Chapter 586: Layers of Suspicion

Chapter 586 Thick with Suspicion

"This temple called 'Buddha Mother Village' is a rather special case, staffed entirely by women from the inside out. The identity of its master, Golden Blunder Buddha Mother, is also extraordinary. It is said she hails from the Smoky Divine Mountain and is a personal disciple of Smoky Buddha Lord Linjiapo."

Zou Sijiu had fished quite a bit of useful information from the head beneath his rear.

"If nothing goes wrong, the experimental field of the Smoky Temple in the Yumo region is most likely here."

Having finished his basic introduction, Zou Sijiu turned his head to look at Yuan Mingfei, who stood by his side.

"Sister Yuan, give us a plan. What do we do now? Do we kick the door in directly, or should I sneak in first to check the situation?"

"You said this temple is full of nuns. How do you plan to sneak in?" Chen Qisheng asked curiously.

"That's where you don't understand."

Zou Sijiu put on a profound look. "The roles I've played are more than the ones you've seen. Whether it's a monk's temple or a nunnery, I naturally have my ways to sneak in."

Chen Qisheng didn't know what he thought of, but his body suddenly shuddered, a look of disgust spreading across his face as he shuffled his steps to the other side.

"Zou Sijiu, you're really disgusting..."

Shouyu's cold voice also rang out at that moment.

"Shouyu, you misunderstand. I... ai..."

Zou Sijiu seemed unable to defend himself and could only sigh helplessly, his eyes revealing the weary, worldly gaze of one who had weathered many storms.

"If I had a choice, I wouldn't want to do this either. Unfortunately, the world is treacherous, leaving one with no alternative. Shouyu, do you know? If I hadn't done these disgusting things, I would probably have died long ago, alone on some cold, rainy night."

"I..."

Shouyu's figure emerged behind Zou Sijiu, his expression guilty, as if he wanted to say something but stopped himself. His complex gaze deeply fixed on the other's desolate and lonely back.

He completely failed to notice that Chen Qisheng, who had moved aside, was winking triumphantly at Zou Sijiu.

"If you mind me doing these things, Shouyu, then I won't do them anymore from now on."

Zou Sijiu continued to act profound while subtly giving Chen Qisheng a thumbs-up.

Brothers united, their strength is invincible!

Chang Jun, crouching to the side, took everything in and couldn't help but sigh deeply.

His brothers and sisters, who had once roamed the romantic scene, were now being pecked in the eyes by two little sparrows working together. It was truly lamentable.

"No need. It seems they already know we're here."

As the brothers were united in heart, Chen and Zou looked down the mountain at his words. They saw the purple sea of flowers stretching for dozens of miles, receding and contracting inward like a tide at great speed, as if intending to wrap the entire city and sink it into the ground.

The scene was spectacular, yet eerily silent, giving off a strange, furtive feeling.

"Still trying to run right under our noses? Do they really think the Wudang Dao Sequence is idle?!"

Zou Sijiu suddenly straightened up, raised his hand to point ahead, and said in a low voice: "Old Chen, cut her down!"

Clang!

Sword in hand, Chen Qisheng rolled his eyes, lightly kicked his toes, and prepared to leap down.

"Old Chen, don't move. Sijiu, you come with me. Try to take her alive."

Yuan Mingfei gave a decisive order, hooked her finger, and immediately the Buddha Realm began to unfold, spreading toward the distant city.

"Yellow Millet Martial Sequence Zou Sijiu, it's your turn."

Chen Qisheng grinned. In his line of sight, the originally collapsing sea of flowers came to an abrupt halt, and all around was silent.

The Daoist stood leaning on his sword, his powerful divine sense enveloping this hill.

Within the unfolding Buddha Realm, the night was thick.

A perfectly round great moon scattered cold moonbeams, illuminating the boundless purple sea of flowers.

Zou Sijiu looked into the distance and saw within the Buddha Mother Village, now submerged by the sea of flowers, a faint yellow Buddha light shining through.

The sea of flowers swayed without wind, parting left and right like the sea's surface. A procession wound its way out of the city. On a high palanquin sat a red-robed woman of beautiful appearance.

"This bitch, she's quite good-looking."

Zou Sijiu twisted his wrist and gave a cold laugh. "Good thing Old Li doesn't go easy on women either, or else I'd be weakened by a third, wouldn't I?"

Just as he was about to transform into a lone Martial Sequence, the woman on the palanquin suddenly knelt down, pressed her palms together, and bowed to the bright moon in the sky.

"Golden Blunder, Buddhist Sequence of the Smoky Divine Mountain, pays homage to the Heart Ape Bodhisattva."

The woman's expression was calm and composed, showing no trace of the predicament of being trapped in the Buddha Realm.

"You know me?"

Yuan Mingfei's slightly puzzled voice came from within the moonlight shadow.

"Having awakened and transcended from the countless accompanying Buddha goddesses of the Jokhang Temple, and successfully seized your freedom, your fame has already spread throughout the entire Smoky Buddha Land. If you had not rejected the invitation of the Smoky Buddha Lord back then, disciple might already be practicing at your feet."

"Linjiapo never invited me..."

Yuan Mingfei asked coldly: "Since you know you can't escape, stop beating around the bush. I ask you, was the Fan Land demon chaos orchestrated by the Smoky Temple? What exactly are you helping the Agricultural Sequence do?"

"Bodhisattva, you misunderstand. The demon chaos is not man-made; it is the will of the Buddha."

Golden Blunder Buddha Mother rose gracefully and said respectfully: "The Fan Land nowadays is no longer as pure as before. The demon lords of annihilation have appeared one after another, and their seductive demonic voices have already enveloped the entire plateau. It is for this reason that the Buddha has sent down calamities to cleanse all decadence and evil."

"Playing tricks and speaking in riddles?"

Zou Sijiu looked up and said loudly: "Sister Yuan, it seems she won't talk properly. How about letting me handle it? Within ten layers of the dream realm, I guarantee I'll make her spill everything she knows."

As his words fell, Golden Blunder Buddha Mother from afar cast her gaze over.

"Zou Sijiu... a demon ghost under the command of Yama, one of the descended demon lords. At this moment, you can't even save yourself, yet you dare to speak insolently here and try to seduce the Heart Ape Bodhisattva. Truly, you don't know when you're dead."

When the other party called out his name at first, Zou Sijiu had thought his reputation had spread into Fan Land, and a faint smugness crept onto his face.

But as she finished speaking, his face slowly turned ashen.

"You're cursing quite harshly, aren't you? What do you mean 'demon ghost under command'? With all your gods and ghosts from the Fan Land Buddhist Sequence, can't you give Brother Zou a nicer title? Huh?"

Zou Sijiu's face was full of ferocity. The power of dreams surged forth, flooding toward Golden Blunder.

"Demon ghost, although I cannot resist your dream invasion, you cannot defile my Buddha heart either."

Golden Blunder's face showed disdain. Her figure stood motionless, letting the dream erosion take its course.

Deep within her eyes, the character 'Zou' representing entering a dream and the ashen, thick stillness both appeared together.

"It's not that easy to seek death here."

Zou Sijiu let out a cold laugh, but in his ears came Yuan Mingfei's voice of restraint.

"Sijiu, release her."

Zou Sijiu frowned, his lips moving slightly as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he dispersed the dream that was taking shape.

"Why can't I sense your Buddha Realm mainframe? Are you a shell puppet, or someone's guardian deity?"

From within the great moon hanging in the sky, the figure of Yuan Mingfei emerged.

"I am just myself, the true self that broke free from the cage. As for you, although you have attained the fruit of Buddhahood, you do not know that you have been practicing a mistaken Dharma, achieving a false Buddha body. How pitiful is that."

Golden Blunder's eyes showed pity, and she said softly: "The Smoky Buddha Lord calculated that you would return to the Fan Land, so he specially ordered this disciple to wait here, hoping to save you from your lost path!"

“Lin Jiabo calculated that I would return, but did she calculate that she would be schemed against by Zhang Fengyue? Now the various Buddhist temples under your Sangyan Temple have been swept clean by the Confucian Order, yet you dare not even fight back. Stop pretending to be profound here.”

Yuan Mingfei looked down at Jin Cuo from on high, her tone contemptuous. “I advise you not to play tricks here. If you want to live, you’d better speak clearly. What is this ‘erroneous Buddhism’?”

Jin Cuo’s face instantly turned gloomy and unpleasant after Yuan Mingfei’s cold mockery.

“Advancing the sequence through the Buddhist realm mainframe—that is the erroneous Buddhism!”

Jin Cuo snorted coldly. “The so-called ‘Yellow Millet’ is nothing but a colossal fraud. We were seduced by the Daoist Order, their methods invaded our Buddhism, and we were blinded by temporary prosperity, falling into an inescapable delusion. Thus, we forged a Buddhist realm mainframe that imprisons itself!”

“I’ve only been away for a while, but I see you’ve managed to cook up quite a few new tricks. Come on, continue.”

Yuan Mingfei’s expression was blank as she raised her hand to signal Jin Cuo to go on.

“Now that your Buddha heart has been defiled by one of the calamities, the Yama Demon Lord, you naturally think that what your disciple says is nothing but false words.”

Jin Cuo’s voice grew more excited, her tone sharper and sharper.

“But now, the Sangyan Buddha has awakened and attained enlightenment on the sacred mountain. Soon, he will reforge his golden Buddha body, and following the will of Shakyamuni Buddha, he will sweep away all who dare to mock our Buddha in this calamity. Then you will understand everything.”

“If you think these words are enough to buy your life, you are far from it.” Yuan Mingfei’s voice was cold.

“Your disciple is willing to give up his life, only hoping that you will return to the right path. If you are willing to reconvert to Sangyan Sacred Mountain, then the Sangyan Buddha will grant you a new Dharma, and you will achieve the true Buddhahood! But if you continue to be stubborn, your fall into demonhood is at hand!”

In the swaying sea of galsang flowers, Jin Cuo’s fanatical cries echoed long and unceasingly.

Yuan Mingfei frowned deeply, suddenly recalling what she had seen and heard in that testing ground, and her heart grew heavy.

Could it be that she was telling the truth?

“Look, staying hidden in this closed-off plateau for so many years has made you people increasingly stupid.”

Zou Sijiu sneered, “You think the Daoist Order deceived you, but what about the Farming Order? A bunch of brainless fools.”

“A Buddha speaks to his disciples; how dare you, a demon ghost, interrupt?”

Jin Cuo’s brows shot up, and he shouted angrily.

“Ha, you’re cursing again, eh?”

Zou Sijiu smoothed his hair back with both hands, and his murderous intent, barely contained, burned ever fiercer.

“Sister Yuan, do you have more questions? Because I’m about to lose my patience.”

Yuan Mingfei’s figure descended from the night sky, hovering five zhang away from Jin Cuo.

“So, for the sake of this so-called ‘truth and falsehood,’ you allowed ‘Sheji’ to enter the borderlands, letting them use the borderland people as fields and conduct experiments on human lives?”

“There are no people in the borderlands, only slaves burdened with sin. Those who were meant to atone for their sins—death is their proper end.”

Yuan Mingfei said no more. A mountain-like figure emerged behind her.

Roar...

A faint smile lingered on Jin Cuo’s face, seemingly unconcerned about the blood-red eyes pressing down on him. His body stood unmoving, with no intention of resisting.

“Mind Monkey Bodhisattva, I believe you will eventually make the right choice. When that time comes, I beg you not to forget the fate between your disciple and me today, and allow me to become the divine beast that carries your Sumeru throne.”

Jin Cuo pressed his palms together, and golden flames erupted from his body, burning flesh and bone, steeped in the will to die.

The suppression of the Buddhist realm and the fetters of the dream descended upon him together, yet they could not stop Jin Cuo’s self-immolation.

Yuan Mingfei and Zou Sijiu exchanged glances, both seeing the shock in each other’s eyes.

Meanwhile, outside the Buddhist realm.

Thick gray clouds gathered rapidly in the sky, and the blazing sunlight was quickly driven from this region.

Continuous curtains of rain fell from the sky, and in an instant, it became a downpour.

Viewed from above, this strange scene was even more spectacular: within the clouds, a torrential rain; beyond the clouds, a flood of sunshine.

The land that had grown the flower sea seemed unable to swallow this celestial nectar, as rainwater carried away earth, forming muddy torrents that scoured everything.

In the blink of an eye, the flower sea was completely gone, leaving only mottled clods of earth and a dark purple river.

And countless bones, once buried as fertilizer, now washed to the surface!

Suddenly, the earth trembled violently. A gigantic beast claw shot out from the Buddha Mother Manor, sending countless elaborately decorated, finely crafted buildings flying.

In the dim light of day, a golden Buddha statue was flung into the air, strikingly conspicuous against the sky.

Boom!

The giant palm came down, smashing the Buddha statue to pieces as if crushing a mosquito.

Roar!

An earth-shattering beast roar shattered the dense clouds. A massive black tiger, terrifying in size, burst forth from the ground, its eyes filled with savage ferocity.

Clang!

A cold sword light flashed, entering through the black tiger’s raised head and piercing out through its body.

Through the torn, gloomy sky, beams of bright light shot down, illuminating the tiger’s corpse.

The entire carcass rotted quickly in the sunlight, leaving only a skeleton in moments.

“What the hell is this thing again?”

Zou Sijiu, who had just left the Buddhist realm, saw this bizarre sight and raised his hand to rub his forehead.

The development of the entire situation had completely exceeded the bounds of reason. They had caught someone, but his doubts had not diminished; instead, they had only increased.

In the Buddhist realm, Jin Cuo had claimed that she was ordered to wait here, her purpose to convey a decree from the Sangyan Buddha, Lin Jiabo.

To Zou Sijiu, such words were nothing but a bluff—he had seen it many times and saw no need to pay them much heed.

But Jin Cuo’s subsequent death-defying demeanor contradicted his judgment.

Still, the people of the Borderland Buddhist Order had always been mad and reckless, so fearing nothing, even death, was normal.

Yet, what did it mean that “Yellow Millet” was merely an utter fraud?

He himself was of the Yin-Yang Order—did he not know whether Yellow Millet was true or false?

As for the so-called new Dharma she mentioned, what was that thing? Could the Borderland Buddhist Order be stirring up some new revolution?

Putting aside these doubts, one thing was beyond doubt.

That was, the Borderland Buddhist Order had clearly long ago colluded with the Farming Order’s “Sheji”—it was just uncertain whether it involved only Sangyan or all three sacred mountains.

As for the demonized borderland people, they were undoubtedly the chips given by the Borderland Buddhist Order to the other party.

“It should be Jin Cuo’s original form.”

Hearing Yuan Mingfei’s answer, Zou Sijiu suddenly remembered the last words Jin Cuo had spoken before her death.

“Allow me to become the divine beast that carries your Sumeru throne.”

Zou Sijiu’s mouth twitched involuntarily, and a wave of disgust rose in his heart.

“Sister Yuan, besides cultivating Buddhism, does the Borderland Buddhist Order also have this wild path of cultivating mounts?” Zou Sijiu asked, stunned.

“Don’t ask me. Although I came from the Borderland Buddhist Order, I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

Yuan Mingfei replied irritably.

Not to mention Zou Sijiu, even she was now filled with questions.

If it weren't for the lingering divine thought of Jin Cuo on that white bone, she wouldn't have believed it was his true form.

Actually, having witnessed with her own eyes what Sangyan Temple did in the testing ground, Yuan Mingfei could understand that abandoning human form might be another evolution for the Dharma Protector.

But there was no trace of the Buddha Kingdom's mainframe on Jin Cuo's body – that was the true cause of Yuan Mingfei's secret alarm.

Could it be that the current Fan Buddhist Sequence had abandoned the Buddha Kingdom's mainframe and developed another cultivation method with the Agricultural Sequence?

"That woman said Huangliang is a complete fraud. I think she might be bluffing us. If it were really false, wouldn't that make Buddhism, Daoism, and Yin-Yang a joke?"

Zou Sijiu asked gravely, "Sister Yuan, what do you think?"

Yuan Mingfei shook her head. "Huangliang should not be false. If it were truly a fraud, then who could have the ability to trick all those Buddhas and immortals? You must know that this deception isn't just a matter of thousands or tens of thousands of people, but almost all sequences except the Martial Sequence are involved!"

"Then what did she mean by those words?"

"The fraud she spoke of should refer to the Buddha Sequence's construction of the Buddha Kingdom's mainframe back then based on 'Huangliang,' which was a mistaken choice made after being deceived by the Dao Sequence."

Yuan Mingfei said in a deep voice, "If that's the case, then it barely explains why Jin Cuo has no Buddha Kingdom mainframe on him."

"But if this Buddha Kingdom mainframe technique is flawed, how did the Buddha Sequence rise to become one of the Three Teachings using it?"

The question Zou Sijiu raised next plunged Yuan Mingfei into silence.

"Perhaps... we are overthinking it. The Fan Buddhist Sequence might simply have been tricked by the Agricultural Sequence and used as a pawn. After all, these people aren't particularly bright."

No sooner had he said these words than Zou Sijiu gave a self-deprecating bitter smile and shook his head.

Deceiving one or two people is simple; even if they are Sequence Threes, they still have exploitable weaknesses.

But to deceive an entire sequence, to deceive the genetic rituals – that is impossible.

Though the winter sun shone warmly overhead, Zou Sijiu and Yuan Mingfei both felt as if they were surrounded by pitch-black darkness before them.

"Actually, this is not difficult..."

Chen Qisheng suddenly spoke from the side.

Zou Sijiu's spirits lifted, and he quickly asked, "Daoist Master, do you have any brilliant ideas?"

"I haven't been to the Buddha Kingdom, so I don't know what you encountered. But in my view, if this person won't talk, then we should catch more people. Bleed them one by one, and someone will surely confess the whole story. Kill a thousand, and the truth will emerge."

Zou Sijiu rolled his eyes, utterly speechless.

That he would actually have expectations of Chen Qisheng – he must have been out of his mind.

"What then, does the charlatan have a better idea?"

Zou Sijiu muttered, "No."

"If not, then let's go."

Chen Qisheng took the lead.

"Next one!"