Scripture of Days Past

Over the next two days, Chu Qiguang spent most of his time in the archive building, reading through all of the Buddhist scriptures on the first floor.

During the crusade against Buddhism many years ago, all of the Buddhist monasteries in the empire had been burned to the ground. The three most prominent Buddhist sects, the Vajra Monastery, the Maha Religion, and the Brahma Sect, had also been completely destroyed by the imperial military.

The majority of the Buddhist scriptures in the archive building were likely spoils taken by the Demon Vanquishing Department during the destruction of those Buddhist sects and monasteries.

Anyone in the outside world caught in possession of these banned scriptures would have their entire clan executed. Yet here, in the archive building of the Demon Vanquishing Department, they were readily accessible to Chu Qiguang.

Of course, Lin Lan was eager to help him, and she gathered all kinds of Buddhist scriptures for him his request.

Before long, Chu Qiguang's agreed rendezvous date with Chen Gang arrived. Once again, he left the mountain with some servants on a procurement assignment. After sending them to the nearest county, he and Chen Gang arrived at the place where the Sumeru King Scripture was buried.

As he cultivated the Sumeru King Scripture, Chu Qiguang felt the same familiar sensation of his physical constitution being enhanced. Surges of immense power flowed through his entire body.

Under the scrutiny of his Dao pursuer eyes, a third tentacle shot out of the shadow beneath his feet, then wrapped itself around his calf like a living creature.

That's the third one. I'm only one tentacle away from Yang Ling's four.

Sure enough, it seemed that reading Buddhist scriptures assisted in the cultivation of the Sumeru King Scripture.

However, the enhancement this time wasn't as pronounced as the last, which made him wonder if another element was required in addition to reading Buddhist scriptures.

After some experimentation, Chu Qiguang discovered that the two main prerequisites for cultivating the Sumeru King Scripture were Buddhist scriptures and the cultivator's physical constitution.

Only by constantly reading Buddhist scriptures and honing one's physical constitution could one continue to benefit from cultivating the Sumeru King Scripture. Otherwise, reading the scripture would only increase one's risk of self-immolation without bringing any benefits.

After burying the Sumeru King Scripture again, Chu Qiguang suddenly turned to see a blurry golden figure flash across his field of vision, while the sound of shrill chanting faded into the distance.

"What's wrong, Brother Chu?" Chen Gang asked.

"Nothing," Chu Qiguang replied.

I'm growing stronger, but the hallucinations also seem to be growing more frequent.

By the time the two of them arrived at the agreed-upon location, Chitter and Chatter were already waiting for them. The two birds sprang up into the sky, setting off for Azure Sun County.

***

High above Hidden Fiend Village, Chu Qiguang could see living corpses and fiends working in the fields, rows of neatly dug-out trenches, newly constructed rammed earth houses, an expanding chicken coop, and the blood pond farther away in the distance, guarded by a group of planters.

A pleased smile appeared on his face at the prosperous sight below. In particular, the rows of green wheat in the fields gave him a sense of assurance and security.

Hidden Fiend Village had undergone a drastic transformation since he left over a month ago. It was truly beginning to look like a proper settlement now, and more and more fiends had grown accustomed to the working lifestyle.

However, he could still see some fiends gathered together, seemingly arguing about something.

He directed the Chongming Birds to land in a secluded spot, and shortly afterward, several cat fiends that had already received word of their arrival rushed onto the scene.

They were led by Qiao Zhi, who immediately began meowing at the sight of Chu Qiguang. The other cat fiends also began meowing as they rubbed themselves affectionately against his legs.

Chu Qiguang could see two tentacles extending out of Qiao Zhi's shadow, and only then did he realize that he had already surpassed Qiao Zhi.

He crouched down and petted the cat fiends one after another, going in descending order of status. He started with Qiao Zhi, White Rice, and Lulu, then moved on to the other cat fiends.

Lulu was still vigorously rubbing his head against Chu Qiguang's palm when White Rice barged straight into him, forcefully knocking him aside so that he could claim Chu Qiguang's hand for himself.

Qiao Zhi inwardly rolled his eyes in disdain at their crude attempts to curry favor with Chu Qiguang, then said, "Thank goodness you're finally back! I've been so busy with the village, it feels like I don't get any rest at all these days!"

"It sounds like you've really had your plate full while I've been away! Tell me what's been happening," Chu Qiguang said with a smile."

"About half a month ago, around a dozen fox fiends came here from the south," Qiao Zhi reported. "Apparently, they all came from a prominent clan in the south. They disguised themselves as humans and managed to climb quite high up the social ladder. However, they were exposed by the Heavenly Master Religion and forced to flee to the north.

“They're all innate enlighteneds capable of taking human form from birth, and two of them are fifth-state martial artists. I figured they would be useful, so I accepted them into the village. In the beginning, they didn't cause any trouble, but they've since begun joining forces with some of the other fiends in the village to demand more food, houses, and planters..."

Chu Qiguang wasn't surprised to hear that these fox fiends had managed to establish so much influence in the village in such a short time. Most of the native fiends of Azure Sun County were quite simple-minded and naive, whereas these fox fiends were clearly far more calculating and manipulative. After all, they had managed to be so successful in human society in the south.

By the time Qiao Zhi discovered their scheme, the fox fiends had already united a bunch of fiends, and he was at a loss for how to deal with the matter.

However, Chu Qiguang immediately knew what needed to be done. The first thing he did was assemble all of the planters in the village. He was going to use the Demon Refinement Technique to assume complete control over the planters, then subdue the fox fiends and the other troublemaking fiends by force.

"Where's the mask I told you to prepare for me?" he asked.

A cat fiend approached him with a copper mask clasped in its mouth, and Chu Qiguang put it on to conceal his appearance.

At the moment, all of the martial arts techniques he had mastered were designed for humans, so he was more powerful in his human form. However, if he wanted to appear before the fiends in the village as a human, he needed a disguise.

***

As the planters were assembled, word quickly began to spread through the village that Master Omniscient had returned.

In a brand-new rammed earth house in the western part of the village, a woman was laying on an earthen bed, wearing a loose white robe that did a rather poor job of covering her luscious body.

"Maiden Thirteen! Master Omniscient has returned!" an old fox fiend reported.

The woman on the bed stretched lazily as she scoffed, "So what? There's no need to panic."

Beside the seductive woman known as Maiden Thirteen was a younger, more petite woman who bore a strong resemblance to her.

"Should we really not be concerned, Big Sister?" the young woman asked. "Master Omniscient won't be happy to hear that we've been rallying the other fiends in the village to break his rules."

Maiden Thirteen put on some clothes, then casually replied, "What's there to be afraid of when he's just a coward who can only hide in the mountains? That cat fiend subordinate of his is a complete idiot! It only took me half a month to completely undermine his authority. If someone as incompetent as him is the second-in-command in this village, I can't imagine this Master Omniscient would pose any threat to us.

"This village is situated in an exceptional location, and I don't know how they did it, but these stupid fiends have somehow gotten their hands on all these living corpses. If I can claim this village for myself, we'll be able to quickly build up an army to exact vengeance on those who brought about the downfall of our Huang Clan! I don't care if he's Master Omniscient, Master Omnipotent, or the Profound Origin Dao Lord himself! Before long, I'll have him wrapped around my finger."