Nightfall

Tourists who participated in the Yue Laan Hungry Ghost Festival went to the town with the floats. Only a few street vendors selling sugar sticks were left. The delegations of various countries and the girls from the House of Red Sleeves were brought to the Wa mountain to enjoy the scenery by monks. The front temple had gradually returned to peace, as it was before.

The ordinary cultivation sects were still waiting in various temples for news of what was happening at the back temple. However, since they did not really care about it, they certainly would not sit still in the temple. Instead, they walked between temples and worshipped before Buddha when they saw a statue.

Outside of a slightly more inconspicuous temple, the South Jin Crown Prince got up from the ground with difficulty. He looked at the damaged temple doors with fear in his eyes. He even moved away subconsciously from Xie Chengyun who was holding him at his side.

Xie Chengyun did not know what happened in the temple. He reached out to help His Highness up and looked at the temple. He said angrily, “Your Highness, who dares to do that? I shall send someone to capture him.”

The South Jin Kingdom was a strong country, and its Crown Prince was arrogant. He did not want to be looked down even in face of Ning Que, such a disciple of the Academy, at Wa Mountain. However, when he heard Xie Chengyun’s words, his face paled immediately, and he said repeatedly, “No, no! Let’s leave this temple quickly!”

The light in temples was relatively gloomy. There was no exception for the side temple. If not for the light entering through the broken door, one would not be able to see what was happening inside clearly.

There were two stone Buddha statues in the temple.

Two people were looking at the statues.

One of them was dressed in a plain shirt and had a simple Taoist bun. He carried a wooden sword behind his back. He was Haotian Taoism’s World Wayfarer, Ye Su. The other man had a broad stature and wore a leather shirt rarely seen in the Central Plains. This was the Wayfarer of the Devil’s Doctrine, Tang.

The South Jin Kingdom’s Crown Prince must have been thrown out of the temple by one of them. Having to face two such powerful World Wayfarers, it was no wonder why the Crown Prince was so frightened.

Ye Su said, “You have not killed the South Jin Crown Prince. Then, I shall not fight you today in this temple.”

Tang’s voice was lower, and it buzzed, “I have no interest in killing people. However, the royals of Central Plains are all just dogs reared by West- Hill Divine Palace. Would you care whether a dog lives or dies?”

Ye Su smiled and said, “Haotian Taoism and the secular world are deeply interconnected. You don’t know how many people the Zhishou Abbey has to feed. And those people are really picky, that’s why we need these royals to help us earn cash.”

Tang looked at him and said, “You are able to acknowledge the corruption in Haotian Taoism. You are more direct than before and seem more pleasing to the eye. However, when did you get a sheath for that wooden sword behind your back?”

Ye Su said, “I used to think that there was nowhere I couldn’t reach and there was no enemy I couldn’t beat when I was younger. I was extremely proud, so I was unwilling to sheath my Taoist Sword. Now, as I grow older, I understand more. A sheathed sword is still a sword, it doesn’t make the sword any less sharp.”

Tang said, “It seems that you have indeed gained much from your trip to Chang’an.”

Ye Su replied, “You should stay in Chang’an for a while, too.”

Tang answered, “I will, if given the chance.”

Ye Su turned around to look at him and said, “You even dare not to go to Chang’an, so why did you have the guts to come to Lanke Temple?”

Tang answered, “You always wanted to kill me whenever you saw me in the past. Why don’t you today?”

Ye Su replied, “Because I have finally understood, after coming to Lanke Temple, that the Devil’s Doctrine had been destroyed decades ago when Lotus massacred the temple. Nothing will change even if you are alive.”

Tang said, “Do you think today would be the same as it was decades ago?”

Ye Su shook his head. “Back then, the Divine Lord Lotus and Mr. Ke were unparalleled. However, these two people, who are in the temple today, might have unlimited potential, especially one of them, but they are not there yet.”

Tang said, “Are you sure the Academy won’t attack?”

Ye Su answered, “This is a Buddhist Temple. Only the mute have to worry about this, not us.”

Tang said, “So you are not going to the back temple. Instead, you are staring dazedly at the Buddha state.”

Ye Su replied, “It’s the same for you.”

Tang answered, “I am not going to stain my hands with blood because I respect the Academy.”

After a short moment of silence, Ye Su said, “For me, it is because I haven’t understood it yet.”

Tang said, “Even the Haotian Taoism Sect has something they don’t understand?”

“Even the Divine Priest of Light was wrong then, let alone me,” Said Ye Su.

Tang said, “I would like to know how far Ning Que will take it.”

Ye Su replied, “He is an extremely practical and selfish person. He does not dare to fight the entire world.”

Tang shook his head and said, “You seem more human now, but that is because you have lived with the people in Chang’an. In actuality, after breaking through the barrier of death, you can no longer understand the thoughts of normal people.”

Ye Su thought about it for a moment and nodded, “That makes sense.”

Then, the bells in Lanke Temple started to chime. They rang endlessly and could be heard from everywhere.

Ye Su slowly shut his eyes and tried to find where the bell was chiming from.

“It has begun.”

He walked out of the side temple and towards the back temple.

Tang looked at the stone Buddha statue in front of him. After a moment of silence, he left the temple as well.

The cultivators in the various temples were shocked by the chimes of the bell. They walked out and leaned against the railings, looking toward the mountain.

Ye Su and Tang walked amongst the crowd.

No cultivators had noticed them.

No one would have thought that these two men were the legendary World Wayfarers.

They continued walking, and the bell continued to chime.

The Light of Buddha in Lanke Temple grew brighter and rays of aura of Heaven and Earth descended, forming an invisible barrier in the skies that could only be perceived. Within it was an incredible power.

The wooden sword on Ye Su’s back seemed to sense something, and started buzzing softly.

Tang’s right foot broke a brick.

Ye Su looked up at the skies and frowned slightly. He said, “The Buddhism Sect has remained silent for ten thousand years. I had not expected them to hide such a powerful skill. My sword can cross, but I can’t.”

Tang looked down at the shattered brick beneath his feet. He said softly, “I’ll try to cross from the underground.”

The two arrived at the back of Lanke Temple.

Looking at the tightly shut black temple door in front of him and feeling the changes in that temple, Ye Su suddenly became extremely shocked. He said emotionally, “My teacher had sensed something at the Southern Sea, so he had me return from the north to come and see. However, I don’t think he expected this to be what I’d find.”

At the back of Lanke Temple.

Ning Que’s finger had not managed to draw the complete line in the air when the bell started chiming. So he did not continue. Instead, he steeled his sense of perception and stood there, prepared to face the onslaught of Buddha’s power.

The Yue laan Bell was indeed an instrument Buddha which was kept close to him. A benevolent Buddhist aura entered his ears together with the chiming of the bell and into his sense of perception.

In an instant, innumerable hallucinations appearred in Ning Que’s mind. Those filthy and ugly devils that could not be described in words, and equally indescribable charming fairies continue to shuttle to and fro. They were both seductive and terrifying, and they led him toward the holy land or the Underworld.

Ning Que’s sense of perception was tugged on strongly and he was in unbearable pain. However, his sense of perception contained fragments of Master Lotus’ consciousness. And in a short time, he awoke from the hallucinations.

Having ascertained that Buddha’s Yue laan Bell was not as powerful as it was supposed to be, and that he would be able to survive even if he had not yet entered the Knowing Destiny State, he decided to resolve this matter as quickly as possible.

The Yue laan Bell had not affected him.

He looked at Master Boshu who stood in front of him and prepared for a bloody battle.

However, Master Boshu’s expression was very odd.

Boshu stared at him in surprise and apparent confusion.

The expressions of other people in the hall were also very odd.

They looked at him as if they had seen a ghost. They were shocked and frightened, as well as confused.

Ning Que looked down at his body and found that there wasn’t anything weird about it. He had not suddenly gained an empty hole in his chest like Long Qing, so he began to think that something odd was happening.

He looked up at Boshu and everyone else in the hall.

Suddenly, he felt extremely frightened.

Because he finally realized that they were not looking at him, but behind him.

Ning Que turned around.

Sangsang sat on the futon.

Her face was very pale. There were flecks of blood on the ground in front of her. The blood was not from her coughing, but from vomiting.

The chiming of the bell continued to reverberate in Lanke Temple.

There was a puff.

Another mouthful of blood spurted from her lips. It drenched the black cotton robes she wore and the green-tiled floor.

A ray of the Light of Buddha appeared and penetrated through the temple, landing on her body.

The Light of Buddha seemed so merciful yet cruel.

In the Light of Buddha, Sangsang’s face became paler and her frail body seemed much smaller.

She looked at Ning Que outside the Light of Buddha as tears flowed from her eyes silently.

Master Boshu looked at Sangsang in shock, as did Quni Madi, Cheng Ziqing and Cheng Lixue.

Everyone in the temple looked at Sangsang in extreme shock.

As if they had seen a ghost.

Master Qishan sighed bitterly.

Master Boshu nattered with a complex expression, “Buddha is benevolent, so that’s it.”

Master Qishan looked at Ning Que and said painfully, “The truth is what you have seen. You are not Yama’s son, while she is Yama’s daughter.”

Ning Que felt as if he had been abandoned by the world as he looked at Sangsang who was in extreme pain within the Light of Buddha. This was how he had felt in that woodshed many years ago.

If he had to choose what he wanted, then he would choose to be abandoned by the world.

The reason why he felt abandoned by the world was that he knew that he would choose what he wanted to choose. Just like many years ago, he still chose to pick up that chopper.

Since he had made the decision, then it wasn’t the world that had abandoned him.

He was the one abandoning the world.

He walked into the Light of Buddha and opened the big black umbrella, shielding Sangsang.

…