Chapter 135 - 120: Night Raid

King Niumo, seeing the expression of the Jade-faced Princess, knew of her intelligence and thus spoke solemnly, "Since you’ve figured it out, don’t publicize it. His strength is no less than mine; if he were to get angry and make a move on you because of this, it wouldn’t be good."

Jade-faced Princess replied, "That shouldn’t happen. I have no grievances with him, and to say that he is on par with Your Majesty might be an overstatement, right?"

"Who knows? With cultivators like him, nobody is clear on what peculiar temperaments they might have. Moreover, he possesses the Dharma Technique that silently vanishes the Buddhist soldiers. If you offend him, I’m afraid it would be hard to find peace," said King Niumo solemnly.

If it had been in the past, such a person would only make him cautious. Now, however, he hoped that Lin Fang would become as strong as possible. Only in this way could he possibly find a glimmer of survival.

Upon hearing this, an image flashed through the mind of Jade-faced Princess—she was savoring delicious food when suddenly someone appeared, and then she lost her life, causing her to shudder uncontrollably.

In her heart, she even thought of keeping these secrets buried deep within her.

Far away on Mount Ling, the Buddha guarding the Eight Treasures Merit Pool sharply sensed something amiss. He saw the water level in the pool drop by three inches and was suddenly startled, rising from the Lotus Platform.

He called in a young novice monk and said, "Go ask the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas if any significant events have occurred recently in the Buddhist Sect."

In no time, the young novice monk returned and reported, "Revered Buddha, recently Revered Maitreya Buddha led a group to purge the Great Sage Pingtian of Zhilei Mountain."

"So it is. It seems there have been quite a few casualties among the Buddhist soldiers lately," Buddha muttered to himself.

The Buddha began to divine, but he only felt the secrets of heaven were chaotic and came up empty-handed. Knowing it was probably due to the hostility and deathly energies from the battle, he was unable to divine the secrets of heaven and had to give up.

Soon, news from the front lines came, and an Arhat was ordered to come and lead more Buddhist Soldiers.

"It must be the Demon-Subduing Arhat, probably here at the Eight Treasures Merit Pool due to the frontlines," the Buddha said with a smile.

"Not hiding anything, Venerable One, a Mysterious Person has appeared on the frontlines who targets Buddhist soldiers. We had to come here to resurrect the Buddhist Soldiers, both to support the frontlines and to uncover the full story, tracking down the murderer," the Arhat said respectfully.

"That is to be expected."

The Buddha chuckled softly, then formed a Dharma symbol. Brilliant golden light encompassed the Eight Treasures Merit Pool, causing the entire pool to be enveloped in Buddha’s Light, with the surface of the water shimmering.

However, after a long while, the surface remained calm, and no Buddhist Soldiers emerged from beneath the water.

Suddenly, Buddha’s expression changed as he declared, "This is indeed strange!"

Pursing his fingers, he began to divine again, but soon furrowed his brow.

His expression did not go unnoticed by the Demon-Subduing Arhat, who naturally guessed that something unexpected had occurred and promptly asked anxiously, "Venerable One, is there a problem?"

"It is indeed bizarre and perplexing. There are no spirits of these Buddhist Soldiers in the Merit Pool; they are not dead at all!" Buddha declared firmly.

The mechanism of the Eight Treasures Merit Pool was fundamental to the Buddhist Sect. As long as Buddhist soldiers died, their souls would return to the Merit Pool under the effect of the Power of Laws, using the Power of Faith to rebuild their physical bodies.

This Power of Laws was superior to all forces. Unless it was one of the few top powers in the Three Realms, no one could stop this process.

Now that the souls have not returned, it could only mean that these Buddhist Soldiers are still alive in the world.

"But that’s not right, either. These Buddhist Soldiers are fiercely loyal to the Buddhist Sect. If there had been an incident, they would have definitely chosen to commit suicide and resurrect at once to relay the intelligence," the Arhat said with a frown.

Yet the current situation indicated that not a single Buddhist Soldier had chosen suicide, an occurrence that had never happened before.

"Do not rush, Buddhist Soldiers require the supplement of the Power of Faith for maintenance. Even if someone has taken control over them, as time goes by and the Power of Faith diminishes, they will still automatically return to the Merit-Virtue Pond. Let us wait patiently," Buddha said softly.

However, he no longer felt as certain as before inside his heart.

Seeing this, the Arhat knew something was amiss and hastily excused himself to spread the word, causing an uproar within the Buddhist Sect.

For many years, the undying Buddhist Soldiers in the Merit-Virtue Pond had been their most reliable arm in expanding their influence, and there had never been any incidents. Unexpectedly, this time there was a change.

Soon, an order from Mount Ling reached the frontlines, instructing everyone to be careful not to send any more Buddhist Soldiers and to wait for news of the resurrected Buddhist Soldiers.

This back and forth exchange led the border to fall into a strange state of peace.

The Buddhist Sect did not venture out, but the Demon Clan was unwilling to give up this great opportunity. Even though it was unclear who exactly was so capable, the outcome clearly showed that this Mysterious Person was on their side.

This made many Demon Kings restless inside, given that they had been suppressed for so long and were already seething with rage, thus they unanimously chose to launch a surprise attack on the camp.

At this time, Lin Fang had transformed into a bird and blended into the crowd, while below, the Demon King preparing the surprise attack was coincidentally the previously arrogant Tiger King.

However, he was no longer the same as before; the war had made him grow rapidly, shedding his naïveté and arrogance to truly mature.

A deep scar now marked his once fierce face, a remnant from a previous fight with a Buddhist Arhat, an encounter that had nearly sent him to the Underworld. Had it not been for Hu Er’s intervention, he would have long been a dead tiger.

Since then, his temperament had become more steady, no longer arrogant as before, but his hatred towards the Buddhist Sect had deepened.

With Lin Fang’s intervention and the Buddhist Sect switching to a defensive stance, he quickly sensed the weakness of the Buddhist Sect.

After all, the army of the Buddhist Sect consisted of the unending, undying Buddhist Soldiers, but now these soldiers had been reduced to one-tenth under Lin Fang’s assault, presenting an excellent opportunity for a surprise attack. He decided instantly to raid the Buddhist Sect’s camp tonight, hoping to destroy the Buddhist Treasure and break through their net.

With his followers in tow, they quietly hid above the cliff. The Tiger King noticed that the Buddhist Sect’s manpower was indeed stretched thin; previously, this place would have been guarded by a squad of Buddhist Soldiers, but now it was completely unguarded.

"Fortune truly favors me!" The Tiger King chuckled silently, holding his breath, quietly waiting for nightfall.

Lin Fang, transformed as a bird, flew over their heads and involuntarily smiled upon seeing this scene—the Monsters indeed had some brains. If the Buddhist Sect was not careful, it might suffer a loss.

Silently landing on a large tree outside the Buddhist camp, the camp lay fully visible. At that moment, Lin Fang even spotted a familiar face, Galan, who had previously led troops to besiege him.

"Haha, what a narrow road for enemies. This time, I really must get my revenge," Lin Fang thought inwardly.

At this moment, Galan’s face was full of worries. As the saying goes, even a good cook can’t prepare a meal without rice; now his Buddhist Soldiers were few and far between, leaving many plans unfeasible.