On the Dragon-Slaying Platform, I was executed and became Yang Jian's brother-in-law.

Inside the main hall, after a deathly silence, came a sense of oppression, like the calm before a volcanic eruption.

The streak of light had vanished into the sky, carrying with it the accumulated wealth of the Western Sect over the past century, and the greatest investment of the Buddha in this era, as it flew towards the Netherworld.

On the high platform, the Buddha's face was beyond ugly; it was a grimace of someone who had been slapped hard across the face and had to swallow their pride. The nine-petaled golden lotus trembled violently, and its golden leaves even showed signs of withering due to the Buddha's intense emotional turmoil.

"Su...Bai..."

These two words were practically squeezed out from between the Buddha's teeth, each word carrying a fury powerful enough to crush the void.

Su Bai, who was at the center of the storm, seemed to have been relieved of a heavy burden, revealing an unprecedented sense of ease and arrogance.

He suddenly stood up, his movements bold and unrestrained, completely devoid of his previous submissive demeanor.

"Click—"

As he moved, the originally extremely dense Buddhist light surrounding him, which seemed to have penetrated to the bone marrow, suddenly cracked like a dry eggshell.

Immediately afterwards, the golden light dissipated!

The Buddhist power of salvation that the Western Buddhas regarded as their pride, and the shackles of faith that were thought to have completely assimilated Su Bai's soul, were shattered at this moment by the overwhelming evil energy surging from Su Bai's body, turning into fireflies and dissipating into the void.

Instead, there is an ancient, desolate, yet domineering aura of the ancestral witches!

That's not a compassionate Buddha, that's a shaman who fights against heaven and earth!

Su Bai stood in the center of the main hall, his moon-white monk's robe fluttering in the wind as it was torn by the surging energy. His long hair flew wildly, and his eyes were arrogant as he stared directly at the high and mighty Buddha. A mocking smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

"World Honored One, do you find my current level of cultivation pleasing to the eye?"

Su Bai's voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly throughout Mount Ling, reaching the ears of every powerful figure in the audience: "What? Does the World Honored One really think that I've been brainwashed by your so-called Buddhist teachings over the past hundred years?"

Buddha stared intently at Su Bai, his eyes blazing with fury: "You've been acting all this time?!"

"Acting? No, no, no, this is called using someone else's strength against them."

Su Bai extended a finger and gently shook it, his smile growing brighter yet colder: "Buddha, you are too confident, and too greedy. Do you think the power of salvation in the Eight Treasures Merit Pool is flawless? Do you think the karmic shackles hidden within those three Bodhi fruits can escape my eyes?"

Upon hearing this, the expressions of the Bodhisattvas and Arhats around them all changed.

The Bodhi fruit contains the shackles of cause and effect. Although everyone tacitly understands this, being exposed in public is a different matter entirely. This is not just a slap in the face; it's practically stripping the Western religion bare.

Ignoring their expressions, Su Bai continued, "I possess the Great Dao of Time. If I couldn't even see through such a small trick, I wouldn't have been worthy of discussing the Dao with you sages at the foot of Buzhou Mountain back then. The reason I didn't expose you, and even pretended to be deeply moved, and even actively cooperated with you in this grand 'hundred-year-long period of quiet cultivation,' is for what purpose?"

Su Bai stepped forward, his gaze sharp as lightning, his voice booming like a bell: "All for the sake of borrowing your sacred mountain and the accumulated merit and fortune of your Western Sect, to refine a true elixir of rebirth for my sister Xuanming!"

"You…" Maitreya Buddha trembled with rage, his fat quivering, his finger pointing at Su Bai shaking. "You actually used a sacred relic of my Western Sect to save a remnant soul of a long-deceased witch?!"

"Why not?"

Su Bai sneered, glancing around at the figures of Dipankara Buddha, Maitreya Buddha, and the three thousand Arhats: "You Western Sects constantly preach compassion and the salvation of all beings. Xuanming sacrificed himself for the sake of the primordial world, a feat of immense merit and compassion a hundred times greater than that of you clay and wooden puppets who merely sit on lotus thrones chanting scriptures? What's wrong with using some of your things? It's an honor for you!"

These words were spoken with such confidence and righteous indignation.

The celestial beings in Heaven, who were initially feeling aggrieved by the protagonist's "betrayal," now stared wide-eyed, their mouths agape enough to fit an egg.

The Jade Emperor sat on his dragon chariot, nearly crushing the glass cup in his hand. His expression shifted from shock to ecstasy, and finally to an indescribable sense of exhilaration.

"Excellent! Excellent use of someone else's resources! Excellent elixir of rebirth!" The Jade Emperor couldn't help but roar inwardly, "This kid is really something else! I knew it! How could the person I've chosen be a spineless coward! This move was brilliant! This isn't returning to Buddhism, it's clearly raiding their home!"

Even the Queen Mother of the West, who had maintained a cold expression, instantly melted the icy look in her eyes, replaced by astonishment and delight. She looked at the arrogant man in the hall, a slight smile playing on her lips, and muttered under her breath, "Liar...he even lied to me..."

Although it was a curse, there was no trace of the despair and anger from before in the tone.

Golden Spirit Mother burst into laughter, the Flying Golden Sword in her hand emitting a clear, melodious sword cry: "Hahaha! I knew it! I knew this bastard wouldn't give in so easily! Good disciple, well done! This is the spirit of the Intercepting Sect!"

Meanwhile, in the center of the hall, Su Bai's mockery continued.

He bowed respectfully to the Buddha, a smile that was infuriating: "For the past hundred years, I have been fortunate to be entertained by the World Honored One. This Eight Treasures Merit Water is indeed a wonderful thing, cleansing the marrow and nourishing the soul with top-notch effects. The Bodhi Fruit is even more exquisite. If it weren't for such sacred objects as a guide, Xuanxiang's attempt to reshape his true spirit would have been quite a struggle."

"Therefore, I, Su, would like to sincerely say to the World Honored One and to all the Buddhas of the West—"

Su Bai drawled out each word, saying slowly and deliberately, "Thank you for the medicine!"

These four words, like heavy hammer blows, struck the hearts of all the Buddhas of the West.

"puff--"

One of the Arhats, whose willpower was slightly weaker, coughed up a mouthful of blood and fainted on the spot.

This is outrageous! This is incredibly humiliating!

This is simply throwing the face of Western religion on the ground and stomping on it again and again, and then spitting on it after stomping on it!

"You wretched child! You wretched child!!!"

Finally, the Buddha could no longer contain himself. With a roar, the nine-tiered golden lotus beneath him exploded into a burst of golden light, and the terrifying pressure of a saint (peak quasi-saint, whose power, relying on Mount Ling, is comparable to that of a saint) instantly filled the entire Great Buddha Hall.

"Su Bai! You have gone too far! If I do not suppress you beneath Mount Ling today, so that you may never rise again, I swear I will not become a Buddha!"

Buddha has truly gone mad.

A century of effort and countless resources have yielded this result. This is not merely a matter of loss; it concerns the very survival and reputation of the Western Church. If Su Bai is not taken down, who will take the Western Church seriously in the future?

"Suppress me? You think you can?"

Su Bai showed no fear, but instead laughed loudly.

With his laughter, a mysterious, obscure, yet boundless aura erupted from his body.

That wasn't an ordinary fluctuation of magical power; it was—time!

The void around Su Bai began to distort, and the flow of time around him became chaotic. One second it seemed like he was still in the past, and the next second it seemed like he had stepped into the future.

For the past hundred years, Su Bai has been refining medicinal ingredients for Xuanming in the Eight Treasures Merit Pool.

The transformative power of Buddhism contained within that pool of water was constantly eroding his soul, attempting to alter his will. It was an extremely terrifying mental attack; the slightest carelessness would lead to complete loss of self and becoming a puppet of Buddhism.

But who is Su Bai?

He was once the ancestral witch Zhu Jiuyin, the master who controls time!

This century of confrontation was not only a crisis for him, but also an unprecedented ordeal.

He placed his soul under the erosion of the river of time, using the pressure of Buddhist power to constantly temper his Dao heart and refine his understanding of the Great Dao of Time.

It's like a piece of stubborn iron, repeatedly forged in a raging fire.

Now, with all the impurities removed, what remains is the purest and most resilient steel!

"Boom!"

The entire Ling Mountain trembled, as if it could not withstand this terrifying power of time.

Su Bai's aura surged, becoming several times stronger than it had been a hundred years ago! His control over time was no longer a simple matter of acceleration or deceleration, but rather touched upon a deeper essence—the transformation between "eternity" and "moment".

"For the past hundred years, you have bound me with karma and saved me with Buddhist teachings."

Su Bai's eyes reflected the passage of time, his voice seeming to echo from ancient times: "Yet you know, it is precisely your relentless pursuit that has allowed me to see the true meaning of time. Cause and effect can be severed, Buddhist teachings can be broken, but time... endures forever!"

"Buddha, you've given me a great gift; I'll return the favor with a move!"

Su Bai made a fist with one hand, and the flow of time around him instantly froze.

"The tragedy of time!"

There was no earth-shattering explosion, nor any dazzling light effects.

But everyone present felt a chill that came from the depths of their souls.

It felt as if a part of my life had been inexplicably taken away in that instant.

On both sides of the main hall, the Arhats who were originally golden and immortal had wrinkles on their faces, and their once smooth foreheads had a hint of age.

Even quasi-saints like Dipankara and Maitreya felt their very essence tremble slightly at this moment, as if they had experienced an invisible cycle of reincarnation.

One move, and all laws wither!

This is the domineering nature of the Great Way of Time!

Buddha's expression changed drastically. He could clearly feel that even the fortune of Mount Ling had been diminished in that instant.

"Arrogant!"

With a roar, the Buddha formed a mudra with his hands, and the golden wheel of merit behind his head spun wildly, attempting to resist the all-pervasive erosion of time.

But he found it difficult!

Time is invisible and intangible, yet omnipresent, and cannot be defended against using conventional means.

"What a magnificent timeline! What a brilliant Su Bai!"

As the ancestor of all Buddhas, Tathagata was shocked but did not lose his composure. He knew that if Su Bai continued to act as he pleased, the entire hall of gods and Buddhas would likely suffer severe damage.

We must use a higher level of power to suppress him!

What do Buddhists practice?

What you cultivate is the next life, the cause and effect!

Everything in the world has a cause and an effect. Time, though powerful, cannot escape the cycle of cause and effect!

"All Buddhas, heed my command!"

The Buddha's majestic voice resounded throughout heaven and earth: "Form the 'Great Array of Cause and Effect for Ten Thousand Buddhas Paying Homage'! With the supreme power of cause and effect of Buddhism, seal off the past and future, cutting off all his escape routes!"

"yes!"

At the Buddha's command, the three thousand Arhats, who had been somewhat flustered, instantly returned to their positions.

Dipankara Buddha presides over the past, Maitreya Buddha presides over the future, and Tathagata Buddha presides over the present.

The Three Buddhas of the Three Worlds join forces, with three thousand Arhats as their foundation!

"Buzz—"

Golden threads extended from each Arhat, Bodhisattva, and Buddha.

These threads are not formed from magical power, but are purely threads of cause and effect!

Some represent past karmic obstacles, some represent future expectations, and some represent present obsessions.

Hundreds of millions of causal threads intertwine and entwine in the void, instantly weaving into a vast, all-encompassing net.

This net, disregarding spatial distance and the passage of time, carried an irresistible sense of destiny as it enveloped Su Bai in the center of the hall.

"Su Bai, you cultivate time, I will cultivate cause and effect!"

The Buddha, looking down from his lofty position, spoke with a voice like the judgment of heaven: "No matter how you traverse the past and present, you cannot escape the cage of cause and effect! Today, this great net of cause and effect is your tribulation! Since you entered my Vulture Peak and sowed the seeds of this karma, today you must repay the consequences!"

Three thousand Arhats chanted scriptures in unison, their voices like a surging tide.

The dense, causal threads, like living things, tightened from all directions with a suffocating sense of oppression, completely sealing off all of Su Bai's escape space. It was like a net that had been set up for a long time, trying to trap this unruly madman inside!