Day and night tour

Chapter 427 Cailian Appears Again
Accompanied by the deep, thunderous voice of the Fish Bodhisattva, a huge and magnificent golden Buddha statue rose from the mountain-like furnace and appeared in the "spiritual realm".

The golden Buddha soared into the sky, surrounded by thousands of ravens that flew around his massive body before transforming into crimson flames, further enhancing his magnificent presence.

"Wow, you're quite tall."

Zhou Xuan was not affected by the powerful aura. He acted as if nothing was wrong, with his hands behind his back, looking up at the golden Buddha with a bright smile.

The golden Buddha, as large as a mountain, was wreathed in crimson flames. He thought that his imposing presence was enough to overwhelm Zhou Xuan's aura.

In a duel between masters, momentum is extremely important. If one can seize the initiative first, one will gain the upper hand in the battle.
However, when Zhou Xuan’s spirit travels around during the day, if it manifests, it is almost always in the form of a giant.

He himself was a giant, so the giant that the fish bodhisattva had transformed into could not frighten Zhou Xuan.

"You're so big, yet you always like to hide. It's too sleazy."

Zhou Xuan continued chatting casually, showing no intention of fighting whatsoever.

Fish Bodhisattva felt that Zhou Xuan looked down on her, and anger rose in her heart.

The fire of anger ignited in his eyes, and golden light shone from his Buddha-like eyes.

The radiance shone down on Zhou Xuan.

Light is formless and intangible, so it has no weight. Even the smallest dust particles in the air, which are invisible to the naked eye, are tens of thousands of times heavier than light.

These light sources, which are inherently without mass, pressed down on Zhou Xuan, like a towering mountain with an endless cliff, suppressing him.

In an instant, crackling sounds emanated from Zhou Xuan's bones.

But he seemed completely unfazed, and the smile on his face never faded.

This smile puzzled the White Deer Taoist priest who was absorbed into the tower.

He once fought with that demonic monk at White Deer Mountain. The demonic monk, whose methods were unknown, suppressed his White Deer Mountain with just two gazes, demonstrating extremely terrifying strength.

Having witnessed the demonic monk's power, which was as vast as the heavens, Bai Lu Fangshi felt a chill run down his spine when the golden gaze enveloped Zhou Xuan.

"Master, Master, didn't you say you had helpers? Call them over! Without them, how can we face that wicked monk?"

He had stayed in Zhou Xuan's secret realm, and he knew exactly how many incense sticks Zhou Xuan had.

"Five sticks of incense, even if you have the ability to use spirit writing to temporarily boost your combat power, it won't work. Does the Master actually have no helpers?"

When Bai Lu Fangshi saw that Zhou Xuan had not yet shown any intention of summoning help, he immediately became flustered. At the same time, he also felt frustrated and regretful.

If he had known Zhou Xuan had no help, he wouldn't have so readily taken Zhou Xuan to see that demonic monk.

White Deer Mountain has been occupied by the demonic monk, and he no longer has the power to help Zhou Xuan. He was already at his last gasp when he was able to break the restrictions in the Maha Pagoda.

"But if the Master has no help, what's with the smile on his face?"

That smile didn't seem like a bluff.

The White Deer Alchemist was somewhat unable to fathom Zhou Xuan.

In fact, Zhou Xuan did have helpers, and they were very powerful, so powerful that he was virtually invincible in the state of Jing when facing Zhou Xuan alone.

However, according to Zhou Xuan's thinking, he would not call for reinforcements so easily.

When Zhou Xuan was about to slay the Rat King, he decisively invited the Witch God, because he wanted to test the Witch God's intentions—to see if the Witch God would definitely come in person as long as the golden token was stained with blood.

This time, when dealing with Fish Bodhisattva, he didn't test him in this way, and naturally he wouldn't easily call for reinforcements.

Hu~hu~hu~
A gust of wind rose within the "spiritual realm".

This wind doesn't come from the movement of air, but from the flow of emotions.

In the wind, Zhou Xuan smelled a pungent odor, a spiciness that stung his nose and mouth.
Having already mastered the first realm of the "Law of Destiny," Zhou Xuan was extremely sensitive to emotions.

He could tell that the anger was coming from the fish bodhisattva.

At the same time, he also smelled a sour, rotten odor, which represented fear, coming from the White Deer Hermit.

"In this spiritual realm, the seven human emotions are actually materialized."

Zhou Xuan was still under the imposing gaze of the Fish Bodhisattva, but his body was no longer under heavy pressure.

His body transformed into a deep blue glow, his form becoming almost invisible.

Zhou Xuan activated the Star Transformation Technique of the Star Law, which allowed him to turn his body into nothingness and evade those brute-force-like magical attacks.

"Fish Bodhisattva, is this your trump card? It's not that impressive."

Zhou Xuan opened his arms and said in a slightly provocative tone.

Fish Bodhisattva looked down at Zhou Xuan and exclaimed in disbelief, "Eh? Someone who's only been around for five or six incense sticks has actually comprehended the laws of the stars?"

This really challenges Fish Bodhisattva's knowledge of incense and deity worship.

According to the ironclad rules of cultivation in the Kingdom of Jing, only disciples who have been in the hall for seven incense sticks or more have the opportunity to comprehend the laws.

Zhou Xuan clearly didn't have enough incense offerings, so how did he comprehend it?
"The Law of Stars, the first realm is the celestial body, the body is as hard as diamond, and there are few divine weapons in the world that can destroy its physique; the second realm is the transformation into a star."
This week, Xuan, despite not having much incense offerings, actually managed to comprehend two realms of laws? What kind of monster is this?

Fish Bodhisattva felt some doubts, but mostly joy.

"If I were to capture such a person, he would be the best material for human pills in the world. The pills refined by Zhou Xuan would likely have endless effects."

"This pill is worth a very high price."

He was already somewhat arrogant, and the thought of being able to use Zhou Xuan to refine the most extraordinary pills in the world made him even more unrestrained in his arrogance, and he immediately burst into hearty laughter.

"Heaven and earth have been kind to me, bestowing upon me an immense fortune."

The fish bodhisattva burst into wild laughter, completely unaware that he had lost his composure.

Hu~hu~hu~
The sour smell in the wind within the "spiritual realm" became more pronounced, and the White Deer Taoist's fear intensified.

"So it turns out that the Great Master has the Star Laws protecting him, but even the Star Laws are useless."

The White Deer Taoist priest, having previous experience in combat, immediately shouted, "Master, that demonic monk's methods aren't limited to his mountain-like gaze; he also possesses eerie chanting!"
Once this sacred chant is activated, it's incredibly powerful. Even if your body turns to nothingness, or even if you are a born "spirit," formless and without shape, you cannot escape its power.

He became increasingly anxious as he spoke, and immediately shouted, "Master, if you have any reliable helpers, please summon them now so we can deal with this evil monk together."

After speaking, he paused for a moment, as if making some kind of decision, and then added,

"However, if you have no help, quickly sever the connection with the Spirit Realm and leave as soon as possible. It will take some time for that demonic monk to activate his chanting."

The White Deer Taoist priest was telling Zhou Xuan to run first.

Zhou Xuan then asked, "Master Bai, if I run away, what about you?"

“I… I naturally have ways to escape. I was able to escape nine hundred years ago, and I can still escape now.”

At this point, the White Deer Taoist priest had lost all his confidence.

Nine hundred years ago, he escaped the Brahma Sound by sheer luck, and also because the Fish Bodhisattva was unfamiliar with his methods, he was able to survive by sheer chance.

Now that he wants to escape a second time, he has neither the strength nor the luck, so he probably won't be able to escape again.

Zhou Xuan felt a warmth in his heart. Only an upright person like Bai Lu Fangshi would only refine Qi pills without blackening his heart and using human materials to refine the still-conscientious "human pills".

He waved his hand gently and said, "Master Bai, do not worry, I still have other methods, I am not afraid of this evil monk."

"What other methods do you have?" asked the White Deer Taoist.

Zhou Xuan smiled but did not answer. In his heart, however, he thought to himself, "What method? Of course, it's selling you out."

“Zhou Xuan, if I were you, I would really listen to this straightforward sorcerer and run away with my tail between my legs.”

While gathering Buddhist hand seals, Fish Bodhisattva spoke, provoking Zhou Xuan: "I know that inside the Maha Pagoda, you have two more accomplices, one a Celestial God-level being, and the other a Dragon-Seeking Celestial Master."

Those two are extremely powerful. With them protecting me, it's almost impossible for me to kill you.
However, I naturally won't leave the "Spirit Realm." I can't kill you, and you can't kill me. We'll keep to ourselves and live in peace, which is a good thing.

"I'm not leaving. I still have important things to do."

Zhou Xuan said with a sigh.

"Good, it's good that you're willing to stay. I still need to use you to refine a batch of good pills."

Fish Bodhisattva sneered repeatedly, and a lotus flower—a seven-colored lotus—had already grown from the lotus hand seal he had formed.

Zhou Xuan found the lotus flower somewhat familiar.

"This colorful lotus seems to be an incarnation of an ancient Buddha?"

He murmured,
During the Zoroastrian fire disaster, Zhou Xuan received guidance from the ancient Buddha in the Clear Mirror, which allowed him to condense a "seven-colored lotus" to guide Zen Master Wuya.

Now that Zhou Xuan saw the colorful lotus again, he understood.

He spoke loudly towards the wall of the Maha Pagoda: "White Taoist, you did not lose unjustly nine hundred years ago—this Fish Bodhisattva is not an ordinary monk, he is one of the incarnations of the ancient Buddha, the Twenty-One Dhyana Body."

"Ah, the demonic monk is actually an incarnation of the ancient Buddha?"

Upon hearing this news, the White Deer Taoist was so angry that his hands and feet trembled. He shouted, "You evil monk! In the past, the ancient Buddha was compassionate and helped all living beings. How come you have become so wicked?"
"You're concocting human pills, treating the lives of the people of Huangyuan Prefecture like they're nothing, turning them into your own elixirs. Do you even deserve to be called an incarnation of an ancient Buddha?"

As the White Deer Taoist priest roared in anger, the sour smell of fear intensified in the wind of the "Spiritual Realm." But this added fear did not originate from the White Deer Taoist priest, but from the Fish Bodhisattva.

He never expected that Zhou Xuan could see through his identity. If Zhou Xuan left now and spread the news of "ancient Buddha's avatar refining human pills," his disgrace would be secondary.

More importantly, it could attract hostility from the other high-ranking officials of the Well Kingdom, as well as attention from the other twenty-one Zen masters.

He is now extremely worried that Zhou Xuan will run away.

"Now that you've seen through my identity, the best outcome would be for Zhou Xuan to die."

Just as Fish Bodhisattva feared, Zhou Xuan stretched and slowly said, "Fish Bodhisattva, I didn't want to leave at first, but now, I really am thinking of leaving."

He said with a smile, "If I were to bring the news of the ancient Buddha's avatar refining human pills to the Kingdom of Jing... tsk tsk... I dare not imagine how much shock it would bring to the Buddhist followers of the Kingdom of Jing."

"In Snow Mountain Prefecture, the Wheel of Reincarnation Zen Sect is the only dominant sect. If those bald monks knew that their supreme faith had actually turned them into alchemists for the great figures of the heavens, doing dirty work every day, what crazy things would they do?"

Zhou Xuan raised a finger and said, "I'm afraid the first thing they'll want to do is use the full strength of their sect to kill you, this traitor to the Buddhist sect."

“At that moment, you were no longer the supreme faith of Buddhism; you were a stain on Buddhism, a bucket of dog excrement thrown on the gate of the Chan (Zen) sect temple.”

In just a few words, Zhou Xuan amplified the already intense fear of the fish bodhisattva to its extreme.

This intense sense of fear spread into the winds of the "spirit realm," making the wind unbearably sour.

Zhou Xuan even had to cover his mouth and nose to block out the unpleasant sour smell.

“The Spirit Realm is truly perfect for us magicians to use our tricks. I can know what the other party is thinking just by listening to it, without even needing to use mental control.”

After the sourness reached its peak, Zhou Xuan keenly sensed that the time had come to "cater to their preferences".

The tricks of magicians can fool people, and they can also fool spirits.

But deceiving people is easy; deceiving "spirits" requires entering a state of harmony with heaven and seeing the "spirit" before one can use deception.

"I've fooled gods, but whether I can fool this ancient Buddha is hard to say."

Zhou Xuan felt somewhat uncertain, just as his "Turtle Breathing for a Thousand Years" technique could deceive Li Changxun's eyes, but not the incense-burning Taoist priests.

Every technique in the world has its limits. If the opponent's level is much higher, the effect will be greatly reduced, or even completely fail.

Therefore, Zhou Xuan wanted to take precautions for himself. With extremely subtle movements, he took out a gold token from his inner clothing and hid it behind his back.

If he successfully deceives the ancient Buddha's avatar, then the golden token will naturally be unnecessary.

But if the deception fails, Zhou Xuan will have no choice but to summon the Witch God for help in order to protect himself.

"Let's lie to them first and then talk about the rest."

Zhou Xuan immediately released his spiritual power and activated "catering to their preferences".

He asked the Fish Bodhisattva, "An incarnation of the Ancient Buddha, do you think you'll have a hard time if I leave?"

“Zhou Xuan…Master…Master of Mingjiang Prefecture, I’m afraid there might be a slight misunderstanding between us. Why don’t you stay a little longer?”

Before Zhou Xuan could even begin to deceive him, Yu Pusa took the initiative and deceived him first.

Zhou Xuan scoffed and said, "Fish Bodhisattva, you need to improve your deception. Now you're telling me there's a misunderstanding, but once your deadly chanting is fully formed, you'll probably have no more misunderstandings with me and just want to kill me as soon as possible."

Fish Bodhisattva's lie was easily exposed, and his face turned somewhat ugly, but he still stammered, "Sir, what are you saying? I've always... always had a great appreciation for you..."

"Haha! Hahaha!"

Zhou Xuan stood with his hands behind his back, and as if he had heard something amusing, he laughed heartily.

The laughter was unstoppable, continuing until it sent chills down the spine of the fish bodhisattva.

He didn't know what Zhou Xuan was laughing at, so he could only bite the bullet and ask, "Master, why are you laughing?"

Zhou Xuan pointed at the Fish Bodhisattva's forehead and said, "I laugh at you, you monk, for your lack of strategy and your bald-headed foolishness! Even now, you still don't understand my intentions?"

"What...what...intentions do you have?" the Fish Bodhisattva asked.

Zhou Xuan pointed to the wall and asked, "What are Bai Lu and I doing here?"

Without a second thought, Fish Bodhisattva said, "Of course you're here to avenge him and seek revenge, or perhaps you want to reclaim White Deer Mountain?"

"fart!"

Zhou Xuan immediately rebuked him, "I don't mine coal, what use would I have for your mountain?"

"Then who are you?"

Fish Bodhisattva was immediately confused.

Zhou Xuan said, "I came to the Spirit Realm to find you because I wanted to join your business. This pill business is a big business. The people in the heavens are all eagerly waiting for the human pills in your furnace, right?"

"Business is indeed quite good." Fish Bodhisattva realized something. He had always thought that Zhou Xuan and the White Deer Taoist were the same kind of people—the kind of stubborn mules with a sense of justice. But it turns out that this master from Mingjiang Prefecture is quite savvy too!

However, although the business in the heavens is vast, the Fish Bodhisattva would absolutely not allow Zhou Xuan to reach in and take a piece of the pie.

However, to keep Zhou Xuan there and to delay the inevitable, Fish Bodhisattva followed Zhou Xuan's lead and continued speaking.

“Sir, if you’re willing to share the profits, why not? We can work together.”

“The business in the heavens is too big. Over the years, I have been earning money with my heart pounding. If we have a strong partner like you, we can earn heavenly artifacts and incense without worry and enjoy their favor.”

"Are you willing to share?" Zhou Xuan asked.

"Of course I do."

Fish Bodhisattva said insincerely,

Zhou Xuan shouted back, "No, you're not willing at all. If you were, you would have already recruited me."

Deception, of course, cannot be blindly followed, otherwise it will feel unreal. Just like writing a beautiful essay, one should not prefer a flat landscape.

Zhou Xuan deliberately played the "bad cop" at this moment, firstly to dampen Yu Pusa's arrogance and make it easier to manipulate him, and secondly to enhance the immersive experience and increase the likelihood of the colorful play starting up.

Faced with an ancient Buddha clone, Zhou Xuan had no certainty of deceiving him. He could only go all out on every detail and then "do his best and leave the rest to fate."

"Sir, I didn't know you were interested in the Ren Dan business..."

"Stop making excuses. The pill business is so big, are you willing to share it? If anyone tries to eat a piece of your flesh, you'd probably want them dead."

Zhou Xuan said seriously, "However, when I came here, I knew that you were unwilling to share the business of human pills, so I have prepared a small token of my sincerity."

"No matter how much sincerity you offer, I won't share any of my business with you."

Fish Bodhisattva muttered to himself, but on the surface he tried to be accommodating and said, "I wonder what kind of sincerity you are talking about, sir?"

Zhou Xuan said, "The first sign of sincerity is him."

He pointed in the direction of the "White Deer Alchemist" and said, "The White Alchemist is your old rival. He's been on the run for years, and I'm afraid he's been feeling uneasy. I'm pretending to be his ally, but in reality, he's my pledge of allegiance to you."
"Later, we'll kill him and put your mind at ease."

The moment he uttered those words, the White Deer Taoist was stunned.

He never expected that Zhou Xuan would betray him.

"Sir, I was just being kind and protecting you, letting you go first, and you turned around and sold me out?"

“Master, if you are interested in the pill business, I can teach you the method of refining Qi pills. As we talked before, as long as you know how to refine Qi pills, your pill business will definitely be able to surpass that of human pills.”

“Sir, we are friends, you can’t sell me out.”

The White Deer Taoist priest was betrayed hysterically, and tears were welling up in his eyes.

Zhou Xuan replied, "Friends are meant to be sold."

“Zhou Xuan…you…you…you will die a horrible death. I, Bai Lu, am also guilty of misjudging people.”

The white deer sorcerer's tearful outburst further fueled the spectacle of Zhou Xuan's performance.

Fish Bodhisattva said, "Master, I believe you are interested in the business of pills, otherwise you wouldn't have gone to talk about Qi pills with that useless dog, White Deer."

The white deer sorcerer's tearful accusations, ironically, became strong evidence that Zhou Xuan's "lies were true."

However, although Yu Pusa had begun to believe Zhou Xuan, he changed the subject and said, "But, you're offering the life of a stray dog ​​in exchange for my share of pills, which is probably not enough."

"Of course it's not enough."

Zhou Xuan suddenly became stern and said, "Therefore, my second act of sincerity is to let you know whose people I am."

As Zhou Xuan finished speaking, he still held the gold token he had prepared in advance in his left hand, and took out another gold token with his right hand, throwing it towards the Fish Bodhisattva.

The golden token flew hundreds of feet away and finally landed in front of the Bodhisattva, who was as tall as a mountain.

Fish Bodhisattva glanced at her, and her voice trembled immediately: "You...you are one of the Witch God's people?"

"You have some insight. Now tell me, who is it that wants to take a portion of your pills?"

Zhou Xuan sneered repeatedly, his aura instantly rising...

(End of this chapter)