Chapter 648: Why Does the Venerable Preach the Dharma

At the very instant the two Puti Sect disciples perished.

The grand hall, once resplendent in gold and jade, now a scene of utter ruin, quietly began to turn illusory.

The golden, gleaming divine statue too seemed like a passing cloud, dissolving away in an instant.

On the crowded long street, a sudden wave of bloodiness spread, freezing every passerby in their tracks; on the bluestone pavement, only two puddles of blood remained to prove what had just happened.

On another street, very far from this place.

The man in white, Bai Shan, clutching a wine pot, his face heavy with drunkenness, suddenly twitched his nose, and his eyes cleared considerably.

He knit his brows tightly, catching the rich fragrance hidden within that faint trail of blood.

Meng Xiuwen cast a spell and stepped out, his figure already appearing before the two puddles of blood; he pushed aside the gathered crowd, bent down, and dabbed a fingertip into the bloodstain.

When he saw the golden specks of light gradually dimming within the blood, the last trace of drunkenness left him, and a shiver ran through his whole body.

"This is bad…"

For reasons he could not name, Meng Xiuwen had not yet thought it through, but his legs moved of their own accord, carrying him running toward that inn.

Regarding Ye Lan's departure from Jianyang Prefecture, leaving him temporarily unable to attend to things, he had not paid it much heed at first — after all, a Yao-Slayer Official himself possessed the strength to hold down an entire prefecture, and serious trouble rarely arose.

But now, he only felt a chill run through his entire body.

A Puti Sect walker had fallen in Jianyang Prefecture, and the walker Meng Xiuwen knew best was none other than their own newly appointed Yao-Slayer Official!

Could it be that the old hen Master Qingmei had come knocking?

"Are you all right?"

Meng Xiuwen stood on the second floor of the inn, called out in a low voice, and with a thunderous kick sent the door flying; once he took in everything inside the room, the anxiety on his face gradually turned into something strange.

He saw Ye Jing leaning against the corner of the wall, eyes closed, adjusting her breathing.

On the other side, the monk had a great, bloodily gaping hole in his face — one could faintly make out that it was Walker Zhikong; he had not tended to his wound, but sat on the ground in a daze, staring fixedly ahead at Shen Yi on the bed.

Things seemed a little different from what he had imagined.

But once he saw what Shen Yi was doing, Meng Xiuwen could not smile at all; he only felt the chill on his body grow thicker by several degrees, and hurriedly stepped into the room, slamming the door shut with a bang!

Two corpses lay on the bed, both dressed as walkers; one's skull had been smashed open by some blunt object, while the other was even more straightforward — his entire head was simply gone.

And this Lord Shen was carefully searching the two of them, refusing to overlook a single detail.

His posture looked exactly like a bandit who had just finished robbing the road.

"Phew."

Shen Yi slowly drew out two golden pages, and at last a trace of a smile appeared on his face.

Just as he had expected.

Although ordinary cultivators rarely carried their arts on their person, the Puti Sect was different.

Shen Yi had personally experienced just how terrifying it was to face a true tribulation without the protection of a precious scripture; therefore, this thing was less a cultivation method than a life-preserving talisman that steadied the divine soul.

Even though he had already memorized its contents by heart, being able to carry it and flip through it at any moment at least gave him peace of mind.

"…"

Meng Xiuwen's eyelid twitched twice; the other's smile made it look even more so, and he said, mouth dry: "What on earth are you doing? What — what is going on here?"

He was now beginning to roughly understand why this rogue cultivator, Shen Yi, was "rogue" in such a refreshingly unconventional way.

So all the tricks he had were obtained this way?

"Walkers of the Puti Sect intended to intercept and kill me and Lord Shen within Jianyang Prefecture."

Ye Jing usually seemed dull, but at this moment she opened her eyes slightly, and in a single sentence transformed Shen Yi's private grudge over stealing the fruit-position precious scripture into an official matter of bandits committing murder.

Not to mention anything else, the fact that those two monks had killed a Purple Cloud Sect cultivator absolutely proved they were no good people.

Lord Shen was doing nothing less than ridding the Divine Dynasty of a scourge!

Ye Jing stole a glance at Shen Yi, who had just taken the precious scripture from the corpses, and pressed her lips together, a little guilty.

"Tch."

Meng Xiuwen was no fool — how could he be hoodwinked by such a fragmentary statement? But since the deed was already done… his gaze swept toward Walker Zhikong beside them: "So, this one is a witness?"

"Huh?"

The monk Zhikong finally came back to his senses; for some reason, being stared at by this man in white, he kept feeling a chill run down his neck.

Friend Shen really was strange, and his friends too — none of them looked like ordinary people.

The monk still remembered that the Three-Tribulation Lotus Platform Art had been given by him to Shen Yi, and in such a short time, he had already cultivated it to perfection; of course, he did not think a court official would lack imperial qi to cross the Heart Tribulation.

The imperial qi of the mortal realm was the most important means by which the imperial court controlled Shenzhou; using even a fraction meant losing a fraction, and even court officials only had the right to draw upon it, rarely being able to obtain it for private use.

But no matter how one looked at it, it was still far easier to obtain than for cultivators like themselves.

Yet the prerequisite for crossing the Heart Tribulation was still being able to understand the spell and begin to cultivate it.

For Friend Shen to have so effortlessly cultivated the Three-Tribulation Lotus Platform Art to completion — even within the Sect, he would be praised by his elders as possessing outstanding Buddha-nature.

What a pity…

The monk Zhikong looked again at the remains of his two senior brothers; from the moment Friend Shen had struck the killing blow, the chance of ever entering the Sect's doors had become very slim.

But at the same time, a still more terrifying thought occurred to him.

If Friend Shen was a court official with channels to obtain sufficient imperial qi, and added to that his astonishing Buddha-nature, and he held the Dragon Tiger Great Scripture in his hands — if things continued along this trajectory, would it not mean… that in the future there would appear a Dragon-Tiger Luo Han who was not a disciple of the Puti Sect at all, and moreover the two sides would still bear a grudge?!

The monk Zhikong simply dared not imagine what measures the Sect's elders would take to mete out punishment once they learned of this.

Fortunately, neither he nor his two senior brothers had ever mastered the Jin Lian Art.

That thing could not be obtained so casually.

Even after perfecting the Six-Tribulation Lotus Platform, one still had to be valued by a certain Venerable, becoming something like a half-disciple, and only by passing that Venerable's trials could one obtain this art and step into the realm of a Jin Lian Walker.

Then one would pluck the fruit-position and become a Dharma-Protecting Luo Han seated beneath that Venerable's lotus platform.

Friend Shen was walking a path toward death — fortunately, a section was missing in the middle of that path.

"It has nothing to do with Master Zhikong."

Shen Yi carefully tucked away the golden register, turned, and shook his head.

【Seven-Rank · Six-Karma Lotus Platform Art: Not Yet Initiated】

"So it was our Lord Shen again, wasn't it?" Meng Xiuwen gritted his teeth and laughed. He had seen long ago that Shen Yi was no soft touch, so when Ye Lan appointed him as acting Zhan Yao Si, he had found it rather absurd.

But he truly hadn't expected the man could be ruthless to this extent.

Joining hands with disciples of the Puti Sect to directly butcher the other two pilgrims, killing for their arts — listen to this, is this something a man of the imperial court could do?

The most outrageous part was, Shen Yi still won.

A Six-Karma pilgrim nearly represented the upper limit of strength at the Seven-Rank realm. Even Master Zhikong would fall short by a measure, and Ye Jing was even less likely to play any role in such a magical contest.

The man was a mere rogue cultivator, yet not only did he win, he slaughtered two at once.

If word of this got out, no one would dare believe it.

"Sigh."

Meng Xiuwen let out a breath, raised a hand to summon a streak of sword-light and began destroying the corpses and erasing the traces. At the same time, he noticed a wisp of invisible flame had fallen upon another corpse.

He fell silent for a moment, glanced toward Shen Yi. Their movements were equally practiced; their gazes met briefly, then tacitly looked away.

"Can we talk?"

After finishing the matter of destroying the corpses and erasing the traces, Meng Xiuwen set aside his irreverent manner, the whole man unusually becoming much more serious.

Even though killing disciples of the Puti Sect could be let known to Master Zhikong, anything involving the Zhan Yao Si still could not be revealed to him.

"Alright."

Shen Yi gave a slight nod of his chin and followed the man out of the room.

After doing so many things, he could still safely stay in Jianyang Prefecture without having to flee for his life precisely because of this identity with the Zhan Yao Si.

But this identity clearly had its limits.

No matter how thick the tree, it could not endlessly indulge its subordinates in doing whatever they pleased.

"You'll need to find a lineage to study under eventually — you can't keep going on like this."

Meng Xiuwen slowly came to a stop and held out the wine gourd in his hand: "Pick up a bit here, a bit there — looks like you have many tricks, and your strength is formidable, but without entering Five-Rank, it's ultimately just minor paths. Whether it's a Dao Fruit or a Fruit Position, sooner or later you'll have to claim one."

"These things, it's very hard to get on your own — you need someone to teach you."

"But once you enter our line of work, it's equivalent to being shut out by the Three Sects, and other immortal sects will also find it hard to take you in. Most likely, you can only learn from seniors within the trade."

At this point, Meng Xiuwen's face showed self-mockery: "Don't end up like me — talking about following your heart, righting wrongs, when in the eyes of the seniors you're just an unruly thorn who won't be managed, liable to cause trouble at any moment, and no one dares to pick us."

"They say the strongest Zhan Yao Si… no matter how strong, in the end you still can't get a title, can't find a lineage, stuck at Six-Rank forever, unable to advance a single step."

"…"

Shen Yi listened quietly and took a sip of the coarse wine.

Sometimes, it's not that he deliberately wants to cause trouble — he just can't stand by and watch, so he casually wants to step in.

From the very beginning until today, through countless matters great and small, he still hasn't managed to shake this bad habit.

"Enough."

Seeing Shen Yi in this state, Meng Xiuwen gave a wry smile and shook his head, as if seeing his former self — reasoning with this man would absolutely get nowhere.

He patted the young man's shoulder and moved past the topic: "Do you know that whether it's a Heavenly Immortal or a Jin Lian Pilgrim, these Six-Rank realms are actually just a transition? Of course, this transition is also very important — it determines what kind of Dao Fruit you can bear in the future."

"Taiyi Zhenxian has Six Karmas, Heavenly Immortal also has Six Karmas — combined that's twelve in total, though for most Dao Fruits, nine karmas are enough."

"You've learned so many skills, yet each one you've learned quite well — that shows your talent is exceptional. Find a good lineage, walk the path to completion, and if by chance you can claim a fine Dao Fruit, this lifetime can be considered complete."

"Being alive, after all, you need something to look forward to."

He withdrew his hand and smiled at Shen Yi: "Understand?"

"Not really."

Shen Yi shook his head, not quite sure why the man had suddenly brought all this up.

"Sigh." Meng Xiuwen, frustrated that iron wouldn't become steel, reached out and vigorously rubbed his hair: "What I mean is, you don't have to act like a bandit, robbing everywhere!"

"Ye Lan! That's the path you should be walking. Just get her to have some goodwill toward you — the Grand Void Dao Fruit she's claimed is among the top ten of the seventy-two!"

All the things Shen Yi was doing now would only make Ye Lan trust him less and less — wasn't this tossing away the watermelon to pick up a sesame seed?

"I remember she said she'd take you along to the gathering — that's a good chance. Don't mess it up. Show yourself well when the time comes. Besides, with your talent for offending people and making mortal enemies, besides her, I really can't think of anyone who could protect you."

Hearing this, Shen Yi slightly raised his eyes.

The Grand Void Dao Fruit… sounded truly tempting.

To be honest, he actually knew the pilgrim's path wasn't one he could walk far on. After all, before even joining the sect he'd already butchered three of their disciples — he couldn't just entrust his future to luck, hoping that every time he could lightly pick up a treasure like the Dragon-Tiger Great Scripture like last time.

Probably claiming the Dragon-Tiger Fruit Position was the limit; to obtain further scriptures would be harder than ascending to heaven.

In the end, he'd still have to return to the path of the immortal sects.

It's just that getting along well with women — that was something he truly wasn't good at.

"So what gathering is it exactly?" Shen Yi glanced sideways, wanting to perform well meant he had to understand it in advance.

Unexpectedly, Meng Xiuwen actually frowned too: "Honestly, I'm not entirely sure either. The Puti Sect is different from the Sanxian Sect — after all, they walk a different path. They hold to the principle that the Dharma is not transmitted outside, and even when a Venerable preaches, it's by broadly inviting pilgrims and arhats to listen."

"But this time is different."

"That Venerable has broadly issued Buddhist invitations, without any scruple. Many immortal sects have received the invitations, and at that time many immortals will attend to observe the ceremony. No one knows what exactly this Venerable intends to preach."

At this point, Meng Xiuwen's eyes narrowed slightly, a cold glint rising in his pupils: "This matter involves too much and has already stirred up considerable unrest — even the imperial capital takes it extremely seriously."

"Do you know what manner of being a Venerable is? In terms of strength alone, they're equivalent to a third-rank immortal official. Placed within the Puti Sect, they'd be honored with the title of Bodhisattva!"

"Such a great figure who covers the sky — how could others glimpse his deeper meaning? It just makes people feel an uneasy foreboding."

Meng Xiuwen drew a deep breath. For a grand occasion like this, to the cultivators it was practically no less than the imperial court handing out disaster-relief grain to refugees — but for the Zhan Yao Si, it was an enormous headache.

"Understood."

Shen Yi nodded. He could pretty much confirm it now — General General Yan Lan bringing him along was purely to listen to the Dharma; in short, it was casually bestowing a fortuitous opportunity.

When it came to matters involving a third-rank titan, what use could a mere Seven-Rank cultivator possibly be?

Regardless, he should first raise his strength a little, so that when danger came, he'd have one more chance of saving his life.

Thinking this, Shen Yi bade farewell to Meng Xiuwen, turned, and returned to the inn.

He picked an empty room, then summoned the Spirit Light Rat to guard the door.

He sat cross-legged on the bed and slowly closed his eyes.

Ever since surviving that last tribulation, Shen Yi had been recalling at every moment that feeling of oneness with Heaven and Man. Now, with a new precious scripture protecting his divine soul, he could finally continue forward.

【Remaining Demon-Subduing Lifespan: 167 Tribulations】

In an instant, all of the demon-subduing lifespan poured into the Six-Tribulation Lotus Platform Dharma.

The lotus platform within Shen Yi's body once again put forth new petals.

(End of Chapter)