My brother is so cunning

Chapter 909 You Get What You Pay For
As the two eminent monks were talking, a sudden burst of light shone in the sky, and a blinding beam of light shot down from the direction of the sun toward the ground.

Each beam of light was tens of meters thick. The snow on the ground hit by the beams melted instantly, and the permafrost did not last long either, melting away along with the snow and turning into bright red lava that splashed out.

The beam of light swept through the elite swarm of demonic mosquitoes, and those illuminated by it let out a shrill scream before instantly turning into fireballs and burning fiercely.

The intense heat, capable of melting rocks in less than a second, failed to carbonize and burn the entire demonic mosquito in that brief moment. The mosquito, its body ignited and turned into a ball of fire, scattered and fled, managing to escape the beam's range thanks to its tenacious vitality.

The beam of light swept back and forth, chasing the mosquitoes like a swarm of ants being scorched by a mischievous child using a magnifying glass to focus sunlight.

Although some unlucky mosquitoes didn't realize what was happening and stayed in the pillar of light for too long, their self-healing abilities couldn't counteract the constant burning of their body cells by the sun's true fire, and they eventually turned into ashes, most of the mosquitoes escaped the area illuminated by the pillar of light before being completely burned away.

Although the flames on the escaped mosquitoes gradually died down, revealing their horrific state of being burned beyond recognition and their carapaces melted into a heap, it wasn't long before the outer layer of charred, dead tissue fell off, revealing newly grown limbs.

The long-awaited space-based weapon support did have some killing effect on the elite mosquitoes, but it didn't seem to be much, and it couldn't achieve the miraculous effect of immediately turning the tide of the battle.

"Something's not right. What's going on? Why is the power and range so much weaker than when the Creator God used it?"

Venerable Sariputra exclaimed in astonishment, "Even if the demons are burned to death, it will take a long time to kill just one. There are tens of thousands of demons outside. Before they are completely burned, the shield will break first!"

"Oh no! When Brother Attorney Ana demonstrated it, it wasn't like this at all. There were ten pillars of real fire, but now there's only one left. Junior Brother Ananda must have intercepted some and withheld the recharge amount. We're running out of daily data!"

Venerable Apoli's expression changed drastically, and he said in a hoarse voice.

"Data traffic? What data traffic? And what's this about topping up?"

"Senior brother, you may not know this, but the Celestial Venerable of Creation is the ancestor of merchants. He never does business at a loss and is better at making money than any of us..."

“Speak properly. What we’re doing isn’t about accumulating wealth; it’s about guiding future generations! It’s so that our descendants will have something to spend, and so that we can better spread the Dharma!”

"I am ashamed, this humble monk has misspoke again."

Venerable Apoli awkwardly said, "In short, the Creator Heavenly Venerable said that even close brothers should keep clear accounts, let alone an ally who is not related by blood. Therefore, if we want to use the sun-blocking canopy he created, we have to exchange it for rare and precious materials that are valuable to him."

"That guy even came up with a data recharge system, using a complicated algorithm to quantify and charge for every time we use the Sky Canopy Focus. You have to pay in advance with rare and precious materials to recharge, which is then converted into data in your account before you can use the Sky Canopy. He also opened up several VIP levels, saying that the more you recharge, the higher your access to the Sky Canopy, and the thicker and more numerous the pillars of true solar fire you can summon..."

"Why should he? That guy's Heavenly Canopy summons true fire without consuming divine power, immortal power, or magic power, and he still dares to take our rare and precious materials. Isn't he just making money for nothing? Why doesn't he just rob us!"

“At that time, Ananda, who was in contact with the Creator, also rebuked him in the same way. He said that this was faster than robbing money, and that our Buddhist scriptures do not consume any magical power when recited once. He dared to charge people for paving the ground with gold bricks, so why shouldn’t he dare to charge them?” Venerable Sariputra was stunned when he heard this, and for a moment he could not think of any reason to refute Apali’s retelling of Wen Rui’s heretical words.

"When he received the gold bricks, it was Buddha himself who recited scriptures and preached. How can he compare to Buddha?"

"Oh, what a coincidence! Brother Ananda refuted him in the same way back then, asking in return that he couldn't compare to the Buddha in terms of strength and status?"

Venerable Apoli smiled wryly and said, "He said that the services provided by the Buddha can be perfectly replicated by a solar-powered chanting machine. It only uses a few bars of electricity. The energy provided by his solar canopy for one second is enough for the solar-powered chanting machine to chant sutras in various ways for thousands of years. Charging a small data fee is fair and reasonable. Otherwise, I'm afraid the descendants of the Heavenly Court in future generations won't have enough money to spend."

Venerable Sariputra was so angry that his face turned ashen, but these were all established facts that had already happened, and no matter how frustrated he felt, he could not change them. He could only silently recite the Heart Sutra to extinguish the karmic fire in his heart.

"What about the unpaid data charges?"

“Sigh, I felt it was inappropriate when my senior brother Ananda was in charge of settling the data traffic fees with the Heavenly Court.”

Venerable Apoli shook his head helplessly and said slowly, "You know that senior brother Ananda. Ever since he took charge of the Sutra Transmission Hall, the price of the scriptures has increased several times, but the amount of money received by the Sutra Transmission Hall has been decreasing each time. We all know what the problem is."

“If it weren’t for Brother Ananda being sensible, and the fact that our fellow disciples’ expenses were always arranged by him and were always of the highest standard, with each of us wearing brocade robes and silkworm robes and carrying seven-jeweled staffs, he would have been reported to the Buddha long ago.”

"Unexpectedly, perhaps we have been too lenient, he actually dared to have such a crazy idea about military procurement funds. He must have withheld the treasures that were to be handed over to the Creation Celestial Venerable and chose to buy the lowest level of VIP qualification. That's why there is only one pillar of true fire, which is barely enough to burn the demon mosquitoes to death. It only meets the minimum requirements for military procurement."

"You wicked creature! The front is in dire straits, and the rear is in dire straits! He's trying to kill us! He clearly understands the importance of space-based weapons to counter the demonic mosquitoes, so how could he possibly try to profit from data usage?"

Having finally understood the whole story, Venerable Sariputra was furious, almost to the point of fainting. He pointed to the sky and cursed, showing no semblance of a high monk's demeanor.

Even though Ananda in later generations clearly knew the importance of the pilgrimage to the West in resolving the great calamity of the Journey to the West, he still demanded bribes and favors from the four disciples. If he had angered Tang Sanzang to the point of heart attack and died on the spot at the last moment, the grand drama that all the gods and Buddhas had planned and cooperated for hundreds of years would have been ruined on the spot.

What does it matter if a little bit of military procurement funds is embezzled?
After all, the ancestral home of the Western religion is in the magical land of India, and Ananda was a native Indian, so it's normal for him to possess some of the traditional virtues of Indians.

The pillar of true fire, tens of meters thick, swept back and forth among the swarm of demonic insects. However, the number of insects was too large, the range of the fire pillar was too small, and the movement speed was greatly limited due to the low VIP level. As a result, after burning for half a day, it only burned less than a hundred elite demonic mosquitoes to death.

Even though the lowest-level paid access to the Sun-Shielding Canopy was rather weak, it still achieved a feat that hundreds of Western Sect disciples at the Arhat level could not accomplish, demonstrating the strength of this space-based weapon in suppressing the demonic mosquitoes.

Unfortunately, you get what you pay for. The little bit of data fee that Ananda paid only got him this super-crippled version of the super weapon's power. Even if Buddha were to approach Wenrui, the operator, in the future, the answer would only be three words: "You have to pay more!"

(End of this chapter)