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Chapter 222 Being Treated Like an Easy Pawn
As Qingyuan finished speaking, Yiqing suddenly pointed to the faint light spots under the Arhat's robe on the lotus platform: "Look at those swastika patterns—each golden thread is wrapped with the living soul threads of believers."

These were almost all transmigrators with the combat power of Earth Immortals, each possessing well-rounded abilities, and naturally, their methods of observation were flawless. Chen Huanling and Shang Qin were even more exceptional; they could even materialize their gazes.

Under the gaze of the crowd, they saw that the surfaces of the twelve golden statues were covered with countless tiny points of light. Upon closer inspection, they realized that these were countless small figures being ground into tiny points of light in the golden light, which then flowed into the cloud of merit above the Arhats' heads.

“This is the so-called ‘merit golden body’ unorthodox cultivation method.” Lu Chen, who had the most spirited demeanor, suddenly spoke up: “Orthodox Buddhism requires going through eighty-one tribulations to cultivate a golden body, tempering the body with one’s own karmic fire. But these guys… without a doubt, they are using incense to cast relic embryos, using faith as lamp oil, and each merit pattern is made from karmic paper ingots folded from the incense money in the donation box.”

Su Heng suddenly remembered something: "Xiao Zizai, the disciple of Monk Jiekong, has a method for controlling murderous intent. Is that also considered an unorthodox method?"

"Xiao Zizai is severing his own murderous intent, walking the perilous path of 'seeking enlightenment through calamity of killing,' ultimately cultivating his mind. But these people... they are cultivating 'becoming immortals through the Book of Merit.'"

"That is, using special secret techniques to convert the incense offered by believers into merit, using the temple's incense money to cast golden statues, and even artificially creating calamities to 'exorcise' them and earn merit," Lu Chen explained calmly.

"That's not entirely true." Su Yun suddenly appeared beside the group of transmigrators watching the show and spoke up. He glanced at these nameless golden Arhats and naturally knew what kind of unorthodox methods they had used.

“Look at the lotus petal pattern; it’s the design of the donation box’s clasp,” Su Yun said, pointing to the golden lotus at the feet of the golden Arhat. “This is called ‘robbing money to save from calamity.’ They collect resentment after a calamity under the guise of salvation, and then use the incense and faith of believers to ‘neutralize’ the resentment into fake merit. This way, they can both nourish the golden statue and deceive people into donating money.”

“The lotus platforms beneath their feet are not compassionate images at all, but karmic furnaces forged from the ‘debts of merit’ of believers. For every person who donates incense money, a contract for the soul is engraved on the lotus petals. When the golden body is completed, these souls will be refined into relics.”

“I see.” Su Heng suddenly understood why these Arhats looked so glamorous: “They are not golden bodies that have been cultivated, but gilded shells made of money. True enlightened monks, like the monk Jianzhen, were blind but still able to cross the sea to spread the Dharma; while these people… are just incense shells wearing robes.”

"That's true." Su Yun nodded; Su Heng's summary was quite accurate.

Yi Qing, being one of the first transmigrators Su Yun met, was more relaxed and asked directly, "By the way, where did these golden Arhats come from? If I'm not mistaken, their strength is all above that of Fellow Daoist Tian Tong, right?"

Everyone turned to look at Zhang Zhiwei, the younger generation of the Daoist sect. Zhang Zhiwei squinted and stroked his beard. There was no need for him to offer any advice here; after all, in terms of strength, this old man was the weakest among them.

Zhang Zhiwei glanced at the Arhats and shook his head: "This old Taoist priest does not recall any such people from the Buddhist predecessors."

There have been many great figures in Buddhist history, such as Xuanzang, Jianzhen, Bodhidharma, the Sixth Patriarch of Zen, and leaders of Esoteric Buddhism. But he couldn't recall any of the golden Arhats that had appeared now.

"That's easy. Apart from the later Buddhist and Taoist sects, there were a huge number of wild gods during the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors period. They disappeared from the human world along with the severing of the connection between heaven and earth. They didn't all die out." Everyone understood what Su Yun meant when he said this.

Those wild gods of the past mastered Buddhist teachings, but it seems they only learned unorthodox methods and did not truly cultivate their minds and attain enlightenment. It is estimated that many wild gods also joined the Taoist sect, but given the Buddhist sect's open-minded approach, most of the wild gods are probably now within the Buddhist sect.

Those golden Arhats wouldn't sit idly by while they kept complaining. If it weren't for Master Wang and the others watching, they would have made their move the moment Chen Huanling spoke.

Suddenly, the twelve golden Arhats all rolled their eyes, revealing bluish-white pupils beneath their gilded eyelids. A piercing chanting erupted from the cloud of merit swirling behind them. The Arhat in the front row raised his hand and clenched it, causing the life-giving threads wrapped around his lotus platform to snap taut, shooting towards Chen Huanling like thousands of fine needles.

Lu Chen's vertical eye opened, and a golden light pierced through the colliding threads. Su Heng suddenly noticed the lock pattern on the lotus platform's edge absorbing the aftershocks of the battle and whispered a reminder, "Those lotus petals are devouring the resentment of this land. Perhaps we could try breaking the main body of the merit box first... Without the power of merit to counteract their resentment, then it will probably..."

"He fell into demonic possession on the spot." Qingyuan Daoist, as the transmigrator who knew the Buddhist methods best, replied. Lu Chen had somehow appeared behind the golden body. Under the unique spiritual vision of his Heavenly Eye, he clearly saw that the entire lotus platform was actually an overlay of countless phantom images of donation boxes, each lock connected to the donation cabinet of a temple thousands of miles away.

With a flick of his fingertips, he shattered the three locks. The nearest golden Arhat suddenly let out a scream like gold being shattered. The swastika pattern on his chest burst open, revealing a relic wrapped with a golden rope inside.

The other Arhats weren't just watching; the sutras and mantras surging from the clouds of merit behind them transformed into tangible golden blades, sweeping in with the cries of wailing souls.

Yi Qing appeared in mid-air and clapped his hands together, his body radiating a powerful aura that seemed to distort the surrounding space. It was a sign that he had assimilated himself with the aura of heaven and earth within a ten-mile radius.

Yan Huan harnessed the power of the earth spirit, causing the ground to suddenly rise up like a forest of earth spikes, which disintegrated into dust the moment they touched the golden blades. Only the wind element he was holding onto suddenly turned into ice crystals, blasting large cracks in the group of golden blades.

"I thought we were going to watch a show, but it's turned into a fight again." Qingyuan Daoist said, standing up, changing his clothes, making a sword incantation with his left hand, and slamming his Zen staff, a magical weapon, heavily on the ground with his right hand, and said: "Buddha speaks of emptiness, Tao speaks of nothingness, merit is illusory and ultimately empty!"

Twelve beams of silver light shot from the lotus platform at the top of the staff, striking the swastikas on the chests of the twelve Arhats. Where the silver light passed, the gilded skin on the Arhats peeled off like molten wax, revealing relics wrapped with threads of life and glowing with a dark red color.

"Probably because you have to pick the softest persimmon to squeeze." As he spoke, Lin Yuanfeng's figure suddenly appeared behind the nearest Arhat. His arms had completely transformed into a very special Qi state, and his five fingers, like steel claws, directly pierced into the back of the Arhat's neck.

Lin Yuanfeng had cultivated the Qi state ability of the Reverse Life Triple Realm to its extreme. His Earth Immortal-level golden body actually crumbled inch by inch in his palm in this form, revealing the intricate threads of merit inside.

The transmigrators who made their moves clearly divided their tasks, but Qi Luo's figure merged into the shadows at this moment, and the Ghost Domain suddenly unfolded. As a Yin God who had risen from a ghost, he was naturally most skilled at manipulating resentment, and the Arhat Lotus Platform was continuously devouring the resentment from the aftermath of the calamity beneath the earth.

If Qi Luo hadn't found the remnant souls here too filthy, there wouldn't be any golden Arhats here. The moment the ghost realm enveloped them, the lock patterns at the bottom of the twelve lotus platforms suddenly glowed with black light.

Yang Jian gave his assessment of Qi Luo: "You are a good candidate to become a ghost tamer. If possible, it would be best to send you to his world."

Qi Luo: Don't come any closer!
"Five thunders rectify the law!"

Su Heng had already formed a lightning incantation, and the Heavenly Purple Lightning precisely struck the clasps of each lotus petal along the gaps in Qi Luo's Ghost Domain. When the purple lightning collided with the golden clasps, it produced a crisp sound like abacus beads shattering. That was the sound of the Golden Body of Merit being forcibly torn apart.

The Arhat in the front row suddenly clutched his head and roared. Countless faces of believers appeared on the surface of the relic on his chest, and the threads of life were shrinking at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Lu Chen, now possessed by Erlang Shen, displayed terrifying combat power. His Hun Tian Cloak unfurled (doge jpg), and his three-pointed double-edged sword transformed into a stream of light, weaving among the twelve Arhats. He withstood the attacks of multiple Arhats, countered their weak points, and each swing precisely severed the connection between the lotus platform and the illusory merit box.

When he broke through the core lock of the seventh lotus platform, the entire golden body suddenly became like a ghee lamp whose oil had been drained. A large amount of gray-black resentment surged out from under the gilded surface, and the Arhat's face quickly decayed, revealing the hideous true face with wild god horns underneath.

Yi Qing suddenly sensed an abnormal fluctuation in the Qi of Heaven and Earth. Looking up, he saw that the lotus platform of the central Arhat was absorbing the merit power of the other collapsed Arhats.

Sensing something was amiss, Yi Qing immediately went all out, his figure completely merging into the Qi of heaven and earth. This then spread throughout the entire battlefield, incorporating the rocks on the ground, the rain curtain in the air, and even the light from the magical artifacts on everyone's bodies into his assimilation domain.

(End of this chapter)