Who is spreading rumors that my filial piety towards them has changed?

"It's in the way."

Chapter 288 I, Chu, can also chant incantations!

In another, smaller city, Arhat Abu Nan and Arhat Fa Xin Bu Dong walked among them, both dressed in kasaya robes. However, the people passing by seemed oblivious to their presence and walked past without finding it strange.

While an Arhat cannot influence the surroundings as easily as a Bodhisattva, it doesn't mean they are completely powerless. With a little effort, they can easily set up a Dharma assembly or altar, erect a Buddha statue, and rely on external objects.

As Abu Nan, the Arhat, chanted Buddhist mantras, a golden bowl flew out from his wide sleeves. In the blink of an eye, the palm-sized bowl grew to enormous size, casting a huge shadow in the center of the town square.

A statue of a suffering female Buddha fell from the shadows, radiating a radiant Buddhist light.

This commotion finally attracted the attention of the people, who then noticed that two monks had run up to the stage where the opera was being performed.

"Oh my, are you going to put on a Buddhist opera this time? How unlucky! Can you change it?" a scholar who had set up a calligraphy and painting stall joked. Actually, there was not much hostility in his words; it was more of a habitual teasing.

"What bad luck? This is an opportunity to guide you into Buddhism and grant you a great opportunity to comprehend the Buddhist teachings of emptiness." The Buddha-heart-unmoved Arhat said calmly, without anger or annoyance. His fat head and big ears gave him a uniquely auspicious appearance.

The scholar scratched his head, puzzled, and asked, "Are you really planning to perform a Buddhist opera? How can we obtain this opportunity?"

The fat, big-eared Arhat squinted and said, "Place your worldly gold, silver, property deeds, and land deeds in front of the Buddha statue, chant sutras to consecrate them, and then offer them all to the Buddhist community. You will accumulate merit and be blessed in your next life."

The scholar's thinking was quite clear, and he chuckled and said:

"We'll talk about the next life later. Being a piece of barbecued pork is worse than being a human. How about this: I'll give you two masters a stroke of luck. You smash some of the gold off that golden Buddha statue and give it to me. By giving me your worldly attachment to wealth, you'll have accumulated merit. I'll suffer this pain for you... this..."

The scholar's disdainful words were interrupted by the chanting of the two Arhats. The melancholic Buddhist chanting emanated from the statue of the suffering woman, and the scholar's eyes immediately went vacant. The nearby residents were also momentarily stunned.

Each of them had a blank expression, resembling wooden puppets or walking corpses, only their lips moved in perfect sync as they chanted the scriptures. The scriptures constantly awakened their suffering in life, amplified their suffering, and inspired them to give up everything.

In an instant, all the people of the city left their homes like walking corpses, and in perfect unison, with their valuables and treasures, they marched toward the town square with the reverence of a pilgrim.

The gold and silver in her hands were offered along with her mental power.

Arhat Abu Nan looked down at the scholar with compassionate eyes.

"Disrespecting the Buddha and creating negative karma through speech, how arrogant! Scholar, now it's time to test your affinity with Buddhism."

The dull-witted scholar placed his calligraphy and painting on the table: "Master, this is all my possessions. It's worth a lot of money if I sell it."

The monk sighed, "You poor scholar, you have no affinity with Buddhism. Go to the Pure Land of Buddhism and become an ascetic monk doing menial tasks."

However, the scholar's eyes quickly regained their clarity, and he asked, puzzled:

"How strange, why are there only two of you Arhats? Shouldn't there be some kind of Goddess of Great Love and Bodhisattva accompanying you to make money and brainwash people?"

"So you were just pretending! Who are you?!" The fat-headed, big-eared Arhat suddenly revealed his ferocious nature. Without saying a word, he manipulated the huge golden bowl and smashed it towards the scholar.

Chu Mingkong's body trembled, shattering his scholar's robe. As the fragments of the robe scattered, black blood instantly covered his body.

The Eclipse Heavy Sword he was dragging in his hand extended its radiance, transforming into a massive Moonlight Blade that matched Chu Mingkong's physique.

He gathered fire in his palm, and slammed his black claw onto the golden bowl, causing a burst of flames to erupt from his palm, scattering the bowl and leaving a fiery, corroded claw pit on it.

The Arhat of Unwavering Mind lowered his long eyebrows, and upon realizing that the golden bowl could not be repaired, he exclaimed in astonishment:

"Your Highness Chu, no wonder my three abbots, Zhongtong, Yuantong, and Shentong, died tragically at your hands. You actually cultivated the power of extreme Yin to such an extent!"

As soon as the words fell, Abu Nan Luohan went even further. His body suddenly grew larger, transforming into a golden Buddha giant seven or eight meters tall, looking down at Chu Mingkong below. With a gentle twitch of his large feet, the buildings in the city collapsed.

"Hand over the Buddhist treasures you seized from those three, and you will be spared the suffering of the precepts!" With a voice that resounded through the heavens and earth, Arhat Abu Nan, in his enormous Buddha form, manipulated a vajra and slammed it down on Chu Mingkong.

The Buddhist inscriptions on the vajra emitted golden light, and hundreds of chains extended to bind Chu Mingkong. If he were trapped, he would definitely suffer a blow from the vajra.

Chu Mingkong confidently took out the Purple Fire Dragon Bone Spear and swept it backward. With his superb spear skills, the resulting shockwave was surprisingly gentle. The gale blew the pilgrims back hundreds of meters, carrying them away from the center of the battle.

The Purple Fire Dragon Bone Spear then flew towards the Buddha Light Chains, attracting their entanglement. Chu Mingkong took the opportunity to dodge the Vajra Pestle and slashed at the still "small man" Faxin Immovable Arhat with his sword.

The monk, whose mind remained still while chanting the Immovable Mantra, had a circular aura behind him scattering specks of light. Bathed in this light, the Arhat monk's body became incredibly luminous. Chu Mingkong's sword strike, imbued with the aura of the deepest abyss, was actually blocked by him, leaving only a sword mark half a finger deep.

Chu Mingkong was surprised, and so was the Arhat of Unmoved Mind.

"It's been a long time since anyone has been able to leave a mark on me without me moving, but you're still a bit lacking!"

"Your body is stiff, huh? Then try this."

Chu Mingkong took out the soul fragment of the Blood Blade King's corpse and slashed it at his light. The Arhat monk, whose body was crystal clear, trembled with pain all over his fat body, while the Moon Eclipse Heavy Sword in Chu Mingkong's hand was able to penetrate a little further.

Suddenly, the gigantic Arhat Abu Nan began chanting the mantra of the Dharma Realm, and the images of the Three Jewels of Buddhism flew out to help him set up the Dharma Realm.

Chu Mingkong remembered that the previous Chamen Tuo had increased his strength by relying on a Dharma Realm.

He wanted to kill an Arhat by himself before calling for reinforcements, but now he could only regretfully say:

"So you're the only one who knows how to set up formations and chant spells, huh? I can do that too."

"My master's wife, please help me!"

A stunningly beautiful woman in a snow-white dress suddenly appeared on Chu Mingkong's shoulder, her presence bringing with it a gust of wind and snow.

The gigantic Abu Nan Arhat was forced to stop chanting, and frost formed on his lips.

A slender, icy hand, formed from the cold air, grasped the vajra and thrust it into the Arhat monk's mouth, breaking through his lips and penetrating his throat and heart, severing his ability to chant the mantra.

"Shen Xuejun, do you know what you're doing!" The Arhat of Unwavering Faxin could not quell the anger in his heart.

"I'm killing you all."

Shen Xuejun responded calmly, her beautiful eyes meeting Chu Mingkong's outstretched claws. She stepped onto his black claws, her plump, white-stockinged legs draped over them.

The black-blooded giant, resembling a ferocious beast, carefully cradled a beautiful ice-cold woman in its hands.

“You are attacking Buddhism,” said the Arhat Faxin Budong.

"If you dare to harm my little disciple, I can harm you... And what about the Bodhisattva?"

Chapter 289 As I Have Heard

Shen Xuejun did not give much thought or hesitation to the matter of killing the enemy.

Seeing that the other party remained silent, the icy chill gathered the momentum of a vast glacier, and all the power was concentrated in a small space, freezing even the dazzling Buddhist light.

The two Arhat monks died suddenly from the inside out, their muscles and bodies bulging with blood and ice pillars. The blood in their bodies became fierce ice that pierced through their flesh and blood. After their bodies collapsed and disintegrated, the spines that carried their souls suddenly flew up and fled like two centipedes, one large and one small.

However, even the two Arhats who possessed physical bodies could not withstand Shen Xuejun, let alone now that she is on the verge of death and only has two vertebral bone relics left.

Having failed to escape, the Immovable Arhat of Dharma Heart twisted his spine and crawled into the golden bowl, using it as cover to hide.

Chu Mingkong hadn't used up all his remaining strength. He originally wanted to unleash his strongest sword strikes before calling for his master's wife, but the other party had already begun setting up the Dharma Realm in front of him. Chu Mingkong had no choice but to conserve his strength and now unleashed all his remaining power at the golden bowl.

In addition to the claw mark, a huge sword wound was added to the golden bowl.

"Huh... why does it look like there's an even stronger layer inside? The outer layer is relatively soft, and I can still make some marks on it, but there's another layer inside that I can't cut at all!"

"The Buddhist treasures and ritual implements that Arhats can use are treasures that have been passed down in Buddhism for a long time. They have been refined by generation after generation, leaving behind insights and traces. The outer golden bowl is from later generations, but the inner layer was refined by great monks of the past. Not to mention that these Buddhist ritual implements are nourished by the power of believers' thoughts."

It is perfectly normal for ritual implements to be superior to those of monks.

Shen Xuejun stopped Chu Mingkong from going in to pursue and kill him. Entering this golden bowl would be tantamount to trapping an outsider.

Now that Chu Mingkong has entered, it's like he's seeking suppression. All the eminent monks who have refined this golden alms bowl throughout the ages can manifest within its inner world.

“If you don’t want to go in, then seal this golden bowl away and bury it next to the town as a latrine, specifically for filling with household garbage.”

Reducing environmental pollution is also a way to accumulate merit for these two monks.

However, this poses a hidden danger. If these two monks break the seal and come out one day, it will be a disaster for Xiling. It would be better to take them into the depths of the Abyss to play sometime later.

The two Arhats have been dealt with, but what about the Bodhisattva?

Could this affect their escape, or perhaps they split up and went to other places to convert the people?

"Oh, I almost forgot about the people in this town. We need to spread the word about this 'good medicine' quickly."

Chu Mingkong returned to his original form, his clothes torn and tattered from the transformation, but fortunately no one saw it. He landed steadily with Shen Xuejun in his arms and quickly changed into his robes.

"Master's wife, what should we do if these Arhats refuse to reveal the Bodhisattva's whereabouts?"

Shen Xuejun's method is simple and unpretentious:

"Then we can only wait, wait until she shows her presence and reveals her aura, then we can go and find her."

“Okay…” Chu Mingkong shrugged.

That was what he expected, but more likely, the Bodhisattva had actually gone elsewhere to convert people and was playing guerrilla warfare with him.

It doesn't matter anymore. Let her try to convert him however she wants. Now, Chu Mingkong has stumbled upon a solution by accident, so he won't be driven crazy by her.

So Chu Mingkong went to several teahouses, found the storytellers there, and presented them with a storybook about "Buddhism's Escape from the Pit." Before long, the storytellers woke up in a sage mode of self-reflection.

"You guys, go to the town square, and to any crowded streets and alleys, and loudly recite the stories from these storybooks." Chu Mingkong pulled out a token that symbolized his authority as a dog.

The storytellers had regained their senses, but they were pale.

Telling stories like this on the street, where would I put my face?

"Sir, this...this might not be a good thing, would it?"

"Would that have a bad influence?" Chu Mingkong took out a few more gold ingots, a big stick and a candy.

“Great! It’s a very good influence, I’ll do my duty!” The storytellers’ eyes almost turned into gold ingots, but one of them hesitated and said, “But what about the children? They might not understand it.”

This is indeed a problem. No matter how profound the meaning, you can't expect children who are inexperienced in the ways of the world to understand it.

"Then tell the private tutor to give them more homework and more hot water. They'll understand," Chu Mingkong nodded.

Actually, the solution to this kind of problem is simply for their parents to return to normal. If the adults are normal, why worry about not being able to manage a few children who have never experienced the hardships of life and are already shouting "Life is full of suffering, I want to become a monk"?

......

The matter of the Arhat has been temporarily concluded, but Chu Mingkong and Shen Xuejun did not leave the town immediately. Perhaps the Bodhisattva would return to check on their companion's condition?

He found a teahouse and listened to storytelling while waiting, while Shen Xuejun accompanied him, wearing a veil to conceal her stunningly beautiful and otherworldly appearance.

In the teahouse, almost every table had two copies of "Jin Xiaomei" for customers to check and, incidentally, to "disinfect" themselves.

The town, gradually returning to normal, has brought a lively flow of people to the teahouse, with tea drinkers frequently exchanging greetings as they come and go.

"Oh, what are you doing at the teahouse? Reading a book?"