Chapter 102

The trio walked together through the False World, and they soon realized why it was ‘false’. There was no qi in the air, and there was no life in the surroundings. The ground was hard like a stone road and it seemed a world which no cultivator could thrive in. The only way out was to end the world, to slaughter all inhabitants within!

The God was dead, the Buddha, Demon and Immortal remained.

With the scent of the air changing, a new world seemed to appear. It was like the fresh breath that a city dweller would take within a village, an aura that sang with life and energy. Looking around, there was a small forest within which the largest tree was a mighty fig tree, the Bodhi Tree. Under it sat a man in meditation.

He was clad in simply white robes, eyes closed and meditating. His skin was white like jade and his closed eyes gave off the feeling of an unmoving mountain. Seeing him meditate was like watching a tree sway in the wind, like appreciating a fundamental part of nature.

“Namo Amitābhāya Buddhāya…” The chant was calm and soothing, causing a mental pressure on the trio. However, they knew what they needed to do. With a single motion, they surrounded the Buddha and slashed down.

Having determined that the entire test’s objective was killing, they certainly wouldn’t make peace. Before the Buddha could retaliate, take the first move! With the tree blocking off one side and the Buddha seated down, it was in an awkward posture, unable to move. With the trio surrounding the Buddha was sealed, only capable of waiting for the executioner’s blow.

“Quintessence Sword: Mortal Scroll!”

“Quintessence Sword: Earth Scroll!”

“Quintessence Sword: Heaven Scroll!”

Three voices called out this together. With this chant, swordlight flashed as one after the other, the entire repertoire of sword techniques of the Quintessence Sword was used.

“Namo Amitābhāya Buddhāya…” The Buddha had only its mouth to chant, so it chanted. The desire to lay down their arms and appreciate the beauty of nature filled them. Yet the desire to kill had been born within them when they attacked the unarmed meditating figure. And so, untouched by the cries of the innocent, they butchered the figure. Only when the Buddha returned to its constituent form, a shattered wooden statue did the merciless assault stop.

The destruction of the statue formed a mysterious melody to enter their hearts, it was incomprehensible and vague, once again entering one ear and leaving another. But it had a purpose, to suppress the killing intent and shackle it.

It was as if they had awakened from a dream. Opening their eyes, the twins and Langyu looked at each other. The killing intent within their hearts had been quelled, and without the sealing force they would have lost their minds.

“After we destroyed the God statue, a ‘fiery seed’ of killing intent was born within us, suggesting us to kill. When we destroyed the Buddha statue, an ‘earth seed’ of calming force came forth, grounding us and stopping the killing intent from overwhelming our minds.” Langyu thought out loud and the twins nodded.

“That’s right. While the Quintessence Sword Intent can only be comprehended by killing, this was a special trial arranged by Master for us to not incur the sin of killing in our karma.” Fu Li said this pondering.

“The statues don’t appear to have much battle power, as if they were specifically designed to be shattered easily. Let us go deal with the other statues first.” When Fu Ying said this, the other two nodded and set off towards.

+++

“Your disciples are pretty sly. They cut down that Buddha statue without giving it a chance to attack. Or maybe it is your fault for making such lousy guards for your trial.” Nineorigin stuck her tongue out at Heifeng Jiansui.

“It isn’t much of a trial in the first place. They are too weak to pass any trial I would put them through. I simply called it a trial to alarm them, making them focus on the gifts I am granting them.”

“The statues are like jade slips, but they don’t disseminate knowledge but only a certain ‘faith energy’, giving birth to a feeling that did not originate from their hearts. It is something far away from a technique. ‘Five feelings transform the heart, swordlight transforming to sword intent.’ It isn’t much of a trial, but more of a baptizing, introducing them to Buddhas, Gods, Devils and False Immortals.” Heifeng Jiansui said this curtly.

“Your sculpting of Gods, Buddhas, Devils and False Immortals is a bit too stereotypical. Gods are angry and fiery, Buddhas are calm and grounded… What’s next, the Devil will be a frenzied killer with the power of wind and the False Immortal will be preaching lies?” Nineorigin predicted the next statues jokingly.

“That’s correct. I can’t really give much depth to the other religions while guiding my poor disciples who cannot even be considered Daoists, can I? If I accidentally cause them to be tempted by the power of Gods and fascinated with Hinduism, making them cultivate to become False Gods, I’ll end up crying a river. In this era where Daoism has fallen, it is best for them to look down on the cultivation paths of the Three Sectors.” Heifeng Jiansui’s words caused Nineorigin to stiffen.

“…Your reasoning is correct, then.” The words spoken by Nineorigin were in whispers. Even she couldn’t joke around about the end of Buddhism in this era.

“But still, why would you sculpt these sculptures with the power of faith? For a Daoist cultivator, using the power of faith to control the powers of the other Sectors… wouldn’t you be at great risk of suffering a heart demon and your cultivation shattering?” Nineorigin asked him curiously.

‘It was already hard to refine the foundations of the Quintessence Sword Dao into three scrolls containing three sets of nine sword stances, and you want me to somehow write down the method to breakthrough to Sword Intent? If I didn’t have to deal with Faith Energy, I would have liked it too!’ Thinking this, Heifeng Jiansui replied.

“My Swordheart is clear like a mirror and sharp like a blade. Nothing under the Heavens can crush it.” Heifeng Jiansui’s answer has an undercurrent of wryness, which Nineorigin couldn’t understand. The fact that he could not ‘love’ was not known to her after all.

“...Did you learn the divine powers of faith, then?” At Nineorigin’s question, Heifeng Jiansui only laughed.

“How dumb do you think I am? As a Daoist cultivator, the only path I follow is a Sword Immortal while minoring in the Nine Origin Elemental Dao and the Heavenly Fate Dao. I only used some tricks to refine some faith energy into some statues.” At Heifeng Jiansui’s answer, Nineorigin nodded.

“That said, I do know some useless stuff. I can speak Sanskrit like a guru and I understand the myriad intricacies of ‘Aum’. I can speak Pali like a monk and understand some profundities of ‘Amitabha’. I do know one language of the Demon Sector and understand a little of the mysteries of ‘Mara’ as well.” Heifeng Jiansui said this with a dismissive expression.

“What did you learn all this for? Invading the Three Sectors?” Nineorigin already knew Heifeng Jiansui’s habit of going through all the manuals that he found.

“Eh, no. I wanted to pick up a girl so I asked her to teach me. All of that isn’t any great secret after all, just enough of a topic to converse about and get closer. I think she was a God, but I might be mistaken. She knew too much about Buddhism and Demons to be sure and was hiding her identity. Well I was hiding mine as well, but I did tell her my name in the end…” Heifeng Jiansui said this with a sour face.

“How interesting, you didn’t even get her name in the end?” Nineorigin smiled amusedly at him.

“…Eh, seems like my disciples completed their trials. Let’s go meet them. I want to introduce them to their mighty Grandmaster, so keep my face, alright?” Without answering her question, Heifeng Jiansui walked towards the trial to congratulate his disciples.