Chapter 397: Golden-haired Hou

Miaoshan was already subdued, so why was she fighting with even more vigor?

She said, "All conditioned phenomena are determined by past karma. The Buddha Treasure of the Jinguang Guo belongs to the ancient Buddhas of my sect; it rose because of this, and it shall perish because of this..."

"If you ask for the reason, it is because the Jinguang Guo was too selfish, wishing to use the Dharma to attain wealth that would last for a thousand generations."

Xu Jia did not listen to a word she said; the Buddhist school was best at debate, turning black into white, but they were never confused when it came to major matters.

Moreover, Xu Jia was not seeking revenge for the Huangjin Zhi Guo; he simply wanted that Jinguang Relic Buddha Treasure. Even if he didn't swallow it to increase his ten thousand years of Dharma Power, being able to make the Da Mo sprout an Oasis would be useful enough for Xu Jia's own body—one more Sword Immortal world, one more reference.

"Stop!"

Xu Jia spat out a true mantra, and the Evil-Slaying Sword severed several more of Miaoshan's arms.

Seeing that "preaching" was ineffective, Miaoshan glared in rage, and her entire Bodhisattva form transformed into a Qianshou Qianyan Guanyin Demon God form, with a black face, red hair, three eyes, and protruding fangs, while the golden light also turned into red light.

At the same time, a rain of blood began to fall from the entire firmament, the fishy stench defiling everything.

"I knew it, you were a monster in disguise!" This only confirmed Xu Jia's stereotype.

Yet the next moment, the seemingly magnified Miaoshan transformed into a streak of rainbow light, attempting to charge up into the firmament.

"Leave the treasure behind!"

Xu Jia also pursued with Sword Escape, intercepting her above the clouds. They began to fight again.

The people below only saw the golden light of the great sun illuminating the clouds like a Buddha statue, auspicious omens shining everywhere, yet it was of no use.

"Amitabha, why must the benefactor keep pestering me? That Bajie betrayed the sect and took a Daoist as his master. This Golden Light Kingdom originally worshipped Guanyin Bodhisattva and built the Guanyin Zen Monastery, but later they firmly believed in Bajie, honored that Heretical Outer Path, and practiced Heretical Outer Path Buddhism, entrusting it to this Golden Light Relic. Those who obtain the relic personally verify the Bodhisattva path. In the Buddha Kingdom, everyone practices Heretical Outer Path Buddhism, so let them be destroyed by Heretical Outer Path Buddhism; everyone can become an Arhat, become a Bodhisattva!"

This Miaoshan's tone was manic, and a strange fragrance of smoked bacon emanated from her body...

As soon as Xu Jia smelled it, he roughly knew what it was. It was the scent of the flesh used to make the "Golden Body" inside the secret chamber.

"Bajie?"

This name made Xu Jia think of a song: "Bajie, Bajie, your heart is not bad, fat head and big ears~~"

He shook his head slightly, shaking off the demonic music, having already grasped about seventy or eighty percent of the situation.

In this worldview, the one traveling west from the Great Tang to retrieve the scriptures was not Tang Seng, but a monk named Bajie.

Monk Bajie practiced both Buddhism and Daoism. When he passed by the Guanyin Zen Monastery here, he succeeded in a scripture debate and instead taught the Buddha Kingdom, which originally believed in Guanyin, to believe in him. Moreover, what they practiced was a kind of "Outer Path Buddhism" in Miaoshan's words. This Outer Path Buddhism was simple and easy to master quickly, but it had flaws. Thus, Guan Shi Yin Pu Sa sent down the Miaoshan Dharma body, magnifying this flaw and also magnifying the "evil thoughts" of the Buddha Kingdom's sentient beings who were eager for quick success...

In short, it seemed to be a struggle between the localized, reformed Buddhism and the invading indigenous-style Buddhism. This Guanyin was not necessarily the Great Compassionate Guan Shi Yin Pu Sa after the reform; it was something that still carried the evil divine temperament of the Witch Sect and Bon.

Or perhaps it was something used to suppress dissent during the expansion period of Buddhism.

Buddhism was destroyed in Heavenly Punishment and, gasping for breath, moved eastward, instead flourishing in the Central Plains...

But Xu Jia really didn't want to know too much about these messy, bloody affairs.

So he pinched a seal: "By the order of my Supreme Dao Lord, quickly summon the Five Towns Mountains: North Town Wuyi Mountain, East Town Yi Mountain, West Town Wu Mountain, Middle Town Huo Mountain, and South Town Kuaiji Mountain. Five Mountain Gods, obey the Spirit Treasure Order Law, quickly!"

The Five Towns were established when Great Yu settled the Nine Provinces. The Divine Nature of the Wuyue originally stole from the "Five Towns," but with the expansion of territory, the original Five Towns mountains were no longer enough to encompass the Central Plains, so the Wuyue gradually rose. Within this, there were both the rise and fall of dynasties and the rotation of divine power. He saw five great mountains flying in from the five directions.

That Qianshou Qianyan Guanyin pulled out a carrying pole and baskets: "I have my own Five Departments and five kinds of Dharma; with a thousand hands and a thousand eyes, I can carry a thousand mountains. No matter how many mountains you summon, I will just carry them on my shoulders!"

"Let me let you know that the Dharma is boundless."

Xu Jia saw her carrying the load, two in front, two behind, and one more on her shoulder.

He immediately waved his sword and chanted: "Summon Pengli, summon Taihu Lake, summon Dongting, summon..."

He was once again mobilizing the weight of the Five Lakes. The Five Lakes were the granaries; as the saying goes, the people regard food as their heaven. The one carrying the load was the one upon whom the clothing and food of the people of the world depended.

That Qianshou Guanyin was pressed down, but she only bent her knees slightly, then straightened up again, and said: "So what if you summon the Five Towns and Five Lakes? Among the Three Mountains and Wuyue, where is there a famous mountain or great river without a Buddhist temple? They are all my Buddhist territory!"

Xu Jia could not stand her arrogant appearance, so he immediately waved his sword again and said: "Summon a Moon from the sky, summon a Great Sun scene wheel!"

He saw the heaven and earth lose their color, turning dim and dark, and the essence of the sun and moon fell upon the ends of the carrying pole.

The brilliance of the sun and moon is what all living things depend on; it sets the order of day and night and the rhythm of life.

The Bodhisattva was pressed down by this force and could not move, yet she still said: "The sun and moon are impartial; would they stop rotating because of you? The bright light of the great sun is the Tathagata, and the moonlight like water is Guanyin."

Thus, there was a Buddha shadow in the sun, and a Bodhisattva image in the moon.

Xu Jia was using the Quanshen of his own Body God to mobilize them; the Five Towns were the gods of the five viscera, the Five Lakes were the acupoints of the various pools of the belt vessel, and the sun and moon were a pair of eyes.

Now that he saw he had failed to suppress this Qianshou Qianyan Guanyin, he used both hands, one pointing to the sky, one pointing to the earth.

That Guanyin still wanted to laugh: "Do you want to imitate the World Honored One Tathagata?"

He saw the Heaven and Earth Qiankun Hexagrams fall, and Xu Jia asked: "Heaven and Earth Qiankun is the universe; can you jump outside the Three Realms and not be within the Five Elements?"

That Guanyin's shoulders were instantly severed; a thousand hands could not carry Qiankun, and a thousand eyes could not observe the affairs of the world.

Then Xu Jia struck with a sword.

The Buddha head was severed, and streams of golden light spat out from within; they were many Primordial Spirits, all Buddhist Primordial Spirits, Sarira, the cultivation fruits of all the practitioners in the Huangjin Zhi Guo.

Then a "Golden-haired Tibetan Mastiff" crawled out, wanting to escape.

Xu Jia recognized that this was not a "Tibetan Mastiff," but a "Hou." It is rumored that the Hou is transformed from a zombie; the zombie first becomes a Drought Demon, then a Hou. The Hou can eat true dragons; where the Hou is, Dragon Gods all retreat three leagues and will not go to perform rain.

It was no wonder that this legendary rich place in the Western Regions, the Jiangnan outside the territories of many small Western Region countries, was actually covered by yellow Sand.

Xu Jia chased with his sword to hack at it, and the Golden-haired Hou said: "That's enough, I was just carrying out a mission; if you have the ability, go hack the main culprit!"

Xu Jia hacked again, but it spat out poisonous Sand, poisonous fire, and poisonous smoke.

It was a pity that Xu Jia was also an expert at manipulating such things. With the sword in hand, one produced two, two produced three, three produced ten thousand; ten thousand swords were like rain, shooting down densely.

The Golden-haired Hou could not escape and shouted loudly: "Bodhisattva, save me!"

(End of chapter)