"What exactly does this Reception Bodhisattva do?" Xiaoyu asked. The holy title gave him a faint, unsettling premonition.
Wei Yuan said, "The term 'Reception' means guiding, pointing the way, and imparting the correct path. You can think of it as a combination of a lighthouse, a harbor, and a ferry. For all living beings outside our sect, whether immortal or mortal, the first step to entering our fold is to pass through you and attain the supreme righteous Dharma right here."
According to this explanation, the title would be of paramount importance within the Three Realms lineage—one of the highest fruitions. Still, Xiaoyu had lingering doubts that he was not sure how to voice, namely what the words 'Exquisite Joy' meant and why they were placed after 'Reception.'
As if reading his thoughts, Wei Yuan explained, "Once sentient beings cross the Sea of Bitterness under your guidance and arrive in the paradise, it is like leaving the ferry and stepping ashore. At that moment, we naturally have to prepare inns, restaurants, taverns, and brothels at the docks to make everyone happy right away and grant them peace and delight. That is what Exquisite Joy means."
One had to admit, Wei Yuan's preparations for believers were extraordinarily thorough—uncompromising and without delay.
*Believe in me, and you'll be happy on the spot!* Pure, overbearing efficiency.
Xiaoyu felt something was off, but he could not put his finger on it.
At this moment, Star Lord Shaoyang offered a different opinion. Sharing Xiaoyu's original mindset, he did not reject taking a fruition. In his eyes, Wei Yuan's Three Realms path inherited from the King Buddha was effectively a branch of the King Buddha's lineage.
If Wei Yuan returned to his seat in the future, given the status of a King Buddha, he could designate at least several Great Bodhisattva fruitions by his side. With Xiaoyu's aptitude, ascending to immortality would be quite a stretch, but if he could attain a Great Bodhisattva fruition, his lifespan alone would multiply several times over, to say nothing of other benefits.
When that time came, as all boats rose with the tide, it was entirely possible for Star Lord Shaoyang to return to the astral palace and reclaim his seat of dominance.
However, what Shaoyang wanted was the already established Combat Bodhisattva, a fruition Xiaoyu also favored. After all, that position was something fought for and won through match after match of mystical combat, perfectly suiting Xiaoyu's temperament. With more victories in the future, it could be elevated to the holy title of Combat Supreme, which was also a Great Bodhisattva fruition.
Now, with Star Lord Shaoyang egging him on, Xiaoyu wavered. "I feel the Combat fruition suits me better after all."
Wei Yuan paused in surprise. "Reception is clearly better suited to you! Besides, the Combat fruition doesn't have a high status. They may look equal right now, but in the future, Combat will be at least one tier lower than Reception."
"Why would that be? Can't you just elevate Combat?" Star Lord Shaoyang asked.
Wei Yuan thought briefly and said, "Did your rustic dharma idol ask that? Fine, his worldly breadth is lacking after all, so let me explain the logic to you."
Star Lord Shaoyang was incensed, but learning from past mistakes, he did not show his fury this time. Sneering inward, he intended to hear what lofty theories Wei Yuan could muster to dare claim that a manifestation of a Star Lord lacked vision.
Wei Yuan said, "My Grand Dao will be proven in the future, so none of these fruitions are established casually. They must align with the general momentum of Heavenly Dao and conform to the imagery of the future. For example, ninety-nine point nine percent of the people in the Great Tang right now are farmers. Therefore, the various fruitions in charge of rain, dew, and crop growth will undoubtedly command vast followings, allowing their status to be set extremely high.
"In Qingming, however, farmers currently make up only half the population, and looking ahead, cultivators serving agricultural roles may account for less than ten percent. Thus, when establishing fruitions in Qingming, an agricultural post must be placed one tier below an industrial post. Otherwise, even if established now, it will be unstable and inevitably tumble down later, courting disaster instead."
Xiaoyu understood the reasoning, but it still did not answer his earlier question. He asked again, "The Combat fruition is forged through fighting on one's own, whereas Reception just stands there radiating light, isn't that right? Why on earth should Combat be a tier lower than Reception?"
Wei Yuan naturally would not say that the outcomes across multiple World-Parting Islands and deductions from the Splendor of the Many Realms all proved that those risking their lives on the front lines like Combat could never outdo those standing beside the king or Buddha. Even if they merely radiated light, it was to illuminate the Buddha.
Throughout the long stretches of history, even if Combat managed to rise momentarily, it would soon be pushed down.
The mortal realm operated the same way; every state held a tradition of elevating civil governance over military force. This was the overarching trend, and before Wei Yuan reached that ultimate stage, even he could not run contrary to it.
Pondering a moment, Wei Yuan told Xiaoyu, "Reception is definitely higher than Combat. When our sect flourishes in the future, the one the faithful know best besides me will be you. The fighters never beat the good-looking ones—it's as simple as that."
"..." Xiaoyu clearly did not believe it, but neither did he want to refute Wei Yuan. After all, when it came to a fruition reliant on good looks, Wei Yuan had sought him out first, making it difficult for Xiaoyu to suppress a twitching grin at the corners of his mouth.
Wei Yuan thought again and added, "Look at it this way: around a mortal monarch sits a cohort of civil officials and a cohort of military officers. Having reached such heights, their talents are broadly comparable. Yet the military officers dedicate eighty percent of their attention to fighting battles, while the civil officials dedicate eighty percent of theirs to the monarch. So tell me, who wins out?"
Xiaoyu did not entirely agree with Wei Yuan's rationale, but the reality before him was that Reception outranked Combat, leaving him no alternative but to accept Reception.
Wei Yuan then explained the mysteries of the fruition and its corresponding divine abilities to Xiaoyu, formally imprinting a wisp of Xiaoyu's divine soul into the Reception fruition.
The first divine ability granted to Xiaoyu by this fruition was Radiance Across the Four Quarters, capable of dispelling delusions and banishing vile evils. Possessing this ability gave Xiaoyu formidable resistance against all manner of illusions, soul-charming, and soul-rattling techniques. The same held true for all believers recognized by the fruition, who would receive similar blessings and an extraordinarily potent resistance against conversion by the Pure Land.
The second was Reception: within the range of Xiaoyu's divine ability, the efficacy of expounding scriptures and preaching would vastly increase, allowing people to enter a state of great joy with ease and become faithful adherents. If Xiaoyu personally mounted an altar to lecture on the Dharma, the outcome could only be described in one phrase: not a single fish slips through the net.
The third was a constant passive ability that required no deliberate invocation: anyone who laid eyes upon his golden body or dharma idol would instinctively develop goodwill toward the Three Realms Sect, facilitating their conversion.
Once the divine abilities were bestowed, Wei Yuan said, "All right, the workmanship is still a bit rough, but it's usable. Now hurry and summon all officers at the rank of colonel and above under your command. Preach the Dharma to them first, then lay out your battle tactics."
Xiaoyu quietly departed the Heaven of Joy and Bliss, then sat silently in the central army command tent, lost in thought.
Only after an hour did he issue orders to assemble all the army's commanders. Setting up an altar in accordance with the ceremonial rites handed down from the fruition, he opened the altar to preach the Dharma to the officers first.
As he expounded the Dharma, Xiaoyu sat aloft on the platform. Lotus blooms manifested continuously in the surrounding air, and a towering golden body faintly emerged behind him. With just a single glance at the golden body, the officers felt great joy and boundless peace, whole-heartedly embracing and believing everything Xiaoyu spoke.
Once the sermon concluded, Xiaoyu retracted his divine ability, only to discover in astonishment that an invisible connection had formed between him and every officer present. It was a causal link rooted in the Heaven of Joy and Bliss—infinitely profound, yet undeniably real.
Xiaoyu could vaguely sense the thoughts and reflections of these hundreds of officers. By focusing his mind and consuming a sliver of newly gathered incense aspiration power, he could perceive their innermost thoughts with crystal clarity. If the officers first chanted the holy title of the fruition, their prayers would reach Xiaoyu's ears distinctly.
With this realization, Xiaoyu decided to go all out and summoned all officers from the rank of centurion and above to open a second altar. Star Lord Shaoyang was aghast, worried that Xiaoyu, having only just acquired the fruition's power, could not bear the burden of over a thousand believers.
These officers were all Dao foundation cultivators; under the principles of the incense divine path, a single one of them was equivalent to thousands of ordinary devotees. A massive influx of followers placed an immense strain on an incense deity. History was replete with cases where incense deities with insufficient cultivation were driven mad by the assault of myriad chaotic thoughts from their worshipers.
Yet Xiaoyu was preparing for the upcoming major battle. Casting Star Lord Shaoyang's misgivings aside, he resolutely launched the second sermon. As a result, more than two thousand Dao foundation officers from the army, alongside over three thousand bystanders who gradually drifted in to listen, all became Xiaoyu's faithful adherents.
When the sermon concluded and Xiaoyu stepped down from the altar, he felt as light as drifting smoke, bearing not the slightest burden. This outcome struck both Star Lord Shaoyang and Xiaoyu into stunned silence.
Xiaoyu's gaze promptly swept across the entire fortress. Apart from the detachments deployed outside, there were still a hundred and forty thousand men inside, forty thousand of whom were templates—
*Should I go big and preach to the whole army?* Xiaoyu mused.
Star Lord Shaoyang was terrified and desperately talked him down. In the end, Xiaoyu compromised, choosing to hold one more altar session restricted strictly to Dao foundation cultivators.
Thus, counting this last sermon, Xiaoyu held three sessions over two days, converting tens of thousands of Dao foundation cultivators.
Afterward, without waiting for Wei Yuan's reinforcements, Xiaoyu forfeited the fortress's defensive advantages and led his troops to strike out in all directions. The army split into dozens of detachments, advancing along separate paths to strike in unison. Their coordination was masterful; more than a hundred thousand men moved as a single entity, crashing head-on into the Northern Liao's northern and eastern armies and shattering them.
Nearly a million soldiers on both sides became hopelessly tangled in a chaotic brawl, inextricably mixed together. The battlefield was utter pandemonium, leaving the Northern Liao's generals completely clueless as to where their own units were.
At one defensive position, over a thousand Qingming soldiers unleashed ferocious firepower, holding their line stubbornly. The Liao cavalry charged wave after wave, achieving nothing except leaving behind carpets of corpses. Even when they managed to force their way into the position at great cost, they saw the Qingming soldiers casually hoist the massive tower shields at their feet, instantly transforming into heavy shield-spearmen. When the two sides clashed in brutal melee, the Liao cavalry proved no match for them.
Having repelled yet another Liao assault, the commanding vice-general found a quiet corner, sat cross-legged, and chanted silently in his heart: *Namo Reception and Exquisite Joy Bodhisattva! Our unit's current position is XXX, XXX. The enemy force to our front is roughly twenty thousand, and there is a gap on their flank at XXX. If anyone is nearby, strike through there to cut off their rear.*
A few breaths later, Xiaoyu's voice echoed in the vice-general's consciousness: *The encirclement will be in position in forty minutes; launch the general offensive in forty-five minutes. Your unit will coordinate the counterattack.*
The vice-general sprang to his feet, rejuvenated and roaring, "Snap out of it, everyone! Friendly forces are already wrapping around their rear! We hold through two more charges, and then we counterattack the bastards! Let me repeat: leave none alive, kill them all!"
Scenes like this played out continuously across the entire theater. Under Xiaoyu's command, the Qingming army resembled a beast with intricate mouthparts, steadily shredding and devouring the Northern Liao forces.
The army as a whole functioned like a colossal scythe, carving out an immense arc that drove the fleeing Northern Liao remnants southward. This single battle not only shattered the Liao Clan's eastern army group of five hundred thousand, but also sliced off a portion of their northern army group, sweeping them all into the south.
Meanwhile, Wei Yuan's flock of believers grew by the moment. In the Yellow Springs, Jialuo was running ragged, still unable to process the billowing masses of souls surging out from the Gates of Rebirth.
Inside the northern fortress, Xiaoyu held down the central command tent. He sat in quiet meditation with his eyes shut around the clock, never leaving the tent, though his aura would periodically plunge a notch without warning.
This occurred whenever his subordinate officers encountered powerful Northern Liao champions and drew upon Buddhist power from Xiaoyu to bolster themselves in battle. These generals and colonels were essentially Xiaoyu's immediate inner-circle believers, capable of directly receiving empowerment from him. Because of their sheer numbers, they frequently drained the fruition power Xiaoyu had just acquired.
Yet the moment his Buddhist power ran dry, it was replenished continuously from the Heaven of Joy and Bliss, fully restoring itself in the blink of an eye.
His subordinate commanders were already adept at war; endowed with direct fruition enhancements, their combat prowess soared, and combined with their superior coordination, they relentlessly drove the Northern Liao before them. Throughout the entire confrontation, Xiaoyu never needed to intervene personally.
Nevertheless, after several days, despite not uttering a single word, Xiaoyu felt as if his throat were burning with smoke.
The battle raged for a full ten-odd days. Emptying his strongholds, Xiaoyu led a force of a hundred and fifty thousand to thoroughly rout a million Northern Liao iron cavalry, slaying over two hundred thousand on the field and herding more than seven hundred thousand south.
At this point, Wei Yuan's reinforcements of five hundred thousand finally arrived, sealing off the exits and encircling a staggering one million six hundred thousand Liao cavalry.
Immediately after, Wei Yuan penned a letter to the border generals of Northern Qi, stating that from this day forward until this force of Liao cavalry was annihilated, no border troops on Northern Qi's western frontier were permitted to move more than ten li from their cities for any reason whatsoever.
Any violation would be deemed an act of war against Qingming. Once Wei Yuan wiped out this host of Liao cavalry, his armies would march east and exterminate the entire clans of any officers who breached the order. When the messengers delivered the letters, they all concluded with a single parting line, telling the border commanders to think very carefully: would they listen to the King of Qi, or to Qingming?
Chapter 1292