The light of the sword is like the moon reflecting on Kyushu

Chapter 2082 Great idea!
The night wind was icy cold, but Venerable White Lotus seemed oblivious, his face showing obvious excitement: "They've all confessed." He pushed open the main door of the Great Buddha Hall.

Feng Jiuxiao followed him into the main hall.

Inside the hall, the towering Buddhas of the Three Worlds, several meters high, gaze down upon all living beings.

Shakyamuni Buddha is in the center, his hair bun inlaid with Hetian jade, and the swastika on his chest is stained with blood; Bhaisajyaguru Buddha is on the left, holding a lapis lazuli pagoda, inside which hang twelve yakshas with golden bells; Amitabha Buddha is on the right, with a lotus platform in his palm.

Feng Jiuxiao looked at the Buddha statue and asked, "The Mahayana Maitreya sect and your Great Bright Temple are both Buddhist sects. Do they both worship Shakyamuni?"

"No! We worship the Tathagata. The Tantric system of worship is not simply about worshipping the Tathagata, but a pantheon of Buddhism and Bon. Its core is the Tantric doctrine of 'subduing the fierce demon with the fierce.' They worship the supreme beings of the three realms, and the Tathagata is just the tip of the iceberg."

Feng Jiuxiao asked, "What is the true status of Tathagata in the Tibetan Esoteric Buddhism?"

Venerable White Lotus said, “Three sentences. The Dharmakaya is formless, the Sambhogakaya is fierce, and the Nirmanakaya is demonic. Samantabhadra has no specific form, but is symbolized by the deep blue void. Vajrasattva appears in a wrathful form, holding a skull cup and stepping on a corpse. Padmasambhava subdued the Bon demons as protectors, such as the Nyenchen Tanglha Mountain God.”

Feng Jiuxiao said, "I feel that this Bon religion is also very similar to the demonic sect, actually using demons as protectors."

Venerable White Lotus laughed and said, "All crows under heaven are black."

Feng Jiuxiao laughed and said, "Are you mocking me as well?"

"Hehe, I wouldn't dare."

"However, this mortal world is indeed full of contradictions. There is truth, goodness, and beauty, but there is also falsehood, evil, and ugliness. Some people spend their whole lives working diligently to do good, but end up poor and dying miserably, while others indulge in eating, drinking, and merrymaking, committing all kinds of evil, yet die peacefully in their old age and enjoy a long and healthy life! Hypocrisy fills the entire world. A notorious villain who has killed countless people can easily become a good person in the eyes of others and a model of a prodigal son returning home with just a few words like 'Put down the butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the spot.' It's simply a joke!"

"Young Master...you're still so full of justice!"

"What you're actually trying to say is—that what I said was a bit extreme, right?"

"Heh, as expected, nothing can be hidden from you!"

"Don't say I'm extreme. Am I wrong? Isn't that just how the world is? It's just that no matter how broken or rotten it is, someone will always try to mend it! And I'm willing to be one of them!"

Bai Lian clasped his hands together, his face full of respect, and bowed, saying, "Young master, this humble monk is completely convinced!"

Although he was born into a demonic sect, he was still humane at heart. He knew all too well the hardships of this world! Among the masses, apart from a few tigers, leopards, wolves and jackals at the top of the food chain, the vast majority were either ants or cattle and horses!
What do those who toil like oxen and horses get besides suffering and exhaustion? In the end, when they grow old and weak, even their last bones will be squeezed dry! Their lives are already hard enough, but if they encounter bullying and humiliation while they are alive, their lives can only get darker and darker!
Fortunately, there is justice in the world, and there is chivalry in the world!
Feng Jiuxiao said, "When a dynasty prospers, the people suffer; when a dynasty falls, the people suffer. Tell me, why are some people so willing to cause trouble?"

Bai Lian asked, "Is the young master referring to my master?"

Feng Jiuxiao said, "I'm not talking about her! I'm talking about everyone, including her! The Demon Lord, the Bright Lord, the Lord of the Demon Island, and the King of Light, they went on a killing spree to seize the throne of the Demon Sect's supreme ruler; Liancheng, Qi Er, Zhu Wu, and Yan Lingxiao fought openly and secretly to compete for the ranking in the martial arts world; Emperor Meng Chang of Shu, Emperor Zhao Guangyi of Song, and the Empress Dowager of Liao fought fiercely to seize the throne of the ruler of the world... They are like the apex predators in the food chain, while everyone else is prey to be slaughtered."

"I thought that you, sir, would be so sentimental and not so righteous."

"If the Buddha were not sentient, why would he suffer to save all living beings? Humans are not plants or trees, how can they be without feelings?"

Bai Lian suddenly laughed, "Young Master, you must have drunk quite a bit today!" He suddenly understood why Feng Jiuxiao was being so talkative! Chang Zijing and Xiong Mengyan were both helped into the mountain gate! Their strong smell of alcohol almost knocked him over!

In other words, Feng Jiuxiao must have drunk quite a bit too!

Feng Jiuxiao said, "I did drink a lot, but I'm not drunk."

Bai Lian smiled and said, "Yes, you're not drunk."

Feng Jiuxiao asked, "Now that the investigation has yielded results, what are your next steps?"

"I have already sent a message to my master via carrier pigeon. If nothing unexpected happens, we will soon have to break ties with the Mahayana Maitreya Sect!"

Are you strong enough to fight them?

"Currently, there is still a considerable gap. This is why Master is so eager to unify the Demonic Sect! Only by integrating the entire Demonic Sect's network and resources can we crush the Mahayana Maitreya Sect! But right now, the Demonic Sect has been severely damaged by the Central Plains martial arts world, and the various factions within the Demonic Sect are only superficially united and have not yet formed a cohesive force. Therefore, it will be difficult for the Great Bright Temple alone to resist them!"

"Then I see you're very determined. Are you planning one last gamble?"

"Young master, hehe, we're not just reckless fools! We've found new powerful allies!"

"A new ally? You're not talking about me, are you?"

"Hehe, your wisdom is unparalleled! You are the greatest ally of our Great Bright Temple!"

Feng Jiuxiao froze for a moment!
It was both unexpected and yet predictable!
Aside from himself, the King of Light could indeed not find a more suitable outside help!
Looking at the solemn Buddha statue, Feng Jiuxiao said softly, "The Dharma King has played a clever game! She has won!"

Even if the King of Law doesn't ask for his help, he will still get rid of the Holy Venerable, this scourge!
The Holy Venerable is the National Preceptor of Tibet. Like the Demon Lord, the National Preceptor of Shu in the past, he has his eyes on the Central Plains and has begun to mobilize troops to gather in the Central Plains. He may launch a large-scale attack at any time. When that happens, war will be fierce and dangerous, and it will be the innocent people who will suffer!
During the chaos of the Five Barbarian Tribes in ancient times, the Han people were nothing more than two-legged sheep!

Men were enslaved during the day and killed and eaten at night!
Women were raped at night and eaten as military rations during the day!
There is no greater tragedy in the world than this!

After our trip to Qinghai Lake, we'll go to the Garan Temple to deal with the Holy Venerable!

With the Mahayana Maitreya sect eliminated, the Bright Dharma King can quickly fill the power vacuum in Tibet. Then, she can consolidate all the demonic sect's forces and transfer them to Tibet. This will bring peace to the Central Plains martial arts world. With the Great Bright Temple in Tibet, the Tibetan Tantric forces will be unable to raise their heads. The Tibetan royal court will also have no time to look eastward. With the western threat of the Song Dynasty eliminated, only the Khitan in the north will remain as the only major threat. The Song Dynasty can then concentrate its forces to defend or attack, taking whatever it wants and having complete control over its affairs!
As long as we seize the military initiative, we will be invincible!
Feng Jiuxiao said, "We'll set off first thing tomorrow morning!"

Venerable White Lotus said, "Good! The shores of Qinghai Lake are probably already overcrowded. If we don't go now, things might change!"

Not afraid of ten thousand, just in case!

If some unforeseen accident occurs and someone gets there first and snatches the Heavenly Roc Egg, wouldn't everyone be left empty-handed? It doesn't matter to Feng Jiuxiao, but for others, especially people like Zeng Yong who have pinned their only hope on the Heavenly Roc Egg, the greater their hope then, the greater their despair then!

The next morning, before dawn, the earth was covered in a blanket of white light.

Several horse-drawn carriages formed a long line and drove out of the mountain gate of Guangming Temple.

Pang Shiwu drove the first carriage, which carried Yuan Zishan and Chili.
Feng Jiuxiao drove the second carriage, with Chang Zijin and Erni in it; Big Wolf drove the third carriage, with Zeng Yong lying in it.

Wang Sheng was driving the fourth carriage, and Yuan Zishan was inside.

Duanmu Yan drove the fifth carriage, which carried Shiyin and Diewu.
Venerable White Lotus drove the sixth carriage, carrying his three disciples, Han Yuan, Zhan Qing, and Xu Ran. He personally drove the carriage because Feng Jiu Xiao was also driving. This was purely to show respect.

Zhang Deyi's subordinate Lü Qi drove the seventh carriage, which carried him, Ouyang Zhong, and another subordinate, Deng Ba.
Another person riding a tall horse was none other than Helian Rongguang, a military general of Western Xia!

The caravan moved northwards with the rumble of carriages and the neighing of horses. Several days later, the caravan unknowingly arrived outside the city of Jishi.

Jishi Military City sits on the north bank of the first bend of the Yellow River, like a skinned iron beast.

In the early winter morning mist, the lead-gray city wall grows out of the red Danxia landform, with arrowheads left over from last year's battle still embedded in the cracks.

This is a pass built with the blood and flesh of the land—the cliffs on the east side were artificially cleaved into a 90-degree precipice, and the Yellow River, a natural barrier, served as a moat on the west side. The river, carrying the silt of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, swirled a turbid eddy at the foot of the military city.

The city wall is made of three bizarre rammed earth layers: the innermost layer is a core of clay mixed with yak hair left by the Tibetans, with fuzzy edges formed by wind and rain; the middle layer contains molten lead poured in by the Tang army in the past, which has solidified into bluish-gray metallic veins; the outer skin is an ice armor formed by splashing water, with a three-foot-thick ice shell that gleams with a dark blue light in the morning light.

The three Yan-style characters "Jishi Army" on the city gate have long been mostly cut away by knives and axes, leaving only the horizontal stroke of the character "Shi" standing out like a broken bone, bearing witness to the glory of the Tang Dynasty!
There were noticeably more soldiers stationed outside the city gate, about a dozen or so.

Just as Venerable Bailian was about to show off in front of Feng Jiuxiao and demonstrate his strength to the Tibetan soldiers, Zhang Deyi unexpectedly beat him to it, running up to the soldier first, pulling out a bronze token, and clearly slipping something into the soldier's hand. The soldier then smiled and signaled to let him pass.

Feng Jiuxiao gave Zhang Deyi a thumbs up!
Venerable Bailian immediately felt that he had lost face in front of Feng Jiuxiao!

What gave him the audacity to ask Feng Jiuxiao for "support"? It was because he was confident in his unimpeded power within Tibetan territory! As a result, Zhang Deyi stole the limelight, which naturally made him very unhappy!

He immediately walked to Feng Jiuxiao's side. "Young Master, everyone must be exhausted from the long journey. Why don't we go up to the city wall and enjoy the panoramic view of the city?"

Seeing the expectation in his eyes, Feng Jiuxiao thought to herself: If I refuse, he will probably be very disappointed!
He smiled and said, "Okay!"

Chili, who was in the car in front, immediately stuck her head out and asked, "Can we really go up to the city wall to see the view?" In her opinion, the city wall was a military stronghold, not a place that ordinary people could enter and leave at will.
Venerable Bailian was secretly delighted: He had originally suggested going to the city wall, fearing that Feng Jiuxiao would not believe in his strength and would refuse him, but unexpectedly Feng Jiuxiao agreed so casually, which left him speechless!

It was like punching cotton; the other party showed neither surprise nor approval, as if it were an easy thing to do!
Just when he was feeling disheartened, the chili peppers reignited his passion!
That’s right!
He seemed to straighten his back suddenly and shouted, "Of course it's true! Others can't do it, but I can!" He immediately found the leader of the city guards and showed him a bronze plaque as well!
The city guard's expression changed, and he became even more respectful than before!
The White Lotus Venerable spoke a few words softly, and the leader nodded repeatedly. He then gave a few instructions to the soldiers beside him, and the soldiers immediately showed great respect!
The White Lotus Venerable turned to Chili and smiled, "Chili Girl, let's ascend the city!"

Feng Jiuxiao remained calm, thinking to himself: You're using the Holy Venerable's bronze token to intimidate others, no wonder these guards have become so respectful!

Climbing up the city wall along the horse path, the wall's grotesque cross-section is revealed.

The base of the Tibetan arrow tower was converted into a gunpowder kiln, and the ventilation openings were blocked with carved Western Xia stones. Several crows made nests on the face of a stone Bodhisattva. Sharpened yak horns were stuck out of the outer crenellations. These were relics from the time of the Xiazhan garrison commander. Now covered with frost, they looked like a row of frozen fangs.

The golden roof of Dandou Temple in the west of the city pierces the morning mist, and Tibetan-style lion-head wind chimes hang under the eaves. When the wind blows, the copper bells ring in unison with the iron horses of the Tibetan army on guard duty, and the "ding-dong" of the temple bells mixed with the "click" of the iron plates startle the bar-headed geese that are overwintering under the eaves of the temple.

A flock of geese flew over the iron-gray roof of the military headquarters, where a nine-zhang-tall flagpole stood, its tattered commander's flag frozen solid, its edges still stained with the bloodstains of late autumn.

The Yellow River lashed out in a horseshoe bend beneath the city, barley stalks and arrow shafts floating where the ice met the rapids. Scattered on the riverbank were charred remains of sunken ships, and half-buried sheepskin rafts were stuck in ice crevices, thrashing about with a bang from the current. On the gentle slope of the opposite bank, the abandoned mani stones of the Tibetans still stood, their inscriptions charred black by the Song army's oil, and fresh snow clung to the wind-eroded strokes of the character "Om."

Smoke first rose from the blacksmith's shop in the corner of the barbican. Blacksmith Wang was reforging a Tibetan scimitar into a new one, and next to the anvil were piles of armor plates inlaid with Western Xia inscriptions.

A thin layer of ice floated on the surface of the quenching bucket. When the red-hot blade pierced it, it made a sizzling sound like a snake spitting its tongue. White mist rose along the ice shell of the city wall and quickly dissipated in the cold metallic light of the lead core wall.

As the first rays of sunlight pierced through the fog, the walls of the ice city refracted a dazzling array of colors. The patrolling soldiers' armor was covered in frost, and their leather boots scraped against the ice mixed with iron filings, each step producing a soft, metallic scraping sound.

They always quickened their pace when passing the Tibetan arrow tower—there was a human-shaped stain seeping into the cracks of the stone, the remains of an enemy spy who had been doused with boiling oil on a snowy night last year. The body had long been cleared away, but the smell of oil remained frozen inside the city wall.

The flatbread shop in the city gate had just set up its stove, and the aroma of wheat mixed with the smell of horse manure wafted up to the city wall.

As the sun rose higher, the ice armor began to weep.

The murky waterline meandered along the veins of the leaden river, freezing into stalactites at the base of the city wall. The defenders splashed saltpeter scraped from the riverbank onto the ice to prevent slipping; the yellowish-white powder falling onto the ice was like applying a layer of fragrant powder to this dying iron beast.

The broken arrow, lodged diagonally in the burrow, had its feathers softened by the water. When the wind blew, the blood-stained feathers swayed gently, as if keeping time with the roar of the Yellow River.

In the folds of the Danxia cliffs east of the city, a large crack appeared in the stone tablet. Frost crystallized on the character "尘" (dust) in the inscription "梵钟洗征尘" (The temple bell washes away the dust of the journey), and as sunlight pierced through, it cast shimmering, fragmented light spots in the shadows of the city wall.

A ibex suddenly darted out from behind the monument, startling the ravens that were pecking at blood scabs. The flock of ravens swept across the military city, casting flowing dark spots, as if the lingering spirits of the fallen were measuring the last frontier.

As dusk paints the Yellow River's turbid waves red, the ice walls' deep blue fades to a murky purple. The sound of the guards' changing of the guard echoes strangely between the ice shell and the lead core, like the painful sigh of this stitched-together military city.

Suddenly, a heart-wrenching cry echoed through the city!

Feng Jiuxiao frowned, his gaze locking onto a spot in the city where several lamas were holding a little girl, while others were holding a female herdsman. It seemed the girl was the herdsman's daughter, and mother and daughter were facing the tragic separation of flesh and blood!

Pang Shiwu angrily said, "Brother, I can't take it anymore!"

Feng Jiuxiao said, "Don't worry, I'll handle it!" As he spoke, he took out the Heaven-Shaking Bow!

Venerable White Lotus asked, "Young Master, are you sure you want to make a move now?"

Feng Jiuxiao asked, "So what do you mean?"

The White Lotus Venerable said, "What I mean is to follow them and see where they end up taking the girl, then raid their hideout!"

Feng Jiuxiao immediately put away the Heaven-Shaking Bow. "Great idea!"

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