Fachang's face first showed doubt, but Minghui smiled and said, “Senior might not recognize me, but I have long heard Senior's illustrious name. I was present at the Mount Dayang dharma gathering back then, watching right from the foot of the stone steps… I know who you are, Senior!”
His words were hardly pleasant to hear. Fachang had gone to Mount Dayang to receive reprimands, after all, and Minghui admitting he had watched from below meant he had seen Fachang's wretched humiliation in full. Yet Fachang merely sighed.
“I have made a fool of myself before you, Minghui.”
Minghui chuckled. “A fool… Senior is being far too courteous! It was hardly that! When Senior came down the mountain, you walked silently to the foothills, and I was the next to go up. That lord rewarded me with a slap that nearly tore my head clean off. The blow landed on my body, but the pain went straight to my revered master's heart!”
Fachang was struck speechless. Good-natured though he was, he was by no means stupid. He understood the hidden meaning all too clearly:
*A blow struck on your body was a slap across Jinlian's face.*
Though the lineage of the Shanle Path nominally answered to Mount Dayang's orders, in private they were the most rebellious of all. They never dared defy directives openly, but they were seasoned masters of shirking duties and cutting corners. Yet the backbone of the Shanle Path was unyielding; unless they committed some foundational offense, Mount Dayang had no real way to rein them in. Slapping the disciple's face like that was merely a helpless venting of frustration.
From Minghui's tone, Fachang could tell the Shanle Path still harbored deep resentment toward Mount Dayang—and that very penchant for shirking and cunning was precisely what Fachang sought!
Yet Fachang could not speak lightly. Over the years, the lords of the Damu Dharma Realm had actively participated in Mount Dayang's affairs precisely to restrain the Seven Aspects through its influence and truly realize their vision of an earthly paradise. Not only did they lean heavily on Mount Dayang, but their very lineage stemmed from it. Thus, he did not respond, remaining silent.
Minghui glanced at him, discerning that this stubborn monk still retained some reverence for Mount Dayang. Pulling up his sleeves, he smiled.
“Please come inside so we may speak in detail!”
*At least there is one sane mind in Lotus Temple…*
Having stood awkwardly alone for half the day, Fachang was thoroughly uncomfortable. He nodded quickly and stepped forward. But as he saw Jinlian strutting boldly forward, he could endure it no longer. Turning around, he pressed his palms together and pleaded:
“Mahasattva, please put away your dharma treasure!”
Jinlian glared, his mouth opening as if to curse. Minghui stepped forward with an awkward air, blocking their line of sight, and smiled placatingly. “Pray take no offense, pray take no offense…”
As he spoke, Minghui produced a golden kasaya from his sleeve. With a light flick, he draped it over Jinlian and tied a knot at the chest, covering his private parts. Minghui smiled.
“Please!”
Fachang's expression softened considerably. Bypassing the courtyard, he ascended the golden steps behind the main hall. Jinlian sneered behind him.
“Fachang! You are obsessed with mere superficial appearances! Our path views mortals as bare white bones and skulls. Looking deeper in contemplation, they are nothing more than the Five Virtues and the Twelve Qi. Through the glazed contemplation of the sacred teachings, if you cannot even let go of a bit of naked skin, how do you expect to let go of the myriad living beings?”
Fachang took a step forward, pressed his palms together, and answered, “It is precisely the myriad living beings that I cannot let go of.”
Jinlian chuckled. “If you cannot let go, you cannot take up; if you cannot take up, you cannot deliver them. Those who cannot let go of the myriad beings wish to manage them, and those who manage them… in the end want to become their masters. When this one wants to be master and that one wants to be master, endless rancor erupts between master and master—so where is there room left for the beings themselves? Only those who can let go of the myriad beings can propagate the sacred teachings, letting the living beings take responsibility for themselves! Fachang, this inability of yours to let go is precisely what all the cultivators dislike.”
A smile played at the corners of this brash, bandit-like Mahasattva's mouth. For an instant, his eyes shone brightly, suffused with radiance, bearing a faint trace of the sacred aura befitting the master of Lotus Temple. Fachang turned his head away and did not answer.
Minghui did not cultivate doctrines, yet he knew how troublesome his revered master could be, and his heart pounded with anxiety.
Back when Jinlian first went to Mount Dayang and came down, having barely set half a foot back into Lotus Temple, he had spouted outrageous nonsense, calling the Damu Dharma Realm the 'Great Landlord Realm' and the Dayu Dao the 'Lesser Wealthy Realm'—saying it was like a concubine's branch in a great landlord's estate, awkward to the extreme, only waiting for the landlord to die.
He had dubbed the Kongwu Path the 'Brainless and Headless Path,' the Jielü Path the 'Selfish Mute Path,' and as for Wrath siring stupid donkeys and Compassion conceiving mongrels… they were 'the rest of the heretical ways, greatly beguiling the populace.'
Back then, Minghui had hastily chimed in, “Only our Shanle is truly radiant!”
Yet Jinlian had merely spat: “Bah! Neither virtuous nor joyous—it is the Path of Evil Suffering!”
With that precedent in mind, Minghui was genuinely terrified that Jinlian would blurt out 'Great Landlord Realm' in front of Fachang. Raising his brows to smooth over the atmosphere, he gestured toward a seat, cut in immediately, and smiled. “May I ask what arrangements Senior has in mind?”
Fachang pressed his palms together and answered, “I wish to borrow two Mahas. If that proves impossible, one will do… but I will need a larger number of Lianmin. After all, Lotus Temple's lineage flourishes and incense offerings abound—this is one thing you do not lack.”
Minghui nodded and glanced at his master. Jinlian was looking back at him. Master and disciple locked eyes, the unspoken understanding clear between them.
*Going south… will certainly mean clashing with those by the lake…*
This was an exceedingly troublesome matter; Lotus Temple had suffered losses before. Minghui felt an indescribable drumming of anxiety in his chest. Jinlian fixed a heavy gaze on Fachang and said in a low, somber tone, “Fachang, you are determined to make me head south.”
Fachang frowned and replied, “Pardon my bluntness, but this should be a good thing for a Mahasattva, and even more helpful for Fellow Daoist to forge a dharma body… Fellow Daoist… what do you mean by this?”
Minghui's heart skipped a beat, but Jinlian's expression remained unchanged as he sneered, “I need no help whatsoever; I can forge it on my own. But once I am injured, my prior efforts might go entirely to waste. Lotus Temple has stayed out of this precisely to remain secure…”
Fachang grew even more bewildered and said in a low voice, “Naturally, I would not dare hope to move the Mahasattva himself to action, but the other Mahas of your esteemed path… or rather, Mahasattva Minghui here—how could he not be tempted?”
Minghui cursed inwardly, yet his face adopted a mournful expression as he lamented, “I cannot bear to see the living beings slaughtered!”
“Ah?”
Fachang choked on his words, hesitating as understanding dawned on him. He replied, “Whatever requests Fellow Daoist has, please speak freely!”
Master and disciple remained silent together. Fachang gritted his teeth and said, “If two Mahasattvas are willing to depart for me, heading south to lessen the slaughter, I am willing to yield the Dharma Realm's Three Venerables Fruit of Purple Auspice to the two of you this time!”
Minghui's brow twitched, but beside him, Jinlian slapped the table. Spreading his legs wide and resting both hands on his knees, he laughed aloud.
“A straightforward Mahasattva indeed!”
“Then it is settled… I shall not intrude any longer!”
Fachang let out a sigh of relief. Finally freed from having to look at Jinlian, he stood up hastily. Terrified that the man might speak further, he refused to utter another word, stepping straight into the Great Void and vanishing without a trace.
For a time, only master and disciple remained in the vast, empty golden hall. Minghui hesitated to speak, but he saw Jinlian rise. The smile vanished from Jinlian's face, replaced by a chillingly cold expression.
“This matter could not be refused. After all, it is an opportunity. We already turned down the clash between north and south once; turning it down again would inevitably arouse suspicion. Once the price was raised, we had to agree.”
Their concerns were one and the same. Minghui lowered his voice and said, “It is all my fault for dragging Master into this!”
He had stirred up disaster back then. Jinlian had merely examined his magical artifact, yet it brought about a catastrophic crisis: not only was the Immaculate Body of All Buddhas that Jinlian had painstakingly cultivated shattered, but even his soul suffered damage, taking a full century to recover. That indirectly affected his opportunities during the southern-northern contest, delaying Minghui's ascension to the seat of Maha until today… Yet neither held the slightest resentment.
There was no other reason than that the great lord's methods were too terrifying. Though Jinlian was not within the Pure Land, he had been under the watchful eyes of mighty beings… The reason he had dared to pry without restraint back then was that a sliver of his true spirit was lodged in the Pure Land, backed by a Dharma Aspect! If any disturbance arose during his prying, it would inevitably touch the Dharma Aspect; if all remained well, he could swallow the benefits for himself!
Yet even with a sliver of his true spirit lodged in the Pure Land, he had been wounded so grievously, and none of the cultivators had noticed in the slightest! Even Maha Liangli of Hongshan, upon seeing Jinlian in person, had merely sighed over his failure in cultivating the immaculate state. And that terrifying power had struck merely from inspecting Minghui's severed arm inside the magical artifact!
*It was either the Underworld Court or another True Sovereign. If it were the Underworld Court, they could have obliterated Minghui to ashes or, as in the past, made it so no one could deduce anything… Why go to such lengths?*
Though neither knew what Jinlian had truly experienced or what method had tainted his soul, they had early on pinned their suspicions on the level of a True Sovereign—and one who possessed great power yet could not reveal themselves to the outside world!
Later, when the Li clan's Mingyang heritage manifested, Minghui had reported it immediately. At first, with hardly a second thought, both had fixed their target on that Lord Father, Emperor Wei Li Qianyuan.
*He fit the description all too well…*
Yet upon careful consideration, Jinlian had realized something was amiss:
*Wutu possesses such heavenly majesty; how could there be such an oversight? If Li Qianyuan possessed such methods, why would he stand by and watch Luoxia slaughter his descendants?*
Mingyang was a heritage of brilliance, where the strong were mighty and the weak were feeble. The state of the Mingyang heritage was clear for all to see—depraved to the absolute limit. If Li Qianyuan still possessed such capability, it meant he was in peak condition; he could have stepped out and slapped the Dharma Aspects twice without anyone daring to utter a word. Why bother with such convoluted schemes?
Furthermore, no matter how profound that person's marvelous techniques were, northern cultivators harbored a bone-deep reverence for Luoxia and truly refused to believe Luoxia could have miscalculated. Thus, the two shifted their suspicions toward the Douxuan lineage:
*It is a True Sovereign of the Douxuan Path… one who cannot easily show himself right now… or harbors some scheme. Since there is upheaval between north and south, perhaps this is the moment he intends to use us!*
Jinlian dared not speak too openly, saying in a low voice, “Now is not the time to discuss this. Originally, I wanted to walk the bright, open path to the very end, but over the years my cultivation went awry. My soul became aberrant, bringing my progress to a standstill. I had no choice but to secretly practice an avatar technique, dividing my soul to conceal the injury…
“Though it is covered up now, I cannot leave the Pure Land, and I still require a vast amount of Soul-Listening Mulberry Wood. I cannot offer much assistance. I will have your senior brother accompany you. He is ignorant of the world… watch over him more… and do not make things look too contrived…”
Minghui nodded vigorously, feeling bitter inside:
*Were it not for fear of arousing suspicion, I would never head south. Even if I do go south, if Li Zhouwei slaps my face, I will thank him profusely; if he comes at me with his halberd, I will bare my chest to receive it! For now… we can only watch how the situation unfolds…*
Before he could speak, his expression suddenly shifted. Pulling a bright jade talisman from his sleeve, he saw the patterns upon it shifting rapidly before shattering with a sharp crack, dissolving into white sand that spilled through his fingers.
With a tremor of dread, he looked up at Jinlian and whispered, “Yinzhou… there is news!”
“Yinzhou?”
Maha Jinlian was taken aback for a moment before realizing almost instantly.
*The channel entrusted to others… the route for trading with the Li family has borne news!*
The two monks shot to their feet in shock. Locking eyes, an electric shiver of foreboding rose in their hearts:
*Could it be… that lord… intends to use us at this very moment?!*
***
Eastern Sea.
Wind and rain surged as a gale raged.
Golden light sparkled across the island as magical radiances intertwined. A cultivator or two rose and fell across the grounds, seemingly patrolling the perimeter. Waves roared on both sides, and midway through, a figure came into view.
The man possessed an elegant air, resembling a scholar. Clad in a simple white robe, his posture was refined as he flew swiftly through the air, rolling sheets of rain striking his protective light and making it glisten brilliantly.
It was Cui Jueyin.
Having returned home for many years, this direct descendant of the Cui clan possessed cultivation that had grown increasingly profound. Perhaps having trained in secret arts, his eyes shone with vibrant light.
Yet his normally composed brows were now heavily knit with unease. The escape light beneath his feet accelerated, and soon, riding the wind, he touched down toward the sea. The water beneath his feet was murky and dark, as though countless flood dragons were swimming beneath the surface.
In the distance, Chongzhou Island came into view, lined with Cui clan cultivators standing along the shore. All manner of altars and treasure halls had been set up, presenting a solemn sight. Before he could alight on the island, a middle-aged man rode the wind to meet him, his face filled with bitterness as he sighed.
“Second Brother!”
Cui Jueyin nodded silently and followed the man's gaze into the distance. Clouds were billowing into the sky, transforming into the murky light of merging waters, falling like cascading waterfalls that intertwined in brilliant displays.
The middle-aged man lowered his voice. “Second Brother… what are we to do! You… you have always had a way with these things…”
Hearing this, Cui Jueyin let out a heavy sigh.
In truth, his words were not wrong. Back when Li Ximing had visited the island, Cui Xianye had been genuinely terrified. The disciple he offered up, Cui Jueyin, was not the most talented among them, but he had been the most adept at handling affairs—not out of loyalty, but purely out of fear that an ignorant disciple might offend Li Ximing and bring disaster upon the island.
Having served in key positions at Lake Wangyue for decades, Cui Jueyin had grown accustomed to deceit and intrigue. Compared to the Chongzhou disciples who had lived in perpetual peace, he was far more capable. Shaking his head gently, he replied, “Juechen, since they come from the sea, what way could there possibly be? We can only show proper fear and trembling, attending to their every whim.”
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the sea beneath them surged violently with a dull, booming roar. Swelling like a rising hill, a colossal shape broke through the surface, sending up a massive spray of water.
A murky shadow instantly enveloped the island's shore. As the waves curled upward, two heavy, dark hues appeared, revealing a giant, scale-covered beast as massive as a mountain.
The shimmering water reflected off its scales, and the entire coastline fell deathly silent, the light rippling across the surface. Cui Jueyin quietly stepped aside, and Cui Juechen took a timid step forward, bowing low as he called out respectfully:
“This humble cultivator, Cui Juechen of the Chongzhou Cui clan, greets the emissary!”
The giant beast let out a long, droning hum, blasting a spray of snow-white foam into the air. From its back came a casual reprimand, cold and arrogant:
“Who are you! Where is Cui Xianye?!”
Cold sweat immediately broke out across Cui Juechen's skin. Before he could reply, the giant beast let out a sudden roar. Descending through the rain from the sky was a green fish-like creature with scaled wings beneath its ribs. Its bulbous fish eyes glared at him, dripping with displeasure as it sneered:
“To dare neglect the affairs of the Flood Dragon Palace! What insolence!”
These words were delivered with overwhelming arrogance, causing a stir among the Cui clan members as whispers broke out on either side. Cui Jueyin also frowned inwardly:
*I heard that when this protector came a few years ago, he was exceedingly courteous… A few days ago, when someone went to report at the Flood Dragon Palace, he refused to grant an audience, and now he arrives with such aggressive posturing. Seeing him today, his attitude has indeed deteriorated drastically… Could it be he feels the bribes were insufficient… and wants to hike up the price on the spot…*
This was also his first time seeing this sea patrol. Word was that he had been transferred from the south—originally an insignificant demon who, having somehow gained favor, had risen meteorically through the ranks. Now, he was exceptionally difficult to please!
One had to remember that the Cui clan had once presented spiritual items to Dongfang You. Over the years, they had always retained some status beneath the dragonkin; when several highly respected elders had perished during their breakthrough attempts in the past, the Dragon Palace had even dispatched emissaries to pay respects…
Yet without a Violet Palace cultivator, no amount of past favor was anything more than an illusion, diminishing with each passing day. The previous sea patrol had already been far from polite, but now an insignificant demon transferred from some godforsaken corner had become sea patrol, and even he could boss the Cui clan around!
“Patrol Hui… Patrol Hui misunderstands!”
Cui Juechen had already been harassed by him out at sea and was visibly rattled. Trembling, he prostrated himself on the ground and wept, “Grandfather failed his breakthrough and perished last year!”
Evidently sharing his brother's thoughts, he produced several storage bags from his sleeves, holding them up with both hands as he said respectfully, “We were late in reporting and are deeply ashamed. These spiritual resources… are offered to make amends to Your Excellency!”
The fish-like demon sneered and snatched the storage bags from his hands like a gust of wind. Yet his expression remained exceedingly foul. Gripping the storage bags tightly, he sneered:
“Make amends? Did I, your granddaddy, come here to take up office just to hear your apologies? Seeing that your family had some connection with the lake, I showed you some courtesy, but it seems too many smiles have made you forget yourselves!”
His hideous face dripped with slime, yet he slid the storage bags into his sleeves as he spoke with a mocking, sarcastic tone:
“My, my… what kind of people dare to give me a hard time… Master Yangya… what an awe-inspiring temper he has!”
Chapter 1014