Spiritual Mountain Unpurged, How Can the Buddhist Sect Be Righteous?

Within the Myriad Buddha Hall, Lu Shengjun's laughter, seemingly self-mocking and sarcastic, echoed leisurely. Mountain Lord Shi Zhen remained calm, but Shi Luo, seated opposite Lu Shengjun, could no longer hold back. He abruptly rose to his feet, his voice like thunder.

"Sheng Jun, Great Spiritual Mountain has only ascetic monks. There have never been any filthy, despicable thieves!"

Every word Shi Luo spoke carried a powerful resonance that reverberated through the hall and shook the soul. Even an ordinary Heavenly Sovereign would have been startled by such words.

Unfortunately, Lu Shengjun was not among them.

He narrowed his eyes slightly. When he opened them again, they were filled with surging golden brilliance that shot toward the heavens, resisting Shi Luo's imposing aura. He asked softly:

"Then what about those old accounts I uncovered when I went to the Medicine King Institute and Bodhi Institute? Every family is bound to have some dirty laundry, but isn't there rather too much of it here? My family is also a hegemon of the Great Thousand World, yet we are far behind you in this regard."

"You have always devoted yourself to cultivation, and over the years, I have never heard of your Vajra Institute having any unsavory entanglements. But can you guarantee that everyone on Spiritual Mountain is like you, Uncle Shi Luo?!"

"And you, Master—do not forget that you and my grandfather agreed back then to let me settle those dirty accounts."

Lu Shengjun casually revealed the old events of those years, recounting one secret after another that ordinary people could never know.

"At first glance, those accounts all seemed fine. But the elixirs from the alchemy chambers and the heavenly treasures from the Bodhi Institute were always far more numerous than recorded. Every time I went, there would be plenty more, yet none of them had been entered into the books.

"Let me think. What was written in those secret records again? Ah, right. First came the tributes from forces such as Jialan Temple. Protection money—naturally, it was only proper to collect a little extra.

"Unfortunately, the resources they delivered never entered Spiritual Mountain's treasury. They went into the private pockets of certain great monks instead. I wonder whether those great monks had already come to regard the Medicine King Institute and Bodhi Institute, institutions passed down on Spiritual Mountain for tens of thousands of years, as their personal property."

Lu Shengjun held out five fingers and began counting them off slowly.

"Those detailed accounts are not something you could have figured out. Was this also something your junior disciple told you?"

Mountain Lord Shi Zhen finally spoke. Only the faintest ripple appeared in his calm, clouded eyes, yet the pressure he brought upon Lu Shengjun far surpassed Shi Luo's Vajra shout.

"Old man, do not spout nonsense. I, Lu Shengjun, am a peerless genius. Since childhood, I have possessed an eidetic memory. Could I not understand a few rotten accounts? You truly underestimate me!"

Lu Shengjun inwardly sighed in relief. Spiritual energy surged throughout his body as he resisted Shi Zhen's pressure with all his strength, gritting his teeth as he forced out each word.

"Ah, foolish child. You have been on Spiritual Mountain for a hundred years. How could I not know what you are capable of?"

Mountain Lord Shi Zhen sighed softly and was about to say more when his expression suddenly changed. He turned to look beyond the heavens, then glanced at the still-unconvinced Lu Shengjun. With another sigh, he rose and walked straight out of the Myriad Buddha Hall, calling aloud into the sky:

"Ape King, since you have honored us with your presence, why did you not send word in advance? This humble monk could have arranged a grand ceremony to welcome you."

"Hahahaha! The little brat was not up to the task and used the Purple Gold Heaven-Reaching Bell to send me a message, saying he had important matters to discuss. This king loves this grandson most dearly, so I had no choice but to be discourteous for once. I hope Mountain Lord will not take offense!"

Before the man arrived, his voice did. A bold, rough roar, vast as Earth Dragon Turning Over, resounded throughout Spiritual Mountain. Raging winds swept across the sky, and a burly, majestic figure appeared amid the blue heavens and emerald clouds. His aura was incomparably domineering, and his features bore a forty to fifty percent resemblance to Lu Shengjun's.

The moment he appeared, all the monks of Spiritual Mountain turned their attention toward him. Together, they chanted Buddhist scriptures and sang Sanskrit hymns, pressing their palms together in salute toward the heavens.

The newcomer was none other than the current Clan Leader of the Heaven-Reaching Ape Tribe, the Great Ape King of Heaven. His cultivation had reached Late Saint Grade, and he was a renowned supreme powerhouse of the present age!

"This... Sheng Jun, why go this far?" Seeing the Ape King descend in person, even Shi Luo could not suppress the turmoil in his heart. He looked at Lu Shengjun with a complicated expression.

It had been such a simple matter. Why did it have to reach this point? Spiritual Mountain truly had no evil lurking within it, nor had it ever involved itself in conflicts beyond the mountain. Otherwise, how could his senior brother have tolerated it?

Lu Shengjun smiled, a nostalgic look appearing on his face as though he were recalling the past.

"I asked my junior disciple that very same question."

"Three years ago, my junior disciple finished his period of training at the foot of the mountain, and I went to bring him back.

"On the way back, he pretended to joke, yet his brows remained furrowed. He led me to ask about the reason, and only then did I learn that he had seen far too many injustices below the mountain—and all of them had been committed by Buddhist cultivators!"

Remembering what he had witnessed with his own eyes, Lu Shengjun gave a cold laugh toward the Buddhist statues filling the hall and continued:

"I had occasionally heard certain rumors before, but I never imagined that even beneath Spiritual Mountain, there would be so much filth and corruption!"

"Enraged, I secretly investigated according to my junior disciple's account. In the end, I personally saw several old monks of Jialan Temple practicing wicked arts with the lives of living beings in order to advance their cultivation. Nearly twenty percent of the monks in that temple were secretly doing the same!"

"Haha, they cultivated Buddhism, not demonic evil or ghostly arts! They cultivated grand and righteous Buddhism!

"Yet they could actually build so many blood pools of every size, refining the blood essence of living beings to advance their cultivation! Their crimes were truly unforgivable even if they died ten thousand times!"

At this point, Lu Shengjun's killing intent soared into the heavens. The hairs on his body stood on end, and he wished he could kill those bastards a thousand times over.

"Sheng Jun! Is what you said true? How could they... how could they dare act this way beneath Spiritual Mountain?!"

Shi Luo's eyes nearly split with rage, his eyes bloodshot. Like a madman, he grabbed Lu Shengjun, wanting to find even the slightest hint of evasion in his eyes.

But he was disappointed. Even as this Heavenly Sovereign gripped his arm so tightly that it ached, Lu Shengjun's killing intent did not diminish in the slightest. His resolve was so firm that it frightened Shi Luo.

"After killing those people, my junior disciple told me, 'If you wish to set the Buddhist Sect right, first slay Spiritual Mountain. Until the myriad Buddhas are destroyed, evil will never cease!'"

Ignoring the pain, Lu Shengjun continued with a mocking laugh:

"Though I was furious then, I still thought my junior disciple was being too extreme, and I asked the same question you did.

"But he did not answer. He only led me onward to keep searching.

"And so, I slaughtered my way through. I slew more than a hundred Earth Sovereigns in succession, and the number of Supremes who fell by my hand was beyond count."

"Sadly, it was useless. Completely useless! What happened afterward was what finally told me that my junior disciple was right! I was too naive!"

"What exactly happened afterward?" Shi Luo could no longer contain his urgency. His eyes were crimson, and his five fingers unconsciously curled into fists as hatred nearly drove him mad.

"Afterward came my Apotheosis Battle. A Heavenly Sovereign hiding his identity came out to block my path. I exhausted every method I had and barely managed to defeat him, but what did that change? It was nothing but a joke."

Lu Shengjun's laughter turned hoarse. He suddenly spun around and pointed outside at Mountain Lord Shi Zhen, who was speaking with the Great Ape King, then roared furiously at Shi Luo:

"Gone! After that man was defeated by me, another masked Heavenly Sovereign rescued him in full view of everyone, and then they both vanished without a trace!"

"I thought they were the masterminds, so after returning to the mountain, I mobilized every resource to investigate them. The Heaven-Reaching Ape Tribe's intelligence network throughout the Great Thousand World was also activated in full at once. Yet in the end, I could not find even a single hair!"

"You... you mean... This, this is impossible!" Shi Luo was about to lose his mind. How could this possibly be true?!

"Then tell me! In this Great Thousand World, how many forces can hide two Heavenly Sovereigns from the investigation of two top-tier powers?! And on this vast Sacred Buddha Continent, what Heavenly Sovereign could escape the eyes of Great Spiritual Mountain?!"

"Only him! The Mountain Lord of Spiritual Mountain, our good master, your senior brother, Master Shi Zhen! Only he could hide two Heavenly Sovereigns so completely upon this continent that even my Heaven-Reaching Ape Tribe could not find the slightest clue!"

"Tell me, if Spiritual Mountain is not purged, how can the Buddhist Sect be righteous?! If the myriad Buddhas are not destroyed, how can evil ever cease?!"

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