Chapter 2568: Relics Appear

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Everyone knows the Heavenly Capital blood battle was a fight to the death, a killing driven by deep enmity. The way Ji Xuanzhen defined it as a “Dao discussion” simply meant there was no personal vendytta.

Of course, whether he had any enmity at that moment was of no consequence to Jiang Wang. As someone who had stepped forward and contended with Dizang's fame with three bells, Jiang Wang was completely uninvolved in this matter.

"I don't know," Jiang Wang simply said.

He didn't need a reason to know. At that time, he was only a True Person, and he couldn't possibly have known the situation.

He didn't need to over-explain! No one would intentionally misinterpret his thoughts anymore.

It's just... anyone capable of interfering in that battle was either an insider from Jing Country or someone who had descended upon Heavenly Capital City in the past—

Those high-ranking figures listed in the Taixu Alliance.

Each and every one of them is influential, capable of shaking the present world.

Jing Country people came to Xuankong Temple to kill, using this as a pretext. Were they actually targeting that "ferocious Bodhisattva"?

No wonder they were so aggressive, with an air of wanting to dismantle the temple!

Now, if they were truly here to accuse and suppress evil, it was essentially no different from demolishing Xuankong Temple.

Ji Xuanzhen, on the other hand, was quite straightforward. Upon seeing Jiang Wang's answer, he immediately turned his gaze to the crowd of monks at Xuankong Temple: "Bring Stop Evil out!"

"Great Master Stop Evil is a senior from the fifth generation. How can an old monk order him around?" Ku Yuan sighed, with a kind of resigned stubbornness: "Although this temple is dilapidated, the etiquette is still in place. Perhaps Jin King should first state the matter."

"Haven't I made myself clear enough?" Ji Xuanzhen raised his voice and said: "The one who took advantage of the opportunity of the Seven Truths' Dao discussion and everyone gathering in Heavenly Capital City to quietly infiltrate and steal the Moon in the Sealed Zen Well... was precisely your fifth-generation elder, your Xuankong Temple's Stop Evil!"

"As for whether this matter was his own confusion or represented your Xuankong Temple, that will be known after investigation."

Ji Xuanzhen, clad in his king's attire, was imposing and majestic in the wind! "My Emperor personally commanded—if there is obstruction, it must be annihilated!"

The Son of Heaven's command to destroy the temple!

In a very short period, Jing Country issued two Son of Heaven's commands regarding Xuankong Temple.

The first was to prohibit all temples from supporting Dizang. And although those who praised Dizang weren't heard, I heard the bells still ringing.

At that time, Jing Country simply withdrew the surveillance light of the Qiantian Mirror, saying it would be addressed later.

"Later" is now, this second Son of Heaven's command.

After Ji Fengzhou returned from the expedition and personally took charge of Heavenly Capital City, he gave Ji Xuanzhen and Ying Jianghong the highest authority, making the annihilation of Xuankong Temple an option.

Immediately after returning to the capital, he dispatched his most capable and trusted two strong individuals. With his known injured body, he remained in the capital, ready to launch another war at any time, yet seemingly unconcerned about any political turmoil…

This might suggest that after personally leading the expedition against Dizang, the Son of Heaven has completely overcome the political crisis and doesn't even need time to rearrange the post-war order and sort out the court situation, no longer prioritizing domestic contradictions.

Or perhaps, Ji Fengzhou hopes others think so.

But no matter what, a king's words are not a joke. When Ji Xuanzhen spoke these words in front of the Xuankong Temple gate, he absolutely could not retract them. If Xuankong Temple truly refused to allow Jing Country to investigate, then this war would certainly happen.

In this situation, no matter how fierce the monks were, they could only keep their mouths shut. The rise and fall of the temple hung in the balance. Except for Ku Yuan, no one else could represent Xuankong Temple to make a decision.

Immense pressure seemed to weigh on Ku Yuan's brow. His sorrowful eyebrows almost drooped to his eyelids as he said: "Worldly matters have good and evil, cause and effect. If it was truly Master Stop Evil, Xuankong Temple will absolutely not shelter him. However—"

"Since ancient times, to catch a thief, one must have the stolen goods. To catch an adulterer, one must catch them together."

This large, stout monk looked at Ji Xuanzhen. Although his attitude was always humble, he didn't show any substantial retreat: "Jin King, without producing any evidence, you want to take away an elder of our Xuankong Temple and even threaten to destroy the temple..."

His sorrowful eyebrows furrowed even more, but his voice became stronger: "Forgive Xuankong Temple for not agreeing!"

The crowd of monks behind him all clasped their palms together: "My Buddha!!!"

The voices of the crowd gathered, like thunder from the sky, echoing in the towering temple complex.

Amidst the surging cries, there was a unique sound, particularly grand, coming from the west—

"My Buddha!"

A monk, dressed in monastic robes with broad features, strode forward as if his steps could break rivers and mountains. With a single step, he crashed into the Xuankong Zen realm.

This monk had an imposing aura!

He entered the field alone, his momentum covering ten thousand miles, stern with unpredictable authority.

He only scanned his surroundings once upon arrival. He glanced at both Ji Xuanzhen and Ying Jianghong, and didn't look closely at Ku Yuan, Ku Bing, and others. He seemed to regard the world as small!

Only when he saw Jiang Wang did he nod slightly, acknowledging Jiang Wang's previous help for which he hadn't been rewarded.

Jiang Wang immediately returned the gesture.

The last time they met, this person was still the Crown Prince of Ba Country, carrying a sword and killing across realms. He was adorned with precious clothes, his sword laying across the immortal forest. Today, he was re-seen in monastic robes, his intent simple, having become a monk!

Jiang Wang was at his peak, overlooking everything for a long time. He couldn't help but feel a stir in his heart—

Could it be that this former emperor of Da Chu's path of transcendence is fixed in the future?

The large monk stood in the center, clasping his palms together—other monks clasping their palms was a gesture of humility and respect. When this monk clasped his palms, it seemed as if he was pressing ten thousand miles of mountains and rivers, and billions of common people, into the palm of his hand—on his face, he still wore a smile: "This poor monk, Wuyong, comes on behalf of Sumeru Mountain."

Although the news of Xiong Ji's renunciation shocked the world, it was obviously not new to figures at Ji Xuanzhen's level.

He turned back and looked at this large monk who called himself 'Wuyong', still maintaining considerable respect: "Your honor hasn't been in the temple long, yet you can already represent Sumeru Mountain?"

"Donor is attached to form." Monk Wuyong smiled: "Since this poor monk began his Zen practice on Sumeru Mountain and ventures outside, it is difficult for Sumeru Mountain not to be represented by this poor monk."

After hearing the answer, Ji Xuanzhen still didn't know if this was the meaning of Sumeru Mountain or Monk Wuyong's own meaning. He only heard a kind of kingly playfulness.

Then he asked again: "Is the 'My Buddha' of Sumeru Mountain the same Buddha as their 'My Buddha'?"

Monk Wuyong laughed and said: "Aren't all Buddhas in the world the same?"

Without waiting for Ji Xuanzhen's expression to change, he added: "However, the Buddha in each of our hearts is not the same. In Sumeru, it is Maitreya. In Xuankong, it is the World Honored One."

"In Xiyue, it is Dipamkara!" A voice from afar echoed!

Then a pair of metal knuckle dusters appeared.

Da Qi's military god, Jiang Menxiong, had both fists encased in these knuckle dusters. His body appeared within the Xuankong Zen realm. Clouds scattered in four directions, and the sky wind flowed and dispersed.

How could Xiyue Nunnery become the third holy land of Buddhism?

Of course, it is to possess the strength of the third holy land of Buddhism.

Before that, it could first gain the reputation of the third holy land of Buddhism.

How to do it specifically...

Mention it together with Sumeru Mountain and Xuankong Temple!

As neighbors of the Xingyue Plains, when Jing Country attacked Xuankong Temple, Qi Country would naturally not ignore it.

Although the Sons of Heaven of the two countries had recently joined forces to resist the enemy and tacitly hunted Dizang, there was no real friendship between countries to speak of. Cooperation should be done when necessary, and conflict should be waged when necessary—a country with billions of ordinary people should never be evaluated based on personality.

Of course, Jiang Menxiong's attitude was also very clear, the same as Monk Wuyong's—each person's heart Buddha is not the same.

They would absolutely not support Xuankong Temple unconditionally. If Jing Country truly held evidence of the crime committed by the Stop Evil monk, they would only watch with wide eyes as Stop Evil was executed.

But if there was no evidence, the matter would be different.

They came to the Xuankong Zen realm, and they needed Jing Country to have a more proper justification for this action.

If it were in the past, with the style of "let's talk after capturing and trying Jinyu Mountain," it would definitely not work today.

In fact, if it weren't for these three influential figures—Jiang Wang, Wuyong, and Jiang Menxiong—Ji Xuanzhen could have simply said, "How dare you resist arrest!" and taken action. Then, Yi Tian View descending and the army pressing the border would not be impossible.

Jiang Wang stood alone in his green robe and couldn't help but bow to Jiang Menxiong.

Just at this moment, the Taixu Hook Jade rippled slightly. The long-awaited answer, in the form of a stream of information, surged directly into Jiang Wang's sea of consciousness through the Taixu Hook Jade—

Exterminating evil cults, removing demons, executing evil leaders...

Young officialdom, youthful country, strong rivers and lakes...

The life of the world hero Gu Shiyi, what is known to the public, what can be verified by history, are all in this flow.

Within it, Jiang Wang even saw a section of past events related to humans and demons.

Gu Shiyi stopped a blood sacrifice involving a fortune-telling human-demon. Just as he was about to kill the fortune-telling human-demon, he was stopped by a wisp of sword qi. He still didn't give up and even reached the outside of Wu Gui Valley, almost being chased to death by the Forget Self sword qi—fortunately, the sword qi did not travel far outside the valley before the Forget Self human-demon forgot about the matter.

Why was that historian able to know that the Forget Self human-demon forgot?

Because many people in Chen Country saw it at that time—"A long rainbow emerged from the valley for more than a thousand steps, losing all its discipline, suddenly like a headless fly, spinning in circles, and then suddenly scattering back."

All this information, each piece supported by at least two sources of evidence, either corroborated by other records or witnessed by someone. It could be considered detailed and reliable "historical material."

In the process of sorting through this information, Gu Shiyi's death became more specific and clear.

You truly understand his death only after you have truly seen his life.

His person has become history. Tomorrow will not be seen again.

But the mountains are high and the waters are long. There is righteousness at the edge of the sky. His will can exist forever.

Along with this information, came Zhong Xuan's question: "Why isn't Cabinet Member Jiang waiting in the Knife and Pen Pavilion?"

Before Jiang Wang could respond, the Taixu's distant ripples flashed, and Zhong Xuan's figure appeared, standing beside Jiang Wang.

It seemed he had already found the answer himself.

Seeing everyone's gaze turn towards him, he immediately held up the knife and pen and the bamboo slips: "This person does not represent the Diligent Book Academy, nor does he represent the Taixu Pavilion. He only represents Zhong Xuan himself. This person does not plan to publish any speeches, nor does he have any attitude, nor will he take any action. He is merely accompanying True Monarch Jiang, conveniently serving as a firsthand record of what he sees and hears—all positions continue, continue!"

With so many onlookers gathered, Ji Xuanzhen was too lazy to drive away another history cultivator. He only said to Abbot Ku Yuan: "Since your esteemed temple is so determined to take responsibility for Stop Evil, what else can this king say! Why not invite him out and confront this king in front of so many people?"

Ku Yuan said that if Stop Evil had committed a crime, Xuankong Temple would absolutely not shelter him, yet he also said that Xuankong Temple would take responsibility for Stop Evil.

"What responsibility! An old monk's actions are his own to bear. Who needs someone else to substitute?" The fierce and eyebrowless monk spoke as he walked out from the temple complex, coming before the crowd, holding his upside-down sun-moon spade: "It's just, this old monk's life has been spent killing evil. Although the methods are violent, I ask myself that I have only used the spade for matters that cannot be resolved otherwise. I truly do not know what crime or responsibility I bear, to actually warrant the Son of Heaven's command and the questioning of Jing people!"

Xuankong Temple has a long history and profound origins.

The "fierce Bodhisattva," who was once famously formidable but had been silent for many years and finally broke through his secluded cultivation, was just one example of such a background. Who knows how many more are in that pagoda forest?

Unlike many Zen practitioners who buried their heads in Buddhist scriptures and paid no mind to worldly affairs, Stop Evil made "killing evil" his doctrine and actively entered the world. As soon as he broke through, he represented Xuankong Temple in many important matters, such as the "Taixu Alliance Pact."

At this moment, he walked past the crowd of monks from Xuankong Temple and stood before Ying Jianghong and Ji Xuanzhen. With a flip of his eyes, a fierce flame suddenly ignited.

"My generation of Zen practitioners serves the Buddha in this life. Although the temple is small and its power weak, difficult to bear against a great country, Stop Evil alone is enough to resist foreign insult—have you not heard that when fierce flames burn the body, relics are produced!"

Zen Master Stop Evil was engaged in a tense standoff with the Jing Country people, while everyone else watched in silence.

Jiang Wang, carefully sorting through the messages related to Gu Shiyi, was suddenly shocked at this moment.

Because in the incomplete draft biography of Gu Shiyi, after discarding many unreliable selections, he saw a name...

"Haoyi"—Sun Meng!

This gentleman was once as famous as Gu Shiyi, and their relationship was close. They had a famous incident from that era called "Three Mountains of Righteousness," referring to their three times joining forces in life-and-death battles. But these two fought back-to-back more than just three times, sacrificing their lives for each other countless times.

Later, Gu Shiyi remained active in the jianghu, but Sun Meng suddenly disappeared from the human world on an unknown day.

Gu Shiyi had become a world hero, but that swordsman once known as "Haoyi" never appeared again.

Many people thought he had sacrificed himself for righteousness and died for his ambition—

After all, a hero who advocated "xia should not touch the law" in a time of martial law was bound to be restricted everywhere, making even a single step difficult.

But the history master of the Diligent Book Academy still unearthed old classics, tracing the origins, and found the truth behind this.

The former Haoyi Sun Meng is today's Gongsun Buhai, one of the heads of the Three Criminal Palaces and the master of the Legalist school!

That year, he used the name Sun Meng and walked the world as a xia simply to discuss the boundary between xia and law.

Although this matter was a secret, it was after all within the last two hundred years. It was impossible to completely erase the traces of history. Once brought to light, it could no longer escape the gaze of modern historians.

Although then, the identity of the master of the Legalist school was too much in conflict with the identity of a "xia."

But the name Sun Meng did indeed represent Gongsun Buhai and appeared in the jianghu.

Thinking of the current Gongsun Buhai, his lack of contact with Gu Shiyi is indeed consistent with the situation where a former close friend described by Gu Shiyi later broke off contact.

Thinking of that year, he continued that unfinished banquet, drinking and talking happily with Gu Shiyi. It seemed to be not far from the Three Criminal Palaces.

Jiang Wang couldn't help but have a bold guess—

Is it possible... that Gongsun Buhai is the divine xia?

He even immediately thought of the first thing he did after proving the Dao: forcing the Forget Self human-demon Yan Chunhui to change his path. But before Yan Chunhui changed his path, he planned to sweep through Wu Gui Valley and kill all those who dared to call themselves "human-demons."

But he gathered Tai Yu Liyi and Gongsun Buhai from the Three Criminal Palaces to take action, striking with lightning speed.

Yan Chunhui, who had stayed in Wu Gui Valley for years without moving, actually escaped in advance!

He always didn't know how the news leaked and was unwilling to suspect his companions.

If Gongsun Buhai is the divine xia, doesn't this matter have the most reasonable explanation?

"Stop Evil! You still have a chance!" Ji Xuanzhen's angry voice temporarily pulled Jiang Wang out of his thoughts and back to the current tense situation at Xuankong Temple.

This King of Jin from Da Jing angrily pointed his finger: "Your generation is deeply sinful. Will you truly see relics if your remaining body is burned? I heard the bell ring, and it was from your hand. Do you really think heaven and earth don't know?"

"I heard the bell, I heard the bell! You say it was a momentary oversight, yet it happened in your Heavenly Capital City. Dizang suddenly shook, and you were all able to defend? If you were all capable, there would be no need for the Central Emperor to escape from Zen practice. Dizang should have been imprisoned all along until he died!"

"I am willing to place the Buddha relic and ask for it to be illuminated by the Qiantian Mirror to prove the sincerity of Xuankong Temple. Then, supporting Jiang Wang and claiming the name of conquering Dizang further shows the stance of Xuankong Temple. My life's actions, Stop Evil, show my heart and gall, my bloodstains are clear."

Stop Evil held his sun-moon spade horizontally: "Jin King, you doubt me with this, the world is not convinced. I, Stop Evil, am even less convinced!"

He walked forward fiercely and savagely. In an instant, his presence was as if he was overturning Vajra and igniting Jialan.

"To tell this old monk, if you want to add a crime, you can always find an excuse. Since you think I should die, let's not dwell on these empty things. You and I will confront each other. We will not rest until one of us dies. If I lose, there is no need to argue about any crime. You can write it in the books and attach it to my remaining body! If you lose, I will personally perform a superdegree ritual for you. This time, it will be as if Jing Country never came. The matter will scatter without a trace. How about it?!"