Chapter 1032: Enlightening

“Ancestor, you still haven’t heard about it.” The sect master lowered his voice by quite a bit: “Recently, the Nantian Clan has clung onto an even thicker thigh; they made contact with the Soaring Immortal Sect.”

“Soaring Immortal Sect…” After hearing this, the ancestor felt a chill and had a shocked expression. He didn’t dare to say anything else.

On the other side, Li Qiye smiled at the new young king of the Nantian Clan: “I actually am surprised to see the Nantian Clan’s authority grow to this level.”

“I am representing the Soaring Immortal Sect, not the Nantian Clan!” The new king had a fearlessly smug expression.

“Clank!” He threw a banner down to the ground with the words “Soaring Immortal” embroidered on it. The level of calligraphy was flawless; it depicted a soaring dragon and a dancing phoenix, resulting in an oppressive atmosphere.

“I am working for the Soaring Immortal Sect. This banner is the proof!” He made a fist towards the sky with complete confidence and pride.

“Soaring Immortal Sect!” Everyone was astonished to see this banner. Even experts from imperial lineages trembled with apprehension.

The Soaring Immortal Sect was an untouchable giant in the Mortal Emperor World. No one knew where it was located, but none could deny its great influence.

It was the only lineage with five emperors in all of the nine worlds as well as the most ancient one. It was created by Immortal Emperor Fei and continued to stand strong to this day.

Immortal Emperor Fei was not the first of the emperors nor the first human emperor. The title of the first emperor belonged to Immortal Emperor Gu Chun from the Charming Spirit Race while the first human emperor was Immortal Emperor Jiao Heng. [1. Fei = Soaring; Gu Chun = Ancient Purity; Jiao Heng = Overbearing/Arrogant.]

However, Immortal Emperor Jiao Heng, as the first, did not leave behind any lineage for the human race. Its second emperor, Immortal Emperor Fei, left behind a monstrous lineage.

There was a particular belief in the nine worlds. If one was to talk about the greatest emperor out of them all, then many people would think of Immortal Emperor Jiao Heng first and then Immortal Emperor Fei Yang and Empress Hong Tian. [2. Fei Yang and Fei are different emperors.]

However, when it came to the most influential emperor, Immortal Emperor Fei would be the first one to pop inside anyone's head.

He created the Soaring Immortal Sect, the strongest human lineage and the only one in all of the nine worlds to produce five emperors.

Its mysterious location didn’t affect its status in the nine worlds. Legend states that the sect had ruled over the nine worlds for several generations.

Thus anyone, even powerful imperial lineages, would feel apprehensive when talking about this sect!

And so, when the new young king of the Nantian Clan placed down the Soaring Immortal Banner, the crowd was shocked. They understood why he was acting so haughtily. It turned out that he found a great backing.

Li Qiye glanced at the banner on the ground. He couldn’t be any more familiar with this banner.

“Fellow Daoist, you are a foreigner so it is better if you don’t become involved in mundane matters.” Nantian Young King laughed proudly and assumed that Li Qiye was frightened by the banner.

He then looked over at Wo Longxuan and spoke: “I am someone in a high position, so I won’t bully the weak. As long as you take off your veil, my clan won’t make things difficult for you.”

“Why is it that I have to take off my veil?” She smirked in response.

The young king replied: “I am searching for an enemy in place of my friend. He has an enemy lurking around while you are acting very suspicious.”

After hearing this, she understood who had asked him to do so.

“Sacred Teacher, should I run?” She blinked her pretty eyes and affectionately latched onto Li Qiye’s arm.

Many people saw this and glanced over at the Mortal King real fast. They all wanted to see how this situation would play out.

Li Qiye smiled and glanced at the young king: “I am merciful. Go back from whence you came.”

The young king lost his patience and coldly uttered: “Monk, don’t interfere with this feud or even if you sever your mundane ties later, you will still have an inerasable shadow.”

Li Qiye cheerfully replied: “What if I insist on interfering?”

“Those who violate the Soaring Immortal Order are heretics, they are to be executed without mercy.” The king chillingly declared.

Such words were truly overbearing. Even though the majority of the spectators didn’t agree with the statement, they didn’t dare to say anything since the banner was right there on the ground.

They understood that the young king was a fox borrowing a tiger’s might; he was intimidating people with the soaring sect’s prestige!

“Soaring Immortal Order?” Li Qiye nonchalantly laughed: “What kind of rubbish is this? An order that was put together with a bunch of scraps? How hilarious.”

The young king and the spectators were shocked to hear this. Some even gasped in response.

“This monk is a bit confused. I think he doesn’t know how frightening the Soaring Immortal Sect is.” Someone from the last generation shook his head.

“You bald donkey, unthinkingly speaking!” The young king shouted and pointed at Li Qiye: “Capture him, I will interrogate them!” [3. Just a note, the young king always refers to himself with an “imperial I” because he considers himself to be higher than Li Qiye and Wo Longxuan. Li Qiye has met kings before and they would never use this “imperial I” before Li Qiye after learning his abilities. It is a problematic type of pronouns for translation.]

The young king was dauntless at this time, not placing anyone in his sight since he was clinging onto the Soaring Immortal Sect’s thigh.

The experts from the Nantian Clan immediately surrounded Li Qiye and Wo Longxuan. One of them coldly spoke: “Monk, out of respect for you being a venerable practitioner, just obediently give up.”

“Sacred Master, what do we do now?” Wo Longxuan pulled his arm with a very cute and delicate appearance. It seemed as if she was very afraid.

Li Qiye chuckled and glanced at these Nantian disciples. He slowly placed his palms together and a buzzing noise came out. In the blink of an eye, his body emitted a Buddhist radiance. It surged from his body in a blinding manner, giving him the appearance of a Buddhist Lord.

A golden lotus bloomed below his feet, accompanied by Buddhist hymns and golden springs. Bodhisattvas and Arhats were chanting for him. The eight races of deities were protecting his well being. Under the luminance of this Buddhist light, all kinds of strange phenomena emerged.

At this split second, Wo Longxuan instantly disappeared to get far away from Li Qiye.

“Amitabha, slaying a devil is boundless beneficence.” Li Qiye recited a Buddhist phrase. The rhythm continued and a Buddhist affinity came down to enlighten and convert all living beings.

His radiance bloomed even more. The Nantian disciples surrounding him turned silly as if they were being controlled like puppets.

As the Buddhist chants continued, the eyes of these disciples turned red. They suddenly became agitated and quickly stabbed those closest to them.

There were no merit laws, techniques, or even any attempts at defense. The white blade swung forward and out came a blood-stained edge. All of these disciples stabbed each other without any screams or signs of pain. All of them fell down afterward.

This bizarre scene happened too quickly. Just one chant was enough to make the Nantian disciples kill each other in such a swift and decisive manner.

“No…” Nantian Young King’s eyes were crimson red as well. However, his dao heart was stronger than the other disciples. He struggled to resist the dharmic control.

“Sinner, repent!” Li Qiye spewed out another mantra with a majestic Buddhist might. It was impossible to resist.

“Ah—” After a shrill cry, the young king actually split himself into two halves with his blade. Blood spurted out while his body fell to the ground.

The crowd was stunned by this devilish scene. They trembled while feeling creeped out.

From start to finish, Li Qiye didn’t move at all, not even a single finger. The young king and all of the disciples from his clan were now dead, either from suicide or by killing each other.

Someone shivered and asked: “Is that, is that a demonic art?” [4. A couple of options here for this particular word. Demonic art/devilish art/magic/wizardry/devilry. The usage of this particular word in Chinese can be used to express disbelief more so than stating the nature of the spell. He knows it is Buddhism, but he is expressing how astonished he is by making this statement. I do think magic is the most fitting when localizing to English. However, in a world of cultivation, I’m hesitant to use the word magic since it is more western and the word is slightly different from the real word for magic. In a xianxia with both western and eastern elements, there will be conflicts between western magic and eastern cultivation. Using magic so carelessly can be problematic. We probably won’t have this problem in ED since it has no western elements. Demonic art is the most literal translation. Or, he could just be asking a dumb question after seeing Li Qiye at the plateau.]

“No, it is a Buddhist law.” A monk from the plateau saw this scene and gently shook his head while speaking: “When the Buddhist Lord is angry, shields shall flow above the endless tides of blood.” [5. An idiom for blood flowing like a river. It is a very abrupt idiom, so it is hard to put in English to make it look nice or understandable right away. It is an image of war about the aftermath of carnage. There is so much blood that even the shields used by the soldiers started to flow on the ground.]

“Isn’t the Buddhist doctrine about mercy and kindness?” Another shivered and spoke: “It looks just like devilry though.”

It was normal for cultivators to kill each other. The law of the jungle was a truth everyone knew. However, in a cultivation battle, the enemies would at least be able to see one move before being killed. However, this Buddhist law didn’t require any such thing. Just one phrase was enough to make them kill each other and commit suicide!

“This is what the Buddhist doctrine is capable of when subduing evil.” A big shot who understood Buddhism gently sighed and murmured: “I finally understand why Immortal Emperor Yin Tian warned his generals back then. It was not because of the conversion, but because Buddhist laws can kill as well!” [6. The first sentence is a complete localization. The raw would be “Vajras subduing evil.” It is a phrase talking about Buddhism’s ability to fight/ward off evil. It wouldn’t make sense to keep it raw here.]

Until now, Buddhism gave off a benevolent and peaceful impression. Many felt that if they could handle the conversion, then the dharma would be harmless to them.

However, Li Qiye shattered that image today in one fell swoop. One phrase instantly killed several dozen cultivators in an incredibly cruel manner.

The crowd understood that the dharma was not as harmless as they'd imagined. Its offense prowess was quite terrifying.

“No, it’s an evil art…” A youth quivered and had to throw up.

He was not the only one who felt nauseous. For the cultivators here, they could only blame themselves when killed by their enemies. It would be attributed to their own lack of skills.

However, a single Buddhist chant could make them slash themselves into two. This type of death was too terrorizing. It was indeed a type of evil magic!