Chapter 284: Aftermath

The giant hand covering the entire sky loosened its grip, gradually fading into nothingness.

The Joyous Bodhisattva who had been caught in the hand had already vanished without a trace, his body and soul utterly destroyed, not leaving behind a single shred of evidence.

"Ah..."

Tang Luo suddenly thought that the kasaya that guy wore could actually have been kept; it might have been equipment or something.

He hadn't thought of it when he struck just now; everything was thoroughly crushed, crushed to the point of no return, with neither the possibility nor the necessity of using Kai Guang to repair it.

"Hopefully something good can be found inside Joyous Temple." Tang Luo thought to himself, walking toward the main hall of Joyous Temple.

Master Yixi, Zen Master Wuyue, and the Joyous Bodhisattva — all three were dead. The Joyous Bodhisattva, in order to escape, had even "sacrificed" all the disciples of the Joyous Gate.

In the end, he still failed to escape, and along with him, nearly a thousand disciples of Joyous Temple all perished.

Announcing the destruction of Joyous Temple; the remaining few stray cats, any minor unrest or counterattacks they might produce, would be left to the Longya Dao Gate to handle.

Matters of the imperial court, Kongming can also handle properly.

Tang Luo's side gained a considerable amount of merit power, successfully completing the "Weaken Joyous Temple's Power" mission.

This mission was received when Tang Luo walked into Joyous Temple and took out the list of crimes to read aloud.

Wonder if Kongming's side received a related mission; actually, the Joyous Bodhisattva not being dead, when the blood pool appeared, Tang Luo's side had already completed the mission.

From receiving the mission to completing it, only a few minutes passed; it could be said to be extremely fast.

Tang Luo entered the interior of Joyous Temple to see if there were any healing pills, magic treasures, or equipment; there might be even more gains.

"... It's over?"

"All dead?"

Outside Joyous Temple, Yu Xuanzi and the others, who had "watched" the battle until they were injured, looked at each other in blank dismay.

Had something gone wrong in all this?

The Joyous Bodhisattva had accumulated power; everyone thought he would unleash an earth-shattering strike and fight a world-shaking battle with that Master Xuanzang.

Result: in the blink of an eye, the Joyous Bodhisattva ran faster than anyone.

Before anyone could even form the thought "he actually ran, and got away," a giant hand replaced the heavens, descended, and crushed the Joyous Bodhisattva to death in one grip.

Just like pinching a powerless insect to death.

All this happened too suddenly; the twists and turns left Yu Xuanzi and the others unable to accept it for a time.

Thought it would be a fight to the death; result was running away?

Thought he could escape; in the end, grabbed and crushed to death?

"Is the Grand Elder really that strong?" After a while, someone couldn't help but ask.

Is this really the strength a Golden Core cultivator can display?

The Joyous Bodhisattva was definitely Golden Core; then what realm is the one who can crush a Golden Core to death in one grip?

The legendary Nascent Soul?

In this world, Golden Core itself is a legend; it has not appeared for hundreds of years.

These hundred years, because of the changes in Dayou, Xuan Qi was born, and only then did the Grand Elder, taking advantage of the Xuan Qi, achieve Golden Core.

Subsequently, the Joyous Bodhisattva caught up.

If Golden Core is still a visible, tangible, newly reappeared "realm."

Then the Nascent Soul above Golden Core is the true legend.

"Could it be... Nascent Soul?" Yu Xuanzi said.

"..."

No one asserted yes, and no one dared say no.

That shielding, heaven-replacing hand seemed truly not on the same level as the Golden Core True Man in everyone's hearts.

As for the believers kneeling on the streets outside Joyous Temple, their faces were full of bewilderment; what they heard were the various evil deeds of Joyous Temple.

Although these people were not completely ignorant of the "Joyous Temple" they believed in, they more or less knew it was not a proper sect.

Coming to burn incense and worship Buddha had a certain chance of encountering beautiful nuns, achieving good things, being pleasured to the point of being unable to get out of bed for days — what proper sect could that be?

But they never imagined it would be "improper" to this extent.

Perhaps to distance themselves, someone stood up and began cursing Joyous Temple.

The voice carried far, also alerting others; everyone followed suit, cursing violently, in an instant turning the Joyous Temple they had just been worshiping into the most filth-concealing place in the world.

What Joyous Bodhisattva, Zen Master Wuyue, Master Yixi — all were people who should go to hell and be sliced by a thousand knives.

No matter how you put it, Joyous Temple was a power that had rapidly swollen these years, and because of its own nature.

Truly devout believers were few and far between, extremely rare.

"A bunch of foolish commoners." Qing Fengzi coldly snorted, looking at the Mahavira Hall, "Are we going in?"

"Wait for the Master to come out." Yu Xuanzi said.

Inside Joyous Temple, Tang Luo was a bit disappointed.

He temporarily found some healing pills; besides that, it was all messy gold, silver, treasures, antiques, calligraphy, and paintings.

These things actually have no use for a cultivator as advanced as the Joyous Bodhisattva, but for the whole Joyous Temple, they are very useful.

Hmm, for Kongming, they should also be useful.

Later he could let Kongming come accept the spoils; Tang Luo looked around while popping those healing pills into his mouth like snacks.

Pity, these pills couldn't raise Tang Luo from "two-point-five success power" to "two-point-six success power."

Tang Luo didn't mind either; the merit power gained this time wasn't used or consumed, so might as well accumulate more.

One-time Kai Guang healing, the effect is actually better than consuming the same amount of merit power for multiple recoveries.

Of course, not by too much.

Yu Xuanzi and the others still waited outside Joyous Temple, watching those believers who had cursed enough gradually disperse.

One of them had already left — to notify the Dayou court, taking over the follow-up handling of the Huanxi Temple matter.

Kongming's side had also already pulled the necessary strings.

Therefore, on the surface the Dayou court appeared "steady as Mount Tai"; not even the city defense troops were dispatched, just waiting to see what the situation actually was.

Or rather, those with clear heads understood that sending troops would seem to be of no use anyway.

That gigantic palm — many people had seen it.

It was already beyond the divine abilities and spells of cultivators, an existence like a natural disaster.

If that palm truly came down, most of Zhongdu would likely be reduced to ruins.

It was not something that could be stopped merely by mustering an army.

There is an interesting "checks-and-balances, counter-chain" here.

Taking Huanxi Temple as an example: the disciples of Huanxi Temple, without realizing it, had all become tools for the Huanxi Bodhisattva's escape.

If these people fought the Huanxi Bodhisattva, the Huanxi Bodhisattva also had a certain confidence in defeating them — not by facing them head-on, but by adopting hit-and-run tactics to pick them off one by one and secure victory.

But if the Huanxi Bodhisattva encountered an army of tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, where Xuan Qi converged.

He could not deal with it, because of Xuan Qi the Huanxi Bodhisattva's attack on a single person would be distributed across the entire army formation.

The Huanxi Bodhisattva was only one person, unable to tear open a gap and thereby defeat the army.

However, if it were Huanxi Temple's cultivator disciples against an army, even with a tenfold or greater numerical disparity, if they truly fought, Huanxi Temple would most likely be the final victor.

Between cultivators and imperial armies, between high-realm cultivators and low-realm cultivators, there is still mutual restraint.

It is not that reaching Golden Core allows one to do absolutely as one pleases.

Not to mention other things, even at Golden Core, wanting to kill a Dayou first-rank or second-rank official is still a considerably difficult matter.

Of course, Dayou's side likewise had no better method to check those cultivators who can fly about freely.

Court officials can protect themselves, but wanting to kill cultivators is not that simple.

Even if willing to throw lives into the gap, it still requires the other side to be willing to stay and fight to the death.

Tang Luo's execution of the Glazed Nirvana Great Palm Seal left the Dayou court in a state of panic.

Including that Right Chancellor who favored Kongming and supported him in dealing with Huanxi Temple — he nearly suffered a myocardial infarction on the spot and retired to his hometown.

Why did everyone secretly support, willing to deal with Huanxi Temple?

Because Huanxi Temple gave off a feeling of being overly powerful.

Longya Dao Gate, by comparison, was still relatively low-key.

Especially in recent years, but Huanxi Temple, for the sake of checking Longya Dao Gate, seemed to have indulged them too much.

On Dayou's side, some court officials naturally wanted to suppress them a bit.

And then?

This is completely different from the agreed-upon suppression! That blood-colored light streak, that miserable scream — it was the Huanxi Bodhisattva, wasn't it?

How did you just kill the person directly… or rather, how did you have the ability to crush someone to death in a single grip?

Tang Luo's side struck ruthlessly, directly granting salvation.

Kongming's side still had to explain and appease, not letting those few old ministers who had devoted themselves to Dayou until death get so worked up they went to see the Late Emperor.

Therefore he arrived slightly later, and first sought out Vajra and Tang Yuhan, two people who had nothing to do nearby.

"Master Kong."

"National Preceptor."

Seeing Kongming approach, Yu Xuanzi bowed with clasped hands, his gaze pausing briefly on Vajra and Tang Yuhan.

The Northern Plains journey — according to intelligence, it seemed to be two men and one woman.

Then…

An embarrassed expression surfaced on Yu Xuanzi's face; he seemed to have finally understood.

The Northern Plains tribes' turmoil had not the slightest connection to the Huanxi Bodhisattva or Huanxi Temple — it was a deliberate smoke screen they manufactured.

The true instigators of the Northern Plains chaos were the one man and one woman before him, and that Master Xuanzang.

Scattered clues and fragments connected, and the situation became quite clear.

The news that the Northern Plains Great Shaman was about to emerge, and that the five great tribes might unite, came from Cao He of the Dark-Clad Imperial Cavalry.

This Mister Kong Xuan and his companion saved Cao He and came to Zhongdu together with him.

Master Xuanzang was also acquainted with Mister Kong.

That is to say, after Master Xuanzang obtained the news of the Great Shaman's emergence from Cao He's side, he took the two companions and went to the Northern Plains.

He severely damaged the five great tribes, preventing the Great Shaman's emergence.

Putting the wrong hat on the wrong head, pinning the credit on the wrong people — Yu Xuanzi felt utterly embarrassed inside.

"Why didn't I think of it at the time?" Yu Xuanzi shook his head slightly; after the embarrassment, doubt arose, temporarily suppressed.

"Thank you for your trouble, National Preceptor." Kongming said.

"A trifle; actually we didn't do anything." Yu Xuanzi dared not claim credit, "Master Xuanzang is still inside and hasn't come out."

"Hm?" Kongming started, "Could he be injured?"

Vajra and Tang Yuhan's expressions also changed slightly.

"Shouldn't be; Master Xuanzang looked very relaxed." Yu Xuanzi even wiped sweat from his forehead as he said this.

The gap is just too large.

"Then he's gone to collect the spoils." Kongming said.

With Huanxi Temple's destruction, they might obtain some good things.

On this point, everyone's thoughts were pretty much the same.