Chapter 528
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: Unnumbered
Chapter Title: All-Out Assault
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Before the words had even fallen, Lu Yang struck.
He held nothing back—no pretense, no performance, but a true all-out assault. With a mere thought, a talisman materialized in his grasp.
[Erroneous Gold Soldier-Commanding Talisman]!
As the talisman unfurled, the five natal divine abilities he had previously absorbed manifested one after another, cycling seamlessly on their own as they empowered the edge of Calamity Wave.
[Heaven-Severing Sword Draw], [Ruthless Severance].
[Lawless Thoughtlessness], [Dust-Scattering Form Separation Cut].
[Single Thought Divine Saber]!
“Kill!”
The five dharma images never imagined that Lu Yang, who had seemed tempted just a moment ago, would attack the very next second. One dharma image was caught completely off guard and struck.
Blazing sword light swallowed it in an instant.
There was no suspense. The dharma image’s supposedly indestructible golden body cracked inch by inch on the spot before shattering entirely, reduced to scattered powder in the blink of an eye.
Empowered by the five divine abilities from the [Erroneous Gold Soldier-Commanding Talisman] and paired with the semi-treasure Calamity Wave, this strike was the most devastating killing move in Lu Yang’s current arsenal. It lacked the subtlety of Perfected Being Demon-Queller’s sword intent, but it made up for it with overwhelming raw power—like a flying brick of brute force. As long as it connected, it was virtually guaranteed death!
“Clang clang!”
Almost simultaneously, Perfected Being Demon-Queller drew his sword as well, letting out a hearty, exhilarated laugh.
“Good! Good! My Dao is not alone—my Dao is not alone!”
His sword light swept out horizontally, obliterating another dharma image.
At the same time, Chongguang—who had been lurking in the shadows, building his power—struck stealthily. [Golden Goblet Flame] erupted, claiming yet another dharma image.
In the blink of an eye, only two of the five dharma images remained!
“Why...?”
The surviving pair stood shoulder to shoulder, their faces etched with bewilderment. Yet their movements were swift. As they voiced their question, they formed hand seals, Buddhist light flaring and retracting around them:
‘[Vast Assembly Dhāraṇī Nirvana Grand Curse]!’
The next instant, the three freshly slain dharma images stepped out from the Buddhist light, utterly unscathed. In a heartbeat, the quintet was restored!
“Why reject us?”
The five dharma images spoke as one, brimming with genuine incomprehension.
“We speak no lies—everything is truth. It brings you great gain and harms the Dao Court not at all. Do you not wish to pursue the Golden Core?”
The dharma images’ emotions rang utterly true.
Perfected Being Demon-Queller didn’t truly know Lu Yang. As a straightforward sword cultivator, he had naively assumed Lu Yang was a kindred spirit.
They were wiser than that.
‘This demon dragon reeks of devilish roots—a ruthless soul who places himself above heaven and earth. How could he care for mere illusory bubbles? There’s definitely something amiss here!’
And there was.
Lu Yang held deep respect for Perfected Being Demon-Queller and was more than happy to call him a friend. But he knew in his heart he could never become like him.
His sole reason for refusal was this:
‘In my previous life, I saw it with my own eyes—the World Honored One descending, cleaving the Pure Land in two with sacred severance, effortlessly restoring the masses’ unity!’
What did that imply?
It meant that if the World Honored One so willed it, this battered Buddha statue and its so-called “masses’ unity” were utterly meaningless.
Claiming the Pure Land? Pure nonsense!
The World Honored One’s silence on the matter already proved he harbored other designs. Lu Yang couldn’t fathom what they were, but they were certainly no good.
‘I always play it safe.’
‘As the saying goes: more deeds, more mistakes; no deeds, no mistakes. Whatever the World Honored One schemes, if I refuse, his plots can’t touch me!’
‘And stepping back ten thousand li—if I claim the Pure Land and seize control of the masses’ unity, then when Master Demon-Queller comes to slay later, it won’t be the World Honored One he targets, but me. Factoring it all in, isn’t that just me taking the thunderbolt in his stead? No matter how you slice it, I can’t touch this!’
“Boom!”
Lu Yang struck again with his sword. This time, he held back the [Erroneous Gold Soldier-Commanding Talisman]—that spell unified five divine abilities and couldn’t be reused in quick succession.
Yet this blade carried other mysteries.
Sword light flowed like rippling water, gentler than before, yet it drew simultaneous frowns from the five dharma images. They divined karma and sensed an even graver crisis of life and death.
In a haze, they glimpsed birds and beasts, fish and insects, sun and moon, mountains and seas, the teeming masses of life—all unfolding within the sword light like an ancient scroll slowly unrolling—
‘Jiangdong?’
The five dharma images’ pupils shrank. They comprehended the profundity: empowered by [Immortal Kingdom Dao Laws], this seemingly plain strike bore the full weight of all Jiangdong!
‘The tiger doesn’t roar, so you take the Dao Court for a sick cat?’
Lu Yang hardened his resolve. Elsewhere, it might not matter, but here in Jiangdong, [Immortal Kingdom Dao Laws] granted Dao Court cultivators terrifying amplification!
“Amitabha!”
In that instant, the five dharma images chanted the Buddha’s name in unison. Their forms merged amid the Buddhist light, erupting like a volcano to tower skyward.
Lu Yang’s sword light crashed into them, manifesting Jiangdong’s myriad beings. Intangible visions solidified into crushing pressure—but the five dharma images braced against it. Amid the barren wilds, a golden Buddha over ten thousand zhang tall now stood betwixt azure sky and murky earth.
“Reject us, and your Dao ends!”
Their unified voice thundered like pealing gongs.
“Slay us, and countless more Buddhist cultivators remain—ready to be enlightened into new Buddha scions at any moment.”
“You gain nothing!”
“Without Jiangxi, you cannot prove [Fire in the Heavens]. All your schemes come to naught... Are you truly content to watch it all vanish?”
The colossal golden Buddha propping heaven and stamping earth, its rebuke amid raging winds and thunder—at a glance, it seemed a Golden Core True Lord had descended, utterly intimidating. Yet amid the Buddhist radiance spilling from its back, a streak of escaping light hid silently, utterly soundless and blindingly swift, poised to melt traceless into the void...
But the next second, that escaping light halted abruptly.
It split open, revealing the merged form of the five dharma images: a round-headed, big-eared middle-aged monk with a solemn, majestic bearing.
Only his expression was far from serene.
For he realized he could not escape. Somehow, this wilderness had been sealed tight—even his arts could not break free!
“Is Jiangdong a place where seniors come and go at will?”
Lu Yang strolled forward, hands clasped behind his back.
At the same moment, a clamor of clashing metal echoed as chains forged purely from Great Dao runes materialized across the heavens and earth.
[Immortal Kingdom Dao Laws]!
Dense and innumerable, the chains wove into a vast net, layering over the five dharma images again and again. With each layer, their aura dimmed a fraction.
“This... this...”
Witnessing it, the five dharma images finally paled.
“You’ve gone this far... You truly mean to kill me? Don’t you see how pointless this is?”
He didn’t.
Without claiming the Pure Land, Jiangxi would never submit. Lacking that territory slashed his odds of attaining [Fire in the Heavens] to fifty percent—all loss, no gain.
Unless—
The thought struck them. The five dharma images jerked their heads up, grinding their teeth.
“You seek that path... You dare counterfeit that outer Dao fruit and tread it?”
—Yes, there was another way.
A method to subdue Jiangxi without claiming the Pure Land:
“Kill every last Buddhist cultivator, and it’s done.”
Lu Yang chuckled softly.
Jiangxi’s refusal stemmed from its Buddhist cultivators’ defiance. Slaughter them all, and Jiangxi would submit by default.
“Absurd!”
The five dharma images sneered through clenched teeth.
“Exterminate all Buddhist cultivators? Unheard of since ancient times! If they perish utterly, [City Wall Earth] will detach at once. You’re not afraid of the World Honored One descending in person?”
“I am afraid, so...”
Lu Yang nodded, then shifted aside to reveal Perfected Being Demon-Queller’s figure.
The next instant, Perfected Being Demon-Queller declared with utmost gravity,
“Killing is wrong. Leave this to me. Rest assured—not a single one will die.”
Lu Yang bared his teeth in a grin.
“Any more questions?”
The five dharma images: “...”
Beast!