God Weird Fairy

Chapter 448 Kanchao Cultivators
Qingya Pass is the northernmost pass in Yan County.

Once you leave Qingya Pass, you enter the border area between Kanli and Li.

A gray-robed cultivator hid in a simply arranged concealment array, closing his eyes to rest.

Suddenly, he tilted his head slightly, listened intently, and at the same time, he further concealed his aura.

Not far away, three monks were walking together.

The leader had entered the mortal realm; the other two had reached the pinnacle of Qi cultivation.

The three remained silent throughout, carefully guarding their surroundings, and quietly returned to Qingya Pass.

Despite their best efforts, they were still caught off guard. As the three walked into an open area, the ground beneath their feet suddenly turned into sand, forming a deep pit.

As the three fell and were trying to leap out, they suddenly heard chanting.

“Om Siddhi Pratathagata Hum!”

The gray-robed cultivator appeared at the edge of the pit, chanting incantations, his hands clasped together, and his body suddenly radiated a burst of golden light, which transformed into a giant golden palm that slammed down from the sky.

The leading rogue cultivator roared and summoned a magic sword: "Form the Three Talents Formation!"

The three formed a formation and focused all their efforts on enabling the rogue cultivator to wield his magic sword, barely managing to withstand the golden palm of Brahma Light.

However, the gray-robed cultivator, though seemingly alone, was not fighting by himself.

“Om Siddhi Pratathagata Hum!”

He kept chanting mantras, borrowing vital energy from a friend who was far away and practiced the same method.

The radiant light cascaded down like a waterfall, growing ever brighter and showing no sign of stopping.

Despite being merely a newly enlightened monk, with cultivation levels similar to those of a novice cultivator entering the mortal realm, the gray-robed cultivator was able to fight three opponents single-handedly. After gaining the upper hand, he almost forcefully suppressed the three rogue cultivators who had formed an array together.

He sneered, “Fellow Daoists, why struggle in vain? Why not obediently accept your death, enter my Brahma Treasure, and attain the Great Dao with me.”

The three rogue cultivators shouted in unison, "Bald monk, don't even dream about it!"

"We would rather die than comply with the wishes of that wicked monk!"

"You bald thief, you'll die a horrible death sooner or later!"

However, just as the three rogue cultivators were about to give up and their eyes showed despair, a sudden sound of hooves thundered.

A group of horses galloped in, their banners waving; it was the Dali delegation to which Nan Yi belonged.

Sensing the commotion, Zhao Lang spurred his horse forward, drew his sword, and unleashed a flurry of blade light from a distance.

The gray-robed cultivator's expression changed drastically, and he immediately tried to retreat.

Before he could react, Zhao Lang's blade had already struck the golden palm formed by the Brahma light.

Instantly, all five fingers were severed, but in the blink of an eye, the entire golden palm vanished as if ice and snow had melted away.

The gray-robed cultivator coughed up blood, but dared not linger and immediately fled in a sorry state.

Zhao Lang watched coldly, without making another move.

The three rogue cultivators, having narrowly escaped death, immediately rushed over to thank Zhao Lang.

Zhao Lang didn't say anything, but told the three rogue cultivators to hurry back to Qingya Pass.

The Dali mission continued northward.

Zhao Lang returned to Nan Yi's side: "I'm sorry for making you laugh, Your Excellency."

Nan Yi understood why Zhao Lang didn't kill the gray-robed cultivator.

They were sent as envoys to the Kan Dynasty, holding official positions. Meanwhile, the independent cultivators, regardless of whether they were from Kan or Li, were simply ordinary citizens.

As long as the cultivators of the Kan Dynasty do not attack them, even if the rogue cultivators of the Li Dynasty are attacked, they will at most lend a helping hand, but they will not bully the weak or kill the cultivators of the Kan Dynasty.

But seeing a Kan Dynasty cultivator fight someone for the first time, Nan Yi was quite interested in talking about it: "The methods of this Kan Dynasty cultivator are quite mysterious." Zhao Lang replied: "Kan Dynasty cultivators take Qi cultivation as their foundation, and there is a saying that they are connected by the same Qi. Whenever they fight someone, they will borrow strength from their fellow disciples and then use their strength to suppress the other person."

"In the battle between rogue cultivators like the one just now, the cultivator from Kan Dynasty may have appeared to be a single person, but he was far from being a single person. As for the rogue cultivators of our Dynasty, most of them have limited means and find it difficult to break through such methods of borrowing strength. Whenever they fight, they are at a disadvantage."

Nan Yi nodded knowingly.

He had just observed from afar that the minor conflict that was taking place here appeared to be three against one, but in reality it was three against five.

This is because the gray-robed cultivator was also a rogue cultivator, and there were only two or three others practicing the same cultivation method.

If it were a Brahma cultivator with a complete lineage, when borrowing power to empower themselves, they could easily borrow the power of ten, a hundred, or even a thousand people, a power known as "great power."

Of course, such methods of leveraging power lack flexibility and can only be used to exert crude and clumsy supernatural powers that rely on brute force. It can be said that they have numerical values ​​but no underlying mechanism.

Against cultivators from powerful sects with complete lineages and various mechanisms, they may not have the upper hand, so they bully lower-level rogue cultivators with limited means.

However, this is just a glimpse into the bigger picture. The fact that the cultivators of the Brahma Kingdom can engage in such magical battles, even borrowing vital energy at will, will naturally create a social atmosphere in which everyone pursues the circulation of merit.

After all, what is borrowed will be returned.

Those who are close to each other may borrow from each other without distinguishing between them.

For those with only a casual relationship, then the accounts between fellow disciples must be kept clear, adhering to the principle of "nine out, thirteen back".

In other words, if the Brahma monks gain nothing from using the opponent's strength in a battle, it can be said that they have suffered a loss.

Prolonged battles and losses could lead to internal "withdrawal of investment," triggering a "run on the bank," ultimately resulting in an inevitable collapse.

This is a natural deficiency of the Brahma monks in magical combat.

Just like cultivators in immortal sects who focus on mental cultivation as their core, with soul and body cultivation as secondary, and neglect qi cultivation, thus their magical power is limited. In battle, they mostly react to each move and seize the opportunity to launch a fierce attack, but they are not good at prolonged battles.

Thinking of this, Nan Yi pondered and secretly prepared some contingency plans to deal with the cultivators from the Brahma Kingdom.

…………

That evening, the Dali delegation arrived at Cangling Pass.

Cangling Pass is the southernmost pass of Kanchao Yuanzhou.

Yuan Shida, the governor of Yuanzhou, would not come to the border to personally welcome the Dali delegation, but he did send his eldest son, Yuan Yingdao, to Cangling Pass in advance to wait for them.

After exchanging greetings, Yuan Yingdao led Nan Yi and the others into the pass: "You envoys have traveled a long way and have worked hard. We have prepared a small banquet and cordially invite you to join us."

It was, after all, just a border post, not a town. The so-called simple banquet was indeed simple.

Yuan Yingdao arranged several tables of food and wine at the residence of the garrison commander of Cangling Pass. Only the main table could be set up in the hall, while the remaining tables had to be set up in the courtyard.

Yuan Yingdao, dressed in a brocade robe, with a kind and smiling face, personally greeted Nan Yi and Zhao Lang to the banquet hall.

During the journey, Zhao Lang gave a brief introduction to Yuan Yingdao via telepathy.

Yuan Yingdao was the eldest son of Yuan Shida. At the time, he was twenty-eight years old and served as the Left Assistant of the Ceremonial Office in Yuanzhou, in charge of reception matters. He was also a Bhikkhu who practiced monastic discipline.

—In the cultivation of immortals, each realm is divided into four levels: entry, minor achievement, major achievement, and perfection; while in the cultivation of Brahma, it is divided into four levels: initial enlightenment, discipline, wisdom, and freedom.

However, compared to titles such as Bhikkhu of virtuous conduct and Bhikkhu of wisdom, monks who have left the temple are generally directly called novice Bhikkhu, junior Bhikkhu, senior Bhikkhu, or advanced Bhikkhu.

According to Zhao Lang, once Yuan Yingdao breaks through his cultivation level and becomes a Great Bhikkhu, he can serve as the Prefect of Yuanzhou; if he succeeds in becoming a Senior Bhikkhu, he can take over the position of Governor and preside over the affairs of the mortal world in Yuanzhou.

To put it bluntly, Yuan Yingdao is the future governor of Yuanzhou.

If you want to take a long-term approach, you can first build a good relationship with Yuan Yingdao, and then exert influence after Yuan Yingdao comes to power.

However, for Nan Yi, if he were to cultivate at the normal pace until Yuan Yingdao became a fully-fledged Bhikkhu, he himself would probably have already been in the Foundation Establishment stage for countless years.

Nan Yi sighed inwardly: Planning and strategizing must be done in a timely manner.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

(End of this chapter)