The Lord of Void and Real
Chapter 706

Chapter 706: Chapter 702: Reincarnation of the Golden Cicada Chapter 706: Chapter 702: Reincarnation of the Golden Cicada “Boom, boom, boom…”

A thunderous rumble echoed from the high skies above, signaling the imminent descent of the seventh Thunder Tribulation!

Lin Da's brows were deeply furrowed, his expression solemn beyond measure. His hands rapidly formed seals, akin to the spinning of a Car Wheel in front of him. A glow started illuminating the Blood Crystal Lotus Platform beneath him.

“Endless creation, boundless benevolence.”

With a low shout from his mouth, the ghost faces around him retreated one by one, becoming still and solidifying onto his body, their once vicious expressions now inanimate, like death masks.

The Blood Crystal Lotus Platform beneath Lin Da began to rotate, emitting a radiant light. Delicate, bud-like crystal threads sprung forth, wriggling and twisting, extending in all directions, linking all the Dharma Platforms together.

Each Dharma Platform heralded the emergence of blood-red runes that bounced up and down in the intertwined crystal threads, their eerie aura spreading across the square.

“What's happening?” Master Tuo Lan was the first to notice the anomaly, exclaiming in surprise.

He saw his robes billow as if caught in a nonexistent wind, a faint white brilliant light radiating from him suspended around him like countless fireflies. He was entirely enveloped in the light.

“What is this?” someone else exclaimed, struck by the same phenomenon.

Not far from Master Tuo Lan, another Zen Master was similarly bathed in light.

In no time, the entire higher platform of the square was almost entirely illuminated. Some were bathed in moonlight-like pale light, others radiated bright light as if a lamp, some sprinkled with Starlight, and some looked like a sun suspended in the sky with a disk forming behind them.

Only Chan'er showed no signs of illumination.

“Huh, how could this be? Did I misjudge him?” Lin Da cast a glance at Chan'er, perplexed.

“So this is the manifestation of accumulated benevolence, unique to each individual.” Chan'er was advancing his gaze around, looking at everyone's radiating light, and spoke with a hint of intrigue.

At his words, everyone finally came to their senses – the light shining from them was the benevolence they had accumulated over years of cultivation.

“You do have a discerning eye, yet unfortunately you're good for nothing after all.” Lin Da was disappointed to see that Chan'er lacked benevolence, and retorted.

Having said that, he no longer paid attention to the others. His hands joined together and he began reciting scriptures in a low voice.

His posture was devout and earnest, and had it not been for all that had happened before, everyone might have believed him to be genuinely the most devout and focused amongst them.

As the chant from his mouth echoed, Lin Da began to radiate, yet the light around him was reddish, brighter and more magnificent than anyone else's. It slowly coalesced outside his body, forming a Bodhisattva image about thirty feet tall.

The image bore some resemblance to Manjushri Bodhisattva, its expression compassionate, benevolently cherishing all sentient beings.

As soon as the Bodhisattva image materialized, a white light suddenly flashed across the sky, illuminating the area within a hundred miles, and a deafening boom resounded, as if to explode a hole in the Vault of Heaven.

A pure white bolt of lightning, like a waterfall from the Nine Heavens, fell from the sky, pouring down towards Lin Da.

Lin Da raised his hand and pushed upwards, and the Bodhisattva's phantom image mimicked the action, pushing its palm towards the sky. This massive palm acted like an umbrella, receiving the onslaught of the thunder and lightning on Lin Da's behalf.

However, the power of this Tribulation Lightning was beyond imagination. The moment it entered the palm of the Bodhisattva, it broke through, thousands of strands of electric currents falling intertwined, continuing towards Lin Da.

Upon seeing this, Lin Da swiftly made another seal with his hands. The phantom image of the Bodhisattva lifted its other hand to shield against the onslaught, managing to block the lightning for the second time.

However, the leftover branches of lightning spattered from within his palm onto the Bodhisattva's illusory figure, just like sparks hitting muslin, instantly burning countless holes. This naturally caused extreme pain for Lin Da, who was in the middle of it all.

Against the torrential gush of electric rivers, the two palms seemed like two small dams trying to stop a river, barely being able to resist and yet inevitably not able to escape their ultimate fate of being destroyed.

Lin Da could not just leave it like that, he lowly roared from his mouth, a burst of blood light surged from the center of his eyebrows, the blood crystal lotus platform beneath him radiated brightly, and all the blood colored lines connected to it also lit up one after another.

For high monks on the dharma platform, they felt their eyebrows scalding hot, the merits embodied on the exterior of their bodies followed those blood crystal lines and flowed away one by one, gathering on the blood crystal lotus platform underneath Lin Da.

In a flash, a brilliant light shone from the blood crystal lotus platform, right over the blood-red base color of the lotus petal, blurring into a layer of white light that enveloped it. The Bodhisattva's illusory figure also had a layer of muslin-like monk's robe condensed from white light around him.

The lightning that fell on the muslin robe greatly reduced its might, and could not burn through the robe.

Seeing this, joy flashed in Lin Da's eyes as he hurriedly intensified the absorption of the high monks' merits.

High Monks like Master Tuo Lan were fine, as they were inherently virtuous and could support this for a moment; on the other hand, some Zen Masters with shallow foundations were quickly sucked dry of their merits, and their life forces also swiftly began to dwindle.

Those Zen Masters, originally appearing middle-aged, saw their skin drying out rapidly, their eyebrows and beards growing quickly and turning white before ultimately falling off. Their bodies kept shrinking until finally only dry bones remained.

Chan'er, who had not shown any proverbial merits, began to lose his vitality from the moment his eyebrows felt the burn.

Not knowing what to do, he could only guard his spirit and chant the Heart Sutra.

At this very moment, the relic on his chest suddenly emitted a golden shine, encompassing him. This rich light shone like the break of a new day, overshadowing all the high monks nearby.

“What is that…” Zen Master Tuo Lan exclaimed in shock.

“Is that merit? Why is it so majestic…”

“Impossible! How could it be…”

Amidst everyone's astonishment, a giant golden cicada avatar began to form behind Chan'er.

“The reincarnation of Jinchanzi, I was right! With you here, there is nothing to worry about crossing the tribulation. Hahaha…” Lin Da, seeing this, became exhilarated to the point of losing his composure.

He had already speculated about Chan'er's identity. When he was in the city, he wanted to take action against Chan'er, but it was disrupted by the Flower Fox, forcing him to chase and take action at the Mountain of Ash Seal.

Later, when Lin Da found out that Chan'er had indeed catalyzed Zhan Guo, he firmly believed that Chan'er was the incarnation of Jinchanzi, and thus enticed Chan'er to participate in the Mahayana Dharma Assembly.

“With the reincarnated Jinchanzi here, the others are of no use. Hahaha…”

Lin Da waved his hand, directly retracting his control over the other Dharma platforms. He reached out towards Chan'er, seizing him from his platform, suspending him in front of him.

Chan'er was bathed in golden light with many memories of his past life appearing in his mind, his face was surprisingly calm.

Lin Da clasped his hands into a magic spell, pulling the golden merit-Buddha's light from him, it flowed atop the blood-colored lotus seat under him, painting it pure gold. Also, a layer of golden kasaya was condensed onto the illusory figure of the Bodhisattva.

With this boundless merit serving as protection, the reflected golden light rocketed towards the skydome, interacting with the silver-lightning, both quickly dissolving into each other. The leaden clouds deep in the sky seemed to be consumed by the golden light, thinning down considerably.

In the invisible space, the intent of Heavenly Dao to obliterate Lin Da had also weakened a few points.