Get Out of Our Heaven of Joy and Bliss!

A true dragon or a heavenly phoenix was a living being; so too was an ant or a grass shrimp. Such was the equality of all living beings. Shanle had attained the Dao ten thousand years ago. He spent the first few thousand crafting the Heaven of Joy and Bliss, and the subsequent millennia continuously reincarnating, guiding and receiving believers, until the realm reached its present splendor. Moreover, the Heaven of Joy and Bliss was no ordinary pure land of ultimate bliss. Under Shanle’s meticulous design, every sentient being within this realm could attain peace, joy, and supreme ease. Consequently, the merit and incense contributed by a single devotee here equaled that of three to five believers in other pure lands. Over the past three thousand years, more than ten Bodhisattvas had come to hear him lecture on the scriptures and study the subtleties of forging a pure land and Buddha realm. Over the course of ten thousand years, Shanle’s lotus seat upon Spirit Mountain had ascended twice—an exceedingly rare feat. Yet now, watching litter after litter of tiny mirage demons burrowing restlessly through the soil, Shanle found it impossible to muster even a shred of compassion, let alone joy. Worse still, there were simply too many of them. A sweep of his divine sense brought up a staggering figure that was climbing at a frenzied pace: one million, two million... Gritting his teeth, Shanle pulled his divine sense back. In that single glance, however, he had also noticed that many of the female mirage demons bore the traces of Dao power seals. Clearly, on the very verge of giving birth, they had been sealed with Dao arts to freeze their condition. Only that could explain the bizarre spectacle of thousands plunging into the soil and giving birth the moment they entered the Heaven of Joy and Bliss. Only now did Shanle realize with sudden clarity that Wei Yuan must have premeditated this all along. He had likely begun scheming the moment he first sensed the existence of the Heaven of Joy and Bliss. At that moment, the realm shuddered violently. The karmic bonds tying it to Shanle stretched tauter and tauter, dragged toward Wei Yuan’s side by the countless newborn mirage demons. Eight hundred thousand devotees appeared helpless and frail before more than eight million newborn demons. If the Heaven of Joy and Bliss was like an innocent young maiden, then the refined, delicate Shanle was her childhood companion—ill-suited for fighting. Right now, Shanle held her hand, trying to pull her into his embrace. Yet her other hand was clasped by a burly brute covered in coarse black hair and reeking of rancid oil, dragging her out of Shanle’s arms bit by bit with unmatched brute force. And there was not just one brute, but a whole horde of them. On the other side, Wei Yuan felt the Heavenly Daos of the realm grow increasingly clear, feeling thoroughly satisfied. Mirage demons were utterly dreadful in magical combat; back then, even a trio of Scenery Command mirage demons had been scattered by Wei Yuan. But when it came to seizing territory and usurping realm authority, they had few equals. At birth, a mirage demon was barely the size of a finger, allowing a mother to give birth to dozens or hundreds in a single litter. Yet the souls of these young demons were far from weak. They were born with naturally opened seas of consciousness, making them technically superior to adult mortals right out of the womb. Furthermore, they grew at incredible speed and cared for nothing except reproduction. Given access to a realm, it would not take long before several zeroes were added to their population count. The number of mirage demons currently in Wei Yuan’s cave heaven was already tens of thousands of times greater than when he had first acquired them. Thus, when confronted with a pure land Buddha realm like the Heaven of Joy and Bliss, where realm authority was allocated on a per-capita basis, the mirage demons delivered an absolute dimensional strike. The only flaw of the mirage demon race was that they grew too fast, leaving no time to temper their dharma bodies. Without strong physical vessels, their soul foundations remained unstable, causing their dharma idols, heartscapes, and everything else to be an utter mess. Back then, it had taken three Scenery Command mirage demons combined just to barely stall the weakest Scenery Command cultivator among humanity. But Wei Yuan now had strong subordinates beyond count. He had no need to worry about magical combat, so the mirage demons were free to devote themselves entirely to seizing land. With a clear upper hand, Wei Yuan hovered leisurely in the sky, waiting to see what remaining moves Shanle had left. The seven hundred and thirty-five thousand devotees had intended to storm the city, but the mother mirage demons that had just given birth surged to the base of the walls, forming a living wall of flesh that blocked their path. An irritable giant slammed down a massive palm, crushing over a hundred mirage demons to death. An instant later, black mist spewed from his nose and mouth, and he dropped dead on the spot. Only those with high cultivations could see that beneath those few mirage demons lay dense swarms of tiny newborn demons, all mashed into pulp by that single blow. These tiny mirage demons were now legitimate devotees of the Heaven of Joy and Bliss. The giant's strike was tantamount to slaughtering Buddhist followers—and infant ones at that. For such an atrocity, the world itself struck him down directly. Terror swept through the devotees of the Heaven of Joy and Bliss. They halted in unison, some stopping almost nose-to-nose with the mirage demons. The next instant, a mirage demon abruptly whipped its ribbon, delivering a resounding slap across the face of the devotee before it! A burst of blind rage flared up within the devotee. He reflexively struck back, killing the mirage demon and reducing the countless infants hidden beneath it to paste. Immediately, hundreds of plumes of black karmic mist surged forth, dragging the devotee’s soul straight out of his body. With that precedent set, countless mirage demons began lashing out with their ribbons, raining blows down upon the devotees ahead of them. The slaps cracked loud and clear, yet dealt practically zero damage. In the blink of an eye, numerous devotees lost control of their tempers and lashed out in furious retaliation, only to incur the wrath of heaven and shove the realm even further toward Wei Yuan. Trembling with rage, Shanle spat repeatedly, “Enemy of the Buddha! Enemy of the Buddha!” Wei Yuan stood with his hands behind his back, paying no heed to the whimpering sore loser. His attention was focused entirely on the opening of the Spirit Herd Ring. To ordinary eyes, there was nothing there, but Wei Yuan could see a small white paw creeping quietly out, pinning down a passing mirage demon, and slowly dragging it inside. Seeming to sense Wei Yuan’s gaze, the paw instantly vanished, allowing the terrified demon to scramble away. A moment later, the paw reached out again, stealthily pinning down another passing demon... Wei Yuan felt utterly helpless. He was in the middle of a struggle for the Dao where the loser would be utterly ruined, yet these creatures down below each had their own little agendas. Even though he had an overwhelming advantage and still held three, four, five, six, seven... backup plans he hadn't yet unleashed, shouldn't the enemy still put up a struggle? Considering that the spirit of the Qiongqi was driven almost entirely by primal instinct, Wei Yuan sent a mental message: *Mirage demons are sentient beings, and inhabitants of my cave heaven besides. You may not prey on them at will!* The little paw slowly lifted, releasing the mirage demon with an air of profound grievance. Just then, another mirage demon popped up nearby—one that had only recently broken through to Scenery Command. The moment it appeared, it said, “It’s fine, Immortal Venerable! There are plenty of us! Being fed to the sacred beast is an honor for our race!” Wei Yuan was struck speechless. With a casual wave of his hand, he seized the dim-witted, overly eager demon from the air and shoved it back into the Splendor of the Many Realms, sealing it deep within the Wutu Cave Heaven. He had no intention of remembering its existence for the next several centuries. In the distance, Jun Weizhi watched the scene unfold, his hand trembling slightly. That demon had reached Scenery Command after all, fully capable of trading blows with him for a few rounds, yet before the Creation Immortal Venerable, it was handled like a toy without the slightest power to resist. It seemed he would have to re-evaluate the Immortal Venerable’s true strength... Meanwhile, Wei Yuan kept most of his focus fixed on the realm authority of the Heaven of Joy and Bliss. Every newborn mirage demon laid claim to a tiny sliver of realm authority, which was then automatically transferred to Wei Yuan. While the share each infant held was negligible, their sheer numbers were overwhelming. They had already crossed the ten-million mark and continued to soar. Wei Yuan had secured a decisive advantage, steadily expanding the domain under his control. Shanle was left relying solely on his millennia of attunement to put up a feeble resistance, which merely bought him borrowed time. Wei Yuan smiled faintly, his voice echoing across heaven and earth: “It seems the Heaven of Joy and Bliss shares a destiny with me!” Shanle no longer had the heart to trade barbs, hesitating over whether to take the field himself. At that moment, Baoxing chanted a Buddhist proclamation, speaking in a measured tone: “When outer demons run rampant, one must act decisively.” With a gentle flick of her sleeve, several tenths of the devotees outside the city suddenly soared into the air and were swept right into the city walls! This bypassed the outer layer of mirage demons entirely, dropping the devotees directly among the cultivators who had yet to gain the realm’s favor. Moreover, the devotees who tumbled inside bore not only Shanle’s Buddhist radiance, but also a sharp speck of starlight that harbored hidden malice. Divine light flickered in Wei Yuan’s eyes, and in a flash, he saw that these devotees were intertwined with Baoxing’s karma. While Baoxing’s Buddhist power lacked Shanle’s perfection, it was far sharper. If Qingming’s cultivators killed these devotees, they would immediately be saddled with karmic debt, ensuring endless tribulation throughout their future cultivation—turning peaceful paths into perilous ones, and minor tribulations into lethal catastrophes. Wei Yuan understood at once: she intended to sever the Dao paths of tens of thousands of Dao Foundation cultivators in the city! Wei Yuan would either have to abandon the city or sacrifice the futures of tens of thousands of Dao Foundation subordinates to keep it. In the long run, it would deal a devastating blow to Qingming’s foundations. Baoxing’s move was vicious in the extreme, seeking to ruin the futures of tens of thousands of cultivators in a single stroke. In the Nine Kingdoms, this would be enough to break the nation's spine, sowing the seeds of collapse. In an ordinary sect, wiping out the entire foundation would cut short countless budding talents, causing a talent vacuum of at least a century. In the presence of external foes, such a void spelled certain doom. A struggle for the Dao indeed. Truly the work of high cultivators of the Pure Land—utterly merciless, intent on Wei Yuan’s death! Yet Wei Yuan’s mood was peculiar. In the face of this dilemma... did he even need to choose? What kind of Dao path did template Dao Foundation cultivators have? As for heavenly tribulations, they weren't even worthy of one! To put it bluntly, if the heaven and earth of this realm so much as spared a second glance at a template, it had already lost. Bodhisattva Baoxing’s methods were undeniably ruthless, striking at crucial moments with venomous cunning. But did she know anything about him at all? Wei Yuan found it somewhat baffling. Whenever he faced a major adversary, he always did his homework well in advance. For example, upon receiving the challenge from the Pure Land, he had deliberately dragged his feet, using that time to mobilize every resource at his disposal to dig up every last secret of the Heaven of Joy and Bliss. That was why every strike he made now was lethal, aimed straight at their vitals. Perhaps these grand figures perched high upon their lotus seats had looked down on the world for so long that they had never truly taken him seriously? A shroud of black mist suddenly billowed forth, swallowing all the devotees who had tumbled into the city, after which all sound ceased within the fog. Even with the vision of Shanle and Baoxing, they could not pierce the gloom. The interior was dead silent, as if those tens of thousands of devotees had vanished into thin air. Before Shanle could voice his shock, Wei Yuan spoke: “Are you two still lingering on my territory? Allow me to see you out!” At that moment, above ground and below, every single mirage demon raised its head simultaneously, vibrating spiritual qi to emit a sharp, piercing screech! All the cries merged into one, turning into a roll of thunder that swept across the world: “Get out of our Heaven of Joy and Bliss!” In that instant, every mirage demon contributed a fraction of its strength, nudging the Heaven of Joy and Bliss to reject Shanle. The surviving seven hundred thousand devotees resisted almost instinctively, but as the Buddha said, all living beings were equal. Under the unified will of tens of millions of mirage demons, the original believers of the Heaven of Joy and Bliss—numbering less than a million—were powerless to resist. In a flash, heaven and earth shifted allegiance! Shanle rose into the air against his will. This was no supernatural art, but the repulsion of the world itself. In the blink of an eye, his figure turned ethereal, on the verge of being cast out of the realm entirely. At this point, his only means of turning the tables were either to engage in direct combat or forcibly refine the Heaven of Joy and Bliss anew. But if he refined it again, the realm’s inherent spiritual abundance and imagery of peaceful bliss would be destroyed, causing its grade to plummet an entire tier. Seeing this, Wei Yuan laughed heartily. “I told you, the Heaven of Joy and Bliss shares a destiny with me!” Baoxing’s brows shot up in fury. Starlight danced across her palm as though she held a celestial river, and she flipped her hand, about to crash the entire river of stars down onto Wei Yuan’s head! Yet the moment her hand lifted, a sword gleam flashed into existence, already inches from between her brows! The sword light seemed unremarkable, yet it was exceedingly swift and razor-sharp, capable of severing karma! Just as it seemed Baoxing had no hope of dodging and must take the blow directly, her figure suddenly blurred, and the sword gleam skimmed past her. She had actually managed to evade an unavoidable strike. Wei Yuan’s sharp gaze caught the trick immediately. Baoxing appeared to have employed a temporal divine ability, catching a glimpse of the trajectory the sword light would take in the future and shifting ahead of time to dodge that thread of karma, thereby slipping past Zhang Sheng’s sure-hit blade. With the appearance of this sword strike, Shanle finally abandoned all thoughts of battle. With a bitter smile, he was cast out of the realm by the Heaven of Joy and Bliss. Baoxing vanished alongside him, while Nan Shiguang lagged a step behind, trailing in their wake. Within the void, Baoxing and Shanle reappeared simultaneously. Before they could speak, Wei Yuan emerged as well. Completely ignoring Nan Shiguang, Wei Yuan fixed his burning gaze on Baoxing and declared, “I share a destiny with the Bodhisattva as well!” Without a word, Baoxing invoked her temporal divine ability, grabbed Shanle, and vanished. Wei Yuan urged the Azure-Backed Pale Dragon Cave Heaven forward, tracking their temporal wake in swift pursuit. After an indeterminate time, the three figures crashed almost simultaneously into another realm and Buddha land. The living beings here were grotesque and varied—humans, demons, and alien races alike—all suffering in wretched misery, laboring endlessly without rest, while wails and weeping echoed from every quarter. This was another kind of Buddha land. While the Heaven of Joy and Bliss offered ultimate bliss and tranquility, realms like this employed horrific imagery to warn sentient beings, urging them to cultivate diligently and escape the sea of suffering as soon as possible. This was one of Baoxing’s sanctuaries. Sweeping his divine sense across the surroundings, Wei Yuan quickly grasped the nature of the realm. Named the Heaven of Sorrow and Longing, its domain was defined by the imagery of grief and yearning. This Buddha land was modest in scale, barely half the size of the Heaven of Joy and Bliss. The beings cast here were all expiating evil karma and clearing their karmic hindrances. This did not mean Baoxing was inferior to Shanle; having attained the Dao far earlier than he had, and wielding a fraction of temporal authority, this place was merely one of her sanctuaries, with likely others elsewhere. After taking in the realm, Wei Yuan nodded in great satisfaction and smiled. “This Heaven of Sorrow and Longing shares a destiny with me too!” Before his voice had even faded, boundless yellow mist erupted from around Wei Yuan as he began scattering mirage demons! Shanle’s face twitched violently. Tens of millions of mirage demons were still back in the Heaven of Joy and Bliss, yet Wei Yuan was already dispersing more here. Just how many mirage demons did he have? Baoxing remained impassive, but the moment she saw Wei Yuan scattering demons, she knew the situation was lost. She had already intended to abandon this realm to throw Wei Yuan off their trail. Grabbing Shanle, she vanished from the realm. Busy claiming this new realm, Wei Yuan could not immediately pull away, leaving him to watch the two Bodhisattvas flee into the distance. Shanle, utterly beside himself with indignation, turned back and hollered, “The Heaven of Joy and Bliss shares a destiny with you, and now the Heaven of Sorrow and Longing shares a destiny with you too! Exactly which word shares a destiny with you?!” Wei Yuan beamed broadly. “Heaven!”