Amitābha

They rented out an entire three-story tavern nearby. Li Weiyi had intended to order a wider variety of dishes, but the White-Robed Lay Practitioner politely declined, saying that a single bowl of plain vegetarian noodles for each person would suffice. Nearly a hundred children filled all three floors. Even though they were only eating plain noodles, they were overjoyed. Though they were rice people, they still felt joy, anger, sorrow, and delight. Li Weiyi and Zhao Zhizhuo were already starving. With everyone else eating vegetarian, how could they indulge in meat and fish? So they each ordered a bowl of plain vegetarian noodles and sat by a window on the second floor, dining together with the White-Robed Lay Practitioner. After taking a sip of the piping-hot noodle broth, Li Weiyi asked modestly, "Lay Practitioner, this Amitābha you chant—what kind of Buddha is he?" The White-Robed Lay Practitioner set down her bowl and chopsticks, sat up straight, and answered solemnly, "Amitābha is both the Buddha of Immeasurable Light and the Buddha of Immeasurable Life. He represents light, longevity, and space, and is the Lord of the Pure Land Buddhist Realm infinitely far away. "His light can illuminate the You Realm. "His lifespan is boundless and endless. "The Pure Land realm manifested in the palm of his hand is the vastest Sheng Realm in this world. His dharmic power is immeasurable; his divine abilities are immeasurable." The Amitābha of this world bore striking similarities to the one from Earth's myths and legends. Afterward, the White-Robed Lay Practitioner quietly ate her noodles. When eating noodles, people rarely looked graceful. Yet she was neither affectedly slow nor wolfishly ravenous. Her features were plain, yet the way she ate carried an aesthetically pleasing sense of tranquility. Li Weiyi watched her for quite a while, momentarily forgetting what else he had meant to ask. After drinking every drop of broth, she wiped her mouth clean, smiled slightly at Li Weiyi, who had been staring at her, and thanked him. A short while later, the White-Robed Lay Practitioner gathered all the rice children outside the tavern. As she was about to depart, she looked up at Li Weiyi, who was watching from the second floor, her tone as gentle as ever. "I had originally planned to take care of a little business to earn money to raise the children. But since you treated me to noodles, I won't kill you today! Another day, then!" Li Weiyi, still caught up in her deeply infectious and gentle smile, felt as though he had plunged from a sunlit mountain peak straight into a dark, freezing cavern. The chill nearly paralyzed him. It turned out that when she was waiting by the moat earlier, she had been waiting specifically for him—or had been on her way to murder him at his residence. Zhao Zhizhuo fared no better. His face turned pale, and he slapped his own forehead. "I should have realized sooner! Aside from Mount Coffin, where in Lizhou would you find Buddhist cultivators? She has to be an assassin from the Five Burials Temple..." He muttered the word "assassin" under his breath. Xu Fodu of Mount Coffin, one of the Three Great Barbarian Bandits of the southern territory, was a colossus to whom even the Jiuli Clan had to pay tribute year after year. With a hundred thousand Fodu Bandits, who in the seven southern prefectures didn't fear them? Zhao Zhizhuo stared at the receding white-robed figure and lowered his voice further. "The Five Burials Temple is the most terrifying assassin organization in Jiuli City's underground nether market, and rumor has it their backing is Mount Coffin itself. I couldn't sense the slightest dharmic flux from her. Her cultivation must far surpass ours. "Thank goodness we were generous today, or we'd be dead!" Li Weiyi's expression shifted repeatedly. He scrambled up and called out from afar, "Next time you go begging for alms, come find me again! I'll treat you to noodles another day... as much as you can eat!" Having reached the gate bridge, the White-Robed Lay Practitioner glanced back toward the second floor, smiled, and led the children into the city. At the city gates, she was predictably stopped by four City Defense Battalion soldiers. *Slash!* *Rip!* In the next instant, a red kasaya sliced all four soldiers clean in half. Blood surged outward, dripping through the gaps of the wooden bridge into the moat. A burly monk nearly two meters tall with a curly beard donned the red kasaya once more and bowed respectfully to the White-Robed Lay Practitioner. "Martial Uncle, I was delayed by other matters. I should have come to the city gate to meet you half an hour ago." "No matter. I didn't wait long—only long enough for a bowl of noodles." The White-Robed Lay Practitioner and the monk in the red kasaya strode boldly into Jiuli City, leading the nearly one hundred rice children. "Martial Uncle, something major happened over at Immortal Burial Town," the monk reported in a low voice. "News spread on a small scale last night, but by this morning it couldn't be contained at all. Many formidable figures have already left the city and rushed over." *Rumble!* A large contingent of City Defense Battalion soldiers rushed up. But when the officer leading them on a fire-fox beast saw the face of the burly monk in the red kasaya and met his cold, heavy gaze, the officer lowered his head instead, not daring to make eye contact. In the end, the soldiers only gathered the corpses. *** Li Weiyi had completely lost his appetite for noodles. "Someone must have placed a contract with the Five Burials Temple. If it wasn't Yang Yun, it's the Changlin Gang." "The one-month deadline isn't even up yet! How dare they?" Zhao Zhizhuo thought rapidly before standing up. "I'm going into the city right now. Whatever happens, I have to figure out the situation first. I'll be back before dark." After parting ways with Zhao Zhizhuo, Li Weiyi returned to the residence. Beneath the old poplar tree in the front courtyard, Cai Yutong wore a veil and a much lighter dress. A point of light flickered between her brows as she used thought force to communicate with an ao spider, directing it to stand and sit with her index finger as if training a hound. Her talent along the spirit soul path was exceptional. In three days, she had perceived spiritual light; in ten days, she had opened her Yintang spirit realm; and in twenty-two days, she had learned insect script and subdued her first ao spider, officially becoming an insect tamer. Li Weiyi, on the other hand, had yet to manifest his first wisp of spiritual light. According to Senior Tablet, he wasn't calm enough. He thought about too many things and his mind was crowded with distracting thoughts, which was why that sudden flash of spiritual light eluded him. "Senior Brother, tell everyone to pack up immediately. Come into the city with me before the gates close at dusk." Li Weiyi didn't know how many lives the Changlin Gang or Yang Yun had bought, let alone whether the assassins would slaughter the innocent. His only choice now was to bring everyone to Cangli Clan Academy to take shelter. Yet he also worried about an ambush along the way. If even one Top Hundred Martial Artist like Yao Zhengsheng showed up, the consequences would be catastrophic. Zhao Zhizhuo would surely seek out Li Songlin or Cang Li. If the Cangling Tribe sent a squad of experts to escort them, they would be far safer. The others immediately realized something was wrong and rushed to pack their belongings. Time ticked away as luggage was loaded onto the carriages. Li Weiyi sat atop the courtyard wall, channeling dharmic power to his eyes, ears, and nose to push his senses to their absolute limit. Soon, he caught the scent of Changlin Gang Banner Leader Shi Chuanyu carried on the wind. He couldn't see or hear him, but the man was definitely nearby. A moment later... On the second floor of the Baoyue Brothel diagonally opposite, he caught a fleeting glimpse of Yao Zhengsheng. Several other unusually light footfalls were mingled into the crowd on the street. Fortunately, Zhao Meng sitting in the courtyard still served as a deterrent. Not until the sun slanted westward did Zhao Zhizhuo finally return, leading a squad of white-armored cavalry—the personal guards of Young Clan Head Cang Li, numbering twenty riders. Their cultivation wasn't particularly high, but their presence carried symbolic weight; not just anyone dared touch them. Zhao Zhizhuo looked grim and deeply worried. "After entering the city, I went to the clan academy first, but came up empty. Then I went to the clan manor to see the Young Clan Head. Only then did I learn that something massive happened last night, shaking all of Jiuli City's higher-ups. The First Chief had already left the city. "The Five Burials Temple issued the kill order early this morning, and it quickly spread to all the cities in Lizhou. The bounty is a single Wuhai Pill. This is almost certainly Yang Yun's doing—only he could move so fast." Li Weiyi asked, "Was there a bounty on anyone else?" Zhao Zhizhuo shook his head. "In my view, Yang Yun cares far more about the Fourth Miss's attitude toward you than about the Changlin Gang's losses." Having concrete news actually allowed Li Weiyi to breathe a small sigh of relief. "Then that's fine—the bounty is only one Wuhai Pill. Seeing even the White-Robed Lay Practitioner show up, I thought the Yang clan had issued an absolute execution decree. Tell me, is she truly that formidable?" Zhao Zhizhuo turned solemn. "Brother Li, trust my judgment of people. I once reached the peak of the Wuhai Realm. For someone to fool my senses entirely, she cannot possibly be ordinary. "Don't overthink it, either. In Yang Yun's eyes, you only have the cultivation of seven springs. Offering a Wuhai Pill as a bounty for you is already exceptionally generous. "The White-Robed Lay Practitioner's appearance was purely an accident. She clearly isn't normal—one moment full of compassion, the next wanting to kill. Treat her to a bowl of noodles, and suddenly she won't kill anymore. That person definitely has a screw loose!" Zhao Meng asked, "So are we going into the city or not?" Zhao Zhizhuo said, "Everyone should head to the clan academy to take shelter first. Something major happened in Immortal Burial Town, and even the Young Clan Head has to rush over immediately. With both the First Chief and the Young Clan Head away, staying in the outskirts is too dangerous." "What happened in Immortal Burial Town?" A flood of thoughts rushed through Li Weiyi's mind; after all, the strange occurrences he had witnessed there a month ago were still vivid in his memory. Zhao Zhizhuo shook his head, indicating the Young Clan Head hadn't shared details. Li Weiyi saw everyone out of the courtyard, then suddenly grabbed Zhao Zhizhuo's hand and said solemnly, "Old Zhao, I leave all our companions to you. Take good care of them for me." Zhao Zhizhuo's brow furrowed. "You're not coming with us?" Li Weiyi glanced toward the Baoyue Brothel and the backyard, then forced an easy smile. "I have a feeling they won't let me enter the city. Once I reach the clan academy, what chance would they have to make a move?" "Weiyi, you said it yourself—as martial brothers, we live together or die together," Zhao Meng insisted. Though Cai Yutong didn't know what had happened, she turned back alongside Zhao Meng. Li Weiyi steeled his heart. "A Wuhai Pill is too alluring to them! If I travel with you on the way into the city, it does no one any good. I will only bring slaughter upon you, and you will become my burden, leaving me with no way to flee. "Senior Brother, Senior Sister, wait for my return. When that time comes, we won't need to fear anyone." Leaving behind those words, Li Weiyi sprinted away at full speed along a route he had long planned in his mind, darting like an afterimage toward the Sui River. Almost instantly, numerous figures from several surrounding streets shot after him like arrows loosed from bowstrings. Some wove through the crowds; others leapt across the rooftops. There was even a glittering golden carriage drawn by a silver-horned elk barreling down the street to intercept him. Li Weiyi had already agreed with Senior Coffin that once Zhao Zhizhuo recovered his eight springs, he would send Zhao Meng, Cai Yutong, and the others to Cangli Clan Academy. Only then could he head to the Tomb of the Cang King with peace of mind to walk another, faster path toward becoming a Divine Hidden One. Today's sudden turn of events forced him to move up all of his plans. At this moment, the setting sun was like blood. At this moment, nightfall and killing intent were closing in with every passing breath.