The western king cobra was a vicious creature so letting it live would do more harm than good.
Lin Jin just happened to feel like trying out the edict amulet spells he learned from the old Taoist, Wu Qian. There were many variants of edict amulets and their methods of use were extraordinary. But in a nutshell, it revolved around the five elements.
Among them was a most amazing Divine Mountain Amulet used to subjugate monsters.
Lin Jin had researched this amulet before and this seemed like a good time to test out the amulet’s powers.
At this thought, Lin Jin took out a Divine Mountain Amulet that he practiced writing out previously. Invoking it with the Dharma body, he tossed it at the king cobra.
“Mountain formation!”
In an instant, an immeasurable amount of stones and rocks were drawn over by the amulet in a stunning fashion. In the blink of an eye, the amulet had accumulated a huge mound of dirt and rocks of different sizes. Just like its name, the pile resembled a tiny mountain.
The western king cobra was a large creature, but it was tiny compared to the artificial mountain Lin Jin had just built. It was like comparing a house to a human.
“Subjugate!”
Lin Jin issued an edict command. As he had Xiao Huo’s Dharma body, his words carried divine powers. The artificial mountain began to glow before it came crashing down in the blink of an eye, crushing the king cobra under its weight.
Had it been a regular beast, the creature would have died an instant death.
Even if it didn’t die, it would be oppressed by the strong divine powers. Until they die of old age, they would remain forever trapped in the makeshift tomb.
The might of the Divine Mountain Amulet was never before seen so even if Wu Qian was here, he would be just as shocked.
The level of strength wasn’t this extreme when his master performed it and perhaps only his sect’s ancestors were able to produce results of this degree.
Lin Jin was only able to achieve this because he had the Dharma body to supplement the edict. Otherwise, he wouldn’t even be able to achieve twenty percent of what they were seeing now.
Lin Jin was currently shocked by his performance as well.
‘Now this looks like something I know. It’s like Buddha restraining the Monkey King under the Five Finger Mountain[1]. Interesting, interesting.’ Lin Jin was inwardly pleased.
He could sense that the king cobra he crushed wasn’t dead yet. Admittedly, this king cobra was quite a resilient creature. Still, considering how heavy its injuries were due to the Divine Mountain Amulet, the king cobra probably couldn’t escape on its own now.
This didn’t seem like a bad treatment for a tyrannical beast.
Not too far away, a hill had suddenly come down out of nowhere. It wasn’t very tall; it looked like it was around two hundred meters tall. It wasn’t very wide either. But in today’s world, just how many people were able to create a mountain out of thin air?
Even Lin Jin was shocked by what he did, so much less Zuo Wentang and the others.
By now, even Zuo Wentang who was well acquainted with Lin Jin kept his lips sealed. He already thought highly of Lin Jin but the latter’s continuous display of supernatural powers today broke down the belief that he already knew a lot of things.
Now, Zuo Wentang fully understood why their country’s emperor would issue Lin Jin such an exceptional promotion. It might not have been done just to win his favor but also out of fear.
Zuo Wentang saw, with his own eyes, a hill materializing out of nothing before falling on that massive king cobra, crushing it. This scene was so inconceivable that Zuo Wentang’s mind was buzzing. A thought now formed in his head. This was beyond the capabilities of a mere mortal.
‘And he said he wasn’t a divine master.
‘I think he is!’
However, Zuo Wentang didn’t dare to say this to Lin Jin right now. He didn’t even dare to call Lin Jin ‘Brother Lin’ anymore.
Even someone as easy-going as Tilly was utterly dumbstruck by this. Her eyes were filled with fear because never in her life had she seen someone create a mountain in the sky and use it against his enemy.
The entire place was eerily quiet. Everyone was trapped in a state of surprise, unable to regain their senses.
Lin Jin let out a deep breath. That Divine Mountain Amulet mainly relied on the edict and the Dharma body’s powers so only a tiny bit of his spirit energy was used.
Suddenly, he felt Xiao Huo’s Dharma body tremble on his arm as if an invisible force was oppressing him.
A sense of danger hit him. Just one second ago, Lin Jin had been delighted by the strength of this edict that enabled him to create a mountain out of nowhere. To think he would abruptly feel intense danger right after that.
He sat down at once, ignoring everyone else. After closing his eyes, Lin Jin shifted his mind to observe the world, which ended up shocking him so much that he broke out in cold sweat.
Lin Jin was observing the world through the eyes of Xiao Huo’s Dharma body. The view should have been the same as what Lin Jin saw but it was completely different now.
Through Xiao Huo’s eyes, the ground looked like the depth of hell, dark and with blood bubbling all around. The most frightening scene, however, was the sky.
Looking up above, he could see layers after layers of clouds, their colors gradually lightening with each layer until it reached the heavens. On top of it all, there seemed to be a pavilion with cranes flying about. There also seemed to be a grand and magnificent hall, stretching thousands of feet across the sky.
Suddenly, a terrifying and thunderous roar of a beast could be heard coming from that large hall.
It was only a moment and Lin Jin felt signs of Xiao Huo’s Dharma body crumbling.
Frightened, Lin Jin quickly worked to sustain Xiao Huo’s Dharma body.
The strange phenomenons happening right now shouldn’t be seen nor heard.
This was the conclusion Lin Jin arrived at. In this desperate situation, he dared not think too much but he had a nagging feeling that this sudden emergency came from him invoking the Divine Mountain Amulet to subjugate the western king cobra.
Lin Jin couldn’t figure out the specifics. His priority now was to save Xiao Huo’s Dharma body.
Gritting his teeth, Lin Jin used the strength of their blood contract to sustain Xiao Huo’s Dharma body. However, with Lin Jin’s power, he couldn’t even last ten breaths before feeling himself give out.
Lin Jin had no choice but to open the Visitation Hall’s door and borrow the museum’s energy. Only with this, could he manage to hold out.
Everyone else didn’t understand what was going on but due to Lin Jin’s earlier performance, they dared not disturb him and just watched as he sat in silence.
“Did something happen?” Unable to contain herself, Tilly asked quietly.
No one had the slightest clue as to what was going on.
Qu Wenjin clung on tightly to Zuo Wentang’s arm with a worried look on her face. Having lived through many harrowing experiences, Zuo Wentang was able to stay calm. He patted Qu Wenji’s back in an attempt to reassure her that everything was alright.
“It looks like Chief Lin has gleaned some insights so let’s not disturb him. We’ll just watch from the sidelines.” Though that was what Zuo Wentang said, he was actually just as anxious as the girls.
Of course, what he was anxious about had nothing to do with the others. What he was worried about was Qu Wenji’s safety.
He and Qu Wenji had long since been fond of each other. One could even call them lovers.
But due to Qu Wenji’s identity, even someone like Zuo Wentang couldn’t be with her.
After all, Qu Wenji belonged to Grace Pavilion.
As for Grace Pavilion, City Lord Bai Zhenkong was only a small shareholder. Zuo Wentang never told his employer about this.
That was because he knew nothing would change.
[1] Reference to the traditional Chinese myth/folklore, “Journey to the West”.