Chapter 616: The Call

Chapter 616: The Call

At the mountain's summit, it seemed one could touch the sky with an outstretched hand.

The cold wind blew fiercely here, so strong that it was almost impossible to stand.

Yuan Mingfei walked against the wind, each step steady and firm.

Once upon a time, this vast square was filled with thousands of monks and pilgrims who had come to worship.

Red robes like a sea, yellow hats like waves.

The sound of chanting resounded through heaven and earth, and the glorious Buddha's light illuminated all directions.

But now, everything had vanished like smoke.

With the high-ranking monks in the temple slaughtered, a once vast sect with thousands of disciples and millions of barbarian subjects and Buddhist slaves was on the verge of collapse.

They were only waiting for the Sangyan Buddha to complete her final 'mission', and then the once illustrious Sangyan Temple would immediately become the fattest cattle and sheep in the barbarian lands.

At that time, the guests who had long been seated would eagerly stretch out their hands to skin and bone it, dividing and devouring it.

As for the barbarian people, soon new gods and buddhas would fill the void in their faith, and new monks would once again personally put a new yoke on them.

The barbarian lands would soon forget the so-called Sangyan Sacred Mountain, and this high mountain beneath their feet would return to its original name, Nanja Peak.

By the time she crossed this vast square, Yuan Mingfei's body was already covered with ice and snow.

The moment she stepped over the temple threshold, the howling wind abruptly ceased.

In the temple, so quiet that a pin drop could be heard, there were no pearls, no canopies, no jeweled trees—only a dim oil lamp, its bean-sized flame making a faint crackling sound.

Within the circle of firelight extending about ten feet, Lin Jiapo, dressed in white, sat cross-legged on a cushion, her face calm and serene.

There was no sign that she was now a trapped beast in a cage, a lamb to the slaughter in the eyes of others.

"I didn't expect you to really come."

Lin Jiapo opened her slightly closed eyes, a faint smile appearing at the corners of her mouth, her clear eyes full of gentleness and goodwill.

"You knew I would definitely come, so why say such things?"

Yuan Mingfei stood before the temple door, her expression indifferent.

"You knew long ago that the Sheji would make a move on Tianshuo, and you knew they had already transformed Xin'an into a ji field, ambushing Li Jun who went to rescue. That's why you approached me, because you knew very well that I would agree to your conditions to save Li Jun. Am I right?"

"Wrong."

Unexpectedly, Lin Jiapo gently shook her head.

Yuan Mingfei calmly asked back: "What is wrong?"

"The mistake is that I was not as certain as you said that you would definitely come today."

"Why?"

Lin Jiapo said slowly: "Because in my view, you are selfish. From the day you awakened your latent wisdom in the Buddha Land and chose to defect from the Dazhao Temple, you chose to live for yourself."

"Whether in Chongqing Prefecture within the empire, or in the Japanese region outside the empire, you deliberately approached Li Jun only to seek a support for yourself. But now you have achieved the fruit of Buddha Sequence Three, possessing the ability to protect yourself, and no longer need to rely on anyone. So I wasn't sure you would come."

Upon hearing this, Yuan Mingfei looked deeply at the other, then suddenly relaxed her tense body, shook off the snowflakes, and sat down on the floor by the door.

"Lin Jiapo, do you think you know me well?"

"I don't know you well, but it is the most correct choice for you."

Yuan Mingfei smiled coldly and sneered: "When did the Buddha Sequence start to speculate on human nature?"

"Then what do you think the Buddha Sequence should be?"

Before Yuan Mingfei could speak, Lin Jiapo asked and answered herself: "Nowadays, the world thinks that the Three Teachings and Nine Schools were founded by Emperor Yizong, and thus the Buddha Sequence was born. Actually, this is completely wrong from start to finish. The Buddha has existed since ancient times; how could He be born because of a mortal, and how could He be limited by a sequence path?"

"As long as one venerates all Buddhas, praises the Tathagata, extensively cultivates offerings, repents of karmic obstacles, rejoices in merits, requests the turning of the Dharma wheel, requests the Buddha to abide in the world, always follows the Buddha's teachings, conforms to all beings, and universally dedicates merits, one can transcend all confrontations and not be limited by so-called sequences. This is the Buddha."

"Lin Jiapo, among these ten principles you keep talking about, is there any Buddhist disciple nowadays who has achieved even a tiny bit?"

Yuan Mingfei retorted: "On the contrary, they venerate banknotes, praise power, extensively keep Buddhist slaves, are selfish and cowardly, fawn on superiors and bully inferiors, are greedy for power and pervert the law, do evil while living in the world, have no regard for Buddhist principles, enslave all beings, seek longevity for themselves, hope for smooth sequence paths, and desire the eternal existence of the Buddha Land. This is the current Buddha Sequence!"

"So we have all gone wrong on this path. Not in the appearance of the dream of millet, nor in any rituals or methods, but when Emperor Yizong established the so-called 'sequences', the Buddhist gate had already stepped astray. He is the greatest sin, the source of all turmoil."

"That was a thousand years ago. What's the point of saying this?"

Yuan Mingfei said disdainfully: "And it's not us who are wrong, it's only you."

Lin Jiapo made no comment and continued on her own: "The sequence is a battlefield designed by others. The so-called Three Teachings and Nine Schools are merely soldiers fighting within it, struggling all their lives to abandon humanity, degenerating from humans to beasts controlled by genes."

"Before the Great Ming, we discussed ghosts and gods, monks and laymen, blessings, wishes, liberation, repentance, cause and effect, life and death in temples. But now, as you say, these have all become empty."

"Similarly, before the Great Ming, the hearts of the common people still had court and countryside, family and country, ruler and minister, self and others, right and wrong, reason and emotion, constancy and change, and responsibility for the mountains and rivers. Now, they are also all illusions."

Lin Jiapo spoke very slowly, each word exceptionally heavy.

"We are only chaos before the descent of the gods, a prelude to the sinking of the human world, existence that will eventually be forgotten."

"I don't understand what you are saying!"

Yuan Mingfei frowned deeply, feeling a chaos in her mind, not knowing what these specious words meant, nor understanding Lin Jiapo's intention in saying these things to her at this moment.

"You will understand. When you take one more step on this path that is destined to be wrong, you will glimpse the true face of this world."

Having said this, Lin Jiapo's face suddenly showed a deep bitterness.

"Unfortunately, I have already seen it, but I can do nothing, and instead am destined to become firewood to fuel the fire of sin."

Her gaze fell on Yuan Mingfei.

"I chose you, not because of the despicable conspiracy you guessed, but because you still have human goodness."

Lin Jiapo smiled: "I cannot spend a lifetime to save all beings, so I can only choose to spend a lifetime to save one person. This is the last thing I can do for the Buddhist gate, and it is also my dedication for repentance. Yuan Mingfei, I hope that one day you will find the true Buddha heart and rescue all suffering beings."

As she finished speaking, an unreal loud sound exploded by Yuan Mingfei's ear.

Instantly, the distracted Yuan Mingfei felt everything around her disappear, and she was alone, sitting cross-legged on a desolate mountain peak, facing the world of raging wind and snow.

Thunder rumbled continuously, brief lightning was trapped in the boundless black clouds, and the air was filled with the thick smell of blood and the clash of weapons: the loud sound of gunfire, the sigh at the end of life, the joy of breaking locks and advancing in sequence, the wild laughter and pleas in breaking sequences and fighting, the mournful cries and pleas of hunger, the helplessness and pain of parting from loved ones.

"Li Jun..."

Yuan Mingfei's eyes were tightly closed, and a faint call came from her mouth.

"Yuan Mingfei, I hope you can leave a pure land for this miserable world."

Lin Jiapo looked at Yuan Mingfei, who was floating cross-legged in front of her, with hopeful eyes, but her own figure slowly dissipated like a bubble.

The moment she completely disappeared, a strong shockwave exploded from this humble temple, instantly destroying the roof beams and pillars, throwing them high into the sky.

The shockwave swept out in all directions, lifting the thick snow on the square, like an avalanche.

It blew away the thunderclouds that had gathered in the sky, revealing a patch of deep blue sky.

A tangible ripple spread across the sky, rapidly expanding into the distance.

"How is it that she is breaking the sequence and advancing?! Damn it, this is going to be trouble."

Zhang Siyuan's robes fluttered noisily in the shockwave. He turned back in horror and, through the curtain of snow, saw the figure floating at the center of the impact.

"Zhang Siyuan, get out of the way!"

Suddenly, a suffocating sense of oppression crashed down from behind, and a surging palpitation and sharp cry from his genes made Zhang Siyuan almost unable to move.

Zhang Siyuan's forehead veins bulged, his eyes wide with rage, gritting his teeth to suppress the instinct to flee as he forcibly turned his body around.

Above, no longer obscured by clouds, the massive Buddhist guardian deities surrounded the mountain peaks, while the celestial track stars in the distance shone bright as the moon.

Bright red flesh buds emerged visibly from the mountain's crevices, rapidly spreading and growing.

Countless invisible dreams and Buddhist realms interwove like the surging waves of a deep sea, making Zhang Siyuan feel suffocated.

“Scram!”

Countless angry shouts coalesced into a sonic wave that crashed head-on, as if countless hands were shoving his body.

Zhang Siyuan's face was as pale as paper, but his fingers gripped the longbow tightly, his body like a taut arrow, the bowstring like a full moon!

“I won’t yield; you want to kill me, then do it!!!”

Within the city of Nagqu, countless chants of scripture echoed.

Throngs of people knelt before the dilapidated golden temple, palms together, praying for the Buddha who had abandoned them to bestow a sliver of mercy once more, granting them a chance to atone.

Suddenly, a great roar came from the wilderness behind the golden temple, traversing a vast distance, still as thunderous and heart-shaking.

Amid the rumbling echoes, countless bowed heads lifted in unison, their startled, dull eyes staring bewilderedly at the suddenly clearing clouds and wind-blown snow, and at the brilliant star hanging at the zenith.

“The Buddha did not abandon us, no!”

An extremely excited cheer burst from the crowd; in an instant, frozen eyes began to tremble rapidly, welling with crystalline tears and boundless ecstasy.

The sudden cries rapidly became a tidal wave, heads with withered yellow hair bobbing up and down as they kneeled and kowtowed.

In an unnoticed corner, an ordinary Tibetan woman abruptly stood up.

Her robe was covered in dust, her limbs patched layer upon layer, and a trickle of blood seeped from her calloused brow.

But despite appearing as a devout Buddhist devotee, there was not a trace of joy in her eyes at this moment; instead, she calmly gazed into the extreme distance at the majestic sacred mountain standing between heaven and earth.

“You are too noisy.”

The woman spoke softly, but as if imbued with divine power, she froze the entire city of Nagqu.

In the deathly silence, her murmured words were clearly audible.

“Yuan Mingfei, I gave you a lifetime of Buddhist affinity, and you helped me survive my death calamity; our karmic debts are settled.”

In the village of Treasures, a group of Tibetan youths were shouting as they practiced punches, drenched in sweat.

Now, between the fluid transitions of their stances, they were no longer as rough and simple as before, but had begun to show some signs of substance.

Not long ago freed, the solitary martial monk Wuxu moved among the ranks, his stern gaze assessing each youth's movements.

Suddenly, their steps halted in unison; they abruptly looked up at the celestial phenomena spreading across the sky, fists clenched, a chillingly murderous aura involuntarily seeping out from their bodies.

The youths training did not understand what was happening, but they all felt a compelling summons and command, urging them to kneel toward Nagqu and kowtow. One by one, they instinctively moved closer, huddling together like helpless sheep flocking together as a blizzard descends.

Jiqing also felt that throbbing from deep within his body, but his body stood motionless, nailed to the spot.

He slowly reached into his bosom, into the pocket his elder sister had sewn inside his robe, and took out the gift left for him by Dunzhu.

As the cold liquid infused into his body, Jiqing did not hear the sound of copper locks shaking as his masters had described.

He only felt a fire igniting in the depths of his heart.

That scorching heat made Jiqing cast aside all extraneous noises and thoughts. He slowly clenched his right fist, took a step, and threw a heavy punch at the air before him!

Boom!

In the ruins of a temple, Dunzhu bent over, punching again and again, turning the face of the monk beneath him into a bloody pulp, then grabbing a strand of wisdom root and pulling it out with brutal force, tossing it aside.

After doing all this, though exhausted to the extreme, he did not fall, but looked up at the sky.

His bare torso was covered with scars upon scars, but deep within his eyes, a flame seemed to burn fiercely.

Fearless, without fear.

Not far away, Zhao Qingxia was also watching the shockwave still spreading further, his expression solemn.

“Uncle Zhao.”

Li Hua stood on his shoulder, her small face scrunched up.

“Where exactly is my uncle?”

Whoosh!

A colossal creature burst out from the sea of clouds, its scarlet eyes gazing down at the pitch-black ruined city below.

The intense stench of blood was clear even at this high altitude.

“Brother Chen, this jichang—”

Mo Qijing’s worried words were not yet finished when a dazzling silver light streaked across his field of vision.

A silver-white ink armor covered his entire body, with cyan and red dao patterns coiled around his arms.

Chen Qisheng, like a sword beam or rainbow, fell from the sky, fiercely piercing through a dilapidated building wrapped in sinewy vines and crashing into a writhing sea of flesh.

Boom!

Chen Qisheng stood in the deep crater, his unleashed true qi and divine thought condensing into azure True Martial spirits.

“Old Li, stop fucking sleeping!”