Chapter 23: The Return Journey's Sudden Enlightenment (Part 2)

  The old man's turbid eyes became even more dim, completely falling into a daze. At this time, another middle-aged woman walked out of the wooden house. She had obviously also heard Hailong's words and stood there in a trance, staring at Hailong, muttering: "You... you're Hailong. No... no... you're a demon! Return my son to me, return my son!" As she wailed, the woman suddenly pounced forward, grabbing onto Hailong's lapels and shaking him violently.

  Hai Long's face changed, and a vague feeling rose from the bottom of his heart. He hastily asked: "Uncle Zhang, Auntie Zhang, what's going on? Where's Dou Ya? Where did Dou Ya go?"

  Uncle Zhang was completely stunned, while Auntie Zhang wailed loudly and pointed at the sea dragon, cursing: "You're not a sea dragon, you're a demon! Return my son to me, return my son to me!"

  Hongji flashed out from the side of Hailong, saying in a low voice: "Big brother, they seem to be somewhat unclear in their minds, I'll help them. Amitabha, the Buddha's law is boundless, turning back is the shore, revealing the Buddha nature. From the body arises use. Wonderful benefits are endless. Prajna is wisdom. Wisdom uses expedient means as its function. Intelligence uses decisive judgment as its application. It is the enlightenment of all times, shining in the heart. It is the law of all Buddhas and Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi." His hands combined into a Buddhist seal, a circle of yellow light enveloped Zhang Shu and Zhang Jie, washing their bodies and minds with immense Buddha power. Under the cover of Buddha's power, Zhang Shu and Zhang Jie gradually calmed down. However, their expressions were still dull. Hailong looked at Hongji for a moment, knowing that it was not suitable to stimulate them too much at this time, so he could only speak softly: "Zhang Jie, I am really Hailong! Look, my eyes are still small. Do you remember? When I was young, you were the kindest person to me, and since I didn't have parents, it was like you raised me. I loved eating the sweet potatoes you cooked. Once, I played with Zhang Huang and hit his head, but you didn't scold me. In Hailong's heart, you are like a mother! Zhang Jie, take a look at me, I'm just cleaner now, wearing clean clothes, but I am really Hailong!"

  After hearing what Hailong said, Zhang Shu's eyes finally showed a hint of spirit, and she trembled as she stretched out her hand to touch Hailong. Hailong carefully took Zhang Shu's hand and placed it on his face, saying softly: "Zhang Shu, I really am Hailong! What's going on? Why did Uncle Zhang suddenly become so old, and Douyao? Where did he go?"

  "Hailong, you're really Hailong." As if seeing a close relative, Zhang Shu suddenly hugged Hailong tightly, tears streaming down her face. "Douya, Douya was taken away by someone! Hailong, Douya said you went to learn some great skills, you must save him, you must save him! I only have this one son, if something happens to him, how can we old couple live on?"

  "Zhang Auntie, calm down first and tell me what happened. Who exactly took Douya away?" He was just as anxious as Zhang Auntie, as Zhang Huan was his childhood friend and he had been looking forward to Zhang Huan joining him at Lianyun Sect soon.

  Aunt Zhang wiped away the tears on her face and said, "It's like this. After you left, Douya would lock himself in his room every day, not knowing what to do, and he didn't even exercise, but he became stronger than before. About a year later, it seemed that the lazy bone in him was stretched out, and he actually started helping us with farm work. His strength was great, and we were really happy. What's better than having a sensible son? Zhang Hua grew up day by day, and he's as tall as you now. He's very handsome! Almost all the grown-up girls in our village have a crush on him." At this point, Aunt Zhang's face showed a hint of pride, and after pausing for a moment, she continued, "Our family's life was getting better and better. Just over a month ago, I was preparing to arrange a marriage for Douya when suddenly seven or eight people came to the village. Although they looked ordinary, we felt extremely terrified. These people made a round in the village, didn't say anything, and took away four children from the village, including Douya. Those people were very powerful, and when we rushed up to stop them, they had already taken the four children away."

  Hailong clenched his fists and turned to Hongzhi, "If it can make ordinary people feel terrified, then it must be an evil cultivator. Why did they want to catch Douya?"

  Hong Zhi frowned and said, "I heard from Master that the demonic path has a method to brainwash people, making them forget all past events, and then use them for their own purposes. They caught your friend, are they going to take him back, retrain him, and have him confront us on the righteous path?" Hai Long nodded heavily and said, "It's very possible. If he was taken away by the evil path, it would be bad. We don't even know where the evil path is!"

  Aunt Zhang grasped tightly onto Hailong's hand and said: "Xiaolong, you must definitely bring Douyao back! Aunt Zhang is begging of you."

  Hailong nodded vigorously and said, "Auntie Zhang, rest assured that even if I die, I will fight against the evil path to the end." Although he said so with his mouth, his heart had already cooled down. Even if all seven orthodox sects were mobilized, they might not be able to find the lair of the three evil sects. With his current weak cultivation, how could he possibly succeed? Zhang Hua was likely to meet a disastrous end.

  Hong Zhi's face suddenly changed, and he said, "Big brother, it seems like an evil aura is approaching this way." A yellow light flashed, and a string of crystal-like transparent prayer beads appeared in his hand. With a wave of his large hand, the prayer beads shot up into the sky, and a layer of yellow barrier quickly enveloped the entire village.

  Hai Long's heart moved, and he said: "Xiao Zhi, bring those evil Dao people over. Perhaps they are the ones who took Dou Ya away. We must investigate this news, otherwise we will have no chance later."

  Hong Zhi nodded, the Buddha's light around his body grew brighter, and the rosary made of eighteen gems in the air suddenly shot out more than a dozen rays of light towards the north. The rays were very fine, seemingly not very powerful.

  "Hai Long turned his head and rushed towards Zhang Shu's couple: "Zhang Shu, Zhang Shu's wife, you quickly go back to the house. We'll handle this here."

  Zhang Aunt looked at Hongzhi's spellcasting in surprise, and her confidence in Hailong increased a bit. She nodded and supported her husband back to the wooden house. Hailong quickly put on his star-blue armor, holding a small iron rod in his right hand and the Blood Eight Trigrams' light flashing in his left hand. After several close calls, he had become much stronger than before in terms of combat skills against enemies.

  Hong Zhi's face suddenly changed, and he turned his head to say: "Big brother, the evil path cultivators seem very strong. Later on, you must be careful. We will use the village as our base and confront them. There are six of them in total." As soon as the words fell, the sky suddenly darkened, and a large area of ??dark clouds rolled in, filling the boundary outside the Nianzhu Bu with an aura of evil. This sudden change caused the villagers who were working in the fields to quickly run back to the village. As soon as they entered the defensive boundary of Nianzhu, their fear disappeared.

  Hai Long said, "Xiao Zhi, I once saw the master of Wuyun Sect cast a spell called 'Vajra Mantra', it was very powerful. Do you know it? If we have that kind of spell, at least we can stand undefeated."

  Hong Zhi nodded and said, "The Golden Vajra Master did teach me that, it's an extremely powerful divine ability, but I've only just completed the Small Round Full Boundary Realm, so using it now probably won't be able to bring out its true power."

  Hai Long said: "It doesn't matter, just use as much as you can. Having something is better than having nothing."

  Hongji smiled wryly and said, "That would consume a lot of spiritual energy. But with the Buddha crystal rosary here, I should be able to exert some power." As he spoke, his hands beckoned, and the rosary in mid-air slowly descended onto his head, unleashing an unprecedented surge of Buddhist power. Hongji stood majestically, his body slowly rising into the air, as a giant golden lotus flower about 1.5 meters in diameter quietly appeared under his feet, supporting him like a Buddha descending to the mortal world. The dragon clearly felt that Hongji had pushed his Buddhist power to the limit. Although he also knew that Hongji was very strong, he hadn't expected his power to reach such a realm.

  A peaceful and clear voice began to chant, "The Buddha said: 'The void is boundless and immeasurable. It cannot be measured. The Bodhisattva's generosity is without attachment or form. The merits obtained are also like the void, immeasurable and boundless.' In this world, nothing is greater than the void. Among all natures, nothing is greater than the Buddha-nature. Why? Because anything with shape or form cannot be called great. The void has no shape or form, so it can be called great. All other natures are limited and finite, so they cannot be called great. The Buddha-nature is infinite and boundless, so it can be called great.

  In this void, there is no east, west, south, or north. If you see these directions, it is still an attachment to form. You will not attain liberation. The Buddha-nature originally has no self, person, sentient being, or life span. If you have these four attachments visible, it is the nature of sentient beings and not the Buddha-nature. It is also called attachment to form.

  Although in our deluded minds we say there are east, west, south, and north, in reality, what exists? The so-called east and west are not true; the south and north are different. The original nature is empty and quiet, blending together. The Buddha's teachings have no boundaries and universally save sentient beings."

  The incantation he recited was exactly the same as that of the Wuyun Sect Master. For the second time, the dragon felt a pious feeling rising in his heart. Hongji's cultivation was clearly insufficient; the golden lotus under him continued to flash, and the eighteen Buddha crystal rosary beads above his head shone brightly, pouring down large pieces of golden light that enveloped the village.

  The villagers who had just run back to the village almost all saw Hongji in mid-air. For these ordinary people, everything they saw could only be described as miraculous. Unanimously, the villagers knelt on the ground and piously prayed for the Buddha's protection.

  Hong Zhi's face showed a hint of fatigue, but his eyes had a hint of excitement. The Vajra Mantra was also used for the first time, although it couldn't be compared to the true power of the Vajra Mantra, being able to successfully use this mantra was already quite difficult for him. If Gu Yun Buddha were here at this moment, he would surely be surprised and unable to close his mouth. The Vajra Mantra is one of the great divine abilities of Buddhism, and without a cultivation level above the Immortal Realm, it's fundamentally impossible to use. At this time, Hong Zhi's cultivation was still some distance away from the Immortal Realm, although he had borrowed the power of the treasure, being able to bring out this mantra showed the purity of his Buddha powers.

  The sky had completely darkened, and Hongzhi sat cross-legged in mid-air, his majestic appearance solemn. He knew that a powerful enemy was about to arrive, and with a flash of sharpness in his eyes, he said in a low voice, "Please follow me, all you benefactors, and recite the Prajnaparamita mantra." His gentle voice instantly spread throughout the village, and the villagers, who had been bowing their heads in respect, lifted them up as if their spirits were being controlled by Hongzhi. One by one, they sat down on the ground with their legs crossed.

  Hongzhi closed his eyes and murmured, "The Prajnaparamita mantra is a great divine mantra, a great bright mantra, an unsurpassed mantra, an unequalled mantra. It can eliminate all suffering, it is true and not false." As he spoke, he began to recite the mantra: "Prajnaparamita, prajnaparamita, prajnaparamita..." His lips moved continuously, and the Vajra spell was activated by the Prajnaparamita mantra, emitting a brilliant light. The villagers below all joined their hands together in prayer, following Hongzhi's continuous chanting.

  The Buddhist crystal rosary emitted eighteen beams of golden light, which shot into the dark clouds in the sky. The clouds began to surge violently, and in an instant, a ray of sunlight broke through the clouds and shone down, bringing a warmth to this small village in the western region.

  Hailong Xindao: Compared to Hongzhi, I'm still far behind! His Buddhist teachings are so profound, far beyond my imagination. The current him is nothing like a wine-meat monk.

  At this moment, a mournful long whistle came, and six black shadows emerged from the dark clouds. The first person waved his hand, and a cluster of black purple light rushed into the dark clouds, instantly blocking the sunlight that Hongzhi had just brought down again. The six people floated in mid-air, with the leader being a woman with a slender figure, wrapped in a large black cloak. They did not attack Jinkong Zhou, but instead hovered at a distance of 100 meters, their low and melancholic voices ringing out, "So it's a great master here, Mo Zu has reason to be polite."

  The dragon roared loudly, and with a swift movement, he jumped onto Hongzhi's golden lotus. The small iron rod pointed at Ruo Wuyue, saying: "You wicked woman, is it you who took away the people from this village? Quickly return them, otherwise, we will beat you until your body and spirit are destroyed." Under the protection of the Vajra Mantra, he didn't feel any threat from Ruo Wuyue's six men. As soon as he thought of Zhang Hua being captured, he couldn't care about anything else.