Within Gu Lan City, the Mortal Buddha stirred once more and move he did with all of his might. At almost the same time by the Nan Li River, Qing Ning awakened from her recuperative meditation, got up, and left.
Meanwhile, in the midst of the Mongolian army, a war report on the fall of Mijie Mountain was sent to Fan Lingyue’s desk. The atmosphere was heavy in the entire command tent.
“Lady Strategist, will His Majesty be in danger?” Qing Wuyou said, looking rather worried.
“No,” Fan Lingyue shook her head. Ming Yue would not only be entirely safe from danger, but would profit greatly from this misfortune, and then be sent back once again.
As of now, the whole world knew that Ming Yue was in Ning Chen’s hands,so did the abbot of the Western Doya Temple. In their current situation, Mongolia, the Cult of Eternal Night, and the Buddhist Nation all hoped that the other would put in a bit more effort, so as to distribute some of the pressures of the war.
Whether Ming Yue returned to Mongolia was, undoubtedly, something that would greatly impact the country. It was something that the head abbot knew better than anyone else, and would do all he could to rescue and return Ming Yue safely, rather than seizing this opportunity to hold her ransom.
Not a single one of them was capable of standing against Grand Xia alone. Given that, nobody would be foolish enough to harm the alliance between them.
There weren’t many wise men in the world, but neither was there an abundance of fools. If the head abbot could not understand something as simple as that, then his title of Mortal Buddha was all for naught.
On Mijie Moutain, Ning Chen had been sitting for an entire day by the shattered Buddha statue, inspecting the three items he had taken from the secret chamber – a scroll detailing a technique, a bottle containing the Heavenly Buddha Pill, and a golden short sword.
“Men!” Ning Chen called.
“Yes, sir!” an Imperial Army soldier stepped up and answered, bowing respectfully.
“Go and bring those four monks here.”
“Yes, sir!” The soldier acknowledged his orders, and rushed off towards the great hall.
Not long after, the four monks were escorted in by four soldiers who then stood at the side, silently awaiting their next order.
Ning Chen rose and, without a word, fashioned his right fingers into a sword point that stabbed right at one of the monks amidst a shower of frost.
“Urgh!”
With his Danzhong pressure point broken, a groan of pain escaped the lip of the unfortunate Vajra, swiftly followed by the dripping of blood.
At the sight of that, the four soldiers were stunned. Even though those four had been crippled, but their bodies were still as sturdy as before – how could they be so easily wounded?
“Just as I thought.”
Ning Chen’s eyes narrowed slightly. The scroll detailing the Diamond Body’s cultivation had recorded how to cultivate all 360 pressure points around the body except for the Danzhong point right in the centre of the chest.
Once more, it was proven that there was no perfect technique in the world. No matter how strong the Diamond Body was, there were still places it could not cultivate. The Danzhong point was thus its biggest weak point.
It was no wonder that all the monks of Buddhist Nation he’d seen thus far always kept one hand in front of their chests – this was the reason.
However, aside from that, there was another thing that captured his attention, and that was the short sword he had taken from the hidden chamber.
If the head abbot had placed it in such an important place, there must be something about it that was out of the ordinary.
Moreover, he could distinctly feel a kind of power within that blade, something he found difficult to describe, yet he could tell it was forcibly suppressed by some other power.
The power suppressing it was undoubtedly the purest of Buddhist energies, and it was very strong indeed – at least on the level of 先天.
“What is this?” Ning Chen walked up to another Vajra with the golden short sword in his hand, and asked.
“Amitabha,” the Vajra chanted with his hands pressed together, refusing to give anything away.
“So you won’t talk then?” Ning Chen laughed coldly. He liked the ones who refused to talk. “Guards, break open his Danzhong point, then dig a hole and bury him in it. Remember, do not bury him past his chest.”
“Yes, sir!” A soldier stepped forth, picked up the man, and left.
“What about you?” Ning Chen asked calmly as he walked up to the next Vajra.
“This is a divine instrument of the Buddhist faith.” The not so tight-lipped Vajra answered.
“What is it used for?” Ning Chen continued asking.
“It is only a token of the faith, and has no special usage,” the Vajra replied.
“Do you take me for a fool?” Ning Chen asked abruptly, eying the monk before him.
The Vajra paused in confusion, and did not respond for a few moments.
“Take him away, same as the other guy.” Ning Chen ordered.
“Yes, sir!” another soldier stepped forth, and took him away as well.
Ning Chen stopped before the final Vajra and asked, icily, “You’re the only one left, and my patience is limited. I’m only giving you one chance to answer that same question, now talk.”
“This sword is known as the Bloodvein Blade. It wasn’t a Buddhist artifact originally, but a demonic weapon. The first abbot obtained it when Buddhism had just been founded, and used his powers to suppress it beneath the Western Doya Temple for three hundred years. Eventually, its demonic nature was sealed and it turned into a holy weapon of the Buddhist faith.”
As his words came to an end, the final Vajra heaved a deep sigh, and silently mouthed a Buddhist prayer.
“Is that all?” Ning Chen asked.
“That is all,” the Vajra nodded and replied.
“Can the seal be undone?” Ning Chen asked casually.
“It cannot.” the tiniest flash of panic flitted through the 佛门金刚’s eyes as he denied it.
“Take him away,” Ning Chen ordered coldly.
“Yes,” the soldier standing at the side said, and took the final Vajra away as well.
Mulling over that scant amount of information, Ning Chen thought for a while more, then ordered, “Men!”
“Yes, sir!” a soldier ran up and responded respectfully.
“Bring some men to the great hall and the back hall to continue searching, particularly in that hidden room, see if any other suspicious items can be found,” Ning Chen ordered gravely.
“Yes, sir!” the soldier clasped his fist as he bowed, then left.
Having said that, Ning Chen took the golden short sword, went to the place where the three monks were buried, and waited in silence.
It was not easy to find a place with soil in a mountain of stone, but since earth was indispensable to the construction of temples, and there were so many temples of varying sizes on the mountain, there was bound to be a patch of earth somewhere.
The three men were buried about a hundred zhang away from the great buddha statue, with their Danzhong points split open and constantly spewing blood from the pressure of the earth.
“The wounds are too large, take note of that next time,” Ning Chen said, glancing at the three soldiers by the side.
“Yes, sir,” they replied.
Ning Chen walked forward, regarded the three monks, then spoke calmly, “Well, how does it feel? The human body only has about four litres or so of blood, and losing more than a third of that will put one into a coma, while losing half will cause death. Of course, you guys can’t understand that, so let me explain it like this: in a while you will find yourselves feeling faint all over, and suffering hallucinations, both visual and auditory. By that time, you won’t be very far from death. However, since you all used to be martial practitioners, you can endure longer than the normal human, so you should last for at least an hour.
“Amitabha!” the three men prayed in unison, and then closed their eyes.
“Well done,” Ning Chen’s smile was coldly patient. Death wasn’t terrifying, but waiting to die was. As long as these three weren’t actual Buddhas, there was no way they wouldn’t crack under the pressure.
“Sir Marquis, will this really work?” one of the soldiers asked in an undertone.
“You’ll see in a few moments,” Ning Chen replied calmly.
The thing which humans feared the most was the unknown, and that fear became infinitely magnified when faced with death. It wouldn’t be long before those three would become painstakingly aware of how it felt to have their lives drain out of their bodies, bit by bit. The fear of death that came with the feeling of emptiness, that was not a feeling that most people could endure, and when that time came it would be the true test of the strength of their faith.
Fifteen minutes later, the patches of ground in front of the three Vajra were dyed completely red, joined together to form a continuous patch of scarlet. The faces of the three had already began to pale as they slowly lost their blood.
Ning Chen casually stuck the golden short sword in the ground in front of the three, and stood patiently waiting by the side.
He just didn’t believe all three of them were truly not afraid of death. He might be convinced of that fearlessness in others, but those bald donkeys? Not a chance.
The reason for that was simple: they had no faith. The monks on Mijie Mountain knew, better than anyone else, whether their Buddha truly existed or not. After all, even the miracles of the Buddhist faith were man-made, by their own hands no less. For people whose faith was a mere fabrication, there was no way they could be truly fearless in the face of death.
Half an hour passed, and the three had begun to tremble all over, their lips turned pale, tiny beads of perspiration begun appearing upon their brows at an increasing rate.
Ning Chen narrowed his eyes. It was about time. The true test began now.
Forty-five minutes passed and the three were still hanging on, but without them realising it, fear had become etched on their faces which still had their eyes tightly shut.
It was then that the soldiers returned from their search and were just about to report when a glance from Ning Chen stopped them.
“How goes the search? Have you found anything?” Ning Chen asked.
The soldiers understood his meaning instantly, and quickly changed the words that had been on the tips of their tongues. “Sir, we found some evidence, would you like to have a look?”
“Very well, I shall head over right now. These three aren’t good for much anymore, so if they still won’t talk, it’s fine – bury them after their blood runs dry.” Ning Chen ordered in an icy tone.
“Yes, sir!” The three soldiers stood aside and respectfully obeyed.
Having given his orders, Ning Chen removed the golden short sword that was now stained with blood and dirt, and turned to leave.
“I’ll talk!” It was then that the fear of impending death finally grew too much for one of the three monks and he blurted out those words in a trembling voice, opening his eyes at the same time.
“Oh? So it seems like someone does have some sense in him after all.” Ning Chen stopped, and a cold, cruel smile graced his lips. “Take him out, and bury the others.”
“Yes, sir!” The three soldiers replied.
“I’ll also talk!” Just then, another one opened his eyes and said in a terrified voice.
“You two–” The remaining man’s face lit up in fury as he opened his mouth to curse them.
Those curses died upon his lips, however, as Ning Chen’s figure suddenly flashed in front of him in a instant, and stuffed him right down into the earth with a single stamp of his foot.
“Bury him, and bring the other two over.” As he said those words, his face looked as though it was carved out of ice. He then turned, and walked towards the back hall.
The two Vajras were dug out of the earth and, moments later, taken to the back hall with their heads dizzy and their faces full of dirt.
“Talk, what is the history of this short sword, and how can the seal be released?” Ning Chen eyed the two, and said.
A flash of regret crossed one of the Vajra’s faces as he spoke in a low voice. “The origin of the sword is recorded on a stone tablet in the hidden chamber, and the method for breaking the seal is also written there.
“Where exactly is this stole tablet located?” Ning Chen questioned.
“I can show you where it is,” The other Vajra hurriedly volunteered.
“Lead the way,” Ning Chen said dryly.
Not daring to resist, the two obediently headed towards the hidden chamber.
