Chapter 284
Chapter 284
To be honest, when I saw what looked like Buddhist radiance flare up to the southwest, a flicker of fear ran through me.
I should have charged toward Xiaoyingkou without hesitation, just as Zhao Zixun had.
But I froze for a moment.
I remembered what Liu Junyan had said about his second trump card.
He had claimed he could draw the Great Lama out of hiding in the Ancient Battlefield.
Fang Chuanzong had tried to press him for details at the time, but Liu Junyan had refused to explain.
I, however, had a vague guess.
This was not Liu Junyan’s first clash with the Great Lama.
At Niuhu Mountain, Liu Junyan and Hu Yulin had joined forces to defeat the Great Lama, sending him fleeing in disgrace.
The forces in Chang City’s Ancient Battlefield were far stronger than those at Niuhu Mountain, but anyone would be more cautious when facing an opponent who had defeated them before.
Liu Junyan’s presence alone placed tremendous pressure on the Great Lama.
Yet he had said he possessed a way to lure the Great Lama out.
That meant his trump card had to be something the Great Lama could not resist.
What did Liu Junyan have that could entice him so strongly? Other than the Golden Scale, what else was there?
Only one thing came to mind — Buddha nature.
The Great Lama came from Tibetan Buddhism. He had originally entered the secular world as an eminent monk undertaking the Worldly Pilgrimage.
If Liu Junyan had something capable of drawing him out, it had to be those same two words: Worldly Pilgrimage.
Liu Junyan clearly had not reached that stage yet, but someone in the Pawnshop once had.
I closed my eyes and drew a long breath, doing my best to suppress the unease in my heart. Then I turned to Fang Chuanzong and said, “Elder Fang, someone still needs to guard these foothills. If fighting breaks out over there, they might try to escape this way. I’ll have to trouble you and the major sects to hold this area.”
Every one of the major sects wanted to go to Xiaoyingkou and witness what happened with their own eyes.
However, the pill poison inside them had only been temporarily suppressed. Once they entered combat, it would flare up again.
By saying this, I was giving them an excuse to stay behind without losing face.
How could Fang Chuanzong fail to appreciate the gesture?
He nodded repeatedly and promised, “We’ll make sure the rear is secure. Shopkeeper Xiao Jiu, be careful!”
I nodded. Without any further hesitation, Hui Yumo and I raced toward Xiaoyingkou.
Whether my guess was right or wrong, no matter how uneasy I felt, I had to go.
I would always stand firmly at Liu Junyan’s side, no matter what choice he made.
Xiaoyingkou was some distance away. As we hurried there and passed along the side of the mountain, we ran into Zhao Zixun at its base.
In the darkness, he sat erect atop his warhorse, head raised as he surveyed the entire mountain. His figure blended into the shadows, while his horse snorted and pawed anxiously at the ground with its right forehoof.
I followed Zhao Zixun’s gaze and was instantly stunned as well.
Earlier, we had been far away in the mountain hollow, where the lower terrain allowed us to see nothing but a wash of golden light.
Now that we were looking from the side, the view was much clearer.
The mountain range was filled with peaks of varying heights, rising in staggered layers.
Among them was a peak that was neither tall nor large. Tucked inconspicuously amid the others, it would normally have drawn no attention at all.
But when the golden light blazed to life, the summit became clearly visible — and it looked exactly like a Buddha Head!
The Buddha Head’s eyes were closed, its face filled with compassion. Boundless rays of light streamed from behind it, offering salvation to all things around it.
Hui Yumo exclaimed, “It’s actually a Buddha Head! Such powerful Buddhist radiance… Could there be a true Buddha inside this mountain?”
“No. There isn’t a true Buddha here. They’re trying to create one,” I said. “They originally planned to use Liu Junyan’s Golden Scale to create a Dragon vein, draw it into this mountain range in the Ancient Battlefield, and then create a true Buddha along with heavenly soldiers and divine generals.”
Hui Yumo clicked her tongue. “In their dreams!”
“Now that we’ve recovered the Golden Scale and killed the Corpse Fiend, we’ve cut their strength in half,” I said. “But the Three-Eyed Toad enters its Tribulation Period tonight. If it manages to Undergo a Tribulation successfully, the third eye on its forehead will open. Once it does, I suspect the eyes on this Buddha Head will open as well. Then we’ll really be in trouble!”
This Buddha Head corresponded to the Three-Eyed Toad.
If the Three-Eyed Toad managed to Undergo a Tribulation successfully, whether the eye that opened was one of the Buddha Eyes or a Demonic Eye, either one would possess power far beyond our ability to withstand.
I even suspected that if what opened was a Demonic Eye, they would still have a way to turn that eye into one of the Buddha Eyes.
So there was only one thing we could do now: kill the Three-Eyed Toad before it had a chance to Undergo a Tribulation!
This was the safest and most permanent solution.
I glanced at Zhao Zixun and finally understood why he had remained here instead of continuing onward.
No matter how powerful he was, he was still one of the Ghost Generals, and his warhorse shared the same ghostly nature.
He feared neither humans nor Ghost Soldiers, but a true Buddha held a fatally suppressive power over him.
I walked over and said sincerely, “General Zhao, thank you for helping us this time. Liu Junyan can handle the rest of the journey himself. Please return to Wufu Town and help guard the Pawnshop and the Zhu Pan River.”
With such a massive disturbance in the upper reaches, the lower reaches of the Zhu Pan River were bound to be anything but peaceful.
At the very least, Zhao Zixun could keep the Ghost Soldiers in the Zhu Pan River under control.
Zhao Zixun dismounted, walked up to me with the Mojin Talisman in hand, and held it out to me.
I shook my head. “The Mojin Talisman can’t fulfill its true purpose in my hands. You’re the one who should be its rightful owner.”
Zhao Zixun thought it over.
The Coffin Nail between his brows had loosened considerably, and much of his ability to think and speak had returned.
He was perhaps still a little slow, that was all.
After a moment, he nodded and put away the Mojin Talisman. He cupped his fists and bowed to me, then mounted his horse and galloped away along the Riverside.
Watching his receding figure, I actually felt a little more at ease.
“Is his chest really all right? There’s such a huge hole in it,” Hui Yumo asked worriedly.
I reassured her, “He’ll be fine. There’s a Ghost Soldier Formation in the Zhu Pan River, making it excellent Corpse-Nurturing ground. Once he returns and recuperates there for a while, he’ll make a full recovery.”
I’d sliced off that warhorse’s hooves back then, hadn’t I? It had still managed to recover afterward.
It was as good as new.
Hui Yumo murmured in acknowledgment, then asked, “Sis, shouldn’t that Ghost Soldier Talisman… be returned to the organization? You gave it to General Zhao without permission. Won’t that cause trouble?”
“Explaining it to the organization is Elder Fang’s problem.” I gave her a sly smile. “I’d be an idiot not to give it away.”
Hui Yumo immediately caught my meaning and gave me a thumbs-up. “Sis, you’re so bold!”
It was such a valuable treasure. If I didn’t give it to Zhao Zixun, was I supposed to keep it until the organization demanded it back and locked it away to gather dust?
Or let them hand it to some Gold-Touching Captain who only knew theory and had no practical experience?
That would be an outrageous waste!
As for Fang Chuanzong, I was sure he knew how to pull enough strings to smooth things over.
I might have been generous with someone else’s property this time, but I believed Zhao Zixun deserved it!
Besides, after fighting this battle together, we’d reestablished our relationship with Fang Chuanzong’s side. There would be plenty of give-and-take between us in the future, so a favor like this was nothing worth fussing over.
Zhao Zixun had gained sentience. He had thoughts of his own, and he was on our side.
With him guarding the Zhu Pan River, the river would remain peaceful.
And as long as the Zhu Pan River remained peaceful, neither Wufu Town nor even Huicheng would descend into chaos.
That left us with no worries on the home front.
And since we had nothing left to worry about, we might as well risk everything.
Buddha Head or demon head, heavenly soldiers or divine generals — if a Buddha stood in our way, we’d slay the Buddha; if a demon blocked our path, we’d kill the demon!