An Eyesore

Given Lu Cangshui's level of cultivation, everything he imparted was communicated through true intent. Naturally, his meaning was conveyed completely and faithfully. Barring interference from some supreme figure deliberately preventing him from speaking clearly, there could be no misunderstanding whatsoever. Lu Cangshui's meaning was crystal clear: someone within Wei Yuan's native realm had intentionally leaked intelligence to the faction behind that woman, and the leak pertained to the sin-beasts. It was leaked by a human, not an alien race. This person did not necessarily know Wei Yuan had restarted a new world. They had merely followed the clue of the sin-beasts, and they might not even belong to Qingming. Wei Yuan pondered the matter carefully. Within Qingming, aside from Zhang Sheng and Baoyun, virtually no one knew that the Leaf of the Great Dao had recently sprouted and stirred up sin-beasts. Thus, the trail went cold right there. Sin-beasts possessed an exceptionally elevated status, typically appearing only at the birth or destruction of a world. Very few people in this realm would even know of them. For that human traitor to leak such news, they must have encountered a sin-beast somewhere in recent times. Yet there was no way to investigate that, either; the trail broke off once more. Wei Yuan had originally intended to lie low—no, to bide his time and nurture the new world slowly, swallowing all the merit of a world from nothingness to existence, and then from fledgling state to full bloom. But now, the new realm had been thrust into the open, completely exposed, leaving it uncertain what might come next. After being crossed so terribly, how could Wei Yuan possibly stomach this? He wanted to scour his list of enemies to see who might have stabbed him in the back. But after searching through a list of foes so absurdly long, he found this path led nowhere as well. For one thing, Wei Yuan had accumulated far too many enemies, great and small; he couldn't even sort through them all. For another, this traitor might not even hold a direct grudge against him. They might simply resent seeing him thrive, or find his public displays of divine power an eyesore, purely wishing to drag him down from the heavens. There were far more people of that sort than actual enemies. For instance, Xiaoyu would probably love nothing more than to see Wei Yuan blasted half to death by heavenly lightning. And so, after brooding for a long time, Wei Yuan had still gained nothing. Still, having restarted a world, his wisdom was naturally out of the ordinary. How could his Dao heart remain blocked? He had to come up with a solution. A flash of inspiration suddenly struck Wei Yuan's mind: Even if I can't find the real culprit, I can always take my anger out on someone else! At the thought of redirecting his wrath, Wei Yuan's spirits soared. He lined up several targets: the Pure Land, the Academy, Northern Qi, Southern Jin, the State of Song, Song Cui, the Yan-Chen Cui family, and others. He felt each and every one of them thoroughly deserved to die. In the end, Wei Yuan decided to heed the will of the people and make the Pure Land his first target. With an order from him, a newly formed mobile legion of five hundred thousand troops within Qingming immediately packed their gear, boarded land-traversing flying boats, and crossed tens of billions of li in less than a month, arriving at the border of Northern Qi. In the early spring of the eighteenth year of Zhaoning, Qingming's army suddenly and without warning began bombarding Northern Qi's border passes. The commandery governor and military commissioner stationed at the frontier dispatched more than a dozen delegations of envoys to the Qingming military encampment, asking what on earth had happened to prompt Qingming to shell the passes. Qingming's generals offered no reply at all. They seized every envoy, threw them into prison, and maintained the daily bombardment on the front line. Within several days, the protective grand formation of Northern Qi's border fell, unable to bear the relentless pounding, and shattered completely. Thereupon, the Qingming host surged forward, capturing three border passes in a single sweep. Afterward, Qingming's forces advanced steadily. Wherever their vanguard swept, not a single city could offer resistance. Though Qingming advanced slowly, their grand momentum was magnificent and utterly unstoppable, like flowing lava, reducing everything in its path to ash. This sudden upheaval threw the entire nation of Northern Qi into utter panic. Yet Northern Qi differed from other countries; it had never truly fought Qingming before. Moreover, the vast majority of its court and populace were devoted Pure Land believers. When faith ran deep, they feared nothing, not even death. Thus, despite the fierce ongoing conflict against Southern Qi, many famous generals stepped forward in righteous indignation, volunteering to lead armies to the front to fight a decisive contest against Qingming! Seeing that morale was high enough to be put to use, the King of Qi nodded in approval. One famous general after another marched out from the capital, charging toward the western front—only to squander away their reputation, prospects, and lives to the very last scrap. Within a few months, fifteen of Northern Qi's twelve greatest generals had perished. Although seven or eight new generals were hastily promoted and dispatched to the front, each proved to be short-lived. Only those few generals locked in bloody struggle against Southern Qi were spared, keeping Northern Qi's supply of renowned generals from being completely wiped out. This grim reality forced Northern Qi to shift within just a few short months from looking down their noses at their enemy to fearing them like tigers. Fortunately, Qingming's advance remained slow, grinding forward city by city, territory by territory. *** Pure Land Spirit Mountain. The sinister-looking young monk returned to the small temple on the mountainside and pushed open the door. The little temple was noticeably more dilapidated now, with a gaping hole in one corner of the roof. Two Buddha statues still rested upon the shrine, both wearing sorrowful expressions. On the other side stood two damaged lotus pedestals, now completely vacant. A middle-aged monk was inside, sweeping the floor with half-hearted strokes. Seeing the young monk enter, the middle-aged monk said slowly, "Why has the Buddha Child come again? You have no remaining karma with this place. If you are truly idle, this vast Spirit Mountain requires repairs everywhere. It would be good if you went and built a stone temple instead." Though these words carried barbs, the young monk acted as if he hadn't heard them, merely asking, "When will the two Patriarchs awaken again?" "The Patriarchs stated that even if Spirit Mountain collapses and all the Buddhas fall into depravity, they will not awaken again. They told you to look after yourself." The Buddha Child's expression shifted several times before he said, "Wei Yuan has suddenly dispatched troops to attack Northern Qi, tearing down mountains and smashing temples all the way, heading straight for the Pure Land! With so much adjacent territory left untouched, why must he travel tens of thousands of li just to strike the Pure Land? Could it be... that he already knows about what happened last time?" The middle-aged monk replied, "How would I know? But whether Wei Yuan knows or not, this went too far. The two Patriarchs failed to see in time that this was what you intended. Had they known beforehand, they never would have allowed you to succeed!" The Buddha Child said, "Any means may be used to eliminate the enemy of the Buddha! The Patriarchs are old and rigid after all, but why are you so pigheaded as well, Senior Brother?" "Nothing you say will make any difference. Please leave." The Buddha Child's expression darkened. "I came to investigate who leaked the intelligence to the enemy of the Buddha! Since both Patriarchs have already departed, only you, Senior Brother, knew of this matter! I shall naturally report this to the Bodhisattva. It would truly be a pity if Senior Brother's tens of thousands of years of cultivation were ruined in a single day." The middle-aged monk's eyebrows shot up in fury. "You—you—!" Yet he was neither skilled at hurling abuse nor versed in sarcasm. He stammered for a long while without managing to complete a single coherent sentence. The Buddha Child sneered and turned away. Moments later, two Vajra Mighty Warriors entered the small temple and addressed the middle-aged monk: "Senior Brother Miaowu, Zhenyao Bodhisattva requests your presence to explain why you leaked confidential intelligence to the enemy of the Buddha." "Nonsense! I have never even set foot outside Spirit Mountain, so when could I have leaked secrets?!" The middle-aged monk was furious at first, then bewildered, and finally let out a long sigh as he stepped out of the small temple. Looking upon Spirit Mountain, half of which had already collapsed into ruin, he suddenly let out a cold laugh. "With such a Buddha Child and such a Bodhisattva, how could Spirit Mountain not collapse?" A Buddhist chant sounded nearby as the Buddha Child stepped out from the shadows. "On the strength of those words alone, I fear Senior Brother will have to face the wall in meditation for five hundred years." Miaowu gave a heavy snort. "Facing the wall suits me best. It will save me from watching a pack of demons dance!" The Buddha Child chanted another Buddhist phrase. "Senior Brother goes too far in saying that. Everyone merely employs different means; our hearts directed toward the Buddha are one and the same. It is fine if Senior Brother curses me, but calling the Bodhisattva a demon crosses the line. For instance, when Senior Brother leaked heavenly secrets to the enemy of the Buddha, I never accused you of being a traitor colluding with demonic evils!" When it came to eloquence, Miaowu was naturally no match for the Buddha Child. Cursing and sputtering all the way, he was hauled off by the two Vajras. The young monk merely pressed his palms together and softly tallied: "Five hundred and thirty years, five hundred and forty years... that remark was vicious, at least another thirty years!" *** Within the Sea of Bitterness, Wei Yuan's dharma body suddenly floated up slightly, revealing a pair of eyes that watched Wuliang Mingguang stepping across the waves. At this moment, Wuliang Mingguang appeared like a young girl, only half the size of Wei Yuan's dharma body's head. Standing before Wei Yuan, she asked, "I just lent the Realm Lord a helping hand, so why have you suddenly attacked again? Has something happened?" Wei Yuan floated up a bit further, bringing his mouth above the surface of the water, and said, "No reason. I just can't stand the sight of the Pure Land."