Chapter 222: Jiangbei Is Too Dangerous

The appearance of 【Returning to the True Dharma】 instantly opened up Lü Yang's mind.

In his view, this scripture was actually nothing special, the initiative was entirely on Pure Land’s side, and whether it worked or not depended completely on whether Pure Land was willing to respond.

Thinking of this, he immediately called for a Qi Refining disciple.

Then he handed the scripture to him.

After all, Pure Land’s scriptures had always been strange and unpredictable, and who knew what hidden dangers they might contain, so he naturally couldn’t risk going himself.

So it was better to leave it to a reliable talent.

Next, he began setting up arrays around the Qi Refining disciple, the Trapping God Array, the Soul Locking Array… layers of array patterns completely surrounded that Qi Refining disciple.

In the end, Lü Yang even activated a divine ability.

“【Star Concealing Radiance】!”

This divine ability could perfectly hide causality and Qi connections, and under the cover of this ability, all the arrays were completely concealed, making everything seem perfectly normal at a glance.

That’s right, he was setting a trap!

【Returning to the True Dharma】 could summon the divine consciousness of a Pure Land Venerable, and using such a good thing merely to submit to Pure Land was simply a waste of heavenly treasures!

Thinking of this, Lü Yang couldn’t help but sigh, “The demonic cultivators of Jiangbei are really of poor quality! Their thinking is so narrow. It’s said that those near vermilion become red, and those near ink become black. These demonic cultivators have been under the rule of the Saint Sect for so long, yet they haven’t learned any of the Saint Sect’s thinking? Truly wood that cannot be carved!”

The divine consciousness of a Pure Land Venerable.

It was equivalent to a fragment of the soul of a Grand True Person, which could be used to refine top-grade soul pills or greatly enhance the spirituality of magical artifacts.

“If I can gather several strands and feed them to the Abi Sword, the Abi Sword might even evolve again!”

One had to know that even the original owner of the Abi Sword, Blood Demon True Person, had only reached late Foundation Establishment back then, and was considered an opponent on the same level as a Pure Land Venerable.

Thus, when he refined the Abi Sword, he had used the souls of True Persons at mid or early Foundation Establishment who were weaker than him.

As for Grand True Persons, the Abi Sword had never tasted them yet!

It was easy to imagine that if the Abi Sword could devour several strands of a Pure Land Venerable’s divine consciousness and use them for sword refinement, it would definitely experience a tremendous boost!

It might even gain another profound ability!

Thinking of this, Lü Yang felt even more motivated.

Very soon, everything was ready, and at Lü Yang’s signal, that Qi Refining disciple immediately began tremblingly chanting the 【Returning to the True Dharma】 scripture.

“Rustle rustle!”

In the next moment, a beam of Buddhist light slowly emerged with his chanting, then spread out like a peacock spreading its tail, revealing a vast and boundless Pure Land scene, where a lotus platform hung high, and on the lotus platform sat a dignified Dharma body, complete with all thirty-two auspicious marks.

‘It worked!’

Hidden in the shadows, Lü Yang’s face lit up with excitement as he immediately activated his hand seals, and countless Trapping God and Soul Locking arrays instantly activated, locking firmly onto that Dharma body!

“Amita Buddha, this humble monk is 【Vimalakirti Venerable】. Hmm?”

Before the Dharma body could finish speaking, it froze in place, realizing that its connection with the main body had been mysteriously severed the moment it appeared.

‘Not good!’

Just as this thought arose, a silent, colorless, formless sword of law lightly pierced into the back of its head, emerging from its forehead.

Shlick!

In the next moment, 【Vimalakirti Venerable】’s divine consciousness was sliced apart by Lü Yang in a single sword strike, and the scattering divine consciousness was carefully gathered up by him.

“Next one. Do we have any captives from the Treasure Dividing Cliff?”

With one successful attempt under his belt, Lü Yang was even more proficient the second time, even optimizing the bait by using a Qi Refining disciple from the same sect as the Multi-Treasure Boy.

This made it even more convincing.

At this moment, in a mountain forest in Jiangbei.

“Pfft!”

With a mouthful of hot blood spurting out and evaporating upon landing, an elderly monk with white hair and beard looked towards 【Kingdom of Qing】 with a face full of dread.

Something was wrong!

Vimalakirti Venerable’s heart turned cold. Lü Yang didn’t believe that suppressing the 【Mighty Virtue King】 was a coincidence, so how could he not sense that something was off?

First, the three 【Mighty Virtue Kings】 he had painstakingly created had coincidentally run into their nemesis, not only achieving nothing but even rebounding and slightly injuring him.

Then, he sensed someone chanting the 【Returning to the True Dharma】 again, and the cultivation seemed to be only at the Qi Refining stage, likely a contact developed by Multi-Treasure.

So, in order to investigate the situation on 【Kingdom of Qing】’s side, he specially sent out a strand of divine consciousness, only for it to go silent the moment it arrived.

“. I’ve been played!”

Realizing this, Vimalakirti Venerable no longer dared to entertain thoughts of converting Lü Yang, and just felt that Jiangbei was nothing but a huge trap.

Yet in the next second, another sensing emerged.

“Someone’s contacting me again?”

Vimalakirti Venerable fell into doubt and probed the aura briefly, finding it was, once again, a Qi Refining disciple, with nothing seemingly wrong around him.

“This person… seems to be a disciple of Multi-Treasure?”

After sensing several times, his eyes suddenly lit up, “Multi-Treasure joined Pure Land long ago, his disciple shouldn’t be a problem.”

Thinking this, he immediately sent out another strand of divine consciousness.

On the other end, Lü Yang was overjoyed and immediately reeled it in.

“. Gone again?”

Another strand of divine consciousness lost, leaving Vimalakirti Venerable slightly dazed. Although such losses were nothing to him, it was incredibly humiliating.

Are they treating me like a fool?

Before long, another sensing came. This time, Vimalakirti Venerable decided to go all out and directly projected a divine consciousness of Foundation Establishment level!

“Let’s see who it really is.”

Boom!

On the other side, Lü Yang was shocked to see the Pure Land Venerable still falling for it. Without hesitation, he activated the array again to capture it.

In the next second, the projected divine consciousness once again went silent. Vimalakirti Venerable’s body swayed. He was already injured from the backlash of a secret technique, and now, after repeatedly losing divine consciousness strands, especially losing a strong one this time, it truly hurt him.

However, this also snapped him awake in an instant.

“. No! Why would I do something so foolish, harming my own path… losing merit and fortune, clouding my spiritual mind… Have I been tainted by calamity Qi!?”

Vimalakirti Venerable hurriedly sat down cross-legged.

He began chanting a section of the 『Great Vehicle Fundamental Awakening Sutra』, clearing his spiritual mind and quickly suppressing the various distracting thoughts that had just arisen.

Yet his heart was still full of doubt.

When did this happen?

He had done nothing to harm his merits, so why would heavenly punishment descend so suddenly? It made no sense!

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‘No, it might not be calamity Qi. It could be something else. A True Lord could perform such a method, but with a Bodhisattva watching over me, how could I fall into such a trap? Unless… the one making the move isn’t a Bodhisattva? Foundation Establishment perfection? No, more than that! There must be a treasure involved that relates to fate!’

The more Vimalakirti Venerable thought about it, the more terrified he became.

‘Jiangbei is too dangerous… I must return to Pure Land!’

With this in mind, Vimalakirti Venerable was about to get up and leave when a hand gently reached out and helped him steady his body.

“Thank you.”

“No problem.”

Vimalakirti Venerable’s body instantly froze in place.

What had just happened?

Heaven bear witness, he was a Venerable of Pure Land, a Great Arhat. Shouldn’t he be able to return to Pure Land with just a thought? Why did he have to stand up?

And whose hand was that beside him?

Vimalakirti Venerable turned his head to look behind him, and what entered his sight was a pair of golden, radiant eyes, dim yet unwavering, like the lamplight in a hall.