Chapter 36 Gods and Buddhas

Chen Mu felt the pressure intensify, his Protective Aura shook violently, and a trace of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth. The situation was precarious.

But at the moment of life and death, Chen Mu actually calmed down, no longer trying to fight according to the logic of reality.

"Since it is my dream, why not... let my imagination run wild?"

An extremely bold, even somewhat absurd idea, accompanied by some deeply ingrained memories from his previous life, emerged uncontrollably.

The dream began to tremble, twist, and reorganize violently!

The Cat-Faced Old Woman was horrified to find that the familiar scenery around her was rapidly fading, replaced by brilliant golden light and vast auspicious clouds!

Buddhist chants resounded in the sky, and infinite golden light instantly dispersed the blood mist and darkness, illuminating the entire dream realm into a solemn and sacred space.

Chen Mu stood amidst the golden light. Before him, figures gradually solidified from the halos.

First appeared three Bodhisattvas with solemn appearances and vast auras.

The one in the center wore a jeweled crown, held a pure vase, and was compassionate and saving.

The one on the left rode a green lion, held a wisdom sword, and had a majestic appearance.

The one on the right rode a white elephant, held a ruyi, and was surrounded by auspicious clouds.

Behind the Bodhisattva figures, the golden light grew even brighter.

One by one, Arhats appeared, some glaring with rage, some smiling with compassion, some holding Magic Treasures, some stepping on auspicious clouds.

The Dragon-Subduing Arhat had golden light in his eyes, the Tiger-Taming Arhat's voice was like a booming bell, along with the Pagoda-Bearing Arhat, the Sitting Arhat, the Crossing-River Arhat...

Shadows flickered. Although not as clear as the Bodhisattvas, the immense Buddha Power and sacred pressure they gathered filled the entire dream space like mountains and seas.

"What... what is this?!"

The Cat-Faced Old Woman had lived for a hundred years; when had she ever seen such a formation?

Not to mention seeing it, she hadn't even heard of it.

Bodhisattvas? Arhats? What were those? Were they deities more powerful than the Mountain God?

In the Souls of the villagers she had devoured, there were only the most rudimentary concepts of ghosts and gods. How could there ever be such a systematic, magnificent Buddhist scene full of supreme majesty and compassion!

"Prodigy, surrender now!"

"The bitter sea is boundless; turn back to the shore."

"Namo Amitabha..."

Buddhist chants rang out, Bodhisattvas lowered their brows, and Vajras glared in anger.

This realm was transformed by Chen Mu's thoughts, drawing inspiration from the scenes of the heavens and Buddhas in Journey to the West from his previous life.

Perhaps there was no real Divine Power, but the spirit of righteousness and restraint against evil contained within it was magnified to the extreme in this mentally dominated dream realm.

The Cat-Faced Old Woman was completely frozen in place.

Her entire body's demonic power was boiling, her resentment was screaming. Facing this Buddha light that seemed to purify everything, her fierce and evil aura rapidly dissipated.

"No... impossible! This is an illusion! A dream illusion!"

The Cat-Faced Old Woman shrieked, trying to dispel the fear in her heart, but her voice seemed exceptionally weak amidst the constant chanting.

However, the scene that froze her Soul was yet to come.

The infinite golden light suddenly converged inward. Above the phantoms of the heavens and Buddhas, a Tathagata golden body, indescribable in its vastness and solemnity, slowly appeared.

He sat on a golden lotus throne, with a protuberance on his head, a face like a full moon, earlobes reaching his shoulders, eyes filled with compassion, overlooking all living beings, discerning Karma, and observing the arising and ceasing of conditions.

As soon as he appeared, he became the center of this dream world. All Laws and sounds bowed to him.

The Tathagata did not look at the Cat-Faced Old Woman, but lowered his eyelids.

A peaceful and magnificent voice, as if coming from beyond the Nine Heavens and resounding in the depths of the heart, slowly rang out.

"Evil creature, obsessed and unrepentant, entangled in resentment, you have committed boundless killing Karma."

"The bitter sea is boundless; turn back to the shore."

"Thump!"

The Cat-Faced Old Woman's knees suddenly went weak, and she involuntarily knelt on the ground.

Under the shroud of Buddha light that combined supreme majesty and compassion, all the resentment, hostility, and demonic power within her body rapidly melted and dissipated.

The Hundred-Phase Soul Devouring technique backfired on her!

The faces of the resentful Souls she had devoured and imprisoned revealed looks of liberation in the Buddha light, gradually fading and dissipating.

She felt the power she had worked so hard to Cultivate and accumulate rapidly slipping away, and an unprecedented fear swept over her.

"I was wrong... I was really wrong... Spare me... Spare me..."

The Cat-Faced Old Woman cried incoherently, smashing her forehead against the ground as if to redeem her endless sins.

"I shouldn't have... I shouldn't have eaten my grandson... I shouldn't have turned everyone into monsters... Sob... I am in so much pain... Save me..."

At this moment, she seemed to have broken free from the erosion of her demonic nature and returned to being that pitiful old woman waiting to die in the Death-Abandonment Kiln.

Her crying was shrill and desperate, evoking pity.

Chen Mu stood alone in front of the phantoms of the heavens and Buddhas, his face slightly pale.

Maintaining such a grand dream scene consumed a huge amount of his Mental Energy.

But his eyes were sharp, firmly locked on the Cat-Faced Old Woman whose mind was in chaos.

Sangye Village was littered with corpses and devastated. The men and women imprisoned and tortured, the infants used as food, Blind Li's madness, the old dog's dying state... The culprit of all this was right before his eyes.

Repentance? If repentance were useful, what would the Demon Suppression Division be for?

If tears could wash away sins, how would the Souls of the innocent find peace?

A cold arc curved at the corner of Chen Mu's mouth.

A monster is a monster; how can one easily believe its words and actions? Especially in this dream, deception is common.

He no longer hesitated. Taking advantage of the moment when the Cat-Faced Old Woman's mind was completely broken and her defenses were at their lowest, he poured all his will into the sword in his hand.

The sword hummed, concentrating all its force on the tip, and thrust straight at the back of the Cat-Faced Old Woman who was kneeling on the ground!

This strike was meant to completely annihilate the monster's Soul in the dream and sever the core spirituality of her physical body in reality!

However, just as the sword tip was about to touch the Cat-Faced Old Woman's body.

The face that had been covered in tears and regret suddenly revealed extreme spite and cunning.

In her scarlet vertical pupils, where was there any sign of repentance? Only naked killing intent remained.

"Boy, you've been tricked!"

"I, this Old Ancestor, have cultivated for a hundred years, experienced the bitterness of the human world, and transformed into a monster. How could I truly be fooled by this nonsensical illusion?"

"Die for me!"

The body kneeling on the ground suddenly sprang up, with speed reaching the extreme.

On her pair of black sharp claws, all her remaining demonic power and resentment were condensed, stabbing straight at Chen Mu's heart!

This sudden attack, at such close range, with the timing calculated to the extreme, was clearly a long-planned, fatal counterattack.

She had not been converted at all; all her repentance and crying were disguises, just to paralyze Chen Mu and trade for this life-reversing strike!

Chen Mu's alarm bells rang wildly. He had ultimately underestimated the cunning and ferocity of this old hag.

At such a close distance, with such a violent counterattack, even with the Divine Void Step, it was difficult to avoid it completely.

Life and death hung by a thread!

Just at this critical moment, another change occurred.

The Bodhisattvas and Arhats constructed by Chen Mu's Mental Energy, and even the looming Tathagata light and shadow high in the Void Realm, seemed to sense this extreme counterattack and life-and-death crisis.

A loud Buddhist chant suddenly resounded in the Void Realm.

"Om — mani — padme — hum."