Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Outside the Dharma Court stood abbot Hui Wen. His complexion was deathly pale and there was a faint jet-black handprint on his abdomen. The force of that handprint appeared to seep into abbot Hui Wen’s bones. Multiple strands of evil energy seemed to have lingered like maggots burrowing deeper inside him.
Behind abbot Hui Wen stood all the temple court heads who were intently stared at that young man with an evil glint in his eyes.
“Zhen Xing, how…how could you…” spluttered the Luohan Court head as his face was bright red with anger.
Half an hour ago, Zhen Xing alerted abbot Hui Wen and the other temple court heads that he had information on the Demon Buddha. However, right at that crucial moment, he launched a sneak attack on abbot Hui Wen and succeeded!
“That’s enough!” said abbot Hui Wen. He took a deep breath and tried to endure his injuries as he turned to Zhen Xing. “Zhen Xing, so you’re the successor of the Demon Buddha in this generation!”
900 years ago, the Luohan rank patriarch of the Shaolin temple subdued the Demon Buddha and locked him up at Rear Mountain. Ever since then, every hundred years, some evil intent would have escaped from the seals trapping it and enchanted the disciples of the Shaolin temple.
Any disciple of the Shaolin temple that was bewitched by the evil intent would have been possessed and became the successor of the Demon Buddha. Their power l would have been strengthened by the evil intent in a short period and they would have advanced to the second-rank or even the first-rank.
Apart from that, each successor of the Demon Buddha would have an immeasurable amount of hatred toward the Shaolin temple and their focus would be to destroy the Shaolin temple.
Over the past 900 years, the Shaolin temple had seen eight Demon Buddha successors. Zhen Xing was the ninth.
The Shaolin temple paid a heavy price to deal with the previous eight Demon Buddha successors. That was especially true in the last 100 years as four of the Divine Master Abbots in the Shaolin temple were forced to use Forbidden Arts to kill the Demon Buddha Successor at the time.
Due to that, all four of the Divine Master Abbots passed on one after another. Ever since the last Divine Master Abbot passed on almost 60 years ago, there was never a Divine Master Abbot who presided in the Shaolin temple.
“Hahahahaha! That’s right. I’m the successor of the Demon Buddha!” Zhen Xing did not deny the accusation. He proudly admitted to his identity.
The successor of the Demon Buddha…
It was just as they had suspected. Yet, when the temple court heads heard those words, their expressions all turned into horror. For the Shaolin temple, the Demon Buddha successors were a curse that came every hundred years and severely set them back.
If it was not for the Demon Buddha successors, it would have been impossible to produce a Divine Master Abbot in that generation. Let alone a single Divine Master Abbot at all with the strong foundations of the Shaolin temple.
“Zhen Xing, how dare you! The Shaolin temple has done so much for you. We accepted you as a disciple and taught you Divine Arts. How could you…” The Luohan Court head glared at Zhen Xing so angrily. It looked like his eyes were about to shoot flames.
Zhen Xing was at the Shaolin temple for ten years and the Luohan Court head nurtured him like a son. He even prepared Zhen Xing to take over his position as the next Luohan Court head. He never imagined that Zhen Xing would have dared to do such an insolent thing!
“The Shaolin temple has done so much for me?! What did the Shaolin temple do when my entire family was killed? All eighteen of them!” Zhen Xing spat as soon as he heard that. His face was filled with rage.
“My fellow disciples consoled me, the temple court heads consoled me, even the abbot consoled me! Yet, all of you knew that what I wanted wasn’t your consolation!”
The evil energy surrounding them grew stronger with each word Zhen Xing uttered.
“The Shaolin temple’s one of the greatest martial arts sects in the world. How is it that all you did was console me when you all you do is preach about righteousness?”
Zhen Xing’s voice was filled with killing intent as he raged, “Fake benevolence! False righteousness! Hypocrisy! The Shaolin temple deserves to be destroyed!”
As soon as Zhen Xing finished speaking, the evil energy started swirling madly in the air. A half-gold, half-black Demon Buddha was faintly seen behind Zhen Xing. It was hidden among the swirling evil energy.
“All we did was console you?”
The Luohan Court head shouted angrily. “Don’t you know that the elders at the Shaolin temple went down the mountain to catch the murderer! They didn’t hesitate when it came to violating the precepts of what’s taught! They went the distance for you!”
“Fine. I won’t say anything anymore,” The Luohan Court head calmed down and looked at Zhen Xing, “The Demon Buddha successors have deep enmity with the Shaolin temple. Since you’re the successor of the Demon Buddha, allow me to deal with this mess personally.”
The Luohan Court head began to glow with a golden light. Even when he was someone who was the most skilled in the Impenetrable Armor technique in the Shaolin temple, he still had quite a long way to go before he could have achieved mastery in the technique. However, his physical body was much stronger when compared to all the other temple court heads.
The greater physical strength along with the extraordinary power of his third-rank Internal Force made the Luohan Court head one of the most formidable martial artists among the Shaolin temple court heads.
“The murderer’s dead?” Zhen Xing was slightly surprised by the news. However, the depths of his eyes were once again filled with a hazy evil glow. “What good is that? Will it bring my family back from the dead?”
Boom!
The entire sky was enveloped with evil energy.
The temple court heads finally acted and secretly created a large formation spell. Abbot Hui Wen continued to sit cross-legged on the ground as he clutched the area on his abdomen with the jet-black handprint.
After a moment, a cracking sound rang through the earth. The next moment, all the temple court heads were thrown back violently. Their faces were as pale as a sheet and all at once, they spat out blood.
“There’s no point! I’ve advanced to the second-rank. All of you are too weak!” said Zhen Xing with a faint smile.
“Hui Wen, aren’t you going to attack?” Zhen Xing glanced toward abbot Hui Wen and he taunted, “The power of the Demon Buddha isn’t an easy foe to vanquish. Even if you recover, what can you achieve? You’re a second-rank martial artist, as am I. The power of the Demon Buddha can naturally subdue the power of the Buddhist martial arts. Even if you return with your best, you still won’t be a match for me!”
Zhen Xing’s killing intent continued to rise. “If the Shaolin temple has a Divine Master Abbot presiding in this generation, I’ll turn around and leave right now without another word! It’s truly a shame that there’s no Divine Master Abbot in the Shaolin temple now. So, since there is none, you can all go to hell!”
The light suddenly turned dark when Zhen Xing finished speaking. It was as if a demon had shrouded abbot Hui Wen and the other temple court heads. Neverending clouds of black fog attacked them in all directions. The black fog carried a strange power and it felt like it could have invaded one’s consciousness just like a whisper.
All at once, all the temple court heads slowly lost their consciousness. All of them except for abbot Hui Wen who struggled to stay awake. He looked as pale as a ghost. However, there was a faint golden light that glowed from within him. He was the only one who continued to hold on against Zhen Xing.
Even so, abbot Hui Wen sensed that his powers were visibly weaker and slower. He could have only held on for half-an-hour at the most before he would have been completely defeated. If he was unable to fight any longer, the entire Shaolin temple would have been destroyed.
“Is the Shaolin temple sect that has been around for thousands of years going to meet its end today?” asked Abbot Hui Wen as he looked extremely downcast. His expression was one of hopelessness.
The Shaolin temple sect had produced numerous Luohan rank grandmasters in martial arts. Its history spanned thousands of years and survived numerous troubles in the past. How could all of that be destroyed in vain?
Abbot Hui Wen felt a deep sense of sadness and regret. Abbot Hui Wen was about to prepare to give it his all. He was prepared not to return, as long as he could defeat the Demon Buddha successor…
Outside the Scripture Pavilion, the leaves continued to fall unceasingly. Su Qin stopped sweeping and raised his right hand. He gently caught a falling leaf as it drifted down.
‘Humans aren’t like plants, we have emotions…’ Su Qin lowered his eyes and sighed softly. With a flick of his fingers, the fallen leaf between his fingers shot through the air in a flash and disappeared toward the Dharma Court.