Mysterious mirror hanging high

Qi Baisheng spoke in a relaxed tone, unlike the solemn expressions of the other Jindan Zhenren beside him. It seemed as if he did not care about the treasures in this Buddhist palace.

Jing Yu nodded and said, "That's as it should be..."

While the two were talking, the gate of the Buddhist palace finally opened slowly under the watchful eyes of the crowd. Jing Yu held the magic stick he had seized earlier in his hand and entered one after another with the other golden elixirs.

He had been refining this mid-grade magic weapon these days and knew that this Buddhist weapon was called the [Baoxiang Qimei Stick]. Although it was a magic weapon, it was not actually very magical. It only had one magical power, which was that after injecting magic power, it could split into nine stick shadows to hurt the enemy.

If you just look at it this way, it's just a low-end mid-grade magic weapon. However, this stick is made of tough material, and is made of two excellent spiritual objects, [Black Iron Wood Core] and [Broken Star Gold Essence]. Rather than being a magic weapon, it's better to say that it's a precious weapon that is more suitable for body cultivators.

Jing Yu originally liked blunt weapons, and this treasure elephant stick was extremely easy to use, so he kept holding it in his hand. This made him very different from the many Jindan Zhenren who stood beside him with fluttering robes and immortal-like demeanor.

However, the many Jindan Zhenren who entered the Buddhist Palace now had no time to pay attention to Jing Yu. Their eyes were all focused on the monks who were walking around in the hall of the Buddhist Palace.

Although these monks with bald heads look like human beings, they all have the appearance of clay sculptures, and look more like walking clay sculptures. Some of them even have tiny cracks on the clay shell, as if they will fall into pieces in the next moment.

However, the Jindan Zhenren who entered the Buddhist Palace stared at the clay monks walking around, looking at the monks holding the treasures on the trays in their hands with greed in their eyes.

Qi Baisheng put his hands behind his back, smiled, and sent a voice message to Jing Yu: "Fellow Daoist Xuan Jing, have you noticed anything?"

Jing Yu narrowed his eyes and said slowly, "These clay monks...are they [Buddha Demons]?"

"Exactly!"

Qi Baisheng nodded. "This Buddhist Palace is the place where incense and prayer energy are gathered for worship in the [Mier Mountain Ruins]. It is said that the believers under its jurisdiction regularly send the collected incense and prayer energy to the Buddhist Palace, where the leader of the believers in this secret realm personally performs the sacrifice and dedicates it to [Mier Mountain]."

"According to the ancient texts that have been circulated in this secret realm, some predecessors speculated that when [Miershan] passed away, it was the day of the Buddhist Palace's sacrifice. The monks throughout the Buddhist Palace were preparing tributes and holding a grand sacrificial ceremony."

"When [Miershan] truly passes away, the entire secret realm will enter the [End of Dharma Era]. The heaven and earth will collapse, and this Buddha Palace will sink into the abyss. It will only rise on a specific day."

"Many of these deceased monks have also transformed into [Buddha Demons], but they simply follow the paths they took in life, like walking corpses."

"What they hold in their hands are the offerings used for sacrifices, and these offerings are the source of the natural treasures in the Buddha Palace."

Qi Baisheng laughed and said, "If these tributes were snatched away by outside monks, when the Buddha Palace appears again, these [Buddha Demons] will select new tributes from the warehouse to make up for the missing ones and continue the sacrificial ceremony process. It is because this Buddha Palace has so many treasures that foreign monks can raid and plunder it time and time again without being completely plundered."

"Let's go, Fellow Daoist Xuan Jing, let's go to the inner hall and take a look."

Jing Yu asked doubtfully, "Aren't you going to steal the tribute here?"

"These clay Buddha demons are only at the Foundation Establishment stage. How good can the tributes they hold be? The real goodies are all in the inner hall!"

Sure enough, only some Jindan Zhenren with slightly lower realms were left here to sweep the place, and almost all the cultivators in the middle and late Jindan stages hurried to the inner hall.

When they arrived at the inner hall, they found that the Buddha demon here had become made of bronze, and the tributes in their hands were visibly much more valuable. They actually saw many good things of the Jindan level.

A real person in the middle stage of the Golden Core Realm could not suppress his greed. He set his sights on a spiritual flower in the hand of a bronze monk and wanted to take it with his magic power.

Unexpectedly, the bronze monk suddenly raised his head, his dark eyes swept towards the Jindan cultivator, and shouted, "There's a thief! Where is the guard monk?"

The next moment, two bronze monks with the cultivation level of the middle Jindan stage jumped out from behind the doorpost of the inner hall, each holding a crescent shovel, and swept towards the middle Jindan stage monk with great momentum.

Qi Baisheng gloated, "The tribute here isn't easy to take. If it's an ordinary tribute, the Buddha demon itself will only fight back. But if it's a spiritual object like the Seven-Aspect Desire Flower in the Buddha demon's hand, it will attract the attention of the Guardian Monks. The Guardian Monks' combat power varies. Right now, we're only at the outermost level. If we get to the deeper levels and encounter monks with Golden Core Perfection, we'll need several Great Immortals to join forces to defeat them."

"The deeper you go into this inner hall, the higher the chance of finding rare spiritual objects. At the very back of the hall, there's a [Buddha Altar], and the offerings placed on that altar are the most precious... but it's also protected by formations and guarding monks. You must first defeat a group of guarding monks, break the formation, and then emerge victorious in the melee among the many great masters. Only then can you obtain the best offerings."

"Many Jindan cultivators don't have that ability, so they naturally settle for the next best thing. However, if Fellow Daoist Xuanjing's goal is just to form an infant spirit creature, there's no need to join in the fun."

Qi Baisheng said leisurely, "Generally speaking, the Infant Spirit Object can only be found on a tray held by a bronze Buddha demon deep in the inner hall, whose cultivation is close to the Golden Core Perfection stage. It cannot be placed on the [Buddha Altar]."

"Let's go and see what treasures are on the [Buddha Altar] this time?" Qi Baisheng walked excitedly towards the depths of the Buddhist Palace.

Jing Yu came here originally to smell the [fragrant bitter lotus seeds], so naturally he had to get the lotus seeds first. As for the other treasures, they were just icing on the cake and were not urgent.

Upon hearing this, he followed Qi Baisheng's footsteps, carefully bypassing the bronze Buddha demon moving around, and followed in the direction of the Buddha altar.

These bronze Buddha demons who were walking around in the inner hall carrying tributes did not react much. They were indeed just acting on instinct. As long as they did not attack them or snatch the tributes from the Buddha demons, they would ignore these outside monks.

Jing Yu followed Qi Baisheng through many twists and turns and finally arrived at the [Buddha Altar] smoothly. Jing Yu looked from afar and saw a stepped platform in front of him, which was estimated to have about a thousand steps. At the top of the platform stood a kind-looking Buddha statue, which looked exactly the same as the one that appeared in the outside world, but also missing an eye, leaving only a black eye socket.