“Dharmagupta-vinaya, Body of Vinaya!”
The old, strict voice rang out once again, resonating like the sounds of nature to Li Qingshan’s ears. The fiery, burning hair of the giant god of fire that lunged towards him furiously suddenly all fell off, like a huge razor was carrying out tonsure and initiating it into monkhood. The robes of a monk vaguely appeared on its body, and a string of prayer beads appeared in its hand…
Even Li Qingshan had never seen or heard of such a strange sight before. The giant god of fire had actually become like a monk in that moment, but what was the purpose of this?
The flames on the giant god of fire did not weaken at all, but they did not explode resolutely. The twistedness and madness in its face suddenly diminished drastically, replaced by a hint of struggle and being lost.
Zhu Yan only felt the killing intent in his heart suddenly vanish, replaced by an extremely strange feeling of benevolence, where he regretted all the sinful deeds he had committed in his life. Right now, he could not even bring himself to kill a bird, let alone so many living creatures.
Using this opportunity, Li Qingshan and Gong Yuan pulled far away. The three Merfolk Kings widened their distance with the giant god of fire too and ordered the Merfolk warriors to scatter at the same time. Afterwards, everyone unleashed their attacks. The three thousand streaks of light, the breaths and the tornados, the black hail and the surging water all whistled over.
The giant god of fire’s advance came to a halt. They had forced it back. Its flames flickered as it let out a bellow of reluctance. It faced an inner clash between a god and a buddha right now. The scorching, violent divine nature constantly struggled against the benevolent buddhist nature that wanted to uphold the precepts. Having lost the support of the four hundred kilometers of flames, its body rapidly shrank. Even its face blurred.
“The Myriad Swords as One!” Ye Duanhai formed a seal, and the three thousand streaks of light merged into a glorious, giant sword, sweeping towards the giant god of fire’s right leg.
The giant god of fire collapsed on one knee. Its rage and hatred had finally burst through the invisible shackles placed on its heart. The monk robes shattered, the fiery hair reignited, and the prayer beads scattered.
Zhu Yan knew that this was another technique the Divine Nun of the South Sea had employed, so he roared, “Damned old nun!”
“Mighty be the master!” Li Qingshan praised. Although she had not directly attacked the enemy, the effect was far too praise-worthy. In particular, when it came to a large-scale battle like this, she was basically even more powerful than a great sword cultivator.
The Divine Nun of the South Sea shuddered, and her face paled for a moment, also suffering some backlash. She took out a pill and ate it, ignoring the hatred and admiration yet again.
She brought her palms together and uttered “Amitābha” before introducing her school to Xiao An beside her.
“If the Dharma of Vinaya is the basics of the school of vinaya, then the Body of Vinaya is the main subject. During the process of accepting and upholding the precepts, you receive your own body of rules, preventing and stopping the bad. You do good and avoid evil, both preventing you from being corrupted by evil thoughts and also bringing salvation to all creatures, allowing the violent and the atrocious to learn their errors, mend their ways, and be initiated into buddhism. It’s a pity that this Fire Devouring King’s cruelty and hatred is far too strong, where even I cannot save him. A pity, a pity, or I’d ask your majesty to spare his life. After all, if revenge breeds revenge, when will it ever end?”
If the Dharma of Vinaya was about being impervious, then the Body of Vinaya was about preventing evil thoughts from springing into existence, or even forcefully converting the evil and initiating them into buddhism.
Everyone shivered inside when they heard that. The people of buddhism were just vicious!
“Fellow, if he really could achieve that, what would be wrong if I do spare him?” Gong Yuan said and glanced at Li Qingshan. The person right beside her could be regarded as half a disciple of buddhism as well, so it was no wonder that he was so vicious!
“I have commited that to heart,” said Xiao An.
“When you underwent tonsure and accepted your precepts back then, it was far too casual, reduced to merely a formality. This is also the greatest downside of the school of chan. They whole-heartedly focus on finding their true self, rejecting rules and precepts as foreign concepts, drinking alcohol, eating meat, or even blaspheming the buddha and the dharma. However, apart from the handful of eminent monks with great wisdom, just how many people have comprehended their true meaning? If the opportunity arises, I will initiate you and grant you the precepts again.”
The Divine Nun of the South Sea shook her head and casually criticized the school of chan a bit before retreating another five kilometers with Xiao An.
She had been constantly drifting away from the battlefield, ready to leave at any moment, and she had only taken action a total of two times from beginning to end, but no one dared to underestimate her. Instead, they felt like this made perfect sense. The two times she did take action achieved a decisive effect, allowing everyone to witness the power of the school of vinaya.
The storm continued northwards. Within the fierce wind and rain, the giant god of fire rushed into the Merfolk battle formation. With a swing of its spear, it reduced several hundred merpeople to ashes. It finally received the satisfying massacre it had been craving.
No one dared to approach the giant god of fire at a time like this either, afraid that they would perish with it. All they could do was attack it from a distance. If “granny” had not ordered the Merfolk warriors to scatter when she retreated, it almost would have been annihilation. They would have been cleaned up.
When one man disregarded his life, even ten thousand people would struggle to stop him. This also applied to the cultivation community.
However, a desperate struggle could not last forever. A while later, the giant god of fire had shrunken to almost three hundred meters tall.
Every single attack from Li Qingshan and the others possessed devastating power. Without Zhu Fen and Zhu Zai’s support, without the support of the four hundred kilometers of Fire Melt mountain, just how long could Zhu Yan last by himself? The storm only made things worse too.
“Zhu Yan, when you tried to butcher me on Giant Ship island, did you ever imagine today?” Ji Changfeng sprayed out a mouthful of essence blood, going as far as to deplete his cultivation to make the Feilian flag ruffle vigorously. The fierce winds whistled and swirled, stripping and tearing away the flames, carrying out revenge delightfully.
The giant god that had been unstoppable a moment earlier had become a trapped beast within the storm.
“Die!” The giant god of fire threw its spear forcefully, but a stroke from Ye Duanai split it in half in the air.
When Li Qingshan saw this, he found it to be sombre, but that only lasted for a moment. The battle had continued up until now, and a majority of the several thousand Merfolk warriors were already dead or injured. On the other hand, apart from a small handful that died from overexertion, the fire devourers had all retreated to the main peak.
What made him lament the most was not actually being insulted and hunted down, nor was it the losses of the Merfolk and the Fire Devouring Folk, much less the terrible fate of Ji Changfeng’s sect that he bore a grudge for. Instead, it was what no one noticed, the several hundred thousand mortals on Giant Ship island that had gone up in flames.
Just like the aspect of him that Gong Yuan despised, he had yet to completely break away from the realm, the vulgarity, of mortals. At the very least, you can still die a solemn and stirring death in a cornered battle, Zhu Yan, unlike the mortals that perished like weeds.
With his respect for a warrior, he wanted to use his full strength and kill Zhu Yan then and there!
“King Yan, don’t become caught up in the battle. Look to the south. The storm is coming. Retreat back to the main peak immediately!”
Zhu Fen communicated urgently, and Zhu Yan recovered some of his calm. He looked to the south, and a dazzling region of light appeared. The region of golden light spanned several hundred kilometers and was rapidly approaching Fire Melt mountain.
In order to maximise the strength of the storm, Ji Changfeng had sent it hurling straight towards Fire Melt mountain under his delicate control. However, that also meant the eye of the storm would be passing Fire melt mountain. It would only take a short while before it was gone, but it would turn the main peak of Fire melt mountain into a windless, rainless place. As long as they grasped this opportunity, they could turn the tables. They had not entered dire straits just yet!
Zhu Yan scanned everyone in disdain. “Do you really think you can kill me, Zhu Yan, with just this tiny amount of resolve?” He turned around and flew towards the main peak.
“Myriad Poison, keep him busy!” Li Qingshan ordered.
Everyone was stunned. Everyone had heard about the Myriad Poison Ancestor’s reputation before. They were already very surprised by how he had come and assisted them. With how cautious he was and how much he cherished his life, why would he endanger himself to stop Zhu Yan?
However, to everyone’s disbelief, the Myriad Poison Ancestor really did leap up and turn into the Poison Assimilating Ghost King, blocking Zhu Yan’s path.
Li Qingshan said, “You want to perish with us? Then I’ll give you the opportunity to perish with us! C’mon, show me your resolve!”
Gong Yuan stared at him in complete surprise. He turned around and asked, “Are we really going to let him return to the main peak? Once we get through the formation, just how much strength will we have left? How much strength will they have left?”
Gong Yuan frowned slightly. Since the beginning of the battle, they had not lost a single great cultivator, but the situation was not optimistic. Ji Changfeng was already out of strength to keep fighting, while the aspect that Ye Duanhai was probably the least skilled at was a prolonged battle as a great sword cultivator. In order to control the flood and attack the protective formation, the three Merfolk Kings had also used up their full strength. Even casting the techniques earlier took them quite the effort.
Even she and Li Qingshan had used up all of their mental and physical efforts in the process of fending off the giant god of fire and the Fire Dragon of the Land earlier. They had only lasted until now through the wonders of dual cultivation and the power of Ruin’s End that the Heart of the Abyss constantly released.
The Merfolk battle formation had already scattered, while the defences of the main peak definitely could not be breached so easily. If the three Fire Devouring Kings were allowed to recuperate and launch a counterattack together, then the situation would become extremely dangerous. Earlier, she had actually thought the outcome of the battle was already decided. She had been far too naive.
“What do you think?”
“We’ve already come so far. If we don’t even take a bit of risk, we’ll be underestimating our opponents a bit too much.” Li Qingshan smiled and tightened his arm around Gong Yuan’s waist before flying towards Zhu Yan.
“Fine then! I’ll trust you!” Gong Yuan shook her head helplessly, and the corner of her lips curled into a smile. Ignoring her mental exhaustion, she powered the Heart of the Abyss as hard as she could, and the power of Ruin’s End expanded once more, turning into a black spirit turtle in the air and slamming heavily against the giant god of fire’s back.
Zhu Ren rushed over in a hurry to provide support, but there was a flash of light that intercepted him. Faced with Zhu Fen’s furious expression, Ye Duanhai said indifferently, “What, you also want to blow yourself up?”
Their eyes met and sparks flew. They became locked in battle once more, but this time, Ye Duanhai truly lost the upper hand, which seemed to demonstrate that Li Qingshan’s thoughts were not all a sham.
The three Merfolk Kings exchanged glances and nodded at the same time. They raised the flood through their strength alone, which slammed viciously against the main peak of Fire Melt mountain.
Boom!
Like the world shattering, the flood surged and splashed as countless droplets, and the main peak shook violently. The surrounding mountains were completely flooded by the water already. Only the main peak remained standing, like a lone island in the ocean.
Zhu Zai’s expression changed. Originally, she wanted to use the formation to attack and assist Zhu Fen and Zhu Zai, but now, she guarded the formation in a hurry, afraid to split her focus even for a moment.
To the north of Fire Melt mountain, the last spiritual stone cannon was reduced to a pile of scrap metal in the explosion of spiritual qi.
Yu Wufeng swung the Fogbow sword and ordered, “Attack! If anyone even thinks about retreating, I’ll cut you down!”
The cave masters heard that and all shivered.
“For the King of Savages!” the Gentleman of Heavenly Blubber called out. He sucked in a deep breath and turned into a huge ball of flesh. A streak of blood-red light sprayed out violently from his mouth as it barraged the main peak.
The ten cave masters all used their full strength to attack the main peak.
Fighting was present everywhere. At the same time, the resplendent glow of the eye of the storm drew closer and closer. Just whose glory would it belong to?
