Furious, he tore off the bronze mask.
It was a face covered in scars, the left eye nothing but an empty socket, the right eye crimson red.
He opened his mouth, revealing no tongue inside, only a writhing mass of black qi.
With a strange, guttural “heh heh” sound, he lunged at Shen Qingxuan.
Zhengyin had already finished reciting part of the scripture by now.
Golden light erupted around him as he pressed his palms together.
“Amitabha. This humble monk hopes the benefactor will lay down the butcher’s blade.”
Though his voice was not loud, this Buddhist chant struck like a massive bell.
It shook the black-robed man, causing his movements to falter, the black qi around him visibly dissipating somewhat.
Clearly, if this continued, he would undoubtedly be defeated.
The black-robed man did not wish to tangle further; as long as the green hills remain, there will be wood to burn.
He turned, intending to smash through the window and escape.
Unexpectedly, a Coin Sword was aimed directly at his face from outside the window.
Seeing the Coin Sword,
Xiao Qingxuan waved with a smile, “Eldest Senior Brother!”
“Damned Taoist blocking the way!”
The black-robed man forcibly twisted his body, the Coin Sword grazing past his ear.
Using that momentum, he crashed through the window, landing on the wild grass behind the slaughterhouse.
“Where do you think you’re running!”
Eldest Senior Brother tapped his toes and chased after him.
Xiao Qingxuan wanted to rush out after them, but Zhengyin did not move.
“Great Monk, aren’t you going?”
The golden-bodied Zhengyin sat motionless.
He glanced at the black qi that had not yet fully dispersed within the slaughterhouse.
He sighed softly.
“These remnant souls are all pitiful people. If they are not delivered in time, I fear they will scatter to ashes.”
Xiao Tuanzi looked at the remnant souls left after the fight.
Although she also wanted to follow her senior brother, she nodded.
“Great Monk, I’ll help you.”
She pulled seven Yellow Talismans from her bundle.
Dipping her fingertip in Cinnabar, she raised the talisman papers.
Muttering incantations, “Dust to dust, earth to earth, on the path to rebirth, do not look back…”
The talisman papers burned to ash, transforming into specks of golden light.
Those faint shadows gradually stabilized.
They bowed to Shen Qingxuan and Zhengyin, then transformed into white light and dissipated.
On the wild grass, the black-robed man was already entangled by Eldest Senior Brother.
The Coin Sword sometimes transformed into a chain, binding the black-robed man’s limbs.
Other times it scattered into over a hundred coins, raining down like a storm onto the vital points all over his body.
The black-robed man was forced back step by step, the black qi around him growing fainter.
He suddenly threw his head back with a strange laugh and violently tore open his black robe.
The tattoos on his body began to emit a bizarre light.
“Since I cannot leave, then let us perish together.”
He formed hand seals with both hands. Blood-Fiend Qi a hundred times denser than before surged skyward from the field.
It actually dyed the surrounding grass and trees black.
Eldest Senior Brother’s expression changed: “Not good, he’s going to self-destruct!”
If this Blood-Fiend Qi exploded, all living beings within ten li would likely be corrupted, turned into walking corpses.
He hastily summoned the Bagua Mirror at his waist; its light formed a shield in front of him.
Xiao Qingxuan, riding the white tiger, had actually chased out as well.
“Eldest Senior Brother, use this!” She threw the bronze dagger in her hand over.
Eldest Senior Brother caught the dagger.
Merging the dagger with the Coin Sword into one, he shouted: “Taishang Laojun, teach me to slay ghosts, grant me divine power… Heaven and Earth are boundless, annihilate evil!”
Golden and silver light intertwined into a giant net, sweeping toward the black-robed man.
The Blood-Fiend Qi collided with the light net, emitting a sizzling sound, rapidly melting like ice and snow meeting the sun.
Despair flashed in the black-robed man’s eyes; he hadn’t expected this group to possess such a magical instrument.
Just as the light net was about to envelop him, he suddenly pulled a porcelain bottle from his robe.
Smashing it on the ground, it transformed into a giant bat, and he tried to flee.
It turned out to be a wicked cult practicing evil arts.
【Trying to escape?】
Lingfeng leaped up, biting onto the bat’s wing and dragging it straight down.
Xiaobai had long been waiting on the ground. Seeing the bat fall,
he pounced fiercely, a white tiger phantom flashing as he pinned it firmly to the ground.
Eldest Senior Brother rushed forward and stepped on it.
The Coin Sword pressed against the bat: “Surrender now!”
The bat’s head tilted to the side—it had already breathed its last.
Zhengyin also caught up by then. Seeing the corpse on the ground, he chanted a Buddhist invocation.
“Amitabha, worldly ties are severed. So be it, this can be considered liberation.”
Eldest Senior Brother saw him.
He respectfully bowed: “Disciple of the Zhengyi Sect, Chen Qinghe, thanks the master for assisting my junior sister.”
Zhengyin returned the courtesy: “This humble monk is Zhengyin. I share a karmic connection with the young fellow Daoist, so there is no need for such politeness. Allow this monk to send this person on their final journey.”
With that, he took out a string of prayer beads from his sleeve, sat cross-legged on the ground, and recited the Rebirth Mantra.
After finishing, he sighed softly.
“Cultivation is not easy. May you be reborn as a good person in your next life.”
A gust of wind blew, and the corpse turned into black ash.
Only the small bronze mask remained.
Eldest Senior Brother picked up the mask and examined the characters “Qingyun” inscribed on the inside.
“This mask seems to have belonged to the abbot of Qingyun Temple from years ago. How did it end up in his hands?”
Zhengyin pressed his palms together.
“Amitabha. Fellow Daoist Chen, could you entrust this mask to this humble monk?”
Only then did Eldest Senior Brother look up to examine this person.
He wore sea-blue monastic robes and was not particularly old.
Yet earlier, he had manifested the Bodhisattva Golden Body—likely a genius of the Buddhist sect.
Moreover, he had helped his junior sister, showing he was a truly virtuous person.
Such a person naturally deserved friendship.
So he smiled and bowed with clasped hands.
“Qingyun Temple is originally a Buddhist institution, so it is only right to return it to the master.”
After speaking, he handed the bronze mask to Zhengyin.
Zhengyin accepted the mask and bowed again to Xiao Qingxuan.
“Since the young friend’s senior brother has arrived, this humble monk should return to the temple. Young friend, until we meet again.”
“Goodbye, Great Monk.”
Xiao Qingxuan, holding Eldest Senior Brother’s hand, waved to Zhengyin.
Watching him turn to leave, she suddenly remembered.
“Oh, your prayer beads!”
Zhengyin didn’t look back: “They are a gift for you, young friend. We will meet again.”
In high spirits, Zhengyin walked away singing.
“Across ten thousand miles of yellow sand, no monk is seen; fierce winds and torrential rains obscure the Confucian scholar. The three teachings originally…”
Eldest Senior Brother crouched down and wiped Xiao Tuanzi’s cheeks.
“Little junior sister, it’s only been a day—how did you get so bruised? If you couldn’t win, why not call for your senior brother?”
Mentioning this, Xiao Tuanzi looked unhappy.
“It’s not that I couldn’t win—I was going easy on her.”
Eldest Senior Brother smiled and pinched Xiao Tuanzi’s round cheek.
“Yes, yes, my little junior sister is the strongest. Who were you going easy on?”
Xiao Tuanzi huffed angrily.
“It was that fake child.”
Eldest Senior Brother was puzzled.
“Fake child? What are you talking about? By the way, weren’t you going down the mountain to find your family? How did you end up dealing with all this?”
Xiao Tuanzi told Eldest Senior Brother about meeting her birth parents yesterday.
Eldest Senior Brother was so angry he flung the tissue aside.
“How outrageous! To indulge a fake daughter in bullying their real daughter.”
He stood up and pulled Xiao Tuanzi along.
“Do they truly think Spirit Mountain has no one? Come, Eldest Senior Brother will help you teach them a lesson.”