Chapter 715
The 36th Grade Green Lotus Defies Heaven
The Dao patterns on the lotus leaves began to move and recombine, becoming more complex and profound; at the center of the lotus platform, a core with a faint chaotic color was condensing and stabilizing.
The entire mutation process lasted for about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea. The quiet room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, with only the blue lotus silently undergoing a transformative change.
Finally, all the strange phenomena subsided.
The thirty-sixth-grade Creation Lotus floated silently, its appearance seemingly no different from before. However, upon closer inspection, the aura it emitted was completely different! It had lost some of the instability and restlessness of an "anomaly," and gained a more natural, ancient, and majestic weight and majesty. The lotus body contained an inner azure light, as if it could devour the light of all heavens; the Dao patterns were hidden, as if they could evolve the root of all laws.
[Targeted mutation successful! The Thirty-Sixth Grade Creation Lotus has completed its advancement!]
[Rank Upgraded. Supreme Treasure of the Heavenly Dao.]
Core attributes updated.
1. Within the Three Realms, attacks from any living being will have their damage forcibly reduced by 50%.
Second, immunity to the invasion of the Buddha's light.
When attacked by Buddhist supernatural powers or magical treasures, one can use their own righteous energy to activate the essence of the Azure Lotus, forming absolute protection and completely immune to its negative effects and some damage.
Third, reflect 20% of all attacks back to the original attacker. This reflection effect ignores most defenses, protective abilities, and causal relationships, directly affecting the attacker's core.
Looking at these three updated, incredibly powerful core attributes, Lin Zhu's expression went from initial anticipation to surprise, then to ecstasy, and finally... a near-blank, frozen state.
That was an overwhelming surprise.
He opened his mouth as if to say something, but no sound came out. Only those three attributes echoed repeatedly in his mind.
"Attacks from all beings in the Three Realms are halved... Immune to the light of all Buddhas... Reflects 20% of attacks, ignoring the causal effects of defense..."
Each one of them, taken individually, would be enough to drive any powerful being mad! And now, they are all combined into one magical artifact!
What does this mean? It means that from now on, sneak attacks like the Medicine Buddha's Glazed Illusionary Light, which specifically target the soul and has strong Buddhist transformative and corrosive properties, will be completely ineffective against him! As long as he is prepared in advance, or activates the Azure Lotus in time, that eerie glazed light might not even be able to dazzle him!
Even more terrifying is the combined effect of damage reduction and reflection. Assuming an enemy's full-force attack deals 100 damage, after being halved by Qinglian, only 50 points will land on Lin Zhu.
At the same time, Qinglian will automatically deflect 20% of the attack back at the attacker, ignoring any defense! In this exchange, the enemy takes 20 points of damage, while Lin Zhu only takes 50. This disparity in damage makes the advantage in actual combat ridiculously large!
"This...this is simply..."
Lin Zhu took several deep breaths before she could finally calm her turbulent emotions.
He stretched out his hand, and the thirty-sixth-grade Creation Lotus seemed to sense it, transforming into a stream of azure light that entered his brow and sank into the deepest part of his sea of consciousness, becoming closely connected with his divine soul origin. It slowly rotated, scattering rays of clear light, protecting him at all times.
An indescribable sense of security and strong confidence welled up from the bottom of my heart. The lingering worries that had arisen from the weaknesses in defense had vanished at this moment.
"The Thirty-Six Grade Creation Lotus... truly lives up to its name, truly lives up to its name!"
Lin Zhu sighed in admiration, feeling refreshed and relaxed all over, as if an invisible shackle had been removed.
He stretched his limbs, and his signature, slightly mocking smile reappeared on his face. His gaze seemed to pierce through the walls of the quiet room, looking towards the direction of the Western Paradise.
"This gift is truly generous and touching. It seems I should properly 'thank' the Buddhas of the Western Paradise for their 'generosity.' Hmm... I suppose they'll send another 'thank you gift' soon? After all, the feeling of having one's wealth emptied must be quite 'fulfilling,' and one really needs someone to 'share' it with, right?"
Inside the dilapidated Great Thunder Temple, the solemn and dignified atmosphere and melodious chanting of the past have long since vanished. In their place are the grunts of moving ruins, the clanging of repairing broken floor tiles and column bases, and the suppressed breathing and hushed conversations of the strongmen and Arhats responsible for cleaning and moving.
The air was thick with dust, the smell of burning, and a faint, lingering stench of dragon's breath. The Buddha's light still shone, but it seemed weak and feeble, as if it too had been exhausted in this catastrophe.
The Buddha, draped in a slightly worn brocade robe, stood quietly atop the still-uncleaned hall, watching the busy and chaotic scene below with an expressionless face.
His face, which usually exuded compassion and majesty, was now shrouded in an inescapable weariness and deep helplessness.
The damage to Mount Ling is too severe. The ancient dragons of the Dragon Clan unleashed their fury, each strike containing the power to shatter mountains and split seas. Many core areas' restrictions, formations, and even the earth's spiritual cores suffered devastating destruction. Repairing it is far more than simply moving bricks and tiles; it requires the intervention of highly skilled experts to reshape the earth's veins with force, stabilize the space, and re-establish the restrictions.
Such a demanding and essential task should have been spearheaded by the most powerful beings in Mount Ling.
However, that Amitabha Buddha teacher... alas.
Thinking of that saintly incarnation, Tathagata felt a pang of bitterness in his heart. After the dragon clan retreated and Lin Zhu returned "laden with spoils," Amitabha Buddha simply gave a few instructions before turning away and returning to his meditation temple deep in the Vulture Peak. He closed the gates tightly, claiming that he wanted to "reflect on his faults and comprehend the Great Dao," but in reality, he was leaving this mess to Tathagata without reservation!
How could the Tathagata not know what his teacher was thinking? The root cause of this calamity at Mount Ling seems to lie with the White Lotus Child, but in reality, it involves much more. Amitabha Buddha himself also suffered heavy losses and his heart was bleeding.
Putting aside everything else, just the nearly five million merit waters in the Eight Treasures Merit Pool... Lin Zhu stole and cheated away a million of them, and the remaining four million evaporated and dissipated because the spiritual agate at the bottom of the pool was dug out and the formation collapsed, returning to the ocean of heaven and earth's will power, which is equivalent to losing them all!
That's nearly five million units of merit-based divine water! No small sum! It's the "working capital" accumulated by the Western Paradise Buddhist sect over countless years by absorbing faith and transforming vows. It's the fundamental guarantee for maintaining the operation of the entire vast system and distributing "salaries" and cultivation resources to the three thousand Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Arhats!
Now that this "working capital" has vanished overnight, how will the subsequent "salaries" be paid? How will those lower- and middle-level Buddhas, Arhats, and warriors, who have no independent source of incense offerings and rely entirely on internal rations from the Buddhist community, cultivate themselves? How will they maintain their spiritual bodies? If the "salaries" are delayed for a long time, the people's hearts will inevitably fall apart.
Especially those Buddhas and Arhats who were not included in the Journey to the West project and felt that their "future was bleak"—who would want to stay in this ruined and uncertain Ling Mountain if they couldn't see any real benefits? They might turn around and run to other forces, or simply find a secluded mountain forest to cultivate in seclusion!
To stabilize the base, Amitabha Buddha, no matter how painful it was, had no choice but to grit his teeth and spend his own money—consuming his own accumulated immeasurable merit and saintly power—to painstakingly re-condense and transform into a "share" equivalent to the five million merits of divine water, in order to fill this huge hole, barely maintain the payment of "salaries," and avoid a large-scale "wave of resignations."
This process was also quite taxing for the incarnation of a saint, no wonder he was in a bad mood and simply abandoned the reconstruction. Moreover, the loss wasn't just of the merit water; the tens of thousands of kilograms of spiritual agate that covered the bottom of the pool, forming its foundation; all the colorful glazed tiles, star-shaped purple-gold beams, millennia-old warm jade pillars, various precious jade statues, and streams of spiritual liquid on the eight-thousand-foot-long, extremely luxurious vow-granting corridor… all the valuable, spiritually imbued top-tier treasures were practically swept away by Lin Zhu!
These losses cannot be measured by simple numbers of merits. They represent the accumulation of wealth and prestige of the Western Paradise over countless years, which has now been taken away whole. Their value is immeasurable, and it makes Amitabha Buddha feel a tightness in his chest whenever he thinks about it.
Therefore, when the teacher shifted the blame, Buddha had no choice but to accept it. After all, he was the current Buddha of Mount Ling, the nominal highest administrator. This burden was huge, thick, and firmly placed on his shoulders.
Amitabha Buddha didn't completely ignore it; at least he intervened and forcibly restored the White Lotus Child's almost shattered primordial spirit and completely annihilated physical body.
However, it is said that because of the lack of the crucial "Muni Light-Stabilizing Pearl" to stabilize the connection between the physical body and the primordial spirit, the reconstructed physical body is quite rough, and the realm has fallen back to the early stage of Quasi-Saint, with an unstable aura.
After completing this task, Amitabha Buddha seemed to have fulfilled his last "duty" and went straight back to heaven to "drink tea and calm his mind," leaving the entire mess of rebuilding Mount Sumeru, pacifying people's hearts, and restarting the Journey to the West to be left on his shoulders alone.
As Buddha was pondering with a furrowed brow where to allocate manpower to prioritize the repair of the core formation, a piercing shout, brimming with obvious excitement and arrogance, interrupted his thoughts.
"You over there! Yes, I'm talking to you lot! You're dawdling even while moving a few broken stones, haven't you eaten? Mount Ling has suffered such a great calamity, and we need everyone to unite and speed up the reconstruction! How can you be so lazy? Do you live up to the Buddha's trust? Do you live up to the fallen comrades?"
The owner of the voice was none other than the White Lotus Child, who had just escaped death and had his physical body reconstructed.
He was dressed in a brand-new white lotus robe, his face was pale because he had not yet recovered his strength, but his expression was more flamboyant than before, even with a kind of fanaticism that "those who survive great calamities are bound to have good fortune in the future".
He walked back and forth among a group of Buddhas and Arhats who were struggling to move the huge wreckage, pointing and gesturing, his tone full of urgency and impatience.
The Arhats who were reprimanded turned pale and paused in their carrying. One of the more senior Arhats couldn't help but whisper.
“Venerable White Lotus, we have done our best to move them, but these fragments of Vajra Rock are heavier than mountains and contain residual dragon energy. They must be carefully neutralized with Buddhist teachings before they can be moved. We cannot rush them…”
"Excuses! They're all just excuses!"
The White Lotus Boy waved his sleeve, interrupting him, and raised his chin, his voice suddenly rising as if he wanted everyone to hear.
"If it weren't for my courage in the face of danger, my stepping forward at the critical moment to deal with that evil dragon and buy time for Buddha and the ancient Buddha, the losses of Mount Ling would have been far greater than this. Do you know that the little thief Lin Zhu originally had an even more vicious plan? It was my keen insight that allowed me to see through his conspiracy in advance and thus prevented an even greater disaster!"
"The fact that Mount Ling was able to preserve its core and repel the powerful enemy is a testament to my great merit! Now that we are rebuilding our homeland, you should emulate my courage and diligence, and redouble your efforts! How can you be so lethargic?"
After he finished speaking, not only did the Arhats he had reprimanded turn as black as the bottom of a pot, but all the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and warriors around who heard the words twitched at the corners of their mouths, looked at each other strangely, and felt as if a thousand mythical beasts were stampeding through their minds.
Fearless in the face of danger? Stepping forward bravely? Fighting against the evil dragon? Preventing greater disaster? Making a great contribution?
The scene from before involuntarily flashed through everyone's minds.
The tragic scene of the White Lotus Child being whipped by the Ancient Poison Dragon's tail, causing his physical body to collapse and his primordial spirit to almost dissipate; and later, when the dragon clan retreated and Amitabha Buddha settled accounts, he firmly pinned the blame for the dragon clan's disaster on Tathagata's head, while only lightly punishing the White Lotus Child, the culprit...
"Insightful enough to see through conspiracies"? He's probably been sold out by Lin Zhu and is still helping her count the money!
Many people secretly thought to themselves.
If it weren't for you, you fool, who descended to the mortal realm to slaughter cities and kill dragons, how could Mount Ling have suffered such a calamity? Perhaps it would be even more "peaceful" than it is now! At least its resources wouldn't have been completely plundered!
But no one dared to say it aloud. No matter how foolish or troublesome the White Lotus Child was, he was still a trusted attendant personally guided and appointed by Amitabha Buddha, holding a special position. Didn't they see that even the Buddha himself was quite wary of him?
Standing on high, the Buddha took in everything. Listening to the White Lotus Boy's "passionate" self-praise, he felt a strong sense of melancholy and powerlessness well up in his heart, and his temples throbbed.
He felt that his Buddhist heart was almost being tormented by these trivial matters, making him depressed.
He was both annoyed by Lin Zhu's ruthless methods and the fact that he left behind the "idiot" Bai Lian Tong Zi to continue to cause him trouble; and he was also hesitant to punish Bai Lian Tong Zi severely to set an example for others because of the powerful backer behind him.
This feeling of frustration was even worse than being punched a few times by a dragon.
Not only him, but all the three thousand Buddhas below who heard the White Lotus Boy's words felt a tightness in their chests and their faces turned pale. The destruction of Mount Ling and the theft of its treasures were already a heavy burden on their hearts, and to have to listen to this culprit spouting nonsense and pontificating about the state of the land was an experience that only those who have tasted it can truly understand.
In this somber and oppressive atmosphere, filled with awkwardness and helplessness, a slightly hurried auspicious cloud flew in from the sky and landed in front of the dilapidated hall, transforming into Guanyin Bodhisattva with a solemn face and a worried expression between her brows.
"Buddha."
Guanyin quickly walked up to the Buddha, put her palms together in greeting, and spoke in a low voice, but it was enough for the nearby core Buddhas to hear.
"Venerable Guanyin, what brings you in such a hurry?"
The Buddha composed himself and, barely managing to maintain his composure, asked the question.
Guanyin Bodhisattva took a deep breath, seemingly organizing her thoughts, and spoke slowly.
"I have just returned from the Southern Continent and heard along the way... I heard that the Heavenly Court's nine-layered Heavenly Prison, and the Prison God Lin Zhu, are spreading rumors throughout the Three Realms that they want to expand the Heavenly Prison and build a new... 'Hall of Law Enforcement'."
Upon hearing this, the Buddha's facial muscles twitched almost imperceptibly, but he didn't react much. After Lin Zhu's repeated torment, he had developed a certain immunity to "bad news," or rather, was nearly numb. Let them expand then; he was too lazy to care about the affairs of Heaven now, nor could he. (End of Chapter)