Chapter 816: Plundering with Troops, the Liuzhen of Northern Wei, Karma Transformed into Divine Abilities

Amidst the pitch-black night, the waves were crushed by the ship's hull, emitting a faint sound of surging water.

But this sound was immediately absorbed by the cloud patterns engraved on the black iron plates of the hull, leaving only a few fine ripples.

This was a flat-bottomed sand ship.

About ten zhang long and two zhang wide, its hull was riveted with iron plates forged from deep-sea cold iron.

Furthermore, a set of Flowing Cloud formations had been arranged by a talisman array master, and a set of black sails was raised; rolling mist wrapped around the ship's body, gliding silently along the surface of the sea.

The iron-bottomed sand ship bypassed several patrolling water soldiers in the Bohai Bay and sought out a flat sandy beach to charge onto.

In the darkness, someone lowered the iron plate at the bow, which slammed heavily onto the ground. Instantly, the formation engraved with ram heads on the bow took root, gathering the sand of the beach to form a city wall.

The people on the ship carefully bypassed the city wall. On the pitch-black beach ahead, shadows flickered instantly, and a robust black horse clad in horse armor walked slowly forward.

Before this, no one had actually been able to discover these cavalrymen in the darkness.

The lead cavalryman's steed snorted, revealing the fangs and sharp teeth in its mouth.

The people on the sand ship hurriedly lowered the earthen wall and drove a team of people out from behind them.

Leading them was a large vat carried by four strong, dark-skinned Western Kunlun slave warriors. The black pottery vat was filled with seawater and was also a small magic treasure with triple seals.

The knight lifted the vat lid, and a delicate merman swam up impatiently, clinging to the rim of the vat.

That pottery vat contained about several hundred thousand jin of seawater, yet the two Western Kunlun slave warriors carried it without changing their expressions, leaving only two deep footprints on the beach.

Water surged in the pottery vat; clearly, there was more than one merman.

The knight nodded with satisfaction; as long as the bulk of this cargo was fine, it was enough. He looked up at the others behind, who were also of strange and peculiar appearances.

Some were women of the Yacha Kingdom, fierce and ugly; some were vicious-looking like the Dog-People of the Dog-Seal Kingdom; and others were born from the union of outer-sea humans and some kind of spirit beast, walking clumsily with two long, protruding canine teeth like walruses.

But the knight noticed a monk in the very corner, covered in tattered cloth garments. He looked young but was extremely thin.

He held a broken wooden bowl in his hand, which still contained half a bowl of turbid water.

The novice monk stared at that bowl of water as if there were something infinitely precious inside...

"Why is there a monk?" the knight snorted coldly.

The ship owner hurriedly said, "The monk was a gift, the monk was a gift... I found him on a deserted island overseas. Perhaps he suffered a shipwreck; he's been there so long he can't even speak. I have a Bodhisattva's heart, so I brought him back to the Central Lands!"

"A Bodhisattva's heart means selling him to me?" the knight sneered.

"Oh! Who doesn't know that although the Liuzhen are a bit bitter, they are a place for decent living? I see he might have some cultivation; wielding a blade in the Liuzhen later on is better than being sold as a slave to a Southern Jin noble family, right?"

Qian Chen glanced at them faintly, remaining silent.

Now, his broken body, a set of tattered clothes, a wooden alms bowl, half a bowl of bitter water, and a lotus seed were all his worldly possessions.

Burdened with infinite karma, the Dao Dust Bead had also been left in the Samsara Realm.

It was precisely because he was exhausted to the extreme that he didn't even have the strength to speak. If he said a word, his mouth would develop sores; if he thought of someone, that person would have bad luck.

The Ear-Dao God once passed down teachings to those with affinity, founding a sect called the Heaven Curse Sect, which cultivated various speech-spirits.

He didn't even need to cultivate; every word he spoke was infinite karma, capable of causing people to fall into hell.

And he himself would only be in a situation ten thousand times more miserable than hell at every moment.

"My family also devoutly believes in the Sha Sect, and we love to give alms!"

"Are you not giving the man water? Look at how thirsty he's been made."

The lead knight saw that Qian Chen's lips were cracked like gullies, so he beckoned. Someone handed over a gilded horse-flask, and he walked straight up to pour wine into the wooden bowl held by Qian Chen's shackled hands.

The milky white milk-wine gurgled as half a bowl was poured.

Qian Chen bowed slightly to thank him, then rubbed a bit of dirt from his hand, inserted his dirty fingers into the milk-wine to stir it, and only after it became turbid did he open his mouth slightly and drink slowly.

The wine tasted extremely bitter upon entering his mouth, which was due to the karma brought by the wine precept he carried.

The knight saw him drink without hesitation and laughed, "So he's also a monk who broke the precepts..."

"No! Food offered must be accepted. You dirtied the wine with earth, so this wine has become vegetarian wine! Truly an honest monk."

In the wooden bowl, a flash of golden light passed.

The knight's eyes widened, and he suddenly grabbed Qian Chen's thin wrist. With a shake of his hand, half of the wine in the bowl spilled, revealing that bit of gold.

"It's just a lotus seed!"

"Is this monk practicing asceticism? Eh! He has actually received the Five Precepts; he is a monk with no shallow cultivation!"

The knight saw the lotus seed clearly, and then, by the faint light, saw the five precept scars on Qian Chen's head. Only then did he release Qian Chen's hand and said, "My name is Tuoba Tao! Master, do you have any interest in coming to my Liuzhen to be a good man, wield a blade on horseback, and win wealth?"

Qian Chen spoke slowly, and the monstrous karma, invisible to the crowd, fell upon him with this sentence.

"Abstain from killing!"

"Hahahaha..." The cavalrymen all laughed.

As Tuoba Tao laughed, he suddenly swung his blade and slashed at the head of the ship owner beside him.

The brilliant blade light bloomed; the thousand-refined divine weapon and the military malevolent qi condensed into one, splitting the triple spiritual light on the ship owner in an instant.

A jade pendant at the ship owner's waist exploded, which was the only thing that gave him a moment of respite.

"Ah ah ah..." The ship owner's expression was ferocious, and a ray of blood mixed with two white bone spikes sprayed from his mouth, but Tuoba Tao slashed backhand, cutting off his face and half of his skull together.

The sprayed blood and magic treasures were blocked by the military malevolent qi and the divine light emitted from the armor on his body, just like hitting a copper wall.

The spiritual light shattered, the seals collapsed, and they fell instantly.

The cavalrymen who had just been laughing instantly charged like a tide, their armored horses heavy and chaotic, like a moving iron city. The military malevolent qi on their bodies connected into one piece, and the wedge formation instantly tore through the sand ship's defenses, killing their way inside.

Blade lights swung and fell, and heads rolled down like gravel rolling down a hillside.

"When did you discover it?"

A roar came from inside the cabin, and a cultivator drove a magic treasure and rushed out.

The magic treasure in his hand was a conch, inside which a slow fragrance burned, circling him. As he leaned toward the conch and blew hard, a dull horn sound rang out, dispersing the malevolent qi rushing toward his face. But the military malevolent qi turned with the formation and rushed up again.

That cultivator didn't expect the magic treasure in his hand to break the law-breaking military malevolence that made cultivators tremble with fear; he just wanted to buy himself a moment of time.

Under this delay, he had already driven the malevolent qi to rise on a flying sword with mixed light colors, his Daoist robe scattered, turning into a rolling cloud of malevolence to escape.

But on the ground, Tuoba Tao had his hand on the hilt of his blade, having waited for more than a breath.

At this moment, the blade light suddenly swept across the sky, cutting through the darkness like lightning, reflecting the subtle expression on Qian Chen's face beside him.

Amidst this rolling murderous intent, he actually wore a smile, his expression comfortable, as if these bloody scenes had triggered the killing karma, making the sin-fruit he carried slightly lighter...

The golden light in the wooden bowl brightened slightly again. As the karma boiled with the death of many living beings around, it gradually nourished the lotus seed, making the golden light vivid as if washed by water.

Tuoba Tao slowly wiped his long blade with the web between his thumb and index finger, and a trace of blood was wiped off.

The brilliant blade reflected his expressionless face.

The long blade returned to its sheath!

In mid-air, half a torso fell suddenly, blood splashing. The other half of the remnant body fell into the sea. The chains on the hands of the bound slave aliens clattered, but they were all too terrified to move.

The knights went down to the sea to fish up the half-torso, and someone said, "To actually send a low-rank Core Formation heterodox practitioner to transport forbidden items!"

"That's it! Even though Captain Tuoba hasn't reached Core Formation yet, as long as he's in the same formation as us, even if a cultivator who has achieved a supreme-rank pill really comes, he can still hack them down with a couple of strikes..."

Tuoba Tao completed the mission, and his companions laughed heartily.

"That item is too critical; many people are watching it. Who knows how many people are secretly calculating! Although that heterodox practitioner's cultivation is insufficient, what he cultivates is a newly emerged sect overseas—the Heaven Curse Sect's Daoist arts."

"The Black-Yin Filthy-Life Speech-Spirit he condensed has the effect of concealing fate and avoiding calculation. Plus, this small merchant firm we have cooperated with for a long time is the most suitable for transporting that item!"

Looking at the shivering merman girl beside him, Tuoba Tao laughed, "What are you afraid of? Worried we'll silence you..."

"Hahaha... Although our Liuzhen of the Borderlands are unloved by father and mother, we are the ones holding the blades. A group of overseas merchants, kill them if we want! Smuggling goods, rob them if we want! Does the imperial court dare to blame us?"

Someone cursed vulgarly, "Damn it! When we were defending against the Northern Border Demon Tribes and the Northern Hu, who wasn't relying on us?"

"We are also disciples of noble families, the noble seeds of various tribes. If it weren't for the Cao family turning their backs on us and cutting off our supplies after moving the capital to Chang'an, who would come here to be a thief!"

At this time, other knights had already lifted several large baskets from the sand ship, all filled with purple opercula.

This item was the cover of the mouth of a large sea conch. These purple opercula came from a type of Flowing Sound Conch in the East Sea. Burning them could produce illusory smoke, often purchased in large quantities by the noble families of Southern Jin to make incense, burned and taken with Five-Stone Powder!

Tuoba Tao flipped through them and suddenly smiled slightly. The malevolent qi in his hand condensed and pierced one of the opercula that hadn't been removed from the conch shell.

Instantly, a magic treasure seal that floated between truth and illusion, resembling a small house and containing its own space, was broken. Tuoba Tao took out a small golden cup from it. He rubbed the item with his palm, closed his eyes slightly, sensed the faint pure yang warmth, then opened his eyes and said, "The item is correct!"

A companion knight approached cautiously.

Tuoba Tao pushed him away.

"Is... is this really Sun Jin Jing?"

The knight widened his eyes and said, "My Po-Liu-Han family is also a noble seed of the Xianbei, a great clan of the country! We haven't even seen such a treasure! Legend has it that it can condense solar essence as bait; it is a great medicine for Yin Spirit ancestors to consume daily to transform into pure yang..."

The knight couldn't help but reach out, only to be slapped away by Tuoba Tao.

"Don't touch... this thing is not something we can keep!" Tuoba Tao said, "The Liuzhen each have a Yang Spirit True Person sitting in command. Accidentally obtaining this item through intelligence this time, the relationship is too great! We must offer this thing up..."

That knight also knew what was good for him, but couldn't help but envy, "In our Xianbei tribe, legend has it that we once obtained such a treasure! The gold sand produced in a certain river could refine Sun Jin Jing. It is said that it was formed when a wisp of the sun's flowing fire fell from the primeval times and hit the great mountain at the source of the river."

"Once a herdsman panned it, it had to be offered up immediately; the Xiongnu would come to collect it!"

"Legend has it that the Xiongnu would cast them into golden men for sacrificial purposes. Later, the Han emperor sent people out of the border and snatched all the golden and silver men back!"

The knight's eyes were full of envy: "How did this golden cup come about? Could it be that overseas is really that wealthy, unlike us who are trapped in the Northern Border, so poor that we can only go and rob the Hu people further north!"

Tuoba Tao put the golden cup into a magic treasure flask and said calmly, "A major event happened overseas!"

"Do you still remember? The several Yang Spirit True Persons who previously guarded the Liuzhen have all left for many days."

"I remember!" Po-Liu-Han realized, "At that time, I was worried for a long time, afraid that the Rouran would attack!"

"The Rouran won't attack; their Great Shaman also ran overseas!" Tuoba Tao laughed, "The immortals overseas broke into the Gui Xu and found the legendary Western Kunlun Ruins! They dug up a pile of primeval heavenly materials and earthly treasures and relic magic treasures! This Sun Jin Jing is the most precious treasure that flowed out the most! Even golden men made of Sun Jin Jing and jade maidens cast entirely from Taiyin Silver Soul have been unearthed!"

"At this time, in that sea area, they have already killed each other into a ball."

"The ancestors have all secretly run over there, just wanting to see what bargains they can take!"

The knights heard this secret and all gathered around. Po-Liu-Han shouted most exaggeratedly: "There is actually such a good thing, why don't we also rush to that Gui Xu and snatch all the treasures in the Western Kunlun Ruins! We won't have to suffer that bird-like anger from Chang'an anymore!"

Tuoba Tao just sneered: "Do you know how many Primordial Spirit True Immortals died in the Gui Xu?"

"If it weren't for the fact that there are too many people watching this item overseas, how would they risk secretly transporting it to the Central Lands? The ones taking action in the Central Lands are small fry like us; in other directions, hum... I'm afraid there will be True Dragons taking action! Core Formation cultivators are nothing more than driven cattle..."

"Mother! Primordial Spirit True Immortals, and several of them?"

Po-Liu-Han cried out strangely: "I haven't even seen a Primordial Spirit Immortal in my life! Could it be that there is a continent several times larger than the Central Lands overseas, with countless immortals, and it's actually true?"

Tuoba Tao laughed: "This is news brought back by the old thief of the Cao family himself. On that day, there were two golden and silver men on the Ice Well Terrace, this high!"

He reached out and gestured at his waist, indicating half a person's height.

The companions beside him all exclaimed in admiration.

Someone excitedly kicked a basket beside him, and the opercula conch shells rolled over, rolling to Qian Chen's feet.

Qian Chen picked up the conch shell and felt the Ring of Theft imprint infinite karma again.

In his eyes, lotus flowers seemed to bloom, but he saw the conch shell like a giant house, with a vast space inside, and a curse-spirit holding a silver cup, hiding inside the conch shell.

Various traces of Dharma and various causes and effects were incomparably clear in Qian Chen's eyes.

It was precisely the Heavenly Eye Ability!

Qian Chen revealed a satisfied smile. Since leaving the Samsara Realm, infinite karma had followed him, and the three realms were like a burning house. Qian Chen traveled between desolate islands, and it took several days before he bumped into this sand ship.

Seeing the rolling karma following the sand ship, his Dharma Eye saw the killing karma and death-signs of everyone.

Only then did he actively bump into the sand ship, coming to respond to the calamity as the karma flowed.

Anyone who commits the Five Calamities will have their karma flow with their perceptions and consciousness, eventually flowing toward Qian Chen, to be borne by him. This is the cultivation of responding to the calamity for all living beings. Karma is neither born nor destroyed, only flowing, and it gradually accumulated here at Qian Chen's, settling in the lotus seed.

This was also the Golden Body of Merit and Karma that Qian Chen wanted to refine...

This bit of karma was not important, but the various causes and conditions within the karma were very important to Qian Chen's cultivation.

At this time, accompanied by the bloody aura, malevolent qi and murderous intent flowed on this beach, gradually tempered by the blood aura, merging into the malevolent qi of these military children.

Various treasures on the sea ship were all moved down by the knights and carried by the infinitely strong mule-horses.

They even let these mule-horses with sharp teeth scatter and gnaw on the corpses on the ground.

And the group of slaves were all ordered to pick up the large and heavy objects on the ship and drive them behind the cavalry.

Just as a knight was about to scold Qian Chen to go and move things, Tuoba Tao stopped him, raised his chin at Qian Chen, and said, "My family has always believed in Buddhism, so don't let the monk move things!"

That knight looked at Qian Chen's attire and shook his head, saying, "The Dharma Masters I see on weekdays are so dignified, with infinite divine abilities and magic power, and even their daily attire is top-notch. When they come to my old mother with a golden bowl, they even make us kneel to give alms. Those who know think we are giving alms to him; those who don't think he is giving alms to me!"

"This monk is covered in rags; he doesn't look like a proper monk at all!"

"This is a proper ascetic monk!" Tuoba Tao kicked him.

He came to Qian Chen: "Master, can you ride a horse?"

Qian Chen shook his head slightly: "All living beings are equal!"

He handed the conch shell in his hand to him.

Tuoba Tao took the conch shell, just wanting to make a joke, but his expression changed slightly. He raised his eyes and looked at Qian Chen deeply.

Then he silently put the conch shell into his bosom without saying a word.

He just said as he passed by: "Carry the Master in a carriage... we are returning to the Liuzhen!"

Qian Chen sat in the carriage, and naturally, more karma fell, which was the hardship of harming the horse.

As this karma flowed repeatedly, behind Qian Chen, a Nezha Dharma Image—invisible to anyone—stepped on a red lotus, held a long spear, and had the Heaven-Mixing Ribbon fluttering, with eight arms waving, located above this killing field.

The various appearances of those who died ahead all fell upon it.

Devoured by it as the Killing Precept!

Amidst the jolting of the carriage, a ray of Buddha light suddenly fell from the precept scars on the back of Qian Chen's head, which was a heavy divine ability of the Heart-to-Heart Connection.

It was called the Eight-Part Jin Gang Dharma!

It could refine fierce ghosts and living beings into Eight-Part Jin Gang Soldiers, the eight types of Dharma protectors of Buddhism.

The various remnant souls melted by the military malevolent qi suddenly came with the karma, and beside the Nezha Dharma Image, they were refined by the Eight-Part Jin Gang Dharma into two Yacha, with green faces and fangs, each with divine abilities.

It was the Yacha Department Ghost Soldiers condensed by the Eight-Part Jin Gang Dharma divine ability!

Possessing five small divine abilities: great strength, escaping into the void, controlling water, catching ghosts, and invisibility.

In the gaze of the Heavenly Eye Ability, karma also bloomed, and another divine ability was about to fall, which was like a Mandala flower altar city. Inside the altar city, there was a phantom sun and moon, not yet formed, but it was because the things plundered by the Liuzhen soldiers this time were not enough.

It was because the greed was not fierce enough!

Qian Chen put his hands together and praised: "All sins and karma, all return to me!" ===== CHAPTER 817 =====