253: Chapter 253 Before the Buddha's Arrival, the Dharma Protectors Have Appeared

Wu Li reminded.

She quickly took the blood bead from her bosom. A dark red light shone from the heart of the bead, forming a layer of pale red mist around her, blocking the golden Buddha light that was seeping into her skin.

She caught her breath, gripped the bead tightly, and her voice carried a layer of suppressed urgency.

"The suppression here is so strong."

Wu Li did not answer. His Blood Pupil swept across the surroundings to confirm the direction, then he stepped forward toward the depths of the grotto-heaven.

Bai Chi gripped the blood bead and followed his footsteps. The blood bead's dark red light continued to shine around her, keeping the golden Buddha light seeping from the ground and the air at a distance, allowing her to maintain a normal movement speed.

The interior of the grotto-heaven was spacious, with the dome several zhang high from the ground. The stone walls were carved with Buddhist scriptures and dharma seal patterns, and golden light flowed slowly along those carvings, as if still maintaining some kind of operation.

The ground was paved with bluish-gray stone slabs. A layer of extremely faint golden mist seeped out from the gaps, floating along the ground and winding around their ankles.

In the distance, several figures were already scattered in different directions, each dealing with the suppression of the Buddha light, maintaining a certain distance from each other.

"Do you feel anything?"

Wu Li did not rush to move.

He squatted down, pressed his claw tips against the bluish-gray stone slab, and gently scraped along the texture of the slab surface, scraping off a layer of extremely fine grayish-white stone powder.

The stone powder fell to the ground, was wrapped by the layer of golden mist, and slowly sank into the gaps.

He stood up, his Blood Pupil opened again, and a scarlet light swept across the entire grotto-heaven.

The interior of the grotto-heaven was rectangular, long in the east-west direction and narrow in the north-south direction.

The dome gradually rose from the entrance and extended toward the depths.

The stone walls were covered with Buddhist scriptures and dharma seal patterns, with golden light flowing slowly along those carvings, extending all the way from the entrance to the end.

The stone slabs on the ground were arranged according to a certain pattern; each slab was the same size, and the spacing was uniform.

The surface of the stone slabs near the entrance was smooth, but the further one went into the depths, the more obvious the wear marks on the edges of the slabs became, as if they had been stepped on for a long time.

On both sides of the grotto walls, a bronze lamp was embedded every few zhang. The lamps were already empty, but a very thin layer of golden sediment remained on the surface of the lamp bases, like traces left after the lamp oil had dried up.

The air felt like a stone slab that had been heated for years and was slowly releasing heat.

"I feel…"

Bai Chi held the blood bead and closed her eyes slightly. The blood bead's dark red light shone steadily around her, separating her from the surrounding Buddha light.

After a few breaths, she opened her eyes, her gaze passing through the space in front and landing on a magnificent temple in the distance.

The temple seemed to be located at the end of the grotto-heaven.

The entire structure was built of grayish-white stone, with the roof covered in dark golden tiles. The edges of the tiles reflected light, as if they had been finely polished, not looking at all like a place that had been abandoned for thousands of years.

The temple gate there was wide open, and a layer of pale golden light shone from within, brighter than the light in other parts of the grotto-heaven.

A row of bronze bells hung from the eaves.

Bai Chi raised her hand and pointed in that direction: "Old Ancestor, there."

Wu Li glanced in the direction she pointed. His Blood Pupil paused at the edge of the temple gate, confirming that there were no traces of a Formation on either side of the door frame, before withdrawing his gaze.

"Let's go."

He did not say anything more and walked toward the temple.

Bai Chi followed at his side, the blood bead's dark red light shining around her, pushing back the golden mist surging along the ground by a fraction.

Apart from Wu Li's side, the locations where the Human Race and the Yao Race landed after entering the grotto-heaven were not far apart, only about a hundred zhang away.

E Kuang landed in an area filled with stone pillars. The surfaces of the stone pillars were covered with Buddhist scriptures, and golden light flowed along the scriptures, illuminating the ground between the stone pillars clearly.

"Om!"

The sound of Buddha surrounded him, pressing down on Patriarch Ekuang.

"Hmph!"

Patriarch Ekuang snorted coldly. Opening his mouth, he spat out a blood bead. It was clear that Patriarch Ekuang also knew the situation inside the grotto-heaven and had prepared a blood bead in advance.

"The Opportunity here belongs to this king."

Patriarch Ekuang laughed loudly and walked directly toward the depths of the grotto-heaven.

However, just a few zhang in front of him, the figure of Colonel Liu Zhong was emerging from a patch of golden mist. When he landed, his blade was already drawn, and a bluish-gray spiritual light shone on the blade.

He steadied his figure and saw E Kuang at a glance. Without hesitation, he flipped his blade, and a bluish-gray blade aura flew out from the blade: "Blue Evil Slash!"

"Boom!"

The blade aura swept along the ground, carving a dark trail through the Buddha light.

E Kuang was stunned. He did not dodge but raised his right claw. Dark red Demon Power condensed in his palm, and he forcefully suppressed that blade aura.

"Boom!!!"

The blade aura exploded in his palm, shattering into several pieces that splashed to the sides, landing on the stone pillars and scratching a few thin, shallow cracks on the surface of the Buddhist scripture carvings.

"Damn Yao Race, die!"

Colonel Liu Zhong roared, and his blade struck again. Because of the suppression of the Buddha Dharma, Patriarch Ekuang was affected to some extent, and this influence made Patriarch Ekuang unable to exert his full power to kill Colonel Liu Zhong, causing both sides to engage in a fierce battle.

…As everyone entered one after another.

Deep in the grotto-heaven.

Two stone statues sat upright on the high platforms on both sides of the temple.

The stone statues were about three zhang tall, their bodies covered with a layer of grayish-white stone skin, the surface covered with fine cracks, like a mud shell that had been air-dried for many years.

Buddha light seeped out from the cracks in the stone skin, flowing slowly along the cracks, forming long, thin golden lines on the surface of the stone statues.

As Wu Li and Bai Chi stepped into the square in front of the temple, the heads of the stone statues slowly lifted. The stone skin began to crack from the forehead, peeling off piece by piece, revealing the golden material layer underneath.

The cracks extended down along the cheeks, passing through the bridge of the nose, corners of the mouth, and chin. Each crack emitted a brighter layer of light.

The stone skin at the eye sockets fell off in one piece, revealing two pairs of hollow Buddha eyes. There were no pupils, no irises, only two clusters of golden light suspended deep in the eye sockets, neither moving nor contracting.

The Buddha light spread outward from the heads of the stone statues, forming a circle of pale golden halo around the statues, pressing the golden mist on the square ground down by several inches.

The stone statues' lips moved slightly. The lip seams, which had been closed for who knows how many years, finally opened a thin line. A sound came from deep within the stone statues, slow and heavy, colliding back and forth in the grotto-heaven: "In the presence of the Buddha's Son, the Protector has appeared…"

"I go…"

One of the stone statues stood up from the high platform. The stone skin shattered layer by layer along the knees, waist, abdomen, and shoulder blades. The debris fell to the ground and slowly dissipated in the Buddha light.

It stepped down from the high platform. Each footstep on the stone stairs made a dull sound, leaving a pale golden impression on the surface of the stone stairs after it landed.

It did not look back and walked toward a side corridor at the edge of the square. The Buddha light at the entrance of the side corridor lit up as it passed by, then immediately returned to normal.

The light deep in the side corridor was dimmer than in the square, and the Buddha light weakened at the corner. The stone statue's figure paused for a moment at the corner, then continued to move forward, disappearing at the end of the side corridor.