Chapter 67 Vengeance and Departure

White smoke filled the heavens and earth, released from the black-clothed youth. After seizing a certain Buddhist light, the smoke gathered back onto the youth.

The Great Awesome Vajra, its divine seat was seized by Ji Xiang.

As for the red-robed old monk, he had completely dissipated in the world, not even his vows remained.

"It seems there are differences between the Tibetan monks' methods and the Han Buddhist traditions. The powerful vows of Buddhism didn't remain. Was it because he exhausted his vows when summoning Mahakala earlier?"

"Oh dear, I really don't understand. What do you think, Khan?"

Ji Xiang's gaze was as sharp as an eagle, and the lightning flashing across the sky added shadows to his black robes, making him appear even more ferocious.

Buyan's face was pale, and he didn't say a word.

The national preceptor, who was appointed by the Buddha to descend to the world and help him unify Mongolia, possessing profound Buddhist teachings and the blessing of a true Buddha's phantom, had disappeared before his very eyes. And his enemy, the black-robed Taoist who didn't believe in the Buddha, possessed a true Buddha form even more powerful than that of the red-robed old monk!

Buyan wasn't an idiot. He understood very well what his fate would be after the red-robed old monk was killed. Immediately, he lowered his proud head and knelt, beating his chest according to the customs of the grasslands.

"The Great Khan of the grasslands, who established his camp in the east, surrenders so easily? I thought you would resist a little."

Ji Xiang saw that Buyan Chechen Khan was so aware of the situation and suddenly felt a sense of disappointment.

He had prepared his killing move, just to see the other party stubbornly resist and be blasted into渣(zha, dust), but he directly surrendered and knelt. This was too undignified.

"I heard that the Tatar warriors wouldn't surrender so easily."

"I'm not surrendering, I'm just submitting to a stronger warrior." Buyan said with a matter-of-course expression, already having a perfect excuse.

Surrendering to the enemy was out of the question, but he was merely submitting to a stronger warrior, so it didn't count as surrender.

However, the law of the jungle was the iron rule of the grasslands. When the previous khan died, the next khan was not necessarily his son, but could be replaced by others. This was the rule of the grasslands, and they only obeyed the current khan. This was also why the Eastern Court now had such low power.

"That's interesting. Can you fool yourself by changing the wording?"

Ji Xiang almost burst out laughing: "Didn't you say you wanted to be the king of all Mongolia! Didn't you say you wanted to restore the Yuan Dynasty?"

"Now you're kneeling to an unknown cultivator. It's truly pathetic that Mongolia has a king like you."

Buyan buried his head in the ground, not daring to say a word in reply.

Lofty ambitions could only be spoken if one had the life to do so. If he lost his life here, what future would there be?

Buyan wasn't uncultured. During the Yuan Dynasty, Mongolia had been highly sinicized, so he understood some of the historical allusions from Han lands, such as Han Xin's humiliation between his legs. The insults he suffered today could be earned back with his own abilities in the future, but if he died today, there would be no future.

Being insulted was just a temporary loss of face, something insignificant. In this era, how much were dignity worth? How could it be worth his precious life!

But...

How did this person know what he had said?

"Hand over the divine seats you seized from the Ming Dynasty."

Ji Xiang's eyes were full of disappointment, and he demanded the divine seat of the Three Realms Patrol Ambassador from Buyan. The latter didn't dare to hold back. As he was about to hand over the divine seat, he added:

"The divine seat can be returned, and the tassel helmet of the Ming Dynasty's general is also in the royal court. I can send someone to fetch it and return it to the Sacred One."

"I hope the Sacred One will spare this lowly one. From now on, the Eastern Court and the Ming Dynasty will never have any friction again. The battle that happened last time was deliberately caused by the Chaohua tribe. My court is guilty of failing to supervise. I apologize to the Sacred One here."

Ji Xiang stared at him and suddenly said, "Just like that?"

"This... There are still many cattle and sheep in the royal court, which can be given to..."

"No."

Ji Xiang directly rejected Buyan's compensation request! He bluntly warned sternly:

"If you kill someone, you must pay with your people's lives. A life for a life. You plundered in Liaodong, from the first battle this year until this very moment! I don't care which tribe under your command did it, or who you push it onto. However many people died, you must exchange that many lives."

"Of course, the soldiers who died in battle are considered failures in fair combat, so this time I won't include the soldiers' heads in the count, giving you a chance to live. I'll only count the common people."

"A life for a life!"

Buyan's face changed instantly, but thinking about how many people he had killed, how could he possibly know for sure? This cultivator had come from afar and couldn't possibly know either. He could just say a number and let the Chaohua tribe lose some people, and that would be enough to save his life.

He just raised two fingers, intending to say two thousand people, thinking that this number wasn't small either and should be able to save his life. Little did he know that when he said this, Ji Xiang smiled coldly.

"I don't believe it."

Buyan's face completely changed this time.

"Does the Sacred One want to... kill us all?"

"What are you talking about? Do I look like a bloodthirsty person? I'm just saying, a life for a life."

The voice Ji Xiang squeezed out from between his teeth sounded somewhat eerie, and the surrounding world seemed to have lost all color at some point.

The voices of demons gradually faded away, and Buyan heard all kinds of eerie sounds in his ears:

"Guangdu Chenlun Heavenly Lord." (Universal Salvation Heavenly Lord)

Ji Xiang's image transformed into the appearance of the Heavenly Lord, grabbing Buyan's head with one hand. In an instant, all kinds of grievances turned into illusions, constantly evolving around him. The phantoms of the dead souls surged out like a storm. When Ji Xiang let go, Buyan staggered, his face pale. When he looked up again, he saw a world of dead souls!

Like a vast ocean, they looked at him with extreme resentment!

"No... no... these are all false images... Buddha protect me..."

Although Buyan was a Khan and had killed enough living people, he had also seen and killed ghosts transformed from the souls of the dead. But what he was afraid of at this moment wasn't these illusory ghosts, but that the two thousand lies he had just told had been completely exposed!

How could he summon the souls of the dead from people's memories!

"Two thousand is probably not the limit, is it? Khan?"

Ji Xiang sneered: "You cultivate Buddhist teachings, and the Buddhist sect values vows the most. Can't you sense the resentful thoughts on your body? You say the Chaohua tribe went out to attack, I don't know what this tribe is, or what relationship it has with your own royal court. I only know that you haven't killed a few either."

"Then the result is obvious, isn't it? The Eastern Court, I don't see any need for it to exist. Showing you these dead souls is just to tell you one thing."

"This humble one is not a bloodthirsty person. If this humble one were to kill indiscriminately..."

"There must be a legitimate reason."

Ji Xiang raised his hand, and a field of lightning struck the mountains, flattening them. The soldiers of the Eastern Court who were retreating within were also turned to ashes under the lightning. Buyan's heart was ashen, and despair had already sprouted. Just as Ji Xiang was about to capture him into the bitter sea,

"It's a pity, Baganala was one of the eighteen empowerment national preceptors during the Yongle era, and was even conferred upon by your Ming Dynasty. Now he's been killed just like that. His hope of achieving Buddhahood and ascending to the Buddha realm, and then achieving the position of a Tenth Ground Bodhisattva, has completely turned into a dream."

"This Eastern Court can be destroyed with you, but I have to take this Khan away."

Suddenly, a Buddhist power descended from the sky, pulling him towards the horizon!

This Buddhist power didn't appear from the surface world.

But from the inner world!

A great Buddha had noticed the disappearance of the red-robed old monk and Mahakala and used strange methods to cast a spell across realms to save people!

That Buddhist power was turbulent, carrying a might unlike any Buddhist follower Ji Xiang had encountered! This wasn't the realm of the human world, but had reached a level comparable to a flying immortal!

Ji Xiang's eyes narrowed, and his magical power surged instantly, transforming from the image of the Heavenly Lord to the divine form of the Ghost-Slaying General!

In an instant, the heavens and earth shook, the vital energy was in chaos, and even the Buddhist power was blocked. The nameless Buddha heard a loud shout between heaven and earth:

"This humble one kills people, and even if the Will of Heaven comes, it won't work! I killed his agent under the nose of the Yuan Emperor. What are you, daring to save people before my eyes!"

Ji Xiang locked down this world, suppressing the Buddhist power. Gradually, hostility came from the void, and the entire world was about to be divided into two by this great power!

The inner scenery divine tablet manifested words, and the first four characters that came into view declared the other party's cultivation realm.

Enlightenment Bodhisattva! (Dengjue Pusa)

His cultivation was above the Tenth Ground Bodhisattva, the peak existence among those who had truly ascended!