Chapter 329: Blood Ocean
The Great Thunderclap Monastery.
The bell tolled long and clear, ringing without end—it was the welcoming bell for guests.
Qin Mu carried the Village Chief up the mountain and saw a majestic Tathagata Great Buddha leading a host of monks to greet them. At this moment, the youth felt a pang of melancholy. The Horse King God, cold on the surface but warm at heart, had ultimately become the Tathagata of the Great Thunderclap Monastery, had become a Buddha.
He could not let go of the place where he grew up. The monks of the Great Thunderclap Monastery had indeed killed his wife and child, but that was not the doing of the old Tathagata; it was the work of the lower-ranking monks.
He was a disciple of the old Tathagata, who knew him deeply, just as he knew the old Tathagata deeply. The old Tathagata had grown old and could no longer control the monks below. The Arhats of the Arhat Hall and monks from other halls had gone down the mountain, and thus his wife and child had lost their lives.
The old Tathagata had cut off his own arm and given it back to him. Though it did not dissolve the hatred in his heart, he still had to inherit his master's legacy and could not let the Great Thunderclap Monastery perish into ashes.
When he returned to his old haunt and sat upon the Tathagata's throne, the wind swept gray clouds past him. As the smoke and clouds dispersed, he suddenly attained True Suchness, broke through the final realm of the Tathagata Mahayana Sutra, and cultivated to the Great Brahma Heaven.
From the Heaven of the Thirty-Three to the Great Brahma Heaven was an enlightenment, a perfect awakening.
On the golden summit of the Great Thunderclap Monastery, Qin Mu looked at Old Horse, who had raised him and taught him to grow up. A mix of emotions churned within him, but in the end, he addressed him as "Senior Brother."
This Tathagata of the Great Thunderclap Monastery had cultivated to the supreme realm, the Great Brahma Heaven realm. His physical body, spiritual perception, and True Suchness were perfected. Behind him stretched twenty heavens of various realms, where the Great Brahma King sat in lotus position, surrounded by gods and Buddhas great and small, bathed in eternal light, sacred and compassionate.
"Junior Brother," Old Horse returned the greeting.
Qin Mu felt a pang of sorrow. Old Horse, seated in this position, was no longer the Old Horse of before but the Tathagata. He had to set aside his worldly affairs and embrace the emptiness of all four elements.
Cripple was also there. Though ostensibly there to observe the ceremony, he was actually worried about Old Horse's safety, fearing the monks of the Great Thunderclap Monastery might harm him.
But now that Old Horse had reached the highest realm of the Tathagata Mahayana Sutra, he no longer needed protection. Cripple couldn't sit still. The Great Thunderclap Monastery was full of treasures; rare gems and precious artifacts were everywhere, making this old thief restless. He wanted to steal them but felt a pang of conscience. When he saw Qin Mu and the Village Chief arrive, he couldn't help suggesting they leave soon.
Qin Mu wanted to stay a few more days, but at night, he saw the north brightly lit—that was the area of Qingmen Pass. Such brilliant lights indicated fierce fighting at Qingmen Pass.
Next to Qingmen Pass was the Nether Valley, home to the two white bats, not too far from the Great Thunderclap Monastery.
Early the next morning, Qin Mu took his leave, bringing the Village Chief, Xiong Xiyu, Cripple, and the others away.
"When I first met Old Horse, he was the most famous constable in the world, known as Horse the Divine Constable. He almost caught me."
Cripple looked back. The golden summit of Mount Sumeru blazed with golden light, and the sound of Buddhist chants surged mightily. The chants even materialized into forms—turning into words, into lotuses, into phantom figures of Buddhas in the void, circling this sacred land.
Cripple was lost in thought, murmuring, "He caught me many times; we clashed many times. He was the one I feared and respected the most. In my early years, I was an orphan with nothing. I begged for food everywhere, and when hunger became unbearable, I stole. I didn't dare to rob because I was small and weak. Later, an old constable caught me. He didn't turn me over to the authorities; he just told me not to steal anymore. He taught me a trade, like a father. I followed him, dreaming that one day I could become a constable too. Old Horse reminded me of him. I think Old Horse, when he's stern, looks just like him..."
Qin Mu sat on the back of the Dragon Qilin, silent, listening with the Village Chief as Cripple recounted the past.
"I didn't have a father. I felt that old constable was my father. Those years with him, I worked especially hard and was especially happy. Then one day, the old constable died."
Cripple's eyes widened, his tone eerily calm: "In the dead of night, his enemies came knocking. I was still asleep when I heard shouts of battle outside. He burst in, fought desperately to send me out, and said to me, 'Child, be a good person... Run!' I wasn't wearing clothes; I ran out naked, ran and ran, faster and faster, faster and faster. I cried out for people to help, but no one came out, no one..."
A frail boy, naked, ran helplessly, begged helplessly for help, but no one helped him.
Cripple ran from night to day, covering ten thousand li. When he came to his senses and returned to the old constable's dwelling, it had been burned to ashes. He only dug out the old constable's charred bones.
"He told me to be a good person. He himself had been a good person all his life, but what did he get in the end? I won't be a good person! He told me not to steal, so I stole."
Cripple said desolately, "I stole and I ran. As I stole and ran, my reputation grew, and I became known as the Divine Thief. Damn seals, damn forbidden arts—I paid them no mind. I outran the wind, outran the clouds, outran lightning. I stole from all over the world, from every sect, every sacred land. I finally found his enemies, stole their heads. When I paid my respects to the old constable, I wanted to be a good person, but I had picked up the habit of stealing and couldn't shake it. Then I met Old Horse, who reminded me of the old constable. I wasn't afraid of him; I respected him. Now he's become the Tathagata, with a compassionate and majestic appearance, making me wonder if the old constable had also become a Buddha..."
The Village Chief poked his head out of the medicine basket: "Old Horse won't become a Buddha. One day, when a new Tathagata arrives, he'll take off his kasaya and be the old Horse again."
Cripple looked up at the sky and said, "I hope so."
Qin Mu let out a turbid breath and murmured, "Old Horse will come back..."
Along the way, he completely refined the poison from Xiong Xiyu's body and prepared several spiritual pills to nourish her vitality. They finally reached the Nether Valley. The two white bats flew into the canyon, hung upside down from trees, and bid farewell to Qin Mu and the others.
"Chief, come play often! We won't eat you!" Fu Yuqiu said.
Qin Mu laughed heartily and waved goodbye. The two white bats immediately flew deeper into the valley, shouting, "Wake the ancestors! Have them birth a few girls to propagate the race!"
"If they're born, they'd be our great-grandmothers. How can we propagate the race like that? And what if both ancestors are male?"
"Shut up!"
...
The Dragon Qilin left the Nether Valley. Before long, they saw a vast and magnificent battlefield. The forests and mountains of the Duck Tongue region had been leveled. The Duck Tongue region of the Great Ruins stretched nearly a thousand li, with undulating forests and hills, now flattened by the armies of both sides, turning it into a battlefield between the Man-Di Kingdom and the Yan Kingdom!
When Qin Mu and the others arrived, a large-scale war was erupting. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers from both sides charged before two passes. Divine abilities blotted out the sky and covered the earth. Huge, mountain-like beasts stomped the ground, leading countless ability users forward. These ability users surrounded the beasts, floating in the air or perched on their backs.
Beneath the mountain-like beasts, martial artists held swords and blades, sprinting forward with all their might, colliding with the enemy on the ground. Flesh and blood flew in an instant.
Above the beasts, massive warships and great vessels crossed the sky, banners fluttering. Cannons on the ships fired continuously, sending beams as thick as buckets with the power to annihilate everything, vaporizing whatever they touched!
In midair, countless shimmering blade pellets and sword pellets spun rapidly, clinking as blades and sword lights wove through flesh and blood.
In the air, great shamans of the Golden Palace, transformed into golden bird-headed human forms, flapped their wings and flew. With a wave of their hands, countless rays of light shot in all directions.
On the ground, elephant-headed humanoid golden giants charged and rampaged.
On the passes of both sides, large banners and mirrors stood. The mirrors shone in the sky, reflecting the souls of ability users. The banners fluttered, stirring wind and clouds, raining thunderbolts onto the battlefield.
Huge cloud chariots were dragged by bare-chested giants into the battlefield, crushing flesh and blood wherever they went. At the front lines, the giants stopped the chariots, opened them, revealing countless gourds. Opening the gourd mouths, swarms of insects buzzed up, blotting out the sky, burrowing into enemy bodies and gnawing wildly.
Altars were pushed forward. Golden shamans of the Golden Palace performed rituals on the altars, casting unknown sorcery aimed at killing Yan Kingdom generals, leaving the enemy leaderless.
On the Yan Kingdom side, teams of ability users specializing in sword techniques were dispatched, cutting through obstacles and charging straight into the battlefield to slay the golden shamans on the altars.
The scene was truly shocking. The two sides had clearly clashed countless times, shedding rivers of blood, turning the Duck Tongue region into a hellscape.
Qin Mu was seeing such a grand spectacle for the first time. His heart trembled. This was the battlefield that men yearned for, but also the place where men met their end.
Xiong Xiyu held Xiong Qi'er close, her face slightly pale, and whispered, "Such a huge scene—how do we get through? My cultivation hasn't recovered yet..."
She had only recovered to the Heavenly Being realm. In this battlefield, strength at the Heavenly Being realm was utterly insignificant. Heavenly Being realm experts could die at any moment in a killing formation formed by a few dozen Seven Stars realm soldiers.
Even Life and Death realm experts would struggle to survive charging into this battlefield.
Xiong Xiyu had once been a sect leader-level existence. She looked around and saw that wherever thirty to fifty people gathered, formation patterns lit up, either on the ground or floating in the air, constantly shifting and changing. This showed that despite the vast battlefield and large numbers, the formations had never fallen into chaos.
Anyone who charged in would be ground to death by the war formations. If one formation couldn't kill them, others would.
Qin Mu tightened the medicine basket on his back. Inside, the Village Chief laughed and said, "Just walk through. Mu'er, you've already learned the move 'One Sword Opens the Imperial Blood Ocean,' right? I'll demonstrate it for you again."
Qin Mu's heart stirred. Suddenly, boundless sword light erupted, surging toward the battlefield. In an instant, the light of swords enveloped the entire area before the two great passes. Countless soldiers were bathed in the ocean of swords. The sword light swirled around them, coiled around them, leaving them utterly unable to move!
The soldiers standing on the two passes felt their scalps tingle as they looked down and ahead. The entire area had become a sea of sword light, and everyone was submerged in an ocean of radiance!
"Sound the retreat!" Sharp shouts came from both city walls, but everyone on the battlefield stood frozen, not daring to move. Not a single army withdrew, and even the warships in the air remained motionless.
If they moved, they would die.
If that sword light moved, it would become a blood ocean!
"A master has arrived!"
On the city wall of Qingmen Pass, a middle-aged man walked over and looked down. He saw a huge Dragon Qilin walking unhurriedly through the ocean of sword light.
"Your Excellency the State Preceptor!" The soldiers all bowed in salute.