83: Now that you have seen the deity, why don’t you bow down?

As if struck by lightning, the Old Monk, with the shadowy figure formed by black mist behind him, retreated seven or eight steps.

The Old Monk's expression was gloomy, and the shadowy figure behind him rippled.

"How can your blade harm me?"

Jiang Lan said, "Why can't my blade harm you?"

If Jiang Lan were still Cultivating the initial Yan Military Saber Technique, he might not have been able to harm this shadowy figure made of mist.

But his Yan Military Saber Technique had long since transformed into the Blazing Sun Demon Suppression Blade.

Under the great sun, all evil disperses, nothing cannot be cut down!

The Old Monk's eyes flashed, and some of the malevolent Qi dissipated.

The shadowy figure behind him re-entered his body. After a moment of silence, he said,

"Little brat, how about a deal?"

Jiang Lan's lips curved into a sneer.

First he wanted to kill him, now seeing that he couldn't win, he wanted to negotiate. How could there be such a good thing in the world?

"No deal."

Jiang Lan's figure flickered in front of the Old Monk, and the long blade in his hand drew a golden-red streak in mid-air, once again beheading the Old Monk.

This demon was just as he thought: outwardly strong but inwardly weak.

He seemed to put on a grand show, but in reality, he was only at the seventh or eighth level of Gathering Yuan.

Such trash, yet he dared to try and negotiate terms with him?

Wishful thinking.

The Old Monk's head rolled to the ground.

But just then, the head stopped after hitting a prayer mat, and its mouth opened and closed, speaking again:

"Little brat, you can harm me, but you can't kill me. Why not calmly listen to what I have to say?"

Jiang Lan's eyes flickered.

Although he was prepared, seeing the head speak again, he couldn't help but feel surprised.

Just then, the Old Monk's head flew up again, returning to its empty neck.

Seeing this, Jiang Lan said nothing and swung his blade again.

The head rolled down.

"This Venerable One said, you cannot kill me."

The head flew back the way it came again.

Jiang Lan's gaze was calm, and he swung another blade.

As if time was flowing backward, the scene replayed again.

Jiang Lan pursed his lips and swung another blade.

Only this time, before the head could land, he consecutively struck several more times, dismembering the Old Monk's entire body into pieces.

However, under the effect of the Blazing Sun Demon Suppression Blade, the Old Monk's wounds did not bleed, but were all charred black like charcoal.

"It's just a Physical Body. Even if you chop this Physical Body into mincemeat, it won't harm me in the slightest."

The scattered limbs slowly returned to their positions, reassembling into a complete body.

Jiang Lan's eyes flickered for a moment. He didn't swing his blade again, but instead asked,

"What deal?"

"Hehehe..."

Although the Old Monk's eyes were still filled with negative emotions, a rather exaggerated smile appeared on his face.

Jiang Lan's expression remained stern.

"This Venerable One has no deep enmity with you, and you don't need to relentlessly pursue this Venerable One."

Jiang Lan's hand gripping the blade tightened slightly.

"If you don't want to do this a few more times, then stop calling yourself 'This Venerable One' every other sentence."

For some reason, every time he heard a demon refer to himself as 'This Venerable One', he felt disgusted.

The Old Monk didn't dwell on the issue of address, but instead said,

"Ever since I came to this place, I've only enjoyed some incense offerings; I've never harmed anyone."

Jiang Lan looked up at the purple-black clay sculpture.

The struggling little clay figures were lifelike, and at the foot of the statue was a small mountain of piled-up corpses.

"You've never harmed anyone. Do you even believe that yourself?"

The Old Monk smiled.

"That's the statue of the Esteemed One. I am merely a wisp of a separated soul, born in this temple since then. How could I harm anyone?"

Esteemed One?

Hearing this, Jiang Lan finally understood where the problem lay.

He had felt a bit strange earlier.

The demon had made such a grand entrance, but the strength he displayed earlier simply didn't match such a spectacle.

Jiang Lan pondered, then suddenly thought of something and asked,

"How long have you been here?"

The Old Monk replied, "I can't remember the exact date, but it should be about two years."

It matched.

"Two years ago, all the monks in this temple died. Do you know about that?"

"Of course I know. If the original monks hadn't died, how could a new divine statue be erected?" The Old Monk said, "At that time, the Esteemed One had just separated me, and killing the monks was done by the Esteemed One's subordinate demon soldiers and generals."

So that's how it was.

Jiang Lan understood.

The divine statue in the Mahavira Hall was so massive.

If no major event occurred in the temple, it would be almost impossible to dismantle an already completed divine statue and rebuild it.

But if all the monks died, the rebuilding of the temple would not attract as much attention.

Jiang Lan then thought of Bao Jing. He pointed to where Bao Jing was lying in the distance.

"That little monk, have you seen him?"

"I have some impression, but I can't recall."

"When Bao Ping Temple was wiped out, he didn't die."

"Then I remember. He witnessed the true face of the Esteemed One. But if I recall correctly, he was just a young novice monk at that time, just an ordinary person. It's strange that he didn't go mad after witnessing the Esteemed One's true face."

Jiang Lan didn't reply.

From what the Old Monk had just said, he could already deduce many things.

Whether it was this demon lord or the Esteemed One he spoke of, their main ability should be to influence or control the minds of others.

Moreover, if he was truly just a separated soul as he claimed, then there should be more than one separated soul.

Perhaps, other larger temples also had them.

Jiang Lan looked up, "You've told me so much, aren't you afraid I'll go find your Esteemed One?"

"Find the Esteemed One? You?" The Old Monk sounded as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world. "Your meager strength is fine against me, but if you truly encounter my true self, you wouldn't even know how you died just from a glance."

Jiang Lan narrowed his eyes.

He was a bit confused. Was this separated soul truly lacking in intelligence, or was he setting a trap for him?

Why would anyone reveal their own secrets to an outsider?

"First, tell me, how do you want to make a deal?"

The Old Monk replied:

"It's very simple. We'll mind our own business. I'll continue to enjoy my incense offerings, and you go do whatever you need to do. We'll both pretend today never happened."

Jiang Lan fell silent, seemingly deep in thought.

However, he wasn't thinking about whether to agree.

Instead, he was contemplating how to kill this thing.

The story was over; now it was time to eliminate the demon.

He hadn't gone through all this trouble just to listen to this ghostly thing tell him stories.

However, killing him wouldn't be easy either.

Even if he chopped the Old Monk's Physical Body into pieces, the demon could reassemble himself.

Therefore, attacking the Physical Body would definitely be useless.

Jiang Lan had already determined that the shadowy figure made of mist earlier was the true body of this separated soul.

To kill him, he still needed to target that ball of mist.

It was just that the mist was hidden somewhere unknown within the Old Monk's body.

He still needed to find a way to trick his true body out first.

Just as Jiang Lan was pondering, a sudden unusual sound came from behind him.

He turned to look and saw Bao Jing had stood up at some point.

"Since you have seen This Venerable One, why do you not bow?"