Chapter 1790: Chapter 1817: The Spirits Are Gone
“Noted!”
Below, the crowd was bustling, monks rose one after another, expressionless, vacant-eyed, heading up the mountain.
Among the crowd, two bald heads quietly gravitated towards each other.
“Master Liaowang, I’ve heard many tales of you in the Central Origin Realm, especially your heroic rescue of a beauty in the Lower Realm, for which my master praised you highly. How is it that now you willingly submit to this group of old bald donkeys, letting them manipulate you?”
One of the bald heads was carrying a golden little tree on his shoulder, his face animated, brows dancing, spittle flying.
“Amitabha, Senior Brother Ma praises me too much. I only wish to be down-to-earth, study and promote Buddhist Law, and dare not covet anything else.”
The other monk put his hands together, expression wooden, responding mechanically.
“Master, why does Lingyin Temple have us go up the mountain? It’s full of mystical creatures. Are those old bald donkeys not content with guiding Buddhist Sect disciples to release Demonic Beast bloodlines, and now want to harness the power of mystical creatures as well?”
Ma Niubi looked around, a bad feeling washing over him. He wanted to escape, but the crowd forced him to go up the mountain first.
As of now, looking across the entire Pure Land, only he and Master Liaowang among the young monks are not controlled by the Demonic Beast bloodlines.
Originally at Arhat Monastery, facing the massive invasion of Eastern Land monks, he was trapped by the Abbot and the Elders. Those old geezers let the sect disciples defend, while they escaped themselves.
He fought to the death, and on the escape route, he happened to be rescued by Monk Wang. From then on, he clung to him, arriving at Lingyin Temple, thinking they could finally find peace for a few days. But unexpectedly, these senior monks didn’t treat them as people at all, activating the Demon Race bloodlines within thousands of disciples in a near-savage manner, causing at least thousands to explode and die under the power of the Demonic Beast bloodlines.
He and Liaowang were fortunate to escape, as they ascended from the Lower Realm and were pureblood humans.
Liaowang shook his head, “I don’t know. Master Lingtai has his deliberations.”
“Damn it, Uncle Six and Uncle Ergou are fighting the Buddha Lord and can’t attend to us. It’d be great if our master were here; he’d definitely find a way to escape.”
Ma Niubi complained, and Liaowang beside him had been converted by the Buddha Lord, in a state as if he’d eaten mind-numbing powder, remaining in a dazed and numb state every day. With high cultivation level, he couldn’t contribute at all on matters requiring thought.
“Everyone, line up and enter the Formation ahead to undergo my Buddha’s test!”
Arhat Jianglong and the Arhat of Subduing Tiger stood in the void, speaking above the monks.
They had driven the mystical creatures into designated Formations in advance, making it convenient for them to merge with the Buddhist Sect disciples. There were as many as dozens of such formations!
There was no problem accommodating these disciples. These formations were very special, targeting only spiritual power. Such mystical creatures made entirely of obsessions and resentment would be trapped, but humans could pass through unobstructed.
The monks entered the formation, where the trapped mystical creatures, seeking freedom, would choose a vessel of their liking to enter, either seizing control or coexisting.
“Noted!”
The monks, like walking corpses, headed toward the formation ahead. During their time at Lingyin Temple, they had been converted again and again, all in a muddled state, with blank minds and numb expressions.
“I wonder how many disciples will survive this time.”
Arhat Jianglong sighed.
“Less than ten percent. Once they come out of the formation, they will no longer be those faces we are familiar with.”
The Arhat of Subduing Tiger’s expression was stern, eyes shooting two beams of white light, scanning the formations below, instantly dumbstruck; all thirty-three formations spanning dozens of miles were utterly empty—not a single mystical creature in sight.
Arhat Jianglong noticed his abnormality, focused his gaze on the formation, and his expression changed drastically—the mystical creatures were not in the formation!
“What’s happening? Did the mystical creatures escape?”
“This formation was personally laid by Master Lingtai. It shouldn’t be wrong, so why are the mystical creatures missing?”
Arhat Jianglong wanted to report the situation back, but the Arhat of Subduing Tiger grabbed him.
“Jianglong, look again. There are two mystical creatures in that formation, humanoid. They might know something.”
The Arhat of Subduing Tiger pointed to a formation on the right, which was also empty, but two faint figures could be seen moving inside.
“Let’s go and take a look!”
…
Meanwhile.
In a certain formation within the Ten Thousand Mountains.
Li Xiaobai and Yu Huan Shui were deftly gathering all the valuable items within the formation. The materials used for such a formation, capable of accommodating tens of thousands of mystical creatures, were vast and of high grade. Discovering the energy within these materials still abundant, they began to help themselves without a second thought.
As for the mystical creatures within, Li Xiaobai collected them all indiscriminately into gourds; he’d grabbed many such gourds for collecting mystical creatures from the Lingyin Temple’s Task Hall earlier, which now came in handy. Those that couldn’t fit were all stuffed into the Small World of Extreme Evil Pure Land.
“Little brother, Yu is impressed with you. Among these creatures are some even I couldn’t confidently defeat, yet you can withstand their soul attacks, simply taking them all in at a glance. Truly admirable.”
Yu Huan Shui, while dismantling the formation, praised him, having not perceived any Time Law power—it was purely Li Xiaobai’s own resistance to the mystical creatures’ assaults.
“This is the thirtieth formation. Let’s be quick; once we’re done with this, we have to hurry to the next one.”
Li Xiaobai wished he had a couple more hands. The resources used in setting up the formations were too abundant; there were tens of thousands of tons of rare earth alone, priceless.
“The gains from this trip are equivalent to plundering several rare earth veins. Even if it’s placed in the Boundary Sea, it’s a sizable fortune, enough to support a medium to small sect’s expenses for several years.”
Yu Huan Shui was also very excited. He was a leader among scholars at the Boundary Sea, had his own influence, and with more resources in hand, the future development of his sect would benefit greatly.
“Did you hear something?”
Yu Huan Shui’s ears twitched as he looked at Li Xiaobai and asked.
“Hear what, someone’s coming?”
Li Xiaobai grew tense, stood up, glanced around, and found no figures, then walked to the formation’s edge, leaned out, and looked down, pupils contracting.
This formation was set on a cliff, and below the cliff countless bald heads were tightly gathered, heading toward the formation.
“Could it be, could it be, just for dismantling thirty formations, taking away tens of thousands of tons of top-grade rare earth, and capturing hundreds of thousands of mystical creatures, they need to deploy an army to raid us?”
Yu Huan Shui came over and felt a chill down his spine, “Are they going to war? When did so many bald heads arrive?”
Li Xiaobai drew a talisman: “Swift Movement Across Thousand Miles!”
The golden talisman burned, but nothing happened. This void was anchored by someone; a master had set eyes on them.
The next moment, Arhat Jianglong and the Arhat of Subduing Tiger descended from the sky, with thousands of monks appearing on the cliff.
“What happened here? Why are there only you two, and where are the other mystical creatures?”