Chapter 595: Entering Spirit Mountain (13)

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Jiexing's heart skipped a beat; he had not expected Fozhu to speak up suddenly at this moment.

Over these past hundred years, Fozhu had only interfered with the outside world during the first ten years, after which he had remained in that mountain cave cultivating and tending to the tree, never once intervening in outside affairs; yet now, he had actually spoken up for a candidate Fozi.

What secret did he carry on him?

Fozi Jiexing took a deep look at Mingxin, who was meeting his gaze calmly, then nodded slowly and said, "... Well said. Indeed, there was no such rule before; what is not forbidden by the Dharma is permitted."

"What!?"

The monk who had spoken earlier did not expect Fozi to make such a frivolous decision and could not help but retort, "Lord Fozi! If we indulge his behavior like this, then surely more people will adopt such opportunistic methods in the future! By then, if everyone has a Protector intervene, wouldn't the struggle for Fozi become a farce?"

"You say farce?"

Regarding his questioning, Jiexing turned his head to glance at the man indifferently, then asked coldly, "How I, this Fozi, conduct affairs—when would I ever need your approval?"

"Lord Fozhu has entrusted the full responsibility of this Fozi struggle to me. Your questioning now—is it a challenge to my decision? Or a challenge to Lord Fozhu's judgment? Or perhaps both?"

!!!

Hearing Jiexing mention Fozhu, the monk who had originally intended to continue arguing immediately changed his tune, bowed his head deeply, and said in terror, "This disciple spoke out of turn! I hope Lord Fozi will forgive me!"

Jiexing rarely mentioned Fozhu of his own accord, but whenever he did, there was no room for negotiation.

This was the final ultimatum; if anyone still held objections, he would proceed to kill.

These past hundred years had been enough for Jiexing to leave an image of cruelty and ruthlessness in the hearts of everyone in the Western Desert.

Everyone knew that Jiexing was Fozhu's most steadfast supporter, the ruthless sharp blade in His hand, striking down everyone without mercy.

Let alone these people, in the past, Jiexing had never shown any restraint even toward his former teachers and friends.

Some died, some were injured, some were imprisoned; he had forced himself into becoming a lonely man with no attachments.

All of Fozi Jiexing's authority came from Fozhu, and everything he did was for Fozhu; this was something everyone knew.

In many instances, the will of the Fozi was equivalent to the will of Fozhu; he represented Fozhu's stance.

Placed in the current scenario, it meant that Fozhu did not care whether or not Protectors intervened when the candidate Fozis were competing for the Buddha Hearts.

He simply did not care.

After suppressing the dissenting opinions on Spirit Mountain, Jiexing turned his head to look at Mingxin again, and addressing him, as well as everyone on the mountain, he said:

"Do not think this is my favoritism; this is not an indulgence of him nor a challenge to the rules."

"The struggle for Fozi has never restricted any means from the very beginning."

"And this, naturally, includes allowing Protectors to intervene and assist."

"Not only that, there are no restrictions on the magic treasures and Talismans used. If you trust one another, you may even join forces to encircle and suppress others; all of this is permitted, only you had never realized it."

The Fozi's words caused everyone to fall silent; they still found it somewhat difficult to accept, yet they had to admit that they had indeed overlooked this condition.

Letting others help intervene—does that count as cheating?

If it were any other competition, it might count, perhaps even without question.

But the struggle for Fozi was no ordinary competition; it was the most important grand ceremony that would determine the direction of the world in the Western Desert for the next hundred years!

Indeed, since there were no restrictions on magic treasures and Talismans, and both were forms of external aid, why must the Protectors be restricted?

Of course, had Fozhu not spoken, Jiexing would still have seriously considered whether Mingxin could pass the preliminary test.

"What is your name? Which temple are you from?" On the surface, Jiexing was merely making a routine inquiry, but in his heart, he was actually very curious about Mingxin's background, wanting to know what kind of talent could be specially noticed by Fozhu.

"Disciple Mingxin, current abbot of Kurong Temple."

Mingxin bowed in salute, the two thousand Buddha beads wrapped around his body swaying slightly, emitting a crisp sound, while countless phantom images appeared around his body, bowing along with him.

Mingxin had already absorbed all the Buddha nature within the Buddha beads; it could be said that he now represented the will of these people, becoming a collective entity of their Buddha Dao.

This scene was astonishing, causing the surrounding candidate Fozis, who had previously looked down on him, to feel a jolt in their hearts, and they no longer dared to underestimate him.

Even with the help of Protectors, they had no way to refine all two thousand different philosophies like Mingxin and fuse them into themselves... that would drive one insane.

Yet Mingxin had indeed done it, and at an extremely fast speed; as he refined more Buddha beads, his refining speed became even faster, taking only half a day in total to refine the final six hundred beads.

Jiexing's focus was different from the others; upon hearing the name Kurong Temple, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he asked slowly, "The abbot of Kurong Temple? I recall the current abbot of Kurong Temple is Jinglian Shangren? How did he pass the position of abbot to you? Why was such a major event not reported to Spirit Mountain?"

When mentioning this, there was a trace of sadness in Mingxin's eyes; he bowed respectfully and explained, "My master has already entered Nirvana, and the disciple is the only one left at Kurong Temple, so I have now assumed the position of abbot."

"Coming to Spirit Mountain this time was precisely to report this matter, but the struggle for Fozi had already begun on the way, so this disciple joined halfway through and was delayed along the journey, only having the opportunity to report to Spirit Mountain today."

Mingxin's explanation was a mix of truth and falsehood, and no one could find any fault with it.

After hearing the explanation, Jiexing did not reply immediately, but instead raised his head, his gaze looking toward the direction of Kurong Temple with a sense of distance.

"Entered Nirvana..."

Jiexing shook his head silently, whispering in his heart with complex emotions: "Senior Brother Jinglian, did even you not make it through?"

Regarding the departure of someone he knew, a trace of regret could not help but surface in Jiexing's heart, but it was erased by him in the next instant.

"..."

Jiexing had long since lost the ability and qualification to feel sorrow.

He was the Fozi, the blade in Fozhu's hand.

A blade has no heart, and a blade stained with blood even less so.

All these thoughts flashed by, and Jiexing returned to calmness in an instant; his change was not even noticed by anyone.

He took one more deep look at this candidate Fozi who had been noticed by Fozhu, and announced solemnly:

"In the Buddha Heart trial, Mingxin of Kurong Temple obtained two thousand two hundred Buddha Hearts, thus he is the leader; enter Spirit Mountain and reside at the peak."

"Fanming Temple's Tuosheng and Chan-yin Temple's Qixing, both obtained over five hundred Buddha Hearts; reside on the mountainside."

"As for the rest, those who obtained over one hundred reside at the foot of the mountain; those with fewer than one hundred may not enter Spirit Mountain."

"The next trial, Buddha Dharma, will continue tomorrow at noon."

After announcing this indifferently, Jiexing did not care about their reactions and immediately turned around, his figure vanishing from the peak.

The candidate Fozis were still somewhat bewildered, not knowing what to do next, while the other Monks were accustomed to the Fozi's elusive nature, knowing he had likely gone to see Fozhu.

They walked down from Spirit Mountain one after another, beginning to guide these prospective Fozi to their lodgings.

The foot, the waist, and the peak of Spirit Mountain represent three different thresholds.

The foot of Spirit Mountain is the most desirable place; wealthy merchants who obtained the qualifications to ascend Spirit Mountain by offering wealth and goods operate within this area at the foot, enjoying extravagant feasts and being harvested by the Bodhisattvas.

The waist, however, is for powerful disciples of Buddhism, where they can contemplate scriptures left by predecessors and exchange pointers with others; the Protectors of Spirit Mountain all cultivate there.

As for the peak, in the past, only the Fozi Jiexing, the three Great Elders of the Lingyu Sect, and the leaders of other factions were qualified to enter.

Once the results were out, there were those who rejoiced and those who grieved.

Those with fewer than one hundred Heart Stars looked grim; they had already been sentenced to death, lacking even the qualifications to enter Spirit Mountain, and naturally, they were not qualified to participate in the next round of selection; their journey had ended completely right here.

As prospective Fozi who had luckily entered the foot of the mountain, although this result was somewhat unsatisfactory, it was still much better than those who were directly eliminated; though they felt unwilling, they were still somewhat satisfied.

They believed they still had a chance, and that champion had merely used some petty tricks; if it had been them, they could have done it too.

Besides this, the remaining three were Mingxin, who became the champion, and the two residing at the waist.

After obtaining results that were second to none, some could accept it calmly, while others could not suppress their anger.

Monk Tuosheng of the Fanming Temple was a typical person who could not hold back his fire.

"Don't be happy too soon! Hmph, you might have luckily snatched the lead in the Heart Star stage by relying on the help of others, but it won't be so easy from here on out!"

From his appearance, Tuosheng was a middle-aged monk with a sturdy and imposing physique; his exposed arms were tattooed with some ferocious patterns—no, almost his entire skin had patterns, even his face was no exception.

Even his bald head was tattooed with some strange symbols resembling flames.

His whole body was filled with Evil Qi, and he glared at Mingxin, making no effort to hide his malice and refusal to accept the outcome.

"Your methods were nothing but taking shortcuts!"

The method Tuosheng chose was not to wait for the later stages to gather Heart Stars before acting, but to fight from the very beginning to the end; among all the ten thousand and eight hundred participants, he was the one who had fought the most.

The over five hundred Heart Stars he had harvested were all snatched through over three hundred battles, large and small; it could almost be said that every single prayer bead was stained with the blood of him and his enemies.

He looked down on those who relied on exploiting loopholes in the rules to wait for opportunities and take advantage of others' precarious positions, and he looked down even more on a cheater like Mingxin who relied on the help of others.

What Tuosheng could accept even less was that the number of prayer beads the other party had harvested was actually more than four times his own!

He did not accept it!

Facing Tuosheng's undisguised hostility, Mingxin only turned his head to look at him, smiled and nodded at him, pressed his palms together, and bowed slightly to pay his respects, without having any conflict with him.

This non-aggressive posture of his made Tuosheng look down on him even more.

"You coward! I will definitely... Hmph!"

Tuosheng let out an angry snort and wanted to say something more, but he was stopped by the gaze of a monk who had already arrived before him; not daring to act rashly again, he let out an angry snort and followed him away.

Mingxin remained smiling and bowed slightly to pay his respects in the direction he had left, and at this moment, another person waiting took the initiative to speak to him.

"Abbot Mingxin, congratulations."

Qixing of the Chanyin Temple was a thin, middle-aged nun; from her appearance, one could not see anything special, her features were plain, she wore a grey monk's robe, and her palms were as rough as those of a farm woman.

"Many thanks, Master Qixing." Mingxin returned the courtesy, his attitude even more respectful than when facing Tuosheng.

Because he knew that although this nun looked ordinary, she was the one with the highest cultivation among those present.

A hundred years ago, she was already at the Void Refining Peak; no one knew what realm she had reached today.

"A hero emerges from the youth; Abbot Mingxin being able to win the championship at this age is truly astonishing."

Qixing sighed with a kind expression, then changed the subject and asked: "However, this poor nun has a question: your Protector... exactly who is it?"