“‘Only when life meets death can life face death’? So this is what she meant!”
Ye Qing finally understood what Joy Bodhisattva meant that day when he saw the jianghu warriors charging toward Xiong Kuohai’s group with reckless abandon, and Ji Donglei and Huo Ruyu fighting like every attack might be their last.
Only by driving everyone into a dead end could they fight with their lives on the line.
Only then could they become the sharpest, deadliest blades.
But was it really worth it? Not only did Joy Bodhisattva drive everyone into a dead end, she even used herself and her people’s lives as bait. Was the price really worth the reward?
Ye Qing looked at the mountain of corpses and river of blood tainting the once flawless sight of Blissful Peak for a moment. He then glanced at the Buddhist Hall of Joy disciples still battling against the enemies and let out a sigh.
These poor, poor people. They were giving it their all to protect Joy Bodhisattva and the Buddhist Hall of Joy, not knowing that the Bodhisattva they worshiped was just using them as bait.
Ye Qing recalled Cai Le, the woman Joy Bodhisattva had killed after using her as a poison tester. In the woman’s eyes, her disciples were probably just pawns she might use as she pleased; ants that she could kill as soon as they ran out of use!
Ye Qing turned his gaze next on the guests that were charging toward Xiong Kuohai. They were no different from the disciples of the Buddhist Hall of Joy. In the eyes of superiors such as Xiong Kuohai and Joy Bodhisattva, they too were just pawns and ants to be used in their game of conquest and dominance.
If he hadn’t accidentally discovered Xiong Kuohai’s ploy beforehand, he would be fighting for his life right next to these pitiful people. He would have been just another pawn and ant!
In the end, it was all a matter of power.
A weakling would always be a pawn and an ant. They could never decide their own fate.
A powerful person would be able to act like a god or a celestial. Not even the heavens would be able to restrict them in any way.
If he did not want to become someone else’s pawn, if he did not want to be killed like an ant, then he could only become… the strong.
If he was powerful, then it no longer mattered if someone tried to use, frame, or attack him.
After all, he could just flip the table.
He could just put a hole in heaven and earth.
I could have come up with a better solution. Stopped this senseless slaughter from ever happening.
While Ye Qing was lamenting about life, the battle was growing increasingly desperate and bloody.
Although the jianghu warriors were now fighting without regard for their own life, Ji Donglei, Huo Ruyu and Joy Bodhisattva’s side still couldn’t gain an advantage. Or rather, they had been stuck at a disadvantage this whole time.
First, they had to fight while the Burning Heart was ravaging their insides. Second, everyone was tired and injured to a certain degree since they had fought a battle against the Buddhist Hall of Joy earlier. Xiong Kuohai’s group had no such problems as they knew that this would happen, and they had been saving their strength until now.
That said, the battle was a lot more even than they had anticipated. After realizing that it was futile to charge Xiong Kuohai, the guests decided to turn their fury and hatred on the Endless Sand elites he brought with him. As they fought with no regard for their health or safety whatsoever, and the intent to take at least one enemy down to the grave with them, his allies inevitably took a lot of casualties.
Xiong Kuohai paid the losses no heed, however. So what if he lost a couple of men? Everything was still under control.
So long as the Burning Heart was still in play, the ending of this battle might as well be set in stone.
Sure, these worthless scum were putting up a good fight, but that was to be expected since it was their final struggle and madness.
His opinion wasn’t just directed at the jianghu warriors. He thought the exact same thing of Ji Donglei, Huo Ruyu and Joy Bodhisattva as well.
A phoenix without feathers was just a chicken.
Xiong Kuohai crossed his arms in front of his chest and wrapped himself in a powerful cyclone. At the same time, the silhouette of a magnificent, intimidating giant appeared in the air.
The giant looked down with an angry expression.
“Four Symbols of Providence: Wind God’s Fury”
When the Wind God looked down, the earth shook, and the heavens quaked. There was a terrifying boom, and Ji Donglei, Huo Ruyu and Joy Bodhisattva were all sent flying into the air. A dozen more people exploded into showers of blood and gore just like that.
“Hahaha! Pathetic weaklings! You can’t even take a hit from me!”
Xiong Kuohai’s arms remained crossed as he laughed to his heart’s content.
The ground beneath Huo Ruyu turned into lava as she snarled viciously, “We may die, but you’re not getting away unscathed, Xiong Kuohai!”
“Hahaha! Are you sure about that?” Xiong Kuohai scoffed. “You’re too weak.”
Instead of replying, Huo Ruyu threw her hands up like she was knocking over a brazier and sent a wave of molten lava straight toward Xiong Kuohai. She herself was flying right behind the wave of molten lava and getting ready to launch a different attack.
Ji Donglei and Joy Bodhisattva joined up with her midway and clashed against Xiong Kuohai once more.
Although he was only one man, Xiong Kuohai was able to handle the three Grandmasters with ease. And at first, he fully intended to toy with the three Grandmasters until he tired of them. After all, it wasn’t everyday you got to toy three Grandmasters at the same time.
More importantly, he was waiting for the Burning Heart to consume his opponents. The more time passed, the more negative emotions that accumulated in their hearts, the stronger the Burning Heart would become. When it was time, Ji Donglei and Huo Ruyu would automatically burn down into ash whether they liked it or not.
Joy Bodhisattva might not be poisoned by the Burning Heart, but there was no chance she would be able to turn the tables alone and grievously injured.
It was also why he was willing to waste his breath on them in the first place.
However, Xiong Kuohai gradually realized that something was off. A full teatime had passed since the final battle began, but neither Ji Donglei nor Huo Ruyu were consumed by the Burning Heart as he thought they would. In fact, they seemed to be getting more and more clear-headed as time went on.
It wasn’t just the two Grandmasters either. The small fries were getting better as well.
Logically speaking, barring the most powerful and strong-willed of them all, most of these people should’ve burned to death already. This was especially true since he had dealt quite the mental blow to them with his “betrayal” and his scathing words, and the Burning Heart was a poison that fed on negative emotions like an insatiable parasite.
In reality, they were getting better and better.
After Xiong Kuohai forced back the three Grandmasters with another palm strike, he furrowed his brows and scanned his surroundings carefully. He quickly noticed that everyone’s negative emotions were penned up almost as if they were suppressed by some sort of invisible power. Not only that, he smelled a light, spiritually calming scent in the air.
He traced the scent and quickly found its origin. It was an altar. Inside the altar was a deity statue, and it wore a peaceful expression and wielded a horsetail whisk. Seated in front of the altar was an incense burner covered in incense sticks, and the smoke they emitted gave the deity statue an ephemeral and mysterious quality.
Strangely, the smoke didn’t dissipate like a normal smoke would. Instead, they entered the statue almost as if it was absorbed.
As the statue absorbed the incense smoke, it emitted some sort of five-colored qi that combined into three colorful flowers. Seated between the three flowers was a single five-colored cloud.
“Three flowers surrounding a five-colored cloud? Is that the Shade of Scent’s Five Qi Auspicious Cloud Altar?!”
Xiong Kuohai’s expression darkened when he saw the Buddhist altar next to Mistress Ruyi.
The Five Qi Auspicious Cloud Altar was an auxiliary-type Phenomenon-class Strange Artifact belonging to Mistress Ruyi. The deity statue of the altar fed on incense smoke to produce three flowers and an auspicious cloud that had a calming effect on one’s mind, and a suppressive effect on heart demons.
There was no doubt that the Five Qi Auspicious Cloud Altar was the reason his enemies hadn’t been consumed by the Burning Heart yet.
Did she recognize the Burning Heart? No, that’s impossible!
A worrying thought entered his heart, but Xiong Kuohai rejected it immediately. The Burning Heart was one of the nine ancient poisons, and barely anyone knew about them at all. Only those sects and clans with a long-lasting history or powerful warriors with knowledge of the ancients might have heard of the Burning Heart, and even then, most of them would not know about its effects, much less the way to suppress it.
Take him for example. He had never heard of the Burning Heart until the Sakyamuni taught him about it.
It must have been a coincidence!
Xiong Kuohai narrowed his eyes and charged toward Mistress Ruyi. Coincidence or not, he needed to destroy the Five Qi Auspicious Cloud Altar as soon as possible. Otherwise, this battle was going to be a lot more dicier than he thought.
His one step felt like a lesser warrior executing an Earth Contraction Magic. He abruptly appeared in front of Mistress Ruyi and threw a punch at her.