Who gave you permission to travel through time with Earth?

"Click..."

The city was deserted; not a single person was in sight in the vast ancient city. Yet, the teacups by the stalls were still steaming, and not a speck of dust had settled on the butcher shop. The faint scent of people still lingered in the air.

It was as if they vanished simultaneously in an instant, without allowing any argument or struggle, and were pulled away from what they were doing, swept away to some unknown place in the city.

Fang Jin remained silent. As she walked further, the city had become completely deserted, and the buildings on both sides had been shattered by the silk threads lowered by the celestial maiden, forming a large area of ​​ruins that radiated outwards in a ring.

The ground was littered with broken wood chips and stones, which made a soft cracking sound when stepped on. The only intact structure in the ruins was the building that stood in the center of the city... a huge Buddhist palace.

Compared to the nunnery in the Central Plains that held a hidden secret, this Buddhist palace was the complete opposite. It was not large in area, but it was extremely luxurious, exuding an overwhelming air of wealth even from afar.

With its gold powder, silver bricks, and white jade railings, even the wooden bridge poles are covered with several layers of gold leaf. Clearly, those bald monks have been using the remote location and the name of the origin of Buddhism to line their own pockets by making a fortune from incense money.

From this perspective, the Li Dynasty's initial strategy in dealing with Buddhism was not wrong. Before Li Fu, there was no Buddha in the world, and the monks of Beitian Buddhist City were nothing more than a bunch of good-for-nothings, posing no threat whatsoever.

Of course, things are different now. This place has become the only opening for the Buddha's daughter to descend into the world, the true origin of Buddhism... When all the monks died, this place actually lived up to its name.

At this moment, the top of the Buddhist palace had been artificially cut open, and wisps of spiritual light spiraled down into it. With each drop, the image of the Buddhist nun weakened, until her form became unstable.

Seeing this, Fang Jin didn't delay any longer. His legs transformed into fire as he rushed towards the Buddhist palace. The large area of ​​broken ruins under his feet exploded upwards like smoke and clouds as he stepped on them, forming a long, thin cloud of mist!

At the same time, a gentle Buddhist light emanated from his body, faintly forming a continuous ring that inspired compassion and peace in those who saw it... only a few streaks of blood light seemed to have appeared out of nowhere inside.

……

Inside the Golden Buddha Palace, Li Fu knelt devoutly beneath the enormous Buddha statue in the main hall, holding a jade bone book with numerous intricate Sanskrit characters engraved on it. As he softly chanted, the book emitted a pure, bright light.

This is his blessing. The talisman formed by the Buddha's gaze is held by the Buddha. Holding this talisman allows one to receive the heavenly light in the name of the Buddha and guide the power carried within the Buddha's spirit to this world...

And on his body.

Li Fu's lowered face couldn't help but reveal a twisted, wild joy. He was willing to be a eunuch in the palace, even though his martial arts skills were superhuman and he suffered all kinds of contempt. Wasn't he just waiting for this moment after lying low for twenty years?

The celestial maiden's body contains not only knowledge, but also the incense bait set by the Buddha to pollute the world. It contains immense energy that can change the martial arts system, and bathing in it is enough to transform a person!

What is pollution to the world is an immense blessing to each individual being! Li Fu stands in this place closest to heaven, enjoying the most primal blessing, and will become the first Buddha of the new world!

"Hiss..."

At this moment, transparent strips of paper gradually descended from the sky. The souls drawn by the bone book transformed into willow branches, swaying and drifting gracefully, surrounding Li Fu like living beings, scrutinizing him.

Li Fu suppressed the urge to pounce, concealing the crimson robe he had just donned, and bowed even more devoutly, his syllables reciting faster and faster... He was already impatient.

"Bang—!"

But at that moment, the golden gate behind them was suddenly shaken, and the huge force twisted and deformed the metal gate, causing the old ash from the cracks to fall out, and the golden lion head was bulged and cracked!

Then came several more loud bangs until the inlay was completely deformed and fell off. The clump of metal was kicked away by Fang Jin and crashed straight into Li Fu, who was kneeling and worshipping the Buddha statue!

The latter frowned impatiently, stopped chanting, and the surrounding transparent willow branches also stopped swaying. He then flicked his wide monk's robe open with one hand and pushed it forward very slowly.

"Buzzing—"

Li Fu's attack lacked any grand scale; it was purely about sheer mass and weight. The giant gate froze in mid-air before it even got close, then continued to cave in until it was completely pierced and shattered!

He casually tossed the metal block aside, smashing it against the main hall and denting the wall. Dust and smoke billowed up in all directions, but neither of them moved again. They simply stared silently at each other... and at the willow branches hanging from the sky.

Willow branches are in a strange state. Originally, they were just hovering around Li Fu. It was only a matter of time before they came into contact or even merged, since there was only one person here who was enough to attract their attention.

But after Fang Jin appeared, the situation changed. Some of the willow branches seemed to be shaken and trembled as they moved closer to Fang Jin. Even the remaining branches showed signs of instability and tilting!

"..."

"You did kill her."

Li Fu laughed, his expression showing no resentment or anger, but rather a hint of joy at seeing a fellow human... to the point that he reached out and took the bone book back, hiding it under his monk's robe.

"There are only two things left in this world that can still elicit a reaction from Senior Sister Asa. One is the Jade Bone Book bestowed by her teacher. Even though she is dead, the fear of her teacher is still engraved in her soul."

"As for the other thing... naturally it is her original physical body, the remains of that jade statue of a woman, which are just a few pieces of flesh and broken bones, but its attraction to the dead is unexpectedly huge."

"Asa...is this the Buddha's true name? Why didn't you completely destroy her physical body? Now that the statue is in your hands, wouldn't it be better to eliminate potential competitors altogether?"

"On the matter of protecting the Buddha, the Zhou family emperor was more insistent than I expected. Moreover, at that time, I was far away from the Northern Plains and weak, so I could not openly keep that relic."

"Moreover, I also need to use his name to have a chance to escape that cage. One of my mother's major demands when she confined herself to Beiyuan was to keep me in Shangjing and not let me leave. The Grandmaster's promise is still very important."

"It's just that twenty years have passed, and neither of us is as vigilant as we were back then, which is how I found an opening."

Li Fu stood up with a smile, surrounded by waves of cold Buddhist light. His internal energy had been replaced with energy that did not belong to this world, and Fang Jin could feel a great threat from him.

"As it turns out, my choice was right. The Holy Hand Manor intercepted the creature that posed a threat to me, and the one that managed to escape was just a tiny shrimp... My luck was better than I expected."