Shanle finally could not bear it any longer and flared up in rage. "Outer demon, cease your insolent drivel!"
Another vein throbbed on Zhenyu's temple. This fine noble prattled on without end; that mouth of his was more vexing than every Dao art put together.
The fine noble chuckled. "Fine, fine, call it drivel. So then, Bodhisattva, are you leaving or not?"
"Of course I..." Shanle cut himself off just in time, his face alternating between green and pale. For the moment, leaving felt wrong, yet staying felt equally impossible.
Fortunately, a celestial chime resounded from the heavens just then. Shanle's expression shifted, his furrowed brow relaxing in an instant as a faint flush of delight surfaced. The moment that delight showed, Wei Yuan turned vigilant. But just as Shanle assumed an air of composure, before he could speak, Wisdom King Kundali returned from the severed space—while that ordinary-looking middle-aged man was flung away in an instant, retreating at top speed!
In just a brief span, Wisdom King Kundali had been covered in wounds, more than half of its eyes destroyed. The moment it reappeared, it sat cross-legged with palms pressed together and began chanting scriptures. A speck of white light then rose at the Heavenly Eye between its brows.
That speck of white light was neither dazzling nor searing. It intensified slowly, expanding by only a sliver after several breaths. Yet Bao Yun suddenly sensed extreme danger and retreated immediately. Though the white light was not intense, as it drifted and bobbed, obvious distortions rippled through the surrounding space. Even as she retreated, Bao Yun shouted at all the surrounding believers to fall back and take cover.
Yet no sooner had the words left her mouth than that speck of white light expanded into a thousand-zhang orb of blazing, terrifying light, bearing an aura that would purify all things! From a solitary point to a colossal sphere, there was no transition at all. Only through her cultivation could Bao Yun perceive a sliver of its shifting trajectory, and she foresaw that in the next breath, this orb of light would swell to a hundred thousand zhang, engulfing even her with no possibility of evasion!
With a thought, Bao Yun reached for her waist, only to remember that she had smuggled her true body across and had brought no magic treasures with her. Even if she had, there would not be enough time to activate them. Just as the orb of light seemed about to expand at a rate of a hundred thousand zhang per kshana, it suddenly froze in place. Violent ripples distorted its surface as two forces locked in a fierce contest of strength.
At that moment, a powerful intention descended from above into the minds of everyone present, including Tuoba Hong: *Take cover where you stand!*
A few believers failed to react in time, but most relied on their daily training—some dove behind boulders, while those without shelter struck the earth with all their strength and leaped into the resulting craters.
Just like that, the expansion of the light sphere was held fast for three breaths. Then it resumed its swell, sweeping across the entire battlefield in an instant!
Blazing light surged like an ocean, flattening everything upon the field, including the very terrain. Even the upper decks of several treasure ships showed clear signs of melting.
Once the sea of light washed past, the battlefield was left utterly barren, save for a few colossal boulders that had been melted down into pebbles. At the center of the vast battlefield, only the headless, towering dharma body of Wisdom King Dakini-Flame still stood upright; the Vajra Mighty Warriors had been swept away like weeds.
Where Wisdom King Kundali had once stood, an immense jade-white hand spanning ten thousand zhang appeared, its fingertips lightly tapping the earth as it slowly drew back. The fine noble still stood with hands behind his back in an elegant posture, though most of his robes were charred away, exposing a pair of bare legs that looked somewhat absurd.
Yet the moment he saw the colossal hand, his eyes lit up. The entire sky shifted abruptly; the Asura hell receded, and the world grew rich with vibrant layers—birds and beasts reappeared, alongside the ubiquitous smoke and fire of the mortal world.
A long spear appeared in the fine noble's grip, and an indescribably perilous aura erupted from him. Exhaling to voice his power, he struck out with a spear thrust aimed at the Buddhist hand a hundred li away!
Zhenyu's pupils shrank. That supremely perilous spear thrust actually took a turn, seemingly darting straight toward him!
With his sharp discernment, Zhenyu instantly recognized the hidden profundity within the strike. It carried not only immense karmic luck, but also an uncanny lethality; were it to land upon him, the slaughterous power unleashed would far exceed what it ought to be.
He could not fathom the underlying principle for the moment, but he knew that with the might of this spear, it truly possessed the power to injure that Buddhist hand!
Seeming wary of braving the spear's brunt, Zhenyu recoiled the moment he touched the spear light, flying backward.
Yet the spear light twisted once more, hurtling straight toward Shanle!
Shanle cursed inwardly in sheer panic. How could he dare meet it? He did not even dare brush past it as Zhenyu had done. He twisted his Buddhist body, barely dodging the spear light, only for a streak of sword light to sweep down right before his face!
This sword light was pure, bright, and translucent. Unlike Wei Yuan's strike, which was ruthless to the extreme, it was supremely pure and virtuous—a single sword stroke unblemished by worldly dust.
Appalled, Shanle dared not contest it either and scrambled aside, only to watch the sword light turn back around and slash toward the central Buddhist hand once more.
Shanle also possessed the Eye of Wisdom. Seeing the trajectory of the sword light clearly at a single glance, he cursed furiously in his heart.
Sweeping in from the west, the sword stroke had bypassed the central giant hand and darted toward Shanle first. Crossing nearly a thousand li, it had never meant to cut him down, only to pass right before his eyes—all to see whether he would dare intercept it.
If Shanle blocked it, the sword strike would turn upon him. If he did not block it, it would strike the Bodhisattva's Buddhist hand behind him. The stroke had traced such an enormous arc solely to position the Buddhist hand directly at Shanle's back.
This was why Shanle felt so desperate and wanted to curse aloud. The vicious cunning behind this sword stroke was even worse than that fine noble's!
Fortunately, after wheeling in such a grand loop, both the sword light and the spear glow would be too late to strike the Buddhist hand. Looked at that way, Shanle had even contributed a modest bit of merit...
Just as he was calculating this, the sword light and spear glow flickered, abruptly striking the Buddhist hand—skipping the intervening space entirely!
A beam of sword light soared into the sky, illuminating all living beings and dazzling the world.
The spear glow erupted in its wake, revealing a blazing sun suspended high in the sky. Beneath it lay the smoke and fire of the mortal world, where countless ant-like mortals stretched their limbs, shaking off rotten, decaying nets as though stripping away thick layers of greasy grime.
Once the great nets that smothered all living beings were cast aside, mortals immediately grew tall and straight, like new shoots bursting through the soil in spring.
Beholding the imagery within that spear thrust, Shanle paled in shock, at a loss for words.
By now, time upon the battlefield had been twisted repeatedly, throwing the Great Dao into disarray and turning cause and effect on its head. Many perished for no discernible reason, while mighty warriors and vajras suddenly walked forth from the past, only to turn into dust and mud moments later.
The Buddhist hand froze in midair for an instant. Two wounds appeared upon its fingertips, congealing into a single drop of golden Buddhist blood that dripped slowly down!
In that fleeting instant, an overwhelming craving surged through Shanle, an urge to drink down that drop of Buddhist blood. Fortunately, his millennia of bitter cultivation held fast, and he suppressed the impulse. A graceful hand reached out from the void, gently catching the drop of Buddhist blood. Though the blood had originally been as massive as a hill, by the time it rested in her palm, it was no larger than an apple.
Sword qi like azure silk emerged from her palm, gently slicing across to divide the Buddhist blood into four portions. With a light flick of her fingers, the two smallest portions flew toward the short, stout old man and the middle-aged fellow, while the second-largest portion flew to Bao Yun.
Flicking her finger once more, the core of the Buddhist blood shot straight toward Wei Yuan.
Wei Yuan had been looking toward Shanle and Zhenyu with an eerie smile, just about to speak. Seeing the Buddhist blood flying his way, he hastily caught it in his teeth, tilted his head back, and swallowed it whole before bowing in thanks.
Yet the hand had already withdrawn into the void and vanished.
Having swallowed the Buddhist blood, the fine noble's frame noticeably broadened and swelled, turning him into a rather burly fine noble.
Only after great effort did he suppress his churning blood and qi, whereupon Wei Yuan said, "You two—one of you could have blocked it and deliberately let it pass, while the other didn't even bother pretending to block. Now look what happened. The Great Bodhisattva is injured, and their fruition has suffered damage. Heh heh, you're both finished!"
Shanle's expression shifted between dark and pale. With Bodhisattva Boundless Radiance's strike neutralized and their fruition damaged, he knew this avatar of his had no hope of escaping. Zhenyu's Wisdom King body still retained its combat strength, so Zhenyu at least had a chance to get away.
Yet the issue now went beyond merely losing an avatar. Just as Wei Yuan had said, Shanle had possessed the chance to throw himself in the way of the spear, yet he had dodged. That subsequent sword strike had looped across more than half the battlefield just to make a turn before his face, placing him in an impossible dilemma—a strike aimed straight at his conscience. Shanle sighed in sorrow. These two were truly more sinister than the other!
No longer harboring any hope of preserving his avatar, Shanle grew calm instead, quietly regarding the transformed fine noble.
Wei Yuan adjusted the skin of the fine noble and smiled. "Daoist Zhenyu can still put up a good fight, and there isn't much room for him to regress anyway, so he's at least of some value. If I were to defect to the Pure Land, I imagine the Buddha wouldn't brush me off with a seat on the first layer. It would have to be the third layer at least, wouldn't it?"
Shanle's face changed yet again.
Wei Yuan said no more, casually waving an expansive hand. "You two may leave!"
Without a word, Zhenyu offered a salute to Wei Yuan, turned, and boarded one of the treasure ships that could still move, leaving the larger vessel untouched. Shanle's expression underwent several rapid shifts. His hand rose to his own crown several times, but in the end, he could not bring himself to strike down. With a long sigh, he followed Zhenyu onto the treasure ship.
Wei Yuan chuckled. "I knew you couldn't bear to throw away a thousand years of bitter cultivation!"
Chapter 1271