Stranger Danger

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Chapter 312: Suppressing the Mara Buddha

"You're their master?"

Gu Suitang stopped in his tracks when he saw the man behind Fang Xiaoman and Ye Qing.

“It was you?”

If his first exclamation was both a question and confirmation, then his second exclamation was lined with shock and disbelief. It was because the man standing behind Fang Xiaoman was none other than Wang Luori’s second disciple, the “Silver Flute” Bai Song.

Bai Song wasn’t the most famous or even the strongest disciple among his lot. In fact, he was a moderate, humble, and gentle-natured man who resembled a student of the White Horse Academy far more than what one might expect from Wang Luori’s disciple.

Wang Luori himself was displeased by this, but Bai Song was deeply loved and respected by the disciples of Sunset Hill. He also enjoyed a great reputation outside Sunset Hill. Even Zhang Lanjiang, the headmaster of White Horse Academy himself, called him a gentleman behind closed doors.

Earlier, Gu Suitang had tried to figure out who in Sunset Hall might be the Mara Buddha. Almost everyone including Xue Beikun, whom Ye Qing had sworn wasn’t an enemy, was on his list of suspects. The one person he never suspected was Bai Song, but he was wrong.

Bai Song smiled. “It is I.”

“I’ll admit, you’re the last person I suspect has anything to do with this!” Gu Suitang sneered. “Finally willing to show your face after I took out all your dogs? Who on earth are you?”

Bai Song remained smiling. “I am Mara Buddha.”

“If you are Mara Buddha, then who is Bai Song?” Gu Suitang asked.

Bai Song—or rather Mara Buddha replied, “There has never been a Bai Song. There is only Mara Buddha.”

“Hahaha! I see. No wonder!”

This meant that Mara Buddha had been hiding at Sunset Hill as Bai Song since the beginning. No wonder he was able to convert Wang Luori into his worshiper. The Hill Lord probably had no idea that Mara Buddha even existed until the very last moment.

“Mara Buddha, Mara Buddha. Sounds like a monk, but why do you have hair?” Gu Suitang looked Mara Buddha up and down wantonly.

“The mortal shell is a fickle and transient thing. Those who obsess over their mortal shell may not meet Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha himself, Benefactor Gu.”

Mara Buddha smiled as a thin crack abruptly split from his forehead all the way to the bottom. As the human skin rolled off to each side like fabric, a wrinkly old monk wearing a black monk’s robe stepped out of the shell that was Bai Song.

The old monk had a kind face and wore a Buddha’s smile, but the presence he gave off could only be described as evil. Demonic and Buddha light mingled as one as hallucinatory, corruptive black lotuses descended from above.

“Attachment is the poison that kills the world and tortures humanity. Take you for example, Benefactor Gu. Had you chosen to worship me from the start, you wouldn’t have needed to suffer such pain, would you?”

“Nothing I can do about my nature. I acknowledge that I’m a shallow guy who only sees things skin deep.” Gu Suitang shrugged. “If you were a cute lady, then maybe I might have said yes. But no, you’re an ugly old fuck. The mere idea of being thought of as your worshiper makes me want to puke, much less becoming one for real.”

“This is my advice for you, but an ugly fuck like you shouldn’t be going around hurting people. You in particular should just do us all a favor and hang yourself.”

Mara Buddha’s merciful smile slowly turned demonic. “Why must you be stubborn, Benefactor Gu? Benefactor Fang is my hostage, and you are far from being in top shape. There is no chance you might turn things around. Why must you struggle to the bitter end?”

“Hahaha! Says the cowardly rat who sends his dogs to die instead of challenging me himself! There’s no one I despise more than spineless, balless cowards like you!”

Gu Suitang spat, “Come get me if you can, bitch.”

Mara Buddha’s demonic qi grew thicker and thicker until the entire hall was brimming with it. Shadowy tentacles danced in the air, and a terrifying aura caused the entire hall to tremble like an earthquake. At the same time, a chaotic, warped noise resounded in everyone’s heart.

“You will join me whether you like it or not.”

“Namo Marakaruna...”

A Buddha with a thousand arms appeared behind Mara Buddha as he chanted. When the Buddha brought down his one thousand arms, countless demons manifested into existence to drag Gu Suitang to hell.

“Demonic Palm of Gautama—All Ways Lead to Hell”

It was at this moment Fang Xiaoman suddenly broke free from Mara Buddha’s grip and landed a palm strike on his chest.

THANG!

It was like he was hitting a massive bronze bell or something. The massive noise would continue to reverberate throughout the hall for tens of seconds.

The surprise attack had failed to deal any damage to Mara Buddha because a black ripple had appeared on his skin and hardened it like black steel. Fang Xiaoman didn’t stop, however. The next moment, he summoned Xuanhuang and attacked Mara Buddha again. The old monk never managed to react because he was completely and utterly caught off guard.

Xuanhuang was a longbow, but in Fang Xiaoman’s hands, it was like eighteen weapons combined into one. He used its limb like a saber or a stick, and its string like a whip or a sword. In less than a second, he cut, carved, smashed, twisted, whipped or strangled Mara Buddha and carved up the whole hall like it was made of tofu.

“Roar!”

When Mara Buddha was sent flying, Fang Xiaoman jumped backward and performed a full draw. Then, he loosed an arrow that was also a golden dragon straight at Mara Buddha. fre ewebno vel.com

Rumble!

A draconic cyclone ripped into Mara Buddha’s body and blasted him through a pillar, a wall, and finally into the ground. Sunset Hall also collapsed after all the abuse it took.

Fang Xiaoman grabbed Ye Qing and escaped the hall before it could crash down on them. Gu Suitang was right beside him. A massive dust cloud was kicked up in the aftermath.

“Is he dead?” The cloudiness in Ye Qing’s eyes disappeared as he asked.

When Mara Buddha tapped his head with a finger earlier, he was probably trying to corrupt his mind with his power and control him. And if he was who he was in the past, he might have lost the mental battle and transformed into a religious puppet.

But the “Paranirmitava?avartin Heavenly Demon Sutra” was a cultivation art that fed on desires and dark powers. Not only was Mara Buddha’s mental attack completely ineffective against him, it even strengthened his demonic thought. He was just faking his reaction so that Mara Buddha wouldn’t pay him any attention or get any funny ideas.

“I don’t think so, but he’s definitely taken a huge hit,” Fang Xiaoman replied slowly.

As if on cue, there was a mighty blast that blew away the dust clouds, revealing Mara Buddha and Xue Beikun.

“Cough! Cough!”

A trickle of blood flowed down the corner of his lips as Mara Buddha coughed, but his blood was blackish gold in color. When it hit the floor, it bloomed into black gold lotus.

Right now, Mara Buddha was definitely not in a good state. His demonic qi was flying about haphazardly, and there was a fist-sized hole in his chest. No blood was flowing out of the chest wound, however. In fact, Ye Qing could see a gold energy clashing against a black energy inside the hole. Every time the monk’s flesh writhed as if trying to heal itself, the gold energy would destroy the newly grown flesh and force it to restart the cycle anew.

Clearly, Xuanhuang’s power was preventing it from healing.

Mara Buddha paid no attention to his wounds, however. He was busy staring at Fang Xiaoman with contracted pupils. “Were you faking your injuries?”

Fang Xiaoman answered, “I was hurt, but I got better.”

There was nothing complicated about his answer, but it was precisely why Mara Buddha couldn’t accept it. “Impossible. You took a solid blow from my “Demonic Palm of Gautama”, and your internal organs were infected by my demonic qi. There’s no way you could have healed so quickly even if you have access to the best medicine in the world.”

“You’re right. The best man-made medicine in the world couldn’t save me. But a miraculous one? That’s a different story.” Fang Xiaoman smiled.

It was at this moment Mara Buddha sensed something and looked in Gu Suitang’s direction. His eyes widened when the deputy chief suddenly began healing at a visible rate. Even his weakened energies were rapidly recovering.

“The Water of Life?!” Mara Buddha exclaimed in shock.

“Surprise! Do you like it?” Gu Suitang grinned widely.

“Impossible! I am certain that the Luo Shui Pacification Bureau doesn’t have the Water of Life.” Mara Buddha shook his head as if he was trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Then, he recalled something and looked at Ye Qing. “Unless...”

“Yep! I found some in the Demon’s Tomb and shared it with Chief Fang and Chief Gu,” Ye Qing admitted without hesitation.

This was the reason he was confident that his plan would go without a hitch. There was no such thing as cure-all, but the Water of Life was a pretty close one. At the very least, it was good enough to heal Fang Xiaoman to full health, which it had.

However, Ye Qing had told Fang Xiaoman to feign weakness. It was so that they could fish out Mara Buddha. Although they were certain that Mara Buddha would be present for the birthday feast, they still didn’t know who he was or where he was hiding. Just now at Sunset Hall, they couldn’t even tell if he was hiding in their midst. That was why Fang Xiaoman couldn’t reveal his recovery overly quickly. Otherwise, there was a high chance Mara Buddha would choose to cut his losses and escape.

It had proven to be a wise decision. Paranoid and cautious, Mara Buddha had waited until all five of his Spirit Masters were dead, Gu Suitang was battered and seriously injured, and he was absolutely certain that his chances of victory were one hundred percent before he finally revealed himself.

That was fine though. That was also the moment he was most unguarded. As a result, Fang Xiaoman was able to catch him by surprise and even deal him a serious blow. So far, their plan was a resounding success.

“It was you?” Mara Buddha’s eyes glinted dangerously when suddenly, another question occurred to him. He looked at Fang Xiaoman and asked, “No, no. If you regained your strength, then why did you hide it? There should be no reason for you to do so.”

“Unless... you already knew that Wang Luori’s birthday feast was a ploy. In fact, you knew of my existence and were waiting for me to show myself! Otherwise, you wouldn’t have waited until now to act!”

“That’s correct. We knew from the start.” Fang Xiaoman answered honestly as he was an honest man.

“But how did you know? The boy might have told you about me, but there is no way you would know that I was hiding in Sunset Hill, much less plotting to capture you all in one fell swoop!”

The answer came to Mara Buddha even as his eyes widened slowly in shock and realization. “There is no way, unless someone leaked my plans to you!”

“It was me[1].” Xue Beikun’s voice rang behind Mara Buddha. At the same time, a wolf howl deafened everyone’s ears, and the sky began raining blood. Countless spear forces fell from the sky and engulfed Mara Buddha instantly.

As if on cue, Fang Xiaoman and Gu Suitang charged Mara Buddha as well.

Rumble rumble rumble!

The ground shook, and the wind howled. Words couldn’t describe the battle that took place afterward.

If the fully healed Fang Xiaoman was Ye Qing’s first trump card, then Xue Beikun was his second. His role was very simple. When the time was right, Xue Beikun would coordinate with Fang Xiaoman and Gu Suitang to kill Mara Buddha.

He refused to believe that Mara Buddha could survive being attacked by three top-tier Spirit Masters in his state.

“MARA BUDDHA!”

A few breaths later, a mournful and angry voice boomed out from the center of the battlefield. There was a huge explosion, and Fang Xiaoman, Gu Suitang and Xue Beikun were sent flying into the air. Their faces were white, and their auras were unsteady. Even Ye Qing was pushed backward by the sudden gust of force.

A huge, blackened pit appeared where the four men had fought earlier. The surrounding buildings had completely collapsed into rubble as well.

1. Ironic that it took mind control to unite humanity, isn't it? Reminds me of Worm. ?