Although Goldy was still far from being an actual Golden Crow, he already possessed some of its qualities. In addition to that, Goldy was already near the point of evolution, so the stimulation it received from the divine lightning was the pivotal moment when he broke through to Rank 4.
Goldy didn’t have a blood contract owner and he wasn’t a monster either. Instead, he possessed the bloodline of a legendary beast. Statistically speaking he was a Rank 4, but thanks to his unique bloodline, his true strength was comparable to a Rank 5 beast, maybe even stronger.
This was why Lin Jin had the confidence to march right up to Daluo Temple.
Upon witnessing this intimidating display, the monks froze up in fear. While they had already noticed how unusual this rooster was earlier, they did not expect it to be so strong.
“Divine light of Prajna, guardian deity!” The abbot’s expression fell day. A stream of colorful light shot out from one of the mala beads[1] in his hand and it was followed by the sound of thunder. A dense column of fog appeared out of nowhere. After it dispersed, a thirty-foot tall eagle with a human’s body donning full armor appeared. Brandishing two Golden Hammers, looked like one of the Twelve Heavenly Generals of Bhaisajyaguru.
Divine guardian beasts were noted to exist in Buddhist lore. They were beasts who had received enlightenment from Buddha, and as such managed to attain salvation.
Not only was the eagle guardian towering in size, but it was also heavily armed. Crowned on its head was a majestic golden circlet.
Under his mask, Lin Jin felt his eyelids twitch madly at this sight.
Looks like he was right about one thing. Daluo Temple was not to be underestimated.
“Curator, we request that you leave our premises. Daluo Temple shall overlook what happened today,” said the abbot who proceeded to put his hands together and bowed.
Lin Jin scoffed. To back down was no longer an option. From Zhi Zhang’s attack to the point when the abbot summoned the guardian beast, the situation was still very much under control.
They were merely raising the stakes, just like two countries before the outbreak of war. Both sides had to present their war machines, and although the war had yet to begin, this was still a fairly important competition.
They were competing to see who had more cards to play and who would chicken out first.
Lin Jin was sure that Daluo Temple was filled with experts. If he were to declare war on them, forget saving White Ape, it was guaranteed that this would be his final resting place. However, if they were only intimidating one another, Lin Jin had a lot to present.
His motive was simple, and that was to intimidate the opponent into avoiding a fight with him. It was the “mutually-assured destruction” doctrine that he had learned back in his world.
“Daluo Temple is indifferent to the nature of a creature, and all monsters are exterminated on sight. This, you say, is for the sake of upholding justice for the heavens. Why then, do you turn a blind eye to the evil deeds of human beings? Pray tell, how does this uphold justice in any way? Cultivation is difficult for monsters and there are those who are good-natured as well. And yet, the monks of Daluo Temple refuse to acknowledge this fact, and this simply baffles me. For over a thousand years, hundreds and thousands of monks had recited the mantra that praised Buddha, but did he ever tell you to do what you do?”
Lin Jin was infuriated so he cast an enhancement on his voice so it resonated throughout Daluo Peak.
Every monk inside the temple was able to hear him.
“How impudent! Ridiculous!” The abbot was enraged as well. Lin Jin’s statement was public humiliation so how could he possibly take it silently? The other monks were also glaring furiously at Lin Jin as if they were ready to attack him at any given moment.
Meanwhile, some of them were trying to give themselves an excuse to take action.
“Outrageous fiend! With your face covered and a monster in your arms, how on earth are you not a villain!?”
“Master Abbot, just issue the order and we shall purge this villain to reclaim peace for our temple.”
The agitated monks seemed unable to hold back much longer.
Suddenly, Lin Jin took out an amulet.
It was an ‘edict amulet’ that Lin Jin wrote this morning at Cloud Tower City.
Previously, Lin Jin had used a Divine Mountain Edict to suppress a western king cobra. This time, Lin Jin had written a Vulcan Edict. Lin Jin had learned the edict amulets of all five elements from the Cloud Sect’s old Taoist, Wu Qian, back at Jade Dragon Kingdom’s royal capital.
Even then, the word ‘learn’ may have been inappropriate in this case because Wu Qian’s understanding and degree of research into the five elemental edict amulets couldn’t compare to Lin Jin’s. The older man had only just given him the idea to start.
Back then, the Divine Mountain Amulet was used to seal evil beasts away under a mountain. Today, Lin Jin was going to use the higher leveled Vulcan Curse Edict.
He would show off his ‘nuclear weapon’ and see if Daluo Temple still wanted to challenge him.
The Vulcan Edict was on a higher level and it was much stronger than the Divine Mountain Edict so Lin Jin couldn’t perform it with his strength alone. Fortunately, he had tried rehearsing the performance of this edict amulet on the way here.
He only needed an unbelievably powerful flame source to attain a seventy percent chance of success.
Xiao Huo wouldn’t do as he was needed as a mana source for Lin Jin, so he could only turn to Goldy for help.
“Goldy!” Lin Jin called.
Goldy cawed at once, extending his wings to soar above Daluo Temple. Lin Jin tossed the amulet up and invoked a fire god spell.
“Edict, Vulcan Curse!”
The fire amulet shot up, attaching itself to Goldy. As if gallons of gasoline had been poured over Goldy’s firebird form, the flames on his body began burning intensely.
In just a few seconds, as if the sun had fallen out of the sky, the massive ball of fire hovered above Daluo Temple. Even in this distance, the monks below found the scorching heat unbearable. The pilgrims and devotees on the other hand had already scampered away in fear.
Those who didn’t understand this strange phenomenon simply shouted through tears, “It’s divine punishment! The sun is falling down!”
The entire Daluo Temple fell into a state of anarchy. Those who were in the midst of meditating or praying had all started to panic. Even those who had gone into seclusion had their focus broken by the sudden turnout of events.
Monks of great cultivation do not panic before earthquakes. Even with a knife held to their necks, they could maintain their composure. However, no matter how significant their level of cultivation was, they were frightened out of their wits.
It didn’t take much intelligence to figure that if the massive fireball came crashing down, Daluo Temple, along with its thousand-year-long legacy, would be completely destroyed.
Perhaps monks with higher cultivation would survive the ordeal, but the temple would surely be gone.
Hence, at the sight of Curator’s ultimate skill, the temple’s stubborn and composed abbot couldn’t stay calm anymore.
“Curator, please wait!”
“D-Don’t do anything rash. Let us not resort to our fists before we talk like rational men!”
It wasn’t just the abbot, but the other monks who wanted to take action earlier also caved in to Lin Jin’s intimidation. Although they couldn’t resist tearing this Curator to pieces right now, they didn’t have that courage.
If he directed the skill down, Daluo Temple would be turned to dust.
Of course, Lin Jin wouldn’t actually destroy Daluo Temple, at least not now. He did actually consider it before. He thought that if something did happen to Shang’er and White Ape, Daluo Temple would definitely have to suffer the wrath of his Vulcan Edict.
Now that Shang’er was recovering from her injuries, if Lin Jin could guarantee that White Ape was still alive, he would leave their temple intact. After all, if the Vulcan Edict was released, neither he nor Daluo Temple would rest until the other party was dead.
This was the last resort, and even then, it was a decision that Lin Jin was not prepared to make.
The other monks had stayed put and the abbot was nervously shuffling about as well. Although he despised Lin Jin to the core, there was nothing he could do.
Curator was too powerful for them to take down.
Since his appearance until now, he had only taken action three times.
The first time was a greeting by oppressing all beasts that roamed their temple. The second time was when he dealt with Zhi Zhang. The man had only lifted a finger to negate Zhi Zhang’s Beastmaster Scroll. His third move was when he came up with such a massive fireball above them.
If they made even the slightest mistake, today might very well be the greatest tragedy the Daluo Temple had ever faced in a thousand years.
[1] Mala beads, same as prayers beads from earlier chapters. A common item in Buddhism, but also in other religions as well.
