Who Let Him Cultivate?!

Chapter 982 - 982 981 Its quite difficult for ordinary

?Chapter 982: Chapter 981: It’s quite difficult for ordinary people to be traders. Chapter 982: Chapter 981: It’s quite difficult for ordinary people to be traders. “This Buddha Country has an abundance of Incense Power, huh? Even at the border, it’s perceptible.” As soon as they entered Buddha Country, Fairy Eternity sensed the thin Incense Power, which was distinctively different from places in Great Xia that lacked such power.

The presence of Incense Power even in the desolate and uninhabited border regions meant that the central part of Buddha Country was so filled with it that it overflowed to the borders.

“I remember Eldest Senior Sister mentioned that in Buddha Country, Incense Power lies unclaimed everywhere. It has been accumulated by devotees over three hundred thousand years. To obtain this Incense Power, monks have to make grand vows, and upon fulfilling them, they can acquire the power based on the magnitude of their vows, which they can then use to aid their cultivation,” Lu Yang remarked.

Unlike the divine Incense Power in Great Qian, which sometimes binds people, the Incense Power in Buddha Country doesn’t manifest such restraints. Of course, it’s also much harder to obtain than in Great Qian.

“Old Lu, it looks like someone’s being attacked by Demon Beasts over there,” Meng Jingzhou sent a spiritual message to Lu Yang, who was currently spitting out sand and thus couldn’t speak.

“Then stop blowing the damn sand and hurry up to save them,” Lu Yang’s consciousness left the Spiritual Space, and using his Spiritual Sense, he saw that it seemed to be a group of merchants being attacked by Demon Beasts. The situation looked quite grim.

In Buddha Country, each city was extremely far apart from one another, and the vast desert provided hiding spots for Demon Beasts. Every year, eminent monks would wander through Buddha Country to exterminate Demon Beasts. Unfortunately, their numbers were too great and they were too good at hiding to be completely eliminated.

…

“Forget the goods, saving our lives is what’s important!”

“As if anyone here doesn’t want to stay alive!”

“Old An, if worst comes to worst, you take the others and get out of here quickly. I’ll cover the rear!”

“Nonsense, you are no match for these Sand Wolves!”

The camels, terrified by the bloodthirsty aura of the Sand Wolves, trembled. Some ran away with their loads, while others simply lay on the ground.

The merchants, well-versed in the ways of the world, each drew their curved blades in a desperate fight for survival. The Sand Wolves were ferocious, but the merchants were no match for these bloodthirsty creatures.

Sand Wolves were the last thing merchants wanted to encounter on their journeys, more often deadly than not, with only a slim chance of survival.

Suddenly, one Sand Wolf took advantage of a merchant’s distraction and pounced fiercely, tackling Old An to the ground.

Old An fiercely resisted the Sand Wolf’s claws with his curved knife, but the Sand Wolf was incredibly strong, and Old An quickly started to lose the struggle for control.

“Old An!”

Just as they fell into despair, a stern voice broke through like a thunderclap.

“Wicked beast, cease your arrogance!”

In the midst of the swirling sands, a figure soared in the sky, seeming like Buddha Himself, with His two fingers joined together and a halo that symbolized the Consummation of Buddhist practice at His back.

The halo suddenly dispersed, turning into countless Sword Qi, piercing precisely through the skulls of the Sand Wolves.

Another divine figure formed a Fist Seal with his hands, and the golden Swastika Fist Seal exploded forth, shattering the brains of the Sand Wolves.

Old An pushed the lifeless Sand Wolf off and quickly knelt to kowtow. “Thank you, Master, for your grace in saving our lives.”

The others also came to their senses and knelt to express their gratitude to the two divine figures.

Lu Yang landed, smiling slightly. “Benefactors… there is no need for such formalities. My Junior Brother and I just happened to pass by and it was merely a matter of convenience. Please, rise.”

At that moment, Meng Jingzhou also came over, shooting Lu Yang a glance: Your idea of a ‘matter of convenience’ is to extravagantly deploy countless Sword Qi?

Lu Yang returned Meng Jingzhou a look: Are you any better, using Arhat Fist against a group of Demon Beasts that have just entered the Qi Cultivation Stage?

Under the combined efforts of two great cultivators, they were lucky to slaughter the Sand Wolves to near extinction.

“Master…”

“Just call me Meng Jingzhou, and this is my junior brother, Lu Yang.”

“Ah? You, You two are Buddhist Meng and Sword Immortal Lu?” Old An and the group of merchants had not expected that their saviors were the legendary figures Meng Jingzhou and Lu Yang, and they became excited.

These were legendary figures, and even in Great Xia, there weren’t many who had seen them; to think they would encounter them in Buddha Country.

This must be the so-called fateful connection spoken of by Buddhism.

“Indeed, it is us.” Meng Jingzhou kept a straight face, trying hard to maintain a detached demeanor, not wanting to let these merchants think that he was pleased by such a big reaction from them.

In the course of their conversation, Lu Yang learned that Old An was the leader of the merchants, named An Hu, and they had brought a consignment of solar lamps from Great Xia to see if there was a market for them in Buddha Country, never expecting to run into the Sand Wolves.

“Oh, you’re also going to Kaihuang City? If Uncle An doesn’t mind, could you perhaps take the two of us with you?”

Lu Yang thought to himself that good deeds indeed bring good rewards; what a coincidence this was.

“That would be great,” An Hu and the others said joyfully upon hearing this. To travel with legendary figures would give them face among other merchants.

And with these two individuals with them, there would certainly be no danger along the way.

Then, on the way to Kaihuang City, An Hu and the others encountered the Sand Wolf King out for vengeance having reached the Consummation of Qi Refinement, the notorious bandits of the Foundation Establishment Stage of the desert, a Golden Core Stage Demon Monk who had fallen onto the Demon Path to prove his way through killing, and the Nascent Soul Stage Lady Whitebone, born from a pile of dead bodies and sucking the essence blood of humans every night.

“You ordinary people have it quite tough being merchants.” Lu Yang remarked. The enemies they encountered on the road meant nothing to him and Old Meng, but for Old An and the others, they were calamities capable of wiping them out.

“…Actually, many merchants never encounter Sand Wolves in their lifetime.”

As for the likes of the Sand Wolf King and the Desert’s Three Thieves, those were even more far-fetched tales; the Demon Monk and Lady Whitebone were beings they had never even heard of.

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou rode on camels, their first time riding them, which was rather fun.

Tied to both sides of the camels were the spoils of their journey: Sand Wolf pelts, the Sand Wolf King’s pelt, the Desert’s Three Thieves’ Storage Rings, the Demon Monk’s Golden Core, glittering white bones…

These items held no value for Lu Yang and the others; for example, the spirit stones in the Desert’s Three Thieves’ Storage Rings together didn’t amount to as much as what Lu Yang earned in a single day, and inside the ring was a key to open a secret realm, which upon checking the books brought from the Scripture Pavilion, was found to be suitable for Foundation Establishment Stage practitioners—a place many of them sought to pick herbs and concoct elixirs to increase their chances of forming a golden core by twenty percent.

The Demon Monk had a human skin scroll that detailed the method for forming a false core, which was comparable to the early stage of a Golden Core, but made further advancement hopeless.

The two thought to give all these items to Old An and the others, but on second thought, given the dangerous environment in Buddha Country, there might be incidents of murder for loot, and Old An and his group might not be able to keep so many things. In the end, they decided to leave only the Sand Wolf pelts for Old An and his group.

“Are you two masters coming to Kaihuang City to attend the Buddha Bathing Festival?” Old An struck up a conversation along the way, finding after some contact that the two masters were as gentle and approachable as depicted in the storytelling, with no airs about them.

“Yes, we were invited by Kaihuang Temple to participate.”

“That’s wonderful.” Old An and the others were very happy to hear this. With these two masters attending the Buddha Bathing Festival, it was sure to make the event even more lively.

“Speaking of which, we were not familiar with Kaihuang Temple before this. After receiving the invitation, we only then got to know of such a place.”

Old An laughed: “It’s normal for the two masters not to know about it. It might be because Kaihuang Temple has changed its name. The temple wasn’t called this before.”

“What was it called before?”

“Erli Village Temple.”