The Trembling Ksitigarbha

Besides that, there was the ordinary star divine power shared by all stars.

It drew on starlight for power.

In his previous life, the most formidable thing the Weaver Girl Star had done was create the Milky Way with starlight!

His Cowherd Star was complementary to the Weaver Girl Star, whatever else might be said, not to mention that it had become the Black Rhino Star after the system strengthened it.

Both were bovines, but it went without saying whether an ox or a rhino was fiercer.

As Jiang Zhe slowly infused the incense offerings he had obtained earlier into it, he seemed to hear a rhinoceros roar in his ear.

Immediately afterward, there came a thunderous boom!

Jiang Zhe's soul shot out of his body in an instant, like the arrow loosed from the bow in Hou Yi Shoots the Suns. It turned into a streak of golden light and sped toward the Black Rhino Star in the sea of stars!

In the courtyard, Jiang Zhe's body still lay quietly, eyes shut and motionless.

Morning mist spilled over the courtyard wall and settled on his shoulders.

While his soul was outside his body, golden clouds arrived from the west and hovered over the summit of Mount Hua.

Beneath the golden clouds, a divine general stood with a hand on his saber, his silver armor gleaming coldly in the sunlight.

"Strange. Why does it feel like the spiritual Qi is in turmoil?" Yang Jian murmured.

The eye on his forehead opened a sliver, sweeping the area with golden light and enveloping nearly all of Mount Hua Town.

"Hmm? Why can I sense the presence of the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts?" After sweeping the area, he found neither Spirit Mountain's Buddhist light nor the source of the spiritual Qi disturbance. Instead, he discovered a profound presence like the one produced when someone cultivated the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts.

As the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts were the cultivation technique Yang Jian himself practiced, he was naturally very sensitive to their presence.

That was precisely why Yang Jian had noticed something amiss at once.

But noticing it was one thing; finding it was another.

It was as though an invisible person were cultivating, standing right there in plain sight, yet beyond one's ability to divine.

He had been looking with his Heavenly Eye! Someone even his Heavenly Eye could not find.

Why were they hiding on Mount Hua? Could they be plotting against his younger sister?

Meanwhile, in the Netherworld Underworld!

Ox-Head and Horse-Face were already quite familiar with Joyful Boy in this form.

A flicker of doubt crossed both their eyes. Hadn't this fellow only just come down a few days ago?

Could it be that he hadn't been reincarnated, but had merely gone out for a little fun before coming back?

They had intended to greet him, but when they saw his gloomy face,

the two forcibly held back. Without a word, they stepped aside, afraid of getting in his way.

Only after the golden light had disappeared completely from sight did Ox-Head nudge Horse-Face with his elbow.

These two had been on duty at Ghost Gate Pass for thousands of years. What kind of wandering ghost had they not seen?

But immortals and gods reincarnating as Buddhists, especially Joyful Boy, were truly beyond their ability to serve.

First, he was a disciple of someone at Spirit Mountain who held the status of a Buddha.

Second, this lord retained his memories through nearly every reincarnation, and he had quite a bad temper.

Especially these last two times he had come back-good heavens, he reincarnated more often than the two of them reported for duty.

"Hang on, Brother Horse, that boy looks really angry."

"Ghosts know what he went off to do. Did he reincarnate before this? Didn't he come through Ghost Gate Pass just three days ago, if I remember right?"

"He looked about the same three days ago, but his face looks even darker today." Ox-Head and Horse-Face discussed it between themselves.

Joyful Boy was a Buddha's disciple, so of course they didn't dare discuss him to his face.

But there was no real problem with talking behind his back.

"I bet he was bullied out there and has gone running to Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva to complain again." Ox-Head and Horse-Face exchanged smiles and couldn't help snickering.

Although Joyful Boy was far away, he could still hear their discussion. But with rage filling him to the brim, he had no time to care about the talk behind him.

His anger had almost reached its limit, and only when he saw Cuiyun Palace, where Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva resided, did the anger on Joyful Boy's face turn to grievance.

The anger on Joyful Boy's face turned to grievance.

"Bodhisattva, that damned fiend went too far! I had only just been born, and he killed me again."

Almost as soon as he stepped through the palace gates, Joyful Boy began wailing at the top of his lungs.

His cries could not have sounded more aggrieved.

Three lives ago, he had been a disciple of Joyful Buddha, who had commanded awe in every direction atop Spirit Mountain.

In which of those lives had people not revered and pampered him?

But these last two times had been something else. Last time, before he even knew what had happened, someone stabbed him to death.

In this life, he had only just been born and barely breathed any fresh air before being burned to ash.

The crucial thing was that, because he had reincarnated, he had not even had a chance to fight back.

Even his Buddhist power seemed to have been discovered by Yang Chan.

If it aroused her suspicions, she might even summon Yang Jian.

Then three lives of work would be ruined in a single stroke.

The more Joyful Boy thought about it, the angrier he grew, and the more he felt he had lost. His soul plopped down on the ground, and he cried without a shred of dignity, not at all like a Buddha's disciple.

"Wait, what happened? You were killed right after we sent you off to reincarnate?" Diting, who was lying by the door, asked in disbelief.

Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, who had kept his eyes closed while guiding souls to salvation, also opened them and looked over.

"What exactly happened?" When Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva saw Joyful Boy in his soul form, his expression instantly darkened.

"Bodhisattva, I didn't know that damned fiend was watching me the whole time. I had only just reincarnated and hadn't even met Yang Chan when that fiend used Samadhi True Fire to burn me to death."

"I didn't even get to see Martial Uncle Tiger-Taming!" Joyful Boy said, furious.

Ksitigarbha listened quietly, his expression unchanged.

But inwardly, he began to ponder.

The reincarnations in the previous lives had gone normally and caused no disturbances. If things had continued that way, the plan would have succeeded sooner or later.

With Joyful Buddha's many years of research into the fairies of the celestial realm, he might really have managed to win Yang Chan over in the end and steal the Heavenly Court's karmic fortune.

But ever since Joyful Boy was killed last time, something unexpected seemed to have happened.

The situation seemed to have been overturned, yet they had not even found the person who overturned it.

Though the secrets of heaven were in chaos, surely it couldn't be impossible to find even the slightest trace?

Who was it? Could someone have seen through Spirit Mountain's plan?

To hate Spirit Mountain so much...

No, to hate Joyful Buddha, and even those two Saints.

Could it be the Saint who had suffered a crushing defeat in the Battle of the Investiture of the Gods?

Almost as soon as the thought occurred to him, Ksitigarbha blocked out the distracting thoughts in his mind without hesitation.

I must not think about it!

That was a Saint. As long as he had even the slightest feeling about him in his mind, the Saint could sense it.

Especially that Saint: of all the Saints, he had the most time on his hands now.

Who knew? Once he noticed them sensing him, he might pop out of nowhere and decide to throw the situation into chaos.