Wei Yuan turned cold and calm. He was now someone capable of founding a Dao lineage of his own, and being within the Heaven of Joy and Bliss, he had gained a degree of control even over karma and karmic debt.
Wei Yuan cast a distant glance toward Shanle and said coldly, "Since you crave karmic debt so badly, I'll let you have your fill!"
With that, Wei Yuan projected the full context and causes of the affair into the consciousness of the hundreds of thousands of Shanle's followers surviving in the Heaven of Joy and Bliss. Then, using the aspiration power of faith to twist karma, he shifted the killing tribulation sparked by the realm's upheaval onto these believers.
In an instant, some followers were shocked and others full of hatred, but most were still sleeping or lounging at will, drifting in carefree bliss. Even when the killing tribulation fell upon their heads, they merely giggled foolishly and died in serene ignorance.
Shanle's face suddenly turned deathly pale. The surging torrent of karmic debt was far beyond anything he had imagined; like raging waves in a furious sea, it nearly dragged him off his lotus seat!
Moreover, amidst the karmic debt, wisps of rancor materialized out of nowhere, settling upon his body and clinging stubbornly. Though not numerous, these grudges held hints of dark gold beneath their blood-red sheen—born only when individuals blessed with karmic luck hated someone to the absolute extreme. Their karmic weight was immense!
If such rancorous grudges scattered into the mortal world, they would seek out yin-rich lands on their own and turn into vengeful ghosts. If they fell into realms like the Nether Cold Realm, they would slowly gestate, combine with otherworldly power, and gradually become monsters akin to the Dream Eater.
These grudges all stemmed from Shanle's own followers. Some had regained self-awareness before dying, learning fear and resentment at the very end.
From the facts Wei Yuan had forced into their minds, they learned how Shanle had originally used the Heaven of Joy and Bliss as bait to challenge Wei Yuan to a wager match. Shanle had then fled in defeat, abandoning the Heaven of Joy and Bliss to Wei Yuan. And now, facing a catastrophe engulfing the entire realm, Shanle had not only done nothing to stop it, but had even willingly taken on the karmic debt for the perpetrator.
Wei Yuan had merely edited the narrative slightly; the facts were all true. These believers were sentient beings after all, and on the brink of death, some recovered their instincts and pinned all their hatred onto Shanle. Though small in number, they had been his faithful followers for thousands of years, making the karmic ties exceptionally deep.
However high these believers had once elevated Shanle, the power of their rancor was now ten or a hundred times stronger in return.
Shanle felt his golden body turn sickeningly sticky as layers of greasy grime seeped from his skin. From his nose ran two trickles of foul-smelling, putrid yellow water. Turning pale with terror and boiling with rage, he shouted down from afar, "You slaughter innocent believers! Are you not afraid of plunging into the hungry ghost realm or the animal realm after death, suffering endless reincarnations life after life? The believers are blameless—how could you bring yourself to do this?"
Wei Yuan replied coldly, "You should direct those words to the one above your head—how could she bring herself to do it? Spare me your talk. Since you dared to meddle, you must bear the consequences. Once every last one of these followers is dead, let us see if you can still keep your seat in the third heaven. If our paths cross in Immortal Heaven in the future, I will slaughter you as easily as slaying demons!"
Shanle was enraged beyond measure, yet helpless, left with no choice but to hold on desperately under wave after wave of karmic impact.
Yet Boundless Radiance's giant hand showed no intention of stopping, forcefully hoisting the Heaven of Joy and Bliss out of the Sea of Bitterness inch by inch. The Heaven of Joy and Bliss had long since merged with the Sea of Bitterness, and the creatures within relied entirely on the sea's karma to exist. With every inch it rose from the water, countless believers perished.
Yet as the Heaven of Joy and Bliss emerged from the Sea of Bitterness, Boundless Radiance also felt it grow heavier and heavier. This weight was formless, born of the karma of the mirage demons within the realm and the followers of Wei Yuan's Three Realms Dao Path. Because of that, the weight could not be shifted onto others, nor could it be dispelled by divine arts or magical power; she had to bear it solely through her own magic power and Dao attainment. When the Heaven of Joy and Bliss was just about to leave the Sea of Bitterness entirely, the weight finally grew too immense even for Boundless Radiance to endure. Her giant hand slackened, and the Heaven of Joy and Bliss crashed back into the Sea of Bitterness with a roar!
The great sun where Boundless Radiance resided flared brighter for a brief moment before its flames slowly subsided.
There were tens of millions of mirage demons within the Heaven of Joy and Bliss, which Boundless Radiance had anticipated from the start. Mirage demons were numerous and had strong souls, but spent most of their time eating, sleeping, and reproducing, so their karmic ties were negligible. What she had failed to anticipate was the number of followers belonging to the Three Realms Dao Path.
What she had just felt was the karma of a full million believers! Only that had rendered the burden too heavy for her, causing her effort to fall short at the final step.
These million believers were no ignorant masses who knew only to burn incense and kowtow. They were devout followers possessing abundant karmic luck of their own. By the Pure Land's standards, each and every one was qualified to enter the Pure Land of the Buddha Kingdom to enjoy ultimate bliss. Even the Buddhas atop Spirit Mountain would regard them as the bedrock of attaining the Dao.
"Followers in such numbers have already become a mortal peril," Boundless Radiance sighed softly.
Gazing at the devastation across the Heaven of Joy and Bliss, Wei Yuan felt his murderous intent seething like boiling water. Of Shanle's seven hundred thousand believers, barely over two hundred thousand remained. In Wei Yuan's eyes, they were hardly human to begin with, so he felt no pity for them.
However, nearly twenty thousand of the tens of thousands of core followers Wei Yuan had placed in the Heaven of Joy and Bliss had perished, alongside a million mirage demons. The mirage demons were one thing, but among those tens of thousands of believers, some had reincarnated here in soul form and would have dwelt in the Heaven of Joy and Bliss for thousands or tens of thousands of years—true cornerstones for attaining the Dao.
Others had entered in the flesh. These individuals were even more precious; at the very least, they were meant to be cultivated into mighty warriors and Vajras. Wei Yuan had placed them in the Heaven of Joy and Bliss so that the power of the Buddha land would temper their mortal frames, allowing them to transcend the mundane and enter the sacred.
This group had undergone rigorous selection: robust, devout in their faith, and truly devoted to Wei Yuan's dream of reshaping the mortal world. Their talent and comprehension were exceptional, destined to establish a Dao Foundation in the future. These ten thousand or so young people were candidates for various offices in the newly established Dao Court, the very cream of this generation in Qingming. Yet over three thousand of them had died in this catastrophe, making Wei Yuan's heart bleed.
Wei Yuan remained silent for a long time before saying calmly, "A fine move, Bodhisattva."
Boundless Radiance said gently, "Benefactor, your methods are far too vicious. Slaughtering Buddhist followers on such a scale will surely become known throughout the world. For your sinful deeds, retribution will come one day."
Instead of anger, Wei Yuan let out a laugh. "Was this killing tribulation not sparked by you?"
Boundless Radiance said, "My original intention was to subdue an outside demon, and the killing tribulation arose as a consequence. When it began, you should have remained unmoved and detached, letting it take its natural course. Yet by directing the killing tribulation onto the Buddha's followers, you committed an unforgivable evil. Those followers perished at your hands."
Wei Yuan threw his head back in laughter, his voice turning chilling. "What a joke! You are permitted to kill the people of my Qingming, but I am forbidden from touching your Buddhist followers?"
"Benefactor, you slaughter the innocent and your hands are stained with blood. Why argue stubbornly?"
Wei Yuan fell silent once more. After a moment, he said, "The next time you send an avatar into reincarnation, Bodhisattva, remember to call my name. I will surely come to answer the tribulation. Who knows, perhaps karma will entwine us, tying our fates together in samsara, and we might even have children and grandchildren. Once we have a child, Bodhisattva, it will be much easier for you to kill me."
Boundless Radiance said placidly, "Benefactor, there is no need to be so indirect. You may speak plainly of what happened with Mingyue back then. That matter has long been settled: Mingyue is Mingyue, and I am I. Mingyue has long since entered reincarnation, her karma dissolving into her rebirths, lost without a trace. If you wish to debate the Dao and match arts with me, please find some other karma to invoke."
Chapter 1322