Chapter 370: Death to Those Who Re-Erect the Buddha Statue

Incense smoke curled and swirled,

amidst the devout chanting of the faithful and the abbot and novice monks.

The headless Buddha statue collapsed, smashing onto the ground; its six arms, each holding a Buddhist treasure, snapped off behind it, and its body shattered into pieces.

Threads of blue-gold sword qi spread from the Buddha's neck to its entire body, destroying all the power of the incense; the golden Buddha light gradually dimmed, turning into a pile of ordinary marble fragments on the ground.

The gold paint lost its luster.

"My Buddha's treasure, the Maitreya Cauldron, is unyielding like a Vajra, indestructible..."

An abbot with a kind and benevolent face, chanting devoutly, suddenly widened his eyes, his expression becoming vacant.

The solemn chanting around them halted; one could hear a pin drop.

"The Buddha..."

Many novice monks turned deathly pale, their faces showing terror.

"Who is it?"

The abbot suddenly stood up, his eyes bloodshot; his warm and kind expression transformed into that of a wrathful Vajra, and golden light rose on his skin.

His entire figure became tall and majestic, with a terrifying aura of Foundation Establishment level faintly emanating.

"Who is desecrating my Buddha?"

The abbot produced a heavy monk's staff from somewhere, smashed it fiercely onto the ground, shattering the stone slabs; the head of the staff crashed into a pit several zhang deep, and he roared in fury: "Go immediately and notify the City Lord! Send people to investigate! If they cannot find the culprit, let his entire clan enter the Karma Fire to atone!"

"Yes, Abbot!"

The novice monks around turned deathly pale; they rolled and crawled, running madly toward the direction of the City Lord's mansion.

The Karma Fire, naturally, was something a small temple could not possess; the so-called Karma Fire was actually a fire cauldron in front of the temple that never went out, where firewood, incense, candles, paper money, and other offerings were constantly thrown in...

When the Maitreya incense faith first began spreading on Yongling Island decades ago, there were often bandits, pirates, and great families in the city who did not know the heavens' decree, did not understand the scriptures, and frequently committed acts of desecrating the True Buddha.

Later, their entire clans were one by one thrown into that Karma Fire cauldron; the smell of scorched flesh permeated for miles for years.

Since then, the path of the True Buddha flourished greatly.

"No one here is allowed to leave!"

Various abbots, chief monks, guest masters, and others gathered; they were as furious as if the sky had collapsed, their eyes cold and fixed on every single person, as if they wished to pick one and devour it.

"We strictly obey the master's orders!"

Many faithful worshippers clasped their hands together, trembling with fear.

Whether officials or common people, all turned deathly pale, deeply bowing their heads, daring not to move a muscle, afraid of attracting any attention and bringing disaster upon their entire clans.

Whoosh, whoosh-whoosh!

Vaguely, many of the faithful heard a sound, followed by the thud-thud of watermelons splitting; a strong smell of blood filled the air.

Martial artists who knew Wu Gong had their pupils contract and instinctively raised their heads.

The abbot of Yongling Temple, the Four Great Head Monks, and the Eight Great Officials, all appearing as wrathful Vajras ready to devour someone, had their heads explode into blood mist; their bodies fell backward, exactly like their Buddha.

"The abbot and the others... they are all dead!"

A novice monk screamed, causing everyone to raise their heads.

"This is..."

Many believers were startled with dread.

Amidst the sky-filling blood mist, on the stone wall where the Great Hero Hall's Buddha statue had fallen, a line of characters with thick blood light appeared; no literacy was needed, one only needed to glance to understand.

"Whoever re-erects the Buddha statue shall die!"

"The struggle between Buddha and Demon... again..."

Many elderly people's hearts trembled, recalling some terrible past.

"Buddha and Demon..."

Moments later, the City Lord of Yongling, terrified and sweating profusely, arrived here with soldiers and Constables; he was utterly shocked, his face showing hesitation and indecision.

For a moment, he dared not leave, nor did he know what to do.

"Immediately re-erect the true image of my Buddha!"

Someone, disregarding all this, roared in fury: "How dare the demon thief desecrate my Buddha! He must certainly descend to the Eighteen Levels of Hell, the Hell of the Blade Mountain, the Hell of the Sea of Fire, the Hell of the Oil Pot, the Hell of Tongue-Pulling, and so on, to be tortured for billions of years in turn! Do you also wish to suffer thus?"

"This..."

The City Lord of Yongling's heart trembled.

This person was the City Commandant, in charge of the city's military power; he was always a fanatical Buddhist believer, caring nothing for whether it was a demon or not.

If he showed even the slightest sign of wavering, the result would immediately be blood splattered on the spot.

"This, this City Lord will immediately..."

He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, thinking of a plan to satisfy both sides.

Bang!

In an instant, more whoosh-whoosh sounds of breaking the air came; the City Commandant, whose eyes were bloodshot, along with a group of his most trusted confidants and numerous Wu Gong masters who had achieved great mastery in internal qi and served as his right and left arms, had their heads explode into blood mist, with blood spraying in all directions.

The soldiers around who were about to act were splattered with blood mist; they stood stunned, their spines freezing with a chilling cold.

"This, immediately, postpone, postpone..."

The City Lord of Yongling swallowed hard.

"The difference in power between mortals and the Buddha is immense."

"But in terms of the essential True Spirit, perhaps they are equal."

"According to the research of the Immortal Sect, incense faith is actually a contract between gods and humans; the Buddha provides protection, and the faithful contribute their incense. Once violated, disaster is certain."

An Siyan watched as the abbot, the Four Great Head Monks, and all other high-ranking figures within Yongling Temple died, and as all fanatical Buddhist believers within Yongling City perished; his emotions showed no fluctuation, and he said calmly.

"Within the Eastern Sea, we had best destroy all temples and kill all fanatical Buddhist believers; this will maximize the erosion of the Maitreya Cauldron's strength, erode its Incense Divine Court, also known as the home-field advantage of the Incense Buddha Kingdom, to avoid bringing variables to the final battle."

"If we can provoke the Precious Cauldron Maitreya to lose his reason, abandon the Brother Xuanwu Four-Pole World-Stabilizing Array and the geographical advantages of the Incense-Fueled Buddha-Nation, and come out to fight us to the death, that would be simply perfect."

"This is possible. Incense-Fueled Gods often act with great emotion, unlike high-level cultivators who are completely self-controlled and coldly rational."

"Then let it be handled thus."

Jiang Ding said indifferently.

These fanatical Buddhist disciples hold high positions and wield great power within the Precious Cauldron Maitreya Sect; even if they do not hold high office and appear to be reclusive cultivators at peace with the world, they actually enjoy the offerings of countless devotees' blood and sweat and are not innocent.

After all, in a world where incense grants spiritual power, sincere devotion cannot be faked, and fanatical Buddhist disciples cannot be overlooked.

Even if they truly possess pure hearts and few desires, even if they are true ascetics who accept no offerings of the people's blood and sweat.

They still deserve to die!

The mere existence of such people directly provides a vast amount of incense faith, offering immense assistance to the Precious Cauldron Maitreya Sect in oppressing hundreds of millions of Donghai commoners, making them no different from those who act directly.

Moreover, there is no possibility of them reforming and turning from evil to good.

It is better to simply beat them to death.

"Yes!"

Boom!

The amphibious tanks spread across the sea did not choose to detour; they landed on Yongling Island from the sea and, under the fearful gazes of the City Lord and other officials, drove toward the distance in an unbroken line, heading far away.

They did not destroy their cities as imagined, did not stop to resupply with food and fresh water, did not inquire about enemy conditions, and did not exchange any words with them.

The steel torrent crossed the land, driving toward the distant sea.

Though they were all on land, it gave a feeling of ethereal unreality; an invisible boundary existed, separating them, placing them as far away as the horizon.

(End of this chapter)