Free Web NovelChapter 290: Chapter 57: White Robes, Golden Buddha, Time (2)
She pointed to a cliff face on a mountain peak ahead and to their left. "Junior Brother, look! I think there’s a Magical Artifact over there!"
Fang Cheng followed her gaze and saw a string of Buddha Beads, glimmering with spiritual light, embedded in the steep cliff face.
Each of the eighteen beads on the string was the size of a fist. They all shone with a golden Buddha Light, evoking a sense of purity, grandeur, and solemnity.
Without another word, Hua Yutang immediately piloted the Flying Celestial Chariot over to the cliff face, bringing it to a slow halt.
Hua Yutang flew forward and retrieved the Buddha Beads. After a closer look, she glanced back with a smile. "It’s a Second-Order Top-grade Magical Artifact! It must have been one of those streaks of light from before. I can’t believe we just happened upon it... Hmm? Junior Brother, why do you look so out of sorts?"
Fang Cheng stared at the Buddha Beads in Hua Yutang’s hand, his brow furrowed. "That’s strange. I feel a strong sense of déjà vu, as if I’ve experienced this exact moment before..."
Hua Yutang chuckled, returning to the chariot with a look of delight. "I get that feeling all the time. I’ll be in the middle of something and feel like I’ve dreamed about it before. We may be Cultivators, but there are still plenty of things in this world that are beyond our comprehension. It’s not that strange."
Fang Cheng’s expression remained grave. "Is that so? Cang Dao You, have you detected anything out of the ordinary?"
The Cyan Bird shook its head. "I have not."
With that, it shot Fang Cheng a curious glance, somewhat surprised by his reaction.
Fang Cheng surveyed their surroundings, still frowning. "Never mind. Let’s just keep moving."
Just as he finished speaking, a dazzling Buddha Light rose in the distant sky.
A hundred-zhang-tall Golden Giant Buddha slowly rose from the void.
Its palms were pressed together, its body like polished glass. Behind it, rings of Buddha Wheels spun slowly as waves of Sanskrit chants echoed through the void.
The Golden Buddha wore a serene smile as its Buddha Light shone down, instantly bathing the hundred-li radius of the void in a golden hue, transforming it into what looked like a Buddha Country.
The Golden Buddha raised a giant golden hand, reaching to grab Fang Cheng.
Buddha Light swirled within the giant hand, flickering with emergent scripture. It carried the faint intent to refine heaven and earth, locking down the surrounding Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi and Fang Cheng’s Magical Power.
In that instant, the immense Buddhist power radiating from the Golden Buddha approached the level of a Life Soul Cultivator.
A flash of white light erupted from between Fang Cheng’s eyebrows as the Third-tier Magical Artifact, the White Bone Relic, silently materialized. It spun rapidly, transforming into a zhang-wide White Bone Round Mirror. Countless streams of Thunder Light surged from its surface, coalescing into a peerless bolt that slammed viciously into the giant golden hand.
The White Bone Thunder Mirror, one of the Seven Transformations of the White Bone!
A dazzling halo of light suddenly appeared above the mountains.
Thunder Light crackled against the vast might of the Buddhist power.
A thundercloud roiled, but a sheet of golden Buddha Light pressed down upon it with immense power.
RUMBLE!
A sky-shattering thunderbolt erupted from the White Bone Thunder Mirror. It coiled like a dragon as it soared into the heavens, piercing through the Buddha Light before suddenly scattering in all directions.
Immediately, black clouds gathered in the sky as Thunder Light converged. Dozens of zhang-wide balls of lightning materialized beneath the clouds and rained down upon the golden Buddha Light.
Above the mountain range, innumerable bolts of lightning flashed and danced. An endless tide of Thunder Light surged along the golden Buddha Light, making straight for its core!
A resonant Buddhist tone shook the void.
The Buddha Wheels behind the Golden Buddha spun, and nine golden Celestial Dragons emerged, flying forth majestically.
These nine Celestial Dragons were incomparably mighty. Their whiskers, golden scales, five-clawed talons, and long horns were all vividly lifelike. They possessed an ancient, weathered aura and an expression that looked down upon all creation, inspiring a sense of sacred nobility capable of suppressing all demonic and evil energies.
After appearing, the nine Celestial Dragons began to cry out continuously, each one emitting a distinctly different sound!
Each sound seemed to be composed of hundreds, even thousands, of syllables, like the primordial sound of the Great Dao itself.
They each unfurled their hundred-zhang-long bodies, galloping and roaring. They circled once before the Golden Buddha and transformed into a Grand Array that trapped all the surging Thunder Light, refining it into nothingness in the blink of an eye.
Fang Cheng pointed a finger at the White Bone Thunder Mirror, which instantly transformed into a Strong Bone Demon over ten zhang tall.
Bathed in the golden Buddha Light, this Strong Bone Demon was as white as jade, its body covered in faint, complex, and profound patterns and runes that seemed to shift and crawl across its surface.
The giant Bone Demon threw its head back and roared. Bending its knees, it launched itself into the sky and threw a punch that struck the very core of the Golden Buddha’s abdomen.
BOOM!
A colossal boom echoed across the heavens.
The Golden Buddha shuddered, then abruptly shattered.
The nine astonishingly powerful Celestial Dragons dissipated along with it.
Fang Cheng had first used the White Bone Thunder Mirror to probe for a weakness in the Golden Buddha’s energy circulation, thereby finding its vital point.
Then, he had used the Strong Bone Demon to overwhelm it with brute force.
No matter how profound the Golden Buddha’s Divine Techniques were, once its core mechanism was broken, victory was assured.
Sure enough, as the Golden Buddha dissipated, a Talisman with dimmed Buddha Light materialized in the void.
A figure in black and another in white appeared near the Talisman.
It was the white-robed Monk and the middle-aged Black-robed Cultivator. Both wore expressions of shock and disbelief.
With a flash of golden light, the Immortal Binding Rope shot out, rapidly ensnaring the two figures and binding them tightly in an instant.
Fang Cheng appeared before them in a flash. He saw the white-robed man and immediately recognized him as the Monk from the Celestial Traveling Immortal Pavilion’s Ghost Market.
After all, he was the only person in the Ghost Market at the time who had not worn a mask to conceal his identity.
Fang Cheng’s voice was grim. "Why did you attack me without provocation?"
The white-robed Monk looked at Fang Cheng. Despite being captured, his face was devoid of fear. He spoke slowly, "I never imagined you’d also possess a Third-tier Magical Artifact. No wonder the Young Master of the Rakshasa Sect died by your hand."
Fang Cheng’s expression grew cold. "How do you know the Rakshasa Sect’s Young Master died by my hand?"
The white-robed Monk maintained a dignified, saintly expression. "The only way to keep a deed secret is to not have done it. Benefactor, the truth is out. The Rakshasa Sect will not let you go."
Fang Cheng let out a cold laugh. Done with the pointless chatter, he grabbed the white-robed Monk’s head, preparing to perform a Soul Search.
The white-robed Monk, however, merely smiled with indifference, as if he welcomed death. His life force was abruptly extinguished as a golden Buddha Flame erupted from within, incinerating his body to ash in the blink of an eye.
Fang Cheng’s expression changed. He quickly grabbed the Black-robed Cultivator’s head and began a Soul Search, only to discover that the man’s soul was a complete blank.
’This is...’
He fell silent, a nagging feeling telling him something was wrong.
Just then, Hua Yutang and the Cyan Bird arrived.
"Junior Brother, were they trying to steal the Magical Artifact?" Hua Yutang asked, her brow furrowed.
Fang Cheng shook his head. "He came for the Rakshasa Sect’s bounty. This Black-robed Cultivator was probably the Monk’s puppet."
After speaking, he glanced at the cliff where Hua Yutang had found the Buddha Bead Magical Artifact. "Senior Sister," he said in a low voice, "let me see those Buddha Beads."
Hua Yutang took out the Buddha Beads and handed them to Fang Cheng.
Fang Cheng inspected them carefully and found the string was just an ordinary Buddhist Magical Artifact, useful for personal defense but with no other profound features.
’Am I just overthinking this...?’
He shook his head and prepared to leave with Hua Yutang once more.
As he boarded the Flying Celestial Chariot, just as they were about to depart, he suddenly sensed countless golden ripples spreading through the void. He, Hua Yutang, and the Cyan Bird felt as if they had been plunged into a long, vast river.
A vast Buddha Light emerged.
Their memories of the recent events vanished completely.
The Flying Celestial Chariot, glimmering with spiritual light, streaked across the clear sky.
Inside the chariot, Hua Yutang sat affectionately beside Fang Cheng. Pointing to a cliff face on a mountain peak ahead and to their left, she said softly, "Junior Brother, look! I think there’s a Magical Artifact over there!"
...
「One hundred li from the cliff face.」
A ball of Buddha Fire flickered into existence in the void.
The ball of Buddha Fire grew larger and larger, until a handsome, elegant, white-robed Monk stepped out from within it.
His snow-white monastic robes were spotless, and the eight ordination scars on his scalp were clearly visible.
His shadow flickered behind him, and a middle-aged, stern-faced Cultivator in black robes took form.
’I once thought that in all the Eastern Wilderness, aside from Bing Wuyi, the Sect Leader of the Nine Truths Sect, and the Prince Consort of Sea Emperor Hall, there were no other remarkable individuals in the Life Talisman Realm. I never expected to meet another one today.’
The white-robed Monk stood with his hands clasped behind his back, gazing motionlessly in the direction Fang Cheng had departed.
’Just how many trump cards does this person have? I used a Divine Technique to rewind time twice, yet I still couldn’t gauge the true depths of his power.’
’I was hoping to snag an Elder position at the Rakshasa Sect, but it seems that’s not in the cards anymore.’
’Still, selling this information to the Rakshasa Sect could probably fetch a good number of Spirit Stones...’
As his thoughts churned, he turned and flew off in another direction with the Black-robed Cultivator.
...
