novelapdf Chapter 131 Black Mountain Buddha Lamp Fire
Chapter 131 Black Mountain Buddha Lamp Fire
Jiang Mu held her breath and sank to the bottom of the pool. Through the misty water and shimmering waves, she could vaguely hear the sounds outside.
"You may all step back."
His voice was cool yet languidly magnetic, carrying an air of authority.
It was that tree demon grandmother.
With the blessing of the Earthly Star Observation Divine Power, the mist on the water surface gradually thinned in Jiang Mu's eyes.
A woman dressed in a long, black, floor-length dress walked slowly towards them.
She still looked like a woman in her thirties, with her hair piled high and adorned with several blood-red hairpins. Her face was extremely alluring, and her eyes and brows held a natural, cold charm.
Beside her, Yu Xiaoqian was looking down.
He looked timid and like he had done something wrong and was waiting to be punished.
"Grandma...I'm sorry."
Yu Xiaoqian's voice trembled, "It's my fault for being useless. I failed to capture that scholar and let you down."
Si Rumeng didn't scold her; she merely glanced at her indifferently and opened her arms.
"Fine, if they ran away, they ran away. Help me undress."
Yu Xiaoqian felt as if she had been granted a pardon and quickly and obediently stepped forward.
A long black dress slid down like water, revealing a mature and voluptuous figure. Her skin glowed with a radiant sheen in the moisture, her waist was slender, her hips were full, and her legs were long and straight.
The woman lifted her small feet, her round, jade-like toes gently touching the water's surface, creating ripples.
He then slowly stepped into the pool.
The pool water crept up her inch by inch, first kissing her firm calves, then covering her rounded thighs, and finally submerging her waist...
With a gentle lift, the arc was drawn into the palm of the hand.
She leaned lazily against the pool wall, letting her dark hair spread out on the water like ink algae.
Jiang Mu sank to the bottom of the water, looking at the naked body through the shimmering waves, feeling extremely embarrassed.
What a coincidence, having to take a bath at this exact moment.
Just then, a jade pendant slipped from Si Rumeng's underwear and fell into the water with a "plop".
Jiang Mu, with her sharp eyes, noticed three small seal characters engraved on it.
Yi Si Ru Meng.
So this is the Tree Demon Granny's real name?
It does sound quite elegant.
A slender hand reached into the water and scooped up the jade pendant.
Looking at the fair wrist so close to his face, Jiang Mu thought to himself, "This should be her true form. Although her aura is almost identical to that of her clone, the profound sense of origin she exudes cannot be faked."
"This is the tree spirit's true form, but its condition is off."
Ji Hongyuan's voice echoed in his mind, tinged with amusement.
"She suffered severe internal injuries, and there was also an external force suppressing her cultivation. It's unclear whether she actively suppressed it to heal her injuries or if someone placed a restriction on it."
"If someone has placed a restriction on me, wouldn't that give me a chance to launch a sneak attack?"
A cold glint flashed in Jiang Mu's eyes.
"Don't rush. If it's the latter, she'll be easy to kill. If it's the former, it means she can unleash a thunderous attack at any time. Do you want to gamble with your life?" Ji Hongyuan said.
Jiang Mu felt a chill run down her spine.
After hesitating for a while, he finally gave up the idea of taking action and continued to be his stubborn rock at the bottom of the water.
On the water's surface, Si Rumeng scooped up a handful of water and poured it onto Ruyu's shoulders, the water droplets rolling down her collarbone and undulating with her movements.
She turned her head to look at Yu Xiaoqian on the shore:
"You get down too."
Yu Xiaoqian removed her gauze dress, revealing a youthful and tender body.
If Si Rumeng is a ripe peach, then Yu Xiaoqian is a white pear blossom just beginning to bloom on the branch.
Its youthful innocence is imbued with a pure and beautiful quality.
She got into the water, swam up behind Si Rumeng, and carefully wiped her back with a towel, muttering apologies. Si Rumeng snorted coldly, her phoenix eyes narrowing slightly:
"Don't you know what kind of person you are, girl?"
I usually send the other maids to seduce men, but I never let you do it. Do you know why?
Yu Xiaoqian paused, then whispered:
"Because...because I'm too stupid to learn those seductive techniques."
"Stupid? There are plenty of stupid people in this world."
Si Rumeng said calmly, a hint of helplessness in her voice, "It's because you're too naive and kind."
"good?"
Yu Xiaoqian was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly explained, "Grandma, I'm a vengeful ghost now, I'm very fierce! I wanted to capture that scholar to help you recover, really!"
Si Rumeng turned around, looking at her with a half-smile: "If you really catch him, can you bring yourself to kill him?"
Yu Xiaoqian nodded vigorously: "Definitely!"
But facing Si Rumeng's eyes, which seemed to see right through people, her voice grew softer and softer, and finally she lowered her head and murmured:
"I think... I probably will."
"Heh."
Si Rumeng chuckled softly, leaning back against the pool wall, her tone unusually gentle.
"Humans and ghosts are different. The more handsome a man is, the more cunning and cruel he is. If you, with your temperament, were to fall in love, you would only end up with your soul scattered."
Yu Xiaoqian blushed at what she was told, lowered her head guiltily, and dared not utter a word.
The image of the foolish scholar collapsing from poison while trying to save her involuntarily flashed through her mind.
Just then, Yu Xiaoqian suddenly exclaimed, pointing at Si Rumeng's hair:
"Grandma! Your hair..."
Jiang Mu stared intently.
Before the naked eye, Si Rumeng's once jet-black hair began to turn white inch by inch, until in the blink of an eye it was covered in frost. Yet her face remained radiant, her skin as white as snow.
This head of white hair did not make her look old; on the contrary, it added to her eerie and tragic beauty.
Like a witch on a snow-capped mountain.
Si Rumeng pulled out a strand of white hair, her expression somewhat dazed, then gave a bitter smile: "It's nothing, it's just that the incense offerings for this month were interrupted, causing a backlash."
She sighed, a hint of hatred flashing in her eyes:
"Black Mountain requires us to offer twenty fresh hearts every month; if we fail to do so, the power of the incense offerings will weaken."
After a while, no one dared to go to Meiruo Temple anymore, so we had no choice but to go to other places to find those damned people...
Jiang Mu, listening from underwater, was deeply shaken.
Montenegro?
So this tree demon grandma has a master behind her?
Judging from this, the mysterious person called "Black Mountain" not only possesses terrifying cultivation, but can even manipulate the power of incense to control these demons and ghosts. Yu Xiaoqian bit her lip, tears welling in her eyes: "It's all my fault for delaying Grandma's cultivation..."
"Twenty hearts are easy to find."
Si Rumeng stared at the water, her eyes cold.
"The real challenge is how we can truly break free. Being controlled by others our whole lives will inevitably lead to a bad end. My sister and I have helped the villagers and received offerings from them, so we know best how powerful this thing is..."
"Grandma, who exactly is Heishan?"
As Yu Xiaoqian tenderly combed her white hair, she asked, "Aren't those who receive incense offerings gods? Why do they still make us harm people and steal their hearts?"
Si Rumeng sneered repeatedly:
"Gods? They're just evil spirits in human skin!"
This person is of extremely high status and enjoys great popularity. He was able to help you, a group of lonely ghosts, to condense your true forms. His abilities are extraordinary.
Even more terrifying, he ordered us to place the heart, the sacrificed blood, in the very spot where incense was offered. This entanglement of the sacred body with defilement would clearly incur divine punishment, yet he seemed utterly unconcerned, and we have no idea what he truly intends to achieve.
Jiang Mu felt a chill run down her spine.
Enjoying incense offerings while piling up bloody hearts under the idol?
What kind of twisted evil god is this?
Yu Xiaoqian's eyes reddened, and she said in a tearful voice:
"Grandma, although you often scold us, I know that you are actually protecting us."
Moreover... and most of those killed were wicked people with evil intentions, and the other half were actually killed by other wild demons in the mountains. But those people from the Demon Slayer Division insist on blaming us for it all.
I think they're all in cahoots!
Si Rumeng remained silent for a long time, then sighed softly and stood up from the water.
Glistening water droplets slid down her perfect curves.
"Let's go prepare the offerings. No matter what, let's get through this month first."
After the two men dressed and left, the hall returned to silence.
Jiang Mu slowly emerged from the water, wiped the water droplets from her face, and looked at him with a complicated expression.
The conversation between the two demons overturned his previous understanding.
If one is forced into it, or even if one is doing good and punishing evil to some extent, then how can one bring oneself to strike with that knife?
"In this world, how come even demons are so powerless?"
Jiang Mu remained silent.
He remembered what Ling Ye had once said.
If you turn yourself into a demon, you'll feel no guilt.
But now it seems that some demons live more like humans than humans do.
"Ji Hongyuan,"
Jiang Mu asked in his mind, "What will happen to Yu Xiaoqian and the others if they lose the power of incense offerings?"
Ji Hongyuan's languid voice rang out:
"The true forms of these female ghosts are entirely maintained by the special power of incense offerings. Once the incense offerings are cut off, their souls will lose their support and quickly dissipate."
However, the tree demon granny won't die. Without the incense's suppression, she might actually break free of the seal, regain her true strength, and revert to being the thousand-year-old tree demon who slaughtered everyone in her path.
Jiang Mu sighed.
He simply couldn't bring himself to harm Yu Xiaoqian, that silly female ghost.
"Forget it, let's take it one step at a time and go check out that key point of the formation first."
He dived back into the water and retrieved the purple crystal that was maintaining the barrier's operation.
As the crystal was removed, the flow of spiritual energy in the hall seemed to pause for a moment.
Jiang Mu didn't linger. Using Shadow Teleportation, he stealthily made his way back to the small house that had been sealed off by the barrier.
Sure enough, that invisible barrier had disappeared.
The doors and windows of the cabin were covered with thick black cloth, and a rusty padlock hung on the door.
Jiang Mu didn't break the door lock; instead, he teleported through the wall and entered.
The room was not as dark and gloomy as he had imagined; on the contrary, it was as bright as day.
The walls were lit with lamps that burned continuously.
In the center of the house, there is a stone that resembles an altar.
Above the stone,
A simple and ancient bronze Buddhist lamp is suspended in the air.
The lamp wick burned with a pure white flame, radiating a sacred warmth and a majestic brilliance. Faintly, a solemn human figure seemed to be projected above the flame.
They are receiving a kind of worship.
However, around this sacred Buddha lamp were placed porcelain plates.
On the plate, there are hearts.
Some are bright red.
Some of them were already shriveled and rotten.
Wisps of dark red blood energy drifted from his heart, coiling around the sacred Buddhist lamp, and were greedily devoured by the white flames.
Purity and bloodshed.
Compassion and cruelty.
At this moment, an eeriness was intertwined.
Jiang Mu stood before the altar, his gaze fixed on the suspended bronze Buddha lamp:
"This is the source of their control..."
He reached out his hand, his fingertips covered with a faint layer of starlight, and carefully probed towards the Buddha lamp.
"Buzz!"
The moment the fingertip touched the outer edge of the pure white flame by three inches, the originally calm and gentle white flame swelled.
Then I felt a flexible and strange sticky force suddenly emerge.
It wasn't a forceful rejection, but rather like sinking into some kind of invisible quagmire.
Jiang Mu's fingers were tightly entangled, unable to move forward or backward.
A surge of righteous energy flowed upwards from his fingertips, making his meridians numb and nearly causing him to vomit blood.
His expression changed slightly, and his internal stellar energy surged as he forcefully pulled his finger back.
Even so, a chilling sensation lingered on my fingertips, as if they had been licked by a venomous snake.
"What the hell is this thing?"
Jiang Mu shook his hand, his brows furrowed.
"This is... a Buddha's lamp flame?!"
A surprised voice echoed in his mind.
Immediately afterwards, a red shadow flashed, and Ji Hongyuan's graceful figure appeared out of thin air.
The woman, unusually, lost her languid and alluring demeanor; her phoenix eyes were wide open, her red lips slightly parted, and her face was filled with disbelief.
"Buddha's lamp light?"
Jiang Mu looked at her, "What's that?"
Ji Hongyuan floated slowly around the altar once, her red lips slightly parted:
Between heaven and earth, the five elements flow and give rise to the sixty Jiazi Na Yin. Each Na Yin corresponds to a divine object of heaven and earth, which is also known as the "life-bound object".
For example, the Water Master you met before, if she wanted to advance her Great Dao and forge her own Dao Palace, she would need to find divine objects like "Great Sea Water".
This "Buddha's Lamp Fire" is a divine object belonging to the "Jia Chen" and "Yi Si" years in the sixty-year cycle of the Chinese calendar!
She pointed to the pale flame and explained:
"The so-called Buddha lamp fire is the clear light of a golden cup and the radiant glow of jade, illuminating places where the sun and moon do not shine, and brightening the world before it is fully lit."
It should have been an extremely yang and sacred object, capable of dispelling all falsehoods and purifying evil.
In Buddhism, only highly accomplished monks who chant scriptures day and night and receive offerings from the masses for a hundred years are likely to produce a single flame. But now, the flame in this lamp has changed.
The so-called "Buddha's fire" is ignited by the firewood of the hearts of living beings and the oil of the vows of all sentient beings.
Ji Hongyuan crossed her arms and leaned against the altar, her voluptuous figure resting on her chest. Her long legs, clad in black stockings, were crossed, and her high heels lightly touched the ground. "This Black Mountain, what a grand scheme, what a vicious heart."
Jiang Mu's heart sank upon hearing this.
"Possessing a divine artifact of this caliber means..."
Jiang Mu narrowed his eyes and slowly uttered a few words, "This person is at least an eighth-realm expert?"
Only those at the eighth realm or above begin to refine their Dao foundation and require such a divine object.
"Eight Realms?"
Ji Hongyuan chuckled and shook her head.
"Little guy, you underestimate the value of this 'Buddha's Lamp Fire'."
To be able to set up such a grand formation here, using incense and blood sacrifice to nourish this flame simultaneously, this person's ambition and ruthlessness far exceed your imagination.
This is not just about condensing the Dao foundation; it's more like refining an "external avatar," or plotting some kind of heaven-defying evil technique. She paused, her gaze sharpening like a knife: "Moreover, I can tell you for sure."
The lamp before me is not the true form of the [Buddha's Lamp]!
"Not the real person?" Jiang Mu was taken aback.
Damn it, you need to create clones for a single magic weapon?
"right."
Ji Hongyuan nodded affirmatively.
"The true sixty-year cycle divine artifact possesses immense power. Although this flame is malevolent, it is not strong enough."
It's more like a spark.
Or rather, it is a wisp of flame that separated from the original body.
That guy called "Black Mountain" placed this wisp of flame here to use it as a collector.
Once this wisp of flame has absorbed enough energy and grown to a certain size, he will retract it and merge it into his main body.
Jiang Mu understood instantly.
Isn't this just a pyramid scheme with "downlines"?
Or rather, they were put out to collect rent.
The "Black Mountain," whose true form is nowhere to be found, has set up these altars in various places, using the flames of its clones to draw nourishment.
"A clever tactic, a clever scheme."
Jiang Mu sneered repeatedly, "He acts like a prostitute on one hand and a virtuous woman on the other. He receives offerings from the people while also wanting to devour their hearts and livers. This Heishan is truly a great philanthropist."
But who exactly is this Black Mountain?
In real life, he must be a very popular person.
"What do we do now?"
Jiang Mu looked at the lamp. "Since this thing is used to collect energy, it must be connected to that Black Mountain's mind. If I forcibly destroy it, it will definitely alert him."
Ji Hongyuan shrugged, spread her hands, and looked helpless:
"Don't look at me. I am now a ghost cultivator, and I am most afraid of things that are both extremely yang and extremely evil."
If I were to touch it, this clone would likely be severely injured on the spot.
As for you...
With your meager skills, you certainly can't cut it with a knife; this flame is formless and intangible, you can't cut it. Trying to extinguish it with stellar power is futile; your stellar power level is insufficient, you'll only become its fuel.
"So, are we just going to watch like this?"
Jiang Mu was unwilling to accept this.
He stared at the pale white flame tinged with blood, and suddenly a flash of inspiration struck him.
Damn it, how could I forget about Daddy?!
He tried to bring his hand closer, directly communicating with the dormant magic channel deep within his sea of consciousness.
Soon, a surge of pure, jet-black demonic energy rushed out from the meridians of Jiang Mu's arm, covering his entire palm, and then pressed onto the bronze Buddhist lamp.
Demonic energy began to flow continuously into the Buddha lamp.
The pure white flame on the wick suddenly surged, instantly transforming into a twisted and ferocious human face, emitting a silent roar and shriek, attempting to force back the invading black demonic energy.
However, even more black demonic energy surged out, enveloping the fiery human face.
Devour!
A frenzied devouring!
Whether you're a divine object or demonic fire, once you're in my pot, you're my dish!
The blood energy emanating from the heart, having lost its traction, began to scatter and wander aimlessly throughout the room.
The marks that originally belonged to the original owner on the Buddha lamp were gradually worn away.
Ji Hongyuan was dumbfounded.
What did that kid do?!
As the Buddha lamps were cleansed, the incense power that enveloped the entire valley and controlled all demons and ghosts began to fluctuate violently.
It did not dissipate.
It seems they are being given a new owner.
The Tree Demon Granny immediately sensed something was wrong.
Seize it immediately!