Chapter 615: An Eminent Monk
Translator: StackThatCoin Editor: Hitesh_
Cultivators of the Buddhist League!
Wu Qi looked at those monks across the distance while frowning. He had dealt with Arhat Bao Sheng and some other monks before, and he knew that these monks only appeared when there were profits to loot. Their temples were situated in outer heavenly realms, and just like the Immortals, cultivators of the Buddhist League were heavily suppressed on Pangu Continent by Great Yu.
Now, with a great war going on between Myriad Immortal Alliance and Great Yu, the appearance of these monks gave Wu Qi a fishy feeling. Exercising his Chaotic Divine Eyes and looking at the power of faith that slowly rose into the sky, he grinned coldly.
Walking among the people who knelt on the ground, those monks kept chanting with pale golden Buddhist light radiating out of their bodies. The wounds on the common people's bodies quickly healed up when the light touched them, and their depleted energy was instantly refilled. The feeling of sadness, grief, confusion, and numbness had melted away from their hearts, leaving them with a peaceful mind. It was as if they had come to the paradise and no longer had to suffer the pain of reincarnation.
In a moment, hundreds of thousands of people dropped to their knees and kept chanting along with those monks. A great mass of pure power of faith gushed out of them and flowing into the monks' bodies, transformed into pure power of Buddha while making the halos behind their heads more condensed. Of all the Buddhist power, seventy percent remained in their bodies, while the rest turned into a golden light that was invisible to the naked eyes and quickly vanished into the sky.
Wu Qi felt a vast, mysterious, and dreadful power cover the entire sky above Pangu Continent. He glanced about with Chaotic Divine Eyes, bringing all the changes of aura within a hundred billion miles into his eyes. In fact, not just Jianfeng City, but similar beams of golden light could be seen towering into the sky in various places across the distance. Judging by their numbers, at least hundreds of thousands of Buddhist cultivators were recruiting believers across the battlefields.
He sucked in a cold breath as he faintly perceived something.
The alliance had launched an attack against Great Yu, almost as if they were betting everything on this war, and Great Yu had immediately responded with the strongest counterattack. The war soon dragged in Immortals and itinerant cultivators who were living in seclusion, and escalated into a full-scale war between all the Immortal powers on Pangu Continent and the dynasty. While the merciless flames of war drove innocent people away from their homes, the cultivators of Buddhist League had taken the opportunity to delude them and convert them into believers.
Buddhist cultivators had a very high demand for the power of faith. Regardless it was to form their relics or indestructible bodies, the power was a very important resource. During normal times, it was impossible for them to openly preach their religion on Pangu Continent. However, as the war broke out, Great Yu's attention was attracted by the alliance, and hence, nobody had noticed their nasty little tricks.
And Liu Bang, who had been busy visiting different provinces in the name of mediating the dispute, proved to be only a decoy. By assuming a manner that his sole purpose was to resolve the dispute, he had numbed the vigilance of many people, mainly those from the dynasty, and shifted their attention to him and the Heaven.
"What an excellent stratagem!" thought Wu Qi with a cold grin. The officials of Great Yu were a little bit too rigid in handling the matter, and they were too slow in responding to such a scheme. They had always been the insiders, but Wu Qi was an outsider, and he could see things much clearer than those officials.
"Damn it!" After considering for a moment, Wu Qi suddenly spread his arms and made a gesture as if he were pulling a bowstring. Green mist emerged around his hands and quickly materialized into a bow and an arrow. As that happened, he intoned a spell under his breath, and soon, a streak of blood seeped out of the corner of his eye and flowed into the arrow. Then, it twisted into a bizarre rune that looked like a big eye on the arrowhead.
The Bow of Bloody Immortal, it was called, another mystic art that came from the Directorate of Celestials. It could turn one's blood essence into a deadly poison, and was capable of tarnishing cultivators' souls and corroding monks' bodies, a very effective and powerful technique against both Immortals and Arhats. During his free time, Wu Qi had studied and mastered quite a few mystic arts that came from Directorate of Celestials. Therefore, he could easily come out with such a strong attack.
With a long cry, he released the bowstring; the arrow flew through the air silently with a three hundred feet long green smoke trailing behind. Several hundred miles away, a monk who was smiling and injecting the power of Buddha into a wounded old man's body was hit in the chest by the arrow. The air rang with a strange hiss, and the monk's face fell instantly. Before he could do anything, the green arrow exploded, turning into countless fine wisps of green smoke that engulfed him.
A piercing shriek erupted. The monk's body quickly turned pale green and shriveled up; his skin and flesh began to rot, with pus oozing out. In just a few breaths of time, the benevolent monk had all his flesh rotten and fallen off, turning into a skeleton with bones smeared pale green. Soon after, a beam of light flew out of the swirling green smoke. It was the monk's relic, and he was trying to flee. However, the relic was caught by a few wisps of smoke. A miserable howl echoed out as the relic turned pale green, and when a gust of breeze came blowing by, the fist-sized relic crumbled and was pulverized into powder.
Wu Qi's lips curved upward in a mocking smile. Then, he quickly flew towards the field with tens of flying ships under his command.
Upon noticing that one of their fellow disciples was killed by an arrow, the other monks immediately leaped into the sky and flew in Wu Qi's direction with a towering rage. When both sides met, a fat monk with pale flesh, about twelve feet tall, pointed a finger at Wu Qi and shouted furiously, "How dare you to kill my Junior Brother with such a vicious curse spell?"
Standing behind Wu Qi with bone talismans in hands, Huang Liang and a few military officers were prepared to strike. They glanced at the monks in confusion, wondering why Wu Qi would suddenly attack them. In Huang Liang's opinion, these monks could at least help them save a few more people.
Wu Qi stared at the fat monk and said coldly, "Leave Zhong Province alone! I don't care what strange plan do you, the Buddhist League, have for the other places, but I'll not allow you to execute that plan here! You want to recruit believers in Zhong Province? Dream on!"
Wu Qi had a very firm stance because he knew very well how the people would be influenced by the religion. He did not want Buddhist League to take root in Zhong Province, spread their power into Hai Province, and eventually into his territory. If all his people became the believers of Buddhism, whose words would they listen to? And, if all his soldiers were believers of Buddhism, would the army obey his command or the monks'?
He was working on a plan to bring Yan Dan and the others here, to Pangu Continent; in the future, there would be many things in his territory that would not be fit to be revealed. If the Buddhist League really took root in Zhong Province, he would be surrounded by countless eyes, and he would not be able to keep things secret.
Therefore, he had to kill this risk at its infant stage before these Buddhist cultivators grew their believers to a stage that they could no longer be removed!
The fat monk frowned at Wu Qi, his expression strange. "Amitabha!" he pronounced in a deep and powerful voice, only after some moment of silence. "This penniless monk is Yizhu, the missionary disciple of Yab-Yum who dwells in the Ruyi Heavenly Realm. By killing this penniless monk's Junior Brother, general, you have formed a karmic relationship with Ruyi Heavenly Realm. Bow your head and convert to Buddhism now, or you will have to face the wrath of the heaven!"
Wu Qi shook his head. Karma? Convert? The wrath of the heaven? These words might have scared common people, but how could he be fooled by them? Laughing mockingly, he said, "The wrath of the heaven? Do you mean you represent the heaven? How bold for you to make this claim!"
As he said that, he took a step forward and sent forth a strong pressure. The fat monk, Yizhu, and the other monks behind him, were startled and quickly sprung hundreds of feet back. "Stop uttering your nonsense in front of me!" Wu Qi shouted, "Tell your fellow bald donkeys to stay out of Zhong Province. The death of your Junior Brother is a warning to all of you!"
Then, he thrust his right fist forward to unleash an invisible force. A young and handsome monk standing next to Yizhu grunted as a large hole suddenly burst open in his chest, his golden flesh and blood splattering in all directions. The punch had also shattered his relic; color was fading away from his eyes, and soon, he began to fall to the ground.
Trembling with rage, Yizhu pointed a finger at Wu Qi and screeched furiously. Then, he suddenly lifted both arms over his shoulders and unleashed a beam of golden light into the sky, which exploded into huge golden rain and formed a colossal swastika. The fat monk grinned hideously and said, "What a fierce vile spawn! Fortunately, one of our eminent monks is just around the corner, and soon, he will be here to release your souls from purgatory!"
Wu Qi snorted coldly and said, "Huang Liang, activate the defensive barriers on all flying ships and get ready for battle!"
An eminent monk of the Buddhism League was just around the corner? Wu Qi was instantly on the alert.
A faint fragrance wafted over, and suddenly, the air rang with a vague chanting. In the next moment, a puddle of water emerged out of the air next to Yizhu, inside which were a few lotus leaves and three pink lotus flowers. Before long, a man, shrouded in a pale pinkish halo made his appearance above the lotus flowers.
"Yizhu, why did you summon this Venerable so urgently?" A pretentious voice echoed out.
The corner of Wu Qi's mouth twitched. 'He is your so-called eminent monk?'