Ning Que looked at him quietly, without the slightest fear.
After a long time, the Butcher put the knife back on the chopping board, but his hand did not leave the handle.
He said, "I don't care about you killing people, but I care about eternity. You and anyone else from the Academy should never enter the West-Hill again, or I will kill you too."
Ning Que said, "I'm already here. How can you kill me?"
The Butcher did not answer. He just tightened his grip on the knife.
The saber in his hand was the answer. The saber was as heavy as a mountain and as sharp as the wind. From the beginning of human history to the end, it had been the most terrifying saber.
Just like the cyan-steel sword that Ke Haoran once held upside down.
Ning Que's expression became serious. His right hand did not reach behind his back to hold the handle of the iron knife.
His iron knife was strong, but it was not as strong as the Butcher's.
"I can't beat you, but you can't catch up with me either."
After saying this, Ning Que turned around and left the butcher's shop with the Big Black Horse.
The Butcher stood behind the chopping board and looked at his back quietly. His eyes were as sharp as knives.
The closer Ning Que got to the Peach Mountain, the sharper his eyes became. The farther Ning Que got from the Peach Mountain, the calmer his eyes became, like an old knife slowly being sheathed.
Under the gaze of the Butcher, Ning Que walked out of the small town.
He looked back and saw several Divine Halls under the blue sky and white clouds. The butcher's shop was the same as before in the small town of Kuxia. He could not help but think for a long time.
He was no match for the Butcher, and he did not know if anyone from the Academy could beat him.
The Butcher was guarding the Peach Mountain, so the Tang cavalry could not enter the mountain. Neither could the people from the Academy.
Ning Que came here today to see if there was a peaceful solution. Unfortunately, the Butcher had made his stance clear. The Academy had to think of another way.
There was only one person who could change all of this.
…
…
The South Jin Kingdom was surrounding the West-Hill Divine Kingdom. Further south was the Great River. There were many small countries in the east. The Song Kingdom was the Song Kingdom, and the Qi Kingdom was the Qi Kingdom. All the countries were preparing for war.
At the end of summer, Ning Que left the West-Hill Divine Kingdom. He did not go to the Great River, but to the east. Divine priests from the Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen Kingdoms were dying one after another. The morale of the allied forces was greatly reduced.
Just when the West-Hill Divine Palace finally reacted and sent a large number of powerhouses to kill or at least temporarily trap Ning Que, no one expected that he had already quietly come to the Tile Mountain.
The small town in front of the Wa Mountain was still the same as before. The people still relied on stone carvings to make a living. The Yue Laan Hungry Ghost Festival was long gone, and the incense in the Lanke Temple was not as popular as it used to be. Fortunately, after the collapse of the Buddha statue, the countless beautiful stones that fell were enough to carve for hundreds of years.
In the early morning, it rained around the Tile Mountain. The sea breeze made the mountaintop cooler than the inland. Even though it was still summer, it felt like autumn.
"Just like back then."
Ning Que stood in front of the broken body of the Buddha statue, looking at the mountain path between the green mountains, the looming palace behind the forest, and the huge rocks all over the mountains and valleys. He said, "It seems that the statue imitates the Buddha, but it is not real after all."
Monk Guan Hai stood beside him. He put his palms together and chanted the name of Buddha. He sighed and said, "Then what is real?"
Ning Que turned to look at him and said, "The South Jin Kingdom is about to fall. Don't worry about the Yan Kingdom for now. The Divine Hall can't even defeat the Great River. Do you think Haotian Taoism can make a comeback? Victory is the only thing that matters. "
Monk Guan Hai was silent for a moment and said, "Don't you think it's strange?"
Ning Que did not directly answer the question. The slightly cold rain fell on his face and washed away all his expressions. He said, "When we go to the West-Hill, we will go to the Lanke Temple too. Let's think of it as sharing the spoils."
Monk Guan Hai said, "The Academy is destroying Buddhism … We are the disciples of Buddhism."
Ning Que said, "Wrong. Second Brother is destroying the Buddhist Kingdom, not Buddhism."
Monk Guan Hai said, "Buddha is merciful. Too many people have died, and you have killed too many."
Ning Que turned to look at him and said, "Wrong again. Your Buddha has never been merciful. He saved all living beings and taught them to learn Buddhism. In the end, he only cultivated a smaller Nirvana. All he wanted was to get through the Everlasting Night and pursue more, more than eternity. Has Buddha ever really cared about the human world?"
Monk Guan Hai said, "According to what you said, what have we been cultivating for decades?
Ning Que said, "The Buddhist scriptures are not all written by Buddha. Master Qishan taught me to read them. You have also read them. Cultivating Buddhism is not cultivating Buddha, but ourselves."
Monk Guan Hai was silent.
Ning Que continued, "You are the Buddha, and so am I. Everyone in the world can become a Buddha. Just like what Ye Su said in the scripture of the New Stream, everyone is Haotian. So the human world is naturally a Buddha Kingdom and a Divine Kingdom."
Monk Guan Hai sighed with emotion. He looked at his pale and thin face and said, "What about you? Continue killing like this? You can't hold on for long. "
There were some wild flowers in the ruins of the Buddha statue. They were yellow, very similar to the one he saw years ago.
Ning Que looked at the flower and the mountain path hidden in the forest. He thought of what Sangsang said in the temple. He slightly squinted his eyes, but it was hard to tell whether he was happy or sad.
He had traveled thousands of miles in the human world and killed people at the expense of his state and lifespan. Just like the Butcher said, he was not as fast as the Abbey Dean and the Drunkard. But he believed that he knew her feelings and her most cherished past in the human world. Even if he could not sense her specific location, it was still possible to find her. For example, she might be living in the temple on the Tile Mountain, right?
Unfortunately, she was not there.
He said, "I'll hold on for as long as I can."
Monk Guan Hai said, "Prove Tao by killing?"
Ning Que shook his head and said, "That's too pretentious and perverted. Only someone like Lian Sheng would do something like that. Although the number of people I've killed and will kill is no less than Lian Sheng and I'm no less evil than him, my way of thinking is different. I don't know what will happen to the human world, and I don't have any intention of destroying the world.
Monk Guan Hai sighed and said, "It seems that you also think something is wrong."
This was the second time he mentioned it.
The victory of the Tang Empire and the Academy seemed to be built by Ning Que's killing. But in fact, it was the general trend. He just used this horrible way to speed up the whole process.
Taoism had ruled the world for countless years, and the West-Hill Divine Palace had unimaginable resources. Logically speaking, they should not be defeated so quickly. The reason was … Ye Su's death.
Because of Ye Su's death, the New Stream grew like weeds after the spring rain. It seriously shook the rule of Taoism. Because of Ye Su's death, the West-Hill Divine Palace was divided and had endless internal strife.
Everything seemed to be because of the Abbey Dean's irrational decision.
But would the Abbey Dean make an irrational decision?
Even the most irrational person would not think so.
Monk Guan Hai would not think so, and neither would Ning Que. He had even vaguely guessed the truth. But he had no choice but to be a pawn. Guessing the Abbey Dean's thoughts did not mean that he could see through his plan. Ning Que could only use the simplest solution to solve the complicated situation.
The simplest solution was life and death. The distance between the sword and the knife was like two different worlds.
He only hoped that he could be fast enough to change the human world before the Abbey Dean succeeded. Then, even if the Abbey Dean's plan succeeded, it would be meaningless.
…
…
There were many people who wanted to change the human world. The Headmaster, the Buddha, Ke Haoran, and Lotus had all tried. Some failed, and some were still on the way. People like the Drunkard and the Butcher did not want to change the human world, which was also a kind of influence or change. But the premise was that these people were powerful.
Some people might not be as unfathomable as the Butcher in terms of state or strength, but they could still change the world, because they had unfathomable and strong willpower.
Deep in the West Wilderness, the dark underground world which had been surrounded by the prison wall for tens of thousands of years had been completely changed by one person. The wildfire lit up the world and the Prajna Peak, and also pointed out the way.
The uprising war over the past few years had completely changed the order of the underground Buddha Kingdom. Especially in early summer, the reinforcements of the Right King's Palace were sneakily attacked by a Tang army that came out of the Pamir Mountains. Their supplies and fodder suffered heavy losses. Since then, no one could change the outcome of the war.
Between the giant peaks that grew from the bottom of the Giant Sinkhole, there were flames everywhere. Many of the yellow temples hidden in the green forest had been swallowed by the flames. In the continuous forest, there were also many burn scars. The Taoist trees were gone, and countless mountain paths were exposed, like countless threads trying in vain to stitch something together.
At the front of the mountain road, Jun Mo held the iron sword and looked at the seriously injured Qi Nian without any expression on his face. The clothes he used to wear were destroyed in the battle, and he picked up a monk's robe from somewhere. His new hair was still gray, so he did not keep it. It was very short and reflected the fire in the distance, making him look like a Buddha.
Under a Bodhi tree not far away, Master Huang Yang had already closed his eyes and left. As a Tang, he did not know how to deal with the Academy and the Buddha Kingdom. He did not know if he had found the answer after years of hard thinking. But no one was qualified to say that it was escape, or more accurately, relief.
Qi Nian was covered in blood, and his kasaya was broken. He looked extremely haggard. He pointed at the wildfire on the mountain and the temples that were gradually turning into ashes, and said, "Killing people and destroying Buddha is the principle of the Academy?"
Jun Mo said, "Destroying Buddha is my principle."
Qi Nian said, "I have heard of a saying in the Academy, existence is the principle."
Jun Mo said, "Youngest Brother's words are extremely wrong."
Qi Nian said bitterly, "It is really impossible to reason with Mr. Second."
Jun Mo's expression did not change, and he said, "Because I am reasonable. You can't reason with me."
…
…
(I went out for a walk after dinner, and then continued writing.)
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