For a moment, Yan Qing even felt like there was something wrong with her eyes. She clearly remembered that when she first found herself on the fifth floor, she had inadvertently seen that the barrier at the entrance of the passage was still there.
How come it's gone now?
Yan Qing cautiously reached out her hand, and the next moment, her arm passed right through it. She was finally certain that the barrier here had truly disappeared.
She turned her head and quickly called to Yue Qi, "Quick, the barrier has disappeared, let's go up quickly!"
Turning around, she saw that Yue Qi's face had turned deathly pale.
Yan Qing was a little worried, so she quickly ran to his side and checked him carefully. She found that apart from his pale face, his mental and physical condition was good.
Hmm, could this person be frightened?
At this moment, the two walked to the entrance of the passage and, as expected, ascended to the sixth floor without any hindrance, a success that was simply unbelievable.
At the exit of the sixth-floor passage, a familiar, smiling figure was waiting there.
Yan Qing was instantly stunned, pointing a finger at the other person's face and demanding,
"Master, didn't you just recently claim confidently that you couldn't even reach the sixth floor? Could the person standing here now be a fake?"
"Amitabha!" An elderly monk put his hands together and performed a standard Buddhist salute.
“It seems that Benefactor Yan needs to cultivate himself more. He should refrain from anger, refrain from anger.”
"Go to hell!" She felt like a fool, completely manipulated by this old monk. Without a doubt, the old monk's purpose was similar to Chu Jiang's; both of them seemed to require her to personally visit the Seven Star Pagoda.
Sigh, another bizarre gold-tier title!
However, she glanced at Yue Qi beside her. Chu Jiang wasn't here now, so the old monk had ultimately miscalculated.
So she smiled sweetly, "I'm sorry, Master, Chu Jiang is still on the fourth floor, it seems he can't come up."
"It's alright—" The old monk naturally realized that the girl in front of him didn't like him, which only made him more amused.
“Benefactor Yan, as far as I know, there is no Benefactor Chu on the fourth floor of the Seven Star Pagoda. On the contrary, there is another acquaintance of yours there.”
As he spoke, he glanced meaningfully at Yue Qi. This glance, however, puzzled Yan Qing.
“It should be Wen Jiajia—” Yue Qi said. “Although the gravity space on the third floor of the Seven Star Tower is difficult to pass through, the Wen family has many trump cards, so it’s not surprising that they were able to get through.”
"I see—" Yan Qing recalled that Wen Jiajia had indeed received an invitation. She wasn't worried about her. With her trump cards, she probably wouldn't die even if faced with a mountain of knives or a sea of fire.
But what did the old monk mean by saying that Chu Jiang wasn't on the fourth level? She remembered that he was seriously injured and couldn't possibly force his way through the Heavenly Thunder Barrier.
Yue Qi seemed uninterested in Chu Jiang. His gaze remained fixed on the old monk the entire time.
The two stood face to face, creating a scene reminiscent of the Chu-Han Contention.
Only then did Yan Qing have the opportunity to examine the six levels of the Seven Star Pagoda. Upon reaching the sixth level, some things related to Buddhism finally appeared in the pagoda.
The layout of the six floors of the Seven Star Pagoda is exactly the same as the previous floors. The only difference is that a black and gold Buddha statue is placed in each of the six corners of the main hall.
All the Buddha statues were entirely black, except for the golden crowns on their heads, the seven treasures of Buddhism wrapped around their bodies, and the faint flow of golden light around them.
More importantly, all the Buddha statues seem to depict the same person—a powerful figure in Buddhism, the King of the Eight Heavenly Dragons and Yakshas.
Upon recognizing the Buddha statue, Yan Qing nearly collapsed in shock. It was him again! How come there are Yakshas everywhere in this world of supernatural tales?!
Wait, something's not right!
Yan Qing suddenly paused for a moment. She seemed not to have noticed that on the black Yaksha Buddha statue closest to her, in addition to the golden light that the statue itself emitted, there seemed to be a trace of blood red mixed in. It was impossible to notice without careful observation.
The blood-red color covering the entire statue gave her the impression that it had been forcibly bound hand and foot. Unfortunately, the statue was still some distance away, so she couldn't see the specific details clearly.
So she tried taking a step toward the Buddha statue, and sure enough, the old monk, who was still confronting Yue Qi, suddenly stretched out an arm and blocked her way.
“Amitabha—Benefactor Yan, there are some things that are not worth being curious about.”
His words made Yan Qing realize the importance of the Buddha statue even more. As for the Eight Heavenly Dragons and Yaksha King, this Buddhist deity's job was to guard against all kinds of demons and monsters in the Nine Hells. Therefore, it was obvious that the supernatural would naturally fear him.
Moreover, there are six Yaksha Buddha statues in the Seven Star Pagoda, and there must be a reason for their presence here.
Most importantly, with so many Yaksha Buddha statues suppressing the evil spirits, how could the eerie old monk still appear here safely? She believed that this was inextricably linked to the flowing red light.
Therefore, she couldn't afford to miss it.
The entire six floors of the Seven Star Pagoda, besides the six largest Buddhist Yaksha statues, also contain many large and small Buddhist guardian deities, Vajras, and Bodhisattva statues, densely packed throughout the sixth-floor hall.
The statues vary in size, but their numbers are remarkably uniform. There are six of each type. It looks as if they were forcibly moved from elsewhere.
Recalling the pristine Seven Star Pagoda from the very first floor, Yan Qing had reason to suspect that these statues were Buddha images used to suppress evil spirits on each floor. She just didn't know who had forcibly moved them here.
During the brief moment she was pondering, Yue Qi seemed to have completed some kind of communication with the old monk Yijing. In the end, the old monk Yijing took a step back, making way for them.
“Let’s go—” Yue Qi grabbed her hand and started walking towards the center of the hall.
“Wait a minute—” an elderly monk suddenly spoke up, “Benefactor Yue, oh no, to be more specific, should I address you as Benefactor Chu?”
Yue Qi suddenly stopped, his aura exploding outwards. He looked at the old monk as if he were looking at a dead man.
"Old ghost, don't force me."
Yan Qing's brain had already completely shut down the moment the old monk uttered the words "Benefactor of Chujiang".
What? Did she hear wrong? This respectful old monk actually called Yue Qi "Benefactor Chujiang?"
Chu Jiang had clearly failed in his soul fusion attempt! The person before him was indeed Yue Qi, without a doubt.
But—she couldn't control herself.
No wonder, ever since she went up to the fifth floor, she always had a vague feeling that Yue Qi seemed to have become much gentler, and many of his doting actions seemed to be Chu Jiang's own habits.
However, she couldn't accept it.
Now, Yan Qing only wants to understand one thing: what exactly happened when she was unconscious on the fourth floor of the Seven Star Tower!
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