Simultaneous travel: I am proving the great way in the heavens.

Chapter 545 The Merits of the Journey to the West Tribulation! A banner raised by a professional rebel!
Just as the Golden-Winged Roc was being swept into the black and white yin-yang energy cloud, Luo Fu clearly felt a gust of yin wind suddenly appear, then vanish in an instant.

If it weren't for his previous experience of being pulled into the underworld by Lady Pingxin, Luo Fu might not have been moved by that fleeting gust of yin wind.

But now he knew that although the Golden-Winged Roc had died at his hands, its remnant soul, for some unknown reason, had managed to slip away unnoticed just as it was about to be swallowed by the Yin-Yang energy.

In Luo Fu's view, given the Golden-Winged Roc's intelligence, it was impossible for it to have made such preparations in advance, which meant that someone else must have secretly intervened.

Thinking of the Peacock Fan, it had actually unleashed a five-colored divine light. Fortunately, it lacked the strength to sustain itself and was only briefly stalemate with its black and white energy before being drawn into the Yin and Yang energies.

This undoubtedly shows that the Peacock Fan is definitely related to Kong Xuan, the elder brother of the Golden-Winged Roc. It is highly likely that it was made by the Peacock King Bodhisattva.

However, only a wisp of the Golden-Winged Roc's soul escaped to the underworld, so Luo Fu was not worried that this unruly roc would be able to make a comeback.

No way! Even its physical body is now in Luo Fu's hands. With just a thought from Luo Fu, the Golden-Winged Roc's body will be completely crushed to dust.

In this situation, with only a wisp of his soul remaining, the Golden-Winged Roc has absolutely no chance of making a comeback. Whether through reincarnation or other means, he will not be able to appear before Luofu for at least a long time.

This is the Tribulation of Journey to the West, not the previous Tribulation of Investiture of the Gods. In the Tribulation of Investiture of the Gods, when cultivators perished, their souls would drift to the Investiture Platform and enter the Investiture List, waiting to be conferred as gods in the future.

In the tribulation of Journey to the West, the physical body is destroyed, and one can either switch to the path of cultivating gods, souls, ghosts, or immortals, but this is a very unorthodox path, and there is almost no chance of achieving enlightenment. At best, one can only become a member of the Yin God system of the underworld.

As for the claim of reincarnation and cultivation, no matter what, the Golden-Winged Roc is the first Roc since the creation of heaven and earth. How could its origins be based on reincarnation and cultivation to try and extort money?

And they want to reclaim their physical bodies from Luofu?

That's even more impossible.

Having realized that the Golden-Winged Roc had most likely been saved by the Peacock King Bodhisattva, Luo Fu released the monks with hair and the seven Spider Garan from Ruzhen Temple. He then used Yin and Yang energies to completely extinguish the life force of the Golden-Winged Roc's physical body, making it impossible for it to be resurrected after its soul returned.

The disciples he had released from the Yin and Yang energies all stood solemnly.

Luo Fu, the instigator, wore a wary expression. Behind him, the black and white yin and yang energies swirled like a pair of fish connected head to tail, seemingly illustrating the innate yin and yang principles. The Jade Void Palace Immortal Sword shimmered with light, and the Seven Emotions Crane Cloak on his body seemed to drape Luo Fu in a layer of the mundane world, shrouding him in mist.

After standing there waiting for a long time, the Peacock King never appeared.

Luo Fu breathed a long sigh of relief.

Among the many monks of Ruzhen Temple.

Several figures, whose demeanor was clearly out of place with the others, suddenly stepped forward, bowed deeply to Luofu, and knelt on the ground.

"As the Buddha of True Compassion and Mercy appears, the White Lotus is born, the Bright King descends, the True and Wonderful Dharma universally saves all sentient beings, and we praise the future Buddha of True and Wonderful Dharma!"

Luo Fu's expression froze instantly.

Although his disciples, such as the Zhenzong sect, were thriving, this was the first time Luofu had heard the disciples of the Zhenzong Zen Temple praise him.

This praise was practically a blatant reminder to Luo Fu that his future title of "True and Wonderful Dharma Buddha" would inevitably become the banner raised by future professional rebels.

Even Luo Fu himself had to admit that this praise was indeed an accurate description of Luo Fu.

The white lotus obtained from the Buddha of the East has left an extremely deep impression on the disciples of the Ruzhen Sect.

Even if Luo Fu refines more representative magical treasures or supernatural powers in the future, such as the innate Yin and Yang energies he just seized from the Golden-Winged Roc, it will probably be difficult to conceal the label of White Lotus on him.

When Luo Fu received the white lotus platform from Maitreya Buddha, the Buddha of the East, he had thought that he might become the banner for mortals to rebel in the lower realm, but he did not expect that everything would happen so quickly.

These people, chanting slogans and praises reminiscent of the White Lotus Sect, kneeling on the ground, dressed in the robes of the True Zen School, yet possessing a demeanor completely different from other monks with hair, were none other than the survivors of the Lion Camel Kingdom.

Unlike before, when they were almost desperate, after witnessing that Luo Fu had actually defeated the three demon kings of the Lion Camel Kingdom, they finally felt what hope was.

One by one, they knelt on the ground, devoutly bowing and praising Luofu, earnestly asking Luofu for help.

"Greatly compassionate Ruzhen Buddhist Sect, I am the sixth son of the King of Lion Camel Kingdom. I was fortunate enough to escape the clutches of those monsters. When I entered the temple before, I did not reveal my identity, which is truly my fault." The young man who was leading the group, who was not very old, revealed his identity directly and apologized to Luofu.

Although he didn't pay much attention to these so-called survivors of the Lion Camel Kingdom, Luo Fu could tell after meeting them that the boy's identity was extraordinary.

Little did they expect that the other party was actually the prince of the Lion Camel Kingdom.

The Lion Camel Kingdom has indeed become a land of monsters, but before that, it was a large and populous country in Xiniu Hezhou.

Without such a large population, it would have been impossible for tens of thousands of monsters, including the Green-haired Lion Demon, the Yellow-toothed White Elephant, and the Golden-winged Roc, to devour the inhumane Lion Camel Ridge.

The sight of skulls piled up like mountains and bones piled up like forests, the human hair matted into felt, the human flesh rotting into mud and dust, the human tendons wrapped around trees, and the dry, gleaming silver mountains of corpses and seas of blood, was enough to make one feel how numerous the human race of the Lion Camel Kingdom once was.

Such a great nation has been reduced to food for monsters, with very few escaping. Even the royal family is likely reduced to just this young sixth prince.

One can only imagine the depth of hatred that the sixth prince was suppressing in his heart.

When the westward-bound team arrived at Lion Camel Ridge, there were hardly any survivors left, let alone the Sixth Prince. It was likely that the Sixth Prince and the other surviving humans had all fallen victim to the monsters, becoming food for the monsters, slaughtered like wild game or livestock.

At this moment, the sixth prince placed all his hopes on Luo Fu.

Luo Fu could feel the deep-seated hatred emanating from the sixth prince.

However, Luo Fu did not make a direct decision regarding the sixth prince's request.

Although the Golden-Winged Roc has indeed died at Luo Fu's hands, and its wisp of remnant soul that narrowly escaped death is no longer a threat, the remaining Green-Haired Lion Demon and Yellow-Toothed White Elephant are not simple characters either.

Don't assume that the Green-haired Lion Spirit and the Yellow-tusked White Elephant, as the mounts of the two great Bodhisattvas, are characters that can be easily dealt with.

On the contrary, in terms of cultivation, realm, and strength, the fact that the Green-haired Lion Demon and the Yellow-toothed White Elephant could be addressed as elder brothers by the Golden-Winged Roc is enough to prove that they are not just empty names, but truly possess the strength that makes the Golden-Winged Roc have to admit defeat and call himself its younger brother.

When the westward journey team arrived, the most difficult challenge at Lion Camel Ridge seemed to be the Yin-Yang Two Qi Bottle of the Golden-Winged Roc. However, that was only because the Green-Haired Lion Demon and the Yellow-Toothed White Elephant did not unleash their true trump cards; they were simply holding back their strength.

However, this was also when targeting the Journey to the West team. As the Bodhisattva's mounts, these two demon kings knew very well that they were just there to accumulate some merit in the Journey to the West tribulation and didn't need to really risk their lives.

But if Luo Fu really agrees to avenge the sixth prince of Lion Camel Kingdom, then he will truly become enemies with the Green-haired Lion Spirit and the Yellow-tusked White Elephant.

Moreover, Luofu simply doesn't have that time right now.

He hasn't achieved his initial goals yet.

That is to absorb the golden relics of the Buddha, thereby elevating one's cultivation and realm to the level of a Taiyi Golden Immortal.

After seizing the Yin and Yang energies and combining them with his own essence, energy, and spirit, Luo Fu still needed to expend a great deal of effort to completely transform the Yin and Yang energies into supernatural powers.

While he can indeed transform Yin and Yang energies into supernatural powers, that is largely due to the dust produced by Laozi's Eight Trigrams Furnace.

Without this whisk, Luo Fu could not only not transform the Yin and Yang energies within his body into supernatural powers, but the weight of the Yin and Yang energies themselves, which were as heavy as mountains, made Luo Fu feel as if he was carrying several mountains on his back every moment.

Like a snake swallowing an elephant, he refined the Yin and Yang energies together with his own essence, energy, and spirit. To him, this floating duster was like a person with a broken bone who needed crutches or a wheelchair.

Without this thing, he could move around without worry, but his strength would be greatly weakened by the presence of Yin and Yang energies.

Under such circumstances, how could Luo Fu possibly act rashly and help the Sixth Prince deal with Lion Camel Ridge?

Of course, Ruzhen Temple has now made Luofu Temple famous as part of the Ruzhen Buddhist sect.

Therefore, Luo Fu certainly cannot afford to diminish his own reputation in front of this sixth prince.

He neither agreed nor refused, but instead simply took the sixth prince and his survivors under his command into the Ruzhen Zen Temple. The lineage and fundamental teachings of Luofu Temple undoubtedly originated from the Golden Body Dharma taught by Patriarch Subhuti.

However, the difficulty of cultivating the Golden Body Wonderful Method is also extremely demanding. At least in the current Ruzhen Temple, apart from Luofu, the future Ruzhen Wonderful Method Buddha, others can only dream of entering the gate. At most, they can only comprehend a few superficial skills from the Golden Body Wonderful Method.

On the contrary, Luofu, through the practice of the Mingwang Dharma, created the method of controlling desires through the seven emotions. This method, which is almost unorthodox, became the mainstream of the Ruzhen lineage.

Just like the Western Paradise, each Buddha has his own strengths, with eight hundred side sects that have given rise to countless lineages. For example, the Buddha of Bliss has the fundamental principle of using desire to control desire and achieving the union of emptiness and bliss.

At first glance, it seems that the seven emotions restraining desires in the Luofu Ruzhen lineage is like the Joyful Zen, but in essence, the seven emotions restraining desires is indeed not as good as the union of emptiness and bliss, the Joyful Zen that uses desire to control desire.

On the one hand, Luofu himself has not yet reached that level of cultivation and realm, and cannot compare with the Joyful Buddha, who created the Joyful Zen after abandoning Taoism and entering Buddhism. On the other hand, controlling desires through the seven emotions is not the fundamental method in the Ruzhen lineage.

Given the difficulty of entering the Golden Body Dharma, and the fact that no one has yet truly mastered it, the monks of Zhen Chan Temple, who still keep their hair, have ironically made the path of seeking enlightenment through Dharma—the practice of controlling the seven emotions and desires—the mainstream.

As a method of seeking the Dao through law, analogous to the ways of earth immortals, the practice of controlling desires through the seven emotions places extremely high demands on one's character. If one is not careful, desires may overwhelm one's true nature.

This can't really be considered going astray; it's just that the seven emotions haven't been controlled by desires, and instead, the desires have taken over. Once the desires are released, the mind can be calmed down again.

However, this would render the precepts of other Buddhist lineages completely inapplicable in the True Sect.

The method of controlling desires through the seven emotions that one cultivates carries the risk of being controlled by desires at any time. If one were to severely punish such behavior, it would seem like an arrogant act.

Luo Fu could only turn a blind eye to this.

As long as there is no violation of one's true nature, one can simply pretend not to see the disciples of the True Sect.

The fact that the head of the Ruzhen lineage at Luofu Temple is so inactive has, in turn, caused the Ruzhen Temple to gradually become secularized.

At the very least, the prohibition against marriage has completely disappeared at Ruzhen Temple.

The sixth prince of Lion Camel Kingdom has entered Ruzhen Temple. He will surely learn the methods of controlling the seven emotions and desires. Whether he formally enters the temple or just becomes a lay disciple, it will not affect his future. If he can truly restore Lion Camel Kingdom, he can marry and have children.

Even those who were loyal to the Sixth Prince, after learning about the rules of Ruzhen Temple during this period, did not resist formally receiving ordination and entering the temple.

Although he gained a few more disciples, Luo Fu didn't care too much. He handed over all the miscellaneous tasks and teaching to the seven Spider Garan and the monks with hair.

He himself began another period of seclusion for cultivation.

While extracting the magical power from the golden relics of the Buddha, it also continuously refines the Yin and Yang energies.

Simultaneously pursuing both is actually complementary. The improvement in strength can accelerate Luo Fu's refinement of Yin and Yang energies, and conversely, the mastery of Yin and Yang energies can also strengthen Luo Fu's strength and improve his realm and cultivation.

The principles of Yin and Yang are especially familiar to Luofu.

It's important to know that Uchiha Rafu of the ninja world had already mastered Yin-Yang Release, which completely surpassed that of the Otsutsuki clan.

Although the Yin-Yang Release technique in the ninja world is far inferior to the Yin-Yang energies, and even more advanced than the Reversed Yin-Yang technique in the Thirty-Six Heavenly Gang Techniques.

However, this understanding and mastery of Yin and Yang enabled Luo Fu to quickly integrate into his mastery of Yin and Yang energies in the initial stage, and even allow Yin and Yang energies to give rise to complex and mysterious changes.

(End of this chapter)