Invasion Myth: Starting with the Schoolteacher

Chapter 943 What a fine pledge of allegiance!
Otherwise, they wouldn't have had the confidence and influence to organize a "righteous alliance" and hunt down the remnants of the White Lotus Cult all over the world.

Xu Xuan signaled to Shi Wang to zoom in on the surveillance footage and turn up the volume.

Huan Kong walked through the eerie sea of ​​flowers as if strolling in his own backyard, engaging in lively conversation with the white-beaded monk who followed closely beside him:
"You, a mere demon, were able to comprehend spiritual energy and take human form under the tutelage of Zen Buddhism. This naturally proves that you have an affinity with the Buddha and that your foundation is not bad." The tone carried a condescending affirmation.

"The junior brother Guangliang who recommended you is far inferior to my master in terms of Buddhist cultivation, but his judgment is... not bad. His suggestion that you come to my Illusion Sect to learn the true and profound Buddhist teachings makes some sense."

"However!" He changed the subject, raising his chin slightly, "Whether one can be accepted into my Illusionary Transformation Sect still requires passing many tests. After all, my sect is a leading Buddhist sect in the North, not comparable to a small temple in the South like Lingyin Temple. We have our own rules and regulations for accepting disciples, and we do not accept just anyone."

These words were incredibly arrogant and outrageous, directly referring to Lingyin Temple, one of the representative Buddhist temples in Jiangnan, as a "small place."

The monk Baizhu could only nod repeatedly in agreement, his attitude extremely respectful.

Looking at the screen, Xu Xuan recalled the intelligence from a few days ago and thought to himself: Although this monk Huan Kong is easy to fool, he is quite intelligent and vigilant when it comes to matters involving the core interests of the sect, such as going to the true location of the Huanhua Sect's mountain gate.

If Bai Zhu fails to gain his deep trust, she will likely only be able to reach peripheral lower temples like Bai Ta Temple, and will never be able to access the core secrets.

Their audacity in coming directly to this obviously unusual Gaixia suggests either that Huan Kong is overconfident and believes everything is under control, or that they have ulterior motives.

At this moment, Huan Kong and Bai Zhu had already ventured deep into the core area of ​​the flower sea.

Looking at the wild poppies blooming in all directions, defying the natural order, even Huan Kong, with his arrogance, couldn't help but feel a hint of surprise in his eyes.

They clearly realized that this scene was anything but ordinary and contained some great opportunity.

He was overjoyed: "Haha! Fortunately, the Huai River riots a while ago scared the old guys from the surrounding sects away from getting close. Otherwise, this heaven-sent opportunity would have required a lot more effort, and we might even have had to share it with others!"

His words were filled with the smugness of finding a bargain, but then he frowned slightly and muttered to himself, "However, I didn't expect that the legend of Wuzhiqi under the Huai River is actually true... The cultivation world in recent years is becoming more and more incomprehensible."

The monk Baizhu, standing to the side, showed genuine worry on his face and whispered, "Senior brother, if others don't dare to come... wouldn't it be... unsafe for us to come?"

"Sigh~~~" Huan Kong drawled, glancing at Bai Zhu with a look of disappointment, "You people from small sects in the south are just cowardly and short-sighted!"

He straightened his back and said with absolute certainty, "The Wuzhiqi of the Huai River has been locked in the Zhenhuai Well by King Yu for thousands of years, so there is nothing to fear!"

"The commotion a few days ago was just a temporary outburst after being suppressed for so long. In the end, it was still suppressed by the mysterious restrictions of King Yu."

As he got more excited, the monk's smugness deepened. He even extended one palm, making a downward pressing motion, and proudly declared:

"If you ask me, even if that monkey really escapes, so what?"

"Our Buddhist teachings are boundless and our supernatural powers are vast!"

"With a flick of the wrist, I can suppress it once more!"

On the banks of the Huai River, Xu Xuan and the Stone Spirit, who were "watching the live broadcast" through the Stone King's magic, looked at each other and were speechless for a moment.

To say such things on the banks of the Huai River, in front of the person who might be listening in...

That monk's head is made of extraordinary iron.

It seemed to be in response to Huan Kong's bold statement.

Gululu...

Suddenly, a series of huge bubbles rose to the surface of the Huai River behind them.

Immediately afterwards, a water monkey, soaking wet, with white fur clinging to its body and a face so cold it could freeze the air, silently rose slowly from the water.

In its hand it was also holding a crystal-clear stick that emanated a terrifying chill and a surge of power.

Those molten gold pupils were coldly locked onto Huan Kong's hand, which had just made the "flipping palm to suppress" gesture.

Seeing this, Xu Xuan hurriedly tried to dissuade the monkey and calm its anger:

"Water Lord, please calm down! Water Lord, please calm down! This young monk is young and ignorant, talking nonsense. What kind of person are you? To argue with him would be to lose your composure for no reason."

He had no choice but to stop it.

The seemingly slender water stick in the monkey's hand actually contained the immense power of the water essence from the Huai River, which stretched for hundreds of miles. It was incredibly heavy and contained the surging power of the river.

If this blow were to actually land, not only would the arrogant Huan Kong be destroyed, but the entire Xiaoxian County would likely be instantly turned into a massive inland lake, causing widespread devastation!

Just as Xu Xuan was rapidly considering how to both quell the monkey's anger and protect Xiaoxian County, the increasingly loud voice of Monk Huankong came through the surveillance footage.

Today, he seemed to have an unusual "desire to share," completely unaware that in the intense atmosphere of malevolence and resentment of the ancient battlefield of Gaixia, a wisp of extremely subtle black energy was quietly creeping into his brow and invading his heart.

This place has been a site of calamity, accumulating thousands of years of war and despair. When the Buddha's heart is clouded and the mind is lost, it often happens in the blink of an eye.

The arrogance on his face gradually twisted into a cold, mocking smile, and his words became increasingly sharp:
"Hmph, such a strange thing would have been brought here by those scum of the Pure Land School in the past, who would have pretended to suppress and destroy it with some Pure Land Buddhism."

"I never expected that this time they would turn into cowards and dare not come."

"Ha, is that all? You dare call yourself the number one sect of Buddhism?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Xuan's expression immediately became quite subtle.

Goodness, this little monk is going a bit too far with his sweeping generalizations.

His eyes narrowed slightly, and a faint flame seemed to begin to ignite in his depths.

However, Huan Kong's "performance" is far from over.

He was disturbed by that invisible evil energy, and he already harbored deep resentment towards the Pure Land School.
"Hahaha! But they no longer deserve to be called the number one sect of Buddhism!"

"A sect that produced a demon like the White Lotus Saintess doesn't reflect on its actions in seclusion; instead, it spends its days running around the Nine Provinces, seeking fame and fortune!"

"Isn't that Ruoxu supposed to be the fastest in the world?"

"Isn't he supposed to have the ability to travel thousands of miles in a single step? Why doesn't he dare to come down to the banks of the Huai River? Is he afraid of the karma here, or the monkeys in the water? Hahaha!"

"And that Fahai too!"

"Hmph, I wouldn't even deign to mention him!" "A newcomer who hasn't been in the sect for long, and he's already being blown out of proportion! He even claims to have quelled the demon turmoil at Dongting Lake? It's utterly ridiculous!"

"Ridiculous! Absolutely ridiculous! Hahahaha!"

Huan Kong's tone was cold, but he didn't notice the sudden deathly pale face of the monk Bai Zhu beside him.

The person named on the bank of the Huai River who was "disdainful to speak" has completely lost his composure.

Okay, very good. It wasn't enough that you insulted my senior brother Ruoxu, now you're insulting me, Fahai, too?
Okay, you've got what you deserve for life.

Driven by that murderous aura, Huan Kong continued to speak eloquently: "Hmph! If you ask me, it's possible that the Dongting demon clan is just too weak and all talk and no action! If I had known this would happen, I should have asked my master to go and wipe out those demons and monsters with ease! What Yun Zhongjun, what Eight Great Demon Kings, they're nothing but idiots!"

The Stone King silently pursed its non-existent mouth, and a dangerous glint flashed in its rock-formed eyes.

Huan Kong became more and more excited as he spoke, as if he could already see the bright future of the Illusionary Transformation Sect leading the Buddhist sect: "Hmph! Once my master finds the White Lotus Holy Mother and kills that demon, the world will naturally be at peace! Why would we need those useless Pure Land Sect members running around like this!"

Xu Xuan sighed upon hearing this.

He turned to the monkey beside him, whose face was as black as the bottom of a pot, and to the Stone King, whose eyes were blazing with fire, and said:

"Please calm down, gentlemen. Let me handle this matter."

Having said that, his expression turned solemn, and a magnificent brocade robe appeared out of thin air, covering his body. In an instant, his appearance became dignified, and a Buddha-like light shone forth.

Zen Master Fahai has officially emerged from seclusion.

With a single step, he seemed to shrink the distance between them, and in the next step, he had already crossed the sea of ​​flowers, appearing suddenly and calmly before the astonished monk Huan Kong.

"Amitabha." Xu Xuan put his hands together, his voice calm yet carrying an undeniable authority, "This humble monk is Fahai of the Pure Land School."

Huan Kong was taken aback, clearly not expecting the main character to suddenly appear.

But after the initial surprise, what appeared on his face was not fear or shame, but rather an almost indifferent disdain.

Buddhism does indeed possess supernatural powers such as "divine hearing." So what if you hear it? What can you do about it?

Since the White Lotus Holy Mother incident, the Pure Land School has adopted a very humble attitude towards all the sects that suffered losses in the "White Lotus Disaster," often making concessions and offering compensation.

It was this long-term concession that allowed the Illusionary Transformation Sect and other rising stars to gradually forget the prestige and terror that the Pure Land Sect once held as the foremost sect of Buddhism.

Xu Xuan was too lazy to waste any more words with him.

Faced with a little Karami whose cultivation and temperament were several levels below, he really had no interest in showing off or slapping him in the face.

So he simply raised his hand and pointed lightly at Huan Kong, his voice like the tolling of a sacred bell, proclaiming:

"Those who disregard the precepts of speech, speak recklessly about virtuous people, and slander their fellow disciples will be punished."

He then struck with lightning speed, without harming Huan Kong's physical body in the slightest, but precisely extracted his soul.

He first extracted the memory fragment of his earlier arrogant and slanderous remarks about the great virtuous man, and condensed it into a hazy gray bead.

Then, with a slight thought, he drew upon a trace of the aura of the Netherworld Calamity Land, casting his main divine soul into it, allowing the three poisons of greed, anger, and ignorance, which could erode the Buddha's heart, to cruelly cleanse it.

This is not over yet.

He then used his profound illusionary skills to construct an extremely realistic dream world, and once again poured his soul, which was tormented by the three poisons, into it.

He was subjected to hundreds of years of debauchery, greed, power, fame, and fortune in the illusion, witnessing all the vanity and temptations, until even the last vestige of clarity in his mind was almost extinguished.

Xu Xuan was more than capable of doing this kind of thing, and he was incredibly professional at constructing dreams.

To some extent, the White Lotus Incarnation Scripture, the Pure Land Dharma, and the Illusion Sect's techniques are a perfect match when combined.

In addition, he learned a lot about constructing dreams from Bai Suzhen, and with the supernatural seeds contributed by Boqi, the Holy Father already had some of the demeanor of the White Lotus Holy Mother from back then.

After all the operations were completed, the soul, which had become turbid and dim, severely damaged, and filled with the three poisons and six desires, was stuffed back into the body that was standing still.

With another flick of his finger, a beam of white light fell, directly knocking down his painstakingly cultivated second-stage Buddhist cultivation, forcibly sending him back to the point where he was merely stuck at the Heavenly Gate of Entering the Dao.

Having done all this, Xu Xuan's expression became extremely serious and solemn. He turned to the monk Baizhu, who seemed to be terrified out of his wits, and said in a deep voice:

“Take him back and take good care of him. If he can sincerely repent for his mistakes and dispel the illusions in his heart, he may one day be able to restore his cultivation.”

"If you disagree, come find me at the ancestral temple."

After saying that, he threw the memory bead, along with the unconscious and powerless monk Huan Kong, to Bai Zhu.

Xu Xuan's actions directly turned Monk Huan Kong into Bai Zhu's pledge of allegiance to the core of the Huanhua Sect.

Under normal circumstances, it would be extremely difficult for outside monks to be easily allowed to enter the true sacred grounds of the Illusionary Transformation Sect; they would likely be tested for decades.

But now that the Buddhist disciple on whom the sect has placed high hopes has been reduced to this state, it is only right and wrong that he must be taken back immediately for full treatment.

As the only "witness" and "escort" at the scene, he could naturally step into the core area of ​​the Illusionary Transformation Sect.

In this way, all the tedious processes of investigation, testing, and gaining trust are omitted, and the goal is achieved directly in one step.

Bai Zhu understood immediately, picked up the unconscious Huan Kong, and ran away without saying a word.

This time, we not only efficiently completed the strategy for conquering the Illusionary Sect, but also incidentally boosted the reputation of the Pure Land Sect.

Even if the lawsuit were taken to that nameless old monk in the ancestral temple, he would still be in the right.

The monkey pouted, somewhat dissatisfied that it hadn't seen a puddle of minced meat.

However, Xu Xuan's methods still made it look at him with new respect. It turned out that not only was his physical body strong, but he also had some skill in the way of the soul.

Not long after dealing with this little incident, the long-silent poppy field beneath our feet finally began to change dramatically, with an indescribable, powerful aura surging wildly from the depths of the earth!

(End of this chapter)