Nightfall

There was a broken arm on the ground. The bronze bell that was left behind by the Buddha slowly rolled on the ground, into the pool of blood and stopped. The colors of the red fresh blood and the yellow bronze bell came together, giving an eerie effect.

With two thunder-like shots, Ning Que used up quite a lot of cultivation as he looked a little pale. His bow aimed precisely at Cheng Ziqing who was sitting under the stone statue. He confirmed that this Sword Garret professional wasn’t a threat to him and hence, didn’t shoot out another arrow. At this moment, every iron arrow was incredibly precious to him.

A simple shot had caused significant injuries to the second most important figure in the Sword Garret. He was satisfied with the results but he wouldn’t show any contempt for the Sword garret. He clearly knew that if it wasn’t for Mo Shanshan’s help, he wouldn’t be able to do it.

No matter how precious the Natal Sword was, it wasn’t a real life object at the end of the day. Ning Que could understand this and he made a decision during battle without hesitation. However, not many cultivators could understand a thing in such a short period of time. Hence, Cheng Ziqing’s previous battle performance had left him impressed and even shocked. It seemed like the legendary Sword Sage wasn’t just a person with a name.

All was silent within the hall.

Ning Que was surprised by Cheng Ziqing’s performance during the battle but he wasn’t aware that his and Mo Shanshan’s performance had left everyone speechless: both him and the Calligraphy Addict were already in the Knowing Destiny State, but even so, they were a new generation of cultivators and had only entered the Knowing Destiny state a few months or even a few days ago. How could they easily defeat a famous swordsman from the Sword Garret and even severely injure a monk from the Xuankong Temple?

It was because the Calligraphy Addict was already a Divine Talisman Master. A Divine Talisman Master could basically squash all the professionals that were at the Knowing Destiny State and Ning Que also had his Primordial Thirteen Arrows that could cross states. Moreover, the two of them had formed a wordless chemistry in the Wilderness, thus an impossible ending had long been fated.

Not everyone understood the links in this battle but everyone saw the Calligraphy Addict attacking. Quni Madi looked at Mo Shanshan and cursed, “You will let the great river be destroyed with the whole world!”

Mo Shanshan attacked with her most powerful divine talisman; the psyche power used was tremendous and upon hearing Quni Madi’s words and thinking about the world being destroyed, her body started trembling and her face turned paler.

However, looking at Sangsang on Ning Que’s back, carrying the black umbrella and bathed in a weak Light of Buddha, her expression returned to normal. She knew that in the end, she wouldn’t regret it.

Outside the quiet hall, a heavy breathing noise sounded and everyone turned to look. The big black horse was soaked and he was carrying a heavy carriage. Behind the wheels were two wheel tracks etched in the stone.

Ning Que carried Sangsang towards the black carriage.

The Light of Buddha, of golden hue and resemblance to jade immediately enveloped the entire black carriage.

The big black horse was incredibly afraid and thought that he must be suffering retribution for not being a vegetarian for the past few days.

How would Ning Que know what this foolish fellow was thinking as he pressed his right arm against the ice-cold carriage walls and activated the talisman array. He then kicked the big black horse on his ass and shouted, “Are you still not leaving?”

The big black horse suppressed his fear of the Buddha’s Light as he let out a long fierce groan and dragged the carriage, charging towards the dozens of monks in yellow shirts that were reading Buddhist mantras at the stone square in front of the hall!

Just before leaving, a small box flew out of the black carriage and landed in the arms of Mo Shanshan. She looked at the box, thinking to herself wondering what it could be.

…

…

The big black horse continued groaning as he bared his white teeth and charged violently towards the monks at the front of the hall. He was ready to kill anything standing in his way and was determined to form a trail of blood.

There were not a lot of monks in the stone square between the hall and the gates of the back temple. There weren’t many monks but a large part of them were sitting in groups of 4 on the two sides of the road. The sound of them reciting mantras and the ringing sounds of the bell enveloped the big tactical array of the Light of Buddha.

Seeing the black carriage charging over with incredible force, the monks on the road let out a horrified expression as they all stood up and avoided it on the two sides. However, they still kept to some formation and the reciting of mantra didn’t stop.

It was chaos as the monks parted, revealing the last monk at the back.

That monk was still sitting cross-legged on the floor, showing no intention of avoiding.

The monk was dressed in a tattered kapok kasaya and he had a thin layer of dark hair on his head. In between those layers were wisps of white hair. His stubble of hair wasn’t sharp but it gave off a sense of determination, a sense that even if the world were to collapse, it would be held up by him.

The monk was calm as he watched the black carriage rushing towards him and he slowly stood up.

When he was sitting, he was a normal monk.

When he stood up, he was Buddha.

…

…

Buddha was ahead.

Buddha was indeed blocking the road ahead.

The big black horse was flustered but in the end, his violent emotions suppressed this as he neighed loudly and stood up with its 2 hind legs. He then stomped on the monk’s chest with his two metal-like front hooves.

The monk did not speak as he silently watched the Big Black Horse, thinking about something.

Instantly, 17 old bells in the Lanke Temple started sounding from afar; the aura of heaven and earth started converging in the stone plain at the back of the temple.

A strong gust appeared from the monk’s tattered kapok kasaya and started spewing stone bits from the Western Wilderness.

The big black horse neighed in fright as the gust swept him back!

The black carriage was swept along with it for more than a hundred feet and it landed heavily at the bottom of the hall’s front stone steps.

There was a huge boom!

The black carriage returned to where it had come from.

With the monk standing in its way, it wasn’t able to leave.

There was a saying that Budhha blocked the killing of Buddha, but can a Buddha really kill?

The monk was known as Qi Nian and was the first disciple of the Chief Preaching Monk of the Xuankong Temple. He was a World Wayfarer of the Buddhism Sect and was seen as the closest person in the world to becoming Buddha. When he appeared in front of the world, he was Buddha.

…

…

The black carriage landed heavily on the floor and smashed the stone steps into smithereens. The scene was chaotic while the Light of Buddha descending from the Tile mountain calmly shone; the atmosphere was sad and cold.

The big black horse that fell down was moaning, he spat out some blood tinged saliva as he struck hard against the stone floor with his back hooves and stood up in the Light of Buddha!

Looking at this, Qi Nian had an amused expression. He didn’t expect the black horse to have such a strong determination; it was able and dared to stand under such circumstances.

The black carriage was made of steel and was the most precious thing that Master Yan Se left behind. Even though the stone steps in front of the hall were in ruins, the carriage wasn’t deformed and only the doors were smashed.

Inside the overturned carriage, Ning Que stood up as he steadied Sangsang who was spitting out blood. He carried her on his back, tying her tightly with rope. Taking down the iron bow off his shoulders, he looked at the monk that was over a hundred feet away outside the carriage.

At the stone square facing the hall, the dozens of monks in yellow attire from the Lanke Temple continued reciting their mantras. Even though the light that had descended from the Tile mountain wasn’t guided by the Yue laan bell, the light pillar that landed on the black carriage was slightly weaker, but the Light of Buddha’s big tactical array that enveloped the entire Lanke Temple became stronger.

The cultivators within the Lanke Temple had somehow heard the news that the Lady of Light, Sangsang, was the Daughter of Yama as they rushed into the back temple. They looked at the black carriage in shock and apprehension, but no matter how they felt right then, if the black carriage wanted to escape they would definitely take action.

Ning Que guessed the identity of that monk.

Faced by the powerful World Wayfarer of the Buddhism Sect, the Lanke Temple’s Light of Buddha big tactical array and the cultivators of the world, many would turn desperate and even choose to give up.

But Ning Que wouldn’t.

…

…

If one didn’t die, there was no need for despair.

If one was dead, there would be no need for despair either.

…

…

In the face of survival, giving up was not an option. To Ning Que, this was a simple truth and hence he wasn’t in despair. What he needed to do next was simple, just like what he had been doing for the last few years: do whatever it takes to survive until death really came.

So he took his bow and loaded an arrow, shooting it towards Qi Nian.

His actions were more stable, faster and smoother than before.

It could be because he was in an old temple, or he had heard too many bell sounds, or the Light of Buddha was above and the one blocking the horse carriage was a Buddha. But whatever it was, his action of shooting the arrow had a trace of calmness from Buddhism in it.

The same thing and the same way of doing it. It was like Buddha picking up flowers; natural without a hint of violence.

Qi Nian looked at the arrow that Ning Que shot, silently praising before using his psyche powers again.

With that, the 17 ancient bells from the 17 halls of the Lanke Temple started moving. The bell sounds from afar became thunderous and solemn with the might of the Buddha, as they echoed throughout the temple.

The Buddhist bell of the ancient temple had sound but didn’t have a body; the noises were endless, just like waves hitting against one another. In a moment, they filled all the space in the Lanke Temple.

The Primordial Thirteen Arrows were powerful enough to ignore time but not space.

The iron arrow could suddenly appear at the other end of space due to its unimaginable speed. In actual fact, the arrow still had to pass through space.

The noises of the bells were like waves as they changed the shape of the space within the ancient temple. Hence, even after the iron arrow passed through space, naturally it wouldn’t be able to hit its target accurately like in real space.

With a woosh, the white turbulence at the tail end of the iron arrow slowly disappeared.

The iron arrow also disappeared without a trace.

The monk Qi Nian was still standing calmly in front of the horse carriage.

Only after a moment, the sound of a cliff collapsing from afar was transmitted.

The Buddhist scriptures have spoken.

Buddha is in one’s heart and incredibly close to people. Even if one didn’t follow rules, drank alcohol and made folly, as long as one’s thoughts are with Buddhism, one could still become Buddha.

However, that was far away. Even if one followed all the rules and didn’t stop reciting, so long as one made mistakes occasionally and unknowingly did things that didn’t follow Buddhism, one would still not become a Buddha.

Buddha was near, yet also far away.

Just like Ning Que’s arrow, it was already like Buddha.

However, it wanted to shoot the Buddha in the world.

Hence, it could only go to the skies.