Zhen Biyu ordered his troops to retreat. This battle revealed one of her weaknesses–she did not train her forces properly. In truth, she did not put too much emphasis on them.
After the Cleanup, she spent most of her time waking Emperor Five Heart's memory while also trying to hide her changes from the Five Element Balance Palace.
As such, she had no time to train her troops properly. Furthermore, she also did not think these cannon fodder soldiers would serve any real purpose in this battle.
By underestimating the value of these troops, she failed to bring out their true values or train any peerless generals near the level of Li Jun or Di Jiaying.
'It's too late for regret now,' as Zhen Biyu thought of the consequences. When dealing with people like Wang Wei, she will have difficulty bypassing their well-trained troops and peerless generals on par with most Heaven Chosen.
While she was analyzing her next step, Feng Heng was already prepared. He combined with his troops to create a unique array–Golden Buddha Array.
A magic circle enveloped Feng Heng as the center, allowing him to disappear. He then turned into a humongous golden Buddha towering over his opponent.
[Palm of Regret]
Feng Heng's Buddha Form pressed its gigantic palm toward Zhen Biyu, who immediately felt her emotion running out of control. She heard countless voices telling her how she was stupid not to properly train her troops, forcing her into this embarrassing situation.
However, these voices were only the type of the iceberg. Soon after, Zhen Biyu found herself unable to control her thoughts. All kinds of regret flooded her soul, rendering her paralyzed.
She regretted doing something as daring as deceiving Heavenly Dao and interfering in various World Communities' Heaven Will Battle. After all, such an act would definitely come to bite her back–karma is not a joke.
She regretted she never dared to ascend to the upper dimension because of the challenges ahead. Her action of cultivating in the lower dimension would be fine if it were simply out of caution. Unfortunately, she feared the fact that she was only a bigger ant in the upper dimension.
As such, her avoidance has some effect on her Dao Heart.
Finally, she regretted how she treated some of her clones. A few gained sentience and had their own thoughts and ideas. However, she ruthlessly destroyed them for her selfish desire.
As all these regrets flooded her mind, Zhen Biyu's Primordial Spirit began to collapse.
'No, I can't be overwhelmed by regret,' she thought at the last moment before this technique finished her off. So, she used her Fire Dao to purify her mind, entering a state of emptiness, allowing her to regain control of her mind.
Simultaneously, a yellow shield containing the power of earth appeared above her head to block Feng Heng's palm.
'What a terrifying technique,' analyzed Zhen Biyu. She is a Great Emperor with a deep understanding of the soul and mind. And yet, she still suffered from this palm. Even her decrease in strength cannot explain the reason for such a tremendous failure.
'I once heard that in the early creation of Buddhism, they only cultivated the soul and mind, believing the flesh was a burden to the path of enlightenment. It was only later they corrected this worldview. But, regardless of this change, the Buddhist Sect has always been known for its Soul and Mind Techniques.'
Without hesitating, Zhen Biyu created a five-layered shield around her Primordial Spirit. Afterward, she borrowed the ability of her Pure Heart to allow her mind to be pure and free of distraction.
'No, something is wrong,' thought Zhen Biyu. 'My mind has a small flaw. Although well-hidden, it's there.'
Sadly, she did not have time to find the source of her flaw. Feng Heng's Yin-Yang Eyes can see the flaw in all things. So, he immediately detected the flaw in her mind.
[Liberation of the Mind]
Buddhism believes in the liberation from negative emotions like fear and cowardice. And such emotions are usually the result of either lack of fundamental understanding of Heaven and Earth or worldly attachment.
Zhen Biyu, or Emperor Five Heart's fear, originated from her desire for strength, power, and weakness. So, the second palm attack sought to liberate her from this fear.
So, as Feng Heng's second palm descended from the heavens, Zhen Biyu once again found herself in a daze. She had the sudden urge to abandon all her ambitions of taking the Heaven Will and increasing her understanding of the Grand Dao Source.
'Over the years, I've spent so much time sealed in a lonely place, hiding from the detection of True Heavenly Dao. For eons, I have not seen or spoken to anyone.
'If not for the memories and experience of my clones, I do not know whether I could survive the loneliness. Maybe, it's a good idea to live a normal life.
'Life in the upper dimension is not so scary. Many Emperors have ascended and achieved great things. Since they could do it, why can't I? Why do I have to be afraid of something I haven't experienced yet?'
The more she thought about it, the better the idea was. No one wants to live in fear their entire life. So, now that she was awakened and freed her mind from her fears, she felt a heavy burden lifted from her shoulder.
Bang!
Her Sea of Consciousness trembled, and a flower began to bloom from her Primordial Spirit. At the last moment before her soul collapsed, her passive Domain activated, and the Wood Dao used life energy to heal her soul, waking her up in the process.
'Damn it,' cursed Zhen Biyu.
Boom!
Her body flew thousands of meters away. Although she woke up from the Mind Attack, she was still too late, and Feng Heng's physical attack reached her. Luckily, a Metal Armor appeared on her body as protection.
ZHen Biyi crashed into a sea of flame below her. However, she soon got back on her feet, wiping the blood in the corner of her mouth. She opened her mouth to swallow the flame in the surroundings to heal her injuries.
[Secret Technique: Myriad Soul Projection]
Thousands of souls appeared in Zhen Biyu's Sea of Consciousness. These souls looked precisely like her Primordial Spirit, except they looked less tangible and more phantom-like.
'I can now redirect all his mind attacks to these soul projections–even if he targets the flaw in my mind.'
Zhen Biyu was calm despite her minor loss. She was not angered because her pride as a Great Emperor was injured. After all, most of her clones lose the battle for one reason or another.
Although she placed more emphasis and resources on this clone because this generation had plenty of Eternal Destiny, it would not affect Emperor Five Heart if she lost.
[Palm of Compassion]
Feng Heng attacked for the third time, and the mode of attack was the same–a palm attack powered by a mind-based technique. However, this spell was even more overbearing than the first two.
The palm did one thing–completely override the enemy's all emotions and turn them into pure compassion. So, anyone hit by this attack would turn into the kindness, most selfless, and altruistic individual between Heaven and Earth.
Their mind will have no negative emotions. No, they won't have any other emotions like joy or a sense of accomplishment–they will only feel compassion and have the desire to display said compassion to the world.
As the palm descended, Zhen Biyu frowned as she sensed her soul projections dying in the hundreds every passing second.
'It's truly a scary technique. Did the Western Pure Land inspire it?'
From this clone, she knew one of the forbidden lands could forcibly turn people into worshippers of Buddhism, even forcibly altering the nature of their Grand Dao Source.
'Luckily, his attack has not reached such a level.'
She took a deep breath to calm down before going on the offensive. A mighty spear composed entirely of flame appeared above her head. Under Zhen Buyu's control, it rushed toward the palm and easily destroyed it.
Then, the spear continued to its destination toward Feng Heng's Golden Buddha Form. Like any metal, after reaching its melting points, the fire spear burned through the Buddha, destroying the formation.
Feng Heng's genuine body appeared, floating above and looking down on her while frowning.
'This place is full of fire energy, boosting all Fire Techniques. Such an environment is too favorable to someone who cultivated the Five Element Dao.'
Feng Heng waved his hand to remove his legions and prevent them from suffering from calamity due to this battle. After all, these people are the first forces of Buddhism in this world.
[Palm of Love]
The monk generated another palm technique, which seemed extremely rapid compared to the others. Zhen Biyu responded swiftly and blocked it.
'No, something is wrong. He should know this kind of attack is useless to me. So, this attack is a distraction.'
Her mind moved rapidly. Sadly, she was still too late. So, she watched how the flame in this entire dimension was extinguished. Zhen Biyu detected how her opponent forcibly changed the laws of this space, removing the fact that the Fire Laws dominated this place.
'Losing the home advantage? That's fine with me.'
Although she thought as such, she felt annoyed that she did not react in time to such an obvious tactic. Regardless, she had no intention of relying on the environmental advantage to win this battle.
She had plenty of confidence in herself and her Dao.
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