Chapter 779

Heading east from Wuguo, crossing a vast uninhabited wilderness, lies an endless, perilously unpredictable ocean.

With the cultivation of an ordinary fivefold heaven in the Divine Manifestation Realm, if no mishap or obstacle occurs, flying east at full speed would take about three years to reach a vast archipelago.

This archipelago is called the Chaotic Star Sea; it is utterly devoid of human habitation, each island occupied by demonic beasts that have taken human form. In the sea and on the islands, countless demonic beasts are linked together, bullying and domineering; unless one is an expert in the Divine Manifestation Realm, anyone who intrudes without permission will surely die.

After passing through the Chaotic Star Sea, there lies a continent.

This continent is one of the main lands of Mu Dalu. The land stretches for hundreds of millions of miles, with countless blessed grotto‑heavens. Moreover, the heavenly and earthly primordial energy is abundant to the extreme, and resources are plentiful to the extreme; it is truly an excellent paradise.

The Sui Dynasty lies at the center of this land, its territory vast, with countless powerful individuals.

The capital of the Sui Dynasty, 'Sui Du', is located at the heart of the Sui Dynasty; it is a mighty city built of black flint, with length and width each exceeding ten thousand li.

The walls of Sui Du have been sealed with restrictions by a great divine ability user.

During the day, sparks scatter across the black city walls, green smoke swirls, and from time to time a booming sound 'Boom—' is heard.

At night, the walls of Sui Du blaze like a flame mountain, with strands of green smoke and purple fire shooting up hundreds of li high, illuminating a radius of tens of thousands of li in bright light; no evil spirits or ghosts can approach within half a step.

Regardless of day or night, groups of heavily armored elite troops patrol the walls of Sui Du.

The might of that green smoke and purple fire is astonishing, yet it harms only non‑humans, leaving humans unscathed. Moreover, these heavily armored elites, walking amidst the green smoke and purple fire, are constantly tempered; over the years, these patrolling warriors each have bodies as strong as refined steel, like a hundred‑fold tempered vajra.

Speaking solely of physical strength, each of the Sui Du city guards' bodies rivals that of a Divine Manifestation Realm body‑cultivation elder from the Wuguo Junior General's gate.

This is the foundation of the Sui Dynasty.

This is the strength of the Sui Dynasty.

East of Sui Du, at a distance of 180,000 li, lies a vast mountain range. The mountain is majestic, its peaks reaching the azure sky and its roots connecting to the earth's depths; within the mountain range, streams of white qi pierce the firmament, and when they sway, starlight scatters down, nourishing the land so that it is fertile and teeming with spiritual herbs, beasts, and birds.

Deep within the mountains, layer upon layer of palaces and halls have been built following the terrain; at a glance, the halls number in the tens of thousands, and the various pavilions, towers, and terraces number in the hundreds of thousands.

Between the halls, green smoke swirls continuously; incense burners blaze with incense day and night, burning untold amounts of exotic fragrance each day.

The chanting of sutras flows continuously, transforming into faint thunder that rumbles among the mountains. Countless Buddhist seals—character seals, lotus seals, vajra seals, treasure‑vase seals, and so on—spontaneously arise and fall, landing on the mountain ridges and emitting a 'ding‑ding' boom.

After countless years of tempering by Buddhist power, this mountain range has been forged into an indestructible vajra; even an ordinary Divine Manifestation Realm expert would find it hard to shatter a stone here.

This is the Karmic Fire Red Lotus Temple, one of the Sui Dynasty's three great state‑protecting divine sects.

Upon hearing the resonant boom of a golden bell, the chanting within the Red Lotus Temple suddenly rose several pitches; then a huge ancient‑bronze decked ship ten thousand zhang long rose from the rear mountain, carrying a multitude of monks in various robes, heading straight east.

Inside the Red Lotus Temple, in a great hall, dozens of elderly monks sat cross‑legged on futons.

In the center, an elderly monk bore a solemn dharma appearance; the precept scars on his head shone brightly, and the divine light he emitted rose several zhang high, then continually transformed into colorful showers of light that fell down.

The old monk sat cross-legged on the futon, his voice cold: "Truly reckless and rash. Western demons, Eastern devils, Southern ghosts, Northern monsters—these fiends today stir restlessly; we must suppress them with great force… Whoever dares show their head, I will chop off theirs."

Another monk, his whole body golden, even his eyeballs a solid gold-yellow, gave a "hum hum" cold chuckle: "Senior brother speaks exactly right. These heretical demons and evil paths—whoever dares provoke the majesty of our Suichao dynasty provokes our Great Scarlet Lotus Temple…"

He slapped his palm on the ground, shaking the hall violently; the wholly golden old monk said coldly: "The world is troubled; we monastics should hold compassion in our hearts, using killing to stop killing, using killing to convert those heretical demons and evil paths… I hope in their next life they can become good people…"

Before the hot-tempered old monk finished speaking, another monk, his whole body scarlet, exuding a bloody stench richer than any demonic old fiend, his aura evil yet hinting at holiness, solemn yet touched with madness, let out a "ke ke" laugh.

"Senior brother's words are wrong… To stop killing with killing means to exterminate them root and branch, to slaughter them utterly. Next life? Why give them a chance at reincarnation?"

The bloody old monk said with a sinister tone: "Junior brother, I have already given the orders; the disciples sent to reinforce the Eastern Demon‑Slaying City must not be soft‑hearted. All demons must be smashed until their souls scatter, not even a thread of reincarnation allowed."

The old monk raised his head and murmured: "The Buddhist teaching says, all five aggregates are empty… Only by dying pure and clean, leaving no trace, is that truly 'all five aggregates empty'… That is true great compassion!"

Inside the hall, dozens of old monks laughed together.

Their bodies burst forth with various hues of Buddhist light, the nature of that light strange—sometimes leaning toward demon, sometimes toward devil, sometimes toward ghost, sometimes toward monster; in short, very few possessed a purely Buddhist aura.

Each of these old monks possessed heavenly‑reaching power and astonishing cultivation; as they simultaneously emitted Buddhist light, their aura surged violently, shaking the nearby hall's pavilions into wild sway. This hall was no pure Buddhist sanctuary; it resembled more a mistaken entry into the Dividend Hall, a rush into the Gathering Righteousness Chamber, and the old monks within were hardly different from mountain bandits who block roads and rob travelers.

Thud, thud, thud

An extremely heavy footstep sounded; a monk about ten zhang tall, who had to lower his head carefully upon entering the hall lest he shatter the doorframe, strode into the hall step by step.

He fell to his knees with a "thud", bowing his head to the assembled old monks in the hall.

"Master, uncles and aunties, Junior Brother Wan Kun has sent back word… He was trapped by the Clear Wind Pit of the Azure Lotus Temple."

The stout monk raised his head; two clusters of scarlet scarlet‑lotus karmic fire burned wildly in his eyes, and he spoke in a deep, resonant voice: "He is now crouching in a desolate mountain wilderness, wanting to ask the venerable elders what he should do next."

The bloody old monk laughed with a "ka ka ka": "Did Wan Kun suffer a loss? Hahaha, that clumsy oaf… Fortunately he is not my disciple, or else I would have been angered to death by him long ago."

The stout monk glanced at the bloody old monk and said in a low voice: "Junior Brother Wan Kun's report says he discovered a human nation overseas. Its population is more than a hundred times that of our Suichao dynasty… at the very least, it has a hundred times our population."

Inside the hall, all the old monks held their breath, staring at the stout monk with green‑glinting eyes.

The stout monk felt a chill run through his body and instinctively tightened his monastic robes.