Nightfall
chapter-598

A bitter howl instantly penetrated the gradual autumn rain, as it echoed throughout the ruined old temple.

Master Boshu looked at his severed arm in the rain. His face was pale and there were two bloody holes in his body. He looked like he was about to fall down. As president of the Commandment Yard of Xuankong Temple, his Buddhism was deep and his will was strong. Earlier, he had been unable to make a sound, even though his arm was cut off by Ning Que’s podao. However, his cultivation was severely damaged now and, as Jun Mo had severed his other arm, it was the same as destroying everything he had – he could hold it back no more.

Quni Madi looked at the scene ahead in shock as she suddenly screamed and rushed beside the broken stairs. She embraced the bloodied Master Boshu in her arms as she tried to stop the bleeding.

Qi Nian looked bitter while chanting the name of Buddha, as he watched Jun Mo walking over to him. Because he hadn’t spoken in many years, his voice was dry and incredibly rough.

“Second Mister, this is indeed…”

He couldn’t finish his sentence, because Jun Mo didn’t want to hear it. Holding the straight, yet unusual, iron sword in his right hand, he swung it down over his head.

Qi Nian’s face was pale, having broken his silent meditation of sixteen years had caused the shocking scene in front of him and had greatly disturbed his Buddhist heart. Moreover, the arrow talisman injury, that Ning Que had left on him, had greatly damaged his abilities – he was far from how he was at his peak.

But, after all, he was a Buddha that walked the world. Against the iron sword, that was as high as a mountain, pressing down on him, he didn’t show any terror on his face. Instead, he extended his right thumb and drew a circle in front of himself.

Qi Nian’s fingers shook slightly as he drew in air, filled with cold autumn rain. Circles after circles appeared with the bigger ones around smaller ones. They were filled with life, just like apertures of Buddha’s immortal life.

Jun Mo’s iron sword cut across horizontally, he was still walking the righteous way. Just like himself, the iron sword drew countless squares in the autumn rain, every single sword trace were similar in length and width.

The circles drawn with fingers were extremely round and enclosed every square that the iron sword had drawn. The rainwater that fell into the circles had only touched the aura before it was deflected away.

Qi Nian looked at Jun Mo as he said in a hoarse voice, “The skies are round and the earth is square. How could you break out from the circle?”

Jun Mo said indifferently, “Since you are human, you must be clear that you stand on earth.”

Just as he said so, there were a few clear buzzing sounds as the iron sword struck horizontally and slashed the Buddha aura in the rainy skies into many pieces, the squarish sword style broke out fiercely from the circles!

Qi Nian was stunned. He chanted the name of Buddha and placed twenty-seven layers of Buddhist aura in front of himself as protection.

“Can a Gentleman be fooled?”

Jun Mo asked softly as the iron sword broke through all twenty-seven layers of Buddhist aura.

Fresh blood seeped out from the corner of Qi Nian’s lips. He opened his hands like lotus flowers in front of himself and made a powerful mantra Emblematic Gesture.

“Can a Gentleman be fooled?”

Jun Mo shouted as his iron sword pierced through the mantra Emblematic Gesture.

Qi Nian spat out blood but was still determined to keep fighting. He invoked the Acalanatha spell to meet that iron sword.

“This Gentleman will fool you!”

Jun Mo screamed in anger as the iron sword broke through the rain and cut Qi Nian’s outer body into two halves!

Seeing the Buddhist suffering severe injuries and his life in danger, monks at the back of Lanke Temple that could still crawl up shouted and walked towards the front of the stone stairs, attempting to use their physical bodies to save Qi Nian’s life.

Jun Mo’s iron sword left his hands with a swooshing sound and ten over monks fell to the floor dead.

The iron sword drew four straight lines on the stone square in the autumn rain before returning to its original location towards Qi Nian.

A straight wound suddenly appeared on Qi Nian’s body.

His face was incredibly pale. There was a lotus print on the lotus seat as he closed his eyes and began meditating.

He was thinking about life, about death, about bones and flesh, about immortality.

Jun Mo didn’t care what he was doing, he simply slashed with the iron sword again.

In an instant, he had slashed with it seventy-seven times.

Qi Nian had gone through eleven cycles of meditation.

The shirt that was on his body had been cut to shreds. His skin suffered multiple wounds, which had even reached his bones.

Those wounds were healing at a clearly visible pace, but before they could heal completely, they were be cut open again by that iron sword.

No matter how fast Qi Nian was at meditating, no matter how fast his Buddha body could heal, he would never be able to reach the speed of the iron sword!

In time, he was struggling more and more.

And as he was struggling, he had to bear more and more pain.

Such pain was almost as if he were being dismembered.

No matter how firm his Buddhist heart was, his brow couldn’t help but show a pained expression.

The iron sword struck again.

Qi Nian’s body suffered a severe hit – he flew backwards, crashing into the statue of Buddha that had collapsed in the hall earlier. He spat out blood.

Jun Mo continued walking towards him.

At this moment, Ye Su finally came to the front of the ruined hall and stood before Qi Nian.

He looked at Jun Mo and said, “The mute had been hurt before. Victory was due to underhanded means.”

Jun Mo said, “If what you said were reasonable, how could you all have had the face to surround and attack my younger brother?”

Ye Su kept silent for a moment, before saying, “Ning Que and the Daughter of Yama are already dead, this cannot change. Lanke Temple has already been destroyed and the monks have suffered severe casualties. Does the Academy want to destroy Buddha as well?”

Jun Mo said expressionlessly, “The Buddhism Sect deceived the Academy and this bald donkey deceived my Senior Brother. The hypocrisy is at an extreme – it is only right for this tattered sect to be erased from the world.”

Ye Su said, “No one wanted to kill Ning Que today. Otherwise, Qi Nian wouldn’t have waited for the Light of Buddha to descend and destroy the Daughter of Yama. I think both the Taoism and Buddhism Sects have shown enough respect for the Academy and the Buddhism Sect paid enough for it.”

Jun Mo said, “Do you think there isn’t a price to pay for killing Sangsang? I will ignore the role Haotian Taoism plays in this matter for now. You would best not force the Academy to start such a war now.”

Qi Nian lay at the feet of the shattered Buddha, he was injured all over and looked horrible. However, his face was still calm and his voice still firm, “The Daughter of Yama… must die.”

Jun Mo looked at him and said, “She had never made any mistake, why must she pay the price now for something that might happen in the future? If the Daughter of Yama was an original sin, shouldn’t the many descendants of obscene monks also be killed?”

“There has never been such a case in the law of the Tang Empire and old etiquette didn’t have such a controversy. Hence, your visit today is unreasonable.”

The autumn rain was quiet, everyone present knew the temperament of Mister Second of the Academy and wasn’t surprised to hear such words. However, none of them felt he was speaking reason as this reason was unreasonable. However, as they noted him holding a straight iron sword in his hands, no one was willing to argue with him.

No one expected that the one to stand up against Mister Second of the Academy would be Lu Chenjia.

Even though this princess from Yuelun Kingdom was known throughout as Flower Addict, in front of Jun Mo of the Academy and World Wayfarers from different sects, her identity or strength wasn’t even worth mentioning. However, as one says: those ignorant are fearless, while the fearless are not afraid of anything. She had long lost heart, hence she was willing to attack Sangsang earlier and to speak now.

Lu Chenjia slowly stood up, wiped the rainwater off her face before looking at Jun Mo and saying, “If I could ask Mister Second – if everything was according to the old rituals of the law of the Tang Empire, why has your iron sword killed so many today?”

Jun Mo said, “The law of the Tang Empire says that any murderer must die.”

Lu Chenjia replied, “However, no one is sure whether Ning Que and the Daughter of Yama are dead yet. Since this cannot be confirmed, Lanke Temple hasn’t killed anyone.”

Jun Mo kept quiet for a moment before saying, “This makes sense.”

Quni Madi, with tears streaking down, held onto Master Boshu and looked at his pale face. Suddenly she raised her head, looked at Jun Mo and scolded, “The Academy always thinks they are right, in fact, ever since the day Ke Haoran killed the madman, when have any of you talked reason? Look at how much pain the chief monk is in right now!”

Listening to this old hag being rude to Youngest Uncle, Jun Mo raised both eyebrows, looking at Ye Su, who was blocking Qi Nian. His right hand gripped the iron sword even tighter!

Ye Su looked shocked.

Master Boshu, who was in the arms of Quni Madi, suddenly opened his eyes, almost as if he had seen something horrifying. A straight line shot out of from his eyes and he died just like that.

Quni Madi didn’t even have the time to react. She stared at the old monk in her arms in shock.

President of the Commandment Yard at Xuankong Temple had died just like that.

Qi Nian was shocked. Suddenly he raised his head and stared angrily at Jun Mo.

Lu Chenjia thought that she had managed to control the Academy’s temperamental Mister Second with her words but she hadn’t expected such a tragedy to occur. Her face turned pale as she whispered, “This… why?”

Jun Mo said, “Sangsang isn’t guilty, the bald donkey is to blame, the old rituals had said that he needs to die.”

In the autumn rain, Quni Madi’s desperate cries rang.

Lanke Temple, the oldest temple in the world, had suffered never before seen destruction today. The stone stairs were destroyed, the walls had fallen, the hall was destroyed, the back hall was a pile of rubble.

In the stone square between the halls, there were many dead bodies and the bloody water mixed with rainwater as it silently flowed over the stone floor, appearing incredibly tragic. There were countless casualties among the monks of Lanke Temple. Generations of the essence of Buddhism were destroyed in this battle with a single iron sword.

Decades ago, it was Great Divine Priest of Judgment of West-Hill Divine Palace – Lotus – who secretly commanded the powers of the Devil’s Doctrine. It destroyed various cultivation sects in front of Lanke Temple but there were no such attacks within Lanke Temple.

Decades later, another tragedy occurred within Lanke Temple, only this time, the one that suffered the disastrous result was Lanke Temple itself. From today onwards, it wouldn’t be able to maintain its position in the cultivation world.

“Today… too many people have died.”

Master Qishan looked at the bodies of monks that were lying in the autumn rain. As he was looking at the traces of blood, one couldn’t tell from his expression if he were happy or sad. There wasn’t any emotion in his voice either.

He looked at Jun Mo and forced a smile before saying, “Even though the chessboard is destroyed, I cannot confirm whether Ning Que and the Daughter of Yama are alive or dead. Jun Mo, this should be enough for now.”

Jun Mo kept quiet.

He wanted to kill Qi Nian. Whether it was Ye Su or Tang, they couldn’t stop him from attacking as this was reason of the Academy.

But the one speaking was Master Qishan – he had to be careful.

This was because he knew Master wasn’t one of the hypocritical monks in the Buddhism Sect.

…