https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-69-Qi-Penetration-and-the-Mask-Alliance/12983949/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-71-The-Temple-Deity-s-Head-and-Xu-Family-s-Divine-Child/12983951/
Chapter 70: The Strange Temple of the Three-Eyed Celestial
Chapter 70: The Strange Temple of the Three-Eyed Celestial
The wind outside the city seemed to carry a chilling bite, sweeping across their bodies and stealing away their warmth, piercing their very marrow.
Li Che wore a cute bull mask, silently observing Li Qingshan, who donned a cat-faced mask.
The masked men stared at each other, creating an oddly harmonious atmosphere.
"What are you looking at? I learned it from you, kid. I used to be a dignified and upright person..."
Li Qingshan spoke casually, his hands clasped behind his back.
With the mask on, he seemed to become more aloof, his emotions slightly distorted.
The mask concealed his face, giving him a sense of releasing hidden emotions from within.
Just like Li Che, every time he wore the cute bull mask, his mind and body felt incredibly relaxed. Whatever he did, whoever he killed... he felt unconstrained, free from limitations.
"You've opened your meridians? Not bad for just three days."
"Since it's like this, I think I can manage to take a look inside the strange temple."
"Go in and come out quickly. We must leave the temple before nightfall."
Li Qingshan spoke in a deep voice. The next moment, his toes tapped the ground, and a surging force propelled him forward. His small, old body transformed into a straight black line, shooting out on the official road covered in white snow.
Li Che's body swayed, and the inner qi that had surged after opening his meridians rushed into his legs, allowing him to quickly catch up.
Whoosh!
The howling wind shot forward, and the air currents roared past the sides of their masks.
The scenery outside the city flashed by in a blur.
The old man's speed was incredibly fast, and Li Che struggled to keep up. After all, he hadn't used the unmatched horizontal refinement of the Dragon Elephant Vajra, and he was silently following without making a sound.
In truth, Li Qingshan, who was leading the way, was already astonished.
"His foundation is incredibly stable. After opening his meridians, his inner qi is vast and enduring... indeed impressive."
Li Qingshan praised in his heart.
What a talented young man! Even if Li Che wasn't a twenty-two-year-old divine child, Li Qingshan would still be willing to take him under his wing and introduce him to the Divine Sect.
The two of them flew for about a quarter of an hour.
Li Qingshan then slowed down.
His body paused, and he gracefully landed on a snow-laden old pine branch. Beneath the cat mask, his eyes shone brightly.
Li Che followed closely followed, controlling his inner qi and mimicking Li Qingshan's posture to land on the old pine tree.
Li Qingshan glanced at Li Che, "Since you've joined the Qianyuan Divine Sect, you'll most likely become my disciple. So, now that we're here at the strange temple, I'll take you for some early training."
Li Che didn't say much, nodding in agreement. He looked into the distance and saw the temple, partially hidden by dense trees, with its red-painted eaves peeking through, resembling freshly smeared blood.
"This strange temple is a Ten Capital Rank temple. It's best to visit during the day. At night, the temple deity becomes restless, and once awakened, it becomes quite troublesome to deal with."
"When I first encountered the awakened temple deity, I was restrained for two whole months... It was rather frustrating."
"When the temple deity awakens, it releases its divine nature, which invades the surrounding creatures, causing them to undergo mutations and become evil beings controlled by its divine nature. The evil beings in a Ten Capital Rank strange temple won't have divine foundation-level strength, so it shouldn't be a big problem. You should be able to try clearing them out."
"It's a good opportunity to consolidate your meridians and blood."
Upon hearing this, Li Che didn't say more. His body swayed, and he rushed towards the dense forest ahead.
With his inner qi control, he moved without leaving a trace in the snow.
As if parting the dense forest, a solitary temple suddenly appeared before Li Che's eyes.
The temple was intricately designed with carved beams and painted rafters, its eaves soaring upwards. The black tiles were covered in white snow, giving it a slightly dilapidated look. The vermillion paint on the walls and eaves seemed to emit a pungent, bloody odor.
Li Che's gaze landed on a plaque above the temple.
It read: "The Branch Temple of the Divine Child of the Three-Eyed Wrathful Celestial."
Just a glance was enough for Li Che to feel his wrathful divine nature within his Niwan stirring, as if it wanted to break free and drift towards the strange temple, detaching from his body!
However, Li Che circulated the Divine Nature Technique, regaining control of his divine nature. Combined with the beating of his Pure Heart in his chest, he finally broke free from this restraint.
In the moment he broke free, Li Che's pupils constricted.
Unconsciously, he found himself at the entrance of the strange temple, with one foot already raised, almost stepping into the temple! Countless black miasma seeped out from the temple, coiling around his leg, icy and bone-chilling!
In the distance, the old man, wearing a cat-faced mask and preparing to leap from the pine branch, exclaimed in surprise.
"On your first encounter with a strange temple, you managed to break free from the temple deity's attraction to divine nature... What incredible resolve!"
In front of the temple.
After Li Che broke free from the temple deity's divine nature, the black miasma coiled around his leg dissipated under the rush of his blood.
Then, evil beings burst out from the strange temple.
They were a group of corpses covered in black miasma and black spider webs, their eyes rolled back, revealing the whites.
They moved with incredible speed and had strong defenses. However, Li Che, with his opened meridians and strengthened inner qi, easily dealt with them, especially with his mastery of the White Tiger Chaotic Wind Fist in the Transformation Realm.
After turning these evil beings into piles of rotten flesh, the old man Li Qingshan appeared beside him.
"Not bad. These evil beings are the elite guardians of the temple. The evil corpse guardians in a Ten Capital Rank strange temple have Blood Exchange Realm strength. Their physical bodies are even stronger than those who have undergone blood exchange, and they feel no pain. They are corpses of temple explorers who died and were corrupted by the temple deity."
After Li Qingshan's brief introduction, he looked up at the sky and signaled Li Che to follow.
The two of them stepped into the temple.
Inside, it was extremely dim, with not a trace of light visible. However, row upon row of red candles lined the walls, and when lit, they cast a faint glow, illuminating the temple.
What made Li Che's scalp tingle was the fact that the temple was filled with wooden sculptures.
They were all sculptures of children, each with a unique pose. Some held lotuses, some held plum blossoms, some stacked their hands and lifted a wrathful Buddha, and some surrounded a smiling Guanyin with her fingers pressed together...
The expressions on these wooden children were incredibly lifelike, some laughing heartily, some filled with fear and sadness, some angry and fierce, some choking and vomiting in pain, and some in embracing poses...
All the emotions and desires of the human heart were captured in these wooden sculptures.
"This..."
Li Che took a deep breath, and his mind immediately thought of the City Lord's Mansion, where they had gathered woodcarvers to create these sculptures.
"Temple Deity Ritual," Li Qingshan said expressionlessly.
"I said we don't have much time left for Thunder City, and this is how it is..."
"Some offer the entire city's divine nature to the temple deity, while others take advantage of the situation to gain benefits."
"The Temple Guardian of Great Jing Town, the Divine Sect's Temple Destroyer, in reality... sometimes the one who guards and the one who destroys are both the people's hearts."
Li Che's eyes narrowed, and although he didn't fully understand, he knew that this ritual was not a good thing.
It benefited a small number of people at the expense of the majority.
Li Che's fingers clenched, his muscles tensed, and inner qi coiled around his palm.
"If you want to destroy these sculptures, I advise against it... These sculptures are all connected to the temple deity. If you destroy one, you'll awaken the slumbering temple deity. I finally managed to lull it to sleep, and you're going to wake it up again..."
"I can leave, but you... might be killed by the temple deity and turned into a loyal temple-guarding corpse."
Li Che immediately retracted the inner qi he was about to unleash.
The little old man behind the cat mask glanced at Li Che, "Don't take action in a strange temple... Those connected to the temple deity cannot be touched. Provoking a temple deity is very dangerous."
"Especially this temple deity is not ordinary... The Three-Eyed Wrathful Bodhisattva Divine Child's Branch Temple, a branch temple..."
"A branch temple?"
"In other words, this temple deity is likely a high-ranking temple deity's divine nature branch, which has formed..."
After all, Li Qingshan was from the Divine Sect, so he had some knowledge about strange temples and shared it with Li Che.
"Especially the temple title 'Three-Eyed Bodhisattva'... is quite frightening, making one think of the Four Supreme-ranked Strange Temple suppressed by the Celestial Origin Sect's Main Temple, and the temple deity within... with the long-snouted divine dog and the three-bladed divine sword."
Li Qingshan spoke softly, "When it comes to temple deities, one must be cautious..."
Upon hearing this, Li Che's pupils contracted, and his mind suddenly lit up. Why did this description feel so familiar?
"Never mind, I won't go into detail. You've become a Ten Capital Woodcarving Master, right? You have about two hours. Take a good look at the temple deity... Woodcarving Masters need to observe the temple deity's essence, and it's a risky profession."
Li Qingshan explained.
"Senior... if the temple deity wakes up, is it... still alive?" Li Che asked.
Li Qingshan paused.
Behind the cat mask, his eyes were deep and mysterious.
"They're all dead."
"Only the dead gods can awaken from strange temples..."
As he finished speaking, he tapped his toes and his small figure moved towards the temple.
"I'll come for you in two hours..."
"Remember, don't destroy the surrounding ritual sculptures. Remember, remember!"
The strange temple instantly became quiet.
After Li Qingshan left, Li Che stood straight as a pole, and a sense of unease washed over him from all directions.
His Pure Heart pounded, and his pure divine nature surged, dispelling the unease.
Li Che calmed down, and behind the cute bull mask, his eyes shone brightly.
He looked towards the temple deity statue on the altar.
The Three-Eyed Wrathful Bodhisattva Divine Child!
The divine child temple deity had a vertical eye on its forehead, and its wrathful gaze stared straight ahead. It stood on a lotus, its fists clenched...
Li Che stared at the temple deity, examining it closely.
In his chest, his Pure Heart beat faster and faster...
But Li Che did not observe the temple deity to capture its essence.
Instead, a bold thought flashed through his mind.
"The Chess Sage can combine the Celestial Craft divine ability with the Thousand Analyzing Hands to extract divine nature from the dead and condense it into divine chess pieces..."
"The temple deity... a dead god is still considered a dead person."
"Can I extract its divine nature?"
As soon as this thought emerged, Li Che acted upon it, silently leaping onto the altar where the temple deity statue stood.
He tiptoed and crouched before the divine child temple deity statue, his eyes bright behind the cute bull mask.
He slowly reached out towards the temple deity's head...
(End of Chapter)
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