The Night Watchman of Siheyuan

Tianpeng Rebirth: The Battle of Buddhism and Taoism

Chapter 15: The truth becomes clear and the crisis intensifies

Ao Bing continued, "In that underwater base, I found a huge crystal ball, which imprisoned the leader of the mermaids. The reason why those mermaids attacked me was because they were controlled by the magic of the crystal ball. I managed to break the crystal ball and rescued the leader of the mermaids. I learned from him that there was a mysterious force that bewitched the mermaids to work for it in the name of helping the revival of the mermaids, and this force seemed to be inextricably linked to the remnants of Buddhism."

Bajie and Yang Jian frowned upon hearing this. The three of them felt that the conspiracy behind this was unfathomable and the forces involved were complicated.

"It seems that what we are facing is not just the simple revenge of the remnants of Buddhism. They seem to be using various forces to weave a huge net, attempting to drag the entire Three Realms into the abyss." Yang Jian analyzed.

Ao Bing nodded in agreement: "That's right, and this force knows the weaknesses and needs of all the forces in the three realms very well, so it can easily seduce the mermaids and other tribes."

Bajie stroked his chin, pondered for a moment and said, "I think the most urgent thing is to find those scattered Buddhist instruments. The power they have awakened by gathering the instruments must be the key to their conspiracy. As long as we stop them, we may be able to disrupt their plans."

Yang Jian and Ao Bing looked at each other and saw recognition in each other's eyes. So, based on the previous clues, the three of them began to look for the whereabouts of the magic weapon.

After some exploration, they learned that one of the important instruments, the Demon-Subduing Pestle, was most likely hidden in an ancient relic in Xiniu Hezhou. This relic was left by a powerful person in ancient times. It was full of traps and extremely dangerous. But in order to stop the conspiracy of the mysterious force, the three of them resolutely embarked on a journey to Xiniu Hezhou.

When they arrived outside the ruins, they found that it was covered by a mysterious light curtain. Strange runes flashed on the light curtain, emitting powerful mana fluctuations. Yang Jian tried to use his clairvoyance to observe the light curtain, but found that the power of the clairvoyance was actually rejected by the light curtain.

"This light curtain is a bit weird. It might be dangerous if we rush in rashly." Yang Jian reminded.

Bajie circled the light curtain several times, and suddenly his eyes lit up: "I seem to have discovered some patterns on this light curtain. The arrangement of these runes seems to be similar to an ancient formation I once learned. Maybe I can find a way to crack it."

After that, Bajie sat cross-legged and entered a meditative state, trying to recall the method to break the ancient formation. Time passed by, and just when Yang Jian and Ao Bing were getting a little anxious, Bajie suddenly opened his eyes and said excitedly: "I remember it!"

He stood up and, in a specific order, cast a stream of mana at the runes on the light curtain. As the mana was injected, the runes on the light curtain began to flicker and change, and finally, the light curtain slowly dissipated.

The three of them entered the ruins smoothly. The interior of the ruins was dark and damp, and the walls were engraved with all kinds of strange patterns and words. They walked along the narrow passage, and suddenly, a group of stone puppets emerged from all directions. These puppets were huge and agile, holding stone axes, stone swords and other weapons in their hands, and attacked the three of them.

Yang Jian took the lead, wielding his three-pointed double-edged sword in close combat with the puppets. Ao Bing cast water magic on the side, shooting ice arrows at the puppets in an attempt to slow down their attack. Bajie wielded his nine-toothed rake, using the rake's weight advantage to smash the puppets that approached him into pieces.

However, the puppets kept coming, and the three gradually fell into a difficult battle. During the battle, Bajie found that although these puppets were powerful, their actions seemed to be restricted in some way, and their attack range and route were relatively fixed.

"Let's not fight them head-on. Let's take advantage of the weaknesses in their movements and find a breakthrough!" Bajie shouted.

So, the three of them began to dodge the puppets' attacks flexibly, while looking for the weak links in the puppet group. After some observation, they found that there seemed to be a core puppet in the center of the puppet group. As long as this core puppet was destroyed, the other puppets would stop moving.

Yang Jian saw the right opportunity and dodged towards the core puppet. The core puppet sensed the danger and swung a huge stone axe towards Yang Jian. Yang Jian dodged sideways, then inserted the three-pointed double-edged knife into the joint of the core puppet and pulled it hard, removing one of the core puppet's arms.

The core puppet, which had lost an arm, became slow in its movements. Ao Bing took the opportunity to use his ultimate move, and a huge water tornado tightly wrapped around the core puppet. Bajie raised his nine-toothed rake and smashed it hard on the core puppet's head. Under the combined attack of the three, the core puppet fell to the ground and turned into a pile of rubble. The other puppets also stopped moving.

The three continued to go deeper into the ruins and finally found the Demon-Subduing Pestle deep inside the ruins. The Demon-Subduing Pestle exuded an ancient atmosphere, with mysterious runes engraved on its surface, and a powerful force was faintly surging in it.

However, the moment they picked up the pestle, the ruins began to