Chapter 1274: Chapter 699: Demon Sect Saintess
The long queue of monks came to a halt, each face solemn and dead silent. Although the line stretched endlessly, its position unchanged, they now stood like protectors and Arhats guarding the Bodhisattva beneath the lotus seat.
Yin Tingxue trembled lightly all over, her complexion turning pale. She stepped back, muttering:
"Supreme Ming Venerable, ten directions of light, may my body and mind be pure..."
For almost the first time, Chen Yi heard a prayer from the Divine Sect uttered by this Demon Sect Saintess.
So much time has passed, and the Little Fox has always been obedient and cute. Sometimes, Chen Yi even forgot that Yin Tingxue was the Saintess, let alone remembering she could recite the Divine Sect’s prayers.
After all, Princess Xiang Yin Tingxue was not originally from the Demon Sect. Since childhood, she read Buddhist scriptures with her mother, and her world view was confined within the Capital City. After her mother’s passing, she became further restricted to the Prince Mansion, within the small Yintai Temple.
Her mother’s death left the young girl isolated, yet she didn’t mind.
The Ming’an Divine Sect borrowed many Buddhist stories, so much so that even its Sect Hierarch Gongsun Guan could easily reference them. However, essentially, the Divine Sect is opposed to the Buddhist Sect. The Buddhist Sect preaches "emptiness," all actions impermanent, all laws selfless, whereas the Divine Sect is the opposite, where all actions follow the principles of the Ming Venerable, and all laws originate from the Ming Venerable.
The Medicine Buddha slowly moved forward, faint Buddha Light encircling the back of her head. She extended a hand, reaching toward Yin Tingxue like a Bodhisattva offering dew.
Yin Tingxue retreated step by step, continuously chanting the Divine Sect’s prayer.
However, the distance between the two did not shorten.
The Medicine Buddha seemed to take a single step, but the ground shortened by four or five steps beneath her feet. In only a few breaths, she was before Yin Tingxue.
Chen Yi’s hand once more reached for the sword hilt.
This time, he didn’t act immediately, hesitating and intending to see what would happen. Yet, with the Medicine Buddha closing in on Yin Tingxue, he again planned to make a move.
Little Fox...
Chen Yi’s gaze was indescribable, carrying a trace of hope.
He didn’t even know where this hope came from. Didn’t he dislike being the mother of Yin Tingxue?
Just as the thought settled,
Hiss!
A cold light suddenly tore through the stagnant air, piercing straight through.
Donggong Ruoshu looked hurriedly to see, only to find Chen Yi unmoving.
It was not Chen Yi who drew the sword, but Yin Tingxue!
The long sword in her hand pierced through the heart of the Medicine Buddha, exposing a long, snow-white part glinting coldly.
In the cold light, the Demon Sect Saintess’s face twisted with ferocity, full of anger and struggle. Chen Yi had seen it before, when she hunted him down across thousands of miles in a past life. It was the same expression.
The Medicine Buddha’s body trembled violently, her face instantly turning ashen, life seemingly slipping away rapidly.
As the Demon Sect Saintess pushed the sword further, the Medicine Buddha’s tremor grew smaller and smaller. Yet, she still held on, forcing a trace of affection on her face, lifting her hand with difficulty, trying to touch Yin Tingxue’s cheek, breathing her last breath: "Tingxue... why don’t you... understand..."
As the words fell, the Demon Sect Saintess mercilessly increased her strength.
Twisting her wrist sharply, the sword tip inside the other’s body cruelly churned, shattering that already ethereal figure completely, dissipating into specks of flowing light.
Yin Tingxue suddenly turned, facing the long and silent queue of monks. The last trace of confusion in her eyes vanished, replaced by an almost mad killing intent, transforming her into black lightning, following the sword as she plunged into the crowd of monks.
Where the sword light rose, it was like pale lightning bursting through the dark night.
Strangely, none of the monks resisted this sudden massacre, nor did anyone flee.
They maintained their posture with hands clasped, some even closing their eyes and bowing their heads, softly reciting unfinished scriptures, with the monotonous and hollow knocking of the wooden fish continuing, thud, thud.
A bald head rolled to the ground, yet his face showed no fear, his eyes slightly closed, lips seemingly carrying a slight, elusive smile. Next to him, an old monk continued to strike the wooden fish, the rhythm unwavering until the sword passed over his neck, and the sound of the wooden fish abruptly stopped as the head flew, lips still faintly moving, reciting the unfinished scriptures.
Blood spattered in all directions.
The sword blade swept across necks, heads rolled; punctured chests, blood gushed... They silently bore it, as if this slaughter were a predestined sacrifice, resembling silent stalks of wheat falling to the sickle.
Donggong Ruoshu watched, his soul nearly scattering, too shocked to make a sound, and Chen Yi stood frozen, his gaze firmly following the figure within the blood splatter.
Blood freely splashed like ink, staining the alleys, splattering the mottled walls on both sides.
Yin Tingxue slew more viciously, her sword moves growing increasingly wild, reciting prayers faster and louder, her murderous demeanor starkly contrasted with the docile and gentle Little Fox in Chen Yi’s memory.
"So...so terrifying..." Donggong Ruoshu shivered, his voice trembling, "How could she become like this..."
She had experienced killing early on, yet had never seen such a scene of offering oneself to slaughter, never seen Yin Tingxue in such a crazed state. How could this still be the Little Fox who sometimes cleverly attached herself to Chen Yi?
It was clear she was a Demon Sect Saintess.
Chen Yi remained silent, simply listening quietly.
The prayers grew more urgent among the blood spray, her figure weaving back and forth, hands increasingly shaky, watching Yin Tingxue’s sword momentum growing more fierce, the moves increasingly chaotic, as if wanting to shred everything before her along with part of herself.
Blood splattered along the long street.
When her sword was already full of nicks, she finally stopped.
Before her eyes was a sea of red, robes of monks fallen to the ground, along with prayer beads, wooden fish, and lotus platforms...
Yin Tingxue’s vision was filled with blood, making everything unclear. She numbly walked past the bodies.
A figure suddenly came from the blurred sea of blood, and Yin Tingxue instinctively swung her sword toward it.
He easily blocked the sword, turned his hand over, and instantly seized Yin Tingxue’s wrist. She trembled abruptly, recovering her mind, attempting to draw the sword and strike again, but was firmly caught, unable to move.
Chen Yi gripped her wrist’s acupoint, his faintly narrowed gaze meeting her eyes, red and numbed from killing.
She almost uttered each word: "You... must... die too!"
But despite this, the seized sword tip was powerless to rise. She tried to draw near and push him away fiercely, but had no strength left, her eyes vacant, murmuring incessantly...
"You must die too..."
With words that fell, she fainted senselessly into Chen Yi’s embrace.
.........
Crack.
In this World of Ignorance, the campfire sparked for a moment, and then the small flame solidified on the pile of wood, no matter how much Chen Yi wished for, it wouldn’t move.
Chen Yi glanced over at Yin Tingxue, lying asleep on the bed, not knowing what to say.
His heart was conflicted.
Yin Tingxue was always obedient and charming, always understanding his intentions, compliant in every way. Since marrying, his emotions had rarely been this complex.
But the Yin Tingxue before him wasn’t entirely his Little Fox, rather... the Demon Sect Saintess.
In the firelight, Chen Yi gazed at her sleeping face, murmuring incessantly,
"But no matter what, the Little Fox is still the Little Fox..."
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