Honghuang: My understanding is beyond belief. I am the first immortal of Jiejiao.

If something were to happen to the God of Hell at this moment, the Journey to the West... would likely have to be immediately interrupted, or even completely collapse.

She paused, then emphasized her words, as if she were trying to persuade the Medicine Buddha, and even more so, herself.

"Therefore...for the sake of the smooth continuation of the Journey to the West, and for the sake of my great cause in the Western Paradise...I beg the Medicine Buddha...to put the greater good first, to be patient and to sacrifice...personal honor and disgrace."

As she finished speaking, Guanyin Bodhisattva's voice grew softer and softer, even she herself felt that what she was saying was utterly shameless. To ask a Buddha to sacrifice his dignity for the sake of some so-called greater good, to be slapped twice for no reason? If word got out, what would become of the dignity of the Western Paradise?
Sure enough, after hearing this, the Medicine Buddha's face, which was radiant with golden light, instantly became incredibly expressive. There was anger, frustration, disbelief, and even a hint of… deep doubt!
He stared intently at Guanyin, his gaze seemingly trying to see right through her.

"Prioritizing the greater good? Sacrificing personal honor or disgrace?"

The Medicine Buddha gritted his teeth and repeated each word slowly and deliberately, his voice so cold it seemed to freeze the soul.

"Guanyin, are you sure... this is Buddha's will? Or... your own will?"

Guanyin felt uneasy under his gaze, but since she had already spoken, she could only grit her teeth and continue, nodding repeatedly and spouting nonsense with a "serious" expression.

"Yes, yes, yes! That's what Buddha meant! Before his avatar dissipated, Buddha repeatedly instructed that Lin Yushen's safety must be the top priority! Absolutely no harm should be done! Medicine Buddha, the greater good is paramount, the greater good is paramount!"

The Medicine Buddha remained silent.

His pair of crystal-clear Buddha eyes stared intently at Guanyin, then slowly turned to Lin Zhu, who was still standing with his hands behind his back, looking at him with a smile.

For some reason, he suddenly felt a strange sense of absurdity and...fear.

This Lin Zhu, whose cultivation was clearly far inferior to his own, made Medicine Buddha feel as if he were facing a bottomless black hole when he stood in front of him. All his power and all his calculations were like stones thrown into the abyss, unable to stir up even the slightest ripple.

Those two slaps were less of an insult and more of a... warning. A warning that made him dare not act rashly.

The Buddha's hysterical protection just now, and Guanyin's hesitant yet earnest urging for "sacrifice," made this warning all the more weighty.

The Medicine Buddha's mind raced with thoughts, but in the end, reason and caution prevailed over his anger and murderous intent.

He gave Lin Zhu a deep look, his gaze filled with resentment, bitterness, and a hint of barely concealed... apprehension.

Finally, he snorted coldly, and the surging glazed Buddhist light around him slowly subsided, and the almost tangible killing intent also dissipated little by little.

"Humph!"

The Medicine Buddha turned away with a flick of his sleeve, his voice icy, carrying a deep sense of resentment.

"Lin Zhu, I have remembered what happened today! For the sake of the Journey to the West, I will not hold it against you! I will settle the score with you when the Journey to the West is successfully completed!"

Having said that, he prepared to raise the glazed Buddha light and leave this humiliating place that had made him lose face.

However, he had barely taken a step.

"and many more."

Lin Zhu's calm voice rang out again, like an invisible chain, freezing the Medicine Buddha's figure in place.

The Medicine Buddha froze, slowly turned around, looked at Lin Zhu with a gloomy gaze, and asked through gritted teeth.

"What else do you want?!"

Lin Zhu did not answer immediately.

He simply and slowly raised one finger.

Those fingers, fair and slender, seemed to represent some extremely ominous signal in the eyes of the Medicine Buddha.

Immediately afterwards, the second finger also stood up.

Then comes the third one.

Lin Zhu shook his three raised fingers and smiled slightly at the ashen-faced Medicine Buddha.

"three."

He spoke slowly, his voice not loud, but clearly reaching the ears of everyone present.

"There are two things we need to discuss carefully. First, the first thing—"

On the Medicine Buddha's face, which was swollen like a pig's head, the color changed from blue to purple, and a faint, luminous light flowed beneath the skin, attempting to repair the shocking bruises.

However, Lin Zhu's slap contained some strange power, and the Glazed Buddha Light could not dispel the swelling in a short time, making him, the dignified Buddha of the Eastern Glazed Light World, look extremely disheveled.

He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the humiliation and anger surging in his chest, his voice hoarse:
"Three things? You!"

Before he could finish speaking, Lin Zhu pressed down with the first finger he had raised, interrupting him.

"Wait, let me finish speaking first."

Lin Zhu spoke slowly, his tone as casual as if he were asking a neighbor to lend him some soy sauce, but his eyes held no smile, instead revealing a chilling indifference.

"The first thing."

He wiggled his index finger.

"Medicine Buddha, your method of using the Lapis Lazuli Illusionary Light is quite impressive. If it weren't for that old bald monk Tathagata blocking me, I'm afraid I would have lost my life under the Five Elements Mountain. We need to settle the score regarding the sneak attack."

I've always been clear about right and wrong; if you punch me, I'll kick you ten times—that's just fair. The first issue is compensation.

The Medicine Buddha's eyes widened! Compensation? You slapped me twice, leaving my face like this, and you expect me to compensate you?!

Before he could speak, Lin Zhu had already raised his second middle finger.

"The second item."

Lin Zhu's voice remained calm, but it carried a hint of coldness that was difficult to decipher.

"You just told me, 'In the Three Realms, no one has ever been able to cross such a vast gap in realms'? And you even called me a beast? Medicine Buddha, I am very displeased with your words. You can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want."

"You've shown me such disrespect; you'll have to pay for my emotional distress. While I may be magnanimous, I'm not someone you can just insult like any Tom, Dick, or Harry. Don't you agree?"

The Medicine Buddha's face twitched violently. He had lived for countless millennia and had seen arrogant people, but never anyone this arrogant! He was the one who got beaten up, he was the one who got humiliated, and now the Medicine Buddha was demanding compensation for emotional distress? Was there no justice in this world?

Not finished yet.

Lin Zhu's third ring finger also stood up.

"The third item."

He pointed to the golden cudgel still resting on Tang Sanzang's neck in the distance, and to Sun Wukong's monkey face, which looked somewhat dazed from the shock.

"You've frightened my monkey. This monkey is now under the protection of me, a celestial lord of the Heavenly Court. Did you even ask me before you laid a hand on him? Frightening him is frightening me. Frightening me is a provocation against the majesty of the Heavenly Court."

This includes costs for deterrence, intimidation, lost wages, and psychological trauma recovery.

Lin Zhu tucked three fingers behind his back, raised his chin slightly, and looked at the Medicine Buddha with an air of self-righteousness that was enough to make one want to vomit blood. A signature faint smile played on his lips, a smile that, in the Medicine Buddha's eyes, was even more terrifying than the Demon Lord's savage grin. "Three items."

"In total, one innate spiritual treasure, or something of equivalent value."

"Once you've paid up, you can get lost. I won't hold it against you."

The Medicine Buddha felt a surge of energy rushing to the top of his head, and his entire body trembled violently!

A primordial spiritual treasure?! Why don't you just rob it?!

No, the moment this thought crossed his mind, Medicine Buddha realized—Lin Zhu was robbing him! And in the most arrogant and unreasonable way, he was riding on his neck and robbing him!

"Lin Zhu!!!"

Medicine Buddha could no longer suppress the pent-up anger. His body radiated a burst of brilliant light, causing the surrounding void to vibrate and hum.

"Don't push your luck!!!"

"I have cultivated for countless millennia, and I govern the Eastern Pure Land of Lapis Lazuli. I am a Buddha appointed by the Western Heaven! Who in the entire world dares to extort me like this?!"

"You, a mere half-step Quasi-Saint, an ant-like thing, relying on a few magic treasures, do you really think I'm afraid of you?!"

His furious roar was like thunder, causing rubble to fall from the ruins of Five Elements Mountain. However, faced with this terrifying wrath of the Buddha, Lin Zhu did not retreat even a step. Instead, he tilted his head as if watching an ignorant child throwing a tantrum.

Then, he did something that left everyone speechless.

Lin Zhu stretched out his right hand, spread his five fingers, and made a grasping motion in the air.

"Snapped!"

A crisp sound echoed through the valley.

The Medicine Buddha was stunned.

Guanyin Bodhisattva was stunned.

Sun Wukong was stunned.

The reason everyone was stunned was because this slap—didn't touch the Medicine Buddha at all!

Lin Zhu merely waved his hand lightly in the air, without even touching the protective aura of the Medicine Buddha.

However, just as the Medicine Buddha instinctively wanted to mock Lin Zhu for having a mental breakdown, he suddenly sensed something and abruptly looked down at his swollen cheek!
There were no new wounds there.

But the next second, an indescribable chill rose from the bottom of his heart—Lin Zhu's feint with the fan, although it didn't hit him, the action, the posture, and the look in his eyes clearly told him: I can hit you anytime I want, however I want.

You can't defend against it, and you can't dodge it.

This terrified him even more than if he had been slapped!

Because he couldn't fathom the mechanism of Lin Zhu's slap at all! There was no fluctuation of magical power, no trace of any law, yet it was able to penetrate all defenses and strike his face precisely! This attack method, which was completely beyond his comprehension, caused the fear that had been suppressed in the Medicine Buddha's heart to finally begin to grow wildly!
He recalled the hysterical roar of the Buddha's avatar before its collapse, and the strange attitude of Guanyin Bodhisattva, who hesitated but desperately urged him to "sacrifice"...

All of this points to a terrifying possibility that sends chills down his spine—this Lin Zhu really has some terrifying trump card that he can neither understand nor resist!
At this moment, Lin Zhu spoke again.

His voice remained calm, yet it resounded like thunder in the Medicine Buddha's ears.

"three."

The Medicine Buddha's pupils contracted violently!
"What are you counting?!"

He asked through gritted teeth, his voice already trembling slightly.

Lin Zhu did not answer, but just looked at him, the smile in her eyes gradually disappearing, replaced by a cold and emotionless indifference.

"two."

The Medicine Buddha took a half step back.

He instinctively took a half step back!
This half-step was something he himself felt ashamed of! A dignified Buddha, facing a mere half-step Quasi-Saint, was actually scared back half a step by someone who was ranked last?!

But the thing is, he just doesn't have any confidence!
His mind raced, trying to deduce what Lin Zhu's "trump card" was, what would happen after the count of "one" was finished, why Buddha was so afraid of him, and why Guanyin was so wary of him...

However, all the information combined can only lead to one conclusion—we don't know!
I have absolutely no idea!

This complete unknown, coupled with the two slaps that pierced through all defenses, the Buddha's avatar's bizarre "protection with his life," and Guanyin Bodhisattva's unusual "advice to endure humiliation"...

Everything, like countless straws, pressed down one by one on the already wavering heart of the Medicine Buddha.

He recalled the catastrophe that had occurred before the Western Paradise.

Although Buddha never explicitly stated it, the higher-ups in the Western Paradise had all received subtle hints—the calamity that nearly caused the collapse of Mount Sumeru was caused by provoking a being they shouldn't have provoked.

That being is said to have unpredictable and bizarre methods, acting without any rhyme or reason, yet it can leave the entire Western Paradise helpless.

Could it be... could that being be Lin Zhu?!
The more Medicine Buddha thought about it, the more alarmed he became, and the more he felt that this guess was incredibly close to the truth!

Otherwise, why would Buddha have so unusually risked his life to protect him? Otherwise, why would Guanyin have advised him to "sacrifice personal honor and disgrace"?
At that very moment, when the Medicine Buddha's mind was in turmoil and his thoughts were almost in chaos—

"one."

Lin Zhu uttered the last number.

The hairs on the Medicine Buddha's body stood on end!

He reacted almost instinctively—not to attack, not to defend, but…

Rush!
He flashed and instantly appeared in front of Lin Zhu!
But his actions were so bizarre that no one could understand them—he didn't attack, nor did he gather Buddhist light for defense, but instead... he directly reduced the distance between himself and Lin Zhu to less than three feet!
Lin Zhu was half a head shorter than him. The Medicine Buddha looked down at him, his swollen face contorted into a hideous expression that was more like crying. He tried to maintain the dignity of a Buddha, but his voice was dry.

"Lin Zhu!"

The Medicine Buddha spoke in a deep voice, trying to make his voice sound confident.

"I am the Buddha of the Eastern Pure Land of Lapis Lazuli! I have been appointed by Heaven to govern a pure land!"

"You're only at the half-step Quasi-Saint realm! Even with your strange methods, you're still just a low-level cultivator!"

"I advise you not to be too arrogant! In the Three Realms, there are rules after all! Seniority, realm, status! These are ironclad rules!"

With each word he spoke, the shimmering Buddhist light emanating from his body intensified, attempting to intimidate Lin Zhu with his overwhelming aura and the Buddhist pressure accumulated over countless years of cultivation!
However, he hadn't finished speaking—

"Smack!!!!!"

A slap ten times louder than before exploded between Lin Zhu and the Medicine Buddha!
The protective divine power of the Medicine Buddha, formed from the radiant light of Buddha, was as fragile as paper before Lin Zhu's seemingly ordinary palm, and was easily torn apart! (End of Chapter)