Li Tianqi did not make a move.
The Buddha statue's absorption of vital energy would only affect a few years of lifespan, and the statue was also protecting the village.
Doing anything extra would unnecessarily risk exposing his tracks.
Having figured out the Bodhisattva Weishu statue...
Li Tianqi headed toward another Buddhist temple. The temple was still filled with a continuous stream of People.
These People had peaceful expressions; if they just shaved their heads, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call them monks.
The believers of the Dusheng Bodhisattva.
At this moment, he saw the believers gathered together, numbering in the hundreds, surrounding a small bandit lair with only a dozen or so people.
The bandits were captured.
They originally thought these believers were from some village they had harmed coming for revenge, and that they were doomed today.
Yet, to their utter bewilderment, the believers simply demanded that they worship the Dusheng Bodhisattva statue.
In just three short days, the mountain bandits who once dared to even eat human flesh suddenly turned into great Samaritans who respected the elderly and cared for the young, switching to a vegetarian diet and chanting Buddhist sutras.
"The Bodhisattva statues of Dharma Master Hongzhen and Dharma Master Hongdan."
Li Tianqi had been investigating for many years.
He pondered for a moment, "As for Nun Dairou's Bodhisattva statue, it delivers rebirth. I've only seen them worshipping it, but its influence isn't as massive as these two.
Something feels wrong.
And as for Dharma Master Hongjie's Bodhisattva statue, I've never even seen it."
As he muttered to himself, a hint of disgust flashed in Li Tianqi's eyes.
It wasn't as if he hadn't done this sort of thing before. Back in Duskwild Prefecture, the three brothers also had a group of believers.
However, for the commoners of Duskwild Prefecture, let alone them, even if a demon was caught in the mountains, the commoners would worship it as a guardian deity.
Although none of them were good people, Li Tianqi was exceptionally disdainful of such methods of making fools out of ordinary commoners.
But at the same time, he couldn't help but be horrified by the extent and speed of these Buddhist temples' expansion.
Immediately after, he continued to wait.
This wait lasted until a new temple was built.
A farmer who had clearly starved to death suddenly opened his eyes and put on a monk's robe.
A few days later, helpers were brought in from other temples, and a new yellow-clad Buddha statue was erected in Deston Prefecture.
The Buddha statue was expressionless, possessing an unyielding prestige without anger.
"..."
Li Tianqi looked at his niece Kuanghua's Buddha statue. Although he had known about it for a long time, he still couldn't help but bear a bizarre expression.
Bodhisattva Prowess.
The Bodhisattva passed down Buddhist martial arts to help the believers strengthen their physiques, but a price had to be paid all the same.
After the believers died, their corpses would rot at an extremely rapid pace, transforming into the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and flowing entirely into the Buddha statue.
"Found it!"
At night, Li Tianqi arrived at Li Kuanghua's temple and pressed his hand against the Buddha statue.
In the past, whether it was the Bodhisattva Ward statue or the Dusheng Bodhisattva statue, he could only sense that a great deal of the sentient beings' faith remained on them.
To avoid alerting the snake by beating the grass, he had never dared to make a move.
But on Li Kuanghua's Bodhisattva Prowess statue, the faith of those sentient beings seemed to sense Li Tianqi's presence.
It transformed into a wisp of Buddhist light that pierced through the clouds, heading toward Shadowfell Prefecture.
"By following this Buddhist light, we can find the Dusheng Nunnery."
Right at this moment, Li Tianqi's eyebrows twitched.
The arrays he had left around the Buddhist temple these past few days were showing activity.
"The fish has taken the bait."
He hastily concealed his tracks.
.......
"Another new Buddhist temple and a new Bodhisattva statue have been built."
Inside the temple of Bodhisattva Prowess.
Yun Hongcai appeared silently.
This old monster, who had lived for nearly fifty thousand years, could tell at a glance that there was something unusual about the Bodhisattva Bodhisattva Prowess.
Beside him, Heavenly Venerable Jiande had a look of disdain.
"Hahaha. In the past, weren't the people of the Buddhist sect slaughtered by Holy Monk Yidian until they didn't even dare to show their faces?
Using these underhanded methods makes them even worse than demonic cultivators.
At least demonic cultivators act openly, unlike their fake compassion that hides malicious intent."
"Bodhisattva Prowess... Boss, you were familiar with Shadowfell Prefecture and the Dusheng Nunnery.
Inside the Dusheng Nunnery, there is the old demoness Dairou and three other old monsters, but you never mentioned a Bodhisattva like this."
Fairy Tinglan added,
"However, Boss, you truly had remarkable foresight to target the Dusheng Nunnery all those years ago.
In these times of chaos, they can collect faith, and each of them possesses the aptitude to break through to the Body Integration realm.
It is absolutely urgent to make a move against them now; otherwise, given their outrageous cultivation speed, we will lose our chance entirely."
"Mhm."
Yun Hongcai said in a deep voice,
"Finding their location won't be difficult. We've been stealing the incense offerings hidden in their Buddha statues these past few days precisely to drive them into a frenzy.
They are already extremely cautious, recalling their faith back to the Dusheng Nunnery every day. As long as we follow the direction of the faith, we can locate them."
Heavenly Venerable Jiande said, "With our strength, we can at most fight the three Dharma Masters. We are still no match for the old demoness."
"The Azure Cloud Li Clan!"