Jin Guang

"Sure enough, the Snake Shadow Banner doesn't suit me as I am now!"

Seated beneath the goddess statue of White Hua Monastery, Yu Chen slowly drew out the power of wishes from within the idol. He lowered his head to look at the Snake Shadow Banner in his hand and smiled bitterly to himself. After several rounds of refinement, this thing had grown increasingly powerful—and increasingly unsuited to his path.

Yu Chen now walked the path of immortality. His mana was pure, he was proficient in talismans, and he was skilled in orthodox techniques such as the Golden Light Mantra.

By classification, however, the Snake Shadow Banner was a Yin-aspected ritual implement of the unorthodox paths. It was fine for ordinary use, but when he encountered an evenly matched opponent, it became exceedingly awkward.

If Yu Chen used the Snake Shadow Banner in battle, techniques like the Golden Light Mantra would be difficult to employ. Yet once he used the Purify Heaven and Earth Spell to establish a temporary ritual ground and wield the Golden Light Mantra, the Snake Shadow Banner's power would inevitably be weakened.

Should I remake it into a banner-gate ritual implement, or focus it on the arts of curses?

Having poured no small amount of effort into painstakingly refining this ritual implement, Yu Chen was unwilling to cast it aside outright. He began considering how to transform it.

Banner-type ritual implements were well suited to serving as the core of an array. Among array treasures, the two most distinctive types were banner gates and array diagrams. Both could be carried on one's person and used to swiftly set up an array.

In the game world of Yu Chen's previous life, these two kinds of ritual implements had been greatly beloved. Nearly everyone who had achieved something in cultivation would buy one or two, just in case.

Beyond that, banner-type ritual implements could also be used for curses and sacrificial rites. Something like the Snake Shadow Banner, thick with the aura of witchcraft and fused with all kinds of Yin-aspected power, would make a fine curse implement as well.

When he had fought Wang Daoist, Yu Chen had used the Snake Shadow Banner to steal Wang Daoist's aura from the guardian deity. If Wang Daoist had not fled quickly and used a secret art to sever his own aura, Yu Chen would have sent him on his way with a curse long ago. There would have been no later developments.

But then again, compared to the Snake Shadow Banner, what I need to consider now is finding a ritual implement that feels right in my hand.

With that thought, Yu Chen's mind began to wander.

Of the ritual implements he currently possessed, the Snake Shadow Banner was already out of the running. The Yin Snake Chain and Fire Snake Dart were better suited for sneak attacks than for serving as his primary offensive implements. The Heart-Protecting Bell was a defensive implement, while the Azure Light Mirror was an auxiliary implement. Moreover, he had obtained both only recently and had no further methods to refine them, so their potential was limited.

Finally, the Yin Windmill—which Yu Chen called the Three Yin Taint-Slaying Sword—was also unsuitable to hold in hand as his main ritual implement for everyday spell battles.

Should I refine a ritual sword, or simply refine a flying sword?

As he thought, Yu Chen could not help glancing at the seventy-two Earthly Fiend Arts recorded in his cheat. One of them was specifically a sword art, while Ball Juggling, ranked among the top ten Earthly Fiend Arts, also contained a method for cultivating flying swords that leaped and danced like pellets.

Although these two arts had not yet been activated, when Yu Chen had entered unity of Heaven and man last time, much of their black coloration had already faded, revealing an ashen white hue. It would not hurt to prepare in advance.

"Is anyone here?" The sudden cold voice made Yu Chen lift his head.

Ever since he had defeated Wang Daoist, the Wang Family had gone completely quiet. Not only had no one come to trouble Yu Chen, they had even specifically sent people to the foot of Little Fragrant Mountain to tell passing worshippers that Wang Daoist had already left.

Over the past few days, aside from the Grave Mountain Old Fox coming here to ask for help and request a few things, no one had visited White Hua Monastery for several days. Hearing someone knock at the door so suddenly left Yu Chen feeling somewhat unaccustomed to it.

At the same time, Yu Chen knew that this visitor likely came with ill intent.

Still, he did not care. With a flick of his finger, the monastery gates quietly opened, and a frost-faced Daoist entered. A golden-red flame pattern marked his brow. He wore a pearl forehead ornament, his hair bound with silver rings and pinned by a Spirit Snake Piercing the Clouds hairpin. His white robe was patterned in yellow, edged in dark gold, and embroidered with golden-red talismanic patterns. A Heart-Protecting Bagua Mirror hung from his sash. Every movement he made carried a faint spiritual radiance.

Yu Chen's gaze lingered briefly on the Daoist's crown, brow, robe, and sash. Sensing spiritual fluctuations from them that were no weaker than those of his own Snake Shadow Banner, he withdrew his gaze and asked, "May I ask where you have come from, fellow Daoist?"

The Daoist looked at Yu Chen. A gleam of golden light arose in his eyes, and a bright mirror seemed to appear within his pupils. Yu Chen frowned, just about to speak, when Jin Guang cupped his hands and said, "Jin Guang of the Heaven-Human Sect greets you, fellow Daoist."

"Rogue Cultivator Yu Chen greets you, fellow Daoist!" Seeing this, Yu Chen suppressed his displeasure, returned the salute, and added, "Please forgive me, fellow Daoist. It is inconvenient for me to rise at present."

"No matter! I am simply somewhat curious. What exactly is the thing you have suppressed? Its aura is so turbid, yet it carries a trace of pure sanctity."

"Please, have a seat, fellow Daoist." Yu Chen did not answer immediately. Only after motioning for Jin Guang to sit did he ask, "Have you ever heard of Buddha Oil?"

Jin Guang, who had only just sat down, froze for a moment before solemnly asking, "The nemesis of Buddhist Dharma?"

"That's right!" Yu Chen nodded and sighed. "In the past, when Buddhist Dharma spread eastward, it borrowed the Dao Ancestor's name, turning Buddhas into immortals. Buddhas were called Great Enlightened Golden Immortals, Bodhisattvas were called Great Ones, monks were called virtuous masters, and nuns were called women of virtue. Their cultivation methods were also largely a fusion of Buddhism and Daoism, and could be called the lineage of the Great Enlightened Golden Immortals."

"Yet even acting thus, the Buddhist sect could not escape rejection by the Central Lands. Furthermore, the Buddhist sect was especially fond of converting outsiders. Many cultivators of the demonic paths and left-hand paths painstakingly studied the matter and realized a treasure within Buddhist Dharma that could restrain Buddhist teachings."

"Take a monk—though a lay believer would also do—one well versed in Buddhist Dharma, preferably a virtuous high monk. Bind him with human intestines, seal his orifices with white bones, pierce his acupoints with golden needles, and confine him within an urn. Slowly boil him over alternating fierce and gentle flames for nine, sixteen, or twenty-five days—or at most eighty-one days—and a lamp of golden liquid can be rendered. Clear in color and warm as jade, like glazed glass or beautiful jade, it is called Buddha Oil."

As he spoke, he swept his hand across the ground. Spiritual light emerged over the floor, and beneath it was reflected the phantom image of a three-headed, six-armed dharma form.

The instant that dharma form appeared, the surroundings abruptly darkened. A current of evil intent spread forth—pain, despair, wailing, helplessness, madness, cursed resentment...

"The Exalted Heavenly Worthy!" Jin Guang looked at the dharma form, and a thick stench of blood seemed to rise beneath his nose. He let out a sigh.

Then threads of bright light emerged from Jin Guang's body, drawing forth the golden light around Yu Chen. The two reflected one another, swiftly merging into one before scattering into the surroundings.

The dharma form suppressed beneath the ritual ground Yu Chen had established with the Purify Heaven and Earth Spell also twisted beneath that radiance. Then it gradually vanished, dispersing into the void and melding into the earth veins.

"What a Golden Light Mantra! Truly, ghosts and gods recoil while all evils dare not draw near." Yu Chen looked at Jin Guang in surprise. Jin Guang might have been proud, but his strength was remarkable. His cultivation was not much higher than Yu Chen's, yet his mastery of the Golden Light Mantra was far more proficient.

The guardian deity that Yu Chen had needed both the Purify Heaven and Earth Spell and the Golden Light Mantra to suppress had been purified by the other party just like that.

"You flatter me, fellow Daoist. The terror of Buddha Oil does not lie in the cruelty of its refinement, nor in the demonic arts imposed upon it. It is because it itself represents the collapse of those suffering people's faith in Buddhist Dharma and the Buddha. Its existence proclaims the helplessness of Buddhist Dharma. Thus, Buddha Oil naturally restrains Buddhist Dharma. In contrast, it does not have such a powerful restraining effect against Daoist arts such as ours."

After saying that, Jin Guang smiled again. "Compared to me, it is you, fellow Daoist, who astonishes me. As a Rogue Cultivator, you have cultivated the Golden Light Mantra to such a level entirely on your own."

"Oh?" Yu Chen found this somewhat strange and asked, "From your words, fellow Daoist, it seems there is a shortcut to cultivating the Golden Light Mantra. How did you cultivate your Golden Light Mantra?"

The Great Enlightened Golden Immortal was something Emperor Huizong of Song decreed on his own; it was not a title used when Buddhism first entered. The sequence has been reversed here.