Chapter 81: The Monk's Ordeal

"Immeasurable Heavenly Venerable of Fortune and Longevity! I wonder why this venerable master blocks the poor Taoist's path?" Upon hearing the Buddhist salutation, Liaochen immediately turned around.

There he saw an old monk in yellow monastic robes, holding a string of Bodhi prayer beads in one hand and supporting a golden alms bowl with the other, walking toward him.

The old monk's eyebrows reached his cheeks, and his beard and hair were completely white, giving him the true appearance of a compassionate and benevolent master. His eyes held neither sorrow nor joy, but were simply fixed unwaveringly on Liaochen. Liaochen couldn't help but feel immensely puzzled: when had he ever offended this monk? Clearly, he had come here looking for trouble!

"Namo Amitabha! My Buddha is compassionate. This old monk perceives that the Daoist friend has an affinity with our Buddhist gate, and has come specially to guide you across." The old monk wore a solemn and dignified expression, his face brimming with compassion, yet the words he spoke almost made Liaochen trip and fall headlong.

"Immeasurable Heavenly Venerable of Fortune and Longevity! This poor Taoist possesses his own wondrous methods of the Three Purities, capable of transcending the sea of suffering. I reckon myself as having no affinity with the Buddha, so there is no need to trouble the master's mind. The master should go and guide those truly fated to the Buddhist gate. This poor Taoist will take his leave first, and come another day to seek your instruction. How about that?" Liaochen bowed with his hands cupped in front of his chest, his expression turning gloomy. It seemed there were still supreme masters in the Buddhist gate! To be able to divine his affairs today and even wait here like a hare startled by a tree stump—clearly, they had been prepared long in advance, and those who come are not friendly!

"Namo Amitabha! Why must the Daoist friend be so attached? You must know that the sea of suffering is boundless, and a turn of the head is the shore. If the Daoist friend can take refuge in the Three Jewels, the Western Paradise naturally has a gate of universal salvation. Why must the Daoist friend remain so stubbornly deluded? You should understand the Buddhist Dharma..." The old monk chattered on and on, endlessly.

Liaochen was burning with the desire to leave, yet this monk kept babbling away and blocking his path. Of course, Liaochen knew what scheme the other party was playing—nothing more than buying time!

"If you want this poor Taoist to take refuge in the Three Jewels, you must first ask my Five Thunders Orthodox Dharma!" Without standing on ceremony, Liaochen formed a incantation with his fingers. A bolt of lightning immediately crashed down directly toward the old monk's head.

"Amitabha!" The old monk was clearly well-prepared. Just as Liaochen unleashed the descending thunder, he slightly raised his golden alms bowl. The lightning was completely and cleanly absorbed by the golden light emitted by the bowl.

"This Taoist wants to see just how many Five Elements Divine Thunders you can receive!" Liaochen evidently had no intention of taking down his opponent so easily. Without the slightest bit of ability, how would the other dare to block his path here?

"Boom, boom, boom!" The peals of thunder continued without pause, and the lightning descended incessantly. The old monk clearly had not expected that the mere Five Thunders Orthodox Dharma, in Liaochen's hands, would possess such astonishing might. Seeing that within the golden alms bowl, the golden light was gradually being worn down by the grinding force of the Five Elements Divine Thunders, he hurriedly used one hand to hold the alms bowl and fend off the lightning, while with the other hand he reinforced his grip on the Bodhi prayer beads, and chanted the six-syllable Great Brightness Mantra from his mouth: "Om, mani, padme, hum!"

With every single character came a sound, and with every sound, a portion of the prayer beads lit up. When the chanting of the Six-Character Great Mantra was complete, the old monk tossed the prayer beads in his hand directly into the golden alms bowl. Bolstered by the magical power of the Bodhi prayer beads, the golden alms bowl immediately radiated a brilliant golden light, transforming into a massive ring of light that enclosed Liaochen within it. It trapped him without harming him, yet firmly pinned him right there.

Clearly, the old monk had struck right at Liaochen's vital point, leaving him with grievances too bitter to voice. Even if Liaochen managed to break free today, should he come seeking revenge another day, the other party could easily use the excuse that "the Buddhist gate had no intention of harming the Daoist friend." If Liaochen were to pursue the matter aggressively, he would instead earn himself a bad reputation. What a brilliant method!

"Old monk, it seems you are determined to fight me to the death today!" Liaochen was truly enraged now. The monk before him clearly intended to stall him and prevent his soul from returning to his body. Perhaps this was even the will of the Buddhist gate. Since ancient times, Buddhism and Taoism had vied for supremacy, and now the struggle had actually reached his own head? Did they truly take him, the Realized Person Liaochen, for a soft persimmon?

While forming sword incantations with one hand to summon his peach wood magic sword from a thousand miles away, Liaochen continuously used the power of thunder to frantically diminish the Buddhist-infused golden light upon the alms bowl. Once the golden light completely dissipated, he would shatter this old monk's alms bowl and send him to his death.

Just as Liaochen was summoning his magic sword, within the Xuanguang Branch Monastery in Guizhou, the peach wood magic sword that had been left behind on Liaochen's physical body suddenly began to tremble violently. Following that, it soared straight up into the sky, transforming into a streak of flowing light that vanished in an instant. Yunlingzi, who had been worried sick about his master, immediately turned pale with shock and cried out, "Ah! Could Master have encountered danger?"

The peach wood magic sword flew much faster than Liaochen could, covering a thousand miles in the blink of an eye. A streak of flowing light was seen hurtling down from the sky, shooting rapidly toward Liaochen. Liaochen's heart settled with certainty. He immediately halted the Five Thunders technique, and as his dual-handed sword incantations shifted, the flowing light abruptly stopped, revealing its true form—it was none other than the ancestral treasure of the Xuanguang Monastery: the peach wood magic sword.

Holding the magic sword in his hand, Liaochen spoke once more to the old monk: "Monk, withdraw your alms bowl and offer an apology! How about this poor Taoist spares your life?"

The old monk's magical cultivation was not particularly high; he relied entirely upon two Buddhist treasures. Yet, an aura of Buddhist light faintly emanated from his person—he was clearly someone possessing great karmic merit. Had Liaochen not been observant and truly mistaken him for an ordinary old monk, a single sweep of his sword would have dispatched the old man without a doubt. But if he did that, Liaochen's own true body would lose its karmic merit. When that time came, boundless karmic retribution and debts of sin would befall him, and Liaochen could simply wait for everything to go against him and misfortune to plague his steps!

Unless absolutely necessary, Liaochen had no wish to saddle himself with a mountain of trouble.

"Namo Amitabha, the Buddhist Dharma is boundless. In the West, there is the Three-fold Bodhi, which may be called the Changsheng Arhat Fruit. The Daoist friend possesses deep spiritual merit; why not join me in jointly contemplating the World-Honored One's cultivation of the Bodhi Fruit?" Facing Liaochen's threats and lures, the old monk's expression did not change in the slightest; instead, he tried to persuade Liaochen to become a monk.

"Old monk, playing the fool while perfectly lucid—are you truly not afraid of death? Real death, the kind where body and soul are scattered to dust! After decades of cultivation, I'm afraid you won't be able to attain the Western Arhat Fruit!" Liaochen felt profound annoyance toward this monk who refused to listen to reason and yet could not be slain.

"Namo Amitabha. For this old monk, what joy is there in living, and what fear is there in dying?" Upon hearing Liaochen's threat, far from being angered or frightened, the old monk wore an expression of complete liberation. With a solemn and dignified expression, he supported the alms bowl with one hand—refusing to let Liaochen leave—sat cross-legged on the ground, and began to chant a Buddhist gatha: "May this merit and virtue adorn the Buddha's Pure Land; repaying the fourfold kindness above, and relieving the sufferings of the three lower paths below. Should any who see and hear this all awaken the Bodhi mind; when this physical body is spent, let us together be born in the Land of Supreme Bliss."

"Then this poor Taoist must see whether you truly possess a Bodhi sarira relic within you or not!" Liaochen truly had no time to waste. With a rise of his sword incantation, coordinated with the Five Thunders Orthodox Dharma, he struck down upon the golden alms bowl. Bolstered by the purple tribulation lightning of the peach wood magic sword, the Five Thunders technique was far more formidable than before. After several deafening crashes, the alms bowl could no longer withstand the force—though it wasn't the bowl that shattered, but rather the old monk who coughed up a mouthful of blood.

"A natal treasure!" Liaochen exclaimed in astonishment. This was the first time he had ever witnessed a cultivator possessing a natal magical treasure. He had no idea what sacred origin this old monk possessed to actually have such an item by his side.

If the golden alms bowl were not destroyed, Liaochen's soul could not get out; if the golden alms bowl were destroyed, the old monk would perish instantly. When that happened, the karmic sin of slaying an eminent monk would naturally be reckoned upon Liaochen's head. The Buddhist gate had certainly placed a heavy stake in this!

"So what if karmic power burdens my body? Can this poor Taoist still not kill you?" Completely sickened by these dirty tricks, Liaochen summoned a sudden flash of golden light and slashed directly toward the old monk's neck.