“Ensnaring Performance, if you persist obstinately in doing the wrong thing, we won’t hold back any longer. That was just the Demon Purifying Scripture’s first half. There is still the second half. Your ‘Sonata Pathétique’ is extraordinary, but you will not be able to endure the next part!” The white-clad woman looked at Ensnaring Performance coldly.
“Bring it on! Humph! So what if you are from the Spirit Mountain Holy Land? Try again! I don’t believe that you are that incredible in the music Dao!” Ensnaring Performance snarled ferociously.
The white-clad woman narrowed her eyes as a cold light flashed in them. “Continue chanting the second half!”
“Yes!” the five hundred monks immediately answered.
The five hundred monks pressed their palms together and resumed chanting the scripture.
“Demons and evildoers, the purifying light of Buddha purifies all evil. The Lord Buddha above bestowed on us the holy scriptures, to purify all lives…”
The speed of chanting increased. The swastikas coming from the five hundred monks moved faster and increased in quantity, gathering rapidly at the huge swastika above.
As that huge swastika spun around, it shone a bright, golden light all over Heavenly Mao City. The Buddhist chanting also grew louder, ringing out throughout the city.
“The Demon Purifying Scripture!”
“An extraordinarily evil spirit must have appeared!”
“The Spirit Mountain Holy Land does not use the Demon Purifying Scripture casually.”
“I recognize that mute. He is a beggar on our street. When he was born, his mother died of a difficult delivery. As his father rushed back, he met with an accident and died. His grandparents raised him, but they soon passed away as well. Did he jinx them to death? No wonder the Spirit Mountain Holy Land wants to purify him. It turns out that he really is the reincarnation of a demon!”
“That zitherist is called Ensnaring Performance. Previously, he played the zither on our street. He plays pretty well. Unexpectedly, he is helping this demon!”
“The Spirit Mountain Holy Land purifying them is their opportunity.”
The surrounding citizens chattered on and on.
The chanting of the five hundred monks in the Hearing Buddha Hall’s plaza intensified. At the same time, the huge swastika in the sky suddenly exuded smoke-like energy.
The golden smoke covered Ensnaring Performance and that youth. Then, translucent, armored giants condensed in the smoke, one after another, glaring furiously at the two.
“Those are the Demon Subduing Guardians. Look, they’re the Demon Subduing Guardians mentioned in the Demon Purifying Scripture. The Demon Subduing Guardians appear only if it encounters a powerful demon. It will try to forcibly purify the evil demons!” the citizens cried out.
“Hah!”
The Demon Subduing Guardians reared their heads back and roared before charging at the two.
Ensnaring Performance showed an anxious expression, but his hands moved even faster, playing faster. “Sonata Pathétique” manifested a caped warrior that bravely fought the Demon Subduing Guardians.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Demon Subduing Guardians repeatedly knocked the warrior to the ground. However, the warrior refused to accept defeat. “Sonata Pathétique” was a piece about resisting fate. How could the warrior submit to a few guardians?
“Hah! Hah! Hah!”
The monks appeared nervous. It was clear that the warrior could not defeat the Demon Subduing Guardians. However, this warrior seemed like it could not die. It kept standing back up. The monks could only keep chanting the scriptures to increase the number of Demon Subduing Guardians.
Five Demon Subduing Guardians. Ten. Twenty. Fifty.
After a heavy strike, the warrior could no longer fight back. However, Ensnaring Performance refused to admit defeat. He continued to play. That warrior now carried Ensnaring Performance and the youth, using its body to block the Demon Subduing Guardians’ attacks.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A string of loud sounds rang out. It looked like the Demon Subduing Guardians were pummeling a punching bag.
Ensnaring Performance was already at the end of his rope. However, he still protected the youth. The two now had limited space to move in. They could not fight back, only able to endure the blows.
The Demon Subduing Guardians kept attacking. Although they held an absolute advantage, they could not move the warrior away.
Given that, the stalemate dragged on. Now, there were one hundred Demon Subduing Guardians continuously pounding away at this human sandbag.
The citizens, who had initially been watching Ensnaring Performance coldly, now frowned slightly, appearing somewhat disturbed.
As the five hundred monks chanted the scriptures, a cold sweat broke out on their foreheads. This was the first time they met with such a fearless person.
The white-clad woman showed a sullen expression. One of the monks at the side whispered, “Bodhisattva, we cannot continue like this. This Ensnaring Performance’s music Dao is very incredible. Although he cannot defeat us, it will be disadvantageous for us to keep dragging this out.”
The white-clad woman’s expression turned sullen. After some silence, she checked the surroundings.
“Bodhisattva, look. The surrounding citizens’ gazes have changed somewhat already. The worldly people are ignorant and stupid. There will always be sympathizers. If we continue like this, it will not be good for us,” that monk at the side said with a frown.
The white-clad woman nodded. “Alright. This Ensnaring Performance’s cultivation has only just reached the Nascent Soul Realm. Initially, I thought that we could use this to spread fame about my Buddhism. I did not expect him to be this difficult to deal with. Humph! I’ll deal with him!”
“Yes!” That monk backed off.
A cold glint flashed in the white-clad woman’s eyes. After taking a step forward, she turned into a beam of white light that shot towards Ensnaring Performance in the center.
“Arrogant, evil demon! I, Zi Zhu, will vanquish the demons!” the white-clad woman called out.
[TL Note: The name Zi Zhu literally translates to Purple Bamboo.]
A purple bamboo appeared in her hand, and she thrust it at Ensnaring Performance. It looked like she wanted to skewer him.
The expressions of the surrounding citizens changed. Didn’t she say purify earlier? Why did it change to vanquishing demons?
However, the citizens could only watch what the woman did. Perhaps the demon was truly being too arrogant.
The bamboo targeted only Ensnaring Performance, prepared to kill him. Ensnaring Performance’s expression changed dramatically.
“Humph! If you are having a music battle, then battle with music. Why behave like despicable scum by sneak-attacking? How shameless! Mu Chenfeng, fire!” A furious shout rang out in the sky.
Boom!
Suddenly, a loud report rang out. A black Heaven Blasting Lightning shot towards the white-clad woman holding the purple bamboo.
The white-clad woman initially planned to kill Ensnaring Performance. However, the threat of death instantly overwhelmed her when the Heaven Blasting Cannon fired.
The white-clad woman shivered, and her expression changed as she turned her head to look.
When she looked, the Heaven Blasting Lightning had already arrived.
“What?” The white-clad woman’s expression changed further. The bamboo stabbing towards Ensnaring Performance changed directions abruptly to intercept the Heaven Blasting Lightning.
“Master! Why are you here?!” Ensnaring Performance revealed an expression of wild joy.
“What?”
Boom!
An earth-shattering explosion rang out, producing a storm that swept through the Hearing Buddha Hall’s plaza. The huge plaza instantly shattered, and debris flew into the sky.
The shock waves knocked the five hundred chanting monks into the air.
“Argh!”
“Argh!”
This immediately interrupted the chanting and scattered the monks. The shock waves were so powerful that a storm formed and swept towards the citizens in the surroundings.
“Who is it?”
“What’s going on?”
“Argh!”
A string of loud cries rang out as the citizens got knocked over.
The expressions of the monks in kāṣāya watching the events unfold at the Hearing Buddha Hall’s plaza changed.
“Who is it?”
“How bold!”
“Audacious!”
The kāṣāya-clad monks shouted furiously while glaring and blocking the shock waves. The benevolent-looking monk in the middle pressed his palms together. Golden light emanated from his body, illuminating the entire plaza. The chaos in the plaza instantly calmed. All the stone fragments fell to the ground, the strong wind vanished, and all the smoke and dust settled.
The five hundred monks knocked into the air found safety.
All the dangers had been resolved.
However, there was a huge, yawning crater in the center of the Hearing Buddha Hall’s plaza.
“Bodhisattva Zi Zhu! Bodhisattva Zi Zhu, are you alright?!” a group of monks yelled as they reached the crater.
When they looked down into the depths of the pit, they saw the white-clad woman who sneak-attacked Ensnaring Performance. The purple bamboo in her hand had shattered to pieces.
The woman’s clothes were now charred black, and most of her hair had burned off. Bloody wounds covered her face, and blood stained her now-black clothes.
“Cough! Cough! Cough! Blargh!” Bodhisattva Zi Zhu weakly spewed out a mouthful of blood.
“Bodhisattva Zi Zhu, how are you?”
The monks jumped into the pit and helped up the injured Bodhisattva Zi Zhu.
Bodhisattva Zi Zhu wobbled, appearing enfeebled. However, her eyes brimmed with great resentment as she stared skyward in the direction the Heaven Blasting Lightning had come from.
Seeing that Bodhisattva Zi Zhu was still alive, the monks followed the citizens’ gazes and looked at the sky together.
A huge flying ship with about two hundred people aboard hovered in the air.
Gu Hai and Ao Shun stood on the deck, beside Mu Chenfeng and the Elite Hall disciples, who trained the Heaven Blasting Cannon at Bodhisattva Zi Zhu. Some smoke still wafted out of the cannon’s muzzle.
The one hundred Elite Hall disciples appeared excited while the one hundred dragons goggled at Gu Hai in shock. They had not expected that Gu Hai would actually dare to fire at that Bodhisattva Zi Zhu.
Ao Shun smiled bitterly as he looked at Gu Hai. When they arrived, Gu Hai had immediately taken out a flying ship and watched the battle below. Initially, Gu Hai wanted to find out what was going on. However, he suddenly gave the order to shoot Bodhisattva Zi Zhu, giving Ao Shun no time to stop him.
At this moment, Gu Hai had a cold expression as he stared at the debilitated Bodhisattva Zi Zhu.
“Shameless fellow, how dare you try to kill my man?” Gu Hai said with a cold expression.
“You…you…who are you?” Bodhisattva Zi Zhu asked weakly with a cold expression.
“Master, you came! Master, you have to get justice for me! This group of baldies wants to purify us. If they purify us, we will be brainwashed and become their slaves. Master, it’s great that you are here!” Ensnaring Performance called out excitedly.
“Zhengfa Ming, look! My master is here. Haha! There is no need to worry anymore!” Ensnaring Performance yelled excitedly at the youth beside him.
The youth smiled happily and clapped. However, no sound came from his mouth.
“Amitābha! So, it is Crown Prince Ao Shun. How has my Spirit Mountain Holy Land offended the dragon race for the dragons to cause such destruction in my Spirit Mountain Holy Land’s residence? Is this the intention of the Qian Heavenly Emperor?” the benevolent-looking monk in the center of the nearby group of kāṣāya-clad monks asked in an interrogative tone.
While it was described as that monk in the center speaking, that was because he was staring at Ao Shun, showing that he was the master of the voice. However, the words were spoken by a member of his retinue.
He needs someone to speak for him? Gu Hai showed a faint, cold smile and said, “I am the one who fired the cannon. It has nothing to do with Ao Shun. The one your Spirit Mountain Holy Land offended is not the dragon race but me. Earlier, that bitch tried to assassinate Ensnaring Performance. Was that your intention? Ensnaring Performance is my Elite Hall’s disciple. That bitch tried to assassinate a court official in the Qian Nation. Is that the intention of your Spirit Mountain Holy Land’s Three Lives Buddhas?”
