Chapter 422: Secret Realm Below the Lake
Buddha reincarnate was at Daluo Temple.
This was undoubtedly earth-shattering news. Buddha was an immortal and he was such an ethereal being that most people only thought of him as a fictional character. In spite of these beliefs, here he was, still alive and well. The monks could hardly contain their excitement and delight when they arrived at this realization.
Even some of the older monks looked thrilled as well.
This discovery came as a much-needed morale boost. Every incident, from their abbot’s battle with Curator, up to the point of Buddha’s intervention, they had learned something new. Leaving Buddha aside, both the abbot and Curator had already demonstrated to regular folks, their phenomenal skills in combat.
Of course, some of the more intelligent ones arrived at the conclusion that Curator was not someone to underestimate. After all, for Buddha to speak directly to him, and for a monk with the ‘Xuan’ title[1] to emerge to receive him, how could they continue to think of him as an average Joe?
And what did Buddha call him? He said ‘friend of Tao’.
Perhaps Lin Jin wasn’t aware of this, but the name ‘Curator’ would soon spread around the world like wildfire.
However, Lin Jin didn’t have time to consider that right now.
Riding on a cloud, he followed Xuan Jue through a wall of thick fog before arriving at a lake inside the temple compound. The lake wasn’t exactly huge. It was closer to a large pond than anything else. It was at that moment that Xuan Jue took a step forward and disappeared into the water.
Lin Jin followed suit and the instant he got one foot inside, he was swept down by the water.
With the water reservoir scale, he could avoid getting drenched, so forget this tiny lake, he could even walk under rivers and oceans.
However, the abbot and the rest of the people who followed him to the pond could not proceed any further. In spite of the extent of the abbot’s cultivation, as well as his guardian beasts, he was unable to manipulate water, so he couldn’t walk into it just as Lin Jin did.
“Senior Abbot, Grandmaster Xuan Jue has led Curator into the lake. What do we do?” The rector of Prajna Hall asked. The abbot shook his head. “Looks like this lake is the Grandmaster and Buddha’s cultivation spot. It is unwise for us to venture into the place as we please. Let’s just wait here.”
Back to Lin Jin. At first, he assumed the lake to be a shallow body of water, but he couldn’t be any more wrong. The middle of the pond, in particular, seemed to go down forever.
Xuan Jue continued walking underwater while Lin Jin relied on the water reservoir scale to follow after him.
Xuan Jue turned around, and he was startled by the sight of Lin Jin, who was able to keep up with him so far.
“Friend of Tao, this way please,” he said with a nod.
Further down, they found a stream of light and Lin Jin discovered a strange creature.
The leviathan had the head of a dragon and the body of a fish. It was covered in bright golden scales and it emitted a powerful aura that it was unnecessary for Lin Jin to appraise i. No doubt, this was a Rank 5 aberrant beast.
Lin Jin mused, ‘Looks like Daluo Temple does have a profound background after all. I guess I won’t be coming here in the future unless it’s absolutely necessary. Now that I think of it, maybe I had been too brash earlier.”
The golden dragonfish swam over and Lin Jin took the opportunity to touch it, thus adding it into the museum. A quick skim through told him that his evaluation was almost on point.
This dragonfish was indeed a Rank 5 aberrant beast.
Further down, Lin Jin saw a massive air bubble, and to his surprise, there was a tiny house sitting inside of it.
Upon entering the bubble, they seemed to have arrived at a completely different world. There was a layer of mana that somehow was able to block out the lake water. After landing firmly, Lin Jin looked up and he was immediately reminded of the aquariums people kept back in his world.
The bottom was wide and it had green grass all around. Standing next to the house was a tree. Its branches were thin but they were decorated with emerald green leaves and plump, juicy figs. Lin Jin felt an indescribable sense of inner peace as he took in the whole scenery.
Below the tree was a monk, who sat atop a tortoise that was the size of a millstone.
Dressed in a kasaya, he was unmoving like a statue. Lin Jin was initially surprised by how old a person could look when he first laid eyes on Xuan Jue, but compared to this monk, Xuan Jue was like a child! Even the skin on the monk had begun to rot.
It was an indescribable sense of elderliness. One look at him and Lin Jin felt the weight of one single word, which appeared in his mind.
‘Age!’
That’s right, age.
What’s more, the old monk was exuding the heavy aura of death.
Lin Jin knew this must be the Revered One that Xuan Jue had mentioned. He must have also been the one who managed to block off Lin Jin’s Vulcan Edict with dried leaves earlier.
It was one move, but it was sufficient to tell Lin Jin the extent of his capabilities. That Vulcan Edict was just an edict that borrowed Goldy’s Golden Crow bloodline with some of his Dragonfire mixed inside. It was a difficult edict that he barely managed to pull off.
If Lin Jin were to enter a one-on-one battle, their abbot could have easily taken care of Lin Jin. It was only thanks to the strength he lent from Goldy that he managed to gain the upper hand just now.
The memory of the abbot’s four guardian beasts was still fresh in his mind.
Hence, since just now, Lin Jin had remained constantly on guard, even though he appeared nonchalant on the surface.
Xuan Jue bowed to the old monk, a traditional Buddhist greeting.
“My good man, I am aware of why you have come here to Daluo Temple today. Indeed, our temple has gotten far too violent with monsters in recent years. Treading down the wrong path, they seem to be doing. Xuan Jue, go and tell these children to enter seclusion and reflect on their acts, and to change for the better.”
His statement was pleasant to hear.
Lin Jin thought, ‘As I expected, the prominent monks of Daluo Temple are a force to be reckoned with.”
“My good man, may I inquire where does your master hail from?” The old monk asked.
Lin Jin didn’t know how to answer his question. He didn’t actually have a teacher and all his cultivation was thanks to the Museum of Deadly Beasts. It was only due to a coincidence that he was able to learn edicts and Taoist spells from Cloud Sect and the Unending Nature Landscape.
After a moment of deliberation, he answered somewhat truthfully, “I don’t have a master. It was just a coincidence that I got acquainted with a Taoist from Cloud Sect and I learned the five elemental edicts from him.”
“Cloud Sect…I remember now. A small splinter group, but a branch of Taoism nonetheless. So Cloud Sect had descendants still, not bad, not bad!” The old monk sounded melancholic as if his inner peace was achieved after being withered down by age.
“With my spiritual eye, I happened to see your powerful Sword Intent earlier and I find it somewhat familiar,” the old monk probed. Lin Jin hesitated for a little before answering, “Sir, I have learned this Sword Intent from a senior named Du Li.”
Upon hearing the words ‘Du Li’, the old monk was stunned before a spark appeared in his muddled eyes.
“Is Du Li still alive?”
Lin Jin’s heart skipped a beat at this. It may have sounded like Lin Jin was personally acquainted with Du Li, but in fact, he only met the obsession Du Li left behind inside the Unending Nature Landscape. Strictly speaking, immortals have ceased to exist in this world for a long time now.
If this old monk here was acquainted with Du Li, they might just be individuals from the same era.
Could they live this long?
Wasn’t there a legend about immortals facing a great tragedy? How did this monk manage to avoid it?
A rough estimate pointed toward the possibility that this monk was one of the immortals, and to the Buddhist sects, he would be widely regarded as the Buddha.
At the thought of him being a living breathing Buddha, Lin Jin braced himself mentally, but even then, he felt himself shudder. No doubt, if the monk wanted to kill him, Lin Jin would have no means of fighting back.
“My good man, where did you meet Du Li?” Buddha asked with an anxious look in his eyes.
Simultaneously, the weather surrounding this lake bottom realm began to stir. Not only did the water become turbulent, but violent gales started picking up in the realm itself.
[1] Xuan, or “玄” means profound or dark, so in this context, it would carry the meaning of “The Profound One”.