The heavenly secrets were unpredictable. They clearly did not possess a consciousness, yet they could control fate, setting up a kill zone without raising any attention. It was even more terrifying than any scheming strategist in the world. Even cultivators could have their judgment clouded, either becoming fools or becoming mad, trudging towards their deaths step by step, yet also completely unaware the entire time.
If it were not for Li Qingshan’s bloodline of the spirit turtle, it was completely impossible for this thought to have crossed his mind.
I don’t fear the will of the heavens, but my priority this time is to find Haitang. I might as well maintain a low profile and follow the spirit turtle, to avoid any problems just in case it leads to trouble.
Li Qingshan shut his eyes. His daemon qi vanished as his appearance turned back into a human’s. When he opened his eyes again, his scarlet pupils had turned black. His expression was calm and indifferent. It was not just his aura. Even his sense of presence had become very flimsy. Without careful attention, he could even be neglected by others.
The winds surged in the air as the clouds weighed down heavily with pouring rain and crashing thunder.
Li Qingshan smiled. With a gentle leap, he vanished into the rain.
Boom!
A bolt of blue lightning brushed past him, smashing apart a boulder. The rubble was still soaring through the air when another cascade of lightning rained down, turning the world white.
“What a will of the heavens!”
Li Qingshan navigated through the pitch-black rain, like a spirit turtle swimming through the ocean. Almost half of the lightning shot towards him. Even the combined efforts of ten great cultivators did not possess such power. This was the might of the world.
However, not a single bolt of lightning managed to strike him. It was as if even the intangible will of the heavens was unable to lock onto him. He simply soared freely through the lightning.
“Haha, the will of the heavens? Even that can do nothing to me!”
Li Qingshan laughed aloud as a bolt of lightning beside him suddenly twisted and slammed right into his face.
He grinned. It failed to even leave a mark, but it was quite awkward. Fortunately, there was no one around. In hindsight, his mental state earlier was not very much like a spirit turtle’s, accidentally giving his presence away.
As he passed through the lightning storm in search of the thread of love in the depths of the Lightning province, he traversed several thousand mountains, several hundred major rivers, and encountered several consecutive thunderstorms. Suddenly, he saw a glorious mountain city, almost like a torch in the darkness, burning at the end of the world.
Li Qingshan’s eyes lit up. She was there!
The mountain city stood several thousand metres tall. Three large words were engraved at the entrance—Myriad Buddha City.
“What a bold claim!”
Li Qingshan gazed over. The buddha statues that he had recently seen in the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga were actually everywhere here. Apart from the pavilions, halls, and buildings in the city, the entire place was engraved with buddha statues, far more than a myriad, basically in the millions. Probably even the Spirit K?etra temple came nowhere close to the dense buddhist light gathered in the mountains.
But what’s Haitang doing here? Don’t tell me she’s converted to buddhism. I’m speechless. I just earned the glorious title of buddha nemesis, and I’ve come to the belly of the beast!
The city gates opened as if they had been waiting for him.
“Who is it!?” A bellow rang out from the top of the walls.
The other guards were startled as well. The entrance was completely empty without a shadow in sight. Only then did they stop worrying.
“There’s no one there! What’re you yelling out blindly for?”
“Hmm? Don’t tell me I saw wrong? But I clearly saw…”
“Enough, you must have seen wrong. In this weather, even cultivators won’t head outside without good reason. Speaking of which, even if there was someone, so what? Are they supposed to enter the city and wreak havoc? This is the Myriad Buddha city of our Western Liang. Even if they come in here, they’ll just be hurling head-first to their doom! Look at the sky. It’s going to start thundering again. Get ready to use the thunder for cultivation!”
Before they knew it, the dark clouds had weighed down on the city, even swallowing the royal palace on the mountain, except not a single droplet of rain fell. It was like it was building up for something.
A guard suddenly whispered, “I heard… the Green province produced a buddha nemesis, and she’s the princess of the Kingdom of Chu. She came back from the dead somehow and even took down the capital of the Scarlet province, massacring everyone there.”
All of the guards shivered. The dark clouds seemed to be hiding a monster that stared at them. Since ancient times, the Lightning province had revered buddhism. Basically everyone prayed and believed in the buddha. Even this capital of Western Liang was founded by monks, so were they not the buddha nemesis’ greatest target?
Boom!
The clap of thunder made everyone leap in fright. When they returned to their senses, they all scolded the guard. Only when they changed the topic of conversation to women did the frightening atmosphere ease up.
“Hehe, when do you think the prince will embrace the beauty?”
“I think soon. The prince has undergone seven reincarnations and faced the third heavenly tribulation, yet he’s infatuated with that sect master Qiu. Even a rock would probably melt apart before him.”
High up in the mountain city, in an exquisite pavilion with a style different from the other buildings, a woman laid lazily behind veiled curtains. Her heart throbbed for some reason, or perhaps when she heard that name again, the throbbing had never stopped.
“Do you still remember me? Perhaps you don’t! But that doesn’t matter. All that matters is I remember you,” she murmured to herself. Her red lips curled into a smile, charming like a flower.
A call interrupted her thoughts. “Sect master, that prince Tsangyang has come again. He must have written you another love poem.”
“Alright, I know. Have him wait for a moment.”
A while later, the curtains rose.
The woman did not put on any makeup. She casually draped on a set of long robes and made her way out of her room slowly, arriving downstairs.
Downstairs was filled with singing, dancing, and music, lingering on endlessly, but it only served as a backdrop to the laughter. It was a noisy sight of secular activity.
With her appearance, the laughter suddenly fell silent. Through the music, everyone’s gazes had been drawn towards her, whether they were men or women, old or young. However, the brightest gaze came from a monk.
He was draped with great red monk robes. His hair was very short and very clean and tidy, not shaven like the monks of the central plains. It did not affect his delicate appearance at all, instead giving him a solemn and holy bearing.
The gazes of the women in the building towards him were extremely fervent, while the men showed great respect, bowing to him from afar. However, he ignored all of it. Only when the woman appeared did he go up to receive her immediately, bringing his palms together and bowing.
“Haitang, you’ve really become more and more beautiful.”
His gaze was filled with sincerity, without any desire. He did not hide the admiration and appreciation in his heart at all, much less pay any attention to the gazes from others.
Qiu Haitang said, “I truly am not worthy of the prince’s praises. May I ask why you’ve come here?”
“I’ve written another poem for you…”
Qiu Haitang interrupted him. “Your highness, thank you for this, but you should know about my background, and you should also know who my man is.”
“I have obviously heard of Li Qingshan before, but how can that loveless person be worthy of being your man?”
The fuck is going on? Even a monk is trying to steal my woman. He even behaves like he’s besotted, like there’s absolutely nothing wrong in front of all these people. There’s actually quite a few monks here too. Don’t tell me Myriad Buddha city is actually the home base of lecherous monks!? Li Qingshan commented inside.
Li Qingshan had locked onto Qiu Haitang’s aura as soon as he entered the city, so he happened to hear the exchange.
Little did he know that the buddhism in the Lightning province was a form of Vajrayāna or Tantric Buddhism. Even monks were not forbidden from marriage, which was why they could found the Kingdom of Western Liang. And compared to lands of wilderness like the Mist province and the Frost province, their social customs were extremely lax and progressive. Not only was it not a bad thing to publicly propose love, but it was even a deed worthy of praise.
