Chapter 696
Invulnerable to All Laws
He felt that his saintly mindset, which had been cultivated for countless eons and was impervious to all laws and as calm as an ancient well, had been torn open by Lin Zhu's reckless and unscrupulous actions! For the first time in his life, he felt an overwhelming urge to curse and swear without restraint!
This feeling of being wronged, this frustration, this feeling of being completely controlled and unable to resist... it's unbearable! It's even more unbearable than being pointed at by the Immortal Slaughtering Sword Formation of the Tongtian Sect Leader back then!
Seeing that Amitabha Buddha had finally completely surrendered, a triumphant sneer flashed in Lin Zhu's eyes.
The reason he pressed on so relentlessly was twofold: firstly, he knew that the Western Paradise was very well-off, not at all like what Amitabha Buddha claimed to be poor; secondly, he was also eager to get his hands on the goods and run away.
Although his "treasure hunt" inside Mount Ling and at the Merit Pool was clandestine, there was no guarantee that the Western Paradise didn't have other backup plans or surveillance. If he were discovered, it would be a huge problem. He had to act quickly, make the decision, and run!
Lin Zhu turned around, her face expressionless, and simply stretched out her hand, palm up, looking calmly at Amitabha Buddha.
Looking at his matter-of-fact, expectant manner of waiting to receive money, Amitabha Buddha felt a tightness in his chest again.
He said no more, knowing that further words would be pointless and would only bring him humiliation.
With extreme pain, as if cutting flesh from his own body, he slowly raised his hand, and a Buddha-light gathered in his palm. A jade gourd, about a foot tall, warm and white in color, with natural lotus patterns flowing on its surface, appeared out of thin air.
As soon as this jade gourd appeared, it emitted an extremely pure Buddhist energy fluctuation and a faint fragrance of merit, clearly indicating that it was no ordinary item.
Amitabha Buddha glanced at the jade gourd with extreme reluctance, but finally gritted his teeth and tossed it to Lin Zhu from a distance.
Lin Zhu reached out and caught it; it was slightly heavy and had a cool, warm feel.
He immediately sent a wisp of his divine sense into it.
The gourd's interior was vast, but it wasn't the boundless, ocean-like water of merit he had imagined. Instead, it was condensed and refined to the extreme!
The pale golden essence of the divine water, viscous like liquid amber, exuded a merit aura and vitality several times richer and purer than what he had absorbed from the pool of merit! Mere contact with his divine sense brought peace to his mind, as if he were being cleansed by the purest power of his vows.
'Five hundred thousand merit units, condensed into this little bit?' Lin Zhu's heart stirred slightly, and then a thought arose, 'This purity... is even higher than that in the merit pool!'
The Western Paradise truly has even better reserves! Perhaps... there really is a second, or even more crucial, Lesser Merit Pool? Or maybe there's a special method for concentrating and refining it?
He felt he might have... asked for too low a price? Had he lost out?
The thought flashed through Lin Zhu's mind, but he remained expressionless and quickly put away the jade gourd. Even a mosquito's leg is meat, let alone this—it wasn't a mosquito's leg, but a plump elephant's leg! He'd better secure it first.
Lin Zhu put away the jade gourd, his face still expressionless. He simply looked calmly at Amitabha Buddha again, the meaning of which was all too clear—500,000 units of merit-based divine water, this was only the first item, what about the rest?
Amitabha Buddha sensed that gaze and the increasingly strong oppressive feeling emanating from the dragon formation behind him, knowing that a "major hemorrhage" was unavoidable today.
His heart felt as if it were being cut by a dull knife; each treasured item he took out felt like a piece of flesh being torn away. But circumstances were beyond his control, and he could only grit his teeth and continue to painstakingly retrieve items from Lin Zhu's list from his Buddhist space or the secret vault of Mount Ling.
He flipped his hand again, and a small, exquisite glass bottle, neither gold nor jade, with three chaotic colors flowing in his palm, appeared.
The bottle is no bigger than the palm of your hand, but its body is covered with natural Dao patterns, with faint shadows of the sun, moon and stars surrounding it. A hazy glow rises from the mouth of the bottle, exuding a pure and powerful vitality and aura of creation that seems to nourish the origin of all things and reverse life and death!
"This is the 'Three Lights Divine Water,' the essence of the sun, moon, and stars, which takes countless eons to condense into a single drop. It has the supreme power to bring the dead back to life, heal flesh and bones, and restore one's original nature."
The voice of Amitabha Buddha carried a barely perceptible tremor and a hint of heartache.
"In my Western Paradise, there is only one bottle like this. It was obtained through an exchange with a fellow Daoist many years ago and has been treasured ever since."
He didn't explicitly state which saint he was exchanging it with, but the item's value was enough to make all the knowledgeable powerful figures present envious. Ordinary half-step quasi-saints probably wouldn't even have the right to see it! With great reluctance, he tossed the Three Lights Divine Water glass bottle to Lin Zhu as well.
Lin Zhu caught it steadily, scanned it with his divine sense to confirm that it was correct, and was secretly pleased, but on the surface he only nodded slightly and put it away casually.
Immediately afterwards, another object appeared in Amitabha Buddha's palm. As soon as this object appeared, the entire battlefield of Mount Ling, including the raging dragon's might, seemed to quiet down.
It was a bead about the size of a pigeon egg, perfectly round, radiating a pure, warm golden light that seemed to illuminate all the darkness in the world.
Inside the bead, there seemed to be a miniature Buddha sitting cross-legged, with a solemn and dignified appearance, chanting mantras, radiating a vast and pure Buddhist power, a flawless aura of merit, and a kind of... extremely subtle, yet heart-pounding fluctuation of the primordial spirit of a top expert!
"Golden Relic..."
A wise and knowledgeable ancient Buddha murmured, his tone filled with shock and disbelief.
Amitabha's voice was even lower, carrying a sense of sorrow at having to part with a precious treasure.
"This is a 'golden relic' formed by a truly accomplished and virtuous quasi-saint Buddha who voluntarily passed away, through his lifelong cultivation, Buddhist enlightenment, and the purest primordial spirit, refined by special Buddhist teachings."
It contains the fruits of his life's cultivation, and even a trace of... the true meaning of annihilation and rebirth, making it perfectly suited as the core 'skeleton' for reuniting the primordial spirit.
He was only half telling the truth.
This golden relic is indeed incredibly precious, crafted from the primordial spirit of a quasi-saint, containing a portion of the Dao fruit and the true essence of Buddhism of that quasi-saint Buddha. But what Amitabha Buddha didn't mention is that at the final moment of crafting this relic, he, Amitabha Buddha, with the supernatural powers of a saint, subtly integrated an extremely subtle, almost imperceptible wisp of his primordial spirit imprint into the relic's very core essence!
This mark usually serves no purpose and can even help the holder comprehend Buddhist teachings. However, under certain conditions or if the holder secretly activates it, it can subtly influence or even, to some extent, "guide" or "monitor" the primordial spirit that reassembles around this relic!
This is his true intention! On the surface, he is paying a huge price for peace, but in reality, he has a hidden plan. If he can revive the White Dragon with this relic, then the newborn White Dragon's primordial spirit will forever bear a trace of his Amitabha Buddha imprint.
In the future, whether it is the relationship between the Dragon Clan and the Western Paradise, or the pilgrim himself, he will have a transcendent and secretive influence. He can guide them in secret, or sit back and watch them fight, or even at critical moments... he may be used as a special "body-snatching" or control medium!
Of course, this is extremely risky and will not be used unless absolutely necessary, but for him, planting this piece is more beneficial than harmful.
With these complex and secret thoughts in mind, Amitabha Buddha reluctantly gave this golden relic to Lin Zhu as well.
Lin Zhu took the relic, its surface warm and smooth to the touch. The pure Buddhist power and aura of merit made him nod in approval; it was indeed a top-quality item. As for the deeply hidden trickery within? With his current cultivation level and perception, it was indeed difficult for him to detect it immediately without using the system's deep scan.
However, he already had a deep understanding of the character of those guys in the Western Paradise, knowing that they could never really be that "honest," and that there must be something strange about this relic. But for now, he'd get his hands on it first, and if there were any problems, he could study them later or... find an opportunity to "purify" it.
Watching Lin Zhu deftly put away the golden relic, Amitabha Buddha outwardly showed compassion, but inwardly sneered. The Buddha Tathagata, standing nearby, witnessed the entire scene. His cultivation was profound; he vaguely sensed something unusual about the relic's aura, but couldn't quite put his finger on it. Seeing Amitabha Buddha's heart-wrenching yet forcedly composed expression, Tathagata secretly rejoiced—thankfully, it wasn't him who had to empty his coffers today!
Otherwise, I'd be heartbroken! Tsk tsk, even treasures like the Three Lights Divine Water and the Golden Light Relic have been brought out; the teacher has really gone all out this time!
But amidst his relief, he suddenly remembered the demands for "one hundred million Buddhist soldiers" and "the territory of the Buddhist Kingdom of India" at the end of Lin Zhu's list, and that sense of desolation welled up in his heart again—in the end, wouldn't these things still be a loss for the Western Paradise?
Isn't it still the mess that Buddha himself has to manage? The money comes from the sheep, the teacher bleeds, and in the end, the one who manages the mess and bears the actual losses is probably himself, the "Buddha of the present"! Thinking of this, Buddha felt a bitter taste in his mouth again.
Seeing that Lin Zhu had accepted the two core materials, Amitabha Buddha barely managed to maintain a gentle tone and continued speaking.
“Benefactor Lin, regarding the one hundred million Buddhist soldiers’ vow power you mentioned, as well as the three thousand sets of high-level magical artifacts, armor, and other items that accompany them… the quantity is enormous, and mobilization will take time. Could you perhaps have Guanyin Bodhisattva take charge of the inventory and hand them over to you later? Our Western Paradise has absolutely no intention of delaying.”
He wanted to postpone the settlement date as much as possible to reduce the immediate impact and also to appear "composed".
Upon hearing this, Lin Zhu smiled knowingly, as if she understood, and nodded.
"I understand, I understand. The Buddha is extremely busy, so he naturally delegates such trivial matters to his subordinates. Trust is very important."
Amitabha Buddha breathed a sigh of relief, seeing that he seemed quite easy to talk to, when he saw Lin Zhu suddenly turn his head and shout loudly towards the Heavenly Court's spectator camp in the distance.
"Nezha! Did you hear me? Come here!"
Nezha, who had been excitedly watching the battle and couldn't wait to experience firsthand what it felt like to "extort money from the Dragon Clan," was startled by the sound and immediately stepped onto his Wind Fire Wheels.
It flew over in a flash, landed next to Lin Zhu, and clasped its hands in greeting.
"Boss Lin! What are your orders?"
His eyes sparkled with anticipation.
Lin Zhu patted Nezha on the shoulder, pointed at Guanyin Bodhisattva opposite him, and spoke in a clear voice, making sure that all three thousand Buddhas could hear him.
"See that Guanyin Bodhisattva? Next, you will be in full charge of following her to count and receive the 100 million Buddhist soldiers' vows and the 3,000 sets of high-level magical weapons and armor."
Remember, check everything carefully, nothing can be missing, and the quality must be impeccable! We in Heaven value integrity, but we must also guard against being cheated, given inferior goods, or shortchanged. Understand?
He spoke with such self-righteousness, as if he were the creditor and the Western Paradise were a deadbeat who refused to pay his debts and needed to be guarded against at all costs.
"Pfft..."
On the dragon side, a few of the younger true dragons couldn't help but let out low sneers. The Purple-Gold Dragon Emperor laughed heartily.
"Young man, you've got it! You're thorough enough! Just to my liking!"
The Platinum Dragon Emperor also said coldly.
"The Heavenly Court has indeed picked up a good seedling; he is meticulous in his work."
Meanwhile, the faces of the three thousand Buddhas in the Western Paradise camp turned as black as the bottom of a pot! In front of so many people from the Dragon Clan and the Heavenly Court, Lin Zhu's words were practically rubbing the face of the Western Paradise into the ground repeatedly! What did he mean by "preventing being tricked"?
Isn't this clearly saying that the Western Paradise will renege on its promise? Amitabha Buddha, Tathagata Buddha, and even Guanyin Bodhisattva who was named, all felt their faces burning, as if they had been slapped hard by invisible hands, and the sense of humiliation rushed to their heads.
Nezha didn't care about any of that; he was excited! Upon hearing this, he immediately puffed out his chest and responded loudly.
"Yes, sir! Don't worry, Boss Lin! Nezha guarantees to complete the mission and won't let anyone fool him!"
After saying that, he turned around and faced the Guanyin Bodhisattva, whose face was turning pale and then red. He imitated Lin Zhu's "business-like" tone and cupped his hands in greeting.
"Great Bodhisattva Guanyin, there's no time to lose. Please lead the way so we can go and take stock and hand over the goods now. The sooner we get it over with, the less trouble everyone will have to worry about."
Guanyin Bodhisattva looked at Nezha, who used to be quite "well-behaved," but now had learned to be so "slick." She felt both angry and helpless.
She looked at Amitabha Buddha, who closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and nodded slightly. At this point, worrying about saving face was pointless; the best course of action was to get rid of this plague and those scoundrels as quickly as possible.
As for those Buddhist soldiers, their vows, and their magical weapons and armor… in Amitabha Buddha's eyes, they were nothing more than consumables and "ant-like" things. Even the Nine-Layered Heavenly Prison was nothing to them; without a sage to oversee them, no matter how powerful they were, they couldn't cause any real trouble. The true foundation of the Western Paradise lay in the overall situation, in the sages, and in the merit of the pilgrimage. A little material loss was to be tolerated.
Having received tacit approval, Guanyin Bodhisattva had no choice but to suppress her frustration and speak calmly to Nezha.
"Third Prince, please come with me."
Having said that, he mounted his lotus platform and flew towards the treasury behind Mount Ling. Nezha immediately followed excitedly, not forgetting to turn back and give Lin Zhu a reassuring gesture.
After sending Nezha away to collect his "service fee," Lin Zhu's gaze returned to Amitabha Buddha, her smile fading slightly.
"Next, we should discuss the issue of dominance and acceptance of beliefs in the three largest mortal kingdoms of the Buddhist kingdom of India."
Upon hearing this, Amitabha Buddha's face displayed just the right amount of "difficulty" and "sincerity." He clasped his hands together and said gently, "Benefactor Lin, this matter... I'm afraid I cannot comply."
"Oh?" Lin Zhu raised an eyebrow.
"It is not that this humble monk is unwilling, but rather that it is limited by the rules of Heaven." Amitabha Buddha's tone was heavy, as if he were stating a helpless fact.
"The rise and fall of dynasties and the shifting of beliefs in the mortal realm are governed by their own predetermined causes and conditions. If gods and Buddhas forcibly intervene in and control the situation in the mortal world with their magical powers, especially when it involves changes in territory, political power, or fundamental beliefs, they will inevitably be tainted by immense karmic consequences. At best, their cultivation will be damaged and their magical powers will be lost; at worst, they will be consumed by karmic fire, their true spirit will be obscured, and they will fall into the cycle of reincarnation, never to be redeemed. This is an ironclad law of Heaven, and even saints must exercise caution and avoid it." (End of Chapter)