What is a "Qin Shi Huang-style scam"?
In a sentence: "I, the First Emperor of Qin need your help, send money now!"
While what Chen Kuang was trying to pull off right now might not be that exaggerated or absurd, in some ways, it was possibly even more outrageous.
Since Huo Hengxuan had already handed him this "tiger skin" to wear, of course he had to put it to good use.
His plan was simple: impersonate the "Lionheart" reincarnation, the destined Buddha Child of the Pure Land.
He was going to make the two elders from the Three Calamities Sect not only spare his life, but also help him escape.
Just think of it as an early rehearsal...
After all, in the future, he'd be conning an entire Pure Land sect. A con that big needed finesse, and finesse came from practice.
If he couldn't even fool these two elders, what hope did he have with the real heavyweights down the line?
Honestly, the real risk here wasn't that they wouldn't believe him.
It was that if they did, and then tried to verify it with the Wugou Pure Land.
If he ended up drawing attention from the Pure Land folks before he'd even set foot in their temple, then this whole scam would be over before it began.
But Chen Kuang had already accounted for that.
While he didn't know the route to Garan Temple, he did know that the Wugou Pure Land was tens of thousands of miles away from Liang.
Yes, there was risk, but within acceptable range.
By the time word of this incident reached them, he would be long gone. Maybe even officially accepted.
Right now, fooling these two elders was his top priority.
His "death and resurrection" just now had certainly rattled them enough.
So when he opened his mouth to speak, the two elders, cautious, did not immediately strike again. Instead, they chose to probe.
"Wugou Pure Land, the Buddhist nation of ten thousand miles. Any cultivator would know that name," said the saber-wielding elder with a cruel face.
He narrowed his eyes and said coldly:
"So what, are you trying to say that you've got backing from the Pure Land, and that we should spare your life?"
He sneered:
"If that's your plan, then forget it. Even if a disciple of the Pure Land were here, killing our sect's young master would still require a life in exchange."
"Let alone you. Just your word? That's not worth anything."
"Unless you can summon a disciple of the Pure Land right now, then, for the Buddha's sake, we might consider resolving this 'grudge' peacefully."
Chen Kuang rolled his eyes internally.
Wow. How convenient.
If a random no-name kills your young master, it's instant death, no questions asked.
But if someone from Wugou Pure Land does it, suddenly it's all about "peacefully resolving grudges."
You people know exactly who you can and can't afford to offend, huh?
Still, the more weight the Pure Land carried, the more advantageous it was for his plan.
"Incorrect."
Chen Kuang cleared his throat and said loudly:
"Elder, it's not that I have someone in the Pure Land..."
"I am the Pure Land."
That brazen declaration made the two elders freeze, their faces twitching involuntarily.
This was not something one could say lightly.
Who dared to claim they were the embodiment of an entire sect?
Either someone of immense stature, like a sect master or grand elder, or a future sect master, someone like Shen Xingzhu from the Mysterious Divine Path Sect.
There, such a person would be called the Dao Child. In the Pure Land, they'd be called the Buddha Child.
A counterexample?
Well, take Wei Su, for instance. He was the son of their sect master, but he was utterly useless.
His cultivation was mediocre at best. He spent all day playing with weird tricks and devices.
Even Wei Su would probably feel ashamed to call himself the face of the Three Calamities Sect, especially since their sect master had three adopted sons, all more capable.
And now this guy, a mere Qi Opening Realm no-name, dared to say "I am the Pure Land"?
Was he insane?
The other elder stared at him like he was looking at a lunatic. "So what you're saying is... you're the Buddha Child of Wugou Pure Land?"
"Precisely," Chen Kuang replied with a calm smile. "I am the Buddha Child of Garan Temple. In a few days, members of the Pure Land will come to escort me back."
He sat below them with serene composure, smiling up at the elders.
They exchanged glances, faces twisted with disbelief, but there was nuance in that disbelief.
The saber-wielding elder was named Zhao Lie.
He was absolutely certain that the location his divine sense had locked onto earlier was right here. That slash he'd delivered should have cut this kid in half!
He had clearly felt the life force extinguish. There was no mistake.
Yet now, right before his eyes, the man was alive and completely unscathed!
It was like seeing a ghost.
Even if he had taken the Elixir of Immortality, that shouldn't have been possible!
The Elixir of Immortality extended life, it wasn't a resurrection pill.
How could he be completely fine?
Unless he had hallucinated the whole thing, was there another explanation?
Then he remembered the man's claim: "I am the Buddha Child of Wugou Pure Land."
Now that he thought about it... he had heard rumors. That Wugou Pure Land possessed mystical means.
Something about summoning the Buddha realm itself to shield its disciples from demonic forces and harm.
Come to think of it, that did match what he just witnessed.
Could that have been what the man used?
Zhao Lie was now half-convinced.
The other elder, Wei Yan, was Wei Su's uncle. He, too, was suspicious, but he hadn't struck the blow.
So he figured maybe Zhao Lie had simply failed, and that the target had used some trick to survive.
Still, he had once suffered a loss at the hands of a Buddhist monk. He was deeply wary of the Wugou Pure Land.
And Chen Kuang was just... too confident.
That level of composure, claiming to be the Pure Land itself, either meant he was insane, or he really had ties to the sect.
Even if he wasn't the Buddha Child, he had to be connected somehow.
Wei Yan paused, then asked with narrowed eyes, "Since you claim to be the Buddha Child, do you have proof?"
Chen Kuang chuckled to himself.
Done.
The moment those words came out, it meant they were already 30% convinced.