As soon as he finished speaking, the Dragon Scale Blade appeared in Shen Zhao's left hand.
Jian Hui raised an eyebrow, and the long sword behind her was immediately drawn.
"Evil forces and heretics bewitch people's hearts; we must sever the cause and effect to trace back to the source!"
In an instant, the aura of the peak of the Selfless Realm erupted, causing the surrounding spiritual energy to surge.
Jian Hui's body shone with a great Buddhist light, but it also faintly revealed a strange and evil gleam, making his face look exceptionally terrifying.
Shen Zhao closed his eyes slightly, remaining silent and quietly waiting for his opponent's sword strike to land.
"The Six-Character Sword of the Great Ming Dynasty!"
With a flash of sword light, the six-character mantra formed a Sanskrit lotus seal, which attached itself to the sword and merged with the vast Buddhist light to pierce towards Shen Zhao.
"Killing is for the sake of protecting life, and it severs karma!"
A murderous glint flashed in Shen Zhao's eyes.
Then his figure vanished, disappearing in the blink of an eye in just half a breath, passing Jian Hui with a horizontal slash.
"Not killing people!"
Pfft~
A flash of cold light accompanied the first rays of the rising sun, so bright that people couldn't open their eyes.
When they opened their eyes again, Jian Hui's head flew into the air, and a pool of gushing blood shot into the sky from his headless body.
"Ah~ dead, Chief Hui is dead~ Chief Hui is dead~"
When the other monks saw Jianhui's head fall to the ground, they were so frightened that they immediately screamed and ran away, no longer caring about their monastic image.
Mu Qiuyao stared blankly at the scene before her, and after a long while, a dazzling light flashed in her eyes.
Shen Zhao ignored the monks who were scattering and fleeing, and instead walked towards the women who were being taken to the Kingdom of Shiduo.
Compared to the monks who were fleeing for their lives, these emaciated women appeared remarkably calm.
From childhood, they were brainwashed day after day with the idea that people are divided into different classes, and they felt only numbness towards everything happening before their eyes.
"Your destiny is in your own hands. If you don't know how to fight back, you will never be able to escape this suffering."
Remember, it is always yourself who can guide you, not some ethereal Buddha!
After saying that, with a wave of his dragon scales, all the shackles on their bodies came off.
After doing all this, Shen Zhao put away the dragon scales and strode towards the Kingdom of Shituo.
He doesn't expect these suffering people to undergo a dramatic reversal of their mindset overnight after generations of brainwashing.
Everything we do today is simply to tell them a fact.
This land is about to undergo a dramatic change.
Even if you know that all of this may be in vain, and that you may not see any results for a long time.
But someone has to step up and break this pattern, pointing out another path for these confused people.
"Wait for me!"
Mu Qiuyao quickly followed.
...
The two remained silent throughout the journey.
After walking more than a hundred miles, Mu Qiuyao finally couldn't help but ask, "So the monk Ranxiu, who killed three thousand monks in one day and was known as the Demon Buddha and Evil Monk, was actually you?"
Shen Zhao paused, not expecting that someone would still remember his pseudonym "Ranxiu".
I only used this pseudonym for less than a month, and I thought no one would hear about it.
"Killing to protect life, cutting off karma without killing people—what a domineering act! I've had the misfortune to witness it today."
Shen Zhao turned to look at Mu Qiuyao: "Is the pseudonym 'Ranxiu Mage' quite famous?"
Mu Qiuyao said, "There aren't many people I remember vividly from the last few decades of my past life."
Master Ranxiu was one of them, but it was unexpected that the fellow listed as a demonic monk by the Western Buddhist Kingdom was actually so upright.
After she finished speaking, her eyes were filled with admiration for Shen Zhao.
At this moment, she finally understood why the monk Ranxiu in her previous life had killed an entire sect of monks in a fit of rage.
Based on what she had seen and heard in the Buddhist Kingdom these past few days, her impression of the Western Buddhist Kingdom had long since changed from a sacred Buddhist site to a stronghold of heretical cultivators.
Suddenly, Shen Zhao stopped and pointed to the distant outline of a majestic city, which was about a thousand miles away.
"That place is the most terrifying scene in Journey to the West, Lion Camel Ridge, or as it is called, the Corpse Forest!"
“Shituo?” Mu Qiuyao shuddered. “Just hearing the name is enough to send chills down your spine.”
"Perhaps seeing the actual scene would be even more terrifying than you imagine."
"Kid, I've fought my way up from the bottom. What kind of miserable scenes haven't I seen? Do you really think that an empress's mental fortitude is just for show?"
"Have you ever heard of the Flesh Lotus, the Heavenly Cup, or the Leg Bone Flute?"
Mu Qiuyao shook her head blankly.
Shen Zhao: "Alright, you'll see soon enough. I'll get a carriage, and we'll be able to reach Shituo Kingdom in ten days at most."
...
Meanwhile, inside the largest Buddhist temple in the city of Shita.
A gentle breeze carries the fragrance of lotus blossoms, while the air is filled with the sounds of Buddhist chants, seemingly highlighting the unique character of this place.
Suddenly, a monk rushed into the Buddha hall in a panic. With a slightly surprised tone, he respectfully addressed the three figures sitting behind him, draped in light veils, saying, "Greetings, Venerable Ones. The life lamp of the Head of the Wise One went out an hour ago."
"What!"
A loud shout immediately caused the entire Buddhist hall to shake violently.
"Has Huishou passed away?"
"Reporting to the chief, the soul lamp of the wise leader has indeed been extinguished."
"Who dares to kill Master Hui? Find him for me!"
At this moment, another voice sounded from the left: "Senior brother, please calm down. Judging from the time it took for your soul to extinguish, Jian Hui died three days ago."
With the Lotus Picking Ceremony about to begin, this is a crucial time for making Buddhist artifacts. It would be best to investigate Jianhui's death privately.
The voice on the right echoed, "Second Senior Brother is right. This is a critical time. There must be no accidents at the Lotus Picking Assembly. Please be patient, Senior Brother. The murderer who killed Jian Hui must have at least the peak of the Selfless Realm. He must not be underestimated."
"Hmph! Then we'll have to be patient for now. Bring everyone who knows about this to me. I'm going to question them thoroughly!"
The monk below hurriedly replied, "Yes!"
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