Honghuang: My understanding is beyond belief. I am the first immortal of Jiejiao.

The Tang soldiers used their flesh and blood, their burning fighting spirit, to forcefully block the further advance of those extraordinary individuals and drive them away from the villages that had been reduced to scorched earth.

As the first rays of dawn appeared on the horizon, the surviving, blood-soaked Indian "experts" finally retreated, rejoining the main force behind them and temporarily halting their attack. Meanwhile, the allied forces from various cities that had come to Tang support also suffered heavy losses; even more heartbreakingly, they arrived too late.

Iron Wall Pass has become a dead end. At least seven or eight larger villages around it have been completely wiped out, leaving only ruins, still-burning flames, and... mountains of corpses of our compatriots.

The message was transmitted back to Chang'an as quickly as possible via emergency communication arrays and beacon fires.

Inside the palace, Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, was reviewing memorials and discussing spring planting matters with his ministers when he received an urgent report from the border, stained with blood and scorch marks. At first, he thought it was just another small-scale skirmish.

But when he quickly read through the shocking words written in trembling handwriting—"Iron Wall Pass was destroyed overnight, and not a single one of the 140,000 soldiers and civilians survived. The surrounding villages were massacred, and the number of dead and injured was countless. It is suspected that the power of immortals and demons intervened"—this emperor, who had experienced many hardships and created the prosperous Zhenguan era, felt his vision go black and his chest feel as if it had been hit hard by a giant hammer!
"puff--!"

A mouthful of bright red blood suddenly gushed from Li Shimin's mouth, splattering the battle report in his hand and the dragon table in front of him.

He swayed, his face instantly turning ashen, terrifying all the ministers in the hall.

"His Majesty!"

"The imperial physician! Summon the imperial physician immediately!"

Li Shimin suddenly raised his hand to stop the panicked crowd.

He gripped the blood-stained battle report tightly, his nails digging deep into his palms, blood dripping down his wrists, but he seemed oblivious.

Those eyes, once sharp as an eagle's and now weathered yet still wise, were now bloodshot, burning with indescribable shock, grief, and raging fury!

He did not wait for the imperial physician, nor did he change his blood-stained dragon robe. He simply told his trusted ministers, "I entrust the affairs of state to you for now," and rushed out of the palace without regard for anything else. He summoned the fastest dragon steed and, without even waiting for the army to assemble, led only the most elite guards and skilled warriors, galloping through the night to the western border that had become a living hell!

When he finally arrived at the front line and stood on a relatively intact high slope, looking into the distance, the sight he saw made even this emperor, who had seen countless life and death and commanded thousands of troops, feel as if all his strength had been drained. He staggered and almost fell, only to be firmly supported by the quick-thinking general beside him.

As far as the eye can see, the once mighty pass "Iron Wall Pass" has vanished, replaced by a terrifying, enormous, several-zhang-deep crater with radiating edges. At the bottom of the crater are ruins mixed with gravel, wood chips, metal fragments, and... dark red and black soil.

Further away, several villages were still billowing black smoke, the stench of burning mixed with an overwhelming, nauseating stench of blood that wafted through the air even from miles away.

In the nearby open areas, hastily cleared spaces were filled with countless mutilated, charred corpses hastily covered with white sheets, stretching as far as the eye could see. A preliminary count indicated over 150,000! These were not merely numbers; they were once living people, his subjects!

"My...people..."

Li Shimin's lips trembled, emitting a hoarse sound like that of a wounded wild beast.

He broke free from the support and walked step by step towards the mountain of corpses and sea of ​​blood, his steps unsteady, as if he were walking on clouds.

He stepped closer, his hands trembling, wanting to lift a corner of the white cloth, but ultimately lacked the courage.

He knelt on the cold ground. This emperor, who had once charged into battle and dominated the court, was now like a helpless child. Tears streamed down his face like a burst dam, and his suppressed sobs echoed across the deathly silent battlefield, breaking the hearts of all who heard them.

"Why...why?!"

Li Shimin suddenly raised his head, his bloodshot eyes looking westward, and uttered a question that sounded like he was crying blood.

"India! Western Paradise! Why...why did you inflict such cruelty on these unarmed civilians?! What crime have they committed?! What crime have they committed?!"

The angry roars echoed across the empty battlefield.

At this moment, a young captain with a missing arm, his body wrapped in blood-stained bandages, and being helped by others staggered to Li Shimin and knelt down with a thud.

His face was covered in soot and dried blood, his eyes were empty and pained, and his voice was choked and almost incoherent.

"Your Majesty...Your Majesty...This humble general...This humble general was originally a garrison soldier at Iron Wall Pass...Last night...Last night..."

His teeth chattered as he recalled the hellish scene, his body trembling uncontrollably.

“Last night… in the sky… suddenly a person appeared… his face… I couldn’t see his face clearly… in his hand… he was holding a blue flag… and he just… just waved it…”

The captain's tears mingled with blood and streamed down his face.

“The city walls…the houses…the people…everything is gone…everything is gone! My brother…my brother pushed me away…he…he turned to ashes right before my eyes! Your Majesty! 145,623 brothers and civilians! Only…only me is left! Only me!! Waaah…”

He could no longer speak, and he pounded his head on the ground, letting out a heart-wrenching wail filled with boundless fear, pain, and deep self-blame—why was I the one who survived?
Hearing these heart-wrenching words of lament, Li Shimin felt as if his heart was being torn apart, pierced by a thousand arrows! He pounded his chest, making muffled thuds, and almost fainted from crying.

The generals and civil officials who had rushed over all had tears in their eyes, filled with grief and indignation.

"The blue flag... a single wave and the city is destroyed..."

Li Shimin murmured repeatedly, his grief gradually replaced by a chilling sense of enlightenment.

He stood up abruptly, and although he was still swaying slightly, the imperial majesty and decisiveness returned to him, though this majesty was now filled with destructive rage.

"The Western Paradise...it must be the Buddha of the Western Paradise! It must be them!"

Li Shimin's voice was as if it came from the deepest abyss, icy and chilling.

"Only they could allow the Buddhist Kingdom of Tianzhu to be so fearless as to tear up the agreement! And only they could possess such... power of immortals and demons that could destroy a magnificent city and slaughter hundreds of thousands of lives in a single blow!"

He knew all too well! In recent years, under his rule, the Tang Dynasty had flourished, its military was strong and well-equipped, and many powerful figures had emerged. He had personally overseen the border defenses, making them virtually impregnable. Even if it were a common attack from the Buddhist kingdom of India, with forces several times larger than his own, the formidable passes and the valiant efforts of his soldiers would be enough to withstand and even repel it.

But who could have imagined that the Western Paradise would be so shameless and utterly shameless! They directly dispatched a terrifyingly powerful expert capable of destroying a city with a single blow to launch a sneak attack!
This is a crushing defeat! This is blatant contempt and slaughter for mortals! "Your Majesty! This humble general requests to fight! Even if it costs me my life, I will avenge my brothers at Iron Wall Pass!"

"Your Majesty! I still have children at home and have no worries about the future! I am willing to be the vanguard, to risk my life to fight my way into India!"

"Yes! Blood debts must be repaid in blood! For generations to come, without end! We must make that bald monk from the Western Paradise pay the price!"

The soldiers around them were already bloodshot with rage, veins bulging on their necks. They knelt down, pleading for battle, their voices filled with tragic resolve. The flames of hatred burned fiercely in their hearts.

However, amidst the calls to fight, there was also an undeniable sense of sorrow and despair.

Everyone understood that someone capable of annihilating a force like Iron Wall Pass in a single move was no ordinary being! That person must be an immortal, or even a powerful immortal!
In the past, when the Western Paradise secretly assisted India, it would at most send some Arhats or Vajras to slightly influence the battle with their supernatural powers. When has it ever been so direct, so violent, and so inhumane?

This time, the one who came was a true demon who treated human life like dirt and possessed the power to easily trample on the rules! These mortal soldiers, even if they were full of passion and fought to the death, how could they possibly resist? They would only increase casualties and die in vain.

Li Shimin was well aware of this. Looking at his loyal and fearless soldiers, who were destined to face an invincible enemy, and at the hundreds of thousands of cold corpses in the distance, he felt as if his heart was being torn apart, as if a thousand arrows were piercing his heart. The excruciating pain of losing his people was like a thousand steel knives cutting back and forth in his heart.

He clenched his teeth so hard that blood seeped from his gums, and his eyes were bloodshot.

In the end, all the grief, anger, and resentment transformed into a command that burst forth from the depths of his throat, carrying the metallic, bloody stench of rust.

"Issue my decree! Assemble the three armies! Target—the Buddhist Kingdom of India! I will... pay for this blood debt!!"

Even knowing he was outmatched, even if it was like throwing an egg against a rock, he would still fight! For the sake of those 140,000 innocent souls, for the dignity of the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin would rather die on the battlefield than stand idly by and watch his people being slaughtered like this!
"Yes, Your Majesty!!"

The soldiers roared their agreement, and a somber atmosphere filled the entire army. Although they knew that this journey would most likely end in certain death, no one hesitated. They moved swiftly, war drums sounded, bugles wailed, and a chilling, resolute atmosphere began to gather.

Just as the army was about to set off for that certain battle—

On the western horizon, above the lingering smoke and blood-red clouds, a clear light, not dazzling but exceptionally distinct, suddenly shone.

Amidst the clear light, a figure slowly emerged, transforming from ethereal to tangible.

It was a boy who looked no more than twelve or thirteen years old, with red lips and white teeth, and a face as delicate as a jade carving. He wore a spotless, moon-white Taoist robe embroidered with faint white lotus patterns.

He stood with his hands behind his back, his expression indifferent, his eyes ethereal, as if untouched by the dust of the world.

However, what is most striking is that behind him, a small flag, bluish-green in color, moves without wind, exuding a peaceful yet eerie aura, is quietly floating.

It is indeed the White Lotus Boy!

He hovered high in the sky, his gaze indifferently looking down at the dark, indignant, and murderous Tang army below, and Li Shimin, who was surrounded by the crowd and surrounded by a faint golden aura of the people's fortune.

That gaze was like a god looking down at an anthill, devoid of emotion, only a pure, aloof indifference.

"It's...it's him!!"

The young captain with the missing arm, as if witnessing the most terrifying nightmare in the world, suddenly pointed at the white lotus child in the air, his voice distorted and out of tune due to extreme fear, screaming.

"Your Majesty! It was him! Last night... it was him last night! Holding that blue flag! With one wave... Iron Wall Pass was gone! It was him!!"

"what?!"

"The demon who slaughtered the city!!"

"He's the one who killed 140,000 brothers and civilians?!"

In an instant, the gazes of all the Tang soldiers were fixed on the small figure in the air. Boundless rage, deep-seated hatred, and a trace of fear stemming from their very survival instincts erupted in their chests like a volcano!
Li Shimin's eyes were bloodshot as he stared intently at the White Lotus Boy, his chest heaving violently as if it were about to explode.

He suddenly raised his hand and shouted sharply.

"Archers! Fire arrows at me!! Shoot this scoundrel!!"

"kill--!!"

No further orders were needed; the soldiers, already consumed by hatred and grief, roared with deafening fury! The archers, with tears in their eyes, drew their bows to their full strength, and sharp arrows, whistling through the air, rained down on the White Lotus Child like locusts!
More soldiers drew their swords and spears, and even though they knew they might not be able to reach the demon, they swung them into the air as if they wanted to tear the demon apart!

Li Shimin snatched a precious carved bow from a nearby guard, nocked a specially made armor-piercing wolf-tooth arrow, and with all his might, the bow was drawn to its fullest extent, the arrow flew like a shooting star, carrying his rage as an emperor and the lamentations of hundreds of thousands of innocent souls, aimed straight at the face of the White Lotus Boy! At the same time, he roared hoarsely, his voice piercing through metal and splitting stone.

"You demon! I ask you! What grudge do you have against the 145,623 lives lost on the border of my Great Tang?! Why did you commit such a heinous act?! Answer me—!!"

However, faced with the rain of arrows and Li Shimin's questioning filled with imperial majesty and boundless rage, the white lotus boy in the sky did not even blink.

Those arrows, powerful enough to pierce heavy armor, shattered into the finest wood chips and iron dust as they approached within a three-zhang radius of him, as if hitting an invisible and absolutely solid wall. The dust fell in a flurry, leaving not even a speck of his clothing untouched.

He still looked down with that utterly indifferent gaze. If it weren't for the fact that Li Shimin was protected by the fate of the Tang Dynasty and the fortunes of all its people, and that the karmic entanglements were too great, and that a rash attack on him might trigger unpredictable backlash, he wouldn't even bother to stay here. Wouldn't it have been much easier to just capture him and use him as leverage to threaten Lin Zhu, the Heavenly Prison God?

He came by the decree of the Sage, holding the Azure Lotus Banner. His true purpose, from beginning to end, was only one—to find an opportunity to eliminate Lin Zhu, the God of Law Enforcement in the Three Realms who had repeatedly thwarted Buddhism's good deeds and possessed extraordinary abilities! His attacks on mortals, provoking wars, and creating boundless slaughter were all to lure Lin Zhu down to the mortal realm.

At that time, they could use the human catastrophe to put pressure on the Heavenly Court, and also use the lives of these Tang Dynasty emperors, ministers and soldiers as bargaining chips to blackmail Lin Zhu, or even set traps, achieving multiple goals at once.

As for the anger, questioning, and even desperate counterattacks of these mortals below, in his eyes, they were no different from the buzzing of ants or the swirling of dust. Were they even worth paying attention to? (End of Chapter)