On the seventh layer of the Sea of Bitterness, the dharma body of Boundless Radiance slowly opened its eyes. She looked down at Shanle's fist-sized dharma body before her lotus seat, and at Baoxing's dharma body, which was no larger than an alms bowl. "Where is the Buddha Child now?"
"Not long ago, he descended the mountain in search of karmic opportunity."
"Who gave him permission to leave?" Boundless Radiance's dharma body betrayed no hint of emotion, yet her voice was chillingly cold, steeped in brook-no-denial majesty.
"Reporting to the Bodhisattva, the Buddha Child is a disciple who listens to the sutras before the Great Sun Tathagata's seat. In the Tathagata's absence, no one may interfere with his movements." Sensing Boundless Radiance's wrath, Shanle did not understand the cause, but instinctively switched to an honorific title.
Boundless Radiance said, "Issue decrees to the temples across the lands: the moment they lay eyes on the Buddha Child, they are to have him return to Spirit Mountain at once! If he refuses, he shall be treated as a traitor to the monastery."
Shanle shuddered. "In whose name?"
"Mine," Boundless Radiance replied coldly.
Shanle dared ask no more. This might very well mark the beginning of an open rupture between the Pure Land's two major factions.
***
On the border of Northern Qi, a young shaved-headed monk entered the military tent. Lowering his head slightly, he dared not look directly at Wei Ying as he began, "General Wei..."
Wei Ying cut him off and corrected, "Fei Yutong, General Fei. Remember it!"
The young monk did not understand why the general had changed her name, but how could he dare question it? In recent years, this general's countenance had been gradually changing, growing into a beauty that increasingly made the surrounding men dare not gaze upon her.
He quickly said, "The Realm Lord has issued orders dispatching reinforcements and additional supplies, directing the General to continue expanding our occupied territory and make preparations for permanent occupation. All Pure Land monastics and devout followers are no longer to be merely expelled. Instead, they are to be captured and uniformly banished north to develop the Liao domain."
Fei Yutong was also quite surprised, her brows furrowing slightly. For Wei Yuan to suddenly ramp up his strikes against the Pure Land without showing the slightest mercy was the rhythm of launching all-out war. Had something unexpected occurred in the outer world that forced him to shift his strategic focus?
Just then, the inner curtain of the military tent was pushed aside, and Xu Shiba stepped out. At present, she appeared as a lovely young woman—attractive and capable, though not breathtakingly gorgeous. Her sharp edge was entirely restrained, making it impossible to tell she was a grand Scenery Command cultivator.
Fei Yutong relayed Wei Yuan's orders. Xu Shiba's brow furrowed as well, and she said, "The outer world is the source of merit; that is where the root lies. Attacking the Pure Land will inevitably weaken the outer world's growth. This is abandoning the root to chase the branches. Why bother?"
"Perhaps some mishap took place out there. Sister Shiba, why don't you make a trip there? Even if nothing happened, you could slay some fiends and share in the merit."
Xu Shiba replied, "If I leave, wouldn't you be in danger here? Those bald monks will stop at nothing."
Fei Yutong said, "I changed back to my original name precisely to face the perils ahead. If I die once more under this name, Father might just forgive me."
Xu Shiba was greatly alarmed. "What nonsense are you babbling? With how meager your cultivation is, die once more? If you die again, never mind past-life wisdom, you might not even retain a shred of natural talent, and who knows where you'd be reincarnated! Even the Liao Clan, adept as they are at reincarnation, only dares practice reincarnation arts after becoming living Buddhas."
"Put your heart at ease and go to the outer world. It's not like I'm guaranteed to die. Ordinary Scenery Command cultivators are lucky not to be hunted down by me."
"Whatever you do, take no reckless chances!" Xu Shiba exhorted her over and over before finally leaving the command tent and returning to Qingming.
Once Xu Shiba had departed, Fei Yutong called out, "Men, bring out those corpses of monks we prepared. Hang several of them at key thoroughfares in every region. And don't forget to write my name on each corpse!"
The subordinates wore strange expressions, but none dared voice an objection, only taking their orders and withdrawing.
The moment they left, the command tent suddenly plunged into gloom. All the lanterns dimmed as a blue lamp manifested out of thin air. A young novice monk stood beneath the lamp's shadow and said leisurely, "Why must Benefactor make such a superfluous move? If you wish that person to remember you, this humble monk can lend you a hand."
He raised his right hand, clawed his five fingers, and lunged straight for Fei Yutong's chest!
In an instant, the scenery before Fei Yutong's eyes shifted, as though she were experiencing countless lifetimes of reincarnation. Her current cultivation was insufficient; she was immediately snared, unable to tear herself free from the cycle.
The young monk's hand plunged unimpeded into her chest, his fingers slicing through flesh and blood as blade edges sprang from his fingertips, thrusting toward her heart. Right then, a greatsword materialized in the command tent, sweeping down toward the young monk's waist to cleave him in two—Xu Shiba had returned!
This strike was imbued with the true intent of the Sword of Ten Thousand Generations and Autumns. She sneered, "I knew you bald bastards wouldn't let this go! I've been waiting for you for a long time!"
The young monk twisted his body to dodge, but instead of pulling away after flickering, his form materialized right upon the sword's edge.
He gasped in shock. "You... this move of yours is also the Sword of Ten Thousand Generations and Autumns?"
The heavy blade carved savagely across the young monk's waist, ripping open a gaping wound that nearly exposed his internal organs.
The young monk's dharma body was exceptionally tough; taking a full-power strike from Xu Shiba had resulted in nothing more than superficial damage. His silhouette flickered, reappearing in a corner of the tent, while Fei Yutong remained in his grasp, her eyes blank.
The space inside the military tent abruptly expanded into a vast expanse, invisibly pulling distance between the young monk and Xu Shiba.
Xu Shiba gripped her sword with both hands, the tip pointing diagonally toward the sky, and said coldly, "Put her down, and I will spare your life."
The young monk sneered. "Spare my life? With just you? Wielding a mere half-set of the Sword of Ten Thousand Generations and Autumns, forget killing me—escaping from my grasp would already be an achievement. If not for the sake of the Sword of Ten Thousand Generations and Autumns' original master, you wouldn't have lived to this day!
"Now, answer my question, and I will return this woman's corpse to you. If you don't, I will send her to the Tantric Sect—they have no shortage of methods for dealing with fresh corpses!
"In this realm, the inheritance of the Sword of Ten Thousand Generations and Autumns consists of only three and a half moves; back then, the original master only left half a set. That strike of yours just now clearly wasn't among those three and a half moves, yet it carried the inheritance of its true intent. Where did you learn this new stance?"
Xu Shiba's brows shot up in fury. "I'll tell you after I send you on your way."
The young monk froze for a second before bursting into loud laughter. "Send me on my way? Haha, laughable! If not for fear of spoiling the original master's grand designs, do you think I'd waste so much breath on you? Though that new stance of yours carries true intent, you haven't mastered it yet. To dream of killing me—aren't you thinking a bit too much of yourself?"
Just then, a serene, chilling voice echoed within the tent: "Her Sword of Ten Thousand Generations and Autumns may not be mastered yet, but what about mine?"
The young monk went completely rigid. Slowly turning around, he saw Wei Yuan standing not far away, a slender crimson immortal sword gradually taking shape in his grasp.
"Wei Yuan!" Terrified out of his wits, he whirled around to flee, but a sudden lightness washed over his body. A sword ray drifted leisurely toward him. Though born of a vivid crimson immortal sword, it unleashed a sword ray of dusk yellow tinged with red—like soil that had drunk its fill of blood, stripped of all vitality, recounting lingering grudges that ages could never wash away. No matter how much time passed, the embers of war never fully died.
The sword ray arrived slowly, yet the young monk's movements were even more sluggish. He could only watch helplessly as the sword ray skimmed past his shoulder, severing his entire arm at the root!
Fei Yutong, who had been skewered on that arm, fell along with it.
This strike had clearly employed a divine ability of time, yet the young monk hadn't sensed time at all. He originally possessed a sliver of authority over time—not enough to kill an enemy, but sufficient to let him detect fatal strikes carrying temporal power in advance and slip away alive.
Yet just now, he had not sensed the slightest anomaly. It was only when Wei Yuan sliced off his arm that he realized his sliver of authority over time had vanished without a trace!
Holding the young monk's severed arm in one hand, Wei Yuan conjured dusk-yellow embers of time in his palm, brazenly refining the arm right on the spot.
Wei Yuan stoked the flames hotter and hotter, clearly intending to refine a sarira out of it. Shocked and terrified, the young monk could only stare fixatedly at the crimson immortal sword in Wei Yuan's grip.
Wei Yuan let out a hearty laugh. "Does this stance, 'Long-Buried Embers of War,' meet the Buddha Child's discerning eye?"
The young monk asked, "When did he transmit this stance to this realm again? How could I not know?"
Wei Yuan laughed again and said, "This sword strike wasn't created by the original master, but by me. That half-set of the Sword of Ten Thousand Generations and Autumns cycled back and forth—stingy, awkward, clearly revealing no grand ambition. Later on, I grew annoyed. Since it already had 'Beginning of a Thousand Autumns' and 'End of Ten Thousand Generations,' hadn't the events in between—the rise and fall of countless dynasties over hundreds of thousands of years—been explained clearly enough?
"So I added a few more strikes to assemble a complete set. They are:
"Beginning of a Thousand Autumns, A Lone Sword Across the Firmament;
"Sweeping Away the Four Barbarians, Glory Radiating Across the Eight Wastes;
"Long-Buried Embers of War, End of Ten Thousand Generations."
With every stance Wei Yuan named, he unleashed a thread of sword intent, shaving off another piece from the young monk's body. The young monk proved remarkably enduring, neither moving nor striking back, his face deathly pale.
Xu Shiba suddenly cried out in alarm, "He's trying to run!"
Before her voice had faded, the young monk's mutilated form blurred and vanished.
Xu Shiba asked, "Why did you let him escape?"
Wei Yuan smiled faintly. "The Buddha Child isn't so easy to kill; too many people will aid him. Killing him outright now would only take a life. Only by killing him several more times can we truly shatter his heart."
"...Father's insight is profound," Fei Yutong's feeble voice came from beside them.
After Wei Yuan refined the Buddha Child's arm into a sarira, she had regained consciousness, though her vitality had suffered a grievous wound, leaving her utterly frail for the moment.
She surveyed the battlefield, and her eyes suddenly fell upon an object. Ignoring her bodily weakness, she walked over, lifted the item on the tip of her sword, and asked Wei Yuan, "Steep it in wine?"
Wei Yuan instantly took a step back, putting as much distance between them as possible, and said, "Feed it to the dogs!"
Chapter 1416