As Ye Yun's words faded, a golden figure erupted from the temple, with specks of starlight chasing close behind him.
"San Zhang! You dare kill my chief disciple, do you wish to die sooner?" A monk with eight prayer scars on his head emerged. Despite his appearance resembling someone from the Indian subcontinent, he was stunningly handsome.
Ye Yun, however, was quickly drawn to the eight prayer scars on his head.
"Using prayer scars as a path to cultivate the Golden Core, this is utterly unprecedented! San Zhang, are all the monks guarding the temple like this?"
Ye Yun narrowed his eyes, observing the monk before him and the eighteen bare-chested monks who had arrived shortly after. He couldn't help but turn and ask San Zhang.
"This, only those who become sect leaders or personal disciples serving at the temple are qualified to cultivate the 'Fo Luo Great Scripture.' However, it also requires a certain talent, and one must enter the Buddha Wheel Ancestral Land to gain the recognition of the ancestral land's ancient Buddha spirits!"
"Since the founding of the Buddha Wheel Sect, the records show fewer than a thousand people have managed to cultivate it, and fewer than ten have achieved great mastery," San Zhang said, also quite astonished. Unfortunately, despite being a personal disciple, he had not received the recognition of the Buddha spirits and didn't even know what the 'Fo Luo Great Scripture' looked like.
"Are you the so-called 'True Monarch'? San Zhang, you breaking ancestral rules by bringing someone here is one thing, but you actually dared to kill my disciple! It seems the speculation within the temple was correct, you travelers are indeed traitors to our Buddha Wheel Sect!"
For nearly a thousand years, the temple guardians had harbored complaints against the ascetic practitioners. In their eyes, ascetics wandering the secular world must be living lavishly and indulging in pleasures. Moreover, the dwindling tribute of gold returned annually led many to believe they were skimming off the top.
"The prayer scars contain spiral patterns, and your prayer scars form a screw-and-nut relationship with the golden artifacts forged from gold. If I'm not mistaken, those golden artifacts should be inscribed with formations, right?"
Ever since Er Ku appeared, Ye Yun's eyes had been fixed on his prayer scars, even using his divine sense to dissect them layer by layer.
"You..." Hearing Ye Yun's words, Er Ku turned in shock, his face a mixture of astonishment and disbelief.
The Nine Dragon Golden Core Great Dao, with gold as its foundation, was the sect's public explanation. However, those who cultivated the 'Fo Luo Great Scripture' knew that the golden artifacts within their prayer scars needed to be nurtured with gold. The more gold, the stronger the artifact's effect and the greater their improvement in strength.
Others only knew that they could cultivate using gold, but they were unaware that the so-called rice-sized Golden Cores within their prayer scars were actually golden artifacts!
"I must say, the creator of this cultivation method was a genius!"
As Ye Yun spoke, he used his divine sense to restrain Er Ku, then walked up to him. With a gentle wave of his hand, eight small golden orbs appeared in Ye Yun's grasp.
"However, this golden artifact contains a certain will of a powerful Buddhist being, so the more one uses it to increase their strength, the more reverent they become towards the Buddha! Wouldn't you agree?"
Ye Yun smiled at Er Ku, speaking eloquently.
At this moment, Er Ku and his companions' expressions changed drastically, not just because of Ye Yun's words, but because of the terrifying aura erupting from Ye Yun's body!
"Buddhist race, what Buddhist race?" Under this terrifying aura, Er Ku found it difficult even to speak, while the eighteen monks behind him fared even worse. If Ye Yun hadn't supported them with his true qi, they would have plummeted to the ground like mud.
"What Buddhist race? Heh, if an ascetic practitioner said they didn't recognize the Buddhist race, I'd believe it. But for someone cultivating a Buddhist race's techniques to claim ignorance, that's a bit much!"
Ye Yun looked at the eighteen monks who had fainted and crushed them with a wave of his hand in the air. This further turned Er Ku, who was already terrified, ashen-faced.
Having cultivated for thousands of years, even his master had never given him such a terrifying feeling.
"I truly don't know what Buddhist race you're talking about! True Monarch, spare me!"
Er Ku cried out, his voice as desolate as could be. Unfortunately, the panic in his eyes did not escape Ye Yun's divine sense.
"Forget it, I don't like using force! If you won't say, I'll find out myself!"
Ye Yun was never one for lengthy discussions, nor was he indecisive. With a flick of his hand through the air, Er Ku was decapitated.
"You wait here! San Zhang, come with me!"
Ye Yun ignored the still twitching corpse, crushed it, and then, after speaking to San Zhang, flashed into the temple complex.
Just as Ye Yun killed Er Ku, he discovered something astonishing while observing the temple complex with his divine sense. In a fish pond within one of the temples, nineteen goldfish had suddenly died! This number corresponded exactly to the number of monks Ye Yun had killed.
"Benefactor, this is a sacred Buddhist site, the idle are not permitted entry!" Just as Ye Yun was about to enter the temple, countless leaves swept towards him, forcefully blocking his path.
"Oh? A sweeping monk?" Ye Yun blinked. This was exactly like something out of a wuxia novel.
"Benefactor, this humble monk is the guardian of the Samsara Hall of the Buddha Wheel Sect. If you have no other business, you may take your leave!" The old monk's face, dotted with age spots, bore a solemn expression.
"Guardian of the Samsara Hall? What Samsara Hall? And who are you?" San Zhang, who had been pulled along by Ye Yun, looked at the old man with a bewildered expression. However, his words clearly did not elicit a response from the old monk, who remained fixedly staring at Ye Yun!
"If I'm not mistaken, you are the true helmsman of the entire Buddha Wheel Sect, aren't you? I recognize the aura of the Buddhist race!" Ye Yun ignored the old monk's words, and instead of re-entering the temple, he walked towards the old monk.
*Dong...*
Each step resounded like a drum!
"Since Benefactor is unyielding, then do not blame this old man!" The old monk's eyes widened, and a water snake shot out from the pond before the temple, its body rapidly expanding and growing.
*Roar...*
A clear dragon's roar echoed through the heavens and earth, stirring up snowflakes that transformed into a hundred-meter-long white dragon in the air!
"Sit before my hall, dwell within my heart." The old monk's entire demeanor suddenly changed, and he transformed into a middle-aged monk clad in a white robe.
"Master..."
Before Ye Yun could speak, San Zhang on the side became agitated.