Reborn as a lotus, she initially refuses to hand it over to the state.

Zhang Xuanling was getting closer and closer to the temple.

The compass needle in his hand spun even faster.

As he arrived at the temple and went into the mountains, a crack suddenly appeared on his compass.

Upon seeing this, his expression changed. You must know that this compass was passed down from Zhang Zhengchang, the 42nd Celestial Master of Longhu Mountain.

Zhang Zhengchang was a Celestial Master of Longhu Mountain during the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties.

The rumors surrounding him are very mysterious. It is said that he once predicted that the world would change dynasties at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and took the initiative to send envoys to meet Zhu Yuanzhang, predicting that the Ming Dynasty would unify the country.

He was highly regarded by Zhu Yuanzhang. Later, during the Hongwu era, when the capital suffered a severe drought, he personally set up an altar to pray for rain, and rain immediately fell from the sky. Zhu Yuanzhang then bestowed upon him a silver seal.

Even more mysterious are the legends that he could summon wind and thunder, suppress floods in Jiangnan, and that Emperor Hongwu bestowed upon him the title of "perpetually in charge of all Taoist affairs under heaven," thus establishing the Zhengyi sect's official status in the Ming Dynasty.

This compass can be considered a Taoist ritual implement.

I never expected that a crack would appear today.

Zhang Xuanling's expression turned solemn. He stopped and said, "Don't go any further."

Su Wan's expression tightened: "What's wrong?"

Chen Wuji narrowed his eyes: "Is the thing inside very powerful?"

Zhang Xuanling shook his head and said in a deep voice, "Something's not right here."

Chen Xueli was taken aback: "Daoist Master, what exactly is going on?"

Zhang Xuanling looked at the stone Buddhas with their eyes closed on both sides of the temple gate and said coldly, "This place is more troublesome than I thought."

The lotus in Lin Qingxue's palm was slightly warm.

She subconsciously raised her hand and looked at the stone Buddhas with their eyes closed.

The world she saw changed again in the next moment.

The originally eerie stone Buddha suddenly appeared to her eyes with a very faint golden light.

The golden light was not bright, and even somewhat dim, but it was indeed there.

Lin Qingxue's expression froze for a moment, then she said in a low voice, "These stone Buddhas don't seem to be the source of the pollution."

Su Wan immediately asked, "What did you see?"

Lin Qingxue stared at the stone Buddhas: "They have golden light on them, as if they are suppressing something."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Xuanling's expression shifted: "Just as I thought."

Chen Wuji asked, "What do you mean?"

Zhang Xuanling said, "These stone Buddhas with their eyes closed are not evil objects; they are protective objects. The reason they are closed is to suppress the things in the temple."

The expressions on everyone's faces changed slightly.

Looking at the stone Buddhas with their eyes closed, Chen Xueli couldn't help but ask, "Can they still suppress the evil spirits now?"

Zhang Xuanling did not answer immediately.

Just then, a faint cracking sound suddenly came from the face of a stone Buddha on the left side of the temple gate.

A crack slowly spread down from between the stone Buddha's eyebrows.

Zhang Xuanling's expression was grave: "It seems the situation is not optimistic."

No sooner had the words been spoken than a wooden fish sounded from deep within the temple's main hall.

The sound was very soft, yet the bodies of the several Ninth Inning players present stiffened simultaneously.

One of them's eyes quickly turned grayish-white, his knees buckled, and he almost knelt down.

Chen Wuji took a step forward.

The ground beneath his feet trembled, and a surge of intense heat spread outwards.

He shouted loudly, "Stand still!"

The sound was like a thunderclap, jolting the team members awake. Their faces were covered in cold sweat.

Chen Wuji snorted coldly, "Don't just stare at that temple, calm your mind."

Chen Xueli immediately did as instructed. She stood still, her breathing gradually subsided, and she indeed felt that the sound of the wooden fish in her mind had become much softer.

She was overjoyed; the method her grandfather had taught her was truly effective.

Zhang Xuanling wasn't idle either. He took out several talismans and stuck them on the chests of several team members: "Those who are not mentally stable, retreat outside the temple. This place is not one you can force your way in."

Su Wan immediately ordered: "All those below the third rank, retreat and remain on guard."

Soon, some team members withdrew outside the temple.

All that remained were Su Wan, Lin Qingxue, Chen Xueli, Chen Wuji, Zhang Xuanling, and a few elite members of the Ninth Bureau.

The group continued to approach the temple gate.

Just as they stepped onto the stone steps in front of the temple, the stone Buddhas with their eyes closed suddenly trembled all at once.

Lin Qingxue's face paled slightly.

In her eyes, the golden light within those stone Buddhas was rapidly dimming.

From beneath the main hall, wisps of grayish-black aura seeped out through the cracks in the floor tiles.

She whispered, "The thing below is trying to break the seal."

Zhang Xuanling nodded: "This humble Taoist priest has seen through it."

As he spoke, he pointed his peach wood sword forward, and a wisp of talismanic fire flew out and landed in front of the temple gate.

The talisman fire did not burn the wooden door; instead, it illuminated the entire temple gate like a light source.

The next moment, everyone finally saw it clearly.

The inside of the temple gate was covered with ancient runes.

Most of the runes were damaged; only in the very center could two characters still be barely discerned.

Bone-soothing.

Su Wan took a deep breath: "It seems this really is the Bone-Suppressing Temple."

Chen Wuji said in a deep voice, "Brother Zhang, shall we go in now?"

Zhang Xuanling's expression was solemn: "Of course we'll go in, but you must remember, no one can touch the Buddha statue in the center of the main hall, and even less can you touch the cracks in the ground."

Chen Xueli couldn't help but ask, "What would happen if I touched it?"

Zhang Xuanling glanced at her: "At best, your mind will be taken away; at worst, you'll become a slave to Buddha."

Chen Xueli quickly shut up, and the group pushed open the temple gate.

The main hall was filled with dust, and a pungent smell of decaying incense wafted through the air.

In the center of the main hall, there stood a faceless Buddha statue, sitting cross-legged on a lotus platform with its back to the crowd.

The Buddha statue had no facial features, giving people an indescribable sense of oppression.

Chen Xueli glanced at it and immediately looked away.

She had a feeling that if she kept staring at the Buddha statue, it might turn its head to look at her.

Zhang Xuanling walked to the threshold of the main hall and did not go any further inside.

He looked down at the ground.

He then took out a yellow talisman and held it between his fingers.

"Heaven and earth are boundless, and the talismanic fire illuminates all forms."

The talisman paper caught fire.

The yellow light fell on the ground.

The next moment, circles of broken array patterns appeared beneath the floor tiles of the main hall.

Half of those array patterns were gold, and the other half had turned grayish-black.

The center of the array pattern was directly opposite the faceless Buddha statue.

A blue lotus light shone in Lin Qingxue's palm, and she said nervously, "There's something down there, a piece of bone, with two different types of energy intertwined and fighting each other."

Chen Wuji frowned and asked, "Is this Buddha bone an evil object?"

Zhang Xuanling shook his head and said, "Not necessarily."

Everyone was taken aback.

Zhang Xuanling looked at the array patterns on the ground, his tone complex: "If I am not mistaken, this piece of Buddha bone was originally meant to be a sealing object."

"In other words, a Buddhist practitioner used his own remains to suppress the cracks here."

"He was originally the gatekeeper, but after so long, the aura of the ghost gate contaminated the Buddha's relics."

"So now, it's not the Buddha who is saving people, but the source of pollution that is using the power of the Buddha's relics to find a substitute."

Su Wan's face darkened: "A stand-in?"

Zhang Xuanling nodded: "Yes, the new Bone Suppressor."

Chen Xueli couldn't help but ask, "Then the old man was a stand-in?"

Zhang Xuanling shook his head: "He's not enough. Ordinary people can't withstand the contamination of the Buddha's relics; they'll only be drained of their spirit."

"The person who can truly be chosen is probably someone else."

In the direction of Heilonghu.

The half-strand of prayer beads in Xuanku's hand suddenly felt hot again.

Xuan Ku's face turned pale instantly.

Although he wasn't at the Kudo Temple, he seemed to hear a sound that was both distant and close to his ear.

"Come back, come back."

Xuan swallowed hard, his face contorted in pain, and said, "Master, it seems to be calling for me again."

Chu Zhou said calmly, "I heard it."

In the underground ancient city, the strange stone sneered: "Lotus Demon, now you understand, right? This bald man is not a sacrifice, he is the one who will inherit the legacy."

Chu Zhou remained noncommittal. If Xuan Ku was the chosen successor of the Buddhist cultivators, then that would be normal.

The strange stone continued, "To be precise, he is the next person to guard the bone. If the Buddha's bone has not been contaminated, he may be able to inherit the seal when he goes back."

"But now the Buddha's relics are damaged. Once he goes in, he won't be the one to guard the relics, but will become a slave to the Buddha."

Xuan Ku couldn't hear what the strange stone was saying, but seeing that Chu Zhou hadn't spoken, he became even more flustered.

"Master, is there any hope for this humble monk?"

Chu Zhou said calmly, "Yes."

Xuan Ku breathed a sigh of relief.

The next second, Chu Zhou added, "Just don't run around."

Xuan Kuren was a little confused. Why did these words sound so uncomfortable?