"Benefactors, the Sea of Bitterness has no shore. Turn back, and the shore is there."
The Nine-Ring Tin Staff swayed as the Buddhist practitioner walked. Compassion filled his eyes, and the Brocade Kasaya on his shoulders shone with holy Buddhist light, driving away the chilling demonic miasma.
Holding his palms together in a Buddhist greeting, Su Lin surveyed the extraordinary beings before him. Western werewolves, vampires, and witches stood alongside Eastern demons, monsters, evil spectres, and zombies. A horror film could have found its entire cast right here.
"None of you look like good people to me. Why not sit down and listen to this humble monk preach?" Su Lin hesitated slightly, then looked at the others on the arena floor and said earnestly, "It might shave a little off your sins. In your next life, you might even be born into one of those lucky jobs with four days on, three days off, and no eight a.m. starts."
"My girlfriend told me a human-shaped divine fruit from her Eastern Divine Realm had arrived at Qiongqi Tower. Eat it, and you gain a vast amount of Dharma Power. That must be you." A tree spirit with a human face transformed into a blond, middle-aged man, low chuckles spilling from his mouth.
Judging by what Su Lin sensed, the fellow brimmed with divine power. Was he a demigod?
"They even have cross-border plant romances here?" Su Lin rubbed his freshly shaven scalp and asked curiously, "What's your girlfriend's background, Your Excellency?"
The tree spirit licked his lips and wrapped an arm around an old woman in dark red. A silver comb-shaped ornament adorned her hair; she was stooped and bent, frail with age.
The old woman blushed coyly and gave the tree spirit's chest a gentle thump. "Monk, come with us