Lizhi's tone was arrogant and fierce, but her movements were extremely honest as she retreated half a step backward.
Even if this dead monk was truly Golden Core stage, that wasn't something she, a Foundation Establishment Early Stage cultivator, could provoke.
As for the blessing of having people above her—Lizhi had never experienced such a thing before, so naturally she didn't have an appropriate feeling for it.
For some reason, Lizhi now felt like she was somewhat rushing toward her death.
But...
Compared to herself, a Foundation Establishment cultivator with absolutely no confidence, the Golden Core big shot opposite seemed even more terrified.
She saw the elderly monk opposite with fear barely concealed in his eyes. Faint golden Buddha light floated around him, and the wooden fish stick in his hand had transformed into a vajra pestle, though his posture was clearly defensive.
His form retreated, holding the vajra pestle protectively across his chest. The elderly monk's hoarse voice rang out again:
"It matters not if the benefactor insults this humble monk. However, I ask the benefactor to recall—this is West Ox Head Continent, this is Buddhist territory."
Lizhi was stunned. She could naturally tell this was clearly an admission of defeat.
Generally, only those who couldn't win would bring up their background.
After all, those who could win wouldn't say—"Kid, I have people behind me! You're done for!"
Lizhi instantly understood the difference that nearly two major realms made.
Since she really didn't need to be afraid...
"So what?" Lizhi instantly said with full confidence. "Within three feet of me, even if this were your Buddha Kingdom, so what! Instead of wasting your breath, why not think about why I came here, whether there's something you should explain to me?"
Xu Jin heard this and looked back. This Lizhi actually had some potential.
Chu Xingchen was also somewhat surprised, but this was good too. Being bolder sometimes made things easier to handle. He was now somewhat interested to see how far Lizhi could go.
The elderly monk's terrified expression faded slightly. Being able to throw the question back meant his death was still some distance away.
Although this young-looking woman had an extremely fearsome blood energy, and her every movement exuded that extremely crazed bloodthirsty aura.
Without question, this woman was an evil cultivator.
Although the Buddhist sect and evil cultivators were also irreconcilable enemies, it depended on the situation.
When one couldn't win, one could actually join the evil cultivators in being irreconcilable enemies, together complaining about how the world was unfair.
Moreover, he still had important matters to attend to. This life was now extremely critical. Temporarily enduring a bit was also for the sake of planning for the future.
This female evil cultivator didn't seem to have come directly for his life.
But those who truly wanted to kill people generally didn't talk much. The elderly monk spoke again:
"Within the Ten Thousand Buddha Temple, everyone follows the rules. I don't know what the benefactor is referring to. If there's something the Ten Thousand Buddha Temple has done wrong, please speak directly."
Lizhi began to hesitate. After all, finding fault required a reasonably good excuse.
She couldn't just ask why they ate vegetarian but not meat, right?
But in the next moment, Chu Xingchen suddenly reminded her:
"Evil Spirit Sect, cooperation."
Chu Xingchen didn't know much about the evil sects of Central State. The most memorable one was the Evil Spirit Sect that had caused trouble in the Black Tortoise Kingdom.
Previously in Chizhou, they had also borrowed the Evil Spirit Sect's reputation. The Evil Spirit Sect had been quite happy to acknowledge it, and had even falsely claimed quite a few benefits from the Black Tortoise Sect on their behalf.
Now, this good deed for the Buddhist sect would also be given to the Evil Spirit Sect—considered returning a favor, delivering a good thing to their door.
The Black Tortoise Sect was just a remote small sect in the Black Tortoise Kingdom. This Buddhist sect was one of the eighteen immortal sects of Central State.
The benefits to be gained—who knew how much better they would be. Perhaps the current Buddhist Patriarch would even rise and yield his seat to the Evil Spirit Sect leader.
The Evil Spirit Sect was truly rising in the world—now they could cooperate with one of Central State's eighteen immortal sects.
In this way, it could be considered repaying the kindness of the Evil Spirit Sect's cooperation in Chizhou.
Lizhi also reacted quickly. In the next moment, she immediately followed up:
"Evil Spirit Sect."
The elderly monk was stunned. Countless names flashed through his mind, but this one indeed didn't ring any bells.
Evil Spirit Sect?
Those blood-sucking evil cultivators of Central State?
But to say there was no connection would also be wrong.
Apart from their fondness for firmly rooting themselves in Central State, the Evil Spirit Sect's favorite business was developing subordinates everywhere, then starting to cause trouble—all sorts of messy things, the more evil the better.
Such evil matters naturally weren't good things for the Buddhist sect either.
Having some blood-sucking leeches in one's own territory naturally required some cleaning up.
So the Buddhist sect had also swept through the Evil Spirit Sect.
It was just that the Evil Spirit Sect had some virtues too—when subordinates were eliminated, their superiors generally wouldn't personally come looking for trouble.
After all, the Evil Spirit Sect had countless subordinates everywhere.
But this time, they personally came knocking?
However, looking at Lizhi's blood energy and fearsome aura, claiming to be from the Evil Spirit Sect had some credibility.
The elderly monk pondered, momentarily unsure whether he should admit fault first.
While the elderly monk was thinking, Lizhi was also thinking.
The Evil Spirit Sect—just hearing the name, it clearly wasn't some orthodox sect.
So cooperation like this... logically speaking... should all be things where you force people to do things they don't want to do, right?
And an evil sect wouldn't come to the Buddhist sect to spread their teachings, would they?
So generally speaking... this kind of cooperation should actually be...
"Your development here is quite good. Shouldn't you pay some protection money to our sect?"
Lizhi rubbed her fingers together, the gesture of demanding money extremely arrogant.
"Huh?"
The elderly monk looked at Lizhi in disbelief. In this day and age, there was actually an evil sect demanding money from the Buddhist sect?
Who didn't know the Buddhist sect was famous for taking in but never paying out?
Chu Xingchen's lips curved into a smile, but he didn't mind Lizhi's somewhat crude method of finding fault. Instead, he urged Xu Jin to work faster.
The vow power level here was very high, and a Nascent Soul cultivator was stationed here—in the Buddhist sect's eyes, this place should also be important.
It was possible that other Buddhist cultivators were already rushing to reinforce the area.
But Chu Xingchen wasn't idle either. He was already controlling his consciousness to flow throughout the Ten Thousand Buddha Temple in myriad forms, searching for any clues and anything unusual.
"What? You think you can still live today without paying?"
Lizhi snorted coldly, her gaze unkind as she looked at the monk.
"Then what does the benefactor want? The Buddhist sect is poor. Moreover, this is West Ox Head Continent—there are no spirit stones to give to the benefactor."
"No spirit stones to give? Then bring out other things to pay the debt!"
Hearing this, the monk's gaze instantly turned unkind.
Just as expected, this evil cultivator came to demand the vow power here. Could this Evil Spirit Sect be planning some death-defying evil scheme? They actually dared to come so recklessly to demand vow power from the Buddhist sect?
But asking a monk for things—now that was truly asking the wrong person!
"In that case, this humble monk only has this one life to give to the benefactor."
The monk was no longer afraid of Lizhi with her overwhelming blood energy. He stepped forward fiercely, his voice shouting sternly:
"But has your sect truly considered the consequences?!"
Lizhi looked at the suddenly hostile elderly monk, at that expression like a wrathful vajra, and felt herself shrink back a little.
Xu Jin withdrew his movements, signaling to Chu Xingchen that the work was done.
Chu Xingchen nodded lightly, then looked at the monk and spoke in Lizhi's voice and tone:
"I thought you were a clever monk, but it turns out you're a foolish bald one. Do I have to spell it out for you?"
"Your dealings with the demons—are you planning to have our Evil Spirit Sect announce it to the world? You think doing things in secret is safe? Don't forget that in the shadows, there are still rats like us surviving in the gutters."
"We're already evil cultivators who count each day as a bonus. The cost is nothing more than this one life. But the Buddhist sect seems different from us, doesn't it?"
The elderly monk responded extremely quickly, his tone equally resolute:
"I don't know what nonsense you're spouting!"
Want more chapters? Now you can get **30 advanced chapters instantly** for the same price as the old 20-chapter tier.
Joining Patreon also gets you:
- Ongoing monthly chapter releases
- Bonus content and extra drops
patreon.com/Alex_Cruise
I won't sugarcoat it—I'm struggling financially right now, and your support directly determines whether I can keep writing consistently. If this story has hooked you even once, consider backing it. Every bit helps.
Thanks for reading.