Chapter 1368 - 1367: Spatial Transposition
"Lu Lang?"
The conversation between Lu Zheng and Shen Ying was done via sound transmission, so no one else heard what they were saying. It was only that Lu Zheng slightly adjusted his direction, which drew the attention of Liu Qingyan behind him.
"Are we going back to Tonglin County first?"
Lu Zheng nodded. "We had vegetarian dishes at Guilan Temple for lunch. In the evening we’ll go to Peach Blossom Plain first, have dinner, then return. Brother Fan, you’re not in a hurry, are you?"
"Of course I’m not in a hurry!" Fan Boyu laughed heartily. "Even if I had something urgent, I couldn’t possibly miss Brother Lu’s cooking!"
Lu Zheng nodded with a smile. "I guarantee you’ll be satisfied."
From an angle unseen by the others, Shen Ying raised her right hand to her chest, lightly pinched a hand seal, and with a stir of Divine Thought in the Sea of Consciousness, faint pink mist began to slowly spread from the distant Taohua Village.
"How far is he from us?" Shen Ying asked.
"Thirty li behind us. Two monks, the very same we saw at Treasure Court Mountain." Lu Zheng narrowed his eyes slightly. "One of them has around seven to eight hundred years of Dao Practice, the other is not inferior to Zen Master Huiejue.
So that’s how it is. These two monks suppressed their Qi, but some brainless old eagle took them for prey, so they were forced to reveal a trace of their Qi. Otherwise, hidden behind us, I wouldn’t have noticed them."
Shen Ying said, "Then I’ll set up a Shifting Array forty to fifty li outside Taohua Village. Catch them off guard, and we should succeed."
Lu Zheng nodded. "Good."
...
Thirty li behind Lu Zheng and the others, two monks hovered in midair above the treetops, watching a lynx on the ground drag away the corpse of an eagle.
Master Tongyan looked at Master Guiyin. "Shishu, they haven’t noticed us, have they?"
The handsome monk—Master Guiyin of Great Joyful Temple—focused his gaze, a streak of Spiritual Light flashing between his brows. He shook his head, half-smiling. "They may very well be famous figures of Lingbei Dao, but fame doesn’t mean great strength."
Master Tongyan didn’t understand. "What do you mean?"
"The young man in the lead should be an Outer Disciple of White Cloud Temple. I don’t know his exact status." Master Guiyin chuckled. "White Cloud Temple is a major sect of the Central Plains, and this youngster’s Dao Practice isn’t weak. I’d guess the old bull-nose from Jade Sun Temple wants to curry favor with White Cloud Temple and invited him over."
"A disciple of a prestigious sect, with outstanding talent." Master Tongyan understood, nodding with a smile. "No wonder his fate is entangled with Peach Blossoms, beauties in his arms."
"White Cloud Temple has no dual-cultivation methods. These beauties are truly a pity." Master Guiyin shook his head. "Those three women—two rich in Dao aura, one bearing Merit—are all extraordinary women of this world."
Master Tongyan’s eyes gleamed. "Wouldn’t they be just right for cultivating our ’Great Desire Celestial Joyful Goddess Secret Technique’?"
Master Guiyin nodded in delight. "Exactly! Once they become Joyful Goddesses and ascend with us to Western Paradise Great Desire Heaven, to enjoy joy for eternity, wouldn’t that be far better than entrusting themselves to some Daoist Outer Sect young lord and wasting their lives?"
Master Tongyan said with a smile, "My Buddha is merciful!"
"Joyful Maitreya saves all beings. All things beautiful in this world should enter Paradise." Master Guiyin inclined his head.
"Amitabha Buddha!" The two of them pressed their palms together, devoutly chanting, then drifted along the treetops, quietly following.
"Shishu." Master Tongyan looked at Master Guiyin, unable to hold back his question. "Are we going to use the Great Joy Technique to cast the spell, or slowly work them over with the Paradise Dream Realm?"
"These three women are no simple characters. If we employ the Great Joy Technique, I fear they’ll notice. White Cloud Temple isn’t an easy foe."
Master Guiyin said, "But the Paradise Dream Realm shows no traces at all. Though it takes effect a bit slower, it leaves no repercussions. In at most half a year, these three women will have mastered the ’Desire Celestial Goddess Technique’, convinced they’ve received Joyful Maitreya’s Dream Transmission of the Dharma, and they’ll be filled with longing for our Great Joyful Temple."
Master Guiyin glanced at Master Tongyan. "If you have a Joyful Goddess cooperating with you, your Cultivation breakthrough would be a matter of moments."
Hearing this sort of promise from Master Guiyin, Master Tongyan was overjoyed and nodded repeatedly. "I’ll follow Shishu’s lead."
Master Guiyin nodded, then snorted with a laugh. "That youngster is a disciple of White Cloud Temple. If they were in Jizhou and we did this, it would indeed be dangerous. But as for Jade Sun Temple and Guilan Temple here in Yizhou..."
Master Guiyin didn’t finish, but his scorn was obvious.
Master Tongyan nodded and smiled. "Those in Lingbei with some Dao Practice are Yanzhou Seven Star Palace and Yu State Wanfu Mountain, but they’re far inferior to White Cloud Temple."
Master Guiyin commented, "Seven Star Palace’s Beidou Seven-Star Sword has some merit. Wanfu Mountain leans toward heterodox ways, claiming ten thousand talismans can do anything, but in truth they’re not of much use at all..."
Before Master Guiyin’s words had even finished, his expression suddenly changed.
"Shi—"
Seeing Master Guiyin’s face shift abruptly, Master Tongyan instinctively roused his Magical Power, but before he could ask anything, he felt the world spinning, space twisting, and then thick, rich pink smoke and miasma suddenly appeared around them, encircling the two of them.
"Shishu!" Master Tongyan hurriedly looked at Master Guiyin.
Master Guiyin no longer cared to conceal his Qi. He pressed his hands together, and strands of golden Buddha Power appeared around his body and spread outward.
"Amitabha Buddha!"
Master Guiyin intoned the Buddha’s name. "This poor monk is Guiyin of Great Joyful Temple. I do not know which Dao friend is playing a joke on this poor monk?"
With a tentative probe of Great Joy Buddha Power, Guiyin immediately discovered that this thick pink smoke and miasma was suffused with a rich Incense and Candle Qi, and laced within it were Daoist Profound Light and Buddhist Telekinesis.
Many yet not mixed, pure yet not chaotic, even faintly merged into one. In particular that Incense and Candle Qi actually carried a subtle thread of Heaven-and-Earth Dao rhythm, causing Master Guiyin’s Buddha Power to waver again and again.
Master Guiyin could sense that perhaps the one casting this spell had Dao Practice inferior to his, but their foundation was profound, and the density of this pink smoke showed that the other party’s accumulation of Magical Power was exceedingly, exceedingly deep!
Though Master Guiyin was confident he could fight and win, if he could avoid it, he had no desire to clash with this expert who clearly had a Court background.
Be serious—having such dense Incense and Candle Qi, aside from the Da Jing Court, there was no need to even consider any other force.
"Playing a joke?"
A sultry, coldly beautiful voice, tinged with icy indifference, came from within the pink smoke and miasma. "You were just thinking of making a move on This Palace. Where would This Palace find the mood to joke with you?"
"Hm?"
At these words, Master Guiyin’s heart jolted. He saw the pink smoke ahead part, revealing Lu Zheng and his group.
Lu Zheng stood in front, Shen Ying to his left, Incense and Fire Peach Demon swirling around her; Liu Qingyan to his right, Daoist True Qi surging. Du Yueyao stood beside Liu Qingyan, Fan Boyu behind Du Yueyao, all prepared for battle.
Only Yang Caiyi was absent, having been entrusted to Xiaocui by Shen Ying to be taken away.
As for the Eighteen Peach Blossom Celestial Maidens, they were currently holding Jade Peach Blossoms, spread around Taohua Village, assisting Shen Ying in controlling all the Peach Blossom Evil to lock down the space of this place.