"Bastard! That bastard surnamed Gu!" Chen Yue roared like a madwoman, but unfortunately, Gu Qingfeng had long since vanished.
Staring at the lotus meditation cushion, she was just about to leap into it to give chase when Xiaolian's cry came: "Sister, don't! That upstart is too savage, too terrifying! We should just run!"
Xiaolian's voice was choked with sobs, her heart nearly leaping out of her chest from fright. She had always believed Gu Qingfeng was just an upstart who'd stumbled upon some great fortune, and she still thought so now. The difference was, before she had looked down on the upstart, but now she felt only fear towards that white-robed upstart—endless fear.
Suddenly!
The ancient pagoda shook violently. Crack! A fissure split open. The pagoda seemed about to collapse.
With no time to think, Chen Yue scooped up Xiaolian. Just as she was about to leave, she bit her finger, formed a spirit seal with her hands, and condensed a mark from her blood, flicking it into the lotus meditation cushion before swiftly departing.
Inside the Black Crow Secret Realm, green mist swirled.
Chen Yue looked around. All eight ancient pagodas seemed to be shaking violently. Not long after, a deafening roar echoed as the eight pagodas completely collapsed, reduced to piles of rubble.
Perhaps the collapse of the pagodas affected something. Swarm after swarm of bloodthirsty crows surged out from the Spirit Hollows, emitting sharp, sinister cries. They were dense, blotting out the sky, filling the air—countless!
Immediately after, one Spirit Hollow erupted with radiant light, then another.
The fourth, the ninth, the twentieth...
In the span of a single breath, it was as if every Spirit Hollow in the entire Black Crow Secret Realm had 'awakened', each bursting with dazzling radiance.
"Heavens! What's happening!" Xiaolian clung tightly to Chen Yue, looking around in horror.
Chen Yue shook her head. She didn't know what was happening either. She released her divine sense, cautiously probing forward, and was shocked to discover that inside a Spirit Hollow was actually a cave dwelling. Probing another Spirit Hollow, she found another cave dwelling. As she probed further, almost every Spirit Hollow concealed a cave dwelling.
Good heavens! How could there be so many cave dwellings in the Black Crow Secret Realm!
"Sister, this place is too scary. Let's leave quickly," Xiaolian said, watching the sky full of bloodthirsty crows, feeling her scalp tingle. "That upstart said there'd be danger here soon. I thought he was just trying to scare us, but it turns out it's true... Sister, don't hesitate anymore. Let's go. If everything that upstart said is true, then him saying we shouldn't have come here might also be true. And him saying Sister's strength isn't even enough to stand firm here might also be true... Sister... Let's go, please."
Chen Yue saw that more and more Spirit Hollows were erupting with light, and more and more bloodthirsty crows filled the sky. She hesitated no longer and swiftly left with Xiaolian.
...
At that moment.
Gu Qingfeng stood before the main gate of a temple.
The temple was solemn and majestic, towering and imposing, ancient and weathered.
This was indeed a temple, but one located inside a cave dwelling.
The temple's name was Xiaoye Temple.
This name, Gu Qingfeng had never heard before.
The only thing he could be sure of was that this temple cave dwelling had existed for at least several thousand years, probably around five thousand.
"How interesting..." Gu Qingfeng could sense that the Buddhist Sect practitioner who had attacked him earlier was inside this temple cave dwelling.
Thinking about it, it was rather laughable. The Buddhist Sect practitioners truly had it hard. Back then, they had offended the Three Thousand Great Daos, becoming intolerable to heaven and earth. Now, they had fallen so low that they dared only establish their Buddha within secret realms by opening cave dwellings.
However, Gu Qingfeng knew this matter wasn't so simple. It was probably related to the Evil Demon sealed by the Bagua Weiyang Seal.
This temple was likely built to suppress that Evil Demon.
Thinking of this, Gu Qingfeng couldn't help but shake his head helplessly, feeling some sympathy for the suppressed Evil Demon. Because he himself had once been suppressed, and by Buddhist Sect practitioners at that. He knew well how unpleasant the taste of suppression was. Recalling those days of suppression, each day felt like a year...
"Buddha... Buddha... Tell me, aren't you all just bored out of your minds? You've fallen so low even heaven and earth can't tolerate you. Instead of figuring out how to pass on your legacy, you spend all day messing around, suppressing this one, suppressing that one... You truly deserve this."
To be honest.
Gu Qingfeng held no favorable opinion of Buddha. Even though he cultivated the Buddhist Sect's Great Freedom Mind Realm, he still felt no fondness for Buddha.
As for why.
He couldn't say himself.
It wasn't because he'd been tricked by Buddhist Sect practitioners back then, nor because he'd been suppressed by them, and certainly not because he'd fallen into Demonhood. It was simply a pure lack of fondness. In his impression, the existence of the Buddhist Sect had always been very mysterious—the kind of 'seeing a mountain not as a mountain, yet seeing a mountain as a mountain' mystery. Karma, reincarnation, destiny—all these mysterious things were concocted by the Buddhist Sect. And it was precisely because of this that they became intolerable to heaven and earth.
He sighed.
Gu Qingfeng didn't continue this train of thought. Just as he was about to push open the gate and enter the temple, suddenly, the sound of sutra chanting came from within the cave dwelling. At the same time, mysterious scriptures appeared on the temple gate.
"You old monk are truly persistent. I told you I'm not that Evil Demon's accomplice, just a passerby."
Gu Qingfeng gave a faint smile. "Even if I don't take action, you won't be able to suppress that Evil Demon. It's almost broken the seal, and you still have the mind to worry about me?"
The sutra chanting grew more solemn, the scriptural Buddha aura intensifying.
"What's this? Afraid I'll steal your stuff?"
Gu Qingfeng took out the golden stone from the ancient pagoda earlier, smiling. "This thing looks more and more like a Lesser Vajra Stone. If I'm not mistaken, each of the eight ancient pagodas contains one Lesser Vajra Stone, used to maintain the Bagua Weiyang Seal."
He hefted the Lesser Vajra Stone, rubbing his chin. "These Lesser Vajra Stones might maintain the Bagua Weiyang Seal, but they're not enough to suppress that Evil Demon. There should be one more item missing, right? Lesser Vajra Stone... Hmm... Let me think..." Gu Qingfeng tossed a demon fruit into his mouth, chuckling. "The Buddhist Sect has quite a few treasures for suppressing Evil Demons, but not many that complement the Lesser Vajra Stone. That thing in your hand should be the 'Lesser Prajna Sutra'."
"Amitabha!"
A majestic Buddhist chant came through. Gu Qingfeng laughed in surprise. "Looks like I guessed right. It really is the Lesser Prajna Sutra."
"Benefactor, just who are you!" The voice that came was somewhat aged, cautious, weak, and even worried.
"Me?" Gu Qingfeng shrugged, smiling indifferently. "Didn't I tell you? Just a passerby."
"A passerby? Benefactor is too modest. Although this poor monk's lamp is nearly out of oil, my discerning eye remains. Benefactor's existence is likely anything but ordinary."
"Nothing special. I really am just a passerby. And a good person at that."
"A good person? Hahahaha!" The monk in the temple laughed as if he'd heard the funniest joke in heaven and earth, his laughter filled with mockery.
"If Benefactor is a good person, then there are no evil people left in heaven and earth. Benefactor not only bears Heavenly Sin upon his body, but also Sin of Immortal and Demon, and even our Buddhist Sect's Sin of Karma... And all are Sins among Sins of the Great Dao, Evils among Evils of the Law. This poor monk has seen countless sinful people in his lifetime, but never one whose very existence is so utterly steeped in sin as yours."