The Sooner, the Better

Hearing this, Yuan Kong did not hesitate, and a golden Buddhist light lit up around his body.

Although orthodox Buddhist cultivation always produced a golden light that looked more or less the same to ordinary people, in the eyes of Buddhists, this was not the case. As long as one was a genuine Buddhist cultivator, they could see the differences.

After all, Buddhist cultivators were still cultivators; their spiritual root conditions had to be differentiated and could not be lumped together.

The different Buddhist philosophies they cultivated would also cause their golden lights to vary.

Among Buddhist cultivators, differences in Buddhist doctrines, for those who truly took the mind as their realm, could be discerned through the radiating golden light.

At the very least, Wukong could distinguish between the Karma Buddha and the Mortal World Buddha solely by their golden light.

The Karma Buddha's golden light was seamlessly integrated and exuded a heavy aura, showing the fusion of the Buddhist Heart Sutra with their own cultivation base.

Except that when they chanted "Amitabha," they sounded more confident.

The Mortal World Buddha's golden light was merely spiritual energy with a different skin. In Wukong's eyes, they weren't even considered Buddhas at all.

Naturally, this assimilation and advancement ability of the Buddhist sect was a top secret, known only to a few core figures.

As for who exactly knew about it, Wukong only knew of one person—Runan.

The confidentiality level of this matter was too high; even as a Buddha Son, Wukong didn't know much about it.

He only knew that this process required a tremendous price and was extremely picky about the candidates.

Over the past millennium, countless Mahayana realm cultivators had yearned to join the Buddhist sect, but ultimately, the number of those who stayed was pitifully small compared to those who came.

Naturally, such restrictions were inevitable, otherwise the number one sect in the world back then wouldn't have been the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect.

The assimilation and advancement ability definitely had side effects, but compared to the side effects, there was no doubt that the concrete benefits of breaking through from the Mahayana realm to the Tribulation Transcendence realm were much greater.

As a Buddha Son, Wukong was even more capable of sensing the subtle differences.

As Yuan Kong revealed his golden light, although his aura was weak... his Buddhist philosophy was profound, and... how could there be the aura of Mahayana Buddhism?

Chu Xingchen stroked his chin, glancing left and right, then looked at Wukong and asked,

"How much of a resemblance is there?"

Yuan Kong also turned his head to look at Wukong.

Wukong naturally understood what Chu Xingchen was asking—how much of Yuan Kong's Mahayana Buddhism resembled that of the Bright Buddha.

After observing for a moment, Wukong answered truthfully,

"It's too immature... The Bright Buddha is the creator, after all. Although his Buddhist philosophy is deep and it looks like he has put in hard work, there are still obvious traces of rudimentary Buddhism. He resembles him by ten or twenty percent at most."

Hearing this, Yuan Kong also vaguely understood his task—he was probably going to pretend to be someone.

However, with only a ten or twenty percent resemblance, in front of a group of Mahayana cultivators, it was no different from a glaring fake.

Yuan Kong sighed softly; he probably wouldn't be able to help with this favor.

Just as Yuan Kong was feeling a bit regretful, Chu Xingchen's hand patted him decisively:

"Not bad! You actually researched the stuff I gave you to play with quite well. To be able to achieve a ten or twenty percent resemblance is really good. You haven't been slacking off!"

Yuan Kong looked doubtful. Seeing Chu Xingchen's genuinely delighted expression, he didn't know for a moment whether Chu Xingchen was being sarcastic...

Wukong was dumbfounded, clearly unable to tell whether Chu Xingchen was being serious or not.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Chu Xingchen's gaze swept over the two of them as he said seriously, "I couldn't have gone through the trouble of calling him here just to mock him to his face, right? Am I that bored?"

Wukong took a deep breath and said,

"Are you planning to rely on him to deceive a Buddha, to deceive those Buddhist Tribulation Transcendence cultivators with Mahayana Buddhist philosophy? Forget about Runan; even I can see through it at a glance."

"The Bright Buddha used to be a genuine Buddha of the Buddhist sect; the Buddhist sect couldn't possibly refuse to recognize him."

"Even if he cultivated Mahayana Buddhism, is a Buddha Son, and can be considered a successor, he hasn't left his name in the Great Thunderclap Temple. The current Great Thunderclap Temple can simply deny him if they choose to."

Chu Xingchen looked at Yuan Kong as if studying something, and casually replied at the same time,

"It's not like I'm asking him to converse with Runan face-to-face... We'll be dozens of miles away, have a few Tribulation Transcendence cultivators confuse the auras, and set up a grand formation to isolate his presence."

"It's enough to appropriately reveal a bit of essential Buddhist aura. As for whether it's real or not, I only have one thing to tell you."

Wukong was stunned and asked, "What is it?"

"Life is all about acting!" Chu Xingchen looked at Daoist Yuyang. "Later, Wukong will draw a portrait. You spent the most time with the Bright Buddha and know his appearance in the greatest detail. Illusions and the like won't work, so apply makeup and fix him up."

Daoist Yuyang nodded in agreement.

Yuan Kong touched his face and said uncertainly,

"They are at the Tribulation Transcendence realm while I'm only at the Golden Core realm. Can I really fool them?"

"If it weren't for the fact that I don't know how to produce Buddhist golden light, I would have gone up and acted myself." Chu Xingchen reached out and knocked on Yuan Kong's head, finding it sounded much crisper than before, as if he had gotten smarter. Thus, he added,

"Don't worry. When the time comes, I will send you voice transmissions. Just repeat whatever I say."

"Whether it succeeds or not is my problem."

"Oh..." Yuan Kong nodded in understanding.

Seeing that the two seemed to have really reached an agreement, Wukong pressed further,

"Can this really work?"

Chu Xingchen looked at Wukong and said,

"It all depends on human effort. Besides, just as you said, whether they believe it or not is a very subjective matter."

"Even if it doesn't look alike at all, as long as someone acknowledges it, isn't that enough?"

Looking at Chu Xingchen's rather confident expression, Wukong finally bowed slowly and said,

"Then I'll leave it to you."

"No problem." Chu Xingchen reached out to help Wukong up and said, "Since you are willing to help me this time, I naturally owe you a favor."

Seeing that the serious business had been more or less discussed, Daoist Yuyang looked at Donggua and said,

"This demon is still alive? Why did you bring this thing along while fleeing for your life? Wouldn't it be better to just bury it along the way?"

Hearing this, Donggua's expression stiffened, but she quickly put on an ingratiating smile.

She was no longer a loner, a Donggua walking down a dark path with no return.

Now that news of the Demon Lord had returned, turning the tables and becoming the master in the future was not necessarily impossible.

The corners of Chu Xingchen's mouth curled up:

"Cui Hao told me that this demon has turned over a new leaf and has a lot of intelligence to confess. We must treat such a good demon well. Speak less of burying her along the way; it's easy to hurt a demon's heart."

"Your name is Donggua, right? Cui Hao has said a lot of good things about you. It's rare for me to see him speak highly of anyone."

"Since he asked me, as his master, I naturally have to agree."

"Of course, if you play both sides, don't blame us for skinning you alive and tearing your bones apart."

Donggua nodded her little head rapidly.

Daoist Yuyang curled his lip. By now, he also knew that Chu Xingchen was setting a trap for this demon:

"Do as you please. When do you plan to go? There seems to be intense friction on Huang Miao's side."

Chu Xingchen replied, "Naturally, the sooner the better. We'll make preparations today and take him to chat with Runan tomorrow."

Yuan Kong, who was using his innate divine ability to observe Donggua, was taken aback upon hearing this. He turned to look at Chu Xingchen and said,

"So soon? Aren't you going to give me time to understand his behavioral habits or something?"

Chu Xingchen casually patted Yuan Kong's head again and said,

"As long as you don't pick your nose, do handstands, or bark like a dog, you'll be fine. Why bother learning behavioral habits?"

"Right now, people are literally risking their lives to stay hidden. Where would we find the time for you to learn behavioral habits?"