Chapter 651: Chapter 372 Escape
Venerable Huike cast a spell, sending out an emergency message to inform other monks of what had happened inside Qianye Temple.
The most important thing was to notify the Venerable in closed meditation.
Of course, whether the Venerable in closed meditation could come out in time was a matter of luck.
If the Venerable in meditation was in a state of having shut down the five senses, then such a method of notification would go undetected.
“Amitabha!” Venerable Huike threw the four senior monks out of the Bodhi Hall as he chanted towards Venerable Huijing.
The chant utilized a Buddhist secret technique to help Venerable Huijing suppress the mind demon.
It was clear that this approach was almost ineffective; Venerable Huijing, whose mind had been agitated by Li Shiming, had the long-suppressed mind demon regain the upper hand and was no longer restrainable by ordinary means.
If the four senior monks had not been injured, perhaps there might have been a sliver of hope using the Bodhi Hall.
Venerable Huijing’s eyes were bloodshot, completely controlled by the mind demon.
He let out a gut-wrenching howl of rage and shattered the defenses of the Bodhi Hall with a punch. His figure flew out of the Bodhi Hall.
Li Shiming, controlling the body of his avatar Li Yuanba, felt the spatial tremors. For some reason, even as Venerable Huijing, engulfed in such fury, broke the temple’s defenses, he didn’t affect the space where Li Yuanba was.
“Did my subconscious suggestion work?” Li Shiming thought, somewhat uncertain.
Before Venerable Huijing was completely influenced by the mind demon, he had implanted a subconscious suggestion, making him view Li Yuanba as the most intimate, important, and trusted person.
This was the use of ‘Telepathy’ applied at Venerable Huijing’s most vulnerable mental state to plant this subconscious suggestion.
In truth, implanting a subconscious suggestion had little to do with ‘Telepathy’; ‘Telepathy’ was merely a tool. The real principle was psychological suggestion found in psychology, on which the IBM z15, his natal magic treasure, contained vast knowledge.
This was his first time using ‘Telepathy’ to exercise hypnotic abilities, and he was unsure of the outcome.
However, the fact that the avatar Li Yuanba was still alive suggested that the effect was probably fairly good.
“Venerable Huijing, come to your senses!” Venerable Huike shouted at Huijing, his voice resonating like a great bell, vibrating the soul.
“Die!” Venerable Huijing was not affected at all; his eyes filled with murderous intent, he failed to recognize his fellow monk before him.
He sent out a palm strike, sending a terrifying surge of energy toward Venerable Huike.
Venerable Huike’s expression was grim; he dared not dodge, for Qianye Temple was behind him. Should he evade, there was no telling how much of Qianye Temple would be destroyed.
He grew solemn, stepping forward as his Nascent Soul Emergence happened.
His body disappeared, having used the ‘Divine Foot Skill’ to transport it to a place of safety—this was the entrance of Qianye Temple, and his own cave dwelling was the safest place.
Under ordinary circumstances of Nascent Soul Emergence, without a safe place, one would normally place the body within the Nascent Soul’s Dharma Manifestation. This would make the Dharma Manifestation somewhat restrained during battle, unable to fully exert its power.
Given Venerable Huike had the conditions for absolute safety, he had no such concerns. After sending his body to the safe confines of his cave dwelling, his Nascent Soul turned into a giant Dharma Manifestation.
What he did seemed complex, but it was actually completed in an instant.
At this moment, Venerable Huijing’s attack also arrived, with Venerable Huike’s Nascent Soul Dharma Form blocking Venerable Huijing’s strike.
Venerable Huike had no other choice. His strength was inferior to Venerable Huijing’s. His greatest advantage was his speed; the ‘Divine Foot Skill’ allowed him to maintain absolute superiority in speed when fighting peers at the same level.
But when he could not dodge and had to face the attack head-on, his advantage disappeared.
This was also why he stimulated the Nascent Soul Dharma Form right from the start, without doing so he simply was no match for Venerable Huijing.
Venerable Huijing did not utilize his Dharma Manifestation, but the power of his strike was still terrifying.
With a ‘boom’, the colossal noise from the clash of terrifying auras sent shockwaves spreading in all directions.
Venerable Huike, in his Nascent Soul Dharma Form state, naturally had much more power than Venerable Huijing using his physical body. He even had the spare power to contain the dissipating energy, sparing Qianye Temple from further destruction.
Though under the influence of the mind demon, Venerable Huijing’s combat instincts remained intact.
He knew that in his current state he couldn’t oppose Venerable Huike.
He too chose Nascent Soul Emergence, and following his instincts, he entrusted his body to the person he trusted most.
If Venerable Huijing were lucid, he wouldn’t have made such a move, but he was under the control of the mind demon.
It was a coincidence that Li Shiming had previously implanted a subconscious suggestion because at this time, he would have chosen to place his physical body within his own Nascent Soul Dharma Manifestation.
But at this moment, in Venerable Huijing’s subconscious, Li Yuanba was the most trustworthy, and this trust was so strong that even the mind demon could not immediately take control.
Besides, the mind demon’s main concern was opposing Venerable Huike, not paying attention to Li Yuanba, the mere Golden Core Early Stage cultivator.
Even as Venerable Huijing’s physical body was handed over to Li Yuanba, the mind demon couldn’t harm the Nascent Soul Body at all.
Li Shiming was taken aback; he hadn’t quite grasped what had happened when the old monk’s body landed in front of Li Yuanba, whom he was controlling.
Venerable Huike certainly didn’t wish to battle Venerable Huijing at Qianye Temple, especially with both of them having undergone Nascent Soul Emergence to form Nascent Soul Dharma Forms. Such a battle would likely reduce Qianye Temple to rubble, regardless of victory or defeat.