Chapter 107: Entering Buddha Through Demonic Means, The Shattered Heaven’s Mandate
Chapter 107 – Entering Buddha Through Demonic Means, The Shattered Heaven’s Mandate
Hearing Jiang Bufan’s words, Xuan Xin offered another serene Buddhist salute and took his seat.
Staring at the monk whose chanting had nearly seized her soul, Gongsun Huaiyu lowered her voice.
“Young Master, have you crossed paths with this Buddhist Disciple before?”
“I have not.”
“Then how do you know he harbors such terrifying methods? What hidden Dao-array am I missing?”
Seeing her press the issue, Ye Hensheng and Su Tian discreetly attuned their hearing to eavesdrop.
“You fail to grasp his terror because you are blind to the Buddhist Dharma and ignorant of the true nature of their Sect,” Chen Changsheng replied coolly.
“The horrors hidden within their monasteries far exceed mortal imagination. Among their ranks, there is one specific breed of ascetic you must never provoke.”
“That is the demonic monk who enters Buddha through demonic means.”
“Such a bald donkey is an absolute nightmare. They possess neither the mercy of a Buddha nor the frenzied bloodlust of a demon. Within their flesh, Buddha and demon are fused into a singular, flawless entity.”
“Put simply, they wield the primordial strengths of both paths, but suffer none of the mortal flaws.”
Despite Chen Changsheng’s grave explanation, Gongsun Huaiyu still looked thoroughly bewildered.
Seeing her confusion, Chen Changsheng elaborated. “Your foundation in the Dharma is hollow, so my words sound like wind to you.”
“Consider this example. Suppose you decide to slaughter Mad Dragon Fort, and he intends to stop you.”
“If you ignore his warnings and forge ahead, do you know how he will respond?”
Faced with this grim hypothetical, Gongsun Huaiyu pondered for a moment before offering a tentative guess.
“He would strike me down to avenge the fallen of Mad Dragon Fort?”
“Incorrect.” Chen Changsheng shook his head. “He would certainly end your life, but the method would be far more insidious.”
“He would race ahead of you to slaughter every living soul in Mad Dragon Fort himself, and only then would he scheme to eradicate you.”
Everyone listening nearby: ???
Wait, how did a vow to save lives warp into a massacre?
And exterminating an entire sect at that? What demonic Dao was this?
“Why? Was his goal not to stop me from destroying Mad Dragon Fort?” Gongsun Huaiyu gaped.
“Why would he bathe his own hands in their blood?”
“The logic is disturbingly flawless,” Chen Changsheng said. “Under the Buddhist laws of karma, the moment he realizes he cannot sway your intent, the doomed fate of Mad Dragon Fort is sealed.”
“To shield your soul from the karmic weight of such a massacre, he will mercifully slaughter them in your stead.”
“Furthermore, because your murderous intent forced his hand, you are the origin of this tragedy. This is the ’cause’ you have planted.”
“Where there is a cause, a consequence must follow. Since you sowed this evil seed, you must swallow the resulting ‘evil fruit.’”
“By the time his perverse logic concludes, he has accumulated immeasurable karmic merit, while you are condemned to the deepest pits of the underworld.”
“For he has simultaneously absolved you of the act of murder and resolved the doomed karma of Mad Dragon Fort.”
Gongsun Huaiyu stood paralyzed. “…”
The twisted reasoning was utterly repulsive, yet it possessed a chilling, ironclad consistency.
A violent shiver racked her spine, and she instinctively took a few steps further away from where Xuan Xin sat.
She did not fear crossing blades with mighty foes, but she was utterly terrified of provoking lunatics!
Especially a lunatic cloaked in divine light, wielding peerless might.
Their hushed conversation had bled into the surrounding air, naturally falling upon the ears of the Northern Desert’s Xuan Xin.
“Amitabha!”
“Benefactor, you are truly an Expert in Buddhist principles. You possess a profound affinity with our Dao.”
“Would you be willing to sever your mortal ties, shave your head, and ascend to the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss?”
Chen Changsheng lazily shifted his gaze to meet the monk’s serene eyes.
“Demonic monk, I care little for your twisted crusades, but you would do well to keep your gaze averted from me.”
“My mastery over the path of entering Buddha through demonic means spans ages before your birth. Annoy me, and I will personally snap your neck and kick your bald head across this courtyard.”
Unfazed by the ancient malice dripping from Chen Changsheng’s words, Xuan Xin merely offered a transcendent smile and lapsed into silence.
By now, the unconscious prodigies had been thoroughly cleared from the venue.
Rising from the sovereign dais, Jiang Bufan’s voice resonated like a heavy bell. “Today, the greatest talents of our era converge upon the Kunlun Holy Land. This is a profound blessing for the Middle Heavens and the mortal realm alike.”
“The Heaven’s Mandate has manifested. This is a Fated Chance that arises but once in ten thousand years.”
“The Kunlun Holy Land is prepared to spearhead a coalition, uniting all major powers to aid the Heaven’s Mandate Bearer in claiming their divine throne!”
A ripple of bewildered murmurs swept through the assembly.
They had anticipated a blood-soaked tournament over some Peerless artifact, not an esoteric lecture on this sudden, mythical ‘Heaven’s Mandate’.
His patience snapping, the hulking Batulu slammed his fist onto his table. “Holy Master, what exactly is this Heaven’s Mandate?”
“What gives it the right to command the subservience of every power across the realms?”
Jiang Bufan’s expression grew solemn. “The chronicles of the Heaven’s Mandate belong to a primordial era.”
“It is decreed by the Dao that whoever claims it shall stand undisputed as the absolute sovereign of this world.”
“Upon the death of a Heaven’s Mandate Bearer, the providence of the heavens shifts, birthing a successor from the crucible of the era’s strongest cultivators.”
“While a true Bearer holds the Mandate, the crushing suppression of the Heavenly Dao is lifted from all living cultivators.”
“That is why the supreme entities of the Middle Heavens are desperate to crown the new Bearer.”
Unable to contain her curiosity, Gongsun Huaiyu interjected, “Then, by your logic, the previous Bearer has long perished?”
“Yet throughout the endless centuries of blood-soaked history on this continent, no such supreme sovereign has ever been recorded.”
“If this entity truly existed, why have they remained hidden like a ghost?”
Stepping out from the shadow of Jiang Bufan, the ethereal Yaoguang Holy Master finally spoke.
“According to the buried monoliths within the Yaoguang archives, thirty thousand years ago, the Heaven’s Mandate of our epoch was violently shattered.”
“The reigning Bearer who anchored our providence vanished without a trace.”
“Because the Mandate was fractured, the fundamental laws of reality decayed. For thirty thousand years, the lifespans of all who cultivate the Dao have been drastically severed.”
“The higher echelons of cultivation were locked away behind an impenetrable iron wall.”
“Today, the celestial rules have warped once more, birthing a new Heaven’s Mandate. To forge a path to eternity for countless cultivators, it is our sacred duty to protect the new Bearer.”
Hearing this cataclysmic lore, Gongsun Huaiyu felt an icy prickling spread across her scalp.
This Heaven’s Mandate granted peerless supremacy, yet even a sovereign holding such cosmic authority had been eradicated.
What manner of primordial terror possessed the might to shatter the very Will of Heaven?
While Gongsun Huaiyu drowned in existential dread, Chen Changsheng narrowed his eyes and spoke, his voice dripping with an ancient, calculating weight.
“Since the Holy Master insists the Middle Heavens will sacrifice everything to elevate this Bearer, I must humbly inquire.”
“By what metric is the Bearer identified? And more importantly… can the crown be forcibly passed to another?”
A terrifying pressure descended as an exquisitely beautiful woman, her face obscured by a woven starlight veil, fixed her piercing gaze upon him.
She was the sovereign ruler of the Zifu Holy Land.
“Whoever’s soul ignites the resonance of the new providence is the Heaven’s Mandate Bearer,” she proclaimed coldly.
“However, the throne is not immutable. Should a challenger crush the Bearer in combat, the victor strips them of the Mandate and inherits the celestial qualification.”
“And if a single challenger fails?” Chen Changsheng pressed. “What if a tide of lesser ants simply swarms the Bearer, crushing them with sheer numbers until they perish?”
“Then the Mandate scatters to the winds,” the veiled woman answered, her voice void of warmth. “It will hunt for a new host, continuing its cycle until an entity proves strong enough to bear its weight.”
A cynical smirk touched the corners of Chen Changsheng’s mouth as the grand, bloody design of the Holy Lands snapped into perfect focus.
They were casting a continent-wide net, frantically sifting through the dregs to identify the hidden Bearer.
Failing that, they sought the second most lethal monster in the generation—a supreme blade they could wield.
When the time was ripe, they would deploy that blade to slaughter the original Bearer, seamlessly absorbing the Heaven’s Mandate into their own puppet’s flesh.
……