Chapter 80: Terrifying Monk

Chapter80: The Bhikshu of Terrifying Demons

Li Jun had never imagined in his life that he would be drinking against a suit of powered exoskeleton armor, plus a Kunlun slave dark as charcoal.

Though Li Jun strongly doubted whether the King of Horses' body even possessed the concept of intoxication, he still relied on his Sequence Eight formidable physique to force-feed the man until he vomited oil, only then stopping.

This bout of drinking lasted no short time; by the time Li Jun emerged from the "Mingyi" bar, it was already deep into the night.

Li Jun drew a deep breath of the icy night wind, dispelling the slight buzz in his head.

A projection of the God of Wealth, clad in a red mandarin jacket and holding a gold ingot, floated suspended overhead. The entirety of Fifth Street lay precisely beneath the deity's crotch—one could say the location was supremely advantageous.

The alley entrance had long been squatted upon by vendors awaiting drunk patrons; with a clatter they swarmed around Li Jun, enthusiastically hawking all manner of shoddy Yellow Millet Dreams.

Li Jun casually dismissed them, but had not taken two steps before a clear, childish voice suddenly rang out.

"Uncle, would you like to buy a bouquet?"

Li Jun looked down. A little girl in a yellow pleated skirt blocked his path, her small hands folded before her, her appearance obedient and adorable.

In this day and age, there were still people selling flowers?

But this doubtful thought lingered in Li Jun's mind for but an instant before vanishing in a flash.

Since even powered exoskeleton armor could drink, what was so strange about poor children coming out to sell flowers?

This fucked-up world had everything.

Li Jun looked down at the girl's empty hands, squeezed out a kindly smile, and asked softly: "Sure, but where are your flowers?"

"The flowers are right here."

The girl tilted her head and smiled sweetly, her large eyes curving like crescent moons.

She slowly raised her right hand, middle and ring fingers curling inward to interlock with her thumb.

Index finger extended; at the fingertip, flesh slid aside, and an eight-petaled purple flower slowly emerged from the mechanical digit.

"Is this... a Gesar flower?"

The words had barely left Li Jun's mouth when the clamorous voices along the entire street abruptly ceased.

All the colorful, dazzling lights were stripped away in that moment, leaving only a stretch of black, dead silence.

When Li Jun's vision recovered, before him fell goose-feather snow vast enough to obscure the sky, a piercing chill suddenly assaulting him.

"Buddha's Pure Land on Earth? I've fucking been hit again?" Li Jun smiled bitterly and shook his head. "Truly impossible to guard against!"

But with the experience of falling for it last time at Songpan Wei as a foundation, Li Jun was not overly panicked this time, merely furrowing his brow.

"Using a Gesar flower as a hypnotic trigger—those who've come are likely from the White Dragon Temple. Seems this bunch of bald donkeys finally realized I'm the one who stole their goods."

"Though that works too—just happens to save me the trouble of finding these monks to ask about the Primordial Buddha Bone."

"Before I could go seek the mountain, the mountain has come to seek me."

Li Jun rubbed his eyebrow, striding boldly into the wind and snow.

He had not traveled long in this world of ice and snow when a deep, grand horn blast suddenly sounded from above his head.

At the same time, sunlight pierced down like a sharp sword, cleaving through the sky-obscuring blizzard.

A towering snow mountain reaching heaven and standing on earth appeared abruptly before Li Jun's eyes.

Atop the peaks stood a magnificent temple, its entire structure a dual hue of red and gold, like a crown worn upon the mountain's summit—clearly visible even from an extreme distance.

"This presentation isn't any less intimidating than Mu Cuo's giant Buddha. Seems the higher the Sequence, the more elaborate the tricks."

Li Jun wore a mocking smile as he took another step toward the snow mountain.

When his foot fell, his figure had already appeared within this mountaintop temple.

Before the temple's main hall lay a broad platform dozens of zhang in length and breadth, paved with gold bricks.

On the left and right stood many prayer cylinders thick as pillars, their surfaces gleaming with bronze luster, their bodies engraved with dense Sanskrit script.

The cylinders turned of their own accord, and from the void came waves of Sanskrit chanting.

Li Jun gazed into the distance. The palace steps ascended layer upon layer; at the very top stood a monk of imposing stature, his gaze resolute, clad in red robes.

The monk's left arm was bared, his skin tattooed with a vast dark-red Vajra Subduing Demons diagram. In his hand he clutched an iron chain thick as a thumb.

At his right side, a blindingly golden Vajra pestle was planted in the ground.

The monk lowered his eyes, like a Vajra gazing downward.

A heavy, immense pressure instantly enveloped Li Jun's entire body.

"Li Jun, you share karma with the Buddhist gates. I am Mu Chi, the Bhikshu of Terrifying Demons of the White Dragon Temple, come specially to guide you into the empty gates."

Bhikshu of Terrifying Demons? So the one who came is a Buddhist Sequence Eight peak.

Buddhist Sequence Eight bhikshus are divided into three realms: Mendicant, Evil-Destroyer, and Terror-Demon—with Terror-Demon being the Sequence Eight peak.

During these days at the Teaching Workshop, aside from eating, drinking, and playing, Li Jun had used his authority as Security Department Head to look up quite a bit of information.

"So you're not only here for revenge, but also planning to make me your ox and horse?" Li Jun raised an eyebrow in a cold laugh.

Mu Chi's voice seemed to descend from the heavens, shaking the heart.

"You slaughtered the Bodhi Company, committing heinous sins. Only by devoutly prostrating before the Buddha for a hundred years can you resolve them."

"Just this little matter needs a hundred years? No need for such trouble."

Li Jun crooked a finger at the red-robed monk on the high platform, a fierce, heroic qi soaring skyward. "You come down. I'll teach you hand-in-hand how to resolve it."

"Ignorance, wrath, arrogance—unforgivable sins."

Mu Chi shouted coldly in anger, drawing the Vajra pestle and descending the high platform step by step.

Clatter! Clatter!

The iron chain in his left hand struck the steps, emitting a harsh grating sound.

As the chain slowly tightened, shadows swayed within the peak's great hall, and waves of low, beast-like roars emanated from within.

A mechanical beast shaped like a leopard was dragged out by Mu Chi.

The instant he saw the mechanical beast's appearance, Li Jun's pupils suddenly contracted to needle-points.

His originally calm heart-lake suddenly erupted in storm; a pitch-black furious flood dragon surged from the lake bottom, churning wind and rain.

Boiling fresh blood carried rage into his pupils, turning them a bloody red.

This mechanical beast's body was carved with blood-red Sanskrit; its claws and teeth were sharp as knives, flashing with cold light, and the end of its tail bore a heart-palpitating hook.

This was a body brimming with killing intent, yet its face was that of a pretty child.

Smile dimpled, eyes like crescent moons.

It was precisely the little girl who had blocked his path selling flowers earlier.

"Angry already? Still as brainless as ever."

Mu Chi watched Li Jun's face turn iron-blue and ugly, sneering with disdain, his eyes full of mockery and ridicule.

He gave a hard tug, and the mechanical beast bolted from the hall. It frolicked and leaped around Mu Chi, as if welcoming the Buddha's descent.

But Li Jun below the platform saw clearly: in its eyes as it looked at the red-robed monk lay bone-deep fear and agony.

A searing heat surged through his heart and lungs—it was the blood in his veins, boiled to its absolute peak!

No blade in hand? Then he would answer with his fists!

Li Jun slowly unfolded his Bajiquan stance, enunciating each word with deliberate, crushing weight.

"You motherfuckers really fucking deserve to die!"