Simultaneous traversal: All Abyss difficulty.

Chapter 558: A Bright and Clear World Shattered!
"Oh my God! Oh my God!"

"What did that kid just say?"

"vulgar!"

"It seems to be about... something related to plucking chicken feathers?!"

Fang Yu's crude remark was like a red-hot branding iron, pressing hard on the devout hearts of all the believers present.

"You...you..." A scholar's face turned from pale to ashen, his fingers trembling like withered branches in the wind. "Vulgar! Shameless! Blasphemous!" He abruptly turned to Xuanzang, "Holy Monk! Such a madman should be expelled from Chang'an!"

"Kill him!" A butcher with a face full of scars pushed through the crowd, veins bulging on his thick arms. "How dare he insult my Buddha!"

The scene instantly descended into chaos.

A dozen or so strong men rolled up their sleeves and were about to step forward, while the women covered the children's ears, afraid that their pure hearts would be tainted by these foul words.

Even worse, some had already picked up stones from the ground, their eyes flashing with angry fire.

Fang Yu remained unmoved, a mocking sneer playing on his lips.

"Please wait, everyone."

Xuanzang's voice wasn't loud, but it flowed through everyone's hearts like a clear spring, miraculously calming the restlessness.

He clasped his hands together and bowed deeply to the angry crowd.

“Anger is an obstacle, why should you all get angry about it?” Xuanzang turned to Fang Yu, his gaze calm yet profound. “Although this benefactor’s words are crude, his question is profound.”

Xuanzang slowly walked down the steps. "Your question is good."

He stopped in front of Fang Yu and said, "What is the relationship between scriptures and the common people? This is indeed a fundamental question."

Fang Yu stood with his arms crossed: "Then please enlighten me, Holy Monk."

"This humble monk's journey to the West is not for the scriptures themselves," Xuanzang's voice gradually rose so that everyone could hear him clearly, "but to seek the true Dharma and to enlighten the world. Although this humble monk has not personally witnessed the tragic state of the Lion Camel Kingdom, I believe it exists."

A murmur of surprise rippled through the crowd.

"If you believe in its existence, why do the Buddhas of Mount Ling turn a blind eye?" Fang Yu pressed on, "Is this the great compassion you speak of?"

Xuanzang asked calmly, "Have you ever seen a farmer tilling the land?"

This unexpected question startled Fang Yu: "What do you mean?"

“A seed sown will not bear fruit immediately.” Xuanzang’s gaze was distant. “The true Dharma is like a seed, which needs time to grow. The calamity of the Lion Camel Kingdom was caused by the karmic retribution of past lives, not something that happened in a day.”

Fang Yu scoffed: "What a karmic retribution! What crime did that baby commit? Why should it also be soaked in a bucket of swill?"

“All beings are equal, without distinction of rank or status.” Xuanzang sighed. “Precisely because of this, the Buddha’s teachings are needed to universally save all beings and break this cycle of reincarnation.”

"Empty talk!" Fang Yu suddenly raised his voice, "You're telling me this is karma?!"

Xuanzang closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them again, there were tears glistening in them: "This is the collective karma of all beings, not the fault of one person. The reason I am traveling west is to seek the way to liberation."

"And then?" Fang Yu sneered. "If we bring the scriptures back, will those monsters lay down their weapons? Will those people who were eaten be resurrected?"

"No," Xuanzang readily admitted. "But the true Dharma is like a lamp that can dispel a thousand-year-old darkness; if one person awakens, millions can be saved."

"What a wonderful idea to benefit millions of people." Fang Yu clapped his hands. "Then let me ask you, if I went to the south and asked an old man surnamed Yuan to teach me an improved rice cultivation method that would allow the people of the Tang Dynasty to have enough to eat every day, then compared to your scriptures, who would have immeasurable merit? Who would truly be benefiting the people?"

"Does this mean that for ordinary people, chanting scriptures while starving is the proper way to live, while being well-fed is considered karmic retribution?"

Fang Yu's analogy left Tang Seng speechless.

The square fell silent instantly.

"What? Holy Monk can't answer?" Fang Yu stepped forward. "Then I'll answer for you."

He suddenly leaped onto the incense table, startling the surrounding people who retreated in disarray.

"The so-called true scriptures are nothing more than making the starving believe that eating Guanyin clay is accumulating merit! And making tenant farmers believe that being exploited by landlords is expiating their karma!"

"You make people live on their knees, and then you deceive them into believing they can live standing up in their next life!"

A commotion broke out in the crowd, and several young noblemen in brocade robes turned pale.

A young man wearing an openwork gold crown suddenly screamed, "Stop this madman! He has slandered Buddha! He has slandered saints! He has slandered them!"

"Let him speak."

Tang Sanzang gestured for the warrior monks to put away their staffs. The way he looked up at Fang Yu carried a kind of martyr-like resolve.

Fang Yu sneered and pointed towards the imperial city: "Imperial power! Religion is merely a means for the imperial power to consolidate its own authority!"

"Boom!" The crowd erupted in chaos!
To dare to openly discuss royal matters in a place like this.

Are you really trying to kill yourself?
"Barking!"

A squad of Imperial Guards rushed out from the crowd, their gleaming swords flashing coldly in the sunlight.

"Take down this madman!" the leader shouted sharply, his knife pointed directly at Fang Yu's throat!
Xuanzang's expression changed drastically: "Wait!"

But his voice was instantly drowned out by the terrified crowd.

The people screamed and scattered in all directions, pushing and shoving, overturning the incense table and scattering the offerings all over the ground.

"clang!"

The sword struck Fang Yu's neck, producing a metallic clang!
A nick appeared in the blade, and the captain's hand was ripped open, blood dripping down the hilt.

Fang Yu didn't even blink, but instead grinned: "Are the supporters of imperial power getting anxious?" He flicked the blade with his fingertips, "Because you are dogs in front of the royal family, but you want to act like officials in front of the common people."

"Demon!" The captain staggered backward. "Fire! Fire the arrows now!"

Twenty horn bows were drawn simultaneously, and the sound of arrows piercing the air was sharp and piercing!
Fang Yu's eyes blazed with golden flames: "I'm speaking for the people, and you all jump out!" He spread his arms wide, "What a spoilsport!"

"boom!"

The Conqueror's Haki erupted like a tsunami! The arrows that were shot in front of him instantly shattered, and the guards in the front row fell to the ground one after another as if struck by lightning.

The archers in the back row fared even worse; they foamed at the mouth and passed out!

With Fang Yu as the center, the area within a radius of five zhang was cleared in an instant.

The onlookers in the distance fell silent!
This is unbelievable!

"It's quiet now." Fang Yu dusted off his sleeves and turned to Xuanzang, whose face had turned pale. "What did the Holy Monk want to say just now?"

Tang Sanzang clasped his hands together, his eyes filled with compassion: "Benefactor, is it wrong to persuade people to do good and teach them to be virtuous? Buddhism guides people to goodness and eliminates violence; this is the essence of universal salvation."

Upon hearing this, Fang Yu laughed loudly, his laughter full of sarcasm: "Persuade people to do good? Do you need to travel thousands of miles to India to learn this simple principle from those ass-picking Indians? Even a three-year-old child knows that murder and arson are evil, and respecting the elderly and caring for the young are good! Does your Great Tang have no sages to teach you? Do you have to kneel down and beg for foreign rubbish scriptures?"

He suddenly pointed to an old man selling steamed buns on the street, "Ask him if he'd rather listen to you chant sutras for a better next life, or if he just wants to eat more meat in this life!"

The old man shrank back in fright when his name was called, but under Fang Yu's intense gaze, he finally stammered, "This old man just wants to save money to get a house and a wife for his grandson."

"Did you hear that?" Fang Yu sneered. "You keep talking about blessings in the next life, but have you ever made sure his dilapidated thatched hut doesn't leak? You teach him to endure hunger and thirst to eliminate karma, but the high-ranking officials in Chang'an eat meat every day, so why don't you go and advise them to eliminate karma?"

Xuanzang frowned: "You are mistaken, benefactor. Buddhism does not teach people to passively accept their fate, but rather—"

"That's utter nonsense!" Fang Yu interrupted rudely. "You only know one-sided thinking, treating Buddhist scriptures as infallible laws! You want people to cultivate for the next life? In my opinion, Taoism is the right path!"

"I don't care about the next life! We cultivate in this life! The Tao follows nature, which speaks of karmic retribution in this life! You, a Buddha who once rolled around in the hungry ghost realm, are you qualified to teach us how to be human?"

A man dressed as a Taoist priest caught the eye and quietly pushed his way forward.

"You made the people eat bran and wild vegetables their whole lives, and then lied to them on their deathbeds, saying they could be kings and nobles in their next life." Fang Yu suddenly grabbed a steamed bun from the offering table and threw it at Xuanzang's feet. "Suffering is a blessing, hardship is a reward. You've made people like walking corpses, without any ambition or basic human desires!"

"No food, no water, no children, no enjoyment of life! I ask you! Is that still human? Is a person living this life just to have a better next life? Then why the hell can't we have a better life in this one?"

The steamed bun rolled onto the ground, covered in incense ash.

Xuanzang's face turned pale, and he took half a step back.

"You dare not accept?" Fang Yu grinned maliciously as he approached. "Your tricks might fool the ignorant masses who have been kneeling for too long, but they won't fool me! Taoist alchemy for prolonging life is considered cowardly, while you monks waiting to die while chanting wooden fish is considered noble?"

Xuanzang took a deep breath. "I understand. What you mean is that the people should cultivate the Tao."

“Wrong!” Fang Yu declared resolutely. “I’m going to overturn this cannibalistic world!”

As he spoke, he flew into the sky, gradually rising above the heads of the people, all of whom gazed at his radiant body under the blazing sun.
他 说:

"What gods and Buddhas don't care about, I will!"

"What monks cannot save, I will save!"

Lightning surged around Fang Yu, and the Nine Heavens Thunder Pool roared within his arms.

"Use this thunder! Use my burning passion!"

"Cleave a bright and clear world!"

At that moment, Tang Xuanzang clearly knew
自己
lost.

(End of this chapter)