This was the third time.
As the saying went, once was chance, twice was coincidence, but there wouldn't be a third time.
If he still couldn't finish the job this time, Lu Bian was really going to lose his temper.
The third time he set out to carve and sculpt the statue of the Third Holy Mother, Lu Bian took twenty-seven days to complete it.
When the stone statue of the Third Holy Mother was finished, no strange sign appeared, nor did anything unexpected happen on the spot like it had the previous two times. It seemed nothing had happened at all.
Lu Bian happily looked toward the stone statue of the Great Sage standing to one side. The Great Sage really is incredible~!!
So he'd managed to finish the job this time, right?
Lu Bian had someone notify the old man to come over and inspect the work he'd completed.
"Oh my~!"
"Good, good! This is really good!!"
The old man came over and circled the statue again and again, inspecting it carefully from every angle. He only looked, not daring to touch the statue even once.
"Are you satisfied?" Lu Bian asked him.
"Satisfied? I'm more than satisfied!!"
"Now we just have to wait for the Holy Mother Temple to be finished," the old man said.
"Is construction on the Holy Mother Temple going smoothly?" Lu Bian asked curiously.
It had taken him three tries just to carve the statue of the Third Holy Mother, so he figured building the temple couldn't be easy either.
"We've run into some trouble."
"But this old man believes it's all minor. If we can't build it this year, then we'll certainly get it done next year."
The old man didn't tell Lu Bian what trouble they'd run into building the Holy Mother Temple. He just kept repeating that they'd be able to finish it.
From the way the old man spoke, it seemed the trouble they'd encountered was no small matter.
"Hey, why is there another statue here?"
After inspecting the statue of the Third Holy Mother, the old man was surprised to discover another imposing stone statue in the courtyard where Lu Bian worked.
"Who's this?"
"Master, could you tell me?"
"What? You don't recognize him, old man? This is the Victorious Fighting Buddha."
"The Victorious Fighting Buddha?"
"Oh, it's Pilgrim Sun, Sun the Great Sage, who escorted Master Xuanzang to Western Heaven to worship Buddha and seek the scriptures. In the end, Sun Wukong was bestowed the title of Victorious Fighting Buddha~!!"
"That's right~! It's him."
"Hmm..." The old man gazed at the stone statue of the Great Sage, deep in thought.
"What form of the Victorious Fighting Buddha is this?"
"It's the Great Sage in his full battle regalia, as he was during Havoc in Heaven," Lu Bian said.
"No wonder he looks so fierce and defiant."
"It's not that bad."
After finishing his inspection, the old man paid Lu Bian the full amount he was owed. Then he went to urge the workers building the Holy Mother Temple to keep at it.
Lu Bian collected his wages and made a tidy profit. He immediately had Stubborn Donkey carry the money and took him to the best restaurant in Luzhou for a huge feast.
After savoring a fine meal, Lu Bian also had a roast chicken packed up to enjoy as a late-night snack.
"Ee-aw..." the donkey brayed. It stopped and refused to move.
"You stupid donkey, why'd you stop?"
Lu Bian smacked the donkey's rump, but Stubborn Donkey wouldn't budge.
"Huh? You're scared because a dog's blocking the road?"
"Ee-hee..." The donkey turned around and gave Lu Bian a meaningful look.
Lu Bian walked toward the dog blocking their way.
From a distance, the stray dog blocking the road hadn't seemed like much. But when Lu Bian drew closer, he saw that it was a huge black dog.
Its coat gleamed, and it was clearly no stray.
"A dog?"
Lu Bian sensed trouble.
The black dog growled low at Lu Bian, baring its mouthful of fangs. It crouched in an attack stance, facing him.
"Hmph~!"
Lu Bian snorted, and in that instant the dog lunged at him.
"Damn dog, how dare you look down on me~!"
Lu Bian raised his fist and swung at the big black dog.
Lu Bian's punch was fast, but the black dog was faster.
The big black dog deftly dodged Lu Bian's punch and knocked him to the ground in a single pounce.
Only when the dog knocked him down did Lu Bian realize how extraordinary it was. Its strength was absurd.
"Woof, woof, woof~!!!"
"Behold the power of the Ninth Heaven!!"
"What's with this dog!!"
He mustered the strength of 90,000 horses through Magnetic Rotation, yet Lu Bian still couldn't throw the big black dog off him.
The big black dog opened its jaws and tore into Lu Bian, biting savagely and deliberately targeting his hands.
"I know who you are now, you dog!"
"You're Erlang Shen's Howling Celestial Dog!!"
Lu Bian clearly saw intelligence in the big black dog's eyes.
Their gazes met. The big black dog seemed to be asking Lu Bian, So what if you know who I am?
Indeed, Lu Bian had been knocked to the ground by a dog. Both his hands had been bitten so badly that the wounds were deep enough to expose the bones, which had been crushed as well.
The big black dog jumped off Lu Bian.
Blood poured from Lu Bian's mangled hands. They were ruined.
His body trembled with pain as he glared at the Howling Celestial Dog.
"Today, I got bullied by a dog."
"I, Lu Bian, am worth less than a dog."
The black dog, the Howling Celestial Dog, spat onto the ground. Half of Lu Bian's finger landed there.
The Howling Celestial Dog watched Lu Bian for a moment, then suddenly took off, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
"..."
"You ruined my hands so I can't carve statues anymore. Is that what you meant, Erlang Shen?"
Lu Bian was truly angry now.
Angry!
But what could he do besides get angry?
"Just wait."
"I'll pay you back."
Lu Bian staunched the bleeding from his hands and hurried toward the courtyard where he worked.
When Lu Bian entered the courtyard, what he'd feared had indeed happened.
The Third Holy Mother's statue, the one he'd carved for the third time, had been destroyed. The Great Sage's statue had been destroyed too.
Lu Bian spotted a dog's paw print on the ground. The Howling Celestial Dog had done this as well.
The third time was the last straw. True Lord Erlang felt the same way.
He hadn't acted personally. He'd sent his dog instead.
"..."
Magnetic Rotation·120,000 horses of force!!
Amid his tightly suppressed fury, Lu Bian's magnetic force broke through. He now wielded the power of the Twelfth Heaven.
"But this level of strength..."
"Still isn't enough."
Lu Bian spoke in a low voice.
He thought back to when the Howling Celestial Dog had pounced on him. His Ninth Heaven strength had been utterly useless against it. He'd been pinned down and bitten like a toy.
"I have to pay back the wages."
As he spoke, Lu Bian wrapped cloth around the terrible wounds on his hands and went to find the old man again, taking the donkey with him.
The statue of the Third Holy Mother had been destroyed. He wouldn't carve it again. He didn't want to keep the money the old man had paid him for carving the statue, either.
Lu Bian was still furious.
Just looking at those wages made him angry.
"Even the Great Sage's statue was destroyed..."
"Aren't they afraid of the Great Sage?"
"Well, if they're not afraid, they're not afraid."
"..."
Lu Bian understood now.
You could pray to the gods and Buddha for a time, but you couldn't rely on them forever.
In the end, people still had to rely on themselves.
Before you continue