Chapter 50 Xu Shi

Jinling City is in Jiangnan Dao, not too far from the East Sea.

Xu Shi had not anticipated that his desire to end the past, his resolute arrival, his determination to face the fear that had lingered in his heart for over two thousand years, would meet its end in this manner. The fear of two thousand years ago had been fermented by the passage of time to the point where even he could not face it.

He clearly remembered that he had performed a divination with his esoteric arts before coming, and it confirmed that he could complete his long-cherished wish and put an end to everything.

Perhaps, such a death was also a kind of ending…

Such thoughts briefly flashed through Xu Shi’s mind, but they were immediately suppressed by his desire to survive. He no longer had time to think about concealing his aura; he simply ran towards the East Sea with the shortest possible distance. But just as he leaped out of the coast and stepped into the sea,

Golden light emerged in the sky.

Strands of golden streamers were woven into words, and the words were woven into a kasaya filled with Buddhist scriptures.

Xu Shi’s movements suddenly froze.

He heard a monk whispering in his ear, "Amitabha…"

Xu Shi paused.

On the island, Dao Yan raised his eyes. At the moment he saw Xu Shi, even he felt a ripple of emotion and sigh in his heart. If he had been exposed to modern culture, or if he had been one of those vulgar martial artists who had fought alongside him, his reaction at this moment would probably be something like this:

You’re back.

How dare you come back?!

Then he raised his hand, his five fingers turning over. Compared to the domineering Qi and blood of the martial arts world, the unparalleled battle formations of the military strategists, or the horizontal and vertical thunder techniques of the Daoist sect, the Buddhist supernatural powers cultivated by truly ascetic monks might not be the strongest in terms of attack, but when combined, they were definitely the most difficult to deal with.

If you want a physical body, the physical body is indestructible; if you want to fight the soul, the heart is flawless and without thought; for speed, there is supernatural power of the feet; for battle, there is telepathy. You can't kill them, you can't run away from them, and if you meet the ancestral masters of the Chan sect in China, you probably can't even argue with them.

They were like indestructible, unshakable, and unchewable copper peas.

Of course, except for Xuanzang.

He couldn't beat anyone in the stories.

He couldn't beat anyone in reality.

Fang Feng was stunned to see Dao Yan raise his hand and use the Diamond Sutra. He showed no awareness of the Buddhist master's letting go, blocking Xu Shi, who was obviously about to flee in panic. He didn't go forward to fight, but just entangled him with Buddhist teachings, pensive, and then deliberately provoked, "Are you doing this on purpose?"

"Doesn't Buddhism preach letting go? You're so calculating and vengeful. Are you really a Buddhist disciple? Aren't you being a bit petty?"

The young monk closed his eyes and said calmly:

"This is not revenge."

"This is karma."

Monk, you have the nerve to lie, have the nerve to open your eyes and say that! Fang Feng's mouth twitched, and he suddenly thought of a possibility, his face strange, and said, "Then the reason you're willing to stay with me is because you foresaw this day, so you wanted to block the door?"

Dao Yan was silent for a moment, then put his hands together and replied:

"Amitabha."

No… for you monks,

Does Amitabha at this time mean "hehe"?

Fang Feng fell silent, wondering if this monk was a little too petty. Was it too much for him to use Eight Treasure Porridge to deal with him? Had he been remembered by this kid? Xu Shi at this moment was not as frantic as when he came, but desperately tore a few cracks in the Buddhist supernatural powers, and then wanted to leave.

He was originally a gentle and refined middle-aged mage, but now he was already full of white hair.

The immortal body refined with divinity as a medicinal pill was nothing more than a decaying body after the connection with divinity was severed. Dao Yan was still injured at the moment. Fang Feng was guarding Gonggong and had no intention of intervening in the grievances of the human world.

At this moment, both of them heard the sound of a sword.

Xu Shi’s speed suddenly increased, but it was still no match for the cold light of the sword. The sword light crisscrossed, and the sound of a hawk resounded. Xu Shi’s movements suddenly stagnated, obviously having been struck by the sword, covered in blood. But even so, Xu Shi did not look back, but fled even faster.

Wei Yuan's figure appeared, the long sword in his palm spinning, slashing, and chopping heavily. The surrounding gale rotated, tightly pulling Xu Shi. Xu Shi wanted to break free, but could not do so for a while, so he had to fight Wei Yuan with weapons condensed from the necromantic Qi of esoteric arts.

Even as a mage, he still possessed swordsmanship and fighting skills that would amaze later generations of swordsmen and generals. Such was the atmosphere of the pre-Qin era. Confucianism, Mohism, Taoism, Legalism, Yin-Yang, Diplomacy, Military—none of the various schools of thought that rose in troubled times were easy to deal with.

"Wei Yuan?"

Fang Feng recognized Wei Yuan. He had a good impression of this young man who had made him a table of dishes and a jar of pickles, even though he had once been a subject of Yu.

And Dao Yan also recognized this Curator Wei who had appeared during the debates between the Daoist and Buddhist sects.

He heard Fang Feng's words and was slightly stunned.

"Wei… Yuan?"

Fang Feng said, "Yes, Wei Yuan."

At this time, Wei Yuan and Xu Shi were fighting more and more dangerously, with deadly opportunities at every step.

Even the residual sword Qi that poured out would explode into large waves when it fell into the sea.

Even having his divinity severed and gradually aging, Xu Shi still possessed astonishing strength. These very old cultivators, as long as they were not lazy beyond redemption, basically had no shortcomings. To some extent, the pre-Qin mage Xu Shi himself was the origin of Onmyodo and Shinto.

Finally, Xu Shi suddenly let out a long roar, forcibly pushing Wei Yuan away with one of the pre-Qin esoteric arts.

Then, his own Yin and Yang reversed, and he instantly fled dozens of miles away.

Wei Yuan stepped on the gale, retreating several steps, standing in the void.

Raising his hand, he held the eight-sided sword with the iron eagle emblem in his hand, the blade trembling and whistling.

Xu Shi had already leaped to the front, and divinity gathered in the surrounding void.

Dao Yan frowned slightly. The last time he fought Xu Shi, Xu Shi used a part of his divinity as bait, causing him to fall into a trap and get injured, but correspondingly, that part of Xu Shi's divinity was also pulled out by him.

Dao Yan was, after all, a Buddhist disciple, and during the Ming Dynasty, monks were active along the coast fighting against Japanese pirates.

He had also walked in the East Sea at that time.

So, he directly crushed this divinity into powder and scattered it into the sea.

At this moment, Xu Shi gathered this divinity, which was similar to the authority of the water god or sea god. Although it could not be compared to the time in Sakura Island, it also allowed him to increase his speed above the sea, surpassing Wei Yuan. Xu Shi looked back from afar, saw that the sword-wielding youth could no longer pursue him, and relaxed.

Then, he felt joy in his heart, a kind of pleasure that broke out of the cocoon of intense despair.

He even laughed out loud.

"You all wait!"

His face was old and fierce: "Today's revenge will be repaid in the future!"

His voice was loud and rolling.

Dao Yan frowned slightly, intending to take action.

But Fang Feng stopped him and sighed.

Dao Yan was puzzled.

Wei Yuan swallowed a mouthful of blood, stood in the void, raised his hand and inserted the sword upside down into the wind, the blade facing down, suspended in the sky, and then took out that scroll from his bosom, shook it violently, threw the scroll into the heavens and earth, his voice indifferent and calm, slowly said:

"East Sea Heaven and Earth, receive the decree!"

??!

Dao Yan's pupils contracted.

Those who possess the spirit of heaven and earth are gods and spirits.

Who can make China's East Sea receive a decree?!

In the sound of breaking through the air, that scroll disappeared into the sky, and then slowly unfolded, instantly becoming huge. Ink-colored Qin seal characters appeared, and in the lower right corner was the bright red mark of the seal. However, there were only nine characters, the wording plain and ordinary. Dao Yan, who was still on the island, read them out:

"Qi person Xu Shi, has betrayed China."

"Execute."

The eight small seal characters on the seal suddenly emitted light, and the entire scroll suddenly dissipated. The heavens and the earth seemed to be affected by some force. The originally calm East Sea was so turbulent that it seemed to destroy the heavens and the earth. The clear sky instantly lowered, faintly containing storms and thunder.

And behind Wei Yuan was still a large area of clear sky.

A decree turned the weather changes within a radius of hundreds of miles.

Fang Feng covered his heart, forcibly suppressing his divinity, not participating in this matter, just sighing bitterly: "God-era emperors, the Jade Seal of the Realm…"

"For China, it is an existence whose significance is no less than the Nine Cauldrons."

Under the raging waves of the East Sea, the divinity of Sakura Island could not allow Xu Shi to continue forward. On the contrary, Wei Yuan had the blessing of a gale that was almost capable of triggering a tsunami behind him, allowing him to appear almost instantly behind Xu Shi. The Qingfeng sword in his palm took advantage of the momentum to spin and slash.

Xu Shi resisted with his sword. In an instant, he heard the sound of an iron eagle crowing in his ears, and before his eyes were a pair of somewhat familiar cold eyes. Xu Shi suddenly thought of the information he had obtained from the merman tribe before, and understood, gritting his teeth:

"It's you, you are his descendant?!"

"The matter of the First Emperor, you did it too?!"

Wei Yuan did not answer.

The waves of the East Sea crashed down again, with lightning falling among them. After only a few dozen exchanges, Xu Shi could no longer avoid the heavens and the earth that seemed to want to put him to death, and was heavily struck, coughing up blood. Wei Yuan slashed down with the sword in his palm.

Xu Shi raised his hand to resist with his esoteric arts, but it was already too late.

Wei Yuan's sword momentum suddenly changed, from a heavy chop to a light horizontal slash, directly avoiding this move.

Accompanied by a low scream, Xu Shi's arm, pierced by an arrow from the First Emperor, was heavily cut off, blood dripping. The arm was swept into the sea by the waves. Xu Shi's pupils contracted. This was his most accustomed usage of esoteric arts, only used when he joined forces with the Iron Eagle Warriors to kill the primordial divinity in Sakura Island. The only person who had seen it was...

Xu Shi murmured to himself: "Why? How could you know…"

"Why?"

Wei Yuan raised his hand and shook the blood stains off the sword, his voice calm, answering:

"Who said, that I am a descendant?"

ps: Today's second update... two thousand nine hundred words, going to sleep.