Chapter 32

The battle didn't last long. Yao Yue Ru is an innate master who has refined the viscera, with spirit and flesh united, her stamina unending, and being in the situation of joy at sight of prey, her spirit was full and unobstructed, while the Yellow-Eyed Person Buddha could not muster strength, and was also being watched by a master nearby, finally being struck in the fingers by a chain spear, a spear pierced her throat, powerless she knelt down in the ship cabin.

After the battle ended, Zhou Shuo threw the corpse of the Yellow-Eyed Person Buddha overboard, and forced the heavily wounded Green-Eyed person out with his spear; the pirates of Giant Whale Island instantly collapsed. The main force of these pirates had already been mostly killed by Yao Yue Ting alone using Yin Divine Thunder earlier; knowing there was a Dao arts expert nearby, unable to resist, they one by one discarded weapons and armor, all jumped into the sea, awaiting apprehension by the disciples of the Yao Chi Sect. This Giant Whale Island, which had long been a maritime scourge of the Great Qian Dynasty and was entrenched in the Lost Soul Bay, collapsed in an instant.

The happiest was Yao Yue Ru; after gaining some combat experience, she had already grasped the essence of martial arts, pulling Zhou Shuo and chattering away; she only needed to return to Jade Lotus Mountain to train for at most a year, and she could steadily wash her marrow; if she obtained some good medicine and replaced her blood, entering the Sacred Realm would be a sure thing.

"Thanks to you this time." Yao Yue Ru looked at Zhou Shuo, delighted.

"Then how should you thank me?" Zhou Shuo looked at the sister with radiant joy in her double pupils, and couldn't help but ask with a smile.

"How do you want me to thank you?" Yao Yue Ru met Zhou Shuo's gaze and openly replied.

"Hmm." Zhou Shuo lifted his gaze, tapped his lips with a finger, making a sound of contemplative questioning, but before he could finish his attitude, he heard a cold laugh.

"You lecher." Yao Yue Ru looked at Zhou Shuo's action, and instantly a cold smile appeared on her face.

"I..." Zhou Shuo lowered his gaze, looking at the smiling sister, he felt anxious, this is just a thinking gesture, don't misunderstand! However, before he could come to his senses, he felt a sudden chill on his lips, and a fragrance drifted away from his nose.

"You are a lecher."

"" Zhou Shuo stood dumbfounded on the spot, feeling the fragrance slip away from under his nose, his mind went blank. Damn, damn, I really flirted with the girl, I really managed to flirt with the girl, heavens, I love time travel, I damn love you.

"Yue Ru." A great joy rose; Zhou Shuo turned around, saw the sister with her head down, ears red, quickly running away, and he couldn't help but shout, but that only made her run faster. He wanted to continue forward and loudly call out to the good sister, but feared being rude to a lovely lady, so he could only break into a trot to catch up, but halfway through, he suddenly saw disciples of the Yao Chi Sect lifting a box down from a ship.

Seeing the box being lifted down from the ship by the Yao Chi Sect disciples, Zhou Shuo instantly remembered his duty, and instead of continuing to chase Yue Ru, he turned to examine the treasure that the Yellow-Eyed Person Buddha had carried when fleeing; the imagined wooden Buddha draped in a kasaya was not here, but he found several pieces of black silk kasaya, which were the Black Gold Kasaya from the Great Chan Temple, a water- and fire-proof silk woven treasure armor; previously the Yellow-Eyed Person Buddha and the Green-Eyed had worn this kind of armor.

Zhou Shuo had no use for the Black Gold Kasaya; he had external hardening training, and as long as one didn't attack his vital points, his whole body could defend against many attacks; and even if someone could break through such defense, the kasaya would be useless. However, he found some other good things: besides gold, silver, jewels, and banknotes, there were various secret manuals, such as the "Eight Methods Wild Crane Spear," the "Thirty-Six Forms of the Drifting Cloud Sword Technique," the "Crane Form Dodge and Pounce Diagram," the "Spirit Monkey Three Dodges Six Evades," etc.

Although he didn't obtain any secret manuals of marrow-refining level, they were still decent martial techniques that could be used to enrich himself; Zhou Shuo also discovered a volume titled "Record of Fighting Buddhas," which records the battles of the Fighting Buddha Yin Yue of the Great Chan Temple with others, containing records of the techniques of all schools under heaven; although not a secret manual, it is still a source of broadened knowledge.

"Are these the only things those pirates have?" Zhou Shuo threw the book in his hand back into the box, and asked a disciple of the Yao Chi Sect who was supervising the transport of the spoils.

"Young Master Zhou, that's all we found searching the ship; we can't be sure they didn't leave more in their lair." The sturdy disciple of the Yao Chi Sect looked at Zhou Shuo, not daring to be negligent in the slightest.

"Hmm, then send a few people to inquire, and then go together with me." Zhou Shuo gave a slight nod.

While Zhou Shuo was speaking, Yao Yue Ru, blushing, ran back to the cabin of the ironclad warship, and immediately faced questioning from Yao Yue Ting; the two sisters are twins, not only identical in appearance, both born with double pupils, and they also possess a certain telepathic link; Yao Yue Ru kissed Zhou Shuo once, and the telepathic sensation was already transmitted to Yao Yue Ting.

"You crazy girl, are you selling yourself like this? And you want to drag me down too." Yao Yue Ting questioned via the telepathic sensation; after learning the situation, she blushed and rebuked her twin sister.

"What do you mean dragging me down? I have no intention of involving you, you lovesick girl!" Yao Yue Ru retorted, equally blushing.

"Hmph, we have telepathy; today you only kissed, and I already know; what do you two plan to do later, can you hide it from me?" Yao Yue Ting's face reddened further.

"What's the big deal? Once I train my telepathy to be freely controllable, I can sever this link; then I'll make sure you sense nothing at all, and you'll be anxiously watching." Yao Yue Ru said, her face reddening as she spoke.

"You wanton girl, where is he?" Yao Yue Ting composed herself, letting the blush fade.

"Look how shy he is, what are you looking for him for?" Yao Yue Ru gave her sister a sideways glance, feeling a bit smug, this time she considered herself ahead.

"His soul and spirit are too weak; I will give him the Yin Innate Divine Chapter, so he won't suffer a loss next time when dealing with others." The blush that Yao Yue Ting had just suppressed rose again.

"And you still call me a crazy girl, you wanton girl, you've already sold the family farm this quickly." Yao Yue Ru, blushing, rebuked, and still had the face to say it about herself.

"What family farm? However, Yue Ru, if we do this, will Mother agree? Also, there's Wu, Wu Wenhou." Yao Yue Ting took a deep breath, again suppressing the blush, and suddenly thought of something: she and Zhou Shuo moved too fast, they've only known each other a few days, and will Mother agree? Moreover, there's that father who refuses to give Mother a title, and also refuses to acknowledge the sisters.

"Why bring him up suddenly? He can't control us anyway; as for Mother..." Yao Yue Ru's face turned cold, but thinking of Mother, she couldn't help but feel hesitant; Mother's temperament is sometimes like that fellow's, because her own relationship came too quickly.

"He has such talent; his cultivation of Dao arts and martial arts is outstanding; if he can achieve fame and success, then proposing to the Yao Chi Sect will be easy." Yao Yue Ru thought of Mother, and suddenly a naive scenario came to mind.

"I'm afraid his personality won't agree; with his ability, having defected from the cult, he could have joined the noble's retinue to achieve fame and success, but he didn't do that..." Yao Yue Ting shook her head slightly, while Yao Yue Ru similarly recalled Zhou Shuo's reaction when she asked him to join the Yao Chi Sect; he would certainly have to nod.

"Yes, when I initially told him I wanted him to join the Yao Chi Sect, he said, 'He knows how the great sects treat outsiders who join them,' and he would not comply with others."

"But what if it's for us?" Yao Yue Ting asked, he wouldn't comply with others, but if there were a reason?

"I don't know, but I don't need him to comply with others for my sake." Yao Yue Ru glanced at her twin sister, shook her head, and said with a slight firmness: her destiny must be in her own hands; she doesn't need to rely on others to live, nor do others need to rely on her.

"I likewise don't need it; but what should we do?" Yao Yue Ting furrowed her brows; the problem is how the two of us should act, since we both have good feelings toward Zhou Shuo and he also has good feelings toward us; such good feelings will inevitably breed affection, and when faced with love and familial duty, having to choose one side, what should we do!

"Are we bound to face such a choice?" Yao Yue Ru felt a bit irritable.

"We must make some preparation." Yao Yue Ting's double pupils flickered slightly.

"Can't we just talk about it later? At worst we'll hide together with him in the wilderness, and he might not necessarily be opposed to Mother!" Yao Yue Ru felt somewhat difficult, yet she asserted.

"Then, then let's talk about it later!" Yao Yue Ting couldn't think of a good solution, so she could only muddle through and skip the issue.

While the sisters were troubled, Zhou Shuo, leading a team of Yao Chi Sect disciples under the guidance of the defecting pirates, smoothly entered the pirates' lair on Giant Whale Island, and as wished found in a secret chamber the golden Buddha statue that housed the Present Tathagata Sutra; he dared bring the Yao sisters here and produced the Qiankun Pouch as a pretext, unafraid of stirring up a hornet's nest, largely because this martial scripture was hidden very securely, to the point that even Hong Yi nearly missed it.

"The weight of this Buddha statue is off; it's gilded, so the pirates didn't take it when they left." A red-gold Buddha statue as tall as a person was lifted by a male disciple of the Yao Sect, who after weighing it said, the reason this statue remains here is entirely because it is not pure gold.

"Let's take it back!" Zhou Shuo stepped forward, reached out and pulled off the kasaya from the Buddha statue, glanced at the scripture on it, then looked at the statue; the Present Tathagata Sutra is inside this statue, and since it's currently inconvenient for him to take it out, he might as well take the whole statue back.

"Yes!" The Yao Chi Sect disciple looked at the kasaya in Zhou Shuo's hand, nodded slightly, called people to lift the Buddha statue out; Zhou Shuo watched as the statue was carefully carried away, lowered his head and began to read the scripture on the kasaya in his hand; he remembered that the content there was interesting, and Hong Yi had derived from it the theory that "killing, if it follows one's nature, is merit."

Regarding that Yi Zi's conduct and ideas, Zhou Shuo dared not agree with many of them, so he carefully examined the scripture on the kasaya once more:

"'Thus have I heard. At one time I asked the Buddha, what is merit? If I were to use the myriad treasures of the great thousand worlds to give alms to the masses, relieve the poor, make the world peaceful, and let everyone be free of suffering, could there be merit? The Buddha said: No merit. Giving, a wholesome mind seeks blessings; one cannot speak of blessings as merit, for merit lies in the Dharma body, not in seeking blessings. To perceive nature is function, equality is virtue, thoughts without obstruction, constantly perceiving one's true nature, genuine marvelous use—this is merit...'"