Surprised, Ye Qing instinctively wanted to repeat the gesture and wipe out their consciousness once more. However, an idea occurred to him, and a devilish smirk slowly spread across his lips.

The next moment, Ye Qing’s pupils turned as black as the abyss and transformed into two black lotuses. The demonic lotuses sent out waves of invisible demonic thought as they bobbed up and down.

The gigantic creatures pouncing toward him abruptly froze in place. Their eyes grew dark and unfocused, and demonic lotuses could vaguely be seen in them.

“Go!”

Ye Qing snapped his fingers, and the gigantic creatures spread out as if receiving a command.

Although these creatures were dramatically stronger after their size increase, their spirit and consciousness remained quite weak. It took him no effort at all to control them using his Paranirmita Boundless Heavenly Demon Dependent Magia.

Paranirmita Boundless Heavenly Demon Dependent didn’t just work on humans. It worked on Strangers and other creatures as well. In fact, Strangers with little to no intelligence were much easier to control compared to humans, who were naturally intelligent and spiritual.

But of course, this was only limited to

some

low-intelligence Strangers. At his current level, the chances he might be able to control a low-intelligence yet almighty Stranger such as the Cloud Mother of Nothingness or the ghost bride was less than zero.

The reason he converted these Strangers wasn't just to save himself some annoyance. It was also to search for the speck of sand he was tracking earlier. They were clearly more suited for this task than he was.

“Found you.”

Things went as expected. Just a moment later, he saw through a big fish’s eyes a massive cottage that was hidden within the water grass.

The cottage was completely made from bones, but it did not look eerie or dark for some reason. On the contrary, faint Buddhist light coursed through it and gave it a sacred appearance.

The cottage of bones was obviously a Buddhist treasure. It was quite the high level Strange Artifact too. Even though its light was dim, and its energies were incredibly weak, it still gave off a feeling of vastness and immense power.

That’s right. The cottage of bones was the speck of sand he was tracking. It only looked like a speck of sand due to how small it was.

Due to the pond’s size-inverting characteristic, the tiny cottage was so big that it resembled a palace.

A few breaths later, Ye Qing appeared in front of the cottage of bones and felt the familiar Buddhist aura flowing through it. A genuine smile appeared on his face.

“I knew it.”

The Buddhist aura given off by the cottage of bones was exactly the same as the Buddhist radiance and Buddha Yi Pin had manifested earlier.

Unless he was sorely mistaken, Yi Pin was hiding in the cottage of bones earlier. That was why he had chosen to pursue it all the way to this pond.

Of course, the Buddhist aura given off by the cottage of bones when it was a speck of sand before was incredibly weak. Although Ye Qing felt that the aura was familiar, he couldn’t say with absolute certainty that it belonged to Yi Pin. Combined with the fact that he was busy running away from the ghost bride and the two Sages, he was unable to reveal himself to Yi Pin at first notice.

Now that the cottage of bones was bigger, and its aura was much thicker than before, whatever puzzlement Ye Qing had before was all gone.

“He is here!”

Ye Qing stepped in front of the entrance and sensed Yi Pin’s aura almost immediately. Eyes lighting up, he disappeared and reappeared inside the cottage.

“Huh? It’s fake!”

However, the cottage suddenly flashed with Buddhist light and turned upside down as soon as he dashed inside the building. At the same time, two gigantic 卍 symbols descended from the sky. One of them was rotating clockwise, and the other anti-clockwise. ȒἈℕȮꞖÊṩ

The clockwise rotation of the 卍 symbol represented the process of becoming a Buddha, and the anti-clockwise rotation a demon.

The two contrasting powers combined into a Buddhist mark that sealed the cottage of bones completely.

There was no mistake at this point. It was a trap!

……

“Amitabha, this poor monk told you that someone was following us. Do you believe me now?”

At the same time, a gigantic hand shining with the light of Buddha grabbed the cottage of bones and lifted it up.

At the same time, two gigantic heads poked out of the swarm of water grass and examined the cottage of bones.

The two heads were as big as mountains. Each one was bigger than even the cottage of bones.

One head was completely bare and hairless, and the other wore a Taoist bun and a vulgar expression.

Who were they? They were Uncertain Monk and Taoist Yi Pin, of course.

“You have sharp eyes, monk!” Yi Pin praised him. “It was worth having a pair of large eyes that could scare children to bed!”

“But of course! My eyes are way better than a certain someone whose eyes are wide open, but might as well be blind!” Uncertain Monk shot back.

“Cut the bullcrap and show me who our pursuer is already.”

Yi Pin could not be bothered to trade retorts with Uncertain Monk right now. “I also want to ask him if he’s seen my brother.”

“You’re saying that what happened earlier was the result of your helper’s machinations?” Uncertain Monk asked.

“But of course!” Yi Pin declared confidently. “Why else would Sages appear out of nowhere and fight against the ghost bride?”

“Or maybe, the Sages saw the light of my Buddhist treasure earlier and got greedy,” Uncertain Monk retorted.

“Hah… there’s no point in guessing. We just need to ask the intruder to find out the truth.”

Yi Pin warned, “Be careful though. He’s no slouch.”

“You worry too much.”

It was Uncertain Monk’s turn to act confident. “Doesn’t matter if he’s a tiger or a dragon, anyone who enters my Sarira Cottage who isn’t me is but a powerless ant!”

As if on cue, the Sarira Cottage started shaking violently. The Buddhist mark was flickering erratically as well.

“What the?”

Uncertain Monk blanched as he formed a circle using his left middle finger and thumb. A vase surrounded by a dragon and a lion immediately appeared outside the Sarira Cottage.

“Lanke Eight Mudras: Boundless Absolute Mudra”

The Boundless Absolute Mudra weighed 495,000 kilograms. It was capable of suppressing evil and sealing demons with its boundless power.

The vibrations affecting the Sarira Cottage immediately stilled after the mudra took effect.

“Boundless Buddha, that caught me by surprise!”

Uncertain Monk let out a sigh of relief.

“I told you to be careful. You’re the type who doesn’t listen until you get slapped in the face, aren’t you?” Yi Pin said snarkily.

“Amitabha, stop jinxing us and shut your trap.”

Uncertain Monk shot Yi Pin a glare, but something caused him to turn pale and spun back toward the Sarira Cottage.

It was too late. The Buddhist mark on the Sarira Cottage abruptly exploded, and a figure dashed out into the open.

He was still in mid-air when he raised his right fist and thrust three inches forward.

Wind and thunder could exist within a span of three inches. An entire could exist in less.

In one punch, the attacker shattered the Boundless Absolute Mudra, the toughest and most anti-demon mudra of the Lanke Temple.

The fist intent still wasn’t exhausted after shattering the Boundless Absolute Mudra. It sailed forward and struck Uncertain Monk squarely in the forehead.

The attacker’s fist was smaller than an ant compared to Uncertain Monk’s hill-sized head. However, its intent was not. The intent could shake the clouds and cleanse the firmament.

Rumble!

As a result, Uncertain Monk collapsed as soon as the fist made contact with his forehead.

“Motherfucker!”

The sight of Uncertain Monk sent flying in one punch scared the shit out of Yi Pin as a matter of course. He immediately turned around and tried to run away.

And why wouldn’t he? It wasn’t like he was masochistic.

“Running away already? It’s rude not to greet your guest, you know?”

Unfortunately, a taunting voice rang beside his ear as soon as he twitched a muscle.