The wild chrysanthemums grew wildly, entirely because the divine power within the meteorite nourished the soil of Lake Heart Island, benefitting these plants.
Jiang Hong and his five newly-recruited companions finally waited for the wild chrysanthemums to bloom. After each of them gathered a bunch, they immediately jumped onto a sampan and paddled back.
"Hurry! Hurry!"
Jiang Hong urged.
"There's no need to be so anxious; we don't know what traps lie ahead. Let that Lin Baici go face that dark Buddha statue first, right?"
A bald middle-aged man was slacking off, not paddling with effort.
"What do you know?"
Jiang Hong, dissatisfied, said, "Following that Lin Baici is the safest!"
Aside from the bald man, the others thought the same, so they paddled quickly and soon reached the dock.
Jiang Hong didn't wait for the sampan to come to a complete stop before jumping off.
"Hurry up!"
Jiang Hong hurried them but stopped suddenly after taking a few steps.
A tall and terrifying dark Buddha statue materialized before him like a ghost, blocking his way.
It was holding a wooden fish and struck it unhurriedly.
"My Buddha asks you, are you sincere?"
The Buddha statue, with its eyes downcast and a fierce look, stared at Jiang Hong.
Swish!
Cold sweat soaked Jiang Hong's clothes all at once.
"I am sincere! I am sincere!"
Jiang Hong hastily responded, but the merit Buddha remained indifferent and asked again.
"My Buddha asks you, are you sincere?"
"I am sincere!"
Jiang Hong shouted, then fell to his knees before the merit Buddha and started kowtowing vigorously.
He was in a panic, especially after hearing the merit Buddha asking again; he knew he was done for.
Sure enough!
The merit Buddha, not seeing Jiang Hong's sincerity, raised its mallet and smashed it down on his head.
Bang!
Jiang Hong's head shattered, his flesh and blood splattered everywhere, and then his headless body slumped to the ground.
The merit Buddha turned its gaze towards the bald middle-aged man, appearing before him as if by teleportation.
"My Buddha asks you, are you sincere?"
The bald man was petrified and turned to run.
"If Lin Baici were here, he'd surely know how to prove his sincerity, right?"
Only now did the bald middle-aged man think of Lin Baici's virtues.
The merit Buddha, expressionless, swung out its mallet.
Bang!
The bald middle-aged man died, falling into the water, and his blood diffused into a wide swath.
The remaining three tourists scattered, each fleeing in a different direction.
But it was useless!
The merit Buddha casually threw out its mallet; it soared like a flying hammer, whistling through the air, and successively smashed the heads of these unfaithful tourists.
Afterwards,
Whilst the merit Buddha wiped the mallet, its gaze shifted towards Lake Heart Island.
There were figures moving about.
And so, it boarded the sampan.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
The clear sound of the wooden fish reverberated over Lotus Lake!
There were the sounds of summer cicadas,
now even louder.
...
"Although we have gathered the bouquets, we don't know what else might happen. Everyone, be ready to adapt!"
After Lin Baici finished speaking in a low voice in front of Daxiong Treasure Hall, he jogged up the steps, crossed the threshold, and entered the hall.
Immediately, an eerie and bizarre aura assaulted them.
The crowd followed.
Atop the lotus pedestal in the hall, the dark Buddha sat high above, resting its chin in one hand as it looked down disdainfully at these wretched ants.
On its face was scorn, disdain, and thick mockery.
"The first to return is indeed you!"
The dark Buddha appraised Lin Baici, its gaze traversing the torch in his hand and sweeping over the kasaya on his body.
Hiss!
Unable to refrain, the dark Buddha stuck out its thick tongue and licked its lips.
Even from such a distance, I can smell your deliciousness!
"We have brought back the bouquets!"
An old lady managed a smile, her attitude subservient: "Can you let us go now?"
She didn't want to spend another second here.
"My Buddha is merciful!"
With a incantation, the dark Buddha stood up, walked down from the dais, and squatted in front of the old lady: "Don't be afraid!"
Thud!
The old lady immediately knelt down.
"I'm not afraid! I'm not afraid!"
Her voice trembled fiercely.
The dark Buddha nodded appreciatively, satisfied with the old lady's attitude, and even stretched out a finger to stroke Xu Xiu's head.
"Are you willing to become my disciple?"
The dark Buddha's gesture was gentle, like a feline owner petting a cat!
The old lady instinctively turned to look at Lin Baici.
"Why are you looking at him?"
The dark Buddha questioned, "Don't you want to?"
Slap!
With two fingers, the dark Buddha pinched Xu Xiu's head.
"I do! I want to!"
The old lady hastily capitulated, since the dark Buddha's grip was excruciatingly painful,
"A teachable child!"
The dark Buddha praised, releasing his fingers.
Just when the old lady thought she had dodged a bullet, the dark Buddha suddenly flicked her forehead.
Crack!
The old lady's head was shattered by the flick, and a pulpy mess of brain matter, skull fragments, and blood splattered out, smearing across the floor.
"Ah!"
Zhang Ju collapsed to the ground in terror, and the others were no better off.
No one expected the dark Buddha to be so capricious, killing on a whim.
"Are you insane?"
Lin Baici yelled out, his voice echoing in the grand hall.
He knew he shouldn't be so emotional, but he couldn't help it.
Ever since Dragon Temple was shrouded in dark mists and became God's ruins, he had been constantly threatened by death. Other rule pollutions were manageable, and survival was possible if endured, but the monster before him had already launched three games of divine taboo and still casually killed at will.
Human life meant no more to it than a toy.
"Oppa!"
Kim Myungjin frantically signaled Lin Baici with his eyes, not to butt heads with this thing, as it would lead to great losses.
"Baici, stay calm!"
The female anchor tried to persuade him.
"Are you angry?"
The Dark Buddha laughed: "Good, you should be!"
No sooner had it finished speaking than it flicked its finger again.
Bang!
This time it was Sister Xiao Li's turn to be unlucky. She was already bending and shrinking back with her head down, trying to hide like a nobody, but she still didn't make it through.
The Dark Buddha popped her head like a balloon.
Bang!
Her body fell to the ground.
Lin Baici gripped the Songmu torch tightly.
"If you want to live, you should be kneeling and begging me!"
The Dark Buddha squatted in front of everyone, admonishing these people who had yet to realize their situation: "I am God, I am your ruler!"
It extended its finger, pressing down on Kim Myungjin's head.
"Are you willing to become my follower?"
Answering no would certainly mean death, answering yes might offer a glimmer of hope, but...
Kim Myungjin glanced at Lin Baici, trembling with fear as he answered: "Whatever Oppa does, I will do the same!"
"I don't like that answer."
The Dark Buddha was about to flick Kim Myungjin's head off when Lin Baici suddenly roared.
"Ask me instead!"
Those four words resounded with authority, like the thunderous sound of war drums.
Everyone turned to look, shocked by Lin Baici's fearlessness.
"Fine, I'll indulge you!"
The Dark Buddha leaned down, brought its face close to Lin Baici, and looked at him directly: "Are you willing to become my follower?"
"I will, your mom!"
Lin Baici bellowed, thrusting the torch at full speed towards the Dark Buddha's left eye.
The Dark Buddha smirked, about to flick Lin Baici to death and eat him when a mighty punch, like a comet tearing through the sky, smashed into its face.
Bang!
The Dark Buddha was sent flying, its body scraping against the bluestone floor, sliding for dozens of meters before slamming into a wall.
"You guys run!"
After saying this, Lin Baici pounced towards the Dark Buddha.
He scraped the torch against the ground!
Whoosh!
Flames erupted, like Lin Baici's racing heartbeat.
The Muscle Buddha, in shorts, was faster than Lin Baici. He strode with long legs, thumping like a beast as he crashed into the Dark Buddha.
Bang!
They tumbled away, entwined with each other.
Lin Baici ran in front of the Dark Buddha, mustering all his strength, and stabbed the torch onto its body.
"Light it up for me!"
Lin Baici hoped to kill the monster with the 'flame that could ignite anything and turn it to ashes in a very short time,' a divine taboo feature of the Songmu torch.
If it didn't work, he was surely dead today.
The moment the Dark Buddha's right leg came in contact with the torch, it instantly ignited, and the flames rapidly enveloped it, swallowing it whole, not even sparing the Muscle Buddha.
"Insects, don't even think of harming me!"
The Dark Buddha was furious, wanting to kill Lin Baici, but the Muscle Buddha was holding it tightly in its grasp.
[Just a piece of food, and you're so arrogant?]
Eater God mocked.
The Dark Buddha was not a god at all, but a Buddha statue simply parasitized by a piece of God's bones. Moreover, even that piece was just a tiny remnant from a corpse of a deity.
It wasn't enough for the Eater God to feast on.
The Dark Buddha was set ablaze, and the flames engulfing its body made it resemble a torch, lighting up the great hall.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The Muscle Buddha pounded away at the head of the Dark Buddha.
[Even if you crush its head to bits, it's useless; the parasitic God's bones are in its left forearm!]
Lin Baici, through the Bodhi Messenger's Cassock, could not only summon a Muscle Buddha but also issue some simple commands for it to carry out.
The only trouble was the possibility of being pounded to death by it.
Hearing the words of Eater God, Lin Baici immediately gave an order.
"Twist off its left arm!"
Lin Baici did not approach.
Both Buddhas were now burning, and as they fought fiercely, the tables, cushions, incense, and Buddha statues they collided with also caught fire.
Thick smoke billowed.
"Oppa, be careful!"
Kim Myungjin was worried.
"Stop talking nonsense; let's get out of here fast!"
Sima Mu yelled.
Everyone was just an ordinary person, good for nothing but getting in the way.
"Bai Ci!"
Hua Yue Yu was very concerned and wanted to help but didn't know what she could do.
Zhang Ju, holding her daughter, stumbled toward the hall's exit.
The old lady died right next to her, her brains and flesh splattered on Zhang Ju's face, making her legs go weak from fright. If not for her daughter, for whom she was still hanging on, she would have fainted already.
The Dark Buddha was in the throes of extreme anger.
It wanted to kill all these people; otherwise, it couldn't calm its rage. Seeing Zhang Ju trying to flee, its right hand immediately swung towards a nearby offering table.
Bang!
The offering table was sent flying, crashing towards the exit.
"Be careful!"
As Hua Yue Yu's words fell, the seven-meter-long offering table smashed onto Zhang Ju's back with a bang.
The little girl was luckier and wasn't hit head-on, but when Zhang Ju fell, she was thrown out.
"Take the little girl and run!"
Lin Baici shouted, rushing toward the Dark Buddha, "Brat, you want to kill me, don't you? Come on!"
He was provoking the enemy, not only to give Hua Yue Yu and the others a chance to escape but also to attract the Dark Buddha's attention and let the Muscle Buddha act more freely.
"Let's go!"
Sima Mu urged anxiously, grabbing Kim Myungjin.
The Dark Buddha had already begun its massacre; not escaping would mean death.
The Dark Buddha, seeing Lin Baici hopping about and completely treating it as a clown, was about to explode with rage. It clenched its fist and swung its arm, intending to beat him into a pulp.
Crack!
The Muscle Buddha took the opportunity to grab its left arm, wrapping around it like a python strangling its prey, suddenly tightening its body, twisting, then yanking.
Crack!
The left hand of the Dark Buddha was broken off.