Chapter 93: Chapter 93: Dragon Crowd-Naga_1
DRIP, DROP.
Wang Linchi suddenly stopped, realizing it had started to rain outside.
Normally, there would be no Black Rain around the Rooster Crow Temple, but now, the Black Rain had actually arrived.
If White Wind hadn’t been disabled by him, it should be White Wind arriving now... right?
Before Wang Linchi could finish his thought, he heard a rustling sound amidst the falling rain.
"You wouldn’t happen to be the Son of Destiny, would you? Every time you’re in danger, someone conveniently shows up to save the day," Wang Linchi said to the Buddha statue head in his hand.
White Wind had been disabled by him. Ever since realizing White Wind represented insects, he had contemplated whether there might be other instances of it. After all, they were insects, not actual wind.
"Even White Wind broke its rules for you. It usually only appears on the fifteenth of every month," Wang Linchi joked, though his expression remained grave.
He could deal with White Wind, even if it meant repeating the same process. But Black Rain was a different matter; it seemed to approach with overwhelming force.
This time, it was truly a raging storm.
A flash of lightning split the sky, followed by a deafening clap of thunder.
"Now we have to add Lightning Thunder to the mix," Wang Linchi mused. He had experienced Black Rain before, but previous occurrences at night had only been a light drizzle.
This time was different. The raindrops were as large as hailstones, as if determined to pound him to death.
The rain hammered down on the Great Hero Treasure Hall with a deafening CLATTER, making Wang Linchi worry if the hall could withstand the onslaught. If it couldn’t, he would lose his only shelter.
Luckily, the roof of the building was incredibly sturdy and showed no signs of faltering.
Wang Linchi looked out from the doorway at the sky. Beyond the flashes of lightning and dark clouds, he vaguely discerned a slender silhouette.
At first glance, Wang Linchi thought it was a dragon. However, upon closer inspection, despite arriving with wind, rain, thunder, and lightning, and conjuring the Black Rain, it wasn’t a dragon—it was a snake.
The volume of the Black Rain was terrifying. Soon, the Rooster Crow Temple courtyard was submerged in black water, which rose rapidly, threatening to flood the Great Hero Treasure Hall.
It seemed to be manipulated by some mysterious force.
White Wind, however, relentlessly battered the Great Hero Treasure Hall, seemingly blocked from entering.
The snake’s Black Rain, however, faced no such obstruction.
"The Dharani Sutra for Uprooting Sufferings states: ’If any good man or good woman sincerely pays homage to the Tathagata King Who Destroys Evil Destinies and upholds this mantra...’"
When the black water spread to the Great Hero Treasure Hall, ’Shakyamuni’s Fundamental Mantra for Destroying Evil Destinies’ resounded in Wang Linchi’s ears.
Unlike the previous time, he heard the entire scripture this time, not just half of it.
The Buddha statue radiated a brilliant light. All the Headless Ghosts were half-submerged in the black water, with their upper halves cloaked in the light.
The monk’s head was no longer as hideous. Though still skeletal, its original dark color had been expelled, restoring its natural hue. Its eyelids drooped serenely, presenting a benevolent and kind appearance.
The Buddha statue head in Wang Linchi’s hand also reverted to its original form, turning back into stone.
The brilliance was dazzling at first, but after reaching a certain threshold, it dimmed in an instant.
It felt almost as if its battery had been drained.
But true power is true power. Even though the light dimmed, neither the great snake in the storm nor the Black Rain it conjured could overcome it.
White Wind, on the other hand, began to disperse in this brilliance, as if it had encountered its natural enemy.
BOOM! BOOM!
The thunder grew more intense, yet this time it carried an edge of impatience, as if furious at its inability to shatter the radiance emanating from the Rooster Crow Temple’s headless Buddha.
No matter how heavy the Black Rain, no matter how fiercely it fell, it could never cross the threshold of the Great Hero Treasure Hall.
The distance between them could not be measured in conventional units. One was on this shore, the other on the distant shore; to cross the sea of suffering that lay between was no easy feat.
"Truly incredible," Wang Linchi remarked, watching as the wind died down, the rain stopped, and tranquility returned.
The insects of White Wind had scattered, and the great snake that had summoned the Black Rain had also fled.
The radiance also gradually faded, apparently dispersed by the Buddha statue venerated in the Rooster Crow Temple.
The remaining Headless Ghosts had also quieted, now frozen in the posture of monks praying to Buddha, motionless as clay or wooden statues, bearing no resemblance to their previous forms as Evil Ghosts.
The monks’ heads had also rolled onto the offering table before the Buddha statue, resembling offerings. They too had their eyes closed and were motionless.
Wang Linchi felt little joy at this development. He had escaped danger, true, but he had also lost a trump card.
He didn’t believe the headless Buddha of Rooster Crow Temple could once again emit such a sacred radiance to repel his adversaries.
He placed the Buddha’s head against the broken neck of the statue. Nothing extraordinary happened; there was no reattachment.
"There should be some power left, but it’s no longer able to heal itself," Wang Linchi sighed.
Repair would require craftsmen.
If the Buddha statue still possessed its previous mystical power, perhaps placing the head back on would have allowed it to heal itself.
But that was out of the question now.
Wang Linchi tossed the Buddha’s head into his Storage Treasures. Previously, a barrier had prevented him from doing so, but now that the Buddha’s head was just an ordinary stone, it went in easily.
This confirmed that it had indeed lost its power.
However, Wang Linchi could not take the monk’s skull. It had become incredibly heavy; even using both hands, he couldn’t make it budge an inch.
Obviously, the force field had changed.
Besides the immovable monk’s skull, even the Headless Ghosts, now transformed into worshiping monks, were likewise immobile, unable to move or alter their posture.
The change in the force field must have caused the Headless Ghosts to consume too much energy, forcing them into an energy-saving mode.
Alternatively, the Headless Ghosts might have been persuaded or transformed from Fierce Ghosts into protectors.
Fierce Ghosts turning into protectors isn’t uncommon in Buddhism.
This is called ’conversion.’
Wang Linchi had no particular feelings about this. Instead, he wondered: Could he complete his mission now?
With no more interference from the Headless Ghosts and his control over all of Black Rain City, couldn’t he restore the Buddha statue’s golden body? Even if it required meticulous work, a month should be enough.
This was, of course, assuming there was no interference or sabotage from the hidden mastermind. If they were to disrupt his efforts, incite unrest, or employ other such tactics, Wang Linchi truly had few effective countermeasures.
From the moment he began preparations to restore the Buddha statue, this adversary had summoned White Wind and the Black Rain, indicating they were constantly monitoring developments.
Beyond that, there were methods like manipulation and control.
The adversary had likely targeted him long ago. However, Wang Linchi’s mental fortitude—his spirit, psyche, and willpower—was extraordinary, making him difficult to affect. Of course, it might also be because he was an Awakener from the Great View, not some Demon or Ghost native to this Secret Realm, so the influence, if any, was minimal.
Controlling Demons and Ghosts, monitoring an entire region, interfering with its operations...
An enemy with such power should be able to crush me with a single finger.
But they haven’t. Instead, they’re trying to eliminate me through various indirect means.
That only proves they’re more of an empty shell than they appear.
"After all, you’re even afraid of a stone-carved Buddha statue." Wang Linchi wasn’t muttering to himself; he was addressing the hidden mastermind monitoring him.
As for the great snake in the Black Rain, Wang Linchi already had a theory: it was a cobra.
Combined with its ability to make Black Rain fall upon the temple, the most likely explanation was that it was one of the Eight Classes of Supernatural Beings in Buddhism: a Dragon Crowd-Naga.
Its own power was likely average, perhaps augmented by the hidden mastermind, granting it the ability to conjure wind and rain.
The Naga originally had multiple heads, but this one only had one.
It had a cobra-like head, a long, legless, hornless body, and was a highly venomous aquatic spirit creature dwelling in water or underground. Nagas were said to covet treasure and possess the power to control water and summon rain.
Therefore, the Black Rain was highly toxic.
A small amount accumulating in the body might not be an issue, but excessive exposure would inevitably lead to poisoning.
Of course, this poison had also mutated, enabling it to reanimate corpses and empower Demons and Ghosts.
This Naga was most likely controlled by the hidden mastermind, serving as their tool for conjuring wind and rain.
Or it could have willingly pledged allegiance.
Wang Linchi wasn’t sure of the exact reason. He had only witnessed a small part of it and hadn’t even come face-to-face with the Naga, making it impossible to know its origins.
Although the Naga has retreated, there’s no guarantee it won’t return. I need a countermeasure, Wang Linchi thought, his gaze falling upon the Buddha statue. I certainly can’t handle it on my own.
The enemy was in the sky, and the range of his Fanciful and Fickle wasn’t far enough.
So I have to rely on the Buddha statue left behind by a long-gone Buddha.