Chapter 287
Chapter 287
The first bolt of lightning came down straight at Buddha Head.
The instant it struck, a dazzling golden radiance erupted, turning the entire area as bright as day.
The lightning’s blood-red glow was swiftly swallowed by that radiant Buddha light.
So that was it.
Buddha Head existed to shield the Three-Eyed Toad from its Heavenly Tribulation.
If the Golden Scale had not been brought back, then once the section of the Dragon vein beneath the burial pit had formed and channeled the Dragon vein into the Ancient Battlefield, all the spiritual energy within the Dragon vein would ultimately have been drawn into the peak of Buddha Head Mountain.
But why did the Great Lama value the Three-Eyed Toad so highly?
What was so special about it?
The Great Lama prized it, and Mao Jingxuan had risked his life for it.
Yet if it was so important, why had it been dug up when Qiu Fengnian’s father was buried?
At that thought, a question suddenly occurred to me… What had the Three-Eyed Toad done after it was dug out?
It had nearly drained the accumulated fortune of several generations of the Qiu Family and almost wiped out the entire family.
And the Qiu Family was home to Chang City’s Richest Man!
It was no exaggeration to say that the Qiu Family controlled nearly half of all the fortune in Chang City!
Once the Qiu Family was wiped out, there would be another “Qiu Family,” and then another after that…
So what the Great Lama wanted was to use the fortune of all Chang City to ensure that the Three-Eyed Toad could safely Undergo a Tribulation this time!
It was nothing but a beast. What right did it have?!
Crack!
As these thoughts raced through my mind, another thunderclap exploded overhead.
This time, when the accompanying bolt of lightning struck Buddha Head, no golden radiance erupted.
The instant the lightning sank into Buddha Head, every sound and every trace of light vanished.
The entire world fell into darkness.
Even the raindrops striking my body were utterly silent.
It felt as though someone had flipped a switch and muted the entire universe.
But it lasted no more than three to five seconds.
In the next instant, the ground seemed to become electrified. Streaks of lightning-bright radiance converged on Buddha Head from every direction.
Countless arcs of lightning connected to its center.
The moment Buddha Head lit up again, I saw someone standing on top of it!
It was a monk, his entire body covered with one Golden Copper Coin after another. One palm was held upright before his chest, while his other hand clasped Prayer Beads. Leaning slightly forward, he prayed with devout reverence…
For a moment, I could not even tell who he was.
Was it Liu Junyan?
The Copper-Coin Figure?
Or Liu Xingyi?
At that moment, I found myself almost grateful that Bai Songlan had already left.
If she had seen this, she would have completely lost her mind!
Thunder rumbled endlessly through the clouds. The heavenly lightning was not over yet, and the Three-Eyed Toad had not made it all the way through its Calamity.
It was as if someone had pressed pause on the heavenly lightning, leaving it to slowly gather strength within the clouds.
What was happening?
I had a vague feeling that something else had changed, but what was it?
No!
This was far too strange.
The Three-Eyed Toad’s current Calamity was severe. There was no doubt about that.
But two bolts of heavenly lightning had already struck in succession. Even if there were more to come, they should not be more powerful than the first two.
And even if the next one was stronger, it should not need to gather power like this.
From the way things looked, this seemed less like the Three-Eyed Toad was about to open its eye and more like it was going to achieve Ascension on the spot and become a true Buddha.
No. I could not wait any longer. I needed to find someone to discuss this with.
My previous arrangements had all been aimed at the Three-Eyed Toad, but they clearly were not enough anymore.
With the Soul-Guiding Lantern in hand, I was about to go find Hui Moqiong when the boundary at Xiaoyingkou… suddenly opened on its own.
And I could sense that it was not only the boundary at Xiaoyingkou. The one over at the Ancient Battlefield had opened at the same time.
That was when I heard hurried footsteps converging on me.
Before long, Hui Yumo, Hui Xiaotiao, and Fang Chuanzong’s Senior Sister, Fang Luo, arrived at my side almost simultaneously.
Every one of them looked grim.
Fang Luo spoke first. “The barrier around the Ancient Battlefield has been removed, and we can’t sense any baleful yin energy. It’s too strange.”
Hui Xiaotiao said, “The rain is falling into the river without making so much as a ripple. It feels as though every creature beneath the surface suddenly vanished without a trace.”
Hui Yumo nodded. “It was the same on my side.”
Just as I’d suspected.
Hui Moqiong was the last to arrive. Although he was drenched in rain, I could still make out the beads of sweat on his face.
He wiped his face, and when he looked at me, he seemed almost ready to cry.
The sight of him made my heart pound wildly.
My voice trembled as I asked, “What happened?”
“Xiao Jiu’er, this time… this time, Seventh Master may really have lost control of the situation.”
Hui Moqiong had never sounded so uncertain. It was the first time I had ever seen him like this.
He pointed toward the distant villages and towns, and we all turned to look in that direction.
We could see nothing in the darkness.
But none of us spoke again.
No one asked Hui Moqiong what had happened.
Because we all knew that a great upheaval… had already arrived without a sound.
The rain was still falling.
The raindrops that had seemed muted moments ago now struck our bodies with an audible patter.
Amid the sound of the rain, sutra chanting suddenly rose from the direction of the Buddha Head.
The chanting spread steadily outward from the Buddha Head.
It radiated in widening rings.
Past the stone marker at Xiaoyingkou.
Across the river.
Beneath our feet.
And onward, seeping toward the villages and towns farther away…
Hui Moqiong gazed at the figure above the Buddha Head — a silhouette both familiar and strange to us — and murmured, “He’s still such a fool!”
“He was just as foolish back then!”
“He thought that by surrendering himself to evil and venturing deep into danger, he could turn the tide all by himself. But in the end, he failed.”
“He failed last time. And this time…”
“This time, he has us!”
I cut Hui Moqiong off and repeated firmly, “This time, he has us! We won’t let him lose!”
Hui Moqiong said despondently, “Xiao Jiu’er, we may… have already lost.”
As he spoke, he raised a hand and pointed toward the distant settlements.
That direction was still pitch-black.
There was still nothing there.
There was nothing but darkness before our eyes.
Nothing but sutra chanting in our ears.
But soon, we heard footsteps.
Large and small, heavy and light, staggering and unsteady…
“They… have come…” Hui Moqiong whispered in despair.
A faint light tore through the layers of darkness.
A little girl carrying a white lantern was the first to step into view.
She came wading through the water.
The surging river rose nearly to her waist, but she showed no fear. She simply continued forward, one step at a time.
Then we saw a second child behind her — a boy.
He, too, carried a lantern. It was also white.
Then came a third, a fourth, a fifth…
Child after child, each carrying a white lantern, stepped through the river and slowly made their way toward Xiaoyingkou.
They followed one after another, each child resting one small hand on the shoulder of the child ahead while holding their lantern high with the other, forming a single line.
The raised lanterns snaked endlessly into the distance, gradually disappearing into the darkness where it met the river. They looked just like… a White Dragon about to emerge from the water…