Chapter 140 - 125: Escape

It was as if two white flood dragons were dancing in the sky, entwining towards Lin Fang.

The moment they touched Lin Fang’s arm, the white eyebrows seemed to take root, swiftly climbing towards his shoulder.

Feeling the toughness of the long eyebrows, Lin Fang slightly furrowed his brow; the resilience of these hairs exceeded his expectations, and he found himself unable to escape despite exerting all his strength.

Meanwhile, these white hairs took advantage of the moment to continually coil around his body, limiting his movements.

This significantly shortened the distance between him and the Long-Eyebrowed Arhat.

"Hand over the Buddhist treasure!" bellowed the Long-Eyebrowed Arhat.

"Hmph, you think this will stop me?" Lin Fang snorted coldly as terrifying flames suddenly erupted from his body.

No sooner had the flames appeared than they rapidly spread, and in the blink of an eye, began to burn the white hairs entwined around him.

Upon seeing this, the Long-Eyebrowed Arhat revealed a cold smile; his eyebrows were no ordinary hairs, for they were a magical art he had mastered before his Buddhist practice.

He could hardly remember how many precious materials he had used or the relentless hardships and countless years it had taken to perfect this divine skill.

Since his conversion to the Buddhist Sect, with the blessings of Buddhist law, his eyebrows had become even more miraculous, hardly something mere flames could damage.

However, his cold smile quickly turned to astonishment when, under the onslaught of Lin Fang’s flames, his eyebrows seemed to meet a natural enemy, and in an instant, turned to ash, fluttering in the air.

"Impossible!" the Long-Eyebrowed Arhat exclaimed.

His eyes fixated on the raging flames, he finally realized, those were no ordinary flames but the famed Samadhi True Fire of the Three Realms, known to consume Vital Essence, Qi, and Spirit; claimed to burn anything in existence. His mighty eyebrows stood no chance against such supreme fire.

His curiosity about Lin Fang’s background deepened, such divine skills were not something ordinary individuals could learn.

Yet, after the burn, Lin Fang freed himself from the constraints and suddenly sped up, vanishing from the Long-Eyebrowed Arhat’s sight in less than a moment.

Left with no choice, the Long-Eyebrowed Arhat descended from the clouds, and surveying the densely wooded mountains all around he knew finding Lin Fang, a master of concealment, would be impossible.

"Damn it, hunting all day only to have a goose peck at my eyes," the Long-Eyebrowed Arhat said angrily as he smashed a nearby large tree.

A tree thick enough to require two people to embrace was split in half by his single punch.

Just then, a figure rushed from the distance; it was the Garland Dharma Protector.

"Venerable One, what happened?" Garland asked with concern.

"That monster got away," said the Long-Eyebrowed Arhat, his voice tinged with frustration.

"And the Buddhist treasure?" Garland’s primary concern was the Buddhist treasure taken by Lin Fang, as each treasure was crucial in the battlefield layout, acting as nodes in the Heavenly Net; missing even one would have significant implications.

"The cunning monster, with many tricks, escaped with the Buddhist treasure," the Long-Eyebrowed Arhat said with a hint of lament.

Gālan’s expression became grave in an instant. This was a major issue; without the Buddhist Treasure suppressing it, he estimated that the Heavenly Net would soon encounter problems.

The two raised their heads, only to see that the sky-blocking golden net had developed a gap at some moment, and the entire net had also become dim and lackluster.

"It’s over!" Gālan had only this thought in his mind, as he could already foresee his bleak future.

After all, losing a Buddhist Treasure on the battlefield, thus delaying the Buddhist Sect’s plans, would not bode well for anyone found responsible, let alone for him, who had already been trying to redeem himself through merits for his previous failure in capturing Lin Fang. Now, with multiple sins being charged against him, he feared he might never rise again.

Such an outcome was undoubtedly the cruelest punishment for Gālan, who was eager to advance himself.

However, as things stood, he was powerless and could only sigh in lament, thinking that fortune was not in his favor. He felt that Lin Fang was simply his nemesis—before meeting him, his life had always been smooth sailing, but since their encounter, it had been nothing but misfortune.

"Amitabha Buddha, we failed to safeguard the Buddhist Treasure and are thus guilty. We should hasten back and look after the camp, lest we be taken advantage of by the petty," Long-Eyebrowed Arhat sighed and said, slightly squinting his eyes and seemingly reverting to his previous benevolent appearance. However, Gālan, who had seen him in combat before, was not deceived by this facade.

When the two returned to the camp, they found it in complete disarray and met with countless astonished gazes.

Other camp protectors and Arhats had already rushed over, and upon seeing the state of the battlefield, all fell into silence.

"Long-Eyebrow, now that you’re here, tell us what happened. Why is there a breach in the Heavenly Net? Did something happen to the Buddhist Treasure?" An Arhat riding a fierce, spotted tiger stepped forward from among the crowd and asked authoritatively.

He was the Subduing Tiger Arhat, one of the eighteen Arhats and a co-leader among the many Arhats, also commanding all the frontline forces this time.

"Amitabha Buddha," replied the Long-Eyebrowed Arhat, "Members of the Demon Clan broke into our camp and stole the Buddhist Treasure!" He slowly recounted the recent events.

The crowd immediately became indignant, all shouting to capture the audacious monster responsible.

Subduing Tiger Arhat, however, was pondering the name Lin Fang, mumbling to himself, "Why does this name sound so familiar?"

Gālan quickly responded, "This person is the one who destroyed the Buddhist Treasure in Faming’s hands and also sabotaged Guanyin Bodhisattva’s major plan."

"So, it’s him!" Subduing Tiger Arhat recalled Lin Fang, who was wanted by the Buddhist Sect.

"Having destroyed the Buddhist Treasure twice, such a brutal criminal must be brought to justice. However, our immediate priority should still be to repair the Heavenly Net quickly to prevent further mishaps," Subduing Tiger Arhat set the tone, prompting the Buddhist Sect to immediately start restoring the camp.

Meanwhile, far away on Zhilei Mountain, King Niumo, who was drinking, also spotted the wide gap in the Heavenly Net and stood up to take a closer look.

After confirming it several times, King Niumo laughed heartily and drained the fine wine in his hand.

Hearing the noise, the Jade-faced Princess walked out of the Cave Mansion and saw the scene in the sky, her cherry lips parting in surprise.

"My King, what is this? Did I see wrong?" the face of the Jade-faced Princess lit up with delight as she grabbed King Niumo’s arm and asked eagerly.

"Ha ha, you saw right! The Heavenly Net is broken, and the Buddhist Sect is in for a tough time," King Niumo said with a laugh.

Although the Buddhist Sect could still make repairs, this incident dealt a significant blow to their prestige and greatly boosted the morale of the Demon Clan. On the battlefield, accumulating small victories leads to a major victory.

"I wonder which hero managed to break the Buddhist Sect’s Heavenly Net." The eyes of the Jade-faced Princess sparkled with excitement, seemingly eager to meet this master.