Junyan had said, the current Living Buddha was about to pass away, yet no matter what he tried, he couldn’t divine where he would be reincarnated?
It would be an utter catastrophe.
There were many possible reasons for such a failure, but they essentially boiled down to two.
First, the current Living Buddha might lack sufficient spiritual power.
In theory, after an entire lifetime of cultivation, that shouldn’t happen. But what if he had suffered some grievous injury before his death?
The second possibility was that the current Living Buddha had moral failings. He might have committed some act that violated the Heavenly Dao and would therefore not reincarnate.
Whichever the case, what would happen if a powerful surge of Dragon Aura were poured into his body at that moment?
Then divination and reincarnation would be moot. He might even live for another century.
Right!
Perhaps there was a third possibility. What if the Living Buddha hadn’t actually reached the end of his life at all? What if he simply didn’t want to die and was searching for a way to extend his lifespan?
What Buddha nature could such a man possibly possess?
He would be nothing but an Evil Monk through and through.
Liu Junyan had previously asked Hui Moqiong to investigate whether there was a Dragon vein here. The final conclusion had been that there wasn’t.
Since there was no Dragon vein here, no one knew where the Dragon Aura beneath the Dragon-Locking Formation had come from.
But as long as it remained, the Qiongqi Evil Formation could not run rampant.
Perhaps someone had locked this Dragon Aura here in the first place precisely to suppress the Qiongqi Evil Formation.
But who could that person have been?
Once this Dragon Aura was completely stolen, the peace of recent years would be shattered. The surrounding area would be plunged into widespread death and devastation.
Liu Junyan’s words must have struck the heart of the matter, because the man’s face instantly filled with murderous intent.
The prayer wheel in his hand suddenly began spinning in a steady rhythm. Rapid chanting filled the air, and a burst of golden light erupted from the top of the wheel, swiftly enveloping the Fake Ascetic Monk.
Liu Junyan and I exchanged a glance. We had both noticed that the Fake Ascetic Monk had actually set the Golden Scale into the top of the prayer wheel.
Scriptures were carved into the wheel, and each full revolution was equivalent to reciting them once.
Empowered by the Golden Scale’s Merit, there was no telling how many times the spiritual power of those recitations had been amplified.
Hah. So much for being an Ascetic Monk.
He certainly seemed to be enjoying every shortcut cultivation had to offer.
Liu Junyan curled an arm around my shoulders and said under his breath, “I didn’t want this to turn into an all-out fight, but it seems we have no choice now. Xiao Jiu, find an opportunity to get Guo Zhen out of here first. If you can, tell Moqiong to retreat. Leave the rest to me.”
His hand tightened, giving my shoulder a squeeze before he released me. He took a step forward and shielded me behind him.
“Don’t resist Hu Yulin. He’ll be able to help when it matters.”
Only then did I remember that Hu Yulin had joined the fight earlier. Where was he now?
The fact that Liu Junyan had said that meant Hu Yulin hadn’t fled when the battle began.
Could it be… they still had an ace up their sleeves?
That thought put me slightly more at ease.
This wasn’t the time to let my emotions dictate my actions. I wasn’t the main force in this fight. The best thing I could do was remove Liu Junyan’s worries, and right now, getting Guo Zhen out safely came first.
Guo Zhen had already passed out. Curled up in the corner, she was a pitiful sight.
The prayer wheel’s whirring rang out once more. I heard Liu Junyan give a cold laugh.
“Using what’s mine against me? Don’t you think you’re being a little naive?”
I glanced back and saw that Liu Junyan was already forming hand seals.
The pieces of Golden Scale had belonged to Liu Junyan from the start. They were embedded in his Lifebound Artifact and had recognized him as their master.
Recovering the pieces of Golden Scale might take some effort, but it certainly wouldn’t be too difficult.
The difficult part was recovering the pieces of Golden Scale while extracting the Dragon Aura sealed beneath the Formation and keeping the Qiongqi Formation suppressed at the same time.
I propped up the unconscious Guo Zhen and pressed hard on the spot beneath her nose until she woke.
When Guo Zhen came to this time, she was still panicked, but her eyes were clear. Her soul had stabilized.
I held her hand tightly and told her that when the time came, all she had to do was follow me.
Guo Zhen nodded repeatedly and hid behind me, too frightened even to look around.
As the prayer wheel turned and the Fake Ascetic Monk chanted sutras and mantras without pause, countless golden scripture characters scattered throughout the meditation chamber. Yet in the next instant, they dimmed and vanished in the blink of an eye.
After this happened several times, the Fake Ascetic Monk began to panic. He looked at the piece of Golden Scale embedded at the top of the prayer wheel, then at Liu Junyan, and exclaimed, “How is this possible? Could you really be the master of this piece of Golden Scale?”
“Why don’t we test it and find out?”
Liu Junyan abruptly changed his hand seal, curling his five fingers toward his palm. Following his movement, the prayer wheel in the Fake Ascetic Monk’s hand began spinning out of control. It turned clockwise several times, then counterclockwise several times, and the energy around them shifted abruptly.
Prayer wheels were not meant to be spun at random. Ordinarily, a handheld prayer wheel like the one the Fake Ascetic Monk was using had to be held in the right hand and spun clockwise, regardless of its size. Turning it counterclockwise symbolized defying the proper order and violating the rules.
That was a mistake no practitioner was ever permitted to make.
But now the prayer wheel had gone completely haywire, spinning back and forth with no control whatsoever. The Fake Ascetic Monk immediately lost his composure.
At that moment, Liu Junyan launched a palm strike at him. Flustered, the Fake Ascetic Monk met the attack with all his strength, leaving him no attention to spare for anything else.
Seizing the opportunity, I pulled Guo Zhen out of the meditation chamber through the other side.
The fight continued behind us as I dragged Guo Zhen toward the Temple gates.
But the moment I stepped into the main hall, I sensed something dark and sinister permeating the entire place, as though a pair of eyes had been watching us the whole time.
Guo Zhen reacted even worse. Her entire body trembled, and her legs shook so violently that she couldn’t take another step.
I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her tightly against me, trying to ease her fear.
Holding Guo Zhen close, I scanned our surroundings.
I found nothing amiss until my gaze landed on the Buddha statue in the center of the hall.
It was a massive Buddha. Even seated cross-legged, it stood one and a half times as tall as a person. Its Buddha Eyes should have been filled with compassion, but instead, two scarlet eyes, each as large as a Copper Bell, stared unblinkingly at Guo Zhen and me.
Meeting those eyes without warning sent a shudder through me.
I instinctively covered Guo Zhen’s eyes and hurried her toward the doors.
The walls around the Temple were extremely high. If I wanted to get Guo Zhen out, we had no choice but to pass through the main hall.
But before we could cross its high threshold, the heavy doors swung inward and began closing on their own.
If I had been alone, I could have vaulted through in time, but there was no way I could manage it with Guo Zhen in tow.
At that very moment, I clearly sensed the massive Buddha behind me move.
Its clay body cracked apart and fell away in chunks. Then a blast of hot, foul-smelling breath swept toward us…