Chapter 750
I'm Slapping Buddha's Face
Guanyin covered her mouth, her beautiful eyes still wet with tears.
Sun Wukong opened his mouth wide, and Tang Sanzang almost slipped from his grasp.
The Medicine Buddha... was completely dumbfounded. What came from his cheek was not a sharp pain, but a burning sense of humiliation that went deep into his soul, and a sense of bewilderment and horror that... the crystal-clear Buddha light that he relied on to attain enlightenment had been easily penetrated by some strange power attached to the other party's palm, without provoking much of a defensive reaction!
Lin Zhu slowly withdrew his hand, as if he had merely brushed away a speck of dust, and smiled slightly as he looked at the Medicine Buddha, whose eyes were vacant and whose Buddha light was disordered.
"I'm asking you a question. Were you the one who attacked me?"
His tone remained calm, but the coldness and oppression it conveyed made the surrounding air seem to drop to freezing point instantly.
"Snapped--!!!"
Another crisp, loud slap, without any magical fluctuations but containing a strange penetrating power, landed squarely on the other half of the Medicine Buddha's face!
The Medicine Buddha's Dharma body, formed from crystal-clear Buddha light, trembled violently, the Buddha light became disordered, and the whole person was slightly leaning back from the second slap!
His eyes widened in disbelief and barely contained his fury.
The first slap was completely unexpected, but the second slap was something he was prepared for. His body was surging with crystal-clear Buddhist light, and his protective divine power had been pushed to its limit! However, Lin Zhu's fair and slender hand still pierced through his crystal-clear Buddhist light defense as easily as if it were a thin sheet of paper, and landed on his face with perfect precision!
humiliation!
What a shame!
He, the dignified Medicine Buddha of Lapis Lazuli, a Buddha ranked among the top in the Western Paradise, who ruled over a pure land of Buddha, when had he ever suffered such humiliation?! And it was in front of Guanyin Bodhisattva, Sun Wukong, and even the dissipated remnant of the Tathagata's divine spirit, that he was slapped twice across the face by a Heavenly Prison God whose cultivation was far inferior to his own?!
"Lin—Zhu—!!!"
The Medicine Buddha was utterly enraged, and the glazed Buddha light around him erupted like boiling magma! An extremely terrifying pressure, carrying the power of the glazed laws that could annihilate all life, swept towards Lin Zhu like a tsunami!
He no longer cared about the Buddha's instructions or the overall situation of the Journey to the West! At this moment, he only wanted to completely obliterate this wicked beast who dared to blaspheme the Buddha's majesty, extract its soul, and burn it with the Pure Flame of Lapis Lazuli for ten thousand years to vent his hatred!
"I will annihilate you, body and soul!!"
The Medicine Buddha roared, raising his hand to unleash his most powerful killing move! Within his palm, which was condensed with glazed Buddhist light, faintly emerged clusters of glazed pure flames radiating an aura of annihilation, as if to turn this entire world into a glazed death zone!
However, faced with this terrifying power that could make even a half-step quasi-saint tremble, Lin Zhu remained unfazed, even sporting the faint smile that made the Medicine Buddha even more agitated.
Instead of retreating, he took half a step forward, put his hands behind his back, raised his chin slightly, and looked down at the furious Medicine Buddha with an almost condescending attitude. His tone was calm, but it carried a chilling provocation.
"Oh? You're angry?"
Lin Zhu tilted her head, as if examining an interesting object.
"Come on, put your face here."
He raised his right hand and beckoned to the Medicine Buddha with his finger, the gesture as casual as if he were summoning a disobedient pet.
"I noticed your face isn't quite asymmetrical, so I'll give you another slap to make it a perfect symmetry."
"puff--!"
In the distance, Sun Wukong finally recovered from the series of dramatic changes. Upon seeing this scene, he couldn't help but choke on his saliva! His monkey face was filled with a mixture of shock and ecstasy, his fiery eyes widened like copper bells, and he muttered to himself.
"Wow! That's incredible! I, Old Sun, used to think I was arrogant enough, but compared to a Celestial Lord... I'm just a little brother!"
He was so excited that he scratched his head and almost dropped the still unconscious Tang Sanzang to the ground, and hurriedly steadied him.
"Slap Buddha in the face? And make Buddha offer his face willingly?! This... in the entire Three Realms, besides a Celestial Lord, who else would dare to do such a thing?! I, Old Sun, am convinced! Completely convinced! Old Lin... no, Celestial Lord! From now on, you are my dear older brother!"
Not far from him, Guanyin Bodhisattva was also dumbfounded, her delicate body frozen in place, her lips slightly open, unable to close for a long time.
Looking at Lin Zhu's arrogant and unrestrained attitude, completely disregarding the Medicine Buddha, and then at the Medicine Buddha's furious yet clearly weak demeanor after being slapped twice, a thought involuntarily arose in her mind.
"Indeed...it's too intense..."
The words had barely left her mouth when Guanyin Bodhisattva suddenly realized what she had said, quickly covering her mouth, her face turning bright red, her eyes filled with panic!
Good heavens! What am I saying?! Medicine Buddha is an important Buddha in the Western Paradise, her colleague, and even more so, someone whose status and cultivation are above hers! How could she... how could she praise someone who slapped him in front of Medicine Buddha?!
If this gets back to the Western Paradise, what will become of her reputation as Guanyin Bodhisattva? Wouldn't the Buddha himself cast her into the cycle of reincarnation?!
She looked around nervously, but thankfully, the Medicine Buddha's anger was focused on Lin Zhu and he didn't seem to notice her unconscious "nonsense" just now. Sun Wukong was also too caught up in his excitement to pay attention to her.
Guanyin Bodhisattva breathed a slight sigh of relief, but her heart was still pounding like a drum.
She looked at Lin Zhu's back, and in her eyes at this moment, that figure in white was even more demonic than the Demon Lord, even more demonic than the Demon Emperor!
'Just who is this Lin Zhu? I used to think he was just a rogue, a scoundrel, a plague of extortionists, but now it seems... he dares to be so unscrupulous, he must have something to be fearless about! That righteous energy that just erupted... what kind of treasure is it? It could even easily dissolve the Medicine Buddha's illusory light...'
Her mind was in turmoil, and a chilling thought gradually surfaced.
'Perhaps... the Buddha's desperate protection of Lin Zhu using his avatar wasn't entirely due to Sun Wukong threatening Tang Sanzang's life? Perhaps... the Buddha already knew Lin Zhu's true nature, which is why... he dared not let anything happen to him?'
The moment this thought arose, Guanyin Bodhisattva's apprehension towards Lin Zhu instantly rose several levels.
At this moment, although the Medicine Buddha was furious, he had not completely lost his mind.
Lin Zhu's confident attitude made him wary. Especially those two slaps just now; although the humiliation far outweighed the actual harm, the fact that Lin Zhu could easily penetrate his protective aura of Buddha said a lot.
'What methods did this beast use?!'
The Medicine Buddha stared intently at Lin Zhu, his inner light of lapis lazuli circulating wildly, trying to detect even the slightest trace of magical energy fluctuation on Lin Zhu's body. However, he found nothing.
Lin Zhu stood there casually, his aura restrained, as if he were just an ordinary person without any strength. The more he acted this way, the stronger the unease in the Medicine Buddha's heart became.
His mind raced back to the scene before the Buddha's avatar collapsed—the vast sea of righteous energy soaring into the sky, the fleeting glimpse of the thirty-six-petaled lotus platform…
'What kind of treasure is that?! That it could allow a half-step Quasi-Saint to overcome such a vast difference in cultivation level and contend with me?!'
The Medicine Buddha frowned, and although the anger in his eyes had not subsided, there was now a deep sense of doubt and apprehension.
He doesn't believe in superstitions.
In the Western Paradise's cognitive system, realm is everything. There is an insurmountable gap between a Great Luo Golden Immortal and a peak Quasi-Saint, not to mention the difference between a half-step Quasi-Saint and a veteran Buddha like him.
Challenging opponents of higher levels is nothing but a joke in the face of absolute overwhelming strength.
But Lin Zhu, the man before us, has repeatedly broken this ironclad rule.
He extorted Guanyin at the foot of the Five Elements Mountain, demanded "work injury compensation" from the Nine Heavens Prison, mocked the Buddha's avatar in front of the Flaming Mountain, and now he's even slapping him twice in front of him and making him... offer his face?!
"Lin Zhu!"
Medicine Buddha forcibly suppressed the urge to act immediately, his voice cold, carrying the Buddha's authority and questioning.
"Don't think that you can act recklessly just because you have one or two unorthodox magical treasures! In the Three Realms, no one has ever been able to cross such a vast gap in cultivation level and directly confront the Buddha! You..."
Before he could finish speaking, Lin Zhu interrupted him directly, her tone still calm, but carrying a chilling certainty.
"No one can overcome the gap in cultivation level?"
Lin Zhu chuckled and pointed to the spot where the Buddha's clone had just disappeared.
"That old bald monk... no, Buddha Tathagata, why did he risk the destruction of his avatars and all his magical treasures just now to stand firmly in front of me? Why did he prefer to be beaten himself rather than let your illusory light, Medicine Buddha, harm me in the slightest?"
The Medicine Buddha's pupils suddenly contracted!
This question is also the biggest source of confusion in his mind right now!
Yes, why did Buddha do that? To say it was entirely because Sun Wukong threatened Tang Sanzang's life would be a far-fetched explanation. With Buddha's true power and abilities, even with or without his avatars, he had countless ways to temporarily stabilize the situation, rather than recklessly resisting his own illusory light at such a cost!
Moreover, the Buddha himself should be the person in the entire Western Paradise who hates Lin Zhu the most and wants to get rid of him the most!
This plague god who repeatedly extorted money, made the Western Paradise lose face, and even openly mocked him at the foot of Mount Ling, was hated by Buddha to the bone!
But what just happened was like an absurd nightmare—Buddha, like a dutiful bodyguard, used his clones and precious magic treasures to build a defensive line for Lin Zhu, and even roared at him, the Medicine Buddha, to "calm down" and "not to make a move" just before he died!
How the hell do you explain this?!
The Buddha of Medicine's mind was in turmoil. The more he thought about it, the more suspicious it seemed. He felt that there might be some huge secret hidden behind it that he didn't know about!
He suddenly turned his head, his gaze like two beams of divine light, fixed on Guanyin Bodhisattva who was trying to make her presence as little as possible!
"Great Bodhisattva Guanyin!"
The Medicine Buddha's voice carried suppressed anger and urgent questioning.
"Tell me! What exactly happened?! You were here the whole time! Why did Buddha protect this beast like this?! What... what's the real story behind this?!"
Guanyin Bodhisattva trembled in fright at his shout, and her face turned deathly pale!
She instinctively wanted to speak up in defense, but just as she opened her mouth, she suddenly felt a gaze fall on her as if it were a physical object.
That gaze, seemingly calm and even carrying a hint of mockery, yet Guanyin Bodhisattva clearly felt a chill that made her hair stand on end and her whole body go cold!
It's Lin Zhu!
He's looking at himself!
The meaning in his eyes was clearly saying—'Think carefully before you speak.'
Guanyin Bodhisattva's heart felt as if it had been gripped tightly by an invisible hand!
Countless thoughts flashed through her mind in an instant.
The situation is indeed delicate. The Buddha's avatar has dissipated, but the Journey to the West must continue. Tang Sanzang is still in the clutches of the enraged Sun Wukong, in a dangerous predicament. And Lin Zhu, this unfathomable plague god who has just revealed a terrifying trump card—how many more tricks does he still have up his sleeve?
If she were to follow the Medicine Buddha's advice now, shift all the blame onto Lin Zhu, and even cooperate with the Medicine Buddha to take the opportunity to eliminate Lin Zhu... this would indeed be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
With the Medicine Buddha's cultivation level, if he were to go all out, and with her assistance from the side, even if Lin Zhu had that mysterious treasure of righteous energy protecting him, he might not be able to escape unscathed!
But... but what if it fails?
The Buddha's final, hysterical, and devastating message still echoed in her ears! The Buddha would rather perish than let Lin Zhu be harmed; there must be a significant reason for this that she was unaware of!
If Lin Zhu is truly crucial to Journey to the West, and if something happens to Lin Zhu causing the complete collapse of Journey to the West, given Medicine Buddha's notoriously blame-shifting nature... then all the blame will definitely be placed on her head!
During the Investiture of the Gods period, the Medicine Buddha once interfered in the conflict between the Chan and Jie sects without authorization, ruining the plan for the Western Paradise. Afterwards, he blamed all the mistakes on his fellow disciple, the Fearful Buddha, and was punished by being confined to a wall for a thousand years. Meanwhile, the Fearful Buddha was banished to the cycle of reincarnation and has not returned to this day!
The lessons of the past are still fresh in our minds!
Guanyin Bodhisattva recalled her previous experiences of being extorted and humiliated by Lin Zhu, and that feeling of frustration, helplessness, and despair welled up in her heart again.
In contrast, although Lin Zhu is despicable and commits all sorts of evil deeds such as extortion, at least... he follows the "rules." As long as you follow his rules, he generally won't go so far as to kill you.
But the Medicine Buddha is different. He is a ruthless character who would betray even his fellow disciples without hesitation for his own benefit!
In a flash, Guanyin Bodhisattva swiftly made a choice between the potential "benefits" and "pleasure" of betraying Lin Zhu and the potentially disastrous consequences of "retribution" and "taking the blame."
She took a deep breath, forced a smile that looked more like a grimace, and spoke to the Medicine Buddha in a somewhat hoarse voice.
"The Medicine Buddha... Buddha... he was also doing it for the greater good of the Journey to the West."
As Guanyin Bodhisattva spoke, she carefully observed the reactions of Medicine Buddha and Lin Zhu.
"The Journey to the West is ordained by Heaven, concerning the flow of fortune in the Three Realms, and even more so, the great undertaking of spreading Buddhism from the West to the East. Now, Tang Sanzang is still in peril, and Sun Wukong only recognizes Lin…only recognizes the God of Hell. (End of Chapter)"