Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Is it the big one or the small one?”
This wasn’t a question about the number of dice in the wagering bowl, nor the size of the hotpot.
Looking at the deep part of the snowland, the Young Zen Master said with a more relaxed expression, “Looks like it’s the younger one.”
The voice of the Broadsword King rang out again, which sounded a lot more relaxed. “You get going then.”
The Young Zen Master wiped the mud from his bare feet onto the doorsill, and asked with his head lowered, “Why me?”
The Broadsword King replied, “I’ll deal with the elder one, and you’ll deal with the younger one. We had made the decision when you came.”
The Young Zen Master raised his head and rolled up the sleeve of his monk robe to the elbow before saying, “Though I’m younger than you, I would be much older than you if my former life were counted.”
The Broadsword King didn’t give a response to the Young Zen Master; but he thought about how the monk dared claim he was older now that his fist was only as big as a small bowl.
The ringing of bell from White Town reached the edge of the snowland. The human Cultivation practitioners retreated from the frontline as quickly as they could.
The most formidable sword light vanished from the sky.
Those left in the barracks outside White Town were the wounded who were unable to be brought to the safety in time, and the doctor monks from the Fruit Formation Temple, the Baotong Zen Temple, and other temples.
The Young Zen Master leaped up in the air; a lotus flower sprang out in the spot where his bare foot touched.
The lotus flowers led all the way to the deep part of the snowland, later fading away in the cold wind.
Within half a minute, he came to the sky over the snowland a few miles away.
The violent wind and snow had gradually died down, and vision was getting clearer. Some of the accumulated snow on the mountains fell off due to the earthquake, exposing the black face of the mountains, which was quite evident when one looked down high in the sky, resembling the black beans among the white sugar wrapped in a bun.
Between the snowland and the black mountains lay the corpses of the monsters of the Snowy Kingdom.
The blood of these monsters was not red. Their blood stains looked like the messy doodles scribbled by young kids, but the bloody scent was very strong and far-reaching.
Around the corpses of these monsters were innumerable dead beetles that looked like icicles.
Standing on the lotus cloud, the Young Zen Master rubbed his nose a few times.
These corpses were not the ones left from the earlier monster invasions; they were the casualties from this earthquake.
The war between the Queen of the Snowy Kingdom and her child had reached a horrific point, with deadly consequences for the lives in the snowland.
The Young Zen Master even saw dozens of corpses of snowy monsters in human form further ahead.
The human Cultivation practitioners were very knowledgeable about the Snowy Kingdom, knowing that the snowy monsters of human form had a fighting prowess as formidable as the elders of the human Cultivation sects. Yet, this sort of monsters had seldom shown up near the edge of the snowland; nobody had seen them since the last monster invasion several hundred years ago.
According to the observation of the Cultivation swordsmen of the previous generations, the monsters of human form should be the personal servants or bodyguards of the Queen, living five thousand miles in the north and near the Blue Iceland. However, they showed up at the edge of the snowland today and then died undetectably. Were they killed by the Queen because they chose the wrong side, or were they the advanced swordsmen of the imperial court pursuing the Princess?
The Young Zen Master could sense the formidable energy when he was in the small temple, but he notice the energy had disappeared when he arrived on the lotus cloud.
He closed his eyes, a few shallow wrinkles suddenly showing on his tender face.
Dozens of fine threads shot out from the lotus cloud, spreading to the sky and the ground.
The fine ribbons contained an amazing intent that was hard to describe.
This was the Two-Mind Connection of the Fruit Formation Temple, which was the highest Zen method.
When one practiced the Two-Mind Connection to its highest level, they could find out what the others were thinking at a close distance, which was as marvelous as the method of mind reading.
Even if the mind connector didn’t know where their target was, they could still sense the general location of the perceived person or being and their basic condition through this Zen method.
After a long while, the Young Zen Master opened his eyes, murmuring, “Even the vicious dragons don’t eat their own child; the Queen is too relentless.”
The Queen of the Snowy Kingdom was a life in a very high state, but she was quite different from the humans. And she was also different from the divine animals from the ancient times at various Cultivation sects. Though the humans didn’t know her that much, at least they knew that she was not good at scheming. As the ruler of the north of Chaotian and an unparalleled fighter, she had no need to do any scheming.
The Young Zen Master sensed that the Queen’s child was hiding in a snowy worm among many corpses of snow worms that were piled up like a mountain, and felt flabbergasted.
This kid was injured severely; but she had learned to hide her energy all by herself out of sheer instinct.
It seemed that the loser in this struggle for the reign of the Snowy Kingdom would have no other choice but death; as such, this kid had to try her hardest to flee the snowland.
Even though she wouldn’t be able to flee to the southern parts of the land due to the high and unfavorable temperature, the humans could still pay a high price for such an invasion. Hence, the Young Zen Master thought he had to keep her in the snowland at any cost.
The lotus cloud suddenly opened up, and the Young Zen Master fell down from the sky like a stone and landed on the snowland.
The accumulated thick snow and the corpses of worms on the surface of the snow were shuddered to pieces, scattering in every direction like puffs of white smoke.
Standing in the snow with bare feet, the Young Zen Master pointed toward one puff of the white smoke and yelled as loud as the thunder, “Stop!”
The band of white smoke had suddenly paused; a figure had gradually formed, which took on the form of a white body.
The white color was the dominating one in the snowland, and the figure was also white in color. The reason the figure could be identified against the white background was because it was purer and more profound, so it was as obvious as the darkest night sky in the white surroundings.
In an instant, the white figure escaped the constraint of the Young Zen Master’s willpower and turned into a band of white smoke, heading southeast.
The human Cultivation practitioners saw the scene in the snowland while standing on their flying swords or magic treasures, and fell silent, wondering if the escaping figure was the rumored child of the Queen.
The formation of the One-Cottage House had been activated; the amulets on the walls of the north, which extended over five hundred miles, exuded a powerful energy.
The North Army of the imperial court and the followers of the Windy-Broadsword Church were guarding their own section of the wall. The chief commander of the North Army and the Church Master of Windy-Broadsword leaped up in the air, watching the band of white smoke cautiously.
Standing on the sword of Fairy State, Fang Jingtian arrived in the Empty Realm, and kept his eyes on the activity below, readying to wield his sword at any moment.
According to the judgment of the Young Zen Master and the Broadsword King, they were not her equal; but it was evident that she had suffered a severe injury; it was a great opportunity to deal with her right now.
In the distant sky of the east, there was a powerful and calm energy lurching; it should be the Immortal Tan, the Center Sect Master, waiting there in person.
The Snowy Kingdom was the greatest threat to the humans.
Even though it wasn’t the invincible Queen who had shown up that day but her child, the humans still had to be prepared sufficiently for possible devastation.
Though the border between the human world and the Snowy Kingdom was at least ten thousand miles long, it was rather odd that the monster invasions over the years had always started in the snowland and valleys around White Town. If the cold mountains and barren plains were located in the southwest with abundant underground fire sources, which was hostile to the lives of the Snowy Kingdom; but why didn’t they choose to invade in the east?
This was a question troubling the humans all the time, and the humans couldn’t find a satisfactory answer. Yet, it was a fortunate thing for the humans nonetheless.
As such, all the humans needed to do was guard White Town.
…
…
The band of white smoke had no intention to retreat to the snowland. She attempted to break through the human defense in the southeast and leave the snowland.
It was evident that she would rather take the risk facing the collective assault from the human swordsmen than go back to face her own mother.
The Young Zen Master fell silent. He kicked the back of his left knee from behind with his right foot, and dropped down on the ground on his buttock.
The ground was covered with the frost and snow and the corpses of the snowy beetles and worms.
The corpses were devoid of red color of blood, but they gave off a bloody smell, exuding a strong scent of death.
Sitting in the pile of corpses with his eyes shut, the Young Zen Master didn’t have any trace of demonic demeanor, looking like a real Buddha.
His hands opened up like the blooming lotus flower in front of his chest; soon thirteen hand imprints formed in the wind and snow.
A round light mirror appeared behind him. The innumerable scripts showed up in the mirror, glistening brightly, exuding a far-reaching Zen intent, which was both benevolent and lethal.
The Cultivation practitioners and the soldiers of the North Army had already moved out of the human barracks; left behind were the severely wounded and the doctor monks.
Over two hundred doctor monks of the Fruit Formation Temple came out of the barracks, and sat cross-legged in the snow, starting to recite the scripts.
“I wish that my mother would stay out of the hell forever, even though she died in her second life at thirteen years old without serious offences and evil doings.”
“I wish that all the Buddhist masters would listen to my pledge for my mother.”
“Please let me pay the retribution, if my mother will die or suffer humiliation as a woman for the rest of her reincarnations.”
“I wish that my mother will finally accomplish her Cultivation in front of the statue of the Clean-Eye Buddha after billions of reincarnations; only then will I finish my own Cultivation.”
…
…
The words of the script drifted around the edge of the snowland.
The innumerable tangible words of the script glistening in golden color flew to the sky and formed a light mirror.
This light mirror looked exactly the same as the transparent mirror of light behind the Young Zen Master; the only difference was that the light mirror was at least a thousand times bigger than the other; it almost covered half of the sky.
This light mirror was not transparent, actually being as dark as the earth.
The Young Zen Master opened his eyes, and shouted as his eyes showed a lethal intent, “Shoot!”
The huge light mirror in the sky started rotating slowly. The glistening words of the script were focused by an invisible force into a concentrated flash of light, shooting toward the snowland.
The flash of light hit the transparent lens behind the Young Zen Master; after passing through lens, it changed direction, and its power had increased by a great many folds.
The flash of light followed the line of the Young Zen Master’s sight and landed on that white smoke squarely.
Boom!!!
An angry shriek bellowed out from the white smoke; it spread out like the snowfall in the sky, and retreated to the deep part of the snowland when being blown by the strong wind.
A large section of a black mountain collapsed; the snowland quivered restlessly; and the dark clouds were rolling up and down in the sky.
The doctor monks, sitting in the snow in the number of over two hundred, couldn’t hold their original postures any longer and fell down in tandem.
The wind and snow fell on the Young Zen Master.
Yet, he paid no mind and walked out of the snowland.
The snowflakes dropped off his monk robe as the Young Zen Master shuffled his feet forward.
A piece of the snowflakes was kind of dark.
It was not mixed with dust.
It was grayish white.
…
