Chapter 765

Di Renjie knew that although Cang Ju had once been a Heavenly Demon, he was now the Great Tang's chief guardian of the realm.

Sharing in the Great Tang's glory and its ruin alike.

Therefore, since he was in no hurry, there was clearly a reason for his unhurriedness.

Sure enough, Cang Ju calmly pointed at the vault of heaven and said,

"You all don't truly think that only this handful of people have come from over there?"

Over there?

The crowd was stunned at first, then immediately realized that the one Cang Ju was pointing to was precisely the mysterious Qinglong Society!

Di Renjie went further and recalled that previously the Great Tang had only wanted to find the Yihua Palace and obtain a copy of the Mingyu Art.

Just because of that single matter, the Qinglong Society had brazenly annihilated the Bu Liang Ren and slaughtered half of the Great Tang's civil and military officials.

The tragic scene of those days was truly the Great Tang's most grievous wound.

Now the Great Yuan had used the hand of Long Xiang Seng to strike at Wu Dangpai, nearly wiping out the entire Wu Dangpai.

On the surface, the Great Yuan put Long Xiang Seng forward, and this Long Xiang Seng likewise took every bit of the blame upon himself.

But would the mighty Qinglong Society truly let them off so easily?

Setting aside everything else, just look — the Seven Dragon Head Zhang Sanfeng has already appeared, and before him there was Seeing Di Shitian and May Li Canghai.

Though no one from the Qinglong Society had shown themselves, in truth they had already been lurking nearby.

Only no one knew what the Qinglong Society was actually plotting.

But the Great Tang knew, and Di Renjie knew even more — the storm was about to break!

"Ha! Thanks for the reminder, Lord Heavenly Demon. Then let us watch the show properly.

This time, we shall advance and retreat together with the Qinglong Society."

Di Renjie laughed heartily.

Back then, because of the Yihua Palace, the Great Tang had suffered no small amount of humiliation at the hands of the Qinglong Society.

Now, by chance, they found themselves standing on the same side as the Qinglong Society.

Truly, such are the times and such is fate!

On the other side, atop the small hill of Ruosida Sect, a great battle raged.

Halfway up the slope, the Four Divine Generals were all entangled by Great Yuan experts.

The hardest to fight, Qing Long, was personally held off by Mu Huali.

Although Qing Long wielded three thousand Lei Ting and also practiced the Xuan Xin Zheng Zong Daoist arts, his strength ranked first among the Four Divine Generals.

Yet Mu Huali was steady by nature, and being one of the Thirteen Wings, his mastery of the Jin Zhong demonic art let him stand immovable beneath the three thousand Lei Ting.

For the moment, every expert of the Xuanxinzheng Sect had been held back.

A thin, withered figure of Pudu Cihang slowly walked through the mountain forest.

When he reached the halfway point of the slope, Cheng Shifei and Qin Mengyao appeared once more.

Before a word could be spoken, a waft of fragrance came, and Wan Wan, her ankles wrapped in Heavenly Demon Bells, appeared,

"Shi Feixuan, it's been long.

I never thought that after Cihang Jingzhai and the Demon Sect were destroyed, we would each serve a different master and end up facing each other once again."

Shi Feixuan could not help but sigh inwardly at the impermanence of worldly affairs — she had not expected that after joining the Xuanxinzheng Sect, her old rival Wan Wan would have joined the Yin Moon Dynasty.

To meet again like this now was truly fate.

"Good! Two against two, that's fair."

"No, the opponent of Master Pudu Cihang is not you two."

Before Wan Wan's words had even fallen, Pudu Cihang paid no heed at all to Shi Feixuan and Qin Mengyao; with a light tread on empty air, he had already vanished.

Clearly he had passed the two of them and was heading toward Ruosida Sect.

"Very well! Then let me see whether the Xuan Xin Zheng Zong Daoist arts are stronger, or your Yin Moon Demonic Dao is more fearsome."

Anyway, with Yan Chixia holding down Ruosida Sect, Shi Feixuan could not be bothered to mind Pudu Cihang. She simply drew her long sword, unleashed the Cihang Sword Canon, and came slashing straight at Wan Wan.

Ruosida Sect.

This ordinary little temple at the border between Tang Yuan had, over recent days, become renowned throughout all of the Nine Provinces.

Countless great and small factions across the land, and martial folk of every kind, had all come to know the marvels contained within this temple.

At this moment, Yan Chixia, just as before, lay drunk on the ground in the center of the courtyard.

From time to time he would chant a couplet of crooked verse, then take a sip of his wine.

As if in all the world, apart from this wine and these verses, nothing else existed.

"Amitabha!"

At this moment, the gates of Ruosida Sect opened, and the withered Pudu Cihang slowly appeared at Damenkou.

"Though this is a temple, outsiders are not welcome. Wherever you came from, go back there!"

Yan Chixia seemed to sense something; after speaking these words, he gave a casual flick of his finger.

A streak of light shot forth, a flying sword tore open space, and went straight to the front of Pudu Cihang.

Pudu Cihang neither dodged nor flinched; he pressed his palms together, only his lips moving slightly as he chanted an incantation.

Streak after streak of golden Buddhist seals flashed into being before him.

Though the flying sword was swift and fierce, in the end it could not break through the Buddhist seals directly.

"Patron, why is your killing intent so heavy? The moment we met, you went straight for a killing blow?"

After chanting his Buddhist seals and blocking Yan Chixia's strike, Pudu Cihang spoke to Yan Chixia with a smile on his face.

"Those rules and courtesies are for people — but you are not a person."

After that one sword strike, Yan Chixia had already risen to his feet; at some unknown moment, he had placed the sword case at his side.

"It seems the donor is attached to the flesh and skin, not knowing that the sea of suffering is boundless—turn back, and the shore is at hand."

Pudu Cihang heard the mocking tone in Yan Chixia's words, but paid it no heed at all. Instead, with the bearing of an eminent monk, he suddenly chanted,

"Lay down the butcher's knife, and become a Buddha on the spot!"

This Buddhist chant was utterly different from the previous one.

The Buddhist chant that had broken the True Martial Seven-Section Formation earlier had merely burst forth and ceased in an instant.

Many whose cultivation was insufficient had never even heard the specific content of that voice.

But this time, facing Yan Chixia, Pudu Cihang, upon reciting this Buddhist chant, directly employed Zen chanting.

Not only that, he actually chanted it over and over, almost like a Buddhist hymn.

The moment the Buddhist chant arose, it enveloped the entire Lanruo Temple.

In fact, within this Lanruo Temple, there were not only Yan Chixia, but also some ten-odd experts of the Xuanxin Sect.

They could form the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches Formation, the Xuanxin Sect's final trump card against the seal of the Yin Moon Grotto-Heaven within Lanruo Temple.

After all, Yan Chixia was said to have originated from the Xuanxin Sect, and had been guarding the seal of the Yin Moon Grotto-Heaven all this while.

But after the matter of Yan Hongye, he had already defected from the Xuanxin Sect.

Therefore, the Xuanxin Sect's leader Jin Guang was greatly worried that Yan Chixia might, at any moment, simply let the pigeons fly—abandon his post.

In that case, this Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches Grand Formation would serve as a safeguard for the Xuanxin Sect.

Who could have known that once Pudu Cihang's Buddhist Zen chant rang out and permeated Lanruo Temple,

those Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches experts hidden in the shadows suddenly became dazed and, like walking corpses, walked out from the darkness.

Blank smiles hung on their faces as they walked toward Pudu Cihang as if on a pilgrimage.

The fastest of them, before Yan Chixia could even react, had already reached within one zhang of Pudu Cihang.

Suddenly, from every one of the three hundred and sixty-five vital acupoints across his limbs and whole body, a burst of radiance shot forth.

Then, without even time for a scream, he directly turned into a wisp of green smoke and vanished within one zhang of Pudu Cihang.

"Ma li ma li hong!"

Yan Chixia was greatly shocked; he had never expected Pudu Cihang's methods to be so ruthless.

A single Buddhist seal Zen chant had caused the Xuanxin Sect's Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches to lose all self-control.

Immediately, he too chanted a Daoist mantra, straining to resist.

At the same time, he darted forward and struck the crown of the remaining Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches experts.

He injected a stream of Daoist power, sealing their Niwan Palace,

"Calm your minds, do not listen to this demonic monk's Zen chant and fall into his evil path."