Chapter 192: Jiangbei Is Too Dangerous

The appearance of 【Return to the Righteous Dharma】 suddenly opened up Lu Yang's train of thought.

In his view, this scripture held nothing special; the initiative lay entirely with the Pure Land, and its utility depended wholly on whether the Pure Land was willing to respond.

Thinking thus, he immediately summoned a Qi Refining disciple.

Then, he handed the scripture over to him.

After all, the Pure Land's scriptures were notoriously sinister; who knew what hidden dangers they might harbor, so he certainly could not take the risk personally.

Therefore, it was better to entrust the task to a reliable individual.

Immediately afterward, he began arranging formations around the Qi Refining disciple: the God-Trapping Array, the Soul-Locking Array... layer upon layer of array runes encircled that Qi Refining disciple.

Finally, Lu Yang formed a hand seal and activated a divine ability.

"【Star Concealment】!"

This divine ability could perfectly obscure karma and vital energy; under its cover, all the arrays were hidden, appearing completely unproblematic at first glance.

That's right, he intended to set a trap!

【Return to the Righteous Dharma】 could summon the spiritual sense of a Pure Land Venerable to descend; using such a fine item merely to convert to the Pure Land was truly a wanton waste of heaven's bounty!

Thinking of this, Lu Yang sighed with emotion: "The demonic cultivators in Jiangbei are of such poor quality! Their thinking is not broad at all; as the saying goes, 'near vermilion one gets stained red, near ink one gets stained black,' yet these demonic cultivators have lived under the Holy Sect's rule for so long—how is it they have learned none of the Holy Sect's mindset? Rotten wood cannot be carved!"

The spiritual sense of a Pure Land Venerable.

It was equivalent to a fragment of soul and thought from a Great True Person; used as an ingredient, it could refine top-grade soul elixirs, and used in artifact crafting, it could greatly enhance a magic treasure's spirituality.

"If I could procure a few strands to gift to the Anabi Sword, the Anabi Sword might even evolve again!"

After all, even the original owner of the Anabi Sword, the Blood Demon True Person, had only been at the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment in his prime, making him an opponent on the same level as a Pure Land Venerable.

Therefore, what he had used to sacrifice and refine the Anabi Sword were all True Persons weaker than him, at the Mid or Early Stages of Foundation Establishment.

As for a Great True Person, the Anabi Sword had yet to taste one even now!

One could imagine that if he could swallow a few more strands of a Pure Land Venerable's spiritual sense and use them to sacrifice the sword, it would surely grant the Anabi Sword a massive enhancement!

It was even possible it might manifest another divine ability!

Thinking of this, Lu Yang felt even more motivated.

Soon, everything was ready; at Lu Yang's signal, that Qi Refining disciple immediately began trembling as he recited the 【Return to the Righteous Dharma】 scripture.

"Whoosh!"

The next second, a beam of Buddhist light slowly emerged amidst his chanting, then unfolded like a peacock spreading its tail, revealing a vast and boundless landscape of the Pure Land; within this Pure Land, a lotus throne hung high, and seated atop the throne was clearly a Dharma Body of solemn and majestic appearance, possessing all thirty-two major marks.

'It worked!'

Hiding in the shadows, Lu Yang's face lit up with excitement; he immediately formed hand seals, and the countless God-Trapping and Soul-Locking arrays around him instantly activated, firmly locking down that Dharma Body!

"Amitabha, this humble monk is 【Vimalakirti Venerable】... Hmm?"

Before the Dharma Body could finish speaking, it froze on the spot, realizing that the moment this fragment of spiritual sense had appeared, its connection to its main body had been mysteriously severed.

'Not good!'

The moment this thought arose, a soundless, colorless, and shadowless Dharma sword drifted lightly into the back of its head, piercing through and emerging from between its eyebrows.

Hiss!

The next second, 【Vimalakirti Venerable】's spiritual sense was slain by Lu Yang's single sword strike, and the scattered fragments of spiritual sense were carefully gathered up by him.

"Change the person; do we have any captives from the Treasure-Splitting Cliff?"

Having gained experience from the first time, Lu Yang handled the second attempt with even greater ease, having even optimized the bait to be a Qi Refining disciple from the same sect as the Many-Treasures Boy.

This offered higher credibility.

At this moment, within a mountain forest in Jiangbei.

"Pah!"

As a mouthful of hot blood spurted out and evaporated upon hitting the ground, an old monk with white hair and beard was seen looking toward the direction of 【Qing State】 with a face full of dread.

Something was wrong!

Vimalakirti Venerable felt a chill in his heart; if even Lu Yang didn't believe it was a coincidence that he could counter 【Virtue and Power Bright King】, how could he fail to detect the trickery involved?

First, the three 【Virtue and Power Bright Kings】 he had meticulously crafted had run straight into their natural counters; not only did they achieve nothing, but they also backfired, inflicting a minor injury upon him.

Immediately after, he sensed someone reciting 【Return to the Righteous Dharma】, and their cultivation base seemed to be only at the Qi Condensation Realm, possibly a subordinate developed by Many-Treasures; thus, to investigate the battle situation over in 【Qing State】, he specifically sent a fragment of spiritual sense over, only to lose contact the moment it arrived.

"... 've been plotted against!"

Thinking of this, Vimalakirti Venerable no longer dared to entertain thoughts of converting Lu Yang or the like; he felt that Jiangbei at present was simply a massive pit.

However, the next second, another sensation arose.

"Someone is seeking me again?"

Vimalakirti Venerable fell into confusion; after a brief sensing, it was just like before—a Qi Refining disciple, with nothing unusual detected in the surroundings.

"This person... seems to be a disciple of Many-Treasures?"

Vimalakirti Venerable sensed several times over, before his eyes suddenly brightened: "Many-Treasures joined the Pure Land long ago; his disciples should be without issue."

Thinking thus, he immediately projected a fragment of spiritual sense.

On the other end, Lu Yang was overjoyed and immediately reeled in his line.

"... one again?"

Yet another fragment of spiritual sense lost contact; Vimalakirti Venerable's mind grew somewhat dazed. Although this loss meant little to him, it was deeply insulting.

Do they take me for a fool?

Before long, another sensation arrived; this time, Vimalakirti Venerable decided to play rough, directly projecting a fragment of spiritual sense at the Foundation Establishment level!

"I want to see just who it is."

Boom!

On the other end, seeing that the Pure Land Venerable on the opposite side could still fall for the trap, Lu Yang himself was somewhat shocked; without another word, he once again activated the arrays to capture the target.

The next second, the projected fragment of spiritual sense lost contact once more; Vimalakirti Venerable's body swayed. Knowing he was already in an injured state due to the backlash of a secret technique, followed by the successive loss of spiritual sense fragments, and finally losing a large one this time, he had truly suffered damage to his foundations.

However, this also jolted him fully awake.

"... ait! How could I commit such a foolish act, damaging my own cultivation... loss of merit and fate, my spiritual platform clouded; have I become tainted by calamity qi!?"

Vimalakirti Venerable hastily sat cross-legged.

A passage from the 【Mahayana Fundamental Sutra of Right Enlightenment】 flowed from his lips, purifying his spiritual platform and quickly suppressing the myriad distracting thoughts that had just arisen.

Yet, his heart remained filled with confusion.

Exactly when did it happen?

He had done nothing to damage his merit; it was impossible he had incurred heavenly punishment, so how could calamity qi suddenly cloud his mind? This defied all logic!

'No, it might not necessarily be calamity qi; it could be some other cause. A True Monarch could also achieve similar means, but with a Bodhisattva watching, how could I fall for it? Unless... the one who acted was not a Bodhisattva? At the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment? No, more than that! There must also be a supreme treasure related to the Fruit of Position involved?'

The more Vimalakirti Venerable thought, the more terrified he became.

'Jiangbei is too dangerous... I must return to the Pure Land!'

Thinking thus, Vimalakirti Venerable immediately rose to leave, but just then, a hand kindly reached out, steadying him as he stood.

"Thank you."

"No problem."

Vimalakirti Venerable's body instantly froze on the spot.

What had just happened?

By heaven and earth, he was a Venerable of the Pure Land, a Great Arhat; to return to the Pure Land, should he not simply move a thought? Why would he need to stand up physically?

And whose hand was that beside him?

Vimalakirti turned his head to look behind him, and a pair of eyes suffused with golden light, faint yet not dim, resembling a lamp within a hall, immediately entered his field of vision.

(End of Chapter)