Chapter 329: Blood Sea

Great Thunderclap Temple.

The long-ringing, ceaseless clang of the welcome bells resonated.

Qin Mu ascended the mountain with the Village Chief on his back. He saw a dignified Tathagata Buddha, surrounded by monks, coming to greet them. At this moment, the young man felt a pang of melancholy. The Horse God, outwardly cold but warm-hearted, had finally become the Buddha of Great Thunderclap Temple. He had become a Buddha.

He could not abandon the place where he grew up. Though the monks of Great Thunderclap Temple had killed his wife and child, it was not the Old Buddha who had done so, but his subordinates. He was the Old Buddha's disciple; the Old Buddha knew him deeply, and he knew the Old Buddha just as deeply. The Old Buddha had grown old and could no longer fully control the monks under him. The Arhats of the Arhat Monastery and monks from other monasteries descended the mountain, leading to the demise of his wife and child. The Old Buddha had cut off his own arm and returned it to him. Though this had not dissolved the hatred in his heart, he still had to inherit his master's legacy and prevent Great Thunderclap Temple from being utterly destroyed.

Upon his return to this familiar place, as he sat on the Buddha's throne, the wind carried pale clouds past him. Amidst their dispersion, he suddenly achieved true insight, breaking through the final realm of the Mahayana Sutra and attaining the Great Brahma. The progression from Sakra to Great Brahma was a sudden enlightenment, a perfect awakening.

At the golden summit of Great Thunderclap Temple, Qin Mu looked at Old Ma, who had raised him to adulthood, and felt a myriad of emotions. In the end, he called out, "Senior Brother."

This Tathagata of Great Thunderclap Temple had cultivated to the supreme state of Great Brahma. His physical body, spiritual awareness, and true insight were perfected. Behind him, twenty layers of heavenly realms unfolded, with the Great Brahma King seated in meditation, surrounded by countless gods and buddhas, radiating eternal light, sacred and compassionate.

"Senior Brother," Old Ma returned the greeting.

Qin Mu felt a pang of sadness. With Old Ma sitting in that position, he was no longer the Old Ma of before, but the Buddha. He needed to let go of all worldly affairs, embracing emptiness.

Cripple was also there, ostensibly to observe the ceremony, but in reality, he was worried about Old Ma's safety, fearing the monks of Great Thunderclap Temple might harm him. However, Old Ma had now reached the highest realm of the Mahayana Sutra, no longer needing Cripple's protection. Cripple grew restless. Great Thunderclap Temple was full of treasures; rare artifacts were everywhere in the monastery, making the old rogue fidget. He wanted to steal them, yet felt guilty. Seeing Qin Mu and the Village Chief arrive, he couldn't help but suggest leaving soon.

Qin Mu had intended to stay for a few more days, but by night, he saw brilliant lights to the north, originating from Qingmen Pass. Such dazzling lights indicated fierce fighting at Qingmen Pass. Next to Qingmen Pass was Underworld Valley, the home of two white bats, not too far from Great Thunderclap Temple.

Early the next morning, Qin Mu bid farewell and departed with the Village Chief, Xiong Xiyu, Cripple, and others.

"When I first met Old Ma, he was the most famous constable in the world, known as 'Constable Ma the Divine.' He almost caught me." Cripple looked back at the golden summit of Mount Sumeru, bathed in golden light. Buddhist chants resonated powerfully, even manifesting as tangible forms—words, lotus flowers, and phantom images of Buddhas in the void, surrounding the sacred place.

Cripple drifted into thought, murmuring, "He caught me many times, we sparred many times. He's the one I feared and respected most. In my early years, I was an orphan with nothing, begging for food everywhere. When I was too hungry, I would steal. I didn't dare to rob because I was very thin and small. Later, an old constable caught me. He didn't turn me over to the authorities; he just stopped me from stealing and taught me a trade, treating me like a father. I followed him, dreaming that one day I could also become a constable. Old Ma reminds me of him. I think Old Ma, when he's serious, looks particularly like him..."

Qin Mu sat silently on the Dragon Qilin's back, listening with the Village Chief to Cripple recount his past.

"I didn't have a father; I considered that old constable my dad. I worked incredibly hard during the years I was with him, and I was incredibly happy. One day, the old constable died." Cripple's eyes widened, his voice eerily calm: "At midnight, his enemies came looking for him. I was still sleeping then. I heard the sounds of fighting outside. He burst in, desperately pushed me out, and told me, 'Child, be a good person... run!' I wasn't wearing any clothes; I ran naked, running faster and faster. I cried and begged people for help, but no one came out, no one..."

A scrawny boy ran naked and helpless, desperately begging for assistance, but no one helped him. Cripple ran from night until day, covering tens of thousands of miles. When he came to his senses, he returned to the old constable's home, which had been burned to the ground. He only managed to unearth the old constable's charred bones.

"He told me to be a good person. He spent his entire life being a good person, but what was his end? I won't be a good person! He told me not to steal, so I stole." Cripple said dejectedly, "I stole as I ran, and as I stole and ran, my reputation grew, and I became known as a 'Divine Thief.' What ridiculous seals, what absurd forbidden arts—I disregarded them all. I outran the wind, outran the clouds, outran lightning, and stole from everywhere in the world. Whatever sect, whatever sacred ground, I've stolen from them. I finally found his enemies and stole their heads. When I paid respects to the old constable, I wanted to be a good person, but I had developed this habit of stealing; I couldn't quit it. Later, I met Old Ma, and he reminded me of the old constable. I wasn't afraid of him; I respected him. Now he's become a Buddha, with a compassionate and dignified appearance, which makes me wonder if the old constable also became a Buddha..."

The Village Chief poked his head out of the medicine basket. "Old Ma won't become a Buddha. One day, when a new Buddha arrives, he will shed his kasaya and be the Old Ma of before once more."

Cripple looked up at the sky and said, "I hope so."

Qin Mu exhaled slowly, whispering, "Old Ma will come back..."

Along the way, he had completely refined the poison from Xiong Xiyu's body and prepared several spirit pills to nourish her vital energy. Finally, they reached Underworld Valley. The two white bats flew into the valley's gorge, hanging upside down from a tree, bidding farewell to Qin Mu and the others.

"Cult Master, come visit often! We won't eat you!" Fu Yuqiu said.

Qin Mu laughed heartily and waved goodbye. The two white bats immediately flew into the valley, shouting, "Wake up the ancestors! Tell them to have a few daughters to propagate the species!"

"If they give birth, they'd be our great-grandmothers; how could that propagate the species? And what if both ancestors are males?"

"Silence!"

The Dragon Qilin left Underworld Valley. Not long after, they saw a vast and magnificent battlefield. The forests in the Duck Tongue Zone had been flattened. This zone, nearly a thousand miles long with rolling forests and mountains, was now leveled by both sides, transforming into the battleground between the Barbarian Di Nation and the Yankang Nation!

When Qin Mu and his companions arrived, a large-scale war was erupting. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers from both sides charged in front of two passes. Divine abilities obscured the sky and sun. Giant exotic beasts stomped the ground, leading countless practitioners of divine abilities forward. These practitioners surrounded the beasts, floated in the air, or rode on their backs. Below the mountain-like beasts were warriors, wielding swords and blades, charging forward to clash with ground enemies, scattering flesh and blood in an instant.

Above the beasts, towering battleships soared through the sky, banners fluttering. The ships unleashed continuous cannon fire, with beams of light as thick as water buckets, carrying annihilating power, striking the enemy army. Everything in their path was vaporized! In mid-air, countless shimmering blade and sword spheres spun rapidly, their flashes of light piercing through flesh and bone. There were also Great Shamans of the Golden Palace in the air, transformed into golden-yellow bird-headed, human-bodied forms, flapping their wings. With a wave of their hands, countless rays of light shot out in all directions. Underground, golden giants with elephant heads and human bodies rampaged wildly.

On the battlements of both passes, large flags and immense mirrors were arrayed. The mirrors shone in the sky, reflecting the souls of the divine ability practitioners, while the flags unfurled, changing the wind and clouds, and lightning struck the battlefield like rain.

Huge cloud chariots, pulled by bare-chested giants, were also dragged into the battlefield. Wherever they passed, flesh and blood flew. At the front lines, the giants halted the chariots. The chariots were then uncovered, revealing countless gourds. As the gourd mouths were opened, swarms of buzzing gu insects flew out, covering the sky and earth, burrowing into the enemy soldiers' bodies to gnaw frantically.

Altars were also pushed forward. Golden Great Shamans from the Golden Palace performed rituals on them, employing unknown shamanic arts specifically to kill Yankang generals, leaving their army leaderless. The Yankang Nation, in turn, dispatched elite sword-wielding divine ability practitioners, who cut through obstacles and charged directly into the battlefield to slay the golden great shamans on the altars.

The scene was truly breathtaking. Both sides had clearly fought countless times, shedding rivers of blood and turning the Duck Tongue Zone into a living hell. This was Qin Mu's first time witnessing such a grand spectacle; his heart stirred. This was the battlefield men yearned for, yet also where they met their demise.

Xiong Xiyu held Xiong Qier, her face pale. She whispered, "How can we get through such a massive battle? My cultivation hasn't recovered yet..." She had only recovered to the Celestial Human realm. In such a battlefield, Celestial Human realm strength was utterly insignificant; practitioners at that level could die at any moment in a killing formation composed of a group of Seven Stars realm soldiers. Even Life and Death realm experts would struggle to protect themselves by forcefully entering the battlefield.

Xiong Xiyu, having once been a cult master-level existence, scanned the battlefield. She noticed that wherever thirty to fifty people gathered, array patterns constantly lit up, either on the ground or floating in the air, continuously rotating and changing. This indicated that despite the vastness of the battlefield and the numerous combatants, the formations remained unbroken. Anyone who charged in would be shredded by a battle formation, and if one couldn't kill them, another would.

Qin Mu tightened the medicine basket on his back. From inside the basket, the Village Chief chuckled, "Just walk through. Mu'er, you've already learned 'One Sword Splits the Emperor's Blood into a Vast Ocean,' haven't you? I'll demonstrate it for you again."

Qin Mu's heart stirred slightly. Suddenly, boundless sword light erupted, surging towards the battlefield. In an instant, the sword's radiance enveloped the entire battlefield in front of the two great passes. Countless soldiers were bathed in the ocean of swords. The sword light rotated and entangled around them, making them freeze in place, unable to make any move!

The many soldiers standing on the two great passes watched below and in front of them with tingling scalps. The area had become an ocean of sword light; everyone was submerged within this sea of light!

"Sound the gongs for retreat!" shouts echoed from the battlements on both sides, but all the soldiers on the battlefield remained frozen, daring not to move. Not a single army retreated; even the battleships in the air remained suspended.

To move was to die. If those sword lights were to stir, it would be an ocean of blood!

"An expert has arrived!" On the battlements of Qingmen Pass, a middle-aged man walked forward and looked down. He saw a massive Dragon Qilin walking unhurriedly through the ocean of sword light.

"Imperial Preceptor!" The generals saluted in unison.