Yellow Skinned Taoist Master

Chapter 172: The Divine Embryo Is a Fourteen-Year-Old Youth

"I wonder where Golden Horn ran off to either."

Chen Huangpi walked along the river course within the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

He missed Golden Horn very much right now.

If Golden Horn were here, then searching for Master's fishing rod clearly wouldn't be this troublesome.

It was just that he also knew Golden Horn's personality was very wild.

A wild dog couldn't be locked up.

Once it found an opportunity, it would think about escaping the alchemy furnace.

Chen Huangpi said in displeasure: "First Master is truly something; walking a dog without a leash. Now look what happened. Golden Horn's speed is so fast, it has likely already run out of the Hundred Thousand Mountains and is living footloose and fancy-free in the outside world."

The Brass Oil Lamp said sourly: "Perhaps its life is even better than ours."

Chen Huangpi said furiously: "If First Master hadn't tampered with the Dog Rearing Scripture, even if Golden Horn ran to the ends of the earth/corners of the ocean, I could still command it to return with a single order.""Why don't you pass the upper volume of the Dog Rearing Scripture to me?"

The Brass Oil Lamp rolled its eyes and hurriedly explained: "I have no other intentions; I merely want to study the upper volume of the Dog Rearing Scripture. Perhaps we could use it to locate Golden Horn! Chen Huangpi, you don't want Golden Horn to just run away like this either, right?"

Although Chen Huangpi had already nullified the Dog Rearing Scripture with it right now.

That upper volume of the Dog Rearing Scripture was hidden securely to death.

When asked, he would dodge the question and speak of unrelated matters.

Saying things like the Dog Rearing Scripture was already nullified, bringing up the past again was meaningless, and continuing to bring it up would ruin the mood.

Meaningless my ass/Dog fart meaningless.

That upper volume of the Dog Rearing Scripture made the Brass Oil Lamp incredibly incredibly envious/greedy.

Chen Huangpi shot a glancing look at the Brass Oil Lamp.

He didn't say anything at all.

He merely looked at it just like this.

He stared until the Brass Oil Lamp coughed dryly a few times, shifting the topic before he moved his gaze away.

"Hmph, it's not like I want it that badly anyway."

The Brass Oil Lamp stated: "Isn't it merely an evil path beast taming method? Even if it possesses a bit of extraordinaryness, so what? I, the Nine Nether God Lantern, do not care."

Chen Huangpi couldn't even be bothered to bicker with the Brass Oil Lamp.

Because he understood Huang Er far too well.

If that upper volume of the Dog Rearing Scripture fell into Huang Er's hands, who knew what chaos would ensue?

Chen Huangpi hadn't forgotten.

Back when he first cultivated the Dog Rearing Scripture, and Huang Er conceitedly believed itself to have become the Master—that arrogant, insolent attitude switching from deference to arrogance.

He would absolutely never teach the upper volume of the Dog Rearing Scripture to Huang Er.

He wouldn't even let Huang Er see half a character of it.

"I'm sorry Huang Er, I am the true Master."

Chen Huangpi silently muttered in his heart: "Although I am not currently, I definitely will still be in the future. Because a Master for a single day is a Master for a whole lifetime! You personally told me this principle with your own mouth!"

And right at this moment.

The Life-reaping Ghost situated off to the side suddenly spoke: "Contract Master, Huang Er, did you all hear any commotion?"

Chen Huangpi subconsciously replied: "What commotion?"

"A Gui, you're experiencing auditory hallucinations."

"There is genuinely a commotion."

The Life-reaping Ghost poked its head out from the Soul-Hooking Manual, pointing in a direction as it stated: "Behind that mountain ahead, there was a very strange sound just now; it sounded like people engaged in a magical battle."

Chen Huangpi and the Brass Oil Lamp had been completely focused on bickering, entirely failing to pay attention to the surrounding disturbances.

The Life-reaping Ghost, however, had maintained constant vigilance.

Therefore, it sensed that faint, almost imperceptible fluctuation of a magical battle previously.

Seeing the Life-reaping Ghost this serious.

Chen Huangpi also calmed his mind down, gazing toward the direction the Life-reaping Ghost pointed.

"It's not behind the mountain."

Chen Huangpi shook his head, saying: "It's somewhere even further away. Merely, since when did cultivators run into the Hundred Thousand Mountains again?"

Cultivators were very rare within the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

Because there weren't many Remnants either; every village produced at most a single cultivator, and moreover, they were exactly temple attendants who served deities, just like Granny Tang.

Granny Tang had once mentioned that the reason she reached the Golden Core cultivation was entirely because she went to the outside world to cultivate.

The temple attendants within the Hundred Thousand Mountains basically ceased cultivating once they reached Qi Refining.

Because there wasn't enough human qi.

It would harm the commoners.

Furthermore, Qi Refining temple attendants wouldn't deliberately cultivate their offensive might. Rather, upon reaching this stage, they could utilize minor spell techniques to reciprocally help the Remnants—such as casting minor spells, or saving lives, curing illnesses, and such.

Therefore, Chen Huangpi immediately reasoned that the cultivators causing these magical battle fluctuations were unequivocally outsiders.

The Brass Oil Lamp thought for a bit and said: "It's daytime right now; the evil spirits within the Hundred Thousand Mountains basically won't emerge. Those cultivators fighting a magical battle—could it be they drilled into an evil spirit's lair?"

Yet Chen Huangpi stated: "The shadow evil spirit said there were noble family descendant disciples from the outside world, as well as cultivators from the West Region Buddha Kingdom coming to seek the black sun. Perhaps it is precisely those people."

The black sun was exactly the Brass Oil Lamp transformed into an evil spirit.

Yet apart from the shadow evil spirit and Wang Mingdao, absolutely no other cultivator knew of this matter.

Right now, this person and this evil spirit were both in Xuzhou City; they definitely wouldn't flap their lips and say things randomly.

Besides, the Brass Oil Lamp had already transformed back.

Even standing right in front of those cultivators, the other party couldn't possibly recognize it.

"Should we head over to watch the excitement?"

The Brass Oil Lamp said with somewhat malicious intent: "Perhaps those guys are also bad eggs; exploiting the fact their magical battle just concluded, wouldn't it be beautiful for us to strike first and gain the upper hand?"

"Too lazy to go."

Chen Huangpi said faintly: "If there's affinity, we will naturally meet again; if there's no affinity, then attribute it to their fate being tough. I need to go find that river; I don't have the free time to meticulously tidy them up."

Outside cultivators were very annoying.

But Chen Huangpi wasn't exactly a demonic fiend who killed every cultivator he saw.

Otherwise, what difference would there be between him and those cultivators?

...

At this very moment.

On another side, very far away from Chen Huangpi.

That was the inevitable path leading from the Hundred Thousand Mountains to the West Region Buddha Kingdom.

Nearly a hundred monks, bearing Buddha shrines on their backs and draped in tattered kasaya (monk's robes), sat cross-legged upon the ground chanting true scriptures. Streaks of radiant brilliance blossomed from within those Buddha shrines, forming the phantoms of myriad-rayed deities behind the monks.

The West Region Buddha Kingdom was the name Da Kang cultivators used for them.

They themselves called it the Middle-earth Buddha Kingdom.

The deities they enshrined were also different; they invoked titles such as Arhats, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas.

These were Fruit Positions (spiritual attainments), rather than purely cultivation realms.

If discussing practical strength, an Arhat was comparably as powerful as a Calamity.

While a Bodhisattva could be considered somewhat more formidable than a provincial City God, although not overwhelmingly stronger.

As for Buddhas, the Three Bodies Ten Thousand Buddhas Great Enlightenment Holy Mountain in the Middle-earth Buddha Kingdom proudly proclaimed to possess ten thousand Buddhas.

That, however, was an entirely different matter.

This time, the actual reason these monks headed toward the Hundred Thousand Mountains was not to seek that black sun.

Rather, it was because they sensed Buddha-nature within that black sun.

They believed that was an omen of a Buddha Lord manifesting in the world. And after a Buddha Lord manifests in the world, before awakening to their past-life wisdom (宿慧), they were considered a Divine Embryo (佛子—Buddha Child). The monks needed to welcome him back to the Middle-earth Buddha Kingdom and awaken the Divine Embryo to enlightenment.

By doing this, an additional Buddha would be born within the Buddha Kingdom.

Right now, they had already entered the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

And moreover, they encountered a Son of Diting.

Those Arhat phantoms intended to capture it and present it as a meeting gift to the Divine Embryo.

"My Buddha is merciful! Delivering all sentient beings from suffering."

Those Arhats were chanting scriptural names: "There exists the Great Venerable Ksitigarbha, who resides in the netherworld. He once made a grand vow: until hell is empty, he swears not to become a Buddha. His mount is precisely Diting. Now that the Buddha Lord has manifested in the world, transforming into the Divine Embryo, you as a Son of Diting must quickly submit and convert!"

As these Arhat phantoms chanted their Dharma methods.

Golden Sanskrit characters arose one by one, manifesting into a massive golden net.

Within this net, the one unceasingly struggling, frantic and furious, was precisely Golden Horn.

Golden Horn flew into a furious rage: "Dog bald donkeys! Stop pasting gold onto your own faces! I, your grand-daddy, am a Son of Diting! Whether or not my venerable Ancestor was some Ksitigarbha's mount, does your grand-daddy not know!?"

"And also your dog-fart Divine Embryo! Whether or not that Divine Embryo requires enlightenment, your grand-daddy does not know, but you people definitely do!"

"If you have the ability, let your grand-daddy out, and your grand-daddy will use his horn to enlighten you!"

This golden net constricted it extremely painfully.

And it was exceedingly irritating, because those Sanskrit chants ringing in its ears sounded exactly like flies and mosquitoes buzzing erratically. It made its head ache like it was splitting apart.

As for whatever conversion and submission.

To Golden Horn, that was exactly like a dog fart.

Its personality was incredibly stubborn; its entire body could be beaten to a pulp, but its mouth would still remain the hardest.

If it could easily be made to yield, it would have already accepted its fate back when it was in the alchemy furnace.

However, these Arhats simply could not hear Golden Horn's furious curses.

"Son of Diting, even at a time like this, you are still putting on an act."

"Do you think just because you transformed into a wild dog, barking furiously 'woof woof woof,' we cannot see through your origins?"

Those Arhats were extremely displeased.

Golden Horn was a Son of Diting; they could see through that in a single glance.

Yet despite having its origins laid bare, it continued pretending to be a wild dog, unceasingly barking frantically at them. Those unaware might truly think these Arhats were bullying a wild dog.

"Obstinate and completely utterly unrepentant."

One Arhat said coldly: "If you continue refusing to speak, continue imitating a wild dog barking frantically, then wait until we find the Divine Embryo—you shall become a fierce watchdog guarding the gates for the Divine Embryo; you will even lose the qualifications to serve as a mount."

Golden Horn howled in fury: "Dead bald donkeys! Do not let your grand-daddy find an opportunity, otherwise your grand-daddy will definitively shit and piss right on top of your heads!"

Although they couldn't understand what this Golden Horn was saying.

Those Arhats merely needed to look at Golden Horn's demeanor, and the frequency of those dog barks, to know the other party definitively wasn't saying anything good whatsoever; it was definitely cursing violently, and moreover cursing very dirtily.

But right at this moment.

All the Arhats suddenly seemed to sense something.

They completely turned around, pressing their palms together (Anjali Mudra) toward a specific direction.

Immediately afterward, an old monk draped in a gray patched kasaya, his beard and hair entirely white, walked over.

There was no Buddha shrine on this old monk's back.

"Paying respects to the Crosser of Torments (Dù È Xíng Zhě)!"

This old monk wore a smile, merely nodding toward the Arhats, and then gazed at Golden Horn within the net.

Two streaks of pure white light instantly shot out from his eyes.

Immediately following that, Golden Horn seemed to sense something.

The heaven-defying golden horn atop its head instantly blossomed with incredibly sharp and piercing brilliance, viciously ramming toward those two streaks of pure white light.

However, those two streaks of white light directly bypassed it, instantly sinking into Golden Horn's body.

"Old dog, what did you do to me?"

Golden Horn didn't feel any changes within its body.

And exactly this made it incredibly alarmed and terrified.

Only the unknown was truly the most frightening.

The Crosser of Torments stated: "There is something very wrong with this Son of Diting. It seems to have already transformed into an evil spirit. Furthermore, numerous evil spirits are concealed within its stomach. It appears to feed upon evil spirits, merely it has not fully digested those energies yet."

"Otherwise, you all could not possibly trap it."

The moment these words came out, the expressions of those Arhats all subtly changed.

The Crosser of Torments added: "Moreover... it is unknown if the evil spirits it devoured influenced it, or exactly due to what reason, but a problem seems to have arisen within this Son of Diting's brain. I fear we must bring it back to the Holy Mountain to be delivered and converted by my Buddha."

An Arhat spoke up: "If that is the case, bringing this rebellious livestock along right now might ruin our affairs."

The Crosser of Torments, however, shook his head, looking at Golden Horn with an incredibly strange and peculiar gaze: "Upon the body of this rebellious livestock... it seems the aura of the Divine Embryo lingers."

Saying so, he reached out a hand and gestured.

Immediately afterward, a trace of aura invisible to the naked eye arose from Golden Horn's body.

That aura landed in the Crosser of Torments' hand, actually prompting a smile to appear on his face: "The Buddha says: Affinity arises and affinity extinguishes, Karma cycles endlessly. Although this rebellious livestock refuses to submit and convert, it nonetheless brought us news of the Divine Embryo."

"Is the Divine Embryo male or female?"

"It is a fourteen-year-old youth, and moreover, he is not too far from us. He is currently advancing toward the south. Let us go; let us seek an audience with the Divine Embryo. We must absolutely leave a good impression upon the Divine Embryo, and not allow him to feel disgust or aversion toward us."