My cultivation disguise has been exposed by Xiao Sizi.

The night in Chang'an was so vibrant and bustling, it was like a beautiful dream from which one did not wish to wake.

In the shadows of the street corner.

The muscles of the Bodhisattva Jiangye tensed instantly, and the Buddhist power of the Nascent Soul stage within him surged wildly through his meridians like a volcano about to erupt.

He stared intently at the middle-aged scholar in front of him, who was wearing a coarse blue long gown and holding a folding fan.

An unprecedented sense of life-or-death crisis instantly enveloped his entire body!

"Who are you?"

The Bodhisattva of Subduing Karma's voice was low and hoarse, carrying undisguised vigilance and murderous intent.

He never expected that his mortal concealment technique, which he had used at the cost of his life essence, would be seen through by a human on the third day after he entered Chang'an!

They faced the Bodhisattva with the attitude of being on high alert.

Ning Xiu showed no fear whatsoever; instead, he casually closed the folding fan in his hand.

He sat down imposingly at a small square table next to an open-air tavern on the street.

"Waiter, bring two jugs of warmed cloudy wine."

Ning Xiu shouted at the tavern owner, then turned around and patted the long bench opposite him.

"Don't be nervous, you're a monk who's come from afar."

Ning Xiu pointed to the bench, a gentle smile playing on his lips.

"If I wanted you, I would have done it back in the theater. Why wait until now?"

"Sit down and let's talk. My name is Ning Xiu, and I am a schoolteacher in the Tang Dynasty."

Great Tang, Ningxiu!

Upon hearing this name, the Bodhisattva of Subduing Karma's pupils constricted sharply.

He had naturally read the intelligence before coming to the Tang Dynasty.

This person is the founder of Confucianism and Taoism who forcibly created a brand-new cultivation system in this heretical dynasty!

That peerless master who, with his own strength, stirred up the righteous energy of heaven and earth, and made countless students of the Tang Dynasty speak the law!

The Bodhisattva took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the shock in his heart.

He walked to the opposite side of Ning Xiu and slowly sat down.

But he still held onto that broken wooden staff tightly in his hand.

The waiter brought over two pots of steaming hot, cloudy wine and left with a smile.

Ning Xiu poured two bowls of wine and pushed one of them in front of the Bodhisattva.

"Monk, you've read Fahai from my Great Tang Dynasty."

Ning Xiu picked up the wine bowl, took a small sip, and looked at the Bodhisattva with deep eyes.

Do you think Fahai in the movie did anything wrong?

The Bodhisattva Jiangye looked at the turbid wine in front of him but did not touch it.

He put his hands together and murmured a Buddhist chant.

"Amitabha. Monks do not lie. Fahai's subjugation of demons and monsters is in accordance with the will of Heaven. Humans and demons are different, and the White Snake's bewitching of the human world should be suppressed."

"But he forcibly broke up the marriage, causing the flood to reach Jinshan Temple and resulting in widespread death and destruction."

A struggle flashed in the Bodhisattva's eyes, and his voice lowered.

"His obsession was too deep; in order to cultivate his own merits, he neglected the suffering of all sentient beings. This is his mistake."

Upon hearing this answer...

Ning Xiu suddenly burst into laughter.

His laughter was filled with boundless nonchalance, and a hint of undisguised mockery.

"What a convenient way to cultivate one's own merit while ignoring the suffering of all beings!"

Ning Xiu abruptly put down his wine bowl and his smile vanished.

Two beams of radiant light, almost tangible, suddenly burst forth from those clear eyes!

"Then I'd like to ask you something."

Ning Xiu leaned forward, like a peerless sword drawn from its sheath, aimed directly at the Bodhisattva's face.

"Your Western Buddhist kingdoms keep talking about saving all sentient beings."

"What difference is there between your so-called salvation and that of Fahai?!"

The Bodhisattva of Subduing Karma was startled and immediately retorted, "Nonsense! Our Buddha is compassionate and his vow to liberate all beings from the sea of ​​suffering is a supreme and boundless aspiration of great compassion!"

"Life is full of suffering: birth, old age, sickness, death, being forced to be with those you hate, and being separated from those you love."

"Only by severing the seven emotions and six desires, and cutting off worldly thoughts, can one ascend to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss!"

"What a wonderful idea to sever all emotions and desires!"

Ning Xiu interrupted the Bodhisattva without any hesitation.

He stood up, waved his sleeve, and pointed to the brightly lit and bustling streets of Chang'an.

"Look at them!"

Ning Xiu's voice was like a resounding bell, every word precious and eloquent.

"That old man who sells candied hawthorns works tirelessly from dawn till dusk to buy his grandson a cultivation manual, but he always has a sweet smile on his face!"

"That newlywed couple was strolling hand in hand through the night market, their eyes filled with love!"

Ning Xiu suddenly turned his head and stared intently into the eyes of the Bodhisattva of Subduing Karma.

"If, as you say, all emotions and desires have been severed."

"What difference is there between that person and the stubborn rock by the roadside, or the withered tree on the mountain?!"

"Turning living, breathing people into emotionless clay or wooden sculptures—that's what you call bliss?!"

This barrage of questions.

Like a series of heavy hammers, they slammed into the Buddha's heart of the Bodhisattva of Subduing Karma!

The Bodhisattva's face turned deathly pale, and fine beads of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.

His lips trembled as he desperately tried to find Buddhist teachings to refute the claim.

"No...that's not how it is."

"People are foolish, sinking into a sea of ​​suffering without realizing it. Their happiness now is just a fleeting illusion; a hundred years from now, they will all turn to dust..."

"absurd!"

Ning Xiu sneered again, his righteous aura surging around him, making him appear like an inviolable saint.

"Since we know that we will all turn to dust after a hundred years, we should cherish every day of our lives and experience the joys and sorrows of this world to the fullest!"

"Our Confucianism and Taoism of the Tang Dynasty have never emphasized seclusion and spiritual cultivation, much less any vague or ethereal afterlife!"

"What we value is engagement with the world!"

"Knowing the hardships of the people, it is with this noble spirit that we protect the ever-burning lights of every household!"

Ning Xiu pointed at the Bodhisattva's nose and delivered the most fatal final blow.

"Monk, you're walking the streets of Chang'an, didn't you see it?"

"The people of my Great Tang Dynasty do not need your salvation!"

"Because the Emperor of Tang, the army of Tang, and the laws of Tang have transformed this mortal world into a true paradise on earth!"

"Besides demanding incense offerings and prayers, and promising a pie in the sky for the afterlife, what practical things have you, your Buddhist kingdom, actually done for your people?!"

Boom!

As Ning Xiu finished his final, incisive statement...

The Bodhisattva of Subduing Karma felt a deafening roar in his mind.

His unbreakable, spiritual heart, cultivated for thousands of years, had reached the Nascent Soul stage.

At this moment.

Finally, unable to withstand the overwhelming logical pressure and the contrast with reality, they could no longer bear it.

With a "crack," it shattered completely!

"puff--!"

The Bodhisattva of Descending Karma spat out a mouthful of golden blood.

The blood spilled onto the bluestone slab and evaporated instantly.

He seemed to have all his strength drained away, and slumped down on the long bench.

His eyes were vacant, and his face was ashen.

The worn-out wooden staff that had accompanied him for countless years fell to the ground with a clatter.

He lost.

A complete and utter defeat, a total crushing defeat.

Faced with irrefutable evidence of the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty, and with the sight of countless homes and their chimneys he had witnessed firsthand.

His prized Buddhist logic has become a laughable paradox.

"Kill me."

The Bodhisattva of Subduing Karma closed his eyes, his voice as faint as a whisper.

"This humble monk's Buddhist heart is shattered, and his foundation of the Way is utterly destroyed. Go ahead and do it, you Confucian sage of the Tang Dynasty."

He was prepared to die.

The Buddhist Kingdom and the Tang Dynasty were irreconcilable enemies. Now that his identity had been exposed, the other side would never spare his life.

however.

What awaited him was not a fatal blow.

Instead, it was a large, warm hand that gently patted his shoulder.

The Bodhisattva of Subduing Karma opened his eyes in astonishment.

Ning Xiu had already sat down again, picked up the bowl of slightly cooled wine, and drank it all in one gulp.

"Kill you? Why would I kill you?"

Ning Xiu wiped the wine stains from the corner of his mouth, his eyes filled with magnanimity and compassion.

"Although you come from the Buddhist kingdom, you have not harmed a single person or taken a single life in this city of Chang'an. The laws of the Tang Dynasty cannot sentence you to death."

"What you learn from books is never enough; you must put it into practice to truly understand."

Ning Xiu stood up and patted the dust off his long robe.

"Monk, since your Buddhist heart is broken, then you might as well throw away all those rules and regulations."

"It's not easy for you to come all this way."

"Right here in my Great Tang Dynasty, with your mortal eyes and your mortal body, go and experience it properly."

"Go and see what true sentient beings are, and what true compassion is."

Ning Xiu turned around and placed a few copper coins on the table.