Yun Yan was no match for the Flood Dragon. After just a few moves, she was knocked to the ground and suffered severe internal injuries.
Harboring both old grievances and new hatred, the Flood Dragon let out a roar and lunged to bite Yun Yan.
Prone on the ground, Yun Yan looked back in sheer terror.
"Hold your tongue, spare her life! Amitabha!"
A voice of Buddhist chant echoed through the sky, and Bodhisattva Qingren made a brilliant entrance. With a flick of his sleeve, he batted the Flood Dragon away, sending it flying backward through the air in a series of somersaults. "Hold your tongue, spare her life."
"Oh well," Jin Xiongziong muttered, reacting with an "as expected" tone.
What did she say earlier?
Those with backers, even if they caused trouble, would ultimately be whisked away by their patrons when their lives were on the line. Those without backers faced only death.
How miserable was the Flood Dragon? It had been thwarted by Yun Yan during its tribulation and had almost died in the tribulation lightning.
Where was fairness? Where was the equality of all living beings? The one who did wrong gets a counter-kill, only to be protected by an elder.
All these people of the Heavenly Realm were hypocrites, Jin Xiongziong sneered inwardly.
Having just crossed paths with Bodhisattva Guanyin and Wukong, Jin Xiongziong clearly had antibodies against the people of the Heavenly Realm, and felt not a shred of timidity at this sight.
While Jin Xiongziong was unafraid, the Flood Dragon and the group of demons were not; their entire bodies tensed up, emitting low growls from deep in their throats.
Clearly, the demons were wary of Bodhisattva Qingren.
Bodhisattva Qingren had thick earlobes and a fleshy face, radiating an auspicious appearance. Seeing this, he nodded with a perpetual smile, rolling the prayer beads in his hand.
"Evil creature, why don't you apologize to the Flood Dragon at once!" Bodhisattva Qingren looked at Yun Yan, his gaze filled with exasperation at her failure to live up to expectations.
Seeing the Bodhisattva's expression, the female cultivator lost all her previous arrogance. She lowered her head and muttered resentfully toward the Flood Dragon, "I'm sorry."
Bodhisattva Qingren looked at the Flood Dragon again and said, "I am already aware of what my disciple has done. Flood Dragon, would you spare her life for my sake? Once we return, I will properly discipline her."
Silence hung in the surroundings. The Flood Dragon gritted its teeth and stiffened its neck, offering no reply for a long time.
High in the sky, the Jade Emperor and the immortals remained motionless, having no intention of intervening. Wukong, hiding in the clouds, let out an "hmph," clearly enjoying the show.
Everyone was watching the show, and if anyone wasn't, it was the spirits.
And of course, Jin Xiongziong.
Jin Xiongziong's brows furrowed tightly. Seeing that the Flood Dragon's forbearance had reached its absolute limit, she bravely stepped forward to speak on its behalf. "Is this female cultivator the Bodhisattva's disciple?"
Although Bodhisattva Qingren had just arrived and knew roughly what had happened beforehand, he wasn't fully clued in. Seeing that even a bear spirit dared to step forward, he smiled with interest and nodded, completely unaware that he was about to be latched onto like sticky paste.
"Yes, and you are?"
Jin Xiongziong lifted her eyes to glance at Bodhisattva Qingren, then looked away. "Does the Bodhisattva know what she actually did? Because of her, the Flood Dragon almost perished and had its cultivation destroyed. Do you think a simple apology and your prestige are enough to force the Flood Dragon to swallow its grievances?"
Your disciple's apology and your prestige—how much are they even worth?
Jin Xiongziong might as well have written those words across her face.
Seemingly caught off guard that a mere little bear demon would refuse to give him face, Bodhisattva Qingren's smile stiffened slightly. He turned instead to address the Flood Dragon. "Then what does the Flood Dragon wish to do?"
Persimmons are picked where they are soft; Bodhisattva Qingren apparently figured the Flood Dragon was easier to deal with and intended to ignore Jin Xiongziong altogether.
Jin Xiongziong was almost so angry she laughed. "When Bodhisattva Guanyin does something wrong, she always offers compensation gifts. Surely whatever Bodhisattva Qingren gives won't be any worse, right?"
You're both Bodhisattvas; if Guanyin can give compensation, why can't you, Qingren?
Knowing Jin Xiongziong had a way of choking people with her words, Bodhisattva Qingren hadn't expected her to be quite this suffocating, and a trace of annoyance crept onto his face.
At this sight, the python and the others all grew alert.
True to his title, Bodhisattva Qingren possessed extraordinary self-control. Even though his expression soured for a fraction of a second, the next moment he was all smiles again. "What does the Flood Dragon want?"
Jin Xiongziong and the Flood Dragon exchanged glances.
Having rarely traveled in the Mortal Realm, the Flood Dragon had little idea how to handle such a situation, so it could only turn to her with a look of silent appeal.
Signaling that she would definitely help, Jin Xiongziong lowered her gaze, raised her eyes to look at Bodhisattva Qingren, and inadvertently caught Yun Yan's darting eyes.
Narrowing her eyes, she smiled and said, "How about that bell? Earlier, when your disciple attacked the demons, the bell she used seemed quite nice."
When Jin Xiongziong mentioned the bell, the master and disciple from the Western Paradise didn't understand at first, but when she added that it was the one used against the demons, they caught on.
Once they understood, the atmosphere froze completely.
The Soul-Suppressing Bell was an exceptionally rare treasure. The mere fact that the Four Realms whispered it had perished on the battlefield of Gods and Demons was enough to prove its extraordinary value.
Such a precious artifact was only brought out because Bodhisattva Qingren's disciple was descending to undergo a tribulation in the Lower Realm; there was no way he would willingly give it to a python as compensation for an offense.
"Change it, change it. This... bell is an item belonging to our Buddhist Sect," Bodhisattva Qingren said with a smile, spinning his prayer beads.
In terms of innate talent, the Flood Dragon was superior to the brown bear, yet it let others call the shots. Bodhisattva Qingren also saw clearly that Jin Xiongziong was the one making the decisions for the Flood Dragon.
His previous remark had been addressed to Jin Xiongziong.
Jin Xiongziong wore an indifferent expression.
She didn't care whether it belonged to the Buddhist Sect or not.
She only knew that the Western Paradise needed to deliver justice to the Flood Dragon, to herself, and to the demons.
If they didn't bleed the Western Paradise dry, wouldn't any random stray dog from the Heavenly Realm feel free to bully the living beings of the Lower Realm however they pleased in the future?
Give them a taste of a real lesson, and they would finally learn that the creatures of the Lower Realm were not to be trifled with.
The Heavenly Dao rarely intervened unless something major happened; if they didn't push back now, people would just assume the Heavenly Realm was the undisputed boss of everything.
"No, we want this one. The Soul-Suppressing Bell is originally a sacred artifact meant to save the souls of the deceased in this world, yet you in the Western Paradise used it to harm innocent living beings. Keeping the bell in the Western Paradise any longer isn't a good thing."
Who couldn't put on a righteous facade? Jin Xiongziong could do it too.
"You—you are merely twisting words!" Yun Yan, standing behind Bodhisattva Qingren, burst into a furious tirade, her expression making it abundantly clear how unsatisfied she was. "A mere ant dares to brazenly judge the Western Paradise!"
The Three Realms had long since been reduced to a testing ground for the Heavenly Realm, and it was an indisputable fact that Yun Yan viewed the living beings of the Lower Realm as mere ants. Once such a mindset formed in a person, it was exceptionally difficult to change.
Hearing Jin Xiongziong boldly demand the Soul-Suppressing Bell, Yun Yan completely lost her reason and stepped past Bodhisattva Qingren to argue the point.
Having just apologized to them, she was now putting on this arrogant face all over again—she was completely disregarding all decorum.
The Western Paradise valued decorum above all else. Without Jin Xiongziong even needing to do anything, Bodhisattva Qingren's smile froze, and he immediately reprimanded her.
"Hold your tongue! When we return, I will make sure you understand exactly what you did wrong!"
Bodhisattva Qingren was forever smiling toward outsiders, but always stern with his disciples. Rebuked so sharply, Yun Yan resentfully lowered her head.
Jin Xiongziong had spent time in the modern world and had traveled the Mortal Realm for a long time afterward. She was thoroughly familiar with the routine of one playing the good cop while the other played the bad cop.
"We want the bell. The Flood Dragon almost perished because of her, and we spirits were injured by the Soul-Suppressing Bell. If not for the descending heavenly dew, our souls would still be severely fragmented. Doesn't this warrant a single bell?"
"Or would you prefer your disciple pay with her blood?"
The demons' souls had only been slightly torn, but since she said they were severe, then they were severe.
The demons' souls had already been healed—was there any proof that it wasn't severe? It was whatever she said it was, wasn't it?
"Amitabha, choose something else, choose something else." Clearly, Bodhisattva Qingren was unwilling to compromise either.
This had to be the ugliest and longest negotiation ever. Wukong, hiding in the clouds, had grown so impatient he had scratched his arms countless times. The Jade Emperor and the gathering of immortals managed to keep their composure, but judging by their expressions, they were reaching the limit of their patience as well.
In truth, Jin Xiongziong was losing her patience too.
Looking back at Bodhisattva Qingren, he still maintained that smiling facade.
Weren't followers of Buddhism supposed to excel at cultivating the mind? This self-control truly was remarkable.
Sensing that they couldn't drag this out any longer—there was no telling what might happen if they delayed further—Jin Xiongziong pointed up at the clouds and said, "The Heavenly Dao is still right here. Does Bodhisattva Qingren intend to keep this going?"
Yun Yan was the one in the wrong first, and as her master, shouldn't Bodhisattva Qingren bleed a little to protect his disciple?
Surely a disciple was worth at least one Soul-Suppressing Bell.
The moment Jin Xiongziong claimed the Heavenly Dao was in the clouds, everyone present and hidden cast their gazes upward, their eyes filled with a startle of dread.
"The Heavenly Dao?"
"Hasn't the Heavenly Dao left?"
The Jade Emperor: It left, and now it's back.
As the one with the highest cultivation among them, it wasn't strange that the Jade Emperor could sense the Heavenly Dao. What was strange was that Jin Xiongziong, whose cultivation was clearly mediocre, could somehow sense its presence as well.
The Jade Emperor's gaze toward Jin Xiongziong shifted instantly, making him feel that he might have underestimated her before.
In reality, Jin Xiongziong hadn't sensed the presence of the Heavenly Dao at all.
She was just making a wild guess.
But the others didn't know that, leaving them both astonished and suspicious.
Bodhisattva Qingren certainly didn't believe Jin Xiongziong, but then he recalled that he had only come here because he received a message from Taibai Jinxing.
He remembered Taibai Jinxing mentioning that the Jade Emperor was also watching this tribulation from the South Heavenly Gate.
Since the Jade Emperor managed the Heavenly Court and also oversaw the Lower Realm, how could he possibly have so much time to watch a python undergo its tribulation? If he was here, there must have been something attracting his attention.
With Jin Xiongziong claiming the Heavenly Dao was present, Bodhisattva Qingren went from initial disbelief to growing deeper and deeper conviction the more he thought about it.
The Soul-Suppressing Bell should have perished during the Great War of Gods and Demons; Bodhisattva Qingren had only managed to acquire and keep it by employing certain methods to evade the Heavenly Dao.
Deceiving the Heavenly Dao—it was fine if it went unnoticed, but if it were ever discovered, the consequences would be unthinkable.
Believing the Heavenly Dao might genuinely be right here, Bodhisattva Qingren suddenly viewed the Soul-Suppressing Bell as a hot potato.
"In that case, the Soul-Suppressing Bell shall be given to the Flood Dragon as compensation." With that, Bodhisattva Qingren ordered Yun Yan to hand over the bell. "Rebellious disciple, why aren't you taking out the Soul-Suppressing Bell yet?"
Having no idea of the bell's origins, let alone the lengths Bodhisattva Qingren had gone to acquire it, Yun Yan wore a look of utter reluctance upon hearing this.
Having taught Yun Yan for many years, how could Bodhisattva Qingren not know what she was thinking?
Usually, he considered this disciple decent—talented, reasonably clever, and a promising sapling. Right now, however, he only found her foolish beyond belief.
Bodhisattva Qingren had no shortage of methods; with a flick of his spell, the Soul-Suppressing Bell flew right out of Yun Yan's pocket and landed in his palm.
"No, no!" With eyes split wide in despair, Yun Yan lunged forward to grab the bell back, but Bodhisattva Qingren had already sealed off her path.
She could only struggle helplessly in place.
Watching all this, Jin Xiongziong should have felt happy, yet for some reason, a chill crept over her. Her gaze shifted as she pondered the underlying reason.
"Let the Soul-Suppressing Bell serve as compensation to the Flood Dragon."
Those who usually played the role of the benevolent often plotted in complete silence.
Because Bodhisattva Qingren viewed the Soul-Suppressing Bell as a hot potato, and because Jin Xiongziong had been so defiant just moments before, he tossed the bell directly to her.
Catching the Soul-Suppressing Bell, Jin Xiongziong remained completely oblivious to Bodhisattva Qingren's scheme. "Then I thank the Bodhisattva."
A satisfied smile touched Bodhisattva Qingren's face. The next moment, he offered his farewells, grabbed the still-struggling Yun Yan, and flew away, gradually shrinking into a distant black dot.
"Return on your own; I need to make a trip to see the Quasi-Saint," Bodhisattva Qingren told Yun Yan midway through their flight.
Having struggled for so long, Yun Yan was already completely defpirited. Hearing the command, she shivered and hastily muttered her assent, knowing full well that the Quasi-Saint he referred to was Rulai.
For Bodhisattva Qingren to seek out Rulai, there must have been an urgent matter to discuss.
Watching Bodhisattva Qingren fly away, Yun Yan gradually revealed a look of bitter hatred.
She dared not resent Bodhisattva Qingren, so she could only hate Jin Xiongziong.
She believed Jin Xiongziong was the root cause of everything; if not for her, the python would have perished, and the Soul-Suppressing Bell would never have been lost.
Over on Jin Xiongziong's side, the Jade Emperor cast one last deep look at her before leading the immortals back.
Seeing that there was nothing left to watch, Wukong departed as well.