Chapter 230 Limitless Supreme Leader
The abbot of Juexiao Temple raised his sceptre. Li Ye’s expression turned stern. The gold rays from the sceptre were too bright and engulfed everything else. They kept emanating from the sceptre, and looked like a flowing stream of light.
This was a technique that Li Ye had never seen before. There were many differences between both worlds. Not only did the Buddhists follow a different path of progression, but they also used methods that Li Ye had never witnessed or heard of. However, he did not hesitate, and he did not stop moving. The Luke Sword had already appeared in his hand by now.
At this moment, Huineng and the other three monks at Kong Kim Realm charged toward Li Ye from different angles, seemingly to buy time for Fa Yi. Li Ye had noticed acutely that there was a terrifying aura contained with the stream of gold light emanating from the scepter, as if an extremely dangerous being was about to appear in the skies.
Various huge Guardian Deity statues appeared behind Huineng and the other Spiritual Master Realm experts as they struck suddenly. Some of them looked poised and stern, while the others looked furious and expressionless respectively. No matter what sort of expression they wore, they gave off an incredible pressure.
“Kneel, Demon!”
Huineng roared at Li Ye. The statue behind him was that of an enraged Bodhisattva, and a ray of gold light shot out from between its brows toward Li Ye.
Li Ye could sense the threat posed by the ray and dodged it without hesitation. A handful of his long hair was struck by the gold ray of light and instantly turned to ash.
“Kneel, Demon!”
“Kneel, Demon!”
At the same time, the other two Kong Kim Realm experts attacked Li Ye.
The statue on the left looked stern and poised as it pressed its palm down onto Li Ye at a great distance away. The one on the right, however, was expressionless, but a gold saber had appeared in its hand from nowhere, and it slashed at Li Ye with the weapon.
Li Ye looked collected as he twisted and shifted, dodging all of the attacks. He could not face attacks from experts at Kong Kim Realm head on; if he were struck by any of them, he would be seriously injured.
After reaching Spiritual Pool Master Realm, Li Ye’s offensive capabilities were even greater than before. This was because the presence of Green Lotus and Dragon Qi made his attacks even more powerful. Combined with the “Purple Clouds from the East” technique, it was hard to defend against him.
The footwork he was using to evade the monks’ attacks belonged to the Treadless Steps portion of the technique, but Li Ye’s defensive capabilities had not been strengthened; it was at ordinary Spiritual Master Realm.
Huineng and the others were surprised and enraged to witness Li Ye evade their blows, and they struck again.
At the same time, the stream of golden light emanating from Fa Yi’s scepter was already pervading the skies, and they looked as though an upside-down gold river or the falling Milky Way at the same time. Its power was already at a frightening level, yet the light kept flowing, as if it was about to reach a certain peak.
Li Ye’s expression turned serious as his Spiritual Qi lit up the numerous engravings on the Luke Sword, instantly allowing the Soaring Nine Dragons pattern to take shape. Spiritual Qi enveloped the entire sword, causing it to look as though a bright blaze was burning, before it eventually transformed into the shape of a green dragon.
The Green Lotus in his Ocean of Qi had been concealed until now. It had bloomed a few times since he stepped into Spiritual Master Realm, and countless crystal-like rays of starlight shone off its petals, giving it a bright appearance. With a single thought, the scattered starlight shone and infused Spiritual Qi onto the Luke Sword through his meridians.
Li Ye’s eyes glittered as he growled, “Step-by-step Lotus!”
He instantly vanished, leaving only a blooming green lotus in the air where he traversed. The lotus seemed to be illusory, and it existed in another dimension. Even though it looked real, it could not be grasped.
At the same time, Huineng and the others were slowed down. They instantly felt as though they were trapped in an icy realm, and that their Spiritual Qi seemed to have frozen up. This caused Huineng to turn pale from shock; he had experienced this before, when his powers of cultivation were suppressed.
His heart beat violently as he witnessed Li Ye vanish. Next, he saw a green lotus blooming in the air right before him, and an intense, dangerous aura engulfed Huineng, making him feel as though someone had poured an entire basin of cold water onto his head. He could not help but shiver.
Huineng could sense that things were not turning out well for him. He unleashed all of his concealed power, and countless rays of gold light emanated from his body. It was too late, however, before they could really shine, the gold rays of light froze up and retreated where they came from. The monk’s head, on the other hand, was already soaring into the skies.
The same thing happened to the other two Spiritual Master Realm experts. All three of their heads leaped into the air when the three lotus flowers bloomed, and the huge gold statues behind them shattered like glass in unison, disappearing into the air like broken dreams.
Li Ye had already appeared in front of Fa Yi by now. Even though there was no lack of monks on the small hill, only four of them were at Spiritual Master Realm. Those weaker than these four did not possess techniques that could harm Li Ye, and if he could deal with the abbot, he would be able to enter Mei County and head west to Chencang. He would be able to receive Li Yan, who was heading to Chang’an, there.
Fa Yi suddenly opened his eyes with amazing speed to reveal an energetic gaze. Even Li Ye instantly felt fear when faced with such a look.
None of the cultivators at the same Realm as Li Ye could see his movements clearly at the speed he unleashed the “Step-by-step lotus” sword technique. At this moment, Li Ye could acutely sense that the leader of the Buddhists in the Tang Empire could read his movements clearly, and there was a limitless authority in his gaze.
His heart trembled. As the leader of all Buddhists in the Empire, Fa Yi was no ordinary cultivator at the Spiritual Master Realm.
Li Ye had his own methods to deal with ordinary cultivators. It was the ability that all exceptional experts in this world possessed, otherwise they would not have been able to call themselves as such. Li Ye was one of them, as was Fa Yi.
At this moment, the green lotus bloomed again. The Luke Sword had already arrived in front of the abbot, and Li Ye did not fear him, no matter how strong he may be. Even though he had not achieved complete dominance before transmigration, he never feared anyone in battle.
Fear caused people to lose, and living in a constant state of fear meant one would lose forever. Everyone was capable of feeling fearful, but Li Ye never allowed fear to influence his fixed pattern of attack before a fight was over.
With a clang, an alms bowl flew in front of Fa Yi. It was completely greenish-black in color and gave off a brownish glow. Upon emerging, it immediately headed toward the Luke Sword.
The two artifacts clashed, and Li Ye could feel a strong vibration coming from his blade, as if it had struck a metallic surface. Even his wrist shook gently for a while.
He revealed himself. The Step-by-step lotus sword technique had already been stopped, and he could not slay Fa Yi. The Luke Sword left a shallow mark on the alms bowl, however, and it had already flown back into Fa Yi’s sleeves.
Li Ye took dozens of steps backward, but he did not hesitate at all. The long sword in his hand was raised again.
The technique was a method of dealing with a group of opponents. It allowed Chen Qing (Li Ye) to slay ordinary cultivators of the same realm, but evidently, it was not enough to deal with Fa Yi, at least, not while he had an artifact to protect him.
Li Ye was not frustrated, even though the stream of golden light in front of him had already covered the Sun and the skies.
The night sky had completely been blocked off, and there were no stars to be seen. Replacing them was a flowing river that was made up of strands of gold, streamer-like rays of light that combined together to obscure the skies.
Fa Yi’s pupils had suddenly turned golden when Li Ye raised his sword. They looked like two pearls that gave off a golden glow, giving him a terrifying appearance.
At the same time, an arm emerged from the curtain-like golden river of light. It was incredibly huge, and only a forearm could be seen. It was already hundreds of feet long, however.
Fa Yi’s saintly visage looked stern as he growled at Li Ye, “Ridding the world of devils and demons is the duty of all Buddhists. Since you’ve already become a demon, I’ll borrow the power of Buddha to suppress you with this ‘Great Guardian Deity Palm of Slaying’! Li Ye, repent now and stop heading on this path of evil. Join us and I’ll allow you to be reincarnated as a novice Buddhist monk in your next life. You’ll be immersed in the world of Buddhism to pay back for your life of Sin!”
“F-u-c-k you!” Li Ye said, laughing coldly.
“Since you can’t be enlightened, your soul and spirit will be destroyed, and you’ll never be reincarnated! I, Fa Yi, the abbot of Juexiao Temple, will suppress you in the name of all Buddhists in this world, all living beings in this world, and all 480 temples!” Fa Yi gave out his sentence gravely. “Great Guardian Deity Palm of Slaying!”
The entire sky shook as the river of gold light flowed even faster. The countless strands of golden light looked like fairy light and descended from the golden “curtains”. It looked as though golden petals were scattered over a radius thousands of feet wide.
The mountains and wilderness beneath were entirely lit up by the rays of golden light, each inch of ground becoming entirely visible. The land looked saintly, as if it had been purified.
Eventually, the entire gold arm emerged. Due to its great size, its muscle fibers were clearly visible.
The arm, which shone like the Sun, came sweeping down toward Li Ye.
Li Ye’s eyes blazed with fighting intent as he raised the Luke Sword high. The Dragon within his Ocean of Qi opened its eyes suddenly to see the Great Guardian Deity’s hand in the air and let out a cry. Its roar traveled out of Li Ye’s body to a great distance, and it was sharp and high pitched, seemingly able to pierce through stone and metal. Anyone within the radius of hundreds of feet was able to hear it clearly.
Green rays of light appeared with the cry, and the seemingly real Dragon Qi emerged from its original vassal, merging into Li Ye’s Spiritual Qi and meridians before traveling to the Luke Sword itself.
At this moment, the blade of the sword, which itself already resembled a green dragon, suddenly became a few times denser and grew longer. A green ray shot into the clouds, and passed through the curtain of golden light. It disappeared out of everyone’s sight and merged into the universe.
The golden-light curtain around the beam of green light dispersed like clouds, revealing a vacuum about 30 meters wide. Moonlight shone down on the vacuum, illuminating Li Ye, who was suspended in mid-air, and the vast wilderness beneath his feet as well.
Li Ye felt that he was no longer wielding a sword, but a dragon that had emerged from the ocean. The blade of his sword gave out multiple cries, as if it were a bronco that had broken free from its reins. It felt as though it wanted to break free of Li Ye’s grasp and fly into the Heavens.
Without hesitation, Li Ye growled and made a powerful slash at the Guardian Deity’s hand with both hands.
The Luke Sword transformed into a beam of green light that flowed forward within the golden curtain of light. It parted the stream of gold light like an icebreaker, and a straight passage was created in its wake, like a sharp sword passing through cloth, and shot toward the huge arm.
Li Ye trembled as a faint beam of Dragon Qi shot out into mid-air from the Luke Sword. It soared into the Nine Heavens, and the immensely long beam of green light in front of the blade suddenly transformed into a huge green dragon.
The dragon’s cries sounded like rumbling thunder, and they rang out through the skies. The golden curtain of light before it shook violently, and numerous cracks appeared within it. After a while, the entire curtain shattered into pieces of cloud-like material that scattered everywhere. In a flash, all of them were gone.
Fa Yi was greatly shocked and turned pale upon witnessing this. He took a step back subconsciously and rubbed his chest, spewing out a mouthful of blood. His pupils, which looked like glittering golden gems, instantly reverted back to their original greyness, and his expression was one full of shock.
“How could this be happening?” he looked in disbelief at the skies.
The huge green dragon met the gigantic Guardian Deity’s arm and swung its claws viciously at the limb. Scratch marks appeared on the serene-looking hand, and countless rays of golden light were clawed off, as if its flesh was being ripped off.
In a flash, the huge dragon was colliding head on with the arm. Gold and green light merged, covering the entire sky. They rumbled, as if they were paints being mixed in a huge cauldron.
They merged only for a brief instant. The golden rays of light were quickly engulfed by the green ones. Soon, none of the former could be seen in the skies, and the scattered droplets of gold light had also completely vanished.
Peace returned to the wilderness, leaving only the bright moon shining down upon it. It was as if the golden stream of light had never appeared at all.
Fa Yi felt as though he had been struck by lightning. He retreated quickly, each step taking him hundreds of feet backward. He kept spitting out blood, and his face soon turned pale. He could not even hold onto his scepter anymore, and it fell from the air.
Li Ye advanced and made a horizontal slash with his sword. A green beam of energy slashed across the sky, which had just become still, toward the abbot.
Fa Yi raised his head in shock and saw the Sword Qi heading toward him, but he was completely unable to defend against it now. He gritted his teeth hard and took off his kasaya, before hurling it into the air. It grew hundreds of feet wide and gold rays of light appeared again.
The Sword Qi struck the kasaya, slashing the gold rays of light into two, forcing it to dissipate. The kasaya itself reverted back to its original size and blew in the wind like a dried-up leaf.
Fa Yi took the opportunity to flee and was nowhere to be seen. His shout, however, could be heard through the air. “Just you wait, Li Ye! The 18 Guardian Deities, 36 Arhats and 800 Warrior Monks of the Buddhists will arrive soon. You’ll meet your doom then! We will prevail!”
Li Ye laughed coldly and did not comment. He observed the scepter and kasaya that he had just obtained, and he looked pleased. They were extremely rare magical artifacts, and ranked only slightly lower in class than the Luke Sword.
The artifacts Fa Yi used were definitely not weak. It was highly possible that they were highly prized treasures of the Buddhists in the Tang Empire, and now they were in Li Ye’s hands.
The abbot had used the power of the scepter to summon the Great Guardian Deity Palm of Slaying and managed to escape with the help of the kasaya. Needless to say, the monk would be instantly slayed the next time they met.
Li Ye kept the two artifacts and returned to the official path. He continued advancing with his arms clasped behind his back.
He headed west.
...
Shushan.
The Taoist sect of Shushan also focused on the Way of Sword. Its disciples did not train in other techniques except for those related to swords. The sword techniques created by the sect were peerless and incomparable.
Each leader of Shushan was women without exception. Legend had it that only female cultivators could understand the true essence of Shushan’s Way of the Sword and control the magic treasure it prized the most highly—the Immortal Inquiring Sword.
The Immortal Inquiring Sword was the most powerful of all Shushan techniques, yet it was incredibly hard for any of its disciples to master it. In fact, it was even harder than climbing the Shushan Pass. Not only did it require a natural aptitude, one also needed luck.
Legend has it that the Immortal Inquiring Sword had its own sentience, and that it could select its own master, like all great talents. This rang true throughout each generation in Shushan. It would only emerge after the appearance of a disciple who could convince it.
Only the leaders of Shushan knew that the Sword had not recognized any master for the last six centuries.
This was not strange. Ever since the emergence of the Shushan sect, the Immortal Inquiring Sword had never emerged more than a few instances.
This time round, however, there were huge changes happening in the world, and Shushan could no longer maintain its neutrality.
In the past, Taoist sects would emerge in times of chaos. Even though the three schools of Confucianism, Militarism and Taoism fought for various lords, the other two were unable to supplant the Taoist sects. The True Dragon that had the ability to govern the world would always be supported by the sects, and it was also the reason why Taoist beliefs were the strongest in this world. Even scholars who became officials and officers in the army chose to become Taoist cultivators.
The imperial court created Imperial Astronomical Observatory to control the various Taoist sects. This meant that the court had to rely on the Observatory’s help to restrain them, and it could not issue orders to the sects directly. In times of chaos, the Observatory’s purpose would be non-existent. The sects would emerge, and neither it nor the imperial court could keep them in check.
This time, the situation was a little different. The large number of Buddhists that had emerged and were supporting the powerful Li Keyong posed a serious threat to the Taoists. This was the biggest threat to the sects they had faced in a millennium, and it was similar to when every school was fighting for dominance then.
During that time, various feudal lords had strengthened their hold over their lands, and there were hundreds of kingdoms. Many schools had also emerged and fought for dominance. Each had its own power base, and the rightful position the Taoist sects was seriously challenged for once.
“The current situation is a little different from that a thousand years ago. Even though each leader and school had its own ideology, they all belonged to the Central Kingdom, and even if the Taoist sects lost, we would have lost to our own kind. There was nothing disgraceful about something like that, and it would still be possible for us to rise again.”
“The Buddhists are a sect that originates from a foreign land, however. Furthermore, we cannot agree with its teachings. They require the people to join them to become vegetarians and pray every day. What would happen if every citizen spoke of doing good, but did not actual work? What would they eat and wear if there was no production, the land was not worked, or no cloth was made? Aren’t they still trying to get the people to work for them? What’s the difference between that and blood sucking pests? If they ruled the world, it would be in ruins.”
Mo Wenchou, the Great Elder of Shushan, spoke. She was walking onto the stone steps up the hill, and they were extremely precipitous. There were more than a thousand steps leading upward, and strangely, they did not curve; the path was completely straight.
It was a breathtaking and chilling sight to behold. Anyone who was weak in mind would most likely fall from the fright of looking behind after ascending half the steps.
Age was catching up with Mo Wenchou, and her hair had turned silver. She was full of energy, however, and her movement was steady. Her faintly discernible aura was either that of Spiritual Master Realm, or halfway there.
A young nimble girl was walking alongside her. She looked like a young maiden, and Mo’s words were apparently directed at her.
“That is not all. Aside from the emergence of the Buddhists, Li Ye has also appeared out of nowhere. Even though he’s Li Xian’s son, he could not practice cultivation for two decades. The Taoist sects have divined that he’s destined to become emperor, but not for long. He’ll end up ruining the empire,” Mo Wenchou said slowly as she raised her head to look at the huge number of steps ahead of her.
“For unknown reasons, however, since he emerged from Cloud-engulfed Mountain, he inherited Yuan Tiangang’s powers and completely changed. I’m not lying, he’s totally different now. His greatly improved levels of cultivation aside, his fate is now inscrutable. Countless reputable elders from the Taoist sects are unable to divine his destiny now, not even with the aid of astrology.”
Mo Wenchou sighed as she turned to look at the girl beside her, her expression mixed. “Li Ye broke through Tongguan, killed Huang Chao and restored Chang’an. The imperial court is bound to reward him handsomely for these great feats, and he’ll become even more influential than Li Xian was in future. This is not the thing that we Taoists fear the most, however. Someone as inscrutable as he unexpectedly possesses so much Heaven-defying Luck. Each of his feats required great amounts of luck to accomplish, and no ordinary person could pull any of them off. From our original calculations, Huang Chao would not have died so early, and the honor of restoring Chang’an...”
Mo Wenchou smiled before continuing. “The honor would have fallen on Li Keyong instead. Li Ye snatched it away from him and the Buddhists, however, much to the delight of our fellow Taoists. If we could support Li Ye, we would. Penglai is in Pinglu anyway.”
“However, he chose not to respect us, or rather, he doesn’t believe in us. He wants us to fall under the control of the imperial court, like the various local offices, and he would have us mingle with ordinary folk and disrupting our cultivation to aid them... the Taoist sects are sects of the Immortals, and we seek to influence the flow of global events. We cannot become government offices!”
Mo Wenchou seemed to be tired and paused, remaining silent for a while. She looked at the girl with concern and hope. “I know that you’ve many feelings for Li Ye, and you wish to only be with him. Now, however, you’ve joined Shushan and can no longer have anything to do with him, otherwise, you’ll be doomed. Our own sect members will get rid of you, and the Immortal Court will not stand idly by as well. As for marriage...”
Mo Wenchou smiled. “If you’re really recognized by the Immortal Inquiring Sword as its master, you’ll be able to gain divine powers and attain immortality in future, thereby joining the Immortal Court. You’ll truly be able to see and become immortal. What’s the purpose of marriage then?”
Only a few hundred steps were left by this time. There seemed to be no end after they reach the peak of the mountain, however. It was covered by clouds, and a stairway that led further up could vaguely be seen.
Above the clouds, beyond the shifting skies, there seemed to be a floating palace at the end of the steps. It looked otherworldly and faraway under the moonlight, and it looked unreal, like a palace of the Immortals.
“The Immortal Inquiring Sword lies there. Any disciple that can walk up these jade stairs and reach the Immortal Inquiring Palace will stand a chance of being recognized by the Sword as its master and thus be able to wield it. He or she will then be able to dominate the world as a representative of our sect. All Taoist sects will bow before its might.”
“Since ancient times, Sichuan has been the Kingdom of Heaven. Even though there have been Sons of Heaven, none of them were able to rule the entire Central Plains. If you’re able to wield the Immortal Inquiring Sword, this would be possible.”
Mo Wenchou looked at the girl again. This time, her motherly look was gone, and it had been replaced by an extremely piercing gaze. “My pupil, you’ll no longer be the Tang Empire’s Duchess of Li once you walk up those jade stairs. You’ll become a disciple of Shushan, and the Sword Wielder! Have you thought clearly about this?”
The girl in front of Mo Wenchou was Wu You.
“Li Ye has become formidable, and Li Yan will definitely reward him well after returning to court. He’ll be impossible to handle in future, so he has to die now. Even though the Taoist sects have already made arrangements, and the Buddhists want him dead as well, the first thing you have to do, if you somehow manage to master the Sword and become the Sword Wielder of Shushan, is to kill him.”
She looked closely at Wu You and continued slowly, speaking word by word, “Will YOU BE ABLE TO DO THAT?”
Wu You was looking blankly at the jade steps and did not seem to have heard Mo Wenchou.
They formed the stairway to Heaven, but Wu You seemed to be lost. Her gaze was entirely blank.
After the Emperor fled to Shu, Wu Hongshan had brought Wu You with him and caught up with the mobile column very quickly, entering Sichuan along with it. They settled down in Chengdu after that. The Taoist sects were seeking their fortune during this time of Chaos to increase their strength. It was thus that Mo Wenchou met Wu You in Chengdu and determined her divine aura.
Mo Wenchou wanted to take Wu You as her pupil immediately, much to the great delight of Wu Hongshan. During times like this, even the Imperial Clan and nobles were unable to guarantee their safety. If Wu You could become the disciple of Shushan, one of the five great Taoist sects, she would be able to protect herself adequately.
In the middle of the very night that Mo Wenchou brought Wu You back to Shushan, swords suddenly flew across the mountains, and there were resounding sword echoes that came from Immortal Inquiring Palace. They sounded full of expectation, as if they were summoning someone.
The leader of Shushan was greatly pleased to hear the cries of the Immortal Inquiring Sword, which had been dormant for six centuries. The entire mountain shook, and she tested each disciple, realizing that ripples of Spiritual Qi appeared on the cloud only when Wu You got closer to the Immortal Inquiring Palace.
It led to this.
Shushan had no other choice, despite knowing that Wu You and Li Ye loved each other, as this was a rare chance that appeared once every few generations. Furthermore, romance was inconsequential compared to the path to Immortality. Everything would be resolved once the destined Sword Wielder gained the ability to fly and attain Immortality.
“You’ll have to sever all ties to your emotions if you wish to master the Sword and attain Immortality. Personal feelings are nothing compared to the lives of all beings. If you can’t do that, you’ll not be able to view all life as equal, and you’ll be unable to touch the Great Tao and become an Immortal. Wouldn’t loving all life be greater than love for a single person? The Heavens and Earth treat all beings as straw dogs. Severing all emotion is not to become heartless, but to love all life forms. My pupil, do you understand this?”
“My pupil, are you willing to master the Sword and kill Li Ye for Shushan?” Mo Wenchou asked again, upon realizing that Wu You was still silent.
A cool mountainous breeze swept across the clouds, containing a vague aura from the Immortal Palace. It blew past both women, and Wu You’s exquisite facial features seemed a little pale under the moonlight.
She bit her delicate lips, her blank look eventually replaced by one of comprehension and resoluteness. She bowed in respect at Mo Wenchou. “I’m willing,” she replied, her clear voice as fleeting as dew in the clouds.
A satisfied smile appeared on Mo Wenchou’s aged face. Her eyes, which had seen so much pain, were filled with hope and appreciation. “Go. If you’re lucky enough, you’ll be recognized by the Immortal Inquiring Sword,” she said gently.
Wu You replied softly, her delicate body turning ramrod straight. She strode forward slowly and took one step up the jade steps in front of her, advancing steadily.
Mo Wenchou’s eyes lit up.
The first step was crucial for all cultivators who had reached this place. If one was able to advance forward, one could be hopeful of reaching the Great Tao. If not, one was just an ordinary practitioner.
Wu You kept walking upward.
Mo Wenchou slowly bowed with great reverence and hope toward Wu You, as the girl stepped nimbly. “Limitless Supreme Leader,” she said.
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