My Enemy Became My Cultivation Companion

Chapter 1293: Chapter 711: Escaped Again? (Double-Length)_2

Zhou Yitang’s gaze lingered on her for a moment, then passed her, once again focusing on Yin Tingxue in the pavilion, frowning as if enduring an invisible torment.

Her face held no extra expression, her single arm hanging naturally at her side,

"We can begin."

.........

The crowd all displayed demon forms.

Under the gazes twisted with pain, madness, and plea from thousands, amidst the deafening chants and mixed sounds of moaning wails, Chen Yi showed no expression, stepping onto the golden light-shrouded high altar paved with petals, one step at a time.

His figure stood tall as his robes fluttered with the fierce mountain winds and heavy sandalwood scent, clashing with the solemnly adorned and Buddha Light-filled surroundings, like a drop of thick ink into a golden ocean.

The sandalwood was so dense it almost turned into tangible white giant pythons, winding around the entire altar and burrowing into everyone’s mouth, nose, heart, and lungs.

The Medicine Buddha Statue stood towering, the Glazed Buddha Light it emanated heavy as a mountain, possessing matchless compassion and imposing pressure, seemingly about to cleanse all agony and suffering in the world.

Master Huiming stood beside the Buddha; the enigmatic calm on his face finally cracked, replaced by a near-humble plea, he stared intently at Chen Yi, his dry lips trembling slightly, as if silently shouting.

It seemed like years ago, he also gazed at Yin Tingxue this way, gazed at a Buddha Seed.

Standing at the edge of the high altar, Chen Yi’s eyes were like cold electricity, slowly sweeping over the boundless sea of suffering below, composed of countless twisted, roaring, writhing demon forms.

Greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, doubt, birth, old age, sickness, death, meeting with hatred, separation from love, unfulfilled desires, the blazing five aggregates... the human world’s eight sufferings and three poisons were revealed in full at this moment.

He felt neither pity nor disgust, only examining this hellish scroll of gathered karmic force with an almost cruel calm.

Just then, a statue of Sunlight Bodhisattva standing left of the Medicine Buddha abruptly trembled fiercely, first with a faint buzzing, then a clear shaking of the entire statue, as though something within was about to break free.

"Bodhisattva! The Bodhisattva is manifesting again!"

"It’s Sunlight Bodhisattva! The Bodhisattva senses our suffering!"

"Great Compassionate Sunlight Bodhisattva Mahasattva!"

The stage was instantly filled with cries of pain and fervor, many distorted worshippers struggled to bow towards the trembling Bodhisattva statue.

Master Huiming was also drawn to this anomaly; he first looked around anxiously, hoarsely asking, "Where... where is the female patron with the Medicine Buddha appearance? Where is she?!"

He seemed to be expecting some event of two Buddhas crossing together, yet his eyes only found chaos and Chen Yi’s back.

He shook his head dejectedly, murmuring resignedly, "Enough, enough... a Buddha... a Buddha descending is already immeasurable merit... Mr. Chen! Please... please save them! Save them from this worldly ignorance suffering!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Yi’s lips seemed to curl slightly, his response was unusually terse, even carrying a hint of laziness:

"Alright, alright."

The echo of "alright" hadn’t faded when Chen Yi’s figure moved.

Instead of performing profound Buddhist Law as anticipated, his form abruptly returned like a phantom and suddenly drew his blade, a blade of ultimate cold light bursting forth, directing straight towards the Medicine Buddha in Luminous Buddha form with no flourish.

Crack—Boom!!!

The crisp sound of shattering and the heavy explosion rang almost simultaneously!

The seemingly indestructible Glazed Buddha Body, starting from the brow, a sinister crack quickly spread downward, and then the entire giant Buddha collapsed with a roar.

Countless glazed fragments mixed with golden light spots splattered in all directions.

The stage fell into a death-like silence, followed by screams and wails even more horrific and despairing than when the demon forms showed earlier.

Master Huiming’s eyes were wide with rage and despair, pointing at Chen Yi, throat making "creak" sounds, yet unable to utter a single word, as though all energy had been drained from him.

However, everything happened too fast, no one could stop it.

Amidst the scattered fragments of the Buddha body and the boiling despair and horror, Chen Yi slowly walked forth, shaking the No Cluttered Thoughts in his hand, he soon drew the sword, the blade emitted no radiance, yet it carried a deathly stillness and killing intent deeper than the surrounding demon forms.

He held the sword horizontally before him, his gaze calmly sweeping over the "masses" below who were collapsing due to the Buddha statue’s crumbling, his voice not loud but clear over all the noise,

"Sorry, old monk."

"That supposed Joyful Buddha appearance you spoke of, I cannot manifest."

The blade lifted, pointing toward the boundless sea of suffering below.

"But since I must save others..."

"Then I can only do so... by killing."

......

Her steps were unsteady, as if she were treading on cotton, or dragging invisible shackles.

Her consciousness was muddled, as if she had just struggled out of a long and painful nightmare, yet her soul was still half-lost at the temple’s gate.

Her figure was as thin as a dead leaf that might disperse at any moment. She didn’t know how she made her way back, only felt like a wandering ghost.

Her memory was fragmented, her thoughts stagnant.

She didn’t ponder why she couldn’t push open that door, nor think about Ming Venerable’s vague guidance, or even about Chen Yi, whom she had left alone in that bizarre ritual.

A deep exhaustion and emptiness seized her, making her merely walk aimlessly, like a true ghost, drifting in an endless abyss of ignorance.

Mysteriously, there appeared a glimmer of light ahead.

One point, then two, and thereafter a hazy glow, not the dead silence of the World of Ignorance itself, but carrying a certain... warm texture.

That glow gradually expanded, eventually enveloping her completely.

Yin Tingxue reflexively squinted her eyes; having been in the dark for so long, the sudden brightness stabbed her eyes painfully, even bringing physiological tears.

The light was clear and gentle, yet imbued with an indescribable majesty, resembling the Buddha Light in the temple of her memory.

It was as if she had stepped from a pitch-black room into a hall illuminated by countless lamps.

However, her heart was still empty.

No joy from seeing the light, no relief from escaping the darkness, not even any reverence or aversion that such "Buddha Light" should inspire. She merely stood bewildered, like a vessel emptied of content, not knowing whence she came, why she was here, or where she would go.

As her eyes gradually adapted to the light, she suddenly saw clearly,

Where was there any solemn Buddhist land, where was there any pure dojo!

What lay before her was a true mountain of corpses and a sea of blood!

The corpses of believers, manifesting various demon forms, were piled like mountains, dark red blood pooling into a lake, almost submerging her ankles, the air thick with a nauseating stench of blood, replacing the ethereal sandalwood.

And a figure stood atop the sea of blood, slowly sheathing a sword, with a ghost hovering beside him.

Despite the pervasive bloodshed,

Despite the terrifying sight before her, despite the aura of murderous intent more chilling than the sea of corpses that emanated from the standing figure,

She was involuntarily drawn toward him.

As if he were the only light in this land of despair, the only certainty in this ignorance.

Was it him... who brought her thoughts to fruition...?

He seemed to sense her approach, the figure in the black robe slowly turned around.

His face, stained with some dried blood, bore no expression, except for those eyes that looked at her, deep as ancient wells, yet at the bottom of the well burned a small complex light.

"Little Fox, did you run away again?"

His voice sounded, not loud, yet clearly reaching her ears, carrying a familiar teasing tone.

The words reached her ears.

For some reason, she shivered instinctively, but the next moment, she was embraced in a warm hug.

"Heh, I won’t hold it against you."

Held tightly in this embrace where blood and warmth intertwined, listening to his steady heartbeat beneath his chest, Yin Tingxue’s rigid body slowly softened.

She closed her eyes, burying her face in his blood-stained lapel, her once empty heart seemingly finding, at last, an anchor to temporarily rest upon.

Whether beneath this anchor lay an abyss or the other shore, at this moment, she was too weary to ponder.