Chapter 681
The tools used to kill Prince Ao Lie before Chapter 681
Lin Zhu saw it, but didn't care at all. He had seen plenty of the howls and resentment of defeated dogs.
After putting away the Azure Lotus Treasure Banner mark, Lin Zhu glanced at the White Lotus Boy again and suddenly spoke.
"By the way, you seem to have a decent acquired spiritual treasure on you? The knife you used to kill Prince Ao Lie before? Hand it over as well. It's not appropriate for someone like you who is about to die... no, about to 'repent' to keep such a murder weapon."
Upon hearing this, the White Lotus Child suddenly looked up, his eyes blazing with uncontrollable rage, and roared.
"Lin Zhu! You...you're going too far! I've already given you the Azure Lotus Treasure Banner mark, and now you want to take my weapon?! This is blatant robbery!!"
Lin Zhu looked at him in surprise, as if she had heard something unbelievable, and asked in return.
"Huh? You're only finding out now?"
White Lotus Boy.
"..."
He choked completely, a lump of air stuck in his chest, and he almost passed out.
Looking at Lin Zhu's matter-of-fact expression, and then at the distant, faint sounds of dragon roars and Buddhist chants, all his anger and resentment ultimately turned into a deep sense of powerlessness and fear.
He trembled, and then forced out a bright, icy blade of light from his body—the very "Cold Moon Immortal-Slaying Blade."
Lin Zhu put it away again, and then gently patted the White Lotus Boy's head, which was swollen like a pig's head, encouraging him in a "gentle" tone.
"That's more like it. Okay, now..."
Before he could finish speaking, his expression suddenly turned serious, as if he had sensed something. He abruptly looked up and, with all his might, shouted loudly in the direction where the Purple-Gold Dragon Emperor and Amitabha Buddha were fighting.
"Your Majesty the Purple-Gold Dragon Emperor!!! Look this way!!! The White Lotus Child is running away!!!"
This shout, like a thunderclap from a clear sky, exploded at the entrance to the relatively secluded mountain valley, even drowning out some of the aftershocks of the battle in the distance! The sound traveled clearly towards the heart of the battlefield!
After shouting, Lin Zhu didn't even look at the White Lotus Child, who was instantly struck by lightning, his face completely collapsed, and his eyes filled with endless terror and despair. His figure flashed backward like a ghost, and the Heaven-Covering Talisman was activated at full power. In an instant, he merged into the surrounding broken walls and chaotic light and shadow, disappearing without a trace, as if he had never existed.
Only the White Lotus Child, slumped on the ground, his face swollen like a pig's head, who had just been robbed clean and was now ruthlessly betrayed, was left to face the terrifying storm that was about to descend from the enraged dragon clan.
He opened his mouth, but no sound came out; only boundless coldness and despair completely engulfed him.
Lin Zhu's sudden, powerful shout was like a ladle of ice water poured into a boiling oil pan, instantly shattering the brief, fortunate silence that belonged to the White Lotus Child at the edge of the battlefield!
The sound pierced through the chaotic energy turbulence and the deafening roar of battle, reaching the ears of the Purple-Gold Dragon Emperor, who was fiercely clashing with Amitabha Buddha!
The Purple-Gold Dragon Emperor's massive dragon body suddenly paused, temporarily forcing back Amitabha Buddha's Lapis Lazuli Palm, and its huge dragon head abruptly turned towards the direction of the sound!
Its dragon eyes, like burning stars, instantly locked onto the entrance to the distant mountain valley, where the White Lotus Child was slumped on the ground, his face swollen like a pig's head, his aura weak and feeble, looking in this direction with a face full of terror and despair!
"Roar--!!!"
The Purple-Gold Dragon Emperor unleashed a deafening roar, its fury even more intense and violent than before! It abruptly turned its head, staring intently at Amitabha Buddha on the lotus platform, whose aura was slightly disordered. Its voice was like a thunderclap, filled with the rage of being fooled.
"Amitabha! What a true monk who doesn't lie! What a fine promise of 'absolutely no cover-up' and 'at our mercy'! So all that pretense you were putting on before, saying you'd hand over the White Lotus and let us kill you, was actually playing this trick of feigning surrender and secretly taking another step?!"
"Secretly, I arranged for this culprit to escape! You, Western Heaven, are truly shameless! Do you treat my Dragon Clan like a three-year-old child?!"
This angry rebuke resounded like thunder in the hearts of every being in the Western Paradise! Amitabha's expression changed slightly. He hadn't expected Lin Zhu to expose him so directly at this moment! He also hadn't expected the White Lotus Child to be so incompetent, being discovered and intercepted so quickly!
"Amitabha Buddha, this matter..."
Amitabha Buddha was about to speak up to explain, at least trying to clear himself of suspicion of "arranging the escape".
However, the Platinum Dragon Emperor on the other side was even more direct! It was already filled with the most murderous intent because of Ao Lie's death, and now that it saw the murderer who had brutally killed an important offspring of the dragon clan trying to escape right under their noses, its anger was so intense that it could burn the heavens to ashes!
"Hmph! Enough with the nonsense! Those who kill my dragon bloodline shall die!"
The Platinum Dragon Emperor gave Amitabha Buddha no chance to explain. Its icy gaze, like two beams of death light, instantly traversed space and locked onto the limp White Lotus Child! In the brief moment between its clash with an ancient Buddha from the Western Paradise, it actually managed to spare a portion of its power. A phantom dragon claw, covered in platinum-gold scales and wreathed in piercing cold light and the laws of destruction, pierced through the void like a ghost, ignoring distance, and carrying a killing intent that could freeze the soul, viciously grabbing towards the location of the White Lotus Child!
—It is the Shadow Dragon Claw, an extremely ruthless and swift grappling technique of the Dragon Clan!
"No—!!! Teacher, save me! Buddha, save me!!!"
The White Lotus Child was terrified and let out a bloodcurdling scream! He felt the terrifying power contained in the dragon claw phantom, enough to completely tear his shattered primordial spirit apart! He desperately tried to use his remaining magic power to escape, but his body was stiff and unresponsive due to extreme fear and his previous injuries!
Just as the platinum-gold dragon claw phantom was about to tear the White Lotus Child and that space apart!
"Ugh……"
Amitabha Buddha sighed inwardly, knowing he could no longer stand idly by. The White Lotus Child could die, but he couldn't be so easily and humiliatingly captured and tortured by the Dragon Clan right before his eyes. Otherwise, what would become of his dignity as a saint? What would become of the prestige of the Western Paradise?
Left with no other choice, he had to temporarily distract himself, using his left hand to maintain the main pressure against the Mo Bai Dragon Emperor by guiding the Linglong Lotus Lantern, while his right hand suddenly swung towards the White Lotus Child!
A beam of crystal-clear Buddhist light, refined to its utmost, arrived first, forming an indestructible barrier that instantly stood between the Platinum Dragon Emperor's Shadow Dragon Claw and the White Lotus Child!
"boom!"
The dragon claw phantom collided with the glazed Buddha light, unleashing a dazzling brilliance and violent energy fluctuations! Although Amitabha Buddha acted hastily and failed to completely destroy the dragon claw phantom, he successfully blocked and deflected it, saving the life of the White Lotus Child.
However, this distraction in the rescue effort greatly increased the pressure on Amitabha Buddha on the main battlefield!
A cold glint flashed in the old yet terrifying eyes of the Mo Bai Dragon Emperor. Seizing this fleeting opportunity, the enormous Mo Bai dragon body suddenly lunged forward, and its tail, wrapped in chaotic energy, lashed out at the relatively weak side of the Guiding Exquisite Lotus Lamp at an even more ferocious and cunning angle than before!
"Thump—!!!"
A deafening, heart-stopping thud! The lotus lanterns shook violently, and three of the twelve lanterns instantly dimmed, almost going out!
The entire glazed Buddha light defensive barrier showed obvious ripples and cracks! Amitabha Buddha groaned, his body swaying slightly on the lotus platform, his golden light flickering, clearly having been shaken. The main battlefield became even more tense due to Amitabha Buddha's distraction, and the defensive array composed of three thousand Buddhas was on the verge of collapse, with screams echoing everywhere.
Lin Zhu, the "instigator" who caused all this chaos to escalate, had already quietly left that place of trouble with the help of the Heaven-Covering Talisman. He was hiding behind a relatively safe broken wall, peeking out half his head and watching with great interest the chain reaction triggered by his shout.
"Tsk tsk, this Platinum Dragon Emperor has a really explosive temper. He attacks without hesitation."
Lin Zhu stroked his chin and commented.
"Amitabha Buddha, this old monk has it tough. He has to carry the fiercest one on one hand, and also has to be distracted by saving his own troublemaker on the other... But it's your own fault for not disciplining him properly, you deserve it."
He watched with great interest, as if what he was witnessing was not a fierce battle that would determine the life or death of a major sect, but a spectacular drama. After watching for a while, he seemed to suddenly remember something and slapped his forehead.
"Oh dear, I was so engrossed in watching the excitement that I almost forgot about the important matter!"
His main purpose for this trip was not to watch the dragons destroy the house, but to "hunt for treasure"!
Taking advantage of the fact that the Dragon Clan's anger was intensifying and their offensive was becoming more fierce due to the White Lotus Child incident, and that the Western Paradise was exhausted and in greater chaos, Lin Zhu once again pushed the effect of the Heaven-Covering Talisman to its limit.
Like a weightless shadow, he stealthily made his way towards a predetermined goal—the interior of the Great Thunderclap Temple—through the intricate corridors and dilapidated buildings within Mount Ling!
Although the highest section of the Great Thunderclap Temple had been swept away by the Purple-Gold Dragon Emperor's tail, leaving it looking rather disheveled and miserable, the main structure remained largely intact and stood majestically. After all, this was the core symbol of the Western Paradise, the face of the two sages, built up over countless years. Its materials and the protective restrictions it contained were extraordinary, and it was not so easily destroyed.
The dragons focused their attacks on Amitabha Buddha and other Buddhas, without deliberately damaging the building itself.
At this moment, the Great Thunderclap Temple was in complete disarray. The Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Arhats were either fighting desperately against the dragons outside, had already perished, or were hiding to heal their wounds. The interior, however, appeared empty and chaotic, making it the perfect time to infiltrate!
Lin Zhu swaggered into the dilapidated entrance of the Great Thunderclap Temple, which no longer had a gate to block the view, as if he were returning to his own backyard.
The temple was in chaos as well. Huge Buddha statues were overturned, and prayer cushions, scriptures, and broken glass lamps were scattered all over the ground. The air was filled with a strange smell of incense, ash, and a faint stench of blood.
Lin Zhu's goal is very clear.
He skipped over the seating areas of the ordinary Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and went straight to the central main area, the deepest and most majestic part of the hall, which symbolized the Buddha's authority.
His "treasure hunt" method was simple, crude, and lacked any technical skill, and... he had absolutely no sense of being a "thief".
He walked up to a huge golden Buddha statue that had fallen to the ground with a compassionate expression. He first tapped the statue out of curiosity, and then, as if he felt there might be a hidden compartment inside, he reached out and grabbed one of the Buddha's huge hands, and twisted it open with force!
"Crack!"
With a crisp crack, Lin Zhu snapped off a finger from the Buddha's hand, which was made of some precious metal and blessed by Buddhism for countless years! Lin Zhu looked at the broken end and muttered to himself.
"Solid? Tsk, what a waste of emotion."
He casually tossed the huge metal finger aside like trash, making a loud clanging sound.
He then walked toward a fallen Bodhisattva lotus platform, which was carved from white jade and shone with a precious light, clearly a fine ritual object.
Lin Zhu raised his foot and kicked him without any hesitation!
"Oh!"
The white jade lotus platform was kicked and rolled away, crashing into a pillar and cracking in several places.
Lin Zhu stepped forward to check and found that apart from the pure Buddhist power, there didn't seem to be anything else hidden inside. He pouted in disappointment.
"Looks good but is useless."
And so, like a demolition crew, he began "searching" inside the Great Thunderclap Temple. He pried open the Buddha's base, which seemed to have a hidden mechanism; he smashed the floorboards with their unusual patterns; he overturned the enormous incense burner… his movements were fluid and effortless, devoid of any psychological burden. In his mind, this wasn't "stealing," but "treasure hunting"!
Treasures are meant for those with affinity! Moreover, Buddhism emphasizes compassion and generosity. If I, being so fortunate to have come here, were to be "gratified" and "generous" in bestowing the treasures upon this fortunate person! Yes, that must be it!
After searching for a while and smashing many seemingly precious magical artifacts and fragments of golden statues that were actually just decorations, Lin Zhu still hadn't found anything that truly moved him, and couldn't help but mutter to himself.
"Is the Western Paradise really that poor? Or do they carry all the good stuff on their person, or hide it in some more secret place?"
His gaze finally settled on the deepest part of the main hall, on the largest and most magnificent stone lotus platform that originally belonged to the Buddha when he preached.
Although the lotus platform was slightly tilted due to the previous tremors, it remained intact overall. It was carved from a rare type of "Bodhi Heart Jade" and exuded a warm and tranquil Buddhist light and Zen-like quality.
Lin Zhu's eyes lit up; his intuition told him that this place... might have some goods!
He rushed over, taking three steps at a time, and circled the massive stone platform, examining it from top to bottom. Sure enough, on the back of the platform, near the ground, he keenly sensed a faint, extremely subtle fluctuation of precious light, which was being carefully concealed by a special restriction!
If it weren't for his keen senses and focused "treasure hunting" attitude, it would have been extremely difficult to find!
"They hid it quite well!"
Lin Zhu grinned, took a few steps back, and then... without any hesitation, raised his foot, gathered all his strength, and kicked hard at the base where the stone platform connected to the ground!
"Open it for me!"
"BOOM—!!!"
How could that enormous Bodhi Heart Jade Platform, imbued with countless years of Buddhist light and Zen essence, made of extraordinary material, almost imbued with spirituality and approaching the level of a magical treasure, withstand Lin Zhu's merciless kick? (End of Chapter)