Chapter 302: Are You Not Afraid I Might Kill You? (Fifth Update!)

The Demon-Sweeping True Person, clad entirely in blood-red robes, descended the mountain.

Meanwhile, Lu Yang manipulated his Sword Dao avatar to follow closely behind, resembling a sword-bearing acolyte, his hands holding aloft the 【Sword of Non-Killing】, which had likewise transformed into a scarlet blood hue.

In an instant, countless people felt a resonance in their hearts.

How many years had it been?

Except for a few Foundation Establishment True Persons of extremely deep seniority and long life, many people could not even remember when the Demon-Sweeping True Person had last left Jiangnan.

Of course, the Southern Border did not count.

After all, in the eyes of the Sword Pavilion previously, the Southern Border region lacked a True Person to hold the fort and lay directly south of Jiangnan, making it equivalent to their own back garden; whereas other regions—Jiangbei, Jiangxi, Jiangdong, and even the overseas lands—all had True Persons stationed there, places the Demon-Sweeping True Person could not go.

It was not that they feared the Demon-Sweeping True Person would die.

Rather, they feared he would prove his Dao elsewhere; after all, if the 【Sword Dao Fruit】 was not formed within the Sword Pavilion under the gaze of True Persons, there were plenty of people in the world who would harbor evil intentions.

Especially the Holy Sect on the opposite side.

What Sword Pavilion Patriarch, what True Person? The Holy Sect's True Persons would not care about such things; they would seize it first, and if you had a backer, did they not have one as well?

Therefore, the Demon-Sweeping True Person had not left Jiangnan for a very long time.

Yet this time, he openly walked out of the Sword Pavilion's mountain gate, displaying an appearance of intending to leave Jiangnan; how could people accept this?

'Stop him!'

Que Xie True Person immediately rose to his feet, his teeth clenched tight: "That ungrateful wretch... The sect raised and nurtured him, yet when the time came to use him, he not only made every excuse to evade his duty but finally dared to disregard such grace and righteousness, attempting to force his departure and cause trouble for the sect! Can he not... can he not..."

—Can he not just obediently die?

Que Xie True Person had even prepared a scapegoat, stuffing the evidence of Mo Shiyuan's collusion with the Jiangbei Demonic Path into the treasury of 【Jimo City】.

As soon as the Demon-Sweeping True Person died, proving the 【Sword Dao Fruit】 with his life.

He would immediately appear, set things right, mourn this greatest Foundation Establishment True Person in Sword Pavilion history, and declare eternal enmity toward the Demonic Path that had murdered him.

What a perfect script?

The Sword Pavilion would benefit, he would benefit, and including the Ye family, who had contributed greatly this time, he also planned to reward them generously; after all, the Demon-Sweeping True Person had no descendants, so rewarding his family counted as rewarding him, meaning no one would lose out—yet such a wonderful script had been ruined by the Demon-Sweeping True Person.

He simply would not die!

Even now, he intended to leave Jiangnan and travel to other regions; if this ultimately caused the 【Sword Dao Fruit】 to fall into the hands of another power...

Ten lives would not be enough for him to pay the price!

Thinking of this, Que Xie True Person could no longer restrain himself; he directly stood up, mounted a beam of escape light, and flew swiftly toward the outside of the Sword Pavilion's mountain gate.

At the same time.

"Amitabha!"

Accompanied by a Buddhist chant, along the path where the Demon-Sweeping True Person and Lu Yang were advancing, a beam of Buddhist light suddenly swooped down, landing before them.

From the Pure Land, Venerable Vimalakirti.

This Great Arhat of the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment wore a bitter expression; the moment he appeared, he bowed his head and said, "This humble monk Vimalakirti, the Buddhist Son's orders to greet the Demon-Sweeping True Person..."

"Zeng! Zeng!"

His response was the sound of a sword ringing.

The next second, Venerable Vimalakirti's head separated from his body; before he could even react to being struck by a sword, his mouth was still attempting to speak some polite words.

Only when the world before his eyes spun did he belatedly realize: "Ah?"

"Boom!"

After the muffled roar, brilliant Buddhist light erupted, and his Golden Body collapsed; Venerable Vimalakirti, unlike those previously beheaded by the Demon-Sweeping True Person who had survived, actually died instantly, his soul drifting out faintly, guided by a beam of Buddhist light from the Pure Land, about to return to the Buddhist lands for reincarnation and re-cultivation...

However, just at that moment.

"Crack!"

A crisp exploding sound occurred upon Vimalakirti's bewildered soul; the Buddhist light from the Pure Land descended, yet it seemed like water flowing through a bamboo basket full of holes.

However much fell, that much was lost.

"Whoosh!"

The next second, a breeze blew, and Vimalakirti's soul scattered with the wind, leaving only the guiding Buddhist light of the Pure Land lingering in place, plunged into a certain dead silence.

On the other side, Lu Yang watched with trembling heart.

Although he could achieve the same feat, he relied on the marvelous ability of 【Crossing Kalpas】 to sever karmic ties, causing the guiding light of the Pure Land to find no target.

Essentially, this was a clever trick, whereas the Demon-Sweeping True Person was different; his method was extremely fierce, and the moment Vimalakirti was struck by his sword, his form and spirit were already extinguished—it was only that his consciousness had not yet realized it, which was why the guiding Buddhist light of the Pure Land proved utterly useless!

'From 【Non-Killing】 to 【Killing】... what an extreme transformation!'

'But why? Why, even though the 【Intent of Non-Killing】 has shattered, can it still evolve into such a terrifying sword intent, with power that has instead reached a higher level?' Lu Yang pondered in his heart.

Just then, within that beam of Buddhist light from the Pure Land, a towering Dharma Aspect vaguely emerged, its palms pressed together in prayer, emitting a faint sigh:

"Amitabha... Benefactor, why must it be this way?"

It was the Buddhist Son Guangming.

"Fellow Daoist, please do not move about recklessly," the Demon-Sweeping True Person replied with a calm expression, stating indifferently, "I intend to travel to the Pure Land on this journey; please listen to the ringing of my sword."

"..."

The Buddhist light suddenly vanished.

However, before the Demon-Sweeping True Person could take another step, another beam of escape light appeared, rushing over at high speed; it was none other than Que Xie True Person, his expression filled with shock and fury.

"Halt!"

Que Xie True Person stood suspended in mid-air, his gaze fixed squarely on the Demon-Sweeping True Person; his cultivation in 【Sword Intent】 was higher than Lu Yang's, so he perceived even more, yet the more he saw, the more astonished he became: "A single sword intent, yet it bears the aspect of transformation between surface and interior—how did you achieve this!?"

"This is the sword."

The Demon-Sweeping True Person chuckled lightly: "A sword may either hide its edge within the scabbard or display it to others; there is inherently a distinction between inner and outer, and 【Sword Intent】 should naturally be the same."

As his words fell, the Demon-Sweeping True Person's brand new 【Sword Intent】 erupted explosively.

If the sky possesses life, this sword can sever it!

If the earth possesses life, this sword can sever it!

If the Dao and Dharma possess life, this sword can sever them!

Fierce to the extreme, standing at two poles opposite 【Non-Killing】, this 【Sword Intent】 signified only annihilation, intending to reduce everything to nothingness!

Under the observation of spiritual sense, both Lu Yang and Que Xie True Person spontaneously comprehended its name:

"【Sever All】..."

Hidden within the scabbard, it is 【Non-Killing】.

Displayed without, it is 【Sever All】!

"No, that's not right!"

Suddenly, Que Xie True Person revealed a horrified expression: "This is not a single sword intent... The scabbard and the blade are merely the means by which you unify them."

"In essence, these are two sword intents!"

Upon saying this, Que Xie True Person began to doubt his own judgment.

The so-called 【Sword Intent】 is the culmination of obsession, intertwined with one's life and fate, and in a certain sense, shares similarities with Golden Nature.

If that is the case, how could one person possess two sword intents?

"Which one is yours?"

Que Xie True Person questioned the Demon-Sweeping True Person with blazing eyes, while the Demon-Sweeping True Person, seeing this, merely shook his head, revealing an indescribable look of confusion.

"Fellow Daoist Que Xie, why have you come to seek me?"

"... aturally, to bring you back to the sect."

Que Xie True Person frowned slightly, speaking with natural ease: "The True Person previously transmitted an oral decree; to prevent any loss to the 【Sword Dao】, you are not permitted to leave without authorization."

"An oral decree from the True Person?"

The Demon-Sweeping True Person looked around: "Where is the True Person?"

At these words, Que Xie True Person's face immediately darkened: "Ye Guangji, you have already been willful enough on this occasion; do not persist in your stubborn ways!"

"Persist in my stubborn ways?"

The Demon-Sweeping True Person gazed at him, his eyes profound: "I am very curious."

"The one who bewitched Shiyuan, causing his death, and secretly sabotaged my 【Sword Intent】 is you, Fellow Daoist; yet now you come to find me, demanding I return and obediently await death?"

"And you still consider this perfectly reasonable—the logic of the Sword Pavilion has always been difficult for me to comprehend."

"Are you not afraid... that I might kill you?"

(End of Chapter)