Chapter 1030

The Glazed Buddha Kingdom, where the tomb of the Sangha King lies.

The original verdant pines and cypresses, as well as the lotuses and bodhi trees covering the ground, have all been smashed to pieces by the demon horde.

Rows of stelae, rows of archways, and those magnificent, beautiful reliquary towers were all smashed to bits; the relics left by successive Sangha Kings were completely looted by the demon sovereigns, becoming their treasured hoard.

Only at the center of the mausoleum lay an ordinary granite stele, unremarkable due to its common material, and thus it escaped destruction.

This granite stele is the oldest stele in the Glazed Buddha Kingdom, without equal.

It records in ancient seal script how the founder of the Glazed Buddha Kingdom, amidst a land thick with thorns, poisonous snakes, and jackals, struggled through terrible plagues to survive and save his people, eventually fortuitously receiving the transmission of the Primeval Buddhist Sect, clearing the thorns, slaying the jackals and venomous snakes, eradicating the plague, and leading his people through hardship to establish the Glazed Buddha Kingdom.

Jia Ye held a lotus sword; with one strike he shattered the surviving granite stele, revealing at its core a thumb‑sized relic of milky white hue, its aura not particularly strong.

Without blazing holy light or surging Buddha power, the might contained in this relic is quite ordinary.

If placed in an unbroken Glazed Buddha Kingdom, the owner of this relic, with his cultivation, could at most be a minor head of good deeds in the lowest villages, not even qualified to be a village head.

The owner of this relic is none other than the first Sangha King of the Glazed Buddha Kingdom, the ancestor who received the transmission of the Primeval Buddhist Sect.

His cultivation was not particularly strong; at the end of his life he was merely at the half‑step Divine Manifestation realm.

This relic he left behind has retained its original form only because of the sealing incantations layered by successive Sangha Kings within the granite stele; otherwise, given its quality, it would have long been ground to dust by the passage of time.

"Generation after generation of ancestors, through blood and tears endured hardship, ultimately forming the Glazed Pure Land." Jia Ye knelt before that relic, paid his respects, then rose, his face expressionless as he murmured to himself; two clear tears streamed down his cheeks, falling to the ground and sending out ripples of faint light.

"Take another look at today's ancestors' tomb… Cold Cicada, do you feel no guilt?"

A bloody "slave" character was branded on his forehead, nine blood‑filled holes on the back of his head still bleeding, his body twitching as King Uncle Cold Cicada chuckled "keke": "Guilty? Why should I feel guilty? I merely sought to preserve my own life and property…"

Jia Ye turned and with one sword strike severed Cold Cicada's head.

He spoke calmly: "Because you wanted to save your own life and property, you sold the lives and property of all the people of the Glazed Buddha Kingdom?"

Behind Cold Cicada, a crowd of men, women, old and young lay prostrate on the ground, screaming hoarsely. Several handsome, cute boys and girls cried out hoarsely: "Jia Ye, Uncle Jia Ye… spare us, spare us…"

Jia Ye raised his lotus sword, his expression a half‑smile, tears streaming down his face as he looked at the hundred‑odd direct relatives of Cold Cicada: "But who could spare the lives of the Glazed Buddha Kingdom's millions of common folk?"

"As descendants of the Sangha King, failing to shelter the faithful populace and instead letting them suffer a cataclysmic calamity… the sin upon us can never be washed away in a lifetime."

"I will settle this account… you may now be freed."

Sword light flashed repeatedly; amid the shrill cries, the entire bloodline clan of the Glazed Buddha Kingdom was wiped out today, save for Jia Ye alone.

"Clang," the lotus sword fell to the ground; Jia Ye dropped to his knees, repeatedly bowing before the relic of the first Sangha King: "Lay down the butcher's blade, I cannot become a Buddha… From today onward, in a small temple with a dim lamp, as a humble monk I will transcribe the blood sutra for life… repent… atone."

"Thud," as Jia Ye knocked his head to the ground, his forehead split open and blood flowed over his face.

He dipped his hand in the blood and, solemnly, wrote stroke by stroke upon the half‑broken granite stele before him a sutra for delivering the dead and cleansing sins; under the empowerment of his Buddha power, the sutra glittered on the stele and was deeply etched into it.

Far off, Zhu Ganglie gripped a nail‑rake with both hands, his chin resting on the handle's end, gazing at Jia Ye here and sighing: "He's a ruthless little brat… tsk… but these people, they're really a hassle."

"Why go to such lengths to create such partings of life and death, utterly devoid of joy?"

"Isn't there still him, this little brat? Find a few pretty girls, go 'patter‑patter' and bear a whole litter of kids, and a family is thus propped up, right?"

He lightly patted his own ample belly, Zhu Ganglie murmured: "Look at our clan—how many of our people have died in battle? Find a few old sows; one litter can produce over ten piglets, and in a year we regain our vigor… what's the big deal?"

The Golden‑Eye Demon Sovereign crouched on a nearby eave, both hands clutching a large peach and gnawing at it heartily.

Hearing Zhu Ganglie's words, the Golden‑Eye Demon Sovereign couldn't help but sneer repeatedly: "Old sow? Why not go look for a female cockroach instead? They can spawn thousands or tens of thousands in a single brood—that's true endless progeny!"

Zhu Ganglie's eyes lit up: "Makes sense, huh? In our demon nation, those few strongest female cockroaches that once took human form were actually quite handsome and pretty…"

"Honk‑honk" a few coughs, several old‑geezer demons glided slowly past from not far away.

The old geezer gave Zhu Ganglie a sideways glance and muttered lowly: "Your faces, your faces, get them sorted… don't let people laugh, don't let people laugh… tsk, my face has been utterly ruined by you lot of idiots."

Above the Glazed Pure Land, the massive Vessel of Myriad Spirits Devouring Void and Slaying Gods hovered silently amidst countless warships, suspended at an altitude of a hundred li above the ground.

Wu Tie sat upright upon the throne at the ship's prow, furrowing his brow as he examined the report in his hand.

The Vessel of Myriad Spirits Devouring Void and Slaying Gods shimmered all over with splendid divine light; the demon sovereigns slain or captured, together with the great demons of the Divine Manifestation realm, were being refined in the Great Dao furnace, continuously forged into the vast hull.

Each time the fated demon bone of a Divine Manifestation great demon merges into the giant ship, the ship grows a little stronger.

And when the fated demon bone of a demon sovereign is fused in, the colossal ship's overall performance can swiftly leap by a large margin.

Moreover, the experts of the great clans such as the Mo, Li, and Yuan families, following Wu Tie's blueprints, continually inscribe spell formations and imbue prohibitions throughout the ship's interior, constantly perfecting the vessel's functions; at every moment, accompanied by flashing streams of light, everyone can sense the ship's aura steadily rising.

Wu Tie's fingers lightly tapped the armrest of the black‑iron throne; the report before him was truly shocking.

In the Glazed Buddha Kingdom, every person over sixty years of age was slaughtered.

Across its vast territory, every child under ten years of age was killed.

According to the testimonies of several great demons who could not endure torture and finally spoke, the demon horde received an edict from the so‑called Holy Ancestor of the demon race, commanding them to slaughter the people of the Glazed Buddha Kingdom as sacrifice.

Per the edict's demand, out of the Glazed Buddha Kingdom's countless billions of citizens, only one in a million could survive!

The demon sovereigns, cunning and deceitful, slaughtered all those over sixty and under ten; thus the enormous Glazed Buddha Kingdom lost nearly sixty percent of its population—a staggering figure they believed would be enough to deceive those Holy Ancestors and satisfy them.

The remaining populace—those aged between ten and sixty—would be sufficient after this catastrophe to swiftly replenish the population, resume production, and become slaves of the demon horde, generation after generation providing blood food and various exquisite human handicrafts.

The demon horde's plan could be called 'perfect'.

Alas, the people of the Glazed Buddha Kingdom—elders and children in every household were slain, and many able‑bodied youths were tossed into the cauldron as blood food.

The Heavenly Court retreated, and Wuguo's armies timely crushed the demon horde, yet every household in the Glazed Buddha Kingdom hung white flags, every home could hear the shrill, anguished wails, and resentment rose throughout the kingdom's skies like a hell on earth.

The entire Buddha Kingdom's order and social structure have collapsed.

Huang Lang whispered to Wu Tie: "Your Majesty, those who defected to the demon horde and, during the demons' assault, provided convenience and opened city gates for them—these human traitors are now undergoing strict scrutiny."

Wu Tie nodded, cast aside the report in his hand, and said in a low voice: "Shocking, utterly devoid of heavenly conscience… these traitors, extermination of their whole clans—this goes without saying. As for the captured demonfolk…"

Gazing toward the direction of Dongzhen Buzhou, Wu Tie recalled those strange armies of the Heavenly Court.

"The number of captured demonfolk is so vast, together with the captured demon sovereigns, let us offer them all in a single sacrifice… We need to swiftly enhance Wuguo's overall strength. That Heavenly Court comes with ill intent and is not easy to deal with."

Huang Lang and the others had already seen the battlefield report compiled by Xiahou Wuming.

Those eerie auras, the Heavenly Court's elite in which ten billions of people act as one, plus the constantly resurrecting soldiers who grow stronger each rebirth, left them with an extremely profound impression.

"With another sacrifice, the total number of venerable level elders from Wuguo's great armies and clans can reach three thousand." Wu Tie glanced at the elders of the great families present: "Before we had a total of one thousand, with two thousand slots still open; each of you should select twice the previous number of candidates from your own clan and report them to Huang Lang."

The demon horde is enormous; after the demon sovereigns were crushed, the number of demons who knelt and surrendered exceeds ten times that of the previous sacrifice of the Demon State's demon army.

Although the overall quality of these demon hordes falls short of that of the demon army, their sheer numbers are enough to blanket the gap in quality.

Wu Tie calculated a bit; if he holds nothing back this time, the number of Honored-level cultivators in Wuguo should exceed ten thousand. Three thousand will be reserved for Wuguo's major generals' clans and aristocratic families; the remaining seven thousand, the bulk will go to the Wu tribe, and the remaining quota could be considered for allocation to the chieftains of the various branch tribes from the subterranean world of Fuxi Divine Kingdom.

Wuguo is not a purely human nation; many branch tribes of the Pangu human race also dwell there.

These branch tribes also need peak powerhouses to hold them in check; otherwise, their peoples within Wuguo will surely gradually lose status and even become objects of bullying, which would completely betray Wu Tie's original intention.

So, the water must be kept level.

Wu Tie feels he cannot achieve absolute fairness, but at least there will not be too much bias.

Being able to face his own conscience is enough.

Huang Lang and the others went off to attend to their respective tasks.

Prepare a large-scale sacrifice; Wu Tou and the others, the barbarian gods, also need to prepare a ritual to intercept the sacrificial offerings.

The vast Liuli Buddha Kingdom suffered heavy casualties among its populace, its wealth losses incalculable; all levels of official offices were swept clean by the demon horde, every official became the first batch of blood food for the demons; the vast Buddha Kingdom is now completely a scattered mess.

In order to properly settle these survivors of the Liuli Buddha Kingdom and prevent trouble from arising among them, Huang Lang and these civil officials have plenty to keep busy.

Fortunately, the citizens of the Liuli Buddha Kingdom earnestly follow Buddhist teachings, being naturally kind and gentle; even after the great calamity, they have retained a shred of rationality, so Wu Tie temporarily does not worry they will erupt in major turmoil.

If it were replaced by the Supreme Demon Kingdom, Wu Tie would not be so at ease.

Warship after warship flew off in all directions; Huang Lang and the civil officials set out.

Wu Tie sat upright on his throne; as his orders were proclaimed one by one in the monasteries throughout the Liuli Buddha Kingdom, his name began to become known among its people.

In the high sky, a brilliant purple-gold light, like a celestial river pouring backward, came rushing down with a howl.

Just before it hit the ground, this purple-gold light spanning a hundred miles suddenly split: forty percent fell on Wu Tie, thirty percent on the many Honored-level experts who participated in the battle, and the remaining thirty percent was evenly distributed among all Wuguo soldiers who took part.

Even those giant god-constructs had strands of golden purple light infused into their bodies.

Wu Tie also did not know what use these metal nuggets, having received this merit power, would have, but he thought it should be a good thing.

"Heavenly Court, strong foe... we must increase our strength," said Wu Tie behind him; a huge, fully solidified merit gold pancake appeared, the massive gold pancake slowly rotating, as the merit gold light continually poured down from the sky, its diameter kept rapidly increasing.

"These merit powers..." Wu Tie pondered for a moment, then seized the floating yellow sword at his side and slashed downward.

The massive merit gold pancake split with a "splish" into two pieces; a piece about three-tenths its size turned into a thick gold-purple rainbow, which with a "rushing" sound like a tide surged into Wu Tie's forehead.

In Wu Tie's mind, the clump of innate spiritual light violently trembled, as the vast merit gold light continually poured into it, nourishing the innate spiritual light to become ever larger and more substantial.

"Dao, I, return, to one!" Wu Tie silently cultivated the method from the Primordial Scripture, and beautiful Dao patterns like flying dragons and phoenixes continuously appeared on his body.

A bolt of lightning flashed in the void; Wu Tie's innate spiritual light, already expanded to a hundred zhang in size, suddenly disintegrated, with one clump forcibly returning to the size of a water tub.

A wave of languid lethargy washed over him, making one want to do nothing; Wu Tie forced himself to stay alert, and his sturdy physique suddenly withered and shrank.

A vast essence-blood aura surged into his mind, merging with those clumps of split innate spiritual light into one.

The void trembled; strange Dao patterns flickered above Wu Tie's head, then gleaming Dao markings silently appeared. Supported by the vast merit power, these Dao imprints, originally half-virtual half-real, are now rapidly solidifying.

In the Primordial Scripture, the three thousand Great Dao imprints, supported by the vast merit power, transformed decay into marvel, condensing instantly into existence.

Wu Tie's flesh and blood were almost completely desiccated; on the throne, only a withered skeleton-like humanoid figure remained seated.

Condensing Dao imprints not only consumes innate spiritual light and the essence of the soul, but also incurs a massive drain on one's own essence-blood energy.

While simultaneously condensing three thousand Dao imprints, Wu Tie's true self almost had its essence-blood completely drained.

The three corpses avatars and six paths avatars flashed into existence simultaneously; each shook its head with bared teeth, then swiftly drew its own essence, energy, and spirit and rapidly infused them into Wu Tie's body.

Wu Tie's withered, skeleton-like body began to recover, with strands of flesh quickly filling out.

Wu Tie said in a deep voice: "Take all the hearts of those demon sovereigns and borrow their natal essence-blood for use."

The remaining seventy percent of merit power also surged into Wu Tie's forehead; he said faintly: "Heavenly Court? Now I have the capital to be so extravagantly wasteful, but I'd like to know what gives you the audacity to commit such arrogant and reckless acts."

With a "hum," the Dao patterns corresponding to the eighty-four thousand side doors all simultaneously appeared on Wu Tie's body surface.

"My heavens..." Cang Hai Dao Ren and the others cried out in unison.