Stranger Danger

Chapter 577: Wind And Snow Overtakes Bei You

“I would not dare to hide this from you, Sakyamuni.”

Joy Bodhisattva bowed and said calmly, “I trust in your acuity!”

“So, you guessed my plan?” Again, Myriad Shadows did not give her a straight answer.

“I have. After I heard everything from Cai Le and experimented a little with the Blissful Spring, I more or less figured out that the poison is the Burning Heart. From that point onward, I realized what plans you have for my Buddhist Hall of Joy and planned accordingly,” Joy Bodhisattva answered.

“The Burning Heart is an ancient poison that few people know about. How did you know about it?” Myriad Shadows pressed.

Joy Bodhisattva gave him a half-truth. “I once heard it from my master, Sakyamuni. However, he only told me what it was and how to suppress it. He did not know how to cure it either.”

She knew that the Burning Heart was incurable, of course. The reason she said this was to trick Myriad Shadows into thinking that her knowledge was cursory and believing that she wouldn’t expose him.

Besides that, half-truths were generally more convincing than whole truths or lies.

Myriad Shadows nodded. “I see. And who might your master be?”

“My master is Zen Master Miao Xiang,” Joy Bodhisattva answered.

“Miao Xiang? The one they call the ‘No I, No Buddha’, Zen Master Miao Xiang?!” Myriad Shadows exclaimed in surprise.

“You are correct, Sakyamuni,” Joy Bodhisattva answered.

“I had no idea that you are Miao Xiang’s disciple. He and I met once back in the day, and that meeting had left an impression on me to this day. I heard that he was grievously injured during a debate of dao against the head of Little Western Paradise, Dao Fu[1]. Has he recovered?” Myriad Shadows asked.

“My master took a terrible blow to his mind after the debate and turned delirious. He died not long after that,” Joy Bodhisattva answered.

“That is a shame. I was hoping to talk about old times with him.” Myriad Shadows sighed. “You have my condolences, Venerable One.”

“Thank you, Sakyamuni.” Joy Bodhisattva saluted him before changing the subject. “I have offended you a lot by using your plot to my advantage, Sakyamuni. I hope you will forgive this audacious subordinate.”

“What are you talking about? You’re one of us now, and there is no such thing as a grudge between comrades. Please don’t ever bring this up again.”

Myriad Shadows smiled. “Anyway, I shan’t delay you any longer. Please handle this and make sure that everything will go flawlessly.”

“As you command, Sakyamuni.” Joy Bodhisattva saluted him. “On that note, can you please maintain the Taiping Heaven Sealing Banner until I’ve searched every nook and cranny of Blissful Mountain?”

“Of course.” Myriad Shadows nodded.

Joy Bodhisattva then turned back to the crowd and said, “You will join me in eliminating the remnant forces of Sword King City, Earthfire Palace of Demons, Endless Sand and all others who would defy our holy sect. If they refuse to accept our terms of surrender, kill them.”

“After that, we will discuss what we’re going to do in the future and prepare our statements accordingly. Sword King City and Earthfire Palace of Demons will surely make a lot of inquiries into this, and you don’t want them to find out what happened today, do you?”

......

“Phew...”

Joy Bodhisattva did not so much as looked in Ye Qing’s direction as she gave one instruction after another. Knowing that the danger had truly passed, Ye Qing finally relaxed completely.

He was beyond glad that Joy Bodhisattva had pinned all the blame on two dead people instead of exposing him. Otherwise, he would be in serious trouble.

It did not matter if the Sakyamuni believed her or not. As far as he knew, anyone who could tell him the truth was dead. Even if he suspected something, he most likely wouldn’t bring it up in public. Therefore, he no longer had to worry about anything.

And so the group began turning Blissful Mountain upside down and hunting down the stragglers. Those who submitted to the Way of Taiping were allowed to live, and those who did not were killed without question. After that, they discussed how best to deal with Sword King City and Earthfire Palace of Demons’ inquiries, practiced certain details and so on. It wasn’t until the plan was perfect that Myriad Shadows finally dispelled the Taiping Heaven Sealing Banner.

Not long after that, the news came tumbling down Blissful Mountain like a snowball and spread to every corner of Bei You—no, Northern Xinjiang itself. They said that the ambitious, rapacious Xiong Kuohai had colluded with Gold Ingot, Wei Changhe and more to poison every guest participating in the Trueman feast and instigate them into killing each other. His goal was to kill most of the major players and conquer Bei You in one fell swoop.

Ji Donglei, Sword Executor Elder of Sword King City and Huo Ruyu, Vermillion Bird Envoy of Earthfire Palace of Demons refused to submit and fought Xiong Kuohai to the death. Joy Bodhisattva herself had one foot in the grave, and the Buddhist Hall of Joy suffered an unimaginable amount of damage and casualties as a result of this conspiracy. Most of the guests were seriously injured or killed, and enough blood was shed to form multiple rivers.

It was like a volcano had erupted after the news had spread. All kinds of emotions such as shock, puzzlement, anger, schadenfreude, restlessness and more bubbled within the pot that was the jianghu of Northern Xinjiang.

Just one night later, the number of jianghu warriors gathered around Blissful Mountain had increased by more than tenfold. Some of them came to partake in the “festivities”, some believed this to be an opportunity to make a profit, some came to find out more about the incident, and more.

Of course, Sword King City and Earthfire Palace of Demons also dispatched their representatives post-haste to investigate the truth. They arrived at Blissful Mountain first thing in the morning.

Sword King City had dispatched their vice head, the fifty-ninth warrior on the Earth Champions Ranking, Ding Chong. They called him the “Clumsy Sword”.

Earthfire Palace of Demons dispatched their Azure Dragon Envoy, Yang Tianming. He was ranked seventy-third on the Earth Champions Ranking, and they called him “The Palm That Unleashes The Azure Dragon”.

The fact that both Sword King City and Earthfire Palace of Demons dispatched an Earth Champions Ranking warrior to handle this showed just how seriously they treated this matter. Upon arriving at the Buddhist Hall of Joy, they interrogated the witnesses and obtained more or less the same answer.

Huo Ruyu fought valiantly against Xiong Kuohai, but the poison ultimately overcame her and burned to death. Desperate, Ji Donglei detonated his primordial spirit and took Xiong Kuohai down with him.

All evidence be it the Burning Heart afflicting the witnesses or the traces of Ji Donglei’s suicide attack suggested they were telling the truth. Given no reason whatsoever to think otherwise, Ding Chong and Yang Tianming quickly believed their story.

Overflowing with righteous wrath, Ding Chong and Yang Tianming took off to Endless Sand immediately to enact bloody vengeance. Ding Chong had cut Endless Sand’s Endless City open in one slash, and Yang Tianming had fired an Azure Dragon from his palm that erased the city from the surface of the earth. Tens of thousands of Endless Sand disciples and even more innocents were killed.

Not done yet, Sword King City and Earthfire Palace of Demons set up a bounty to hunt down all Endless Sand members and supporters within five thousand kilometers of their sect. Those foolish enough to hide them would be killed as well.

In just a matter of days, dozens of sects and clans scattered across Northern Xinjiang were razed to the ground. The Tower of Cornucopia, Nether Villa, Wind and Snow Sword Sect, Vile Dragon Villa and more were annihilated as well.

Of course, only Sword King City and Earthfire Palace of Demons knew if these sects, clans, gangs and more were really hiding the remnants of Endless Sand, or if they were simply seizing the opportunity to take out their competitors.

In any case, no one was stupid or brave enough to speculate about it.

Besides that, the Buddhist Hall of Joy and other factions and warriors who suffered greatly in Xiong Kuohai’s hands also began operating en masse within the borders of Bei You. For a time, nearly every faction in Bei You and even Northern Xinjiang feared for their lives. They were all shocked by Ding Chong and Yang Tianming’s strength, angered by Sword King City and Earthfire Palace of Demons’ audacity, and afraid that they might suffer the same fate as Endless Sand.

When the quakes finally subsided, and some of the factions in Bei You finally dared to poke their heads into the former territories of Endless Sand and Tower of Cornucopia in hopes of claiming it for themselves, they discovered that everything was already gone. Not even a single drop of profit was left behind for them.

They had no choice but to leave it as it was.

This was easily one of the biggest happenings in Bei You in years, but as usual, nothing in the world could stand the test of time. As December and a frigid winter overtook Northern Xinjiang, the bloodshed caused by Xiong Kuohai and Endless Sand was slowly forgotten. The people slowly but surely turned their attention to the new factions that had replaced the old powers. After all, the new always replaced the old.

Speaking of which, some of the new powers that replaced Endless Sand, Tower of Cornucopia and more turned out to be rising stars. Not only did they come into their power quickly, they even reached the heights of Tower of Cornucopia and Shade of Scents back then in just a short time. For a time, no one could stop talking about them.

The same could not be said for the biggest victim of the incident, the Buddhist Hall of Joy. Maybe it was because Joy Bodhisattva was grievously injured, or maybe it was because they lost too many people, but they kept an extremely low profile and closed their doors to everyone. Eventually, they faded out of everyone’s notice.

To an outsider, it seemed like nothing had changed with Bei You. It was just as free, chaotic, flourishing and noisy as ever.

But for those in the know, they knew that that opinion could not be anymore wrong.

After all, Bei You now had a master.

Her name, was Joy Bodhisattva.

1. If you guys remember, this is the mysterious monk Taoist who rescued Mara Buddha right before he was about to be smited by his tribulation. ☜

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