Chapter 602: Divine Statue
After hearing the Celestial Bamboo Saint’s words, Lin Yun and the others nodded. The ruins this time were a complete mystery.
For one, nobody knew what lay inside. Moreover, the Five Great Forces had turned out in full force, and even old monsters like the Saints had all gathered in the Mysterious Forest.
Lin Yun was quite familiar with the Mysterious Forest. After leaving the Celestial Bamboo Saint, he gazed toward the forest’s center, where the ruins were rumored to be.
"I wonder how that Heaven-Swallowing Python is doing..." he murmured softly. The moment the words left his lips, an incredibly familiar voice sounded from behind him.
"So you really are here."
Hearing the voice, Lin Yun turned to see the Monk and Daoist, accompanied by Li Tian and Qin Feng, swaggering toward him.
Seeing the pair, Lin Yun smiled faintly. He, the Monk, and the Daoist had adventured through the Mysterious Forest together. ’I guess you could call this a trip down memory lane, huh?’
"So you two came as well," Lin Yun said with a smile, looking at them.
"Haha, with something this big going on, of course we had to come!" the Monk laughed.
"Stop putting on an act. If your master wasn’t coming, would you have tagged along?" the Daoist interjected.
Their masters, Abbot Lian Fo and the Semi-Evil Daoist Master, had also arrived and were currently in the main tent speaking with the Celestial Bamboo Saint and Luo Feng.
𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶
Since the ruins hadn’t opened yet, the Monk suggested the five of them find a place to grab a drink. Lin Yun didn’t refuse, merely teasing with a smile, "Monk, aren’t you afraid Abbot Lian Fo will find out?"
"Shhh! That’s why I said we should find a discreet spot," the Monk whispered, putting a finger to his lips.
In their masters’ presence, the Monk and Daoist wouldn’t dare break a single monastic rule. But as soon as their masters were gone, the two were like wild horses that had thrown off their reins.
Finding a secluded tent, the five of them slipped inside. Once in, the Monk’s Space Ring flashed, and in an instant, a table appeared, completely covered with food and wine.
"Haha, I knew this would happen, so I came prepared! What do you think, Lin Yun? Not bad, eh?" Without another word, the Monk poured himself a cup of wine, downed it in one go, and grinned as he spoke.
"I really don’t know what Abbot Lian Fo and the Semi-Evil Daoist Master saw in you two to take you on as disciples," Lin Yun said with a sigh, taking a sip of wine.
If Buddha and the Celestial Venerable truly existed, they’d probably be furious with you two. It’s a complete disgrace! Have you ever seen a monk who loves wine and meat so much?
After a few drinks, the Monk and Daoist’s minds turned to women. The Daoist gave Lin Yun a lecherous grin and said, "Young Master Lin, the female disciples from your Flawless Palace must be quite the lookers. Why don’t you..."
"Don’t even think about it," Lin Yun interrupted before the Daoist could finish. "I’m telling you, the Flawless Palace didn’t bring any female disciples this time. Besides, aren’t you two afraid of Abbot Lian Fo and the Semi-Evil Daoist Master finding out?"
The Monk and Daoist were a bit bummed about the lack of women, but there was nothing to be done about it. For them, just getting to drink was good enough.
When they were with their masters, the Monk and Daoist had to eat extremely simple and bland food every day. They had been suppressing their cravings for a long, long time.
The Monk and Daoist kept drinking, spewing all sorts of vulgarities. At that moment, because their backs were to the entrance, they were completely oblivious as their masters slipped quietly into the tent.
Lin Yun, Li Tian, and Qin Feng fell silent. Lin Yun frantically tried to signal the Monk and Daoist with his eyes, but the two idiots were too busy happily drinking to notice a thing.
"Haha, as the Buddha said, ’Wine and meat pass through the guts, *BURP*... but Buddha remains in the heart.’ So you see, even the great Buddha himself didn’t turn away from wine and women!" the Monk declared with a hearty laugh after taking a huge gulp of wine.
Already portly with large ears, the Monk truly looked like a wicked clergyman when he laughed like that.
"That’s right! And the Celestial Venerable also said that wine and women are worldly things. Since we live in the world, we can’t be expected to avoid them," the Daoist added.
The words had barely left his lips when the Semi-Evil Daoist Master, standing right behind him, asked coolly, "Is that so?"
"Of course! I refuse to believe there’s a man in this world who can give up wine and women. Let me tell you..." The Daoist, not realizing who had spoken, was already halfway through his sentence before it finally dawned on him. He glanced at the Monk, his eyes wide with sheer terror.
Just like the Daoist, the Monk had broken out in a cold sweat. They both turned their heads with painstaking slowness, only to see Abbot Lian Fo and the Semi-Evil Daoist Master standing right behind them.
Seeing their masters, the Monk and Daoist knew they were done for. They both looked over at Lin Yun, and the Daoist muttered under his breath, "Why didn’t you warn us?"
At this, Lin Yun just spread his hands helplessly. He had tried to warn them, but they were having too much fun drinking to notice his frantic glances.
"Go on, drink up. Why stop now?" Abbot Lian Fo said coolly. "Wasn’t it ’wine and meat pass through the guts, but Buddha remains in the heart’?"
"Master..." The Monk’s expression twisted into something worse than tears as he cried out pitifully to Abbot Lian Fo.
Showing no mercy, Abbot Lian Fo slapped the Monk on his bald head and roared, "You unworthy disciple! Get back to your room, kneel, and copy the Buddhist Scriptures one hundred times!"
"You as well," the Semi-Evil Daoist Master told the Daoist.
The two departed. One could only imagine the rough night the Monk and Daoist had ahead of them.
Lin Yun, Li Tian, and Qin Feng exchanged a glance, then the three of them went back to drinking. There was nothing to be done. The Monk and Daoist had been caught red-handed by their own masters; Lin Yun couldn’t possibly speak up for them.
After finishing all the wine the Monk had brought out, Lin Yun and Li Tian returned to their own tents to cultivate.
They waited at the edge of the Mysterious Forest for three whole days. Finally, at noon on the fourth day, the ruins underwent a massive transformation. The entire Mysterious Forest began to shake violently.
From its center to its very edge, the entire Mysterious Forest was completely transformed. A grand, immense, and ancient palace hall appeared before everyone’s eyes.
The original Mysterious Forest was no more.
Soon, the members of the Five Great Forces all gathered at the entrance to the palace hall. Lin Yun, arriving with the experts from the Flawless Palace, immediately spotted two stone statues at the entrance, each a hundred meters tall.
The statues looked unremarkable, depicting two soldiers guarding the hall. The armor they wore in the carvings, however, was incredibly majestic.
Others might not have known the significance of these two statues, but Lin Yun knew with perfect clarity. ’These are Divine Statues...’
They were the kind of Divine Statues found only in the Divine Realm. In fact, they were identical to the statues in the Divine Realm’s Divine Emperor Palace.
Rooted to the spot, Lin Yun stared blankly at the two Divine Statues as a million questions raced through his mind. ’What exactly *are* these ruins?’
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