Chapter 250 Seeing Old Friends
After chanting “Amitabha”, Tian Luo’s expression was no different. He actually returned to peace. At this moment, he was a monk that had seen through the world and rid himself of any dust. He lowered his head and closed his eyes. He dropped from the heights of fighting for power and landed back on earth.
Li Ye stood in front of Tian Luo.
Tian Luo glanced at Li Ye with neither sadness nor joy. There was also no demand and desire. He slowly said, “For thousands of years, countless monks roamed the world with one thought for Buddha and one for life. The world is big and full of misery. Buddhism only wants to guide people to do good, and establish a Buddhist state without bullying or evil. The world is in chaos, anyone with a strong force and horses could be the emperor. When Buddhism comes out into the world and begins killing, we only mean to do good things, just as same as the feudal princes. Is that wrong?”
Li Ye saw Tian Luo’s expression, and knew that he was not lying. So he did not immediately behead him. At this moment, Li Ye was also not afraid of him lying. Having listened to Tian Luo’s words, Li Ye added, “That’s right.”
Tian Luo seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. After chanting “Amitabha”, he asked seriously, “If it is correct, why is it that Buddhism’s plan for eight hundred years had been destroyed in one day? Now, even the Great Six Paths of Reincarnation Formation is destroyed.”
Li Ye replied, “It’s the law of the jungle. You are not strong enough. It is as simple as that. In the Tang Empire, the people are outstanding with strong ancestry and countless heroes. So it has thrived for hundreds of generations. For thousands of years, countless foreign enemies coveted this blessed land, but no one could steal the Divine land. From the moment when Buddhism had the intention of taking over the Divine land, they were doomed to fail.”
“The Divine land, the Tang Empire...” Tian Luo frowned and contemplated. Just moments later, enlightenment showed on his face and he added, “I understand. Even if the five Taoist sects are already in collapse, and the feudal princes of the Tang Empire fight among themselves, the Divine land is still powerful, and anyone who wants to fish in troubled waters is just delusional.”
Tian Luo repeated a Buddhist chant once again, and slowly bowed his head, “Thank you for the explanation. I have no regrets now. I beg for the forgiveness from the Tang Empire and Buddhism. I am willing pay for my sins with death.”
Li Ye nodded and slowly lifted up the Luke Sword, and suddenly sliced down.
A stream of blood splashed on the ground, and Tian Luo slowly fell.
At the foot of Qi Mountain, on the gentle slope, hundreds of soldiers were sitting cross-legged and chanting Buddhist mantras. Before long, all of them burst into white flames and passed into Parinirvana.
Li Ye floated down and returned to Li Xian and others. They all watched the monks passing into Parinirvana in the white flames.
Guardian warriors and arhats are dead, now Fa Yi and Tian Luo are dead. These monks were unable to compete with Li Ye and his crew. If they did not pass into Parinirvanaon immediately, they would be slaughtered in the same place. The way they chose to end their lives was honorable, at least keeping the last trace of dignity.
“Buddhism’s intentions on coming out into the world have been ruined. The Tang Dynasty, once again defended the dignity of this land and the dignity of the people. We Tang Empire cultivators were born here and grown here. This battle we put up did not shame our ancestors’ inheritance, we did this land proud!” Chu Nanhuai heaved a long sigh. For the first time, his usual shameless face now was serious.
Nangong Diyi was relaxed and excited at the same time. But he was holding his Awaken Sword tightly, “We Tang Empire cultivators, are number one no matter where we go.”
“Buddhism will not cause any trouble for the Tang Empire for some time, but the challenges are not over for the Tang Empire,” said Li Xian solemnly. The old Prince An was never at ease, he was always concerned for his people and his country. He put his country and his people before anything. He turned towards Chu Nanhuai and made an obeisance by cupping one hand in the other before one’s chest, “Pleasure seeing you Senior Brother.”
“Senior Brother?”
Upon hearing him call the name ‘Li Xian’, Li Ye, Su Emei, Wei Xiaozhuang and others were all taken aback.
“Alas, Junior brother, it’s been a while, I’ve missed you!” The solemn expression on Chu Nanhuai’s face was suddenly replaced by a wretched one. He placed his hand on Li Xian shoulders and asked with a wink, “Did you bring wine? I’m a poor man, I can’t even afford cheap one, much less top shelf stuff! If you brought it, take it out and share.”
Though Li Xian was a wise and respected gentleman almost saint like, even he was speechless when faced with Chu Nanhuai’s attitude. He added with a bitter laugh, “Senior Brother, I did not bring any. I’ve come here to sacrifice my life, how could I bring wine...”
“I have wine!” Nangong Diyi’s ostentation was suddenly gone upon hearing the word wine. He excitedly put his hand up and took out his bags of wine.
Chu Nanhuai’s eye lit up and immediately forgot about his long-separated junior brother. He went over to Nangong Diyi like a gust of wind and almost snatched the wine bag. He took off the lid and took a large sip and he was immediately intoxicated. “Great wine!”
He then sat with Nangong Diyi and began drinking happily.
To everyone’s surprise, Li Xian actually came over and also grabbed a wine bag. He too joined the drinking party.
“I thought you’ve put your desires aside and cut all your ties of the world? How come you’re also drinking?”
“Senior Brother, don’t say that. Haven’t you heard the expression, if the heavens did not love wine, then, there would be no wine star. And if earth did not love wine, there would be no wine fountain. So both heaven and earth love wine, loving wine is not doing wrong by the heavens...three goblets allows you to comprehend the Great Tao, and a gallon could make you be one with nature...”
The tree drunks had already begun to drinking to their heart’s content and discussing world affairs. But Li Ye, Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang all looked at each other with weird expressions.
Now they understood why they were destined to meet and be friends.
It was not a coincidence. Chu Nanhuai was actually a White Deer Sect disciple, and a Senior Brother to Li Xian. Everything made sense now.
Wei Xiaozhuang scratched his head and looked at Su Emei with confusion. “Sis, why do I feel like we’ve been schemed?”
Li Ye shook his head and sighed. “No one in the world knows about the White Deer Sect. People of the world actually do not belong to any sect. People say that the White Deer Sect has the most mysterious existence outside of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism and Militarism. In chaos, the power of their seven disciples could rival that of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism and Militarism. I never believed it before, now it looks like its true, they are really.... powerful!”
Ever since Li Ye met Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang, they had helped him ruin the Penglai Immortal-Taoist’s plans, take over Pinglu by wiping out all obstacles. They also helped Li Ye establish the Quanzhen Temple and unified the Pinglu Taoist sect. When Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang arrived just in time to be that last straw that broke the camel’s back, they helped Li Ye totally defeat the monk soldiers. Not to mention when Chu Nanhuai recruited Yuan Tiangang, totally taking control of the situation with Buddhism.
Speaking of affecting the outcome of the world, unlike the Taoist sect and Buddhist sect, the White Deer Sect did not make such a big noise in the world. But in terms of results, the White Deer Sect was just as effective, if not more. They moistened things silently and smoothly that they were undetectable, and could be anticipated. The White Deer Sect had limited numbers, but every member was a key piece on a chessboard. So when they made a move, they affected the overall results silently and discreetly. Just like the leverage affect, by the time you realized what was happening, everything was done. Much like the morning bell and evening drum, over before anyone realized.
When Li Ye turned and saw Chu Nanhuai, he couldn’t refrain from shuddering. His two disciples made him out to be some sloppy old man who likes to boast, but he really was powerful beyond measure.
The last word missing from the title of that old and broken down Taoist temple up in Boji Mountain made up the title ‘White Deer Sect’!
...
All was silent in the valley.
When Yuan Tiangang appeared, everyone was frightened.
They watched Yuan Tiangang’s head cut off, and when they heard Yuan Tiangang’s words, they had complex feelings.
Li Ye’s wounds healed before everyone’s eyes and his power increased. When they saw Li Ye kill Fa Yi and Tian Luo, they were shocked.
“Buddhism is... finished,” Wu Jinling said while swallowing.
“Not even the Great Six Paths of Reincarnation Formation could stop this devil, Li Ye...” Wang Sanxian did not know what else to say.
“Why would Celestial Master Yuan help that devil Li Ye?” asked Zhang Jiuling with a red face, and his expression was full of resentment.
Xu Pingjing replied with anger, “Celestial Master Yuan... Yuan Tiangang! He’s disrespected the Immortal Court. His treacherous words are just despicable!” “Even if he didn’t cut his own head off, the Immortal Court would have punished him! But that vile man had no consideration for the big picture and actually helped that guy Li Ye!”
Zhang Jiuling yelled in a deep voice, “There’s no point in talking about it further. Let’s activate the Great Immortal-killing Formation and killed them all while Li Xian and others are still wounded! With the help of Yuan Tiangang, that devil Li Ye is even more difficult to deal with. If we don’t wipe them out today, he’ll be more destructive to the world in the future!”
When everyone heard his words, they had all come to their senses. And they agreed that indeed, Killing Li Ye could not wait any longer.
Bai Jingxue clasped his fist in his hand in salute to Wu You, “Sword Wielder, I beg that you stop Li Ye!”
The Great Immortal-killing Formation required all five Taoist Sects to be present to be activated. It was said that once activated, it could even kill Immortal Realm cultivators, so killing Li Ye was easy.
Although currently there weren’t too many Spiritual Master Realm cultivators in the Taoist sect, however, Great Immortal-killing Formation was the most reliable force of the Taoist sect. It could rival the Great Six Paths of Reincarnation Formation, which was why Buddhism had always guarded against it. But just like the Great Six Paths of Reincarnation Formation, once activated, it would take a decade to use it again.
Wu You did not reply but she already came down from the mountain top. She landed tens of feet like a falling leaf, then turned into a flash of light and headed towards Qi Mountain.
Xu Pingjing, Bai Jingxue, Zhang Jiuling, Wu Jinling, Wang Sanxian and others looked at each other and without further hesitation, activated the formation in the oblique valley. They sat cross-legged in five positions and began chanting to communicate with the Immortal Court.
Li Ye was concerned for Li Yan of Chencang. So when he saw that everyone was okay, he was ready to leave. His strength had recovered and he was as strong as ever. Plus his Dragon Qi was still absorbing power from the cyan and white pearl Yuan Tiangang had left on the Ocean of Qi. It wouldn’t be surprising once the Dragon Qi digested all the power, he would reach the Yin Immortal Realm.
Yuan Tiangang’s inheritance was Li Ye’s surprise gain. But he was still unsure because his elevation in cultivation was different from ordinary cultivators. He wasn’t sure if he could break into a new realm after absorbing Yuan Tiangang’s inheritance power.
Just as Li Ye was about to bid farewell to Li Xian and others, a rainbow of light was approaching from the southern sky. It was so fast that it got to him in an instant. Li Ye then saw that a cultivator was at the forefront of the rainbow. He quickly saw that the cultivator was in fact Wu You, who was in rainbow robes and wielding a long sword.
Li Xian and others who were drinking on the ground also saw her. After Nangong Diyi acknowledged the Duchess of Li, he continued drinking. He thought that drinking was more important since the person approaching was a familiar face, hence there wouldn’t be any fights.
When Li Ye saw it was Wu You, joy flashed in his eyes. He thought he could hear that familiar, endearing voice, “Elder Brother Ye!”
Though that voice never came.
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