"My dear son-in-law, Linger... perhaps... perhaps your father truly has grown old, too old to bear this Spirit Race Scepter anymore." The patriarch flicked a finger gently, and an emerald-green scepter appeared in the air.
He gazed silently at the scepter, utterly lost.
This scepter was the token of the Spirit Race patriarch.
An ancestral token that commanded the entire race.
The current grand elder had led the Spirit Race for over ten thousand years, yet without the scepter, he had never been able to communicate with the Sacred Tree or truly claim the patriarch's seat.
"Father-in-law, the Spirit Race has reached the brink of life and death. You're the only one who can turn heaven and earth around. You mustn't lose heart," Lin Xiaosu said.
"Linger told me that the Devil Race invaded the Spirit Race, turning Yin-Yang upside down, blurring right and wrong, casting aside the ancestors, and filling everything with foul smoke and miasma. Only then did I rack my brains for a way out and think of seeking a Buddhist Treasure. But this road leads nowhere. What other means remain?"
"There is one!" Lin Xiaosu said. "I have a Buddhist Treasure. Though I don't yet know how effective it is, perhaps we can try it!"
"You... you have a Buddhist Treasure?" The Thousand-Spirit Saintess was astonished.
The patriarch, however, thought little of it and shook his head gently. "It's hardly unusual for you to have acquired a Buddhist Treasure or two while traveling the mortal world, my dear son-in-law. Unfortunately, ordinary Buddhist Treasures are utterly useless against Heavenly Punishment of this kind."
"Please look, Father-in-law!" Lin Xiaosu raised his hand gently, and a Bodhi descended from the air into his palm.
The instant the Bodhi arrived, the entire Netherworld Space fell completely silent.
Buddhist light flowed