Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest-Chapter 598 - 71 Setting Thousand Buddha Temple Ablaze

Chapter 598: Chapter 71: Setting Thousand Buddha Temple Ablaze to Rescue Zhou Hongyu

Chapter 598 -71: Setting Thousand Buddha Temple Ablaze to Rescue Zhou Hongyu

Yan Yu, after arriving at Maowu City, first changed into the local attire and put on sunglasses before confidently striding toward the direction of the hostel, disguised as a tourist from out of town.

High-ranking sorcerers were often engrossed in enhancing their own power and disliked fussing over mundane affairs, so among one hundred sorcerers’ territories, ninety-nine were in a state of anarchy. The larger areas were split among lower-ranking sorcerer chieftains; hence the security state in each area depended on how these chieftains managed it.

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Among the four main professions of sorcerers, curse masters and dark sorcerers practiced “Black Magic,” often involving blood and flesh and ritual sacrifice, resulting in a more violent temperament; curse technique masters and tattooed charm masters, on the other hand, belonged to “White Magic,” and because their cultivation required the study of Buddhist principles, they were generally more benevolent in comparison.

The chieftain in charge of this district was said to be a devout Buddhist, which is why many Buddhist temples were erected in the area. When the leader shows preference, the followers venerate; as a result, every household had Buddhist statues in the living room—not so much to seek protection from the Bodhisattvas but to ensure they were following the correct trends to avoid bringing trouble upon themselves.

Upon arriving at the hostel, Yan Yu saw that the first floor was filled with monks in kasayas leisurely drinking tea by the window.

He exchanged a secret code with the hostel owner, completed the accommodation procedures, and then took his room card to the room he was to stay in. After a thorough search, he indeed found the intelligence materials under the pillow.

During the time he spent traveling here, local intelligence operatives had already investigated and ascertained that the monk who had a conflict with Zhou Hongyu that day was a disciple from the nearby Thousand Buddha Temple.

After Zhou Hongyu lost contact, Thousand Buddha Temple also announced renovations and closed to the public. All the temple monks ceased to venture outside.

Upon reading this, Yan Yu confirmed that the Thousand Buddha Temple was most likely involved in Zhou Hongyu’s disappearance. Continuing to read, he learned that the Thousand Buddha Temple was established at the end of the previous year, funded by several high-ranking curse technique masters, and was the largest Buddhist temple in Maowu Prefecture, boasting “thousands of offerings to Buddha” and “thriving incense burning.”

To become a monk there, ordinary mortals were unqualified; only curse technique masters were eligible… Thus, rather than a religious venue, the Thousand Buddha Temple was more akin to a traditional “cultivation sect.”

It was time to explore further!

Yan Yu left the hostel, confirmed with divine sense that no one was trailing him, and then headed toward the Thousand Buddha Temple.

The temple, built upon a hillside, claimed it was temporarily not open to visitors, so naturally, the gates were tightly shut. There were also monk soldiers guarding the entrance, their precautions extremely strict.

Without saying a word, Yan Yu circled around to the unguarded rear and used the Wall-Penetration Technique to enter.

No sooner had he passed through the wall than his expression turned intense; he quickly cast the Invisibility Technique just in time to see two or three monk soldiers turn his way, seemingly patrolling a set route.

The invisible Yan Yu quietly bypassed the patrol and stealthily approached the main temple building.

To his surprise, when he reached the periphery of the main temple, he saw countless monks sitting on the square in front of the door, chanting endlessly, as if conducting a grand assembly on both water and land.

The temple door was also firmly closed, surrounded by blazing fire as if to consume the entire temple in ashes—yet strangely, these flames produced no black smoke or charred smell, nor the crackling sound typical of burning wood.

Even more bizarre was that the temple walls, corridors, and doors showed no sign of damage from the fire; instead, they appeared even more brightly lit amidst the fierce flames, like a cauldron in a blast furnace.

Could it be?

Yan Yu was suddenly alarmed, thinking to himself that he was just making a joke, hoping it hadn’t turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy! Could it be that they imprisoned Zhou Hongyu inside, then ignited the temple, aiming to refine her into a Golden Core… No, that’s not right, how could a person turn into Elixir Medicine? It’s more likely they want to burn her to death.

He circled the main temple and discovered it was entirely surrounded by seated monks, not leaving even a small gap for him to pass through.

If he tried to become invisible and slip past these monks, he feared he might be struck mid-transition. With enemies on all sides, the difficulty of evading would be much higher than if he had attacked from the outside from the start.

Yan Yu quickly made up his mind and released Puppet Ah Zhen.

The moment Ah Zhen touched the ground, his limbs splayed, his mouth shining with golden light. Before the surrounding monk soldiers could react, he spat out a long, golden-red beam, sweeping his head forcefully across the ground!

The curse technique masters were seated in a circle in front of the temple, cross-legged. Even as they began to realize the danger, how could they possibly find the time to dodge? The Puppet Ah Zhen’s Crimson Feather Nine Phoenix Fire was deliberately released close to the ground, and even if one tried to roll away at the last moment, it would be inescapable!

The Crimson Feather Nine Phoenix Fire swept from right to left like a sharp, giant blade, decapitating heads and cleaving bodies, leaving a trail of severed limbs and scattered arms, rivers of blood, and fields of corpses!

This sweeping spell took almost forty percent of Yan Yu’s True Yuan, but he was unsure whether he had slain one or two hundred curse technique masters, substantial enough that the entire temple square was abruptly cleared.

The remaining monk soldiers finally reacted, some trying to flee, others crying out, but they were swiftly dealt with one by one by Yan Yu controlling his twin swords and the puppet.

Before reinforcements could arrive, Yan Yu rushed to the temple door and saw a Lotus Incense Burner placed before it, with fierce flames burning inside, constantly spewing out a large number of sparks that fell into the surrounding sea of fire, causing the flames to grow even more intense.

Looking at the style and design of the incense burner, Yan Yu was taken aback: Isn’t this a magic artifact of the Red Lotus Zen?

Among the four major heterodox practices of Evil Zen in the Lu Country, Red Lotus Zen was not considered the most heretical but was the most malicious. Its main doctrine professed that life was full of suffering, and existing was a punishment; death offered liberation, and killing was seen as delivering salvation… As such, it was a primary target for eradication by mortal warriors in the previous life.