The wolf demons' search was far from efficient, and they seemed to relish the killing. Villagers who had fled were ferreted out one after another, their throats torn open by fangs. They did not die right away, left only to groan ceaselessly in agony.
A considerable distance separated the village from the back mountain, and for the moment, no wolf demons had ranged in this direction. Wei Yuan was able to continue his preparations unhurriedly, mounting one intricate contraption after another into the earth.
At last, wolf demons began prowling up the mountain path. Evidently oblivious to the scent of Wei Yuan and the young girl, they merely scouted the unfamiliar terrain by instinct.
Wei Yuan suddenly leapt down from the summit. His spear thrust out like lightning, piercing the throats of three wolf demons, before he channeled his strength to flick them airborne, hurling them over the cliff behind.
The wolf demons howled as they tumbled through the air, the pitch of their cries alone revealing how bottomless the abyss was. At the very end, their wails turned into shrill, frantic shrieks, as if they had encountered something utterly horrifying beneath the precipice.
However, these three wolf demons formed a scouting group of their own, and their demise failed to alert the rest. After all, the agonized screams of the villagers still echoed through the air, drowning out the wolves by far.
The young monk's head sank lower and lower, as though he might fall asleep at any second. Moon Sage sat quietly before him, waiting for the moment when the Pure Land would shatter and fall.
Yet after waiting patiently for a while, the Pure Land remained intact. The Buddha statue within the temple was cracked beyond recognition, but it simply would not crumble.
Moon Sage lifted his head and scanned their surroundings. "Hm? Did someone slip through the net?"
All the wolf demons and warriors had completed the slaughter and were combing the area. Clearly, some villagers were still alive.
A peculiar smile crossed Moon Sage's face, one that could hardly be called joyful or bitter. "Something is finally different. Is this what you've been waiting for? Come, let us go see what difference it makes."
Moon Sage bent down, scooped up the monk, and walked slowly toward the back mountain. The perimeter of the village had already been thoroughly searched; only the distant mountain at the rear remained.
Packs of wolf demons began sprinting up the mountain path, charging toward the peak. Having caught the scent of their kin, they picked up their pace and quickly crested the summit—only to find Wei Yuan blocking the pass, spear leveled horizontally.
The wolf demons lunged forward in fury. The first wave in the lead was impaled instantly by Wei Yuan, then flung over the edge of the cliff.
The larger pack behind halted before fanning out under their predatory instincts, flanking Wei Yuan from multiple directions at once. The foremost wolf demon arrived first, leaping high into the air and pouncing toward him!
A cylinder appeared in Wei Yuan's grip. With a bang, the wolf demon was blasted backward at even greater speed. The cylinder vanished immediately, and a new one appeared in his hand, pressed directly against the chest of another lunging wolf demon before firing!
Amid a deafening roar, a gaping hole was blown through the beast's torso, hurling it back dozens of paces. Stunned, the remaining wolf demons hesitated, but Wei Yuan had already charged forward. His spear flashed like lightning, sending several more beasts flying.
Just like that, cylinder in his left hand and spear in his right, Wei Yuan routed the wolf demons completely. The cylinder in his left hand was especially devastating; with every blast, a wolf demon's body was blown to pieces.
In the blink of an eye, the wolf demons were decimated, leaving behind only a ground covered in wolf fur.
The warriors were visibly far more cautious. Marching several abreast in dense formation, they ascended the mountain step by step. Clad in heavy armor and wielding long sabers, endowed with magical power, their military ascent up the mountain seemed utterly unstoppable. The warriors in the front rank raised heavy tower shields, the faces of which glowed with the light of magical reinforcement. Such great shields and cleaving blades were unmatched at breaking through fortifications.
Wei Yuan planted his spear into the ground. Two honeycomb cylinders appeared in his hands, bristling with flying swords!
The first rank of warriors barely had time to register their astonishment before countless flying swords skewered them through.
Trailing streaks of light, the immortal swords could not be halted by heavy shields and stout plate. Weak though these immortal swords might be, they were still immortal swords, far beyond what newly accomplished cultivators like these warriors could withstand. Every flying sword pierced clean through one or two men.
Wei Yuan emptied both honeycombs in an instant, swapped in two fresh ones, and unleashed them just as rapidly!
In the turn of a hand, Wei Yuan had spent eight honeycombs. The mountain path was strewn with corpses; not a single one of the hundred-plus golden-armored warriors was spared, and none remained standing.
Moon Sage finally reacted. Carrying the monk, he leisurely ascended the mountain trail.
Though his subordinates had been wiped out to the last man, Moon Sage seemed utterly unconcerned, regarding Wei Yuan with intrigued amusement. Wei Yuan made a rough estimate that Moon Sage was likely equivalent to a dharma idol. Even if the estimate was wrong, it mattered little; Wei Yuan only possessed this many cards, and if he miscalculated, death was all that awaited.
Moon Sage strode steadily onto the summit and walked toward Wei Yuan. For every step Moon Sage took, Wei Yuan retreated one, until his back was right at the cliff's edge, where he stepped back no further. Behind him stood the young girl, and behind her lay the abyss.
Moon Sage finally came to a halt. "The contraption you used just now was quite novel. What is its name?"
"The honeycomb flying sword launcher." Wei Yuan's naming conventions had become rather otherworldly of late.
Moon Sage was taken aback. "A bizarre name for a dharma treasure, yet fitting enough. Do you plan to kill me with that?"
Without waiting for Wei Yuan to reply, Moon Sage chuckled. "A variable you may be, but still not enough—your horizons are far too narrow, if nothing else. Still, at least this time offers some novelty; it hasn't been completely dull. But this dream has gone on long enough. Every dream is always the same: tedious for the most part, turning into a nightmare at the end, leaving one only wishing to wake sooner.
"This dream has already brought me enough grief. I will play with you all no longer."
Another honeycomb cylinder appeared in Wei Yuan's hand; no one knew just how many he possessed. But Moon Sage only wished to bring everything to a swift end. As long as these last two did not die, the Pure Land would not shatter, and the monk would not perish.
From the cylinder in Wei Yuan's hand, flying swords shot forth in rapid succession, bristling across Moon Sage's body in an instant. Yet these blades sank in only two or three inches at most, inflicting no true harm upon him.
Moon Sage raised a hand, about to strike down with a palm to shatter the Pure Land, when countless honeycomb cylinders suddenly sprang from the surrounding ground. The flying swords nestled within were entirely deep azure, their tips tinged with a faint crimson—radiating the unmistakable aura of celestial spirits!
These were newly forged flying swords of Wei Yuan's own making, specifically imbued with the sword qi of the celestial laurel tree. Though it was merely a fleck at the tip, it possessed the power to shatter adamantine barriers and pierce heavy armor.
Immortal Sword—Azure Silk Armor-Piercer!
Countless flying swords shot forth like shooting stars, turning Moon Sage into a hedgehog in a single breath. Some even bored straight through his body, vanishing into the distance.
All of Wei Yuan's tireless labor laying traps across the summit had been for Moon Sage's arrival. His continuous holding of the honeycomb cylinders had likewise been to make Moon Sage believe the weapon could only be wielded by hand. In truth, these were all part of Wei Yuan's Dao Foundation; they required no manual handling and could be launched with a mere thought.
When the volley of flying swords ceased, Wei Yuan realized that Moon Sage was kneeling on one knee, his back hunched, sheltering the monk beneath him. Amid the endless storm of flying swords, not a single one had struck the monk.
Moon Sage raised his head and asked, "Why three hundred and sixty-two swords?"
Wei Yuan said, "...I did it on purpose."
Buddhism placed great weight on Zen subtleties, so Wei Yuan had not arranged the ambush with the three hundred and sixty of the Great Heavenly Cycle, nor the three hundred and sixty-one of the nineteen-by-nineteen cosmic grid. That single extra sword was purely meant to be spiteful.
Moon Sage had never anticipated such an answer. He let out a self-deprecating laugh and shook his head. "So it was I who clung to form."
He gently lowered the monk to the ground, carefully laying him flat. Pausing for a moment as if reminiscing about the past, he let out a long sigh.
"Back when we first met, our magical power was meager, and we were often chased all over the place by minor demons, scurrying like rats. We had a hard enough time keeping ourselves fed, yet we still had to raise that little brat Long Zhe. Looking back now, that was truly the happiest time of all. Achieving karmic attainment later on was rather devoid of meaning."
Moon Sage sat cross-legged and straightened his spine. With that slight movement, blood gushed from his wounds like a fountain. Yet he paid it no heed, casting a final glance at Wei Yuan. "A lamp burns before the Buddha; alas, it can shine for only an instant."
With those words, he slowly closed his eyes and entered final nirvana.
Wei Yuan felt no sense of relief. Instead, his tension mounted. The golden light in the sky did not fade; rather, it grew ever more intense!
A sudden thunderclap split heaven and earth. The vault of the sky cracked open, its golden radiance shattering into countless fragments, from which stepped forth a titan ten thousand feet tall! The giant glared with wide, furious eyes, wielding a demon-subduing pestle, his entire form cast in dark gold. The moment he stepped into this realm, the whole world was coated in a layer of Buddhist light!
Wei Yuan's expression turned graver than ever before. He hoped he was mistaken, yet this divine ability of the Manifestation of Heaven and Earth, this world-shattering momentum, and the wondrous spectacle of Buddhist light illuminating all in its wake all proclaimed the giant's identity.
Wei Yuan had thought that slaying Moon Sage would bring an end to this ordeal. Even if there were an aftermath, what followed should have been an even larger demon king. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that after slaying a demon king, what arrived would be a guardian vajra of the Pure Land!
A sudden realization dawned on him: this vajra had not come for Moon Sage, but for this tiny, modest Pure Land.
A mere mountain village, a hundred-odd ignorant mortals, and a monk making offerings to himself—that was all it was. Why was even this intolerable to the heavens?
Within the temple, the Buddha statue finally shattered. The Buddha's head tumbled to the ground, rolling with a hollow clatter to the threshold of the hall, where it became caught in a layer of cobwebs.
Still, there was no telling where the spider was.
Chapter 267