It was extremely difficult to advance further. That was why, after reaching the Yang God realm, the difference in one's cultivation base was like the difference between heaven and earth.
Although I had the power to fight against a Yang God Heavenly Master when I was still in the seal realm, I didn't dare to underestimate this old monk, who was at least at the middle stage of the Yang God realm.
After looking at him for a while, I looked behind him and saw a familiar face. It was Long Po Kui, the one I had almost killed in the forest behind Wulong Biman Palace.
From this, my previous guess was correct. These monks came from Jinshan Temple.
They had sent Long Pu. It seemed they wouldn't let this matter go easily.
At this moment, the two sides were still quarreling, so I didn't hurry to show up. I stood aside and observed the situation. If they had other intentions, I didn't need to go out and look for trouble.
Having made up my mind, I deliberately moved closer to the crowd. There were many monks here who didn't recognize me, so I didn't need to worry about being exposed.
After a while, the monk who was resting with his eyes closed suddenly opened his eyes. His eyes glowed fiercely as he spat out an evil Yin energy toward Ala Ti.
My heart tightened. Had I been exposed? Did Long Pu want to use this method to force me to show up?
Although Ala Ti and I didn't have a close relationship, I had a good impression of him.
Thinking about this, I didn't think too much about it.
I leaped and arrived in front of Ala Ti. At the same time, the shaman energy in my body formed a barrier in front of me, ready to resist this attack.
Perhaps Long Pu cared about his reputation, so he didn't use his full strength.
The moment the Yin Qi came into contact with the barrier, it dissipated in the air.
The first one to react was Long Pu. He squinted and looked at me, speaking fluent Chinese. "You've been watching for a long time. Finally, you're willing to come out."
After listening to him, I frowned.
Long Pu's strength wasn't bad, but he was also very cunning.
It seemed like a simple sentence, but he wanted to sow discord between the Jade Buddha Temple and me.
If it had been someone else, his scheme might have succeeded. However, he didn't know how noble my identity was in Sirongpo's eyes.
When Shiropala saw me, she looked happy. She bent her body and was about to kneel in front of me.
Right now, I can't let the monks of Jinshan Temple know my identity. Since Jinshan Temple is looking for trouble with me, there is no need to involve Jade Buddha Temple.
Otherwise, after I leave, the Jade Buddha Temple will not have a peaceful day.
With that in mind, I shot Shiropana a look.
He seemed to understand what I was thinking and quickly stopped his body.
Alati finally came back to his senses. He thanked me softly.
I waved my hand, indicating that there was no need to stand on ceremony.
Immediately after, I walked towards Long Pu and faintly said, "I don't know why the high monk of Jinshan Temple has come today."
Long Pu didn't seem to like talking with his head raised. He stood up, smiled and replied softly, "Don't tell me you don't know?"
When I saw his expression, it was no different from that of Monk Miaojue, which made me feel disgusted.
I didn't want to talk nonsense with him. "How do you want to end the grudge between me and the Jinshan Temple?"
After listening to my words, Long Pu nodded and said, "In just a month, you have reached the primary Yang God Celestial Master realm. Your talent is excellent.
You injured my Jinshan Temple's Dragon Grandmother for no reason. I originally wanted to abolish your cultivation.
However, I also know that cultivation is not easy. It is even more difficult for you to have such a cultivation.
Therefore, I will spare you today.
However, you can be exempted from the crime, but the Jade Buddha Temple cannot escape the crime of shielding you. I need something from the Jade Buddha Temple in exchange. "
This was obviously his real purpose. It had been a month since I had injured Dragon Grandmother Kui. Jinshan Temple hadn't come looking for me, but they had come now. It was definitely premeditated for a long time.
However, I still had some doubts. The Jade Buddha Temple didn't have a high monk above Long Pu, but it had a high status. Logically speaking, it should have been coveted by others. Jinshan Temple didn't make trouble before, so why did they suddenly choose to make trouble now?
If they couldn't find a reason before, it seemed impossible to use my reason now.
When a wolf hunted its prey, it wouldn't be reasonable. With the great disparity in power, it didn't even need to use sophistry. Something must have happened recently that made Jinshan Temple lose its scruples.
I leaned to one side and whispered, "What happened during the past month?"
Hearing me mention it, Lord Shilong's face turned bitter. He sighed and explained the situation to me in detail.
From him, I learned that Thai Buddhism wasn't as aloof as the Chinese Buddhism.
Every three years, the Thai Buddhism Temple would hold a grand competition to determine the ranking of the temples.
Due to the special history of the Jade Buddha Temple, it hadn't participated in the previous competitions. The result of the competition didn't affect its status.
This year, it was time for the grand competition. Just like the previous years, Lord Shilong planned to go to the Royal Palace to discuss the rules of the competition with the King.
However, he didn't expect that the King would ask the Jade Buddha Temple to participate in this year's competition.
Although the King of Thailand didn't meddle in worldly affairs, his words carried enormous weight when it came to religious affairs.
Lord Shilong was puzzled. "Why did the King suddenly make such a decision?" The King didn't answer.
At this moment, the Jade Buddha Temple wasn't strong enough. In the entire temple, he was the only one with the title of Lord Shilong.
Long Pu had been sent to serve the power of the nine spirits. He couldn't come and go as he pleased.
However, this was the Jade Buddha Temple's secret. It couldn't be disclosed to the public or the King.
Otherwise, the situation would be even worse.
In a hurry, Lord Shilong had to use the excuse that all the senior monks in the temple were old to ask the King to take back his order.
Unexpectedly, the King was enraged. "If you don't participate, the Jade Buddha Temple will move out of the palace."
If the Jade Buddha Temple moved out of the palace, it would mean that they would lose the support of the government.
With their current strength, they would be ranked at the bottom among the other temples.
Helplessly, he had to accept the proposal.
After returning to the temple, Lord Shilong still couldn't figure out why this had happened.
Due to the special status of the Jade Buddha Temple, the other temples had always been jealous of it, especially the Jinshan Temple.
It wasn't strange for those temples to use all kinds of means to compete with each other. However, the problem was that the Jade Buddha Temple had always been a royal temple. The entire royal family had always stood on the Jade Buddha Temple's side. This time, the King's sudden change in attitude was really strange.
As he couldn't figure out the reason, Lord Shilong didn't want to dwell on it anymore. Since the King had given the order, the Jade Buddha Temple had to follow it.
The final result of the competition wasn't unexpected. The Jade Buddha Temple was ranked at the bottom.
According to the rules, the Jade Buddha Temple had to give up its Thai Buddhist First Seat.
Although Lord Shilong wasn't willing, he couldn't change the result. He had to follow the rules.
However, Long Pu Zhuang of the Jinshan Temple stood up and suggested to the King that since the Jade Buddha Temple had lost its First Seat, they should move out of the palace and give up their First Seat.
When the King heard this, he didn't agree immediately. He said that the Jade Buddha Temple's matter was very important. The royal family needed to discuss it before making a decision.
At this critical moment, the people of the Jinshan Temple couldn't wait to come to the Jade Buddha Temple.
After listening to him, I furrowed my brows and started to ponder.
Lord Shilong had mentioned that the King's attitude had changed. Combined with Long Pu Zhuang's suggestion, I guessed that the King and the Jinshan Temple had made a deal.
I didn't know what kind of enticing conditions Jinshan Temple had offered to make the King give up a temple that was of great significance to the Buddhist Sect.
I couldn't guess the reason for this at the moment. However, based on the words of Jinshan Temple's Long Pu, regardless of the conspiracy behind them, their objective today was obviously an item from the Jade Buddha Temple that he mentioned. As for causing trouble for me, it was naturally just an excuse.
He might be able to unravel the conspiracy behind them by starting with this item.
I immediately asked Lord Shilong, "What kind of treasures do you have in the Jade Buddha Temple?"
Unexpectedly, he shook his head and said, "Except for some ancient books, there's nothing valuable in the Jade Buddha Temple."
After listening to him, I became more skeptical.
Buddhist books were indeed attractive to Buddhists. However, since the Jinshan Temple had been fighting against the Jade Buddha Temple for so many years, it must have a profound foundation. Especially since Long Pu had a high cultivation base, he wouldn't lack Buddhist books. It was obvious that he didn't want these things.
Did Lord Shilong not tell me the truth?
When I asked him again, Lord Shilong gave me a wry smile. "It's a matter of life and death. If there's a treasure, I'd rather take it out to protect the entire temple. I won't hide it."
His words were sincere. Apparently, he wasn't lying.
However, since the Jinshan Temple had come to the Jade Buddha Temple, they must have some information. Otherwise, they wouldn't have acted rashly.
Perhaps the treasure really existed, but Lord Shilong didn't know about it.
Or, exchanging the treasure was just a pretext, and the real purpose was something else.
It seemed only the people of the Jinshan Temple knew the details of this matter.
However, Jinshan Temple's Long Pu's strength wasn't ordinary. It would take a lot of effort to get information from him.
After thinking for a while, I had a plan. I walked forward and said to Jinshan Temple's Long Pu, "We've discussed it. No matter what you want, as long as you can defeat me, you can take that thing. The Jade Buddha Temple won't say anything."
Hearing me, Long Pu's eyes flashed with a trace of ridicule.
Apparently, he thought that my Yang Spirit Realm was not enough to compete with him.
However, what I said was exactly what he wanted. He didn't talk nonsense and nodded.
After he agreed, I continued, "You and I both have Yang Spirit Realm cultivation base. This place is narrow, so we can't fight freely. However, there's a wasteland behind the Jade Buddha Temple. It's quite spacious there. Why don't we fight there?"
After listening to me, Jinshan Temple's Long Pu didn't respond, but Shiproophorus was frightened. He hurried to pull my sleeve.
I knew that he was afraid that Jinshan Temple's Long Pu would discover the secret of that wasteland. However, I had a plan in mind, so I just nodded to him, indicating that he didn't need to worry.
Lord Shilong was still worried, but since I had made my decision, he couldn't say anything else.
Jinshan Temple's Long Pu pondered for a while and then agreed with an expressionless face.
After that, Long Pu and I left the other people and left the Jade Buddha Temple. We soared up and flew toward the wasteland one after the other.
Although the Jade Buddha Temple was big, with our speed, we landed on the wasteland in a few seconds.
As soon as we landed, Jinshan Temple's Long Pu's face changed. His eyes were full of surprise and joy. It was obvious that he had found something.
I had guessed that the Haotian Pagoda had been exposed. Seeing Long Pu's appearance, my guess was confirmed.