Patrol Captain

At the hour of Yin (3-5 AM), in Qingshan County, the darkness was gradually fading, and the outlines of distant mountains emerged from the deep black, like an ink painting slowly taking shape while immersed in water.

In the depths of the streets and alleys, a rooster's crow suddenly broke the silence. First, a clear crowing, and then roosters from all directions began to crow in response, waking the sleeping county town. The night, too, faded into a hazy bluish-gray inch by inch amidst the crowing.

Jiazi Lane, Green Bamboo Courtyard.

A gentle evening breeze rustled through the bamboo grove.

Then, with a creak, the door to the inner room opened, the sound clearly audible in the quiet night.

In the courtyard, on the lotus leaves, and in the pavilion, the Dragon Girl of the North Sea and Old Man Dong opened their eyes at the same time, their eyes shining brightly in the darkness.

"whoosh"

With a gust of wind, the two flew to the front of the main hall and met Chen Yuan, who had just returned from his reverie.

The Dragon Girl of the North Sea nodded slightly, habitually remaining silent. Only Old Man Dong, who couldn't keep quiet, kept making faces.
"Chen boy, you're back. What's up?"

As he spoke, he leaned forward, very curious. After all, for a dignified Martial Saint to have two of them as his protectors, something must have happened. Who doesn't love to hear some gossip?

Chen Yuan ignored him and instead asked, "Old Dong, could you get some more of that wine we had at your place last time?"

These words caused the old man, Dong, who had come closer, to take two steps back, looking utterly incredulous, almost cursing.
"You little brat, I'm here to protect you, and you come up here and ask for my manhood? No, no."

The head shook like a rattle.

"Didn't I ask you, Chen, to capture that Asura?"

"If that doesn't work, then why are you still with Chen?"

Chen Yuan looked at his stingy appearance and said irritably.

Upon hearing this, Old Dong clutched the gourd at his waist, twisted his body backward, and his old face showed a mixture of disbelief and delight.
"So, you mean to hand that great demon over to me, kid? Are you serious?"

Chen Yuan glanced at him, noticing his change in demeanor, and chuckled irritably. "The stuff is all in your hands. Why would I lie to you? If I let you, this old drunkard, part with it for nothing, you'd probably curse me to death in your heart."

Chen Yuan would never let Asura, who harmed his people, die a peaceful death. Being refined and brewed into wine by Old Man Dong was a fitting end for him.

Old Dong didn't seem to mind at all. Without batting an eye, he supported his aching back and said, "You should have said so earlier. There's a saying that even close brothers should keep clear accounts. My best stuff is getting less and less. If there's no replenishment, I'd rather die than give it away."

Seeing his appearance, Chen Yuan flicked his wrist, produced a white jade wine pot about a foot tall with a slender neck and thick waist, and tossed it towards Old Man Dong.
"Next, help Chen fill this pot, and that great demon will be yours."

As he spoke, the corners of his eyes lifted slightly.

Old Dong took the wine jug, glanced at it, and his beard almost stood on end. Trading a demon for a jug of wine—this was a great deal! For a "big spender" like Chen Yuan, Old Dong felt no psychological pressure at all when he was "ripping him off."

It wasn't called "Zai" (宰), it was Chen Yuan's own request.

"No problem!" Old Dong agreed readily, putting the wine pot into his sleeve, then taking out the gourd from his waist, shaking it, and then nodding and talking to himself with a smug look on his face, while pointing at the gourd with his finger.

"This time, I've really gotten a good deal."

"Don't blame me, blame yourself for all the evil you've done. Of all people to mess with, you had to mess with this kid."

Chen Yuan stopped him, his eyebrows lowered, and urged him, "Old Dong, stop dawdling. I've already promised you the things, hurry up and get my wine."

"So soon? I'll have to put in some effort to make this wine. I need to gather spiritual energy from the mountains, as you saw last time."

"The sooner the better." Chen Yuan nodded.

"Why the rush? Are you afraid I'll renege on my debt?" Old Man Dong asked, puzzled.

"It's just a gift, don't ask any more questions!" Chen Yuan replied.

Because of the matter of the Buddha's relics, he planned to visit the Arhat Anilou in Zhennan Prefecture. As for the wine, it was not for this Arhat, but for the senior Luo from Youmen Pass.

He needed this senior Luo to introduce him, after all, they were both immortal kings, and senior Luo had known this Arhat Anilou in that land of death.

You can't always go empty-handed.

Old Dong, though curious, knew his limits and didn't press the matter.

"Row!"

"I'll go and get it right away and bring it over."

As he spoke, Old Man Dong's face lit up with joy. He turned around and leaped into the night, transforming into a streak of light and flying eastward.

Right now, only Chen Yuan and the Dragon Girl remain.

The North Sea Dragon Girl, with her keen insight, smiled slightly.
"That old drunkard probably won't be laughing soon."

Chen Yuan's eyes darted around, a smile playing at the corners of his eyes. "Why do you say that, Dragon Girl?"

"The wine jug that Lord Chen just gave me probably contained more than that. His expression at the time revealed it, but Old Dong was too busy being happy to notice." The Dragon Girl of the North Sea's voice was always cold, but there was a hint of schadenfreude in her words.

"Hehe," Chen Yuan laughed heartily, casually flicking his sleeve behind him. "I'm sorry to have made you laugh, Dragon Girl. I just wanted to see how Old Dong would react when he found out."

The dragon girl smiled and nodded, feeling that there was nothing more for her to do, and prepared to take her leave. "If there is nothing else, sir, I will take my leave now."

"and many more!"

Chen Yuan called out to her, then raised his hand and waved it, and a golden, shimmering shadow fell to the ground.

In the shimmering light, a little girl lay sprawled on the ground. But soon, her body elongated with the light, revealing fine blue scales on her skin. Her head appeared as a hideous phantom of a triangular snake's head, as if it were about to materialize.

"This should be the dragon race among the eight classes of the Demon Kingdom, called Naga. Although they are called dragons, their true form is actually a kind of serpent. But this race is extraordinary, otherwise they could not be called one of the eight classes of the Demon Kingdom along with Garuda, Yaksha, and Asura."

“This demon’s cultivation has reached the level of a Great Demon. I think this race may have some connection with you, the True Dragon, and can help you recover from your injuries. After all, I promised Her Highness the Dragon Maiden, and I can’t keep my promise forever.”

"This wicked beast will be dealt with by the Dragon Girl. I have sealed its inner core and primordial spirit."

Chen Yuan sent out another great demon.

Give it to the Dragon Girl of the North Sea to replenish her strength.

After all, this dragon girl had contributed both her skills and effort along the way, and Chen Yuan had benefited greatly from her. For example, she had made a significant contribution to his True Dragon Armor.

Anyway, these beasts are no longer of much use to my current cultivation level. Giving them to them to increase my strength is more effective than devouring them myself.

The Dragon Girl's brow twitched at Chen Yuan's audacious way of sending "people" away, but she quickly calmed down.

Having experienced it myself, I'm fine.

She knew that Chen Yuan never treated demons as human beings, but rather slaughtered them like animals. Strictly speaking, she was also a demon, but since he had always treated her with great courtesy, she didn't stand on ceremony and bowed, saying, "Then thank you for your kindness, sir!"

As she spoke, her long silver sleeves grew longer, and with a flick of her wrist, she wrapped them around the Naga on the ground, binding her tightly. Then, she rose into the air, her clothes fluttering, and flew into the night.

Chen Yuan watched the other person leave, then looked at the night sky, turned around and closed the door of the main room, and then, with a swift movement, he also went out.

Under the cover of night, he arrived at Langdang Mountain, two hundred miles west of Qingshan County.
He randomly found a low hill and blasted a cave into it.

Next, they placed numerous restrictions inside.

"Shifting Stars and Changing Constellations" and "Divine Light of the Heavenly Eye"

"."

Its main purpose is to conceal the secrets of heaven.

Then, he sat cross-legged in the cave, opening his eyes to ponder.

He reviewed the events of the night and considered the possibility that he might be being targeted.

On his way back, he chose to "drop" the golden feather given to him by the Golden-Winged Roc in a desolate area outside Chengdu, set up a restriction, and hid it in a certain place.

Defenses can not do without.

Those golden feathers might reveal his location, so Chen Yuan wouldn't be foolish enough to carry them with him. Who knows if that golden-winged roc would be two-faced? It's always better to be cautious.

It's not too late to take what you need from Mount Sumeru when the opportunity arises.

After reviewing the situation, Chen Yuan felt that there had been no major mistakes. Then, he turned his gaze around and closed his eyes.

After about half a cup of tea, he suddenly opened his eyes and then flipped his right hand over.

A pale finger bone with fine cracks floated on his hand!
If I'm not mistaken, this is the Buddha's relic that people in the Pure Land speak of. It was obtained by Chen Yuan from the shattered primordial spirit of the great demon golden Gu eagle he killed during the bloody battle at Yinshan.

At the time, seeing that it was a finger bone without any divine light, Chen Yuan never thought of it as a Buddha relic. He assumed it was some special artifact from the demon lineage and then forgot about it completely.

If it weren't for the incident that happened tonight, he probably would have forgotten about this Buddhist relic in a corner of the Pot Heaven Space.

Chen Yuan's gaze was intense, golden light condensing into specks of lacquer as he scanned the pale, slightly jade-colored finger bones in his hand.

The words Helian Shan had spoken when I consulted him not long ago came to mind;

There are 84,000 relics of the Buddha's bones, each different in appearance: bone relics are white, hair relics are black, and flesh relics are red.
The color of this finger bone does match.

Thinking this, Chen Yuan tossed the finger bone in his hand in front of him, and his third eye between his eyebrows suddenly opened, shooting out a beam of divine light that landed on the finger bone relic.

At first, the Buddha's relic was like stiff jade, its surface seal shimmering with a bluish-gray murky light, utterly unremarkable. As the divine light of the Heavenly Eye broke through the seal, the relic trembled with a buzzing sound, its bluish-gray murky light fiercely resisting the invasion of the Heavenly Eye's divine light.

"Come again."

Chen Yuantian's eyes suddenly widened, and the divine light in his vertical pupils was like lightning, like a glass divine sword, directly slashing at the seal above. His finger bones trembled and began to emit a humming sound like chanting.

As time passed, the dull sheen on the surface of the finger bones began to crack, and multicolored light threads seeped out from the cracks, initially like gossamer threads, but in an instant they turned into gushing springs.

The shimmering light instantly transformed into tiny Sanskrit characters, and the chanting in the cave suddenly amplified, resounding in unison.

Chen Yuan felt as if a multitude of Buddhas were chanting sutras in his ears, shaking his primordial spirit and causing his third eye between his brows to tremble, its divine light flashing.

"Damn it, luckily I didn't take this thing seriously back then, otherwise I might have been backfired by this seal if I had tried it rashly, and I don't know what the consequences would have been." Chen Yuan cursed inwardly as he felt the force of the seal's rebound.

There are pits on it.

Sure enough, this kind of thing is not something that ordinary people can access.

Protected by Bodhisattva-level guardians on Mount Sumeru, and subject to powerful Buddhist restrictions.

"I want to see how much power a dead thing can have."

Chen Yuan's eyes hardened, he steadied himself, and then spat out a stream of Samadhi True Fire, which shot out and engulfed the small finger bone.

With the blazing fire's blessing, the small Sanskrit characters on the seal slowly twisted and deformed under the scorching flames, gradually disappearing one by one.

This process was quite slow, taking about an hour.

During this process, the finger bone gradually turned white, like mutton fat jade, and golden Buddha light emanated from within, like a wildfire spreading.

Just as the last Sanskrit character was being refined, and Chen Yuan felt he was about to glimpse the true nature of this object,...

Suddenly, the white finger bone pointed at him, and in an instant, time and space froze.

Chen Yuan felt a surge of immense power, like a mountain roaring and a tsunami crashing along the divine light, impacting his third eye and then entering his niwan (upper dantian).

In that instant, a scene of sacred mountains and temples, lotus platforms and preaching flashed through his eyes, and one after another, Buddha statues appeared, and they all lowered their eyes to look at him.

Above his head, a massive finger, as large as a pillar of heaven, descended from the sky and pressed down on him.

It was a power that transcended heaven and earth, which made Chen Yuan feel unable to resist it.

At that very moment, within his Niwan Palace, atop his primordial spirit's green lotus, the Thirty-Six Mountains Demon-Suppressing Tower trembled violently, and a tiger talisman within it hummed.

Chen Yuan was jolted awake, his mind reeling. He looked up angrily at the giant finger pointing to the sky, thinking, "Playing tricks."

With a furious roar, he raised his hand, wielding his three-pointed double-edged spear. He stood up and took a step, transforming it into a blazing flame that hurtled towards the giant finger.

"boom"

A thunderclap resounded in Chen Yuan's mind.

Then, in his vision, the sacred mountain temple and all the gods and Buddhas vanished into nothingness, and his vision returned to the cave.

The finger bone relic was quietly floating in front of him, its white color resembling mutton fat jade, with no other special features.

Chen Yuan's gaze sharpened, and he felt a sudden, overwhelming weakness, as if all his strength had been drained from his body.

The aura that just struck was aimed directly at his primordial spirit, posing an extreme danger.

It was only then that I realized what would have happened if I had been struck by that giant finger pointing to the sky.

I almost fell for its trick.

It seems that this Buddha relic is no ordinary object; it's rather troublesome and difficult to handle. Holding it in one's hands seems like a hot potato.

Chen Yuan's gaze was deep and thoughtful.

Suddenly, he felt another jolt in his brain, and a prompt appeared in his mind.

+0.1%

His Martial Saint cultivation progress bar, which had been moving from the Standing Realm to the Divine Realm, had inexplicably moved forward a little bit.

Ok?
Chen Yuan was stunned. Could it be like this?

His gaze returned to the finger bone relic in front of him, and his eyes changed from hesitation to determination.

The initial thought of sending this thing away to exchange for other useful items with the Golden-Winged Roc was immediately abandoned.
This isn't a hot potato; it's a pearl covered in dust!

However, it's not too late to discover this now. If we had forcibly broken through the restrictions during the Dragon and Tiger period, who knows what would have happened.

As for how to explain this to that Golden-Winged Roc King?
Chen Yuan never gave a straight answer.

It doesn't matter then. (End of Chapter)