My brother is so cunning

Chapter 1002 The Last Line of Defense for the Western Religion
While Yun Zhongzi was conducting an undercover investigation of a seemingly peaceful and prosperous city of the Demon Alliance, a completely different scene was unfolding on the other side of the world.

At the foot of Lingshan Mountain in Xiniu Hezhou, Lingxu Ferry stands on a precipice.

Three Arhat monks, their robes tattered and torn, rushed from afar, displaying their supernatural speed to the fullest extent. Their figures left afterimages as they quickly reached the edge of the cliff from several miles away.

There was only a single log bridge on the cliff. Several monks stood at the bridgehead, clasped their hands together, and chanted the Heart Sutra to calm their chaotic minds.

However, they didn't have much time left. The buzzing of mosquitoes came from behind, and they could vaguely see the robust figures of hundreds of elite demonic mosquitoes chasing after them on the horizon in the direction they had fled from.

One of the three Arhats heard the piercing sound of flapping wings and quickly looked in the direction of the sound. He said urgently, "Brothers, let's cross the bridge quickly. If we delay any longer, it will be too late if they catch up!"

"Don't panic, stay true to yourself, and avoid arrogance and impetuosity!"

His reminder was met with a rebuke from one of the monks. Seeing the dense swarm of elite demonic mosquitoes closing in, the Arhat steeled his heart, took a step, and jumped onto the log bridge. He spread his arms to maintain his balance and moved his feet, trying to quickly cross the bridge.

However, when he reached halfway across the hundred-zhang-long bridge, he was blown about by the strong winds in the valley. His arms began to swing wildly uncontrollably, and his body twisted back and forth. He tried to use his divine powers to walk on air, but he missed a step, and his powers failed completely. He lost his footing and fell off the bridge, screaming as he plunged into the abyss below.

The two Arhats chanted scriptures until the demonic insects were about to rush towards them, then they stepped onto the bridge one after the other. The two Arhats walked steadily and slowly, and soon they successfully crossed the bridge and arrived at the other side of Lingxu Ferry.

The pursuing demonic insects saw the log bridge spanning a hundred-foot abyss ahead. Without thinking, the leaders spread their wing shells, extended their wings, and flapped them, trying to fly across the bridge.

But just as they flew out of the cliff's edge, it was as if all the laws of physics had changed, or as if they had rashly entered a region of abnormal gravity. The mosquitoes flying in mid-air suddenly lost lift and plummeted straight down the cliff, falling into the unfathomable abyss shrouded in clouds and mist.

The pursuing mosquitoes learned from the death of the mosquito that fell off the cliff and no longer foolishly tried to fly across the Void Crossing. Instead, they gathered at the edge of the cliff and hesitated to move forward.

One of the demonic mosquitoes saw the log bridge spanning Lingxu Ferry and, without much thought, used its barbed limbs to climb onto the bridge, attempting to reach the other side and continue its pursuit of the two monks.

Despite the fact that the mosquitoes were excellent climbers, with barbs and bristles on their legs allowing them to scale cliffs at ninety-degree angles, they only reached the middle of the log bridge before losing their balance without warning, just like the monk who had fallen off the bridge earlier, and plunging into the abyss below.

The death pheromones were transmitted back to the swarm, and another mosquito, having learned from the experience, climbed onto the bridge. However, it lost its balance in the middle of the bridge just like the first one. No matter how the mosquito changed its posture several times and tried to maintain its balance, it still followed in the footsteps of the first one and fell into the abyss.

This time, the elite mosquitoes stopped making pointless sacrifices. They hissed at the two Arhats watching from the other side of the bridge before reluctantly turning away.

The two Arhats who had escaped across the bridge finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"May Buddha protect them! How could those wicked beasts possibly shed their mortal bodies and successfully cross this bridge of cultivation!"

"Alas, what a pity about my junior brother..."

"He brought this upon himself; he deserves to die!"

It would have been better if the Arhat who fell off the cliff hadn't been mentioned. But as soon as he was mentioned, one of the Arhats glared at him and said, suppressing his anger, "If he hadn't been greedy and hadn't thought that all was well, and had taken a fancy to the shepherdess's appearance and wanted to forcibly drag her back to the temple to refine magical artifacts, how could we have attracted the demonic insects to attack us?"

"That's so strange. Why didn't those demonic insects eat the woman when they crawled out of the ground? Instead, they just kept chasing after us and biting us."

“You don’t go down the mountain often, so you probably don’t know, do you? Ever since Lingjiu Temple fell ten years ago, the demonic insects have stopped hunting humans indiscriminately.” The Arhat frowned, looking worried. “They started attacking selectively, targeting only my disciples or those who have converted to my faith and made great donations. Over time, the foolish crowd down the mountain began to worship the demonic insects and spread superstitious rumors that the demonic insects were messengers of the Earth Mother Goddess, who devoured evil people and the descendants of demon princes who had infiltrated the Buddhist order.”

"What? We've become the demons' offspring?"

“Those foolish people are utterly foolish. Their daughters are so fortunate to have been chosen by the Guru to be made into ritual implements for accumulating merit, yet they cling to worldly ties, harbor resentment, and even tip off the demonic insects, guiding them to bypass the temple's protective array and attack the sacred site. They will surely go to hell!”

Luohan said angrily, "Enough of this idle talk. Let's hurry to the Great Thunder Temple to report to the Buddha. The Tantric Drepung Monastery in the north has been attacked by demonic insects. The Vajra of Victory over Demons has entered Nirvana and vanished. The northern border of Xiniu Hezhou has completely fallen. We request the Buddha to enlighten us on how to preserve the lineage of Tantric Buddhism."

……

As they talked, the two Arhats, with weary steps, began their ascent of the steps leading up Mount Ling.

Lingxu Ferry at the foot of Mount Ling, which usually appears to be a place to test the character of Western Sect disciples who come to worship Mount Ling, is actually one of the important defensive measures of the Mount Ling protective formation.

Compared to the magical shield created by the Vajra Formation, the Lingxu Ferry, a single-plank bridge, contains the power of rules. Once one's character fails the test, no matter how powerful one is, one will fall into the bottomless abyss that leads straight to hell.

This protective formation is actually best suited for defending against demonic mosquitoes. Unfortunately, among the many Buddhist temples and holy sites in Xiniu Hezhou, only the Lingxu Ferry Formation has been set up at the foot of Mount Ling. The other Buddhist holy sites are only protected by the Vajra Formation.

After all, besides Lingshan, many Buddhist temples in Xiniu Hezhou also need to accept worshippers. Setting up such a checkpoint at the entrance to test one's character would probably prevent those "charitable" benefactors from even entering.

Today, the number of Western Buddhist temples within Xiniu Hezhou is extremely limited.

After Wen Rui subdued the Mosquito Taoist and changed the rules of the demonic mosquitoes' predation, the human people of Xiniu Hezhou gradually learned to coexist with the demonic insects after more than ten years of contact.

They even discovered that after the demonic insects stopped eating people indiscriminately, they were actually easier to get along with than nobles, lords, chieftains, and gurus.

Gradually, an idea arose in the hearts of the people of Xiniu Hezhou and slowly grew stronger.

Would life be better if there were no masters or Buddhas in the world?

After the people had this idea, the first to be affected were the Tantric Buddhist temples in the northern border of Xiniuhe Prefecture. In order to strengthen the defense of the temples, the Tantric monks recruited more embryos to make ritual implements, which further accelerated the speed at which the people sided with the demon insects.

The decline in the number of worshippers and the emergence of traitors accelerated the fall of Tantric temples, which were reduced to ruins under the siege of demonic insects.

After the Buddhist temples were breached by demonic insects, the Arhats stationed in various temples fled to Mount Ling. However, the journey was fraught with difficulties and dangers, far more difficult than the eighty-one tribulations that Tang Sanzang experienced on his pilgrimage.

Each of the elite demonic insects that intercepted and pursued them possessed a martial arts level no less than Yang Jian's, and their numbers were always in large groups, covering the mountains and plains.

Such an extremely difficult journey would require even a monkey to perform a circus act to get through.

Of the Arhats who ultimately escaped to Mount Ling, only one in ten survived. Many renowned guardian deities perished and vanished on this arduous escape journey, no longer existing in the world.

(End of this chapter)