Seeking Truth with a Sword

Chapter 374 - 325

"Destroy the Jialan Sect?!"

Lian Nan roared, "A thousand years! A thousand years! The Jialan Sect has carried on its teachings for over 1,000 years, far longer than those so-called noble families! Countless Buddhist teachings and wisdom, all destroyed by your hands! You are the true Demon!"

"COUGH, COUGH."

In the Grand Hall, the old scholar coughed twice. He showed no intention of replying, merely looking indifferently at Lian Nan, who seemed driven to madness outside the hall. This posture only fueled Lian Nan’s rage even more.

He slowly stood up and roared, "Your wife and children died, and you feel you’ve suffered an injustice with no recourse! But do the Jialan Sect’s nearly 10,000 monks and 8,000 pilgrims all deserve to die? Are they all fated to devolve into demons? Even when vengeful ghosts claim lives, they still seek out the specific individuals responsible! By releasing the Demon Buddha, you endanger not only the Jialan Sect but also the entire Fen State and even the Central Plains!"

"...I," the old scholar began with difficulty, "do not care."

Lian Nan was startled. The other’s gaze was exceptionally clear, devoid of any hatred towards an enemy, or the satisfaction from achieving vengeance, and utterly lacking any sympathy for the innocent dead. For the old scholar, once his wife and children died, and after all his attempts to seek justice proved fruitless, his heart had died too. He cared about no one, nothing. The so-called precious Buddhist teachings, the innocent, his countrymen, the nation itself—these hollow concepts could no longer evoke any concern in him.

PLOP.

Ahead, Abbot Liao Wu fell completely to his knees. His arms, as thin as withered bamboo, snapped backward with a CRACK, exposing ghastly white bone shards.

However, the Demon Buddha opposite him did not pursue further. Instead, it turned its head towards the back mountain, as if sensing something.

SWOOSH—

The sound of something tearing through the air was too abrupt, too fast. A fleeting shadow flashed by, accompanied by a booming thud. The demon, with horns on its head, scales on its body, and a long, spiny tail, then rammed into the Demon Buddha, sending the latter crashing heavily away.

Dust filled the air, Demonic Qi surged, bricks and tiles shattered, and beams and pillars collapsed. The exquisitely constructed pavilions of the Jialan Sect, built with immense wealth, were ruthlessly toppled and destroyed. If an Academic Palace Doctor of Architecture had been present, he would surely have lamented in anguish.

But Li Ang couldn’t care about that. With his left hand, he grabbed the Demon Buddha by the neck and slammed it into the ground. The Demon Buddha’s face contorted; it opened its mouth, "ROAR—"

Before the demonic sound could fully form, Li Ang had already punched out, striking the Demon Buddha in the face and forcibly driving the sound back down its throat.

THUD, THUD, THUD!

Under the succession of heavy blows, the fracture on the Demon Buddha’s brow grew deeper, and the Demonic Qi emanating from its body became denser. The ethereal black mist suddenly condensed, forming tough ropes that looped around Li Ang’s neck and shoulders, yanking him violently backward. The Demon Buddha seized this opportunity to glide back along the ground, re-establishing distance before standing up.

It was surrounded by several ropes made of pure Demonic Qi. A continuous stream of flame-like black mist began to pour from behind its head and around its ears, faintly forming the shapes of a tail and new ears.

Macaque. Li Ang looked at the Demon Buddha, which was increasingly losing its human form, and thought silently, Its form is like a goat, with nine tails and four ears, its eyes upon its back; it is called the Macaque. According to records of Exotic Beasts, it can transform Demonic Qi into ropes to bind and hunt other demons and humans. The Jialan Ancestor truly had formidable methods, to think he could convert such an inhuman monster into a Buddha. Fortunately, Mo Si are extremely resistant to Demonic Qi corrosion; otherwise, merely being bound by those Demonic Qi ropes could have led to assimilation.

Perhaps it had lost patience in its struggle with the Mountain Guarding Array, or perhaps it sensed the threat Li Ang posed. The Demon Buddha’s body emitted even more Demonic Qi, forming hundreds, even thousands, of ropes around it. Each rope, like a venomous snake flicking its tongue, slowly rose.

SWOOSH!

The ropes shot out like bolts of lightning. Li Ang flapped his wings, his figure swiftly retreating, narrowly avoiding the long ropes that shot directly at him, burying themselves deep into the rock strata. Unyielding, the Demon Buddha chased after him again, its body surrounded by rapidly moving ropes that lashed out wildly.

Li Ang stomped on the ground, not retreating but advancing instead. The wings behind him slowly extended, differentiating into more feathers, each as sharp as a blade. He didn’t need to use his eyes to see or his ears to hear; every strand of Mo Si could keenly sense the subtle fluctuations in its surroundings, automatically severing the Demonic Qi ropes lashing towards them. The overly dense slashes even created a cacophonous sound, like birdsong tearing through the air.

Li Ang collided with the Demon Buddha once more, plunging into a fierce battle. Everywhere they went, the monks’ chambers crumbled into pieces, stele pavilions and terraces were all destroyed, and magnificent palaces collapsed like block towers. Corridors, Arhat Halls, refectories, the Lotus Pond... The battle’s aftermath had nearly razed the Jialan Sect to the ground.

BOOM!

Their palms and fists collided, and both sides were thrown backward by the force. The Demon Buddha stood atop the ruins of the Arhat Hall, the demonic half of its face becoming more vivid. The scars on its face ran down to its chest, and through these gashes, one could vaguely see the churning flesh beneath.

Li Ang stood in the shattered Lotus Pond. His form had shrunk several sizes; this was partly due to the energy expended in countering the Demonic Qi, and partly because he was compressing and optimizing his body. As time passed, he became more accustomed to his Mo Si form and sensed deeper changes within the Mo Si itself.

"..."

He slightly bent his knees, then stamped on the ground, leaving deep footprints. As he sprinted forward, he violently snatched an old mountain timber beam from the ruins of the refectory. The Mo Si in his arms surged, easily penetrating the old timber’s wood grain, infesting and parasitizing it.

CRACK!

The red lacquer on the beam’s surface cracked and peeled away, replaced by flowing, dark-gold patterns.

The Demon Buddha hastily retreated, controlling the surrounding ropes to form layered barriers in front of it.

But Li Ang was faster.

The giant beam sliced through the sky. The surging Demonic Qi could not penetrate the beam’s surface at all, and the dense barriers were also utterly incapable of halting the beam’s trajectory, smashed layer by layer.

Ultimately, it struck the Demon Buddha.

THUD!!

The Demon Buddha was violently flung back, its large figure breaking through the remaining walls in its path. It finally skidded to a halt precariously before the Grand Hall, just outside the range of influence of the Time Sand and the Sumeru Hourglass—once hammered into that area, it would completely lose any chance to resist.

The final moment had arrived. Both were aware of this.

The flesh on the Demon Buddha’s back split open, revealing eye after eye. The Demonic Qi around it seethed as never before, coalescing into sharp, conical points aimed forward.

Li Ang flapped his wings, gripping the base of the beam and thrusting it forward, crashing into the towering Demonic Qi.

RRRIP—

Wood chips flew. The beam rapidly splintered and dwindled, the Mo Si hidden within it drastically transforming in mid-air into a sharp drill connected to Li Ang’s arm.

CLANG!!!

The drill spun rapidly, sparks flying, tearing through the demonic defense.

"..."

The Demon Buddha slowly bowed its head, looking at the narrow drill piercing through its chest. The tip of the drill protruding from the Demon Buddha’s back, like a blossoming lotus, extended countless strands of Mo Si. They curled back, enveloping the Demon Buddha’s body, and then... sliced.