Chapter 817: Karma

Zen Master Huizhao heard the voice of the Little Monk and was startled, thinking something had happened to him, and immediately turned around.

But.

The Little Monk was fine.

And what he said also reached Zen Master Huizhao’s ears.

He froze suddenly, then murmured the first word.

Crack——

The sound of metal and stone shattering rang out again.

This time, it was even clearer, more crisp than before, directly interrupting Zen Master Huizhao’s words.

Zen Master Huizhao slowly widened his eyes as if he finally realized… what had happened.

On the ground, Huai Yuan suddenly seemed to have lost his soul, motionless.

Immediately, denser cracking sounds came from all directions.

And all the Zen masters present… showed expressions of extreme fear.

At the same time, outsiders Si Yujie, Tang Language, and Xia Panqiu were all confused.

The Little Monk also ran to Zen Master Huizhao’s side: “Master, it’s bad…”

Crack——

Before he could finish speaking.

Huai Yuan on the ground suddenly shook.

The clearest cracking sound suddenly came.

But this time.

It didn’t come from all directions.

Instead.

It came from within these Zen masters.

The Little Monk heard it too, his words suddenly paused, then he looked up blankly at his master.

Zen Master Huizhao shook and stiffly lifted his head, then with a puff sound.

He suddenly spat a mouthful of blood.

The robe he was wearing accompanied by a soft sound, started to split open from the chest.

…Just like a knife wound, directly starting from the chest area, extending all the way down to the stomach.

Not only him.

All the Zen masters present were the same.

All the enlightened monks coughed up blood collectively.

The Little Monk widened his dark eyes, looked at his master in shock, and murmured: “Master’s Dharma Aspect has also cracked…”

“…But.”

At the same time.

Crack——

The Buddhist light emanating from the west followed suit and cracked.

Then it directly dissipated.

At the same time, a compassionate voice followed and rang out.

Right after the sound of shattering, it echoed.

It spread throughout Jiming Temple.

“How could this be, why…”

On the ground.

Huai Yuan’s eyes accompanied by the representative approval spread throughout Jiming Temple, the Buddhist light in his eye sockets… also began to gradually extinguish.

He looked bewildered, then forcefully opened his eyes, and because of too much exertion, the flesh at the corners of his eyes split open.

Soon after.

He even stretched out his hand, seemingly trying to gouge out his own eyes, wanting to stop the extinguishing of the Buddhist light in his eye sockets.

However.

It was all in vain.

And with the irreversible fading of the Buddhist light.

He became somewhat crazy, agitated, and the Buddha nature on him instantly faded away without a trace.

Finally.

He even inserted his fingers into the now pitch-black eye sockets, directly gouging them out, seeming to want to extract the Buddhist light again.

…As if the remaining presence was no longer an enlightened monk, but a shell possessing all the sins of mortals.

“Why… why… everything I did was for the Holy Sect!”

Huai Yuan’s gouging motion became more pronounced, increasingly frenzied, he began murmuring like a trapped beast: “Everything I did was for the Holy Sect, why expel us? Why sever my golden body? Why agree!!”

The last sentence.

He almost shouted out.

And around him, silence reigned… no response.

No Buddhist light.

No thoughts.

Si Yujie saw his look, although she didn’t know what had happened, she vaguely guessed, an accident occurred.

Almost instantaneously.

She thought of Chen Lusi.

Then, her panicked heart suddenly calmed down, and she immediately became less anxious.

Xia Panqiu too.

The only exception was Tang Language, who seemed still unclear about the situation.

But.

They weren’t anxious.

That didn’t mean Huai Yuan wasn’t anxious.

Seeing anger, resistance, and arguments were useless.

Huai Yuan became even more agitated, even one could say… furious.

But.

A few seconds later.

He suddenly became quiet, slowly moved his hand away from his eye sockets, and lowered his head.

It was like giving up.

Only.

Although his actions seemed to show surrender.

But as he let go of his hands.

An unsettling aura emitted from him…

The surrounding Zen masters still coughing blood, suddenly jolted, at this moment couldn’t even care about themselves, all turned shocked to Huai Yuan on the ground.

The Little Monk in front of Zen Master Huizhao followed his master and looked at Huai Yuan.

Soon after.

He seemed to see something terrifying, directly retreated step by step, then sat down on the ground, as if his soul had left him.

Zen Master Huizhao witnessed this scene firsthand, immediately took a step forward, blocking the Little Monk’s view, as well as shielding his figure.

He stared at Huai Yuan, coughing blood while loudly speaking: “Huai Yuan! Do not make another mistake!”

“…”

Huai Yuan on the ground did not respond, just murmured: “Why…”

One thought becomes Buddha.

One thought becomes devil.

…

“…But.”

Chen Lusi silently delivered the third punch.

And accompanied by the traces of energy, it burst forth again.

Crack——

The plaque inscribed with the thirty-two signs of the Great Man representing the Buddha, split open completely.

An unspeakable disturbance… suddenly spread.

Rushing straight toward the human world.

Immediately following.

The fourth sound of … echoed out.

And the source of the sound was right inside the large hall.

Chen Lu swiftly paused his movements and then completely turned around.

A faint beam of Buddha light shot out from the hall, then condensed into a human figure of normal human size.

Next.

The originally shattered plaque seemed to be drawn by something, re-gathered, and then adhered back together.

Instantly returning to its original state.

The figure clasped their hands together and then glanced at Chen Lu… and then shifted their gaze towards the tall monk devoid of all humanity.

As his gaze turned.

The towering monk’s figure immediately began to dismantle, transforming into shimmering dots of light, mixing into the fog, drifting westward.

And initially, the monks who opposed the tall monk all faced the figure floating in mid-air, joining hands in prayer and slightly bowing.

“All fruit arises from cause…”

The figure did not respond to those people but swept past the quietly standing Lan, then looked back at Chen Lu, slowly speaking: “Bearing its cause… okay.”

After saying that.

He finally looked up, gradually dissipating.

Buzz——

The fourth pillar of light.

Rushed skyward!!

As the pillar of light rose, all the monks disappeared.

Chen Lu “…”

To be honest.

This development was unexpected even for Chen Lu.

“Confused?”

While Chen Lu pondered the identity of that figure and the meaning of his words.

Among the crowd in imperial robe and crown.

The figure standing in front of Emperor Wu of Tang… Li Chan, holding the waist belt, with an obvious aura different from the others, suddenly spoke.

Chen Lu turned around, slowly lowered his fist, and gently nodded his head.

But the golden figure behind him remained standing.

“His meaning is, you have borne Chen Lan’s cause, which means you have also borne the cause of this Buddhist sect turmoil.”

The imposing figure calmly replied: “Everything has cause and effect, you wish to protect Chen Lan… then you must solve this turmoil of the Buddhist sects in the human world, just like you standing here at this moment is also because Xia Yue bore the cause.”

“… Xia Yue?”

Chen Lu looked at the figure.

This was equally unexpected for him.

But soon, he recalled the last words Xia Yue had to the four Daoists to deliver to him.

Find time to visit Yellow Springs…

“He represents the human world.”

The figure, holding the waist belt, still in a calm tone: “Under the witness of Yellow Springs, he formed a contract with the Ten Halls… he bet you could gain recognition from half of the Ten Halls, and the wager was whether the soul could enter reincarnation, whether it could leave a mark in Yellow Springs.”

Chen Lu: “…”

“Heretic, a heretic not tolerated by Yellow Springs.”

The figure slowly turned and looked at Lan: “Perhaps many ‘people’ at that time were thinking about how you would gain half the Ten Halls’ recognition… but perhaps they didn’t expect you would ultimately choose to dismantle the Ten Halls, doing what even Xia Yue dared not do, perhaps this is what those Buddhist monks meant by cause and effect. The monks, for their ideal of Holy Sect, wanted to drag you into the mire, and you, because of their cause, chose to dismantle their Ten Halls, everything… has cause and effect.”

Speaking of this.

He gently shook his head, seemingly a bit emotional, then said: “Now, there are four halls among the Ten Halls that have already recognized you.”

Chen Lu paused for a moment, roughly understanding: “So, only one hall remains, right?”

“Hmm.”

The figure nodded: “And at this moment, there’s a Buddha in the human world falling into demonhood… your time is running out.”

“…”

Upon hearing this, Chen Lu looked up and then directly stepped forward, looking at the figure: “What must I do to gain your recognition?”

“Heh.”

The figure smiled upon hearing this, looking at Chen Lu: “… Me? Why choose me?”

“Because there isn’t much time.”

Chen Lu took a deep breath: “You said time is running out.”

“To protect family, to resolve cause and effect, to pass on the Han people’s identity and Daoist lineage… or simply the world wants to witness its grace.”

The figure chuckled again: “These reasons won’t work for me.”

Chen Lu: “Then what must I do?”

“…”

The figure, upon hearing this, held the waist belt, slowly stepping forward, speaking softly: “Celestial Strategy… I once had a title, also called Celestial Strategy.”

Chen Lu’s movements stiffened slightly.

“However, all past events, as you said, have turned to dust now.”

The figure shook his head, then said: “You ask me, what must you do? It’s very simple… answer me a question.”

Speaking of this.

He suddenly stopped, hand on the waist belt, looking at Chen Lu, his voice resonating with the entire Yellow Springs, as if resonating with the heavens and earth: “Tell me… does the human world have Tang flourishing!?”

His voice echoed.

Chen Lu was stunned for a moment, then nodded: “… Yes.”

“Hahaha.”

The figure laughed upon hearing this.

Then.

The laughter grew louder and louder.

“Okay.”

Then.

The fifth ‘okay’ echoed throughout Yellow Springs.

In the distance.

The fifth pillar of light… rushed skyward!

As the fifth pillar of light appeared.

The entire Yellow Springs suddenly halted.

Then.

Chen Lu’s vision began to rapidly rewind.

Figures, hall, whispers.

Everything.

Seemed to be collapsing into the distance.

And when Chen Lu snapped back.

He realized.

He had been standing in place all along.

And Lan… was quietly standing in front of him.

“…”

Lan looked up at him, her small face carved from jade showing no expression.

Chen Lu slowly lowered his head, then let out a sigh of relief, smiled at her, and extended his hand: “Let’s go, we’re going home.”