The latest news is that the major sects have withdrawn from Hanshan Temple, and Hanshan Temple did not get involved. The news of Abbot Yansong's passing has shocked the entire Xuanmen, and the repercussions will likely continue for a long time. The good news is that due to Abbot Yansong's passing, several top Buddhist sects are stirring, all vying for the top position, just as when the old Celestial Master died and major sects eyed the Celestial Master position covetously.
At a high-speed service area, Brother Yang was adding water to the truck's tank. The dog-Daoist took the opportunity to chat with everyone about the news he had received.
The fall of any supreme expert would bring about many chain reactions. While Yan Shouyi was fortunate that Abbot Yansong had delayed things for him, he also regretted that the eminent monk had died too cheaply. He should have died more meaningfully.
Long Feicheng laughed, "This is perfect, let those Buddhist folks fight among themselves... uh..."
Halfway through his sentence, Long Feicheng suddenly remembered that there were two Buddhist martial monks with sixteen-pack abs sitting beside him.
As expected, both of them stared at Long Feicheng.
Long Feicheng put on a wronged expression, "Uncle, Brother, I was wrong."
"Namo Amitabha," Miaoji said coldly.
"Amitabha," Long Feicheng replied honestly.
This was transmitting the Dharma through the flesh.
Miaoji said, "If you talk nonsense again, I'll shave your head and force you to become a monk!"
Long Feicheng dared not retort, but he muttered inwardly: It's useless to force me to become a monk, I'll just be bald on top. If I were bald below, that would be truly shameful!
Being bald on top doesn't stop me from winning money from young ladies!
If Long Feicheng had voiced this thought, Miaoji might have directly castrated him, ensuring he wouldn't even become a eunuch if he couldn't be a monk.
At this moment, everyone had arrived in Benxi City, Beilu Province. In another day, they would reach their destination—Songshui Province, where Changbai Mountain was located, and also the stronghold of the Witch God Mountain faction.
Yan Shouyi had learned beforehand that Beilu Province did not have any top sects, but it had quite a few second and third-tier sects.
Among them was a Taoist holy land called Jiuding Tieshan, where the relatively famous Longmen Sect of the Northeast was located. Besides the Longmen Sect, Tieshan also housed over a dozen smaller sects such as the Zhenwu Sect, the Yuhuang Sect, and the Beitian Sect. However, these sects were almost of the same origin as the Longmen Sect, similar to the relationship between the smaller sects on Wudang Mountain and the Wudang Sect itself.
Tieshan was still over a hundred kilometers away from where Yan Shouyi and his group were. Yan Shouyi believed they wouldn't encounter anyone from Tieshan.
However, just as the dog-Daoist got out of the car to take Old Huang for a pee, he suddenly glimpsed a few figures. He then ran back to the car holding Old Huang, who was still halfway through peeing, with urine splashing all the way.
"Go, go, go!"
The dog-Daoist yanked open the car door and stuffed Old Huang inside. Long Feicheng, sitting in his seat, yelled out, "Damn it, Old Huang, you peed on me!"
Old Huang barked a few times, sounding innocent, and then looked at the dog-Daoist with dejection.
"Uncle Dog, what's going on?" Yan Shouyi asked.
The dog-Daoist casually rubbed Long Feicheng's pants with his hand. After wiping his hands clean, he said, "Cops!"
Everyone immediately relaxed: "Phew! What were we thinking? What's there to be afraid of with cops? We're not criminals."
Except for being arrested a few times for walking alone in dark alleys, everyone had a clean background. They were all good citizens!
But the dog-Daoist's next sentence made their relaxed nerves tighten:
"The cops are checking cars, but the problem is, for every few cops, there's a guy in plainclothes following them. I can tell that the guys in plainclothes are not ordinary people."
Upon hearing this, Yan Shouyi glanced at the rearview mirror and indeed saw cops checking cars one by one behind them.
The cops were in pairs, accompanied by a plainclothes individual. The plainclothes person's aura was restrained, and they walked with a light, floating gait, clearly indicating they were practitioners.
Yan Shouyi identified them further and guessed they were Daoists from Tieshan.
"See? What did I tell you?" the dog-Daoist whispered.
Yan Shouyi frowned, "I didn't expect Tieshan's influence to be so great that they'd mobilize the cops to look for us."
Most people in the Xuanmen world deliberately avoided interaction with the mundane world. Just as ancient martial artists often said: "The martial world is the martial world; those in the martial world grow old in the martial world."
Xuanmen practitioners would resolve their disputes within their own circles, without involving the world of ordinary people.
Now, Tieshan was clearly breaking this rule. Yan Shouyi and his group couldn't possibly attack the police, could they?
"Then let's hurry and leave, it'll be hard to get away later," Long Feicheng suggested.
Yan Shouyi shook his head, "It's too late. If we leave now, it would be like 'protesting too much.'"
"Then what should we do?" Chang Shan, lacking social experience, was already panicking.
"Don't worry, I can handle this," Yan Shouyi reassured everyone.
As soon as he finished speaking, someone knocked on the car window. A man in a black uniform signaled Yan Shouyi to lower the window. The Tieshan Daoist following behind was also staring intently at Yan Shouyi.
Yan Shouyi smiled and lowered the window, "Officer, is there something?"
The man in black didn't speak, but his eyes shifted to the Daoist behind him.
The Daoist first observed Yan Shouyi, then seemed to discover something, his pupils contracting sharply.
A flicker of fear flashed in his eyes, but he quickly concealed it, as if afraid Yan Shouyi would notice.
Next, he reached into his pocket, intending to pull something out.
The people in the car were extremely tense. A conflict breaking out in this place was definitely not a good thing.
At this moment, Yan Shouyi suddenly recited to the Daoist, "Amitabha. A single thought departs from truth, and all is illusion!"
The Daoist was stunned.
The two men in black were even more bewildered. What was this young man up to, quoting Buddhist teachings to a Daoist?
The next second, the Daoist slightly bowed to Yan Shouyi and then, as if he hadn't seen them, walked away with the two men in black to the next car.
In the car, the dog-Daoist, Old Jin, and Long Feicheng were completely baffled.
"What was that just now?" the dog-Daoist asked confusedly. "Could that Daoist be one of us? That's impossible!"
Tieshan was so far from Rongcheng. Setting aside whether they had anyone there, even if they did, it was impossible to be so lucky and encounter them!
Only Miaoji and Chang Shan saw through it, but even their eyes held strong surprise.
"Shouyi just used Buddhist precepts, a skill only Zen monks can use," Monk Miaoji explained while questioning, "However, Zen monks need to cultivate oral Zen for ten years, during which they must not eat meat, speak falsehoods, curse, sow discord, or engage in frivolous speech. You, kid, definitely couldn't have fulfilled these conditions. How do you possess the ability of precepts?"