Chapter 464: Chapter 242
The departure of Abbot Dingguang was far from peaceful.
Xu Qing felt great comfort, for this old monk had better discernment than those martial monks. When all the thunderbolts struck solely at him, Abbot Dingguang’s eyes were filled with shock, confusion, and endless panic.
Under the tree, one figure was large and glowing, the smaller one was cloaked in a palpable aura of evil that couldn’t be hidden—yet why did the strikes only target him?
Despite his shock, Abbot Dingguang’s actions were precise, employing techniques like the Diamond Body, Protective Vajra Shield, and Immutable Mantra—all defensive methods he could muster, he enveloped himself with.
The black-gold alms bowl hovered inverted, and the thousands of incense blessings from Cizhao Temple poured in, making the bowl expand to canopy size, just enough to cover his form.
Beneath the divine tree of merit, Xu Qing and Xuan Yu were engrossed in watching.
Seeing Abbot Dingguang endure the first thunderbolt, Xu Qing applauded heartily in support.
"Bravo! That bolt struck well, though not with great force. It must be that the monk’s head is too hard, definitely not because Heaven isn’t in form!"
"..."
"..."
The brewing lightning catastrophe paused briefly, then Abbot Dingguang noticed the tribulation cloud above spinning faster!
Aside from Xu Qing, everyone present today wished for the celestial trial to be over quickly.
Abbot Dingguang desperately wished to live, hoping the tribulation cloud would disperse soon.
Xuan Yu felt sorry for the incense offerings.
Lastly, the celestial tribulation itself wanted this farce concluded swiftly.
After mistakenly striking good corpses and fine cats twice, Heaven’s dignity was somewhat bruised.
Who would have thought in these Five Filthy Evil Worlds, such righteous spirits exist?
Even in a peaceful era, such encounters are rare, yet in these times, a matched pair appeared!
A pillar of dark lightning larger than a vat descended from the sky; Abbot Dingguang ground his teeth, using magical power to lift the black-gold bowl, striving against it with all his might!
At least nine bolts of celestial thunder would fall, and the old monk knew survival was unlikely today, yet he continued his final struggle.
The more greedy one is, the more they fear death.
With the bowl losing the protective incense, it shattered upon impact, followed by the vajra shield and immutable mantra...
When the dust settled, Xu Qing peered down, seeing only a scorched corpse on the ground.
Indeed, this old monk had true discernment!
If not for the monk’s training in body-protection techniques, he may not have left Xu Qing a complete corpse.
However, before Xu Qing could fully rejoice, the remaining dark lightning, originally aimed at the divine tree of merit, struck the scorched corpse instead.
"..."
This isn’t right, is it?
You can strike me, but why strike my corpse?
Xu Qing’s eyelid twitched, feeling a pang of heartache.
The celestial tribulation openly cheated—you think it didn’t know Abbot Dingguang was already dead?
Surely it knew, but it pretended ignorance, relentlessly striking the corpse.
When the tribulation cloud dispersed, the ground yielded only a large pit with a pinch of black ash—there was no trace of Abbot Dingguang!
Xu Qing stood at the edge of the pit, overcome with sadness.
At this moment, his feelings mirrored losing a fat fish just caught, which then slipped off the hook and returned to the water.
That sense of gain and loss hurt more than being struck by lightning.
A body with five hundred years of cultivation—gone in an instant.
As Xu Qing mourned, a breeze blew across, clearing a layer of black ash in the pit, revealing a crystal object the size of a pigeon egg, round and blood-red.
Is this... a relic?
Xu Qing leapt into the pit, picked up the crystal object left by Abbot Dingguang. In the next moment, the Sutra of Salvation began to turn its pages.
The life of Abbot Dingguang, much like Baiyun Daoist’s, was rife with sin and evil.
Only Baiyun Daoist’s wickedness was overt and consistent, while Abbot Dingguang’s was internal, always outwardly maintaining a façade of kindness.
"Master, we haven’t cooked for days at home. At this rate, my child might not survive until tomorrow... I beg the master for mercy, to spare some food."
"Amitabha. Guangning, fetch some rice for this donor."
"Thank you, Master! Thank you, Master!"
Watching the tenant leave, Abbot Dingguang appeared unmoved, continuing to smile and nod at visitors in the temple.
When away from the main hall and distant from visitors, the benevolent mask of Abbot Dingguang suddenly changed.
"Guangning, retrieve the rice and bring the Tian Family’s child back. Remember, leave no traces."
That night, Guangning returned with a sallow, bloodied child.
"Master, I disguised as a bandit, slaughtered the child’s family, and brought back the rice given for relief."
"Buddha is compassionate. Guangning, you helped this family escape suffering, truly a deed of great merit."
"It’s all thanks to Master’s guidance."
...
Abbot Dingguang was a miser, never sparing even half a penny, let alone a measure of grain for others, if it passed through his hands.
It was customary for monks to seek alms; he’d never heard of mendicant monks requesting charity.
Aside from his love for money, Abbot Dingguang greatly valued face; Baiyun Daoist repeatedly sought favors from him, to which Abbot Dingguang consistently agreed. The reason was simple—Baiyun Daoist knew well how much Abbot Dingguang valued face, using his personal affairs to coerce him often.
Abbot Dingguang tolerated this for Baiyun Daoist could still be useful to him, but his greatest reason for enduring until now was the potential inheritance of the Celestial Scripture from Baiyun Cave.
None of Lady Holy’s transmitted doctrines were exceptions, all requiring infants and blood sacrifices as catalysts. In pursuit of the secret methods of the Celestial Scripture, Abbot Dingguang frequently exploited the guise of aiding pregnant women and infants to solicit temple donations, simultaneously paving a path for his necessary materials and medicinal catalysts.