Chapter 685
Spirit Stone Rockery
This long corridor, which is the "Eight Thousand Feet Vow Corridor" mentioned in the system prompt, is said to be the path that believers walk on their way back after visiting the sacred mountain and listening to the Buddhist teachings at the Great Thunder Temple. It is also the only way to the Eight Treasures Merit Pool.
However, what Lin Zhu saw at this moment was not a simple, unadorned long corridor for people to walk on.
This is clearly a "treasure gallery" that is extremely luxurious, exquisitely crafted, and built with countless rare and precious materials!
The corridor was so wide that it could accommodate dozens of carriages side by side.
The beams and pillars on both sides are made of gold or jade; the words "carved beams and painted rafters" are insufficient to describe them.
The massive beams supporting the roof are made entirely of rare "ten-thousand-year-old warm jade" or "starry purple gold," and are carved with exquisite patterns of Buddha preaching, Bodhisattvas manifesting, and flying apsaras dancing. Every stroke contains pure Buddhist power, so lifelike that they seem to come to life at any moment!
The ground is covered with polished "crystal tiles" that are so smooth they reflect light and shimmer with seven colors. Each tile contains a faint purifying aura.
Along both sides of the corridor, every few feet there are statues of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Arhats carved from whole pieces of "South China Sea Agarwood" or "Arctic Ice Marrow". They are solemn and dignified, exuding a peaceful and serene aura. Their materials are top-grade materials for refining weapons or setting up formations.
Even more impressively, the corridor is not straight and monotonous, but rather cleverly arranged with artificial hills, streams, small bridges, and pavilions, taking advantage of the local conditions.
Those artificial mountains were actually made up of uncarved, yet naturally imbued "spiritual stone ore," varying in size and shimmering with spiritual light.
The babbling water is not an ordinary mountain spring, but a "spiritual liquid" that gathers the essence of heaven and earth. It flows in a specially made "warm sun jade" channel, steaming up a misty spiritual energy that makes people feel refreshed with every breath.
Countless ever-burning lamps hang from the ceiling, their bodies crafted from "seven-colored glass" or "moonlight crystal," and their oil extracted from a certain spiritual plant, known as "mind-clearing and spirit-concentrating balm." When burning, the lamps emit a soft yet bright light, and their fragrance can cleanse the mind and aid in spiritual practice.
Even the decorative nails inlaid on the columns are made of "deep-sea pearls" or "star sand"!
Tripods and jade, gold nuggets and pearls, are discarded and used like mud and sand!
Lin Zhu stood at the entrance of the long corridor, looking at the "work of art" in front of him that stretched for eight thousand feet and seemed to have no end, made of countless precious materials. His mouth opened slightly, and it took him a long time to close it.
"My goodness..."
Lin Zhu couldn't help but gasp and mutter to himself.
"This Western Paradise... is fucking rich! Even the Jade Emperor and Queen Mother's Jade Pool isn't this luxurious, is it? How much of the people's wealth... no, how many devout believers' offerings must have been plundered to build such a road?"
After the initial shock, an overwhelming sense of justice and responsibility surged into Lin Zhu's heart!
"Such extravagance and waste run counter to the Buddhist principles of 'purity of mind and few desires' and 'emptiness of the four elements'! This is clearly a typical manifestation of the corruption of faith!"
Lin Zhu's expression quickly shifted from shock to "heartache," and then to "resolute determination."
"As the law enforcement deity of the Three Realms, how can I sit idly by and watch such a huge amount of 'stolen goods' be displayed here so openly, corrupting the purity of Buddhism and setting a bad example for the Three Realms? It must be resolutely confiscated! This is not just about finding treasure, but also about purifying the environment and maintaining the integrity of the Three Realms!"
Having found the perfect reason to act, Lin Zhu no longer hesitated and immediately took action! Moreover, his method of "confiscation" this time was even more... thorough and efficient than before inside the Great Thunderclap Temple!
He first walked to a pillar made of "Starry Purple Gold", reached out and touched the cold, hard pillar that shimmered with starlight, and nodded.
"Hmm, the material is excellent, confiscated!"
After saying that, he directly used his immense magical power to envelop the huge beam that was as thick as several people could hug, and pulled it out with force!
"Crack... Boom!"
The roof shook violently, dust fell in a flurry, and the precious star-patterned purple-gold beam was forcibly pulled out of the foundation and then directly taken away by him using his hidden sleeve technique!
Then, his gaze swept over the Buddha statues carved from sandalwood, jade, and icy marrow. "These statues, while of high artistic value, easily lead people to become obsessed with outward appearances, hindering spiritual practice. Confiscated!"
With a wave of his hand, his magical power, like an invisible hand, "broke" off one priceless statue after another and put them into his possession.
The glazed tiles on the ground? "They're flashy but impractical, and could easily cause slips and injuries to worshippers. Confiscated!"
As Lin Zhu muttered to himself, he pried up the iridescent floor tiles one by one, like a diligent farmer harvesting crops, and swept them into his storage space.
Artificial rocks and spirit stones? "Randomly piled up, they affect the beauty and tidiness of the corridor, and their spiritual energy leaks out. Such waste is shameful, so they are confiscated!"
Lin Zhu directly used his supernatural powers to uproot the various sizes of spirit stone ore, taking the soil along with them.
The elixir stream? "Outdoor placement makes it prone to evaporation and pollution, and may also breed mosquitoes, which is detrimental to the health of believers. Confiscated!"
Lin Zhu even pulled out several large burlap sacks from who-knows-where and plunged them directly into the stream of spiritual liquid, sucking them up like a pump!
At first, Lin Zhu "confiscated" the items one by one, but he soon realized that it was too inefficient. Looking at the "stolen goods" that stretched for eight thousand feet and seemed almost endless, he gritted his teeth and made a "difficult" decision.
"Fine! In order to purify this place as soon as possible and prevent these 'filth' from continuing to pollute the environment and corrupt people's hearts, I have no choice but to... resort to some extraordinary measures!"
Lin Zhu took a deep breath, slowly raised his hands, palms facing each other, and a profound and mysterious spatial law fluctuation, seemingly capable of encompassing all things and forming its own world, began to gather and ripple between his palms!
This was precisely the great Buddhist supernatural power he had "confiscated" from some ignorant Buddha on his journey to the West—the Buddha Kingdom in the Palm of His Hand! Of course, Lin Zhu didn't use it to pretend to be a believer or to perform Buddhist teachings. "Buddha Kingdom in the Palm of His Hand—Open!"
With a low shout from Lin Zhu, the space between his palms rapidly twisted and expanded, transforming into an invisible yet real portal to a small world with an extremely vast internal space, pointing directly at the luxurious corridor in front of him!
The next moment, a jaw-dropping scene unfolded!
Starting from the bamboo grove, the long corridor area in front of you is filled with carved beams and painted rafters, jade floor tiles, gold and silver Buddha statues, artificial rockery, spiritual streams, and even the glass lamps hanging from the ceiling and the pearls and gems inlaid on the walls...
Everything that contained spiritual energy, was made of precious materials, or looked valuable was sucked up by an invisible, giant vacuum cleaner, rising off the ground and transforming into streams of multicolored light, flowing wildly into the invisible "Buddha Kingdom" portal in Lin Zhu's palm like rivers flowing into the sea!
The scene was like a primordial beast opening its gaping maw to devour everything! Or like a locust swarm sweeping across the land, leaving not a single blade of grass behind!
Lin Zhu continued walking forward, maintaining the devouring power of the Buddha Kingdom in his palm.
Wherever it passed, it was as if the most thorough demolition team had visited it, or as if it had been completely eroded by time and sandstorms for millions of years! The originally luxurious, exquisite, and radiant eight-thousand-foot-long corridor of thanksgiving quickly became bare and dilapidated at a speed visible to the naked eye!
The exquisite beams and pillars have vanished, leaving only a rough stone framework; the luxurious floor tiles have disappeared, revealing the pitted and uneven soil beneath; the precious statues, artificial mountains, and spiritual liquids have vanished, leaving only unsightly holes and dried-up ditches; even the glass lamps on the roof of the corridor and the decorations on the walls have been stripped clean!
The road stretches for eight thousand zhang, and Lin Zhu walked it from beginning to end, and also "dismantled" it from beginning to end.
"Closing up" to the very end!
When he finally reached the end of the corridor and looked back, he saw that what should have been a magnificent and ethereal pilgrimage route had become a desolate, dilapidated, and ruined "broken corridor" that even ghosts would not want to stay in!
Lin Zhu clapped his hands in satisfaction, dispelling the supernatural power of the Buddha Kingdom in his palm. He felt the mountain of various "building materials" and "decorations" piled up in the small world of the Buddha Kingdom, and a gratified smile appeared on his face.
"Well, it's been cleaned up fairly well. Apart from those worthless mud and stones, there's... uh, I don't think there's any needle and thread? Oh well, it's basically all 'confiscated'."
The corridor is much quieter now. In the future, believers will be able to focus more on their inner spiritual practice rather than being distracted by external things when they walk through it.
Lin Zhu muttered to himself, commenting on his "achievements" without any sense of guilt.
He straightened his clothes, adjusted the concealment talisman to ensure he was still in the best concealment state, then took a deep breath and, with the excitement of "about to inspect the largest den of stolen money," stepped out of the dilapidated corridor.
The next moment, the scene before him left even Lin Zhu, who had just "looted" the eight-thousand-foot-long luxurious corridor and considered himself to have seen a lot of the world, instantly petrified and shocked, his pupils suddenly contracting to the extreme!
Beyond the long corridor lay an incomparably vast Pure Land, bathed in soft, pure Buddhist light. In the center of this Pure Land, a magnificent, sacred, and extravagantly luxurious pool, beyond description, sat quietly.
That is one of the true foundations and treasures of the Western Paradise – the Eight Treasures Merit Pool!
The pool was far larger than Lin Zhu had imagined; it seemed to stretch endlessly, like an inland sea.
The pool water was no ordinary water; it possessed an exquisitely pure, pale golden hue, seemingly capable of reflecting the very essence of the human heart. The surface shimmered with a tangible golden light of merit and auspicious energy. Simply standing by the pool, one could feel the cleansing of the soul and the dissolving of sins—a truly blissful experience! That was the purest essence of divine water, the essence of merit! The entire pool was overflowing with it!
However, what left Lin Zhu speechless with shock was not only the pool full of merit water, but also the materials used to construct the merit pool itself!
The bottom of the pool is not mud or sand, but is covered with a thick layer of "merit sand" that shimmers with a soft golden light! Each grain of sand contains the pure power of merit and the power of Buddhist vows, and is of immeasurable value!
The steps around the pool were made of four precious materials: pure gold, pure silver, lapis lazuli, and glass. They were laid out seamlessly, like a work of art inlaid by the most skilled craftsmen. They were dazzling and eye-catching!
Floating above the pool are exquisitely crafted pavilions and towers, resembling celestial palaces. These structures are not made of brick, tile, wood, or stone; their beams, pillars, tiles, railings, and decorations are all directly carved and constructed from seven precious materials: gold, silver, red pearls, glazed tiles, giant clam shells, and agate! The interplay of these precious materials creates a magnificent spectacle beyond description!
Countless lotus flowers grow in the pond, each as large as a cartwheel. They are not ordinary flowers, but rather the legendary golden lotus of merit, red lotus of karmic fire, and white lotus of purification! The lotus flowers emit light in various colors, such as blue, yellow, red, white, and purple, making the pond surface look like a dream. A subtle fragrance permeates the air, refreshing the mind and body, as if it can wash away all the filth of the world.
Even the banks of the pond are not made of ordinary bricks, stones, mud, and sand, but are constructed of various kinds of bamboo and forests that are unnamed but clearly of extraordinary quality. They are of different colors and have a warm texture, complementing the pond, lotus flowers, and pavilions, forming a harmonious whole.
In the pool water, one can vaguely see beautiful natural patterns spreading out like wheel spokes. These patterns seem to be naturally interwoven from the luster of giant clam shells, the bright red of red pearls, and the texture of agate, creating a magnificent sight.
The entire Eight Treasures Merit Pool is less a pool and more a living, enormous, and extravagant work of art that gathers the essence of heaven and earth, faith, and countless treasures! It is the most direct and naked manifestation of the wealth, faith, and merit accumulated by the Western Paradise over countless years!
"I... my goodness..."
Lin Zhu's mouth gaped open, speechless for a long time, his mind completely blank. Compared to the Eight Treasures Merit Pool before him, the luxurious corridor he had seen before was like the courtyard wall of a nouveau riche in the countryside, the difference between it and the imperial treasury! No, it was the difference between a beggar's den and the Lingxiao Palace in the Thirty-Three Heavens!
He originally thought he was somewhat prepared for the "wealth" of the Western Paradise, but when he saw the Merit Pool with his own eyes, he realized that he was still too young, too naive, and too inexperienced!
"This...this must have taken countless years of blood, sweat, and tears from believers...no, devout faith to produce something like this?"
Lin Zhu muttered to himself, his eyes somewhat glazed over.
"I used to think that long corridor was made from the people's hard-earned money, but now that I see it... that long corridor is nothing! Compared to this merit pool, it's not even a drop in the ocean!"
After the initial shock, an indescribable surge of joy erupted like a volcanic eruption, instantly overwhelming Lin Zhu's reason and composure!
"We've struck it rich! We've really struck it rich this time!!"
Lin Zhu was so excited that she almost jumped up on the spot, her face flushed with extreme excitement.
"Western Paradise! You are truly...so wealthy! So generous! Amitabha, thank you! Thank you for accumulating such a substantial sum of 'ill-gotten gains' for me... no, for the cause of law enforcement in the Three Realms! And System, you are a good person too, a very good person! You guided me here!"
He repeatedly clasped his hands in front of the air, as if thanking an unseen "sponsor."
In his ecstasy, Lin Zhu did not completely lose his vigilance.
He suppressed the urge to immediately pounce and greedily absorb the merit water, instead carefully concealing his aura and maximizing the effect of the Heaven-Covering Talisman. At the same time, his gaze, like the most precise scanner, began to meticulously examine every corner of the merit pool, especially the central area. (End of Chapter)