vncnus Chapter 23 A New World, The Great Black Buddha Mother
Chapter 23 A New World, The Great Black Buddha Mother
Wow!
Then another dizzying sensation struck.
The ancient temple remains the same, with golden light shimmering on the incense table, and the phantom of the Heavenly Decree slowly coalescing.
A yellow and white figure then appeared.
"Phew, I'm finally back."
His first reaction after landing was not to look around, but to look down and examine his body and hands.
"Fortunately, my physical body is still intact."
Before his return, his condition was extremely dangerous.
The body and soul are separated; the body hides in the shadows, while the soul battles the Ghost King Li Cheng outside. If the soul eventually returns, but the body remains in that world, then things will get really interesting.
He couldn't accept becoming one of those immortal beings who were nothing but a soul.
"I am practicing the cultivation of both body and mind, not abandoning my physical body for peace and quiet."
Huang Bai sat cross-legged and first calmed his mind.
His goal was never to become a ghost immortal with a lifespan of several hundred years, but to follow the path of Lü Dongbin, Yang Jian, and Nezha. If he were to truly lose his physical body, the difficulty of ascending to higher realms would only increase.
After settling down, Huang Bai slowly recalled the battle of "The First Commandment".
Thinking about it now, I still feel a bit scared.
Fortunately, the ghosts in that world didn't have any outrageous abilities. Although possession was disgusting, once possessed, they were still afraid of guns and cannons; their weaknesses were too obvious.
To be honest, those things were less like vengeful ghosts and more like some kind of monstrous plague that would crawl into people.
That is why Huang Bai dared to leave his body.
However, this style of play cannot be copied in every world.
"In the future, when you encounter places with real magic, your soul must not fly around carelessly."
"If I run into some old geezer and he arrests me, I won't even have time to cry."
Ultimately, he can't really be considered a proper high-level cultivator yet. Reaching this point is mostly due to his external alchemy and corpse-dissolving techniques.
When the soul leaves the body, even if it's not a master who intervenes, if a wild dog were to gnaw on his physical body and leave him like Tieguai Li (a character from Journey to the West), it would be enough to make him feel nauseous for the rest of his life.
Thinking about this, Huang Bai was actually glad that he hadn't made any mistakes on this trip.
"However, the gains were indeed substantial."
Huang Chuping's four secret incantations can be considered true magic. In a horror world, they would definitely be sufficient.
As Huang Bai was thinking, he suddenly raised an eyebrow.
"Um?"
He noticed other changes within his body.
With a spit, an inner core slowly flew out.
This time, however, the inner core was no longer its original dark gold color.
The pill was entirely dark green, with dark red lines floating on its surface, resembling blood vessels or a twisted ghost face, making it extremely sinister.
Huang Bai stared at it for a moment, then smiled.
"So they swallowed the Ghost King's stuff too."
[Yaksha Inner Core]: Formed by absorbing the power of vengeful spirits. Activating this core can summon yaksha evil spirits, which will remain in the world for half an hour.
Huang Bai tossed the inner elixir into the air.
The void rippled slightly, like a circle of ripples on the surface of water.
Wow!
The next moment, an eight-foot-tall demon knelt before him.
Indigo skin, bulging muscles, a blue face with fangs, fiery red hair, and eerie green pupils. Just his kneeling there seemed to lower the temperature in the temple.
"Greetings, Lord."
Huang Bai walked around it twice, looking it up and down, and seemed fairly satisfied.
"Not bad, we've gained another guardian soldier."
The Maoshan lineage raises corpses, while folk lineages raise rampant ghosts. It's common for cultivators to have a protector by their side. Now, I've filled that gap myself.
However, this demon is really not very pleasing to the eye.
Huang Bai glanced at it twice and then, too lazy to look any longer, waved it away and sent it to the side.
"It's a bit ugly, but we'll make do with it."
He looked up at the empty ancient temple and couldn't help but sigh.
"This godforsaken place again."
The ancient temple was terribly deserted; apart from the incense table, the statues of gods, and this ugly thing, there wasn't a single person to talk to.
Huang Bai suddenly had an idea.
"I should try to raise a female ghost in the future. At least she'll be more pleasing to the eye and can help relieve boredom."
He chuckled as soon as he said it.
After an unknown amount of time, the Heavenly Dao talisman on the incense table once again lit up with golden light.
A new line of text slowly appeared.
[Proceed to the "Curse" and slay the Great Black Buddha Mother.]
"The Great Black Buddha Mother..."
Huang Bai stared at the line of text, his smile slowly fading.
He knew about the movie "The Curse".
In short, it's about Li Ruonan constantly investigating the truth about the Great Black Buddha Mother in order to save her daughter.
While she investigated, she acted extremely selfishly. Knowing the curse would spread, she still shifted the blame everywhere, dragging others down with her. To put it bluntly, she used others as scapegoats for her own benefit.
Huang Bai didn't care whether such a person lived or died.
The Heavenly Decree ordered him to kill the Great Black Buddha Mother, not to act as a nanny to save that mother and daughter.
What Huang Bai truly cared about was the "Great Black Buddha Mother" herself.
"This thing is probably not easy to touch."
According to the setting of "The Curse", the Great Black Buddha Mother can no longer be considered an ordinary ghost or monster, but is closer to a kind of evil god.
The ancestors of Chenjia Village used children's flesh and blood as offerings, and used the power of the Buddha Mother to perform evil magic to seek benefits. In the end, they were bitten by the Buddha Mother's curse and could not get rid of it for generations.
That's how the Chen family lineage came about.
To put it bluntly, this is using living people to nourish a god. And what's produced is an evil god.
This kind of thing is on a completely different level from the possessing ghosts in "The First Commandment".
No matter how fierce a ghost is, it is still a ghost after all.
The Great Black Buddha Mother, however, has already been associated with "god".
What's more troublesome is that the curse of this thing spreads through cognition and incantations. As long as you touch it, recite it, or see it, you're often already in trouble.
"Fire Buddha Cultivation One, Mind Samu..."
Huang Bai read it aloud in a low voice.
"The name sounds like something from esoteric Buddhism."
These kinds of evil gods aren't necessarily susceptible to the instant kill effect of the Sun Curse.
It can cause damage, but it may not necessarily hurt the root cause.
As for the method of the soul leaving the body, we must not act recklessly this time.
When dealing with ordinary ghosts, having the soul separated from the body is an advantage. But if you really encounter this kind of evil god, you might lose your soul if you're not careful, and then it won't be as simple as just suffering a little loss.
Thinking about this, Huang Bai calmed down a bit.
The bad news is, this thing is tough to deal with.
The good news is that if there are evil gods, there are likely righteous gods and lineages that can suppress them.
This is something that can be taken advantage of.
"Let's go take a look first."
Huang Bai swallowed the inner core in one gulp, picked up the magic sword, and casually packed a few other things.
The Heavenly Decree flashed with golden light, and he instantly vanished from the ancient temple.
……
Taiwan Province, Changhua.
Children's welfare home.
On the playground, a group of children stood in several rows, singing songs.
"You have no father or mother, none of you have a home, no relatives or friends to help you, aren't you afraid of being all alone...?"
"Who says we have no home? Who says we have no home? The orphanage was so warm, and my husband loved me like his own parents..."
The clear, melodious singing echoed across the playground.
Huang Bai leaned against the railing and listened for a while, his expression somewhat strange.
"Turns out it's not a song that insults people."
"It's quite heartwarming."
He had heard bits and pieces of the song before and thought it was some weird and sarcastic stuff. But after listening to the whole thing, he found the lyrics to be quite righteous. It's just that it was later ruined by people.
Just then, I heard footsteps behind me.
An auntie wearing a red vest, with a black mole between her eyebrows and a kind face, walked over and interrupted his thoughts with a smile.
"Dean, some kind-hearted people have brought over some gifts. Would you like to go and greet them?"
"Of course we should accept." Huang Bai came back to his senses and nodded. "They meant well, we can't let them down."
In this life, the Heavenly Decree bestowed upon him the identity of the director of an orphanage.
Huang Bai followed his aunt outside.
A truck, loaded with supplies, was parked at the entrance, with a company banner hanging beside it. A friendly-looking middle-aged businessman stood there, smiling and waiting for someone.
"Hello, Dean Huang." The other person extended their hand first.
"Hello, Mr. Chen." Huang Bai nodded politely.
After exchanging a few pleasantries, the other party smiled and asked:
"Dean Huang, the TV station is coming over to film some footage later. Would it be convenient for you to appear on camera?"
Huang Bai didn't like showing his face in public, but after looking at the truckload of stuff, he agreed.
"no problem."
If the other party is willing to contribute money and goods, whether they are after fame or simply want to do charity, the deed is done. A gentleman judges by actions, not intentions; there's no need to refuse such a favor.
Soon, the TV station staff arrived.
The flash went off.
Snapped.
The camera focuses on Huang Bai's smiling face.
A new world, a new identity, a new story—it has officially begun.