As Ning Chen arrived back in their camp with little Ming Yue in tow, a letter was handed to him by the head of the Forbidden Army. It was a message from Qing Ning.
Within, she wrote about what happened during the day of the flooding, taking care not to leave out a single detail.
“Pity.”
He sighed after reading the entire letter. He had originally hoped that Qing Ning would be able to hinder the head abbot and that at least half of the Buddhist disciples would have been lost in that single flood. To think the casualty numbers only reached 3000…looks like that Buddha of theirs wasn’t called a Buddha for nothing after all. That abbot’s strength had thoroughly exceeded his imagination to the point where even a Xiantian like Qing Ning couldn’t even receive a single blow from him.
Furthermore, such an expert was accompanied by four formidable dharmapalas. With them holding back the forces of nature with their might, the Buddhist army were spared the brunt of the losses. Truly exasperating.
It was worth saying however, that now wasn’t the rainy season. While there was still sufficient water in the Nan Li River, this watery hindrance of his couldn’t last much longer. Once the waters receded, they would undoubtedly advance once more.
Truth be told, now was probably the best time for them to assault Gu Lan City. With their head abbot and four dharmapalas spent, they were at their weakest point, not to mention that the majority of their disciples, while alive, were severely injured. Unfortunately for Ning Chen, they had no way of fighting off a Third-Calamity Xiantian expert, even a weakened one.
Such was the importance of power and the helplessness when one lacked it. Even when given a golden opportunity, one could only watch it slip away from under their very nose.
Still, being able to hinder the enemy’s advance was already a success. As for the rest, that was up to him and the thousand guardsmen behind him. As long as they worked hard and destroyed the foundations of the Buddhist Nation during this lull period, they would be able to force a retreat on the Buddhist experts in Beichui City. With that, the 4000 Forbidden Guardsmen in Nan Li shouldn’t be under that much pressure then.
Right now however, he only hoped that Qing Ning wasn’t too hurt. Otherwise, there was no way he and his thousand guardsmen could restrain the head abbot.
With that one short trip he took up the mountain, he had a rough gauge of how much troops were left on Mt. Mijie. At the very least, he discovered that they had three hidden Ninth-grade experts and one Buddhist Vajra whom he barely managed to wound before fleeing.
Obviously, this wasn’t all the Western Doya Temple had; he needed to uncover more information regarding this as soon as possible.
Furthermore, there was another matter that bothered him all this while. That giant Buddha Statue truly had too much Buddhist energy stored within it given how it had that miraculous lightshow on display day and night. If he had some way to absorb all of that…it would undoubtedly be a great alternative as well.
Till now, he had been stuck at the bottleneck of Peak Eighth-grade. With the aid of that mass of orthodox Buddhist energy, he should be able to charge past that hindrance and step into the realm of the Ninth-grade.
With their situation so dire right now, even a single boost to their combat strength was crucial especially since it was an advance into the Ninth-grade. That was the last realm before the Xiantian. its importance and impact couldn’t be understated.
Naturally, such a matter wasn’t easy to accomplish. The Buddhist disciples would never sit there idly and watch him breakthrough. On the other hand, the power contained within that statue was still too overwhelming for him. A single misstep and it might just cause his Dantian to rupture instead.
However, he wasn’t exactly in a hurry to breakthrough either so he might as well wait it out. Tonight, he chopped off a single feet, tomorrow he planned on chopping off a hand. Sooner or later, that mass of Buddhist energy would be perfect for him to absorb.
After all, that was their Buddha, not his; no matter how much he chopped off, it really didn’t affect him in the least bit.
The fact that he could destroy a precious symbol of their faith and breakthrough at the same time was the perfect win-win situation, one where he won and won again.
The next day, Ning Chen climbed the mountain as before. And like he planned, he lopped off a hand of the Buddha, triggering another quake that shook the entire Mijie mountain.
Seeing that, the Vajra’s fury surged but just as he was about to strike out against the blasphemer, Ning Chen fled down the mountain.
In the dead of night, another letter arrived from Qing Ning in which she detailed the changes in the water level at Gu Lan City.
Upon reading it, Ning Chen replied, asking how were her injuries and instructing her to watch out for any suspicious movement outside of Gu Lan City.
In this war of theirs, the biggest obstacle was that head abbot of the Western Doya Temple. A single misstep and those flooded lands might end up as their watery graves.
On the third day, Mt. Mijie was shaken by another earth-shattering explosion. A moment later, a frightening battle exploded on the mountaintop. In response to the blasphemer’s challenge, two Vajras, who had been in seclusion for some time, rushed out to battle the blasphemer despite the risk of lasting injuries from doing so. Along with them came the Vajra from before who first battled with Ning Chen.
With three Buddhist Vajras to fight off, the odds were stacked against him. At times, he nearly fell to their sacred arts but finally he managed to extricate him, though barely.
Upon returning, he immediately entered a meditative state and didn’t awaken till the following day.
That battle was one he didn’t expect and it had caught him off guard completely. Thankfully, his speed was a notch above the three Vajras thus he managed to avoid a complete loss.
As of right now, the Buddha had already lost two feet and one hand. Even so, the remaining Buddhist energy was still frighteningly powerful.
During these last few days, Ning Chen managed to pick up the last two skills that the old marquis transmitted to him. Because of that, the ocean blue Qi within ballooned as well.
Half a day later, a letter arrived from Zhang Sun. Just like before, it was curt and straight to the point, whatever had to be reported was reported.
Within the letter, she mentioned that the reinforcements she promised were in the midst of gathering and would soon depart, he merely had to hold out for a few more days.
With regards to that, he ignored the horsesh*t entirely and continued reading on.
The latter half of the letter talked about the current situation within the Imperial City. As expected, the Eldest Prince withdrew from the fight for the crown, leaving behind the Third and Tenth Prince to compete with each other.
Duke Qingwu threw his support behind the Third Prince while Duke Xiyu leaned more towards the Tenth Prince. However, Duke Taishi wasn’t particularly fond of the Tenth Prince thus, given the current situation, it was more likely that the Third Prince would ascend to the throne.
Naturally, such matters weren’t set in stone till the very end. Other than the Three Dukes, Zhang Sun’s opinion played a vital role as well. Whoever she voted for might just end up deciding the fate of Grand Xia.
As for Ning Chen, he wasn’t too familiar with either prince. All he heard about them was that the Third Prince possessed the greatest martial talent amongst all the princes and had been apprenticed to Duke Qingwu since a young age, learning all he could about the martial arts from the man; his martial prowess was extraordinary to say the least.
In comparison, the Tenth Prince’s martial understanding could only be considered average. Instead, his literary talents grabbed the spotlight in this fight for the crown.
Both princes clearly had their own strong suits, one literary and one military, both were masters in their respective fields.
Till now, he still hadn’t seen any sign of Zhang Sun favoring either. Most likely, she herself wasn’t sure who to pick.
The matter of the throne was one that had wide implications and no one dared to make a rash decision.
As it stood, they were caught between a rock and a hard place. The wings of both princes had already filled out and hardened. Raising one would mean that the other had to be torn down completely otherwise there would be a risk of a coup. That would be disastrous for Grand Xia.
With the official matters settled, Zhang Sun ended the letter not with words of encouragement or solace but rather with four simple words: “Make it back alive.”
Seeing that, he smiled wryly. That would have to be a matter for another day.
Whether or not he could make it back alive depended on whether or not that Mortal Buddha was as devoid of weaknesses as he seemed. Even with a thousand Forbidden Guards and Qing Ning by his side, he couldn’t guarantee that they would survive.
Down below, at the base of the mountain, all was calm as always. The thousand Forbidden Guards sealed off the mountain road like before. Routes were patrolled as they should be and drills were conducted as they should be. Everything was peaceful and orderly.
On the fourth night, Ning Chen climbed the mountain once more. This time, there was another addition to the Vajra squad. Judging by his chaotic True Qi, he was of the same plight as the previous two before him, experts who had forcefully broken their seclusion in order to stop him, resulting in a True Qi backlash onto themselves.
This time however, Ning Chen, having learnt his lesson, didn’t approach the statue but instead took out his bow, Maimed, and fired off three continuous shots towards the Buddha’s head. Without even waiting to see their reaction, he then fled down the mountain.
Seeing that, the four Vajras nearly broke their jaw grinding their teeth, Yet no matter how they hated and wanted to capture the teen, they had no choice but to admit that they weren’t a match for his speed. Until they could fix that problem, there was nothing they could do against him.
By now, the giant Buddha statue atop the mountain was basically unrecognizable. Other than its stump for limbs and that last remaining palm, there was nothing whole left on it, not even its head which had just been blasted to bits.
That night, even those at the base of the mountain could see the noticeable dimming of the Buddhist glow. Moreover, that glow was growing weaker by the second.
With the majority of its body in shambles, it was no longer able to contain the generations of Buddhist energies infused into it and was now on the verge of collapse.
As the Buddhist energies leaked outwards, it rapidly diffused into the surroundings.
On the fifth day, Ning Chen no longer climbed the mountain, not like there was a need for that anymore. Either way that Buddha statue was in the midst of weakening all by itself. All he had to do now was wait.
Qing Ning was still absent. Looks like her injuries were even worse than he had first imagined. For now, he had to handle this front by himself.
However, just on that mountain top alone, there were now seven Ninth-grade and above experts. It had gotten to the point where Ning Chen was starting to wonder when did Ninth-grade experts become as cheap as cabbages.
Adding in those four dharmapalas in Gu Lan City, these Buddhists had already revealed eleven Ninth-grade experts. No matter how he looked at this situation, it was ludicrous.
Initially, he had assumed they would at most leave behind three or four Ninth-grade experts to guard their temples and yet there were now seven of them all at once. In fact, he couldn’t even be sure if more would pop out in the following days.
On his side, he only had one Ninth-grade forbidden guards leader. Leaving one monk to him shouldn’t be a problem, two, however, would be an issue.
That blasted Diamond Body of theirs was truly a menace to deal. In a head on showdown, not only were their blows not guaranteed to work, the entire affair was a massive drain on theirTrue Qi as well.
Because he was cultivating two Heavenly Scrolls at the same time, the drain wasn’t that apparent for him. Had it been anyone else who had to deal with them, they would have most likely collapsed by now.
This technique of theirs was a difficult one to cultivate, especially as it advanced to the later stages. However, its effects increased proportionally as well. Those Vajras on the mountain top were the best proof of this fact. Even after slashing them with a blade, there was barely a scratch on their bodies.
On the seventh day, Qing Ning sent another letter in which she reported that the water was beginning to recede and several of the higher regions were now visible.
Hearing that, his heart sank. He knew that this matter couldn’t be put off any longer.
Half a minute later, Ning Chen walked out of the tent and as he looked at the mountaintop temple, he calmly declared, “Inform the men, tonight we climb the mountain.”
“Understood.”
With that, the command quickly spread throughout the entire army. Within the camp, a solemn aura pervaded amongst the troops. They knew very well that tonight was going to be the most important battle thus far.
Each and every one of the thousand Forbidden Guards took the opportunity to meditate so as to ensure that they were at their best state for the assault.
Their opponent was the sacred land of the Buddhists, no one knew for sure what would happen up there and every bit of preparation could just end up saving their lives.
As the sun set and the moon rose to take its place, a quiet darkness settled over the entire region, interrupted only by the silvery light of the moon. This time, there was no golden glow to suppress its silvery splendor.
“Let’s go.”
Hand in hand, Ning Chen led little Ming Yue up the mountain.
“Move out.”
The head of the Forbidden Army barked and set off for the mountain as well.
Behind him, the banner of Grand Xia took to the skies and the orderly clangs of soldiers marching suddenly filled the mountain base. In this distant land, these soldiers stepped on the road of no return in order to buy their country that crucial one month it needed. None of them had any regrets whatsoever.
