Chapter 102: 97 Root Out the Evil Completely

97 Root Out the Evil Completely

Above the Changhe Demon Cave, dark clouds gradually gathered.

As soon as the dark clouds rose, a great wind immediately followed; the gale blew the withered grass flat to the ground, sent fallen leaves dancing wildly, and prevented the people on the ground from even opening their eyes.

Rumble—

A sound of muffled thunder echoed within the clouds; clearly, a rainstorm was about to arrive.

High in the air, the wild wind did not affect a small, isolated position.

After putting on the Mask, everything suddenly became quiet.

This Mask was not airtight, but it blocked out some of the light. For Tang Zhao to wear it was less about covering his eyes and more about allowing himself to quiet down, bringing his soul closer to that of a judge.

Seen from the outside, the Mask was clearly black and white, but from Tang Zhao's side, there was only darkness.

Closing his eyes and plugging his ears, the world turned into a place of absolute Silence. Once his mind was focused, he could no longer feel the chill brought by the strong wind blowing against his body.

Losing one's senses is a terrifying thing. The loss of the five senses can cause a person to collapse.

But he did not collapse; even with his senses sealed, he still had one sense left, capable of seeing through illusions to reach the truth: his so-called consciousness.

The sixth consciousness of Buddhism.

These are all words of Buddhism; can this sixth consciousness break through the obstacles of what is known?

In the darkness, his consciousness looked up, as if meeting another pair of black-and-white, bottomless eyes.

——

The inner side of Tang Zhao was darkness, while the Mask on the outside was clearly black and white.

After putting on the Mask, the Xiezhi quietly walked out from the sword body, flicked its tail, and draped that pure black cloak over Tang Zhao.

And his sword blade was snow-white.

Black and white, clearly defined!

Behind the near-tangible shadow of the Xiezhi, another figure appeared.

That figure was very faint and indistinct, with only a hazy halo, vaguely looking like a tall, thin man.

Ku Yi's expression shifted slightly; as a veteran Sword Guest, he naturally recognized that what Tang Zhao held was a Power Sword, and he even guessed that his Sword Image was a Xiezhi, but he was still stunned when he saw that shadow.

Can a Power Sword not only summon one Sword Image? How did another one come out?

Could it be... a Sword Guest?

Could it be some kind of Sword Art? Or is it an anomaly that only appears when the Power Sword is pushed to its limit?

Immediately after, Ku Yi calmed down—it was meaningless to investigate what this phenomenon was; a duel between Sword Guests lies in meeting moves with counter-moves. What is important is not where the Sword Art comes from, but how to break it.

Since it is a Power Sword, then the Sword Guest is a dead man, right?

Dead men cannot be deceived, so he intends to borrow a pair of eyes that have closed in death to see through his true form... is that the idea?

"Fool," he said with a faint, cold sneer.

His other Sword Arts were meant to confuse the human heart, but the "Arhat Array" Sword Art was not. Every Arhat body was real.

Or rather, both real and false.

If one speaks of reality, every Arhat's flesh, blood, strength, consciousness, and martial arts were real; each had an independent will, requiring no distraction from him to manipulate.

If one speaks of falsehood, unless his true self was killed, all the Arhats were immortal, regenerating infinitely.

Eighteen people with flesh and blood; even if he did not use Sword Arts to confuse the mind, no one could find his true self.

If the living cannot, can the dead?

Seventeen people roared in unison, each wielding their weapons and pouncing forward.

"Sword Art—Haoran Righteous Qi—Soaring to the Heavens!" White energy surged wildly, and a beam of white Qi shot straight into the sky!

Above his head were thick dark clouds; the white Qi was like a beam of light, piercing through the heavy clouds and shining in all directions.

This is Sword Art!

In order to focus on finding the root of the situation, Tang Zhao could not defend point-by-point, and his greatest defensive move was "Guarding Peace and Tranquility," a grand defensive technique he could not easily release right now.

Therefore, he chose to use Sword Art. Sword Art is not just a technique to forcibly control a sword, but also a technique to guide Sword Essence to add to one's own body.

Drawing the power of the sword and transforming it into Haoran Righteous Qi is the "Haoran Sword Art"!

His body was filled with Haoran white Qi, the Qi of a gentleman guarding himself; it could repel demons and evil spirits above, and intimidate the petty below.

What he wanted to intimidate was precisely this group of petty people before him.

Yes, clones of sinners, bullying the few with the many, brazenly surrounding and attacking—how are they not petty people?

Just because they call themselves Arhats, does that mean they are not petty?

Wherever the white Qi rolled, those aggressive bald monks suddenly seemed to shrink a few inches, their hands holding their weapons stiffened; despite having closed in on Tang Zhao, they could not move to strike for a moment.

Within the soaring white Qi, the Sword Guest's figure became more solid, and his upright, profound facial features were vaguely visible. The Xiezhi no longer roared or charged, but sat crouched beside the Sword Guest, like a watchdog.

The scene reached a stalemate.

In a corner where the white Qi could not reach, a figure was stealthily approaching the boundary line Tang Zhao had drawn.

It was a bald monk, looking exactly the same as the dozen or so monks currently surrounding Tang Zhao.

Yes, the Eighteen Arhat Sword Array, yet only seventeen people were participating in the siege.

There was one more monk who, taking advantage of the Chaos of the battle, secretly bypassed the fighting and crept toward the edge.

Tang Zhao said not to cross the line, but would he really not cross it? The previous boundary line looked very powerful, but afterward, Tang Zhao's attention shifted to the frontal battle; leaving that inexplicable line there alone, who could say it wasn't just a bluff?

Even if it wasn't a bluff, this Arhat body also possessed a Vajra body and was a powerful condensation of Sword Art.

You are a Sword Art, and I am a Sword Art; how can it be seen that my Sword Art is inferior to yours?

Whether one wins or loses, only by clashing will one know.

The Arhat arrived before the boundary line, looked back at the scorching battle, pressed his palms together, channeled his Qi, and a layer of golden light enveloped his body!

Vajra Indestructible Body!

Although it was mundane martial arts, it was reinforced by Sword Essence, making it three parts harder than the bodies of top-tier martial arts experts of the hard-body style; ordinary blades could not even leave a mark.

With golden light protecting his body, the monk strode swaggeringly across the boundary line.

Sss—

It was as if countless steel wires had sliced through him; his movements stalled, and the golden light flickered slightly.

Immediately following, the person who had been whole just a moment ago suddenly collapsed with a clatter, like building blocks being pushed over.

Countless flesh and blood rolled and tumbled, scattering and falling through the air like a muffled firework explosion.

Inch-Slicing!

A cruel torture for dealing with traitors, invaders, and turncoats!

There is no such thing as an indestructible Vajra, only death for those who cross the line!

In an instant, Ku Yi on the other battlefield could not help but be shaken and lose focus.

It was not just one monk present who lost focus, but all the monks lost focus together, revealing identical expressions and even gazes. Even if a pair of eyes observing with extreme detail were within a few feet, they would absolutely not be able to see any flaw.

The Arhat Array, by its nature, has no flaws!

Losing focus was a matter of an instant; Ku Yi did not give anyone a chance to take advantage of the situation and immediately regained his composure. It was just a failed probe, nothing more.

In the snap of a finger, seventeen people stepped backward, the formation opened up a gap, and a monk appeared out of thin air to fill the position of the eighteenth person. Everything was smooth and flowing, without a single flaw.

But for Tang Zhao, there was no need to distinguish any flaws; the flaw had existed from the beginning.

The Vast Imperial Sword Art merely propped up a barrier for him, allowing him to focus on doing his own thing.

Not focusing on distinguishing truth from falsehood, but preparing his sword.

"Sword Technique—Righteous and Awe-Inspiring!"

A wave of awe-inspiring righteous might rolled forth, surging like a tide to strike against the embankments on all sides without discrimination.

If the vast white Qi was like cotton, hiding needles within, merely making petty villains afraid to approach, then the awe-inspiring Qi was like arrows—ten thousand arrows fired at once, sweeping away the demons and evil spirits along the path.

This kind of deterrence does not deter petty people with ulterior motives, but criminals who have already committed crimes!

Boom—

Just at this moment, lightning flashed through the dark clouds.

The torrential rain had arrived!

Torrential rain began to fall around the Long River, with countless streams of water pouring into the river. Yet outside, there were only scattered wisps of rain.

In an instant, Ku Yi seemed to be struck by a heavy hammer; his head spun, and he nearly vomited blood.

Of this dizziness, only one among the eighteen monks experienced it; the others acted as if nothing had happened.

Only one person was different from the rest!

Ku Yi looked up and saw the Sword Guest in the Void turn his head to meet his gaze; even such an illusory gaze seemed capable of piercing through his Soul.

Ku Yi shuddered again, tasting a fishy, salty flavor in his mouth.

"Have you discovered it? Even if you can distribute your appearance to dummies, distribute your power to dummies, and even distribute your life to dummies, there is one thing you cannot distribute; it can only remain on you."

"Your sins!"

"All your sins were committed by your own hands. Your hands are stained with blood, and even the water of the great rivers cannot wash them clean. Your evil karma will also follow you forever, entangling you like maggots on bone! In Buddhist terms, this karmic force will not be purified with your death, leaving you to fall into the Animal Realm for eternity, life after life!"

"Let me help you find release!"

Tang Zhao raised his sword.

The Sword Guest of the Void raised his sword.

"Sword Technique—Exterminate All Evil!"

One sword, man and sword as one, a White Rainbow Piercing the Sun!

Without any obstruction, without any deviation, in a split second, the sword had reached before Ku Yi.

Ku Yi had no reaction; perhaps he was still stunned by the Righteous and Awe-Inspiring 【technique】 and his Soul could not react, or perhaps he already had a premonition, but regardless, his reaction was meaningless.

The sword, which had been useless against the flood dragon, gently sliced through Ku Yi's neck as if cutting through solidified lard.

There was no blood.

Everything was cleaved apart, and the blood was no exception.

The blade passed through and was withdrawn; not a single drop of blood splashed onto Tang Zhao.

Whoosh—

As if a gust of wind had blown by, Ku Yi's body was blown away.

He turned into a wisp of smoke, a cloud of mist, a gust of wind, and gently dissipated, leaving not even a speck of ash behind.

Just as Tang Zhao said, he did not need to worry about the suffering of reincarnation, for not a single remnant Soul or spirit entered the cycle of reincarnation.

Everything this sinner left in the world had disappeared.

Only one sword hummed in the air and fell downward; before it even hit the ground, the luster on the sword body had vanished completely, dull and matte like rusted iron.

The Sword Guest had died, and the Treasure Sword had dimmed itself.

Tang Zhao took off the Mask, revealing a youthful face, looked at the figure in the Void, and cupped his hands, saying, "Many thanks, Judge."

After wearing the Mask, his voice had changed, becoming steady and serious; after taking off the Mask, he recovered his clear, youthful voice.

In the Silence, the figure disappeared.

Tang Zhao suddenly turned pale, feeling only that his Heart Power was exhausted; he could no longer maintain 【his stance】 and fell downward.

The Xiezhi did not catch him again, but disappeared without a sound.

The mission had been completed.

Imperial Sword Art, Sword Art, Sword Technique—he had done everything he could; exhausted in body and mind, he could no longer hold on.

The Xiezhi Sword, too, had to be let go.