Chapter 478: The Ghost Witch God Worships Souls
Little Thunderclap Temple.
Qin Mu looked around and saw that the layout of the place was mostly similar to Great Thunderclap Temple. After all, Little Thunderclap Temple had only developed for a few hundred years and lacked the foundation of Great Thunderclap Temple, so it could only copy and imitate.
However, the number of demon monks here was not inferior to Great Thunderclap Temple. Little Thunderclap Temple could be said to be the only sacred land in the Great Wasteland, with no competitors. The number of exotic beasts in the Great Wasteland was extremely large, so Little Thunderclap Temple was exceptionally prosperous.
Many demon monks came and went, all neatly dressed and polite to others. Qin Mu also saw a flood dragon coiled within the temple, preaching scriptures and teachings to many demon beasts that had not yet transformed. In other temples, some great demon monks were transmitting scriptures and classics to many demon monks, teaching them divine abilities and imparting methods for refining treasures.
"This place is like a civilization of the demon race."
Qin Mu couldn't help but admire. Regardless of Little Tathagata's style, being able to build Little Thunderclap Temple from nothing to this extent with his own strength was already worthy of respect.
Little Tathagata and Old Tathagata were fellow disciples, about the same age. Old Tathagata's lifespan had ended, and he died in battle at the Divine Severing Mountain Range, but Little Tathagata had attained enlightenment as a great demon and had a very long lifespan.
With him at Little Thunderclap Temple, it grew even more prosperous.
Suddenly, two great demons leaped and flew, clashing in battle. These two great demons sometimes jumped into the clouds and sometimes fought down into the valleys, their attacks extremely fast, their moves fierce and powerful.
"These two senior brothers are not weak in skill." Xu Shenghua looked up and said with surprise.
Qin Mu was overjoyed and shouted loudly, "Big guy!"
One of the great demons was a burly demon monk, full of muscles, with only a few black hairs left on his face and hands that hadn't shed yet. He held a staff and was fighting his opponent. Upon hearing this, he immediately knocked his opponent flying with one strike of his staff, leaped over, and landed with a thunderous crash. He said in surprise, "Little one! Baldy, where?"
His last sentence was asking Little Tathagata. Little Tathagata couldn't help but get angry and slapped him on the head, shouting, "How dare you call your master a baldy? Am I a donkey who attained enlightenment?"
The Demon Ape War Void quickly covered his head and stammered, "Little one, where?"
Little Tathagata was at a loss whether to laugh or cry and said, "I met him at the foot of the mountain, so I invited him here as a guest."
The Demon Ape grinned, revealing his teeth, and was about to hug Qin Mu, but found that Qin Mu was too short. Qin Mu had also grown a lot in height, now on par with the Butcher and only a little shorter than the Pharmacist. However, the Demon Ape himself was extremely burly. Even when he was young, his size had already surpassed the mountain forest.
Now that he had grown up, if he revealed his true form, he probably wouldn't be much smaller than Dragon Qilin.
Now, in his human form, he was nearly two zhang tall.
Suddenly, the great demon he had been fighting with charged over shouting, wanting to continue the fight, and called out, "Senior Brother War Void, let's fight again!"
The Demon Ape was furious, reached out with one hand, and grabbed the demon monk by the neck. The demon monk immediately lost his spirit, his limbs drooping, and his tail behind him also hung down, wagging ingratiatingly.
The Demon Ape put him down and brought him before Qin Mu, saying loudly, "Meat, guest!"
Qin Mu looked at this bald-headed demon monk. The demon monk prostrated on the ground, trembling all over, and quickly shook his head, saying, "Since he's your junior brother, even if you're treating me, I can't eat him."
The Demon Ape scratched his head and looked at Little Tathagata beside him. Little Tathagata's face twitched with fat, barely restraining his anger, and said, "Disciple, your good friend has come, and you want to use your master to treat him?"
The Demon Ape quickly shook his head.
Qin Mu smiled and said, "We haven't seen each other for a long time. You don't have to think about treating me to meat. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. I'll eat vegetarian. Even Tathagata is so powerful, and he can't eat meat."
The Demon Ape was very happy: "Vegetarian, strong!"
Jing Yan asked curiously, "Does Senior Brother War Void always speak so concisely?"
Little Tathagata said, "War Void has great Buddha nature. He cherishes words like gold, and every word has profound meaning. That's why I accepted him as my disciple."
Jing Yan was puzzled. She could see that he cherished words like gold, but she didn't see any great Buddha nature.
Where was the Buddha nature in grabbing a junior brother and offering him as meat to a guest?
The Demon Ape followed them up the mountain. When they reached the summit, Qin Mu looked around and saw that it was similar to the Golden Summit of Great Thunderclap Temple, except there were many stone statues placed here, probably to resist the darkness.
At the top of the mountain, there were many pagodas, with monks practicing here. Most of them had bird heads and human bodies, or beast heads and human bodies, wearing yellow kasayas, with solemn expressions.
These monks should be great demons who had attained enlightenment in the Great Wasteland, practicing here, and should have high status.
Qin Mu's eyelids twitched. The cultivation of these great demons was extremely powerful, and their demonic aura was thick. Some monks had such heavy demonic aura that even he felt a chill in his heart. They were probably at the level of sect masters!
Even more, some had bloodlight permeating their demonic aura, clearly having committed many killings in the past!
"I can't take it anymore! Chanting sutras and eating vegetarian every day, chanting sutras and eating vegetarian, my mouth is so bland it's growing birds. When will this end?"
Suddenly, a yellow-robed monk with a bird head and human body jumped up. This monk tore off his yellow robe with one hand, shook his neck, and countless golden feathers grew wildly from his neck. His body expanded crazily, and from the feathers emerged more bird heads, a total of nine bird heads. When he spread his wings, they covered dozens of acres!
"Back in the day, I roamed the Great Wasteland, eating people and beasts without number. I've long been entangled in karma. What's the point of chanting sutras and eating vegetarian?"
That nine-headed bird, shaped like a peacock, flapped its wings and rose, shouting fiercely, "This karma can't be washed away. I'll go eat to my heart's content!"
Other monks quickly rose into the air. Qin Mu even saw a few monks who were humans, joining forces to suppress the nine-headed peacock, shouting, "Senior Brother Ming, you're being controlled by your inner demon again. Wake up quickly!"
"A thousand years of cultivation, don't let it all be destroyed by a single wrong thought!"
...
The monks worked together and finally suppressed the nine-headed peacock, but this great peacock was still unruly, clamoring to go on a killing spree.
Little Tathagata stepped forward, suddenly tore open his monk's robe, took out a knife, cut a piece of flesh from his chest, and threw it to the nine-headed peacock, shouting, "You want to eat meat? Then eat!"
The nine-headed peacock's ferocious aura spread. It opened its mouth and picked up Little Tathagata's flesh, tilting its head back to swallow it. Its other eight heads shouted, "Tathagata, if you want to satisfy my appetite, one piece of meat isn't enough! My other eight mouths haven't eaten yet. I'm still hungry!"
Little Tathagata cut eight more pieces of flesh from his body and threw them over. The other eight heads of the nine-headed peacock each caught one and swallowed it.
The Demon Ape showed a delighted expression and whispered, "Little one, meat, guest."
Little Tathagata glared at him, and the Demon Ape scratched his head.
Although the nine-headed peacock had eaten the nine pieces of meat, it couldn't digest them. It coughed repeatedly, and after a while, it opened its mouth and spat out a small peacock, then another small peacock.
The nine-headed peacock spat out nine times, expelling nine peacocks from its stomach. These nine small peacocks ran around on the ground, stumbling, and suddenly merged into one, becoming a nine-headed peacock. It sat down on the ground, its tail feathers spreading out like a colorful large fan.
Seeing the small peacock on the ground, the nine-headed peacock was greatly shaken. Its demonic nature immediately dissipated. It transformed back into the bird-headed, human-bodied monk, sat in lotus position, with a Buddha light on his face, and smiled, "Now I understand that all beings are like me. Senior Brother Tathagata, thank you."
"Excellent."
Little Tathagata pulled his monk's robe together and said, "Junior Brother Ming, sitting in meditation on the mountain is not conducive to cultivation. Take your son down the mountain and cultivate in the mortal world for a while."
The nine-headed peacock got up and went down the mountain with the small peacock.
Qin Mu watched the father and son go down the mountain, shook his head, and showed a puzzled expression.
Little Tathagata cut his flesh, the nine-headed peacock ate it, and then spat out a small nine-headed peacock. Why was this small nine-headed peacock the son of the nine-headed peacock?
Was it using the art of creation?
Or was it some other kind of magical technique or divine ability?
Xu Shenghua and Jing Yan were also completely baffled. Xu Shenghua whispered, "The techniques of Little Thunderclap Temple have already diverged from those of Great Thunderclap Temple. They've probably absorbed some strange techniques and wonderful methods from the Great Wasteland."
Qin Mu nodded. Great Thunderclap Temple didn't have such bizarre techniques, while the monks of Little Thunderclap Temple were mostly exotic beasts from the Great Wasteland who had become spirits, naturally possessing extraordinary abilities.
Some powerful exotic beasts had also encountered opportunities in the Great Wasteland, cultivating some strange techniques and wonderful methods. When they joined Little Thunderclap Temple, they brought these techniques with them, making Little Thunderclap Temple's techniques more diverse and peculiar than Great Thunderclap Temple's.
"Three honored guests, please sit and watch us convert the demon god and attain the true fruit."
On the Golden Summit, Little Tathagata invited the three to sit down. The surrounding yellow-robed monks also sat down. Little Tathagata took out a golden bowl, shook it gently, and the golden bowl grew larger and larger. Inside the bowl was an altar, on which a demon god's primordial spirit was trapped, roaring and struggling, pulling the Buddha-light chains taut with a clanging sound.
The demon god on the altar was surrounded by boundless bloodlight, as if in a sea of blood, with countless vengeful spirits coiled around him.
Around them, the yellow-robed monks chanted Buddhist scriptures loudly, the sound of Buddha vibrating, clearly preparing to convert this demon god.
"You blood-drinking beasts think you can refine me?"
That demon god's primordial spirit was none other than the Ghost Witch God. Unharmed by the Buddha sounds, he kept trying to break free from the Buddha-light chains, laughing, "When I break out, I'll turn you all into blood food!"
Qin Mu's expression changed. He quickly stood up and shouted loudly, "Tathagata, this demon god is a ghost clan member, with an extremely powerful soul. He is the most powerful evil god. You cannot convert him! He is using your hands to refine the soul bugs inside him and break free from the seal of the Great Lord of the Golden Palace!"
The monks were at a loss, looking at Little Tathagata, and stopped chanting.
On the altar, the Ghost Witch God suddenly twisted his head around, looking at Qin Mu with a ferocious and vicious expression, "So it's Sect Master Qin. That useless disciple of mine tried several times to worship you to death but never succeeded. Now you come to ruin my good plans again. Truly overestimating yourself!"
Little Tathagata and the group of monks' expressions changed drastically. They quickly stood up, only to see the Ghost Witch God's primordial spirit in the altar open its mouth and spit out one soul bug after another. These soul bugs squeaked strangely, and when they encountered the Buddha light, they melted into wisps of green smoke.
Once these soul bugs were removed, the Ghost Witch God's ferocious aura surged skyward. A terrifying majesty spread, and in an instant, the vegetation on the surrounding mountain peaks withered, all things decayed. Many demon monks with lower cultivation on the mountain fell face-up without even a groan, dying on the spot!
Little Tathagata quickly put away the golden bowl, turning the altar upside down to trap the Ghost Witch God.
Little Tathagata said solemnly, "Junior Brother Po Ying, suppress this demon under the Heavenly Seal Pagoda!"
A yellow-robed monk stepped forward to take the golden bowl, but suddenly the Ghost Witch God's laughter came from inside the bowl: "Your name is Po Ying? Receive my worship!"
The yellow-robed monk fell face-up, his soul scattered!
For a moment, no one dared to step forward.
"Hehehe, I sense that my Book of Life and Death is nearby. You must have obtained my Book of Life and Death and hidden it, right? Truly heaven helps me!"
The Ghost Witch God in the golden bowl laughed loudly. Suddenly, a pagoda shook and shattered. A scroll of scripture flew out from the collapsing pagoda and headed straight for the golden bowl!