Chapter 108: Good News, It’s Working; Bad News, He’s Panicking
Seeing the pained struggle on Xue Yuan’s face, Jiang Ce thought it was his seven layers of mental pollution taking effect. He was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when he suddenly noticed something off about the former.
For a monk, such intense killing intent was truly abnormal.
Jiang Ce looked around; there were no evil cultivators who had intruded into the venue nearby.
So who did he want to kill?
Truly inscrutable.
“No, this match must be stopped.” True Person Qin suddenly stood up: “Jiang Ce is too eager for quick success. Not only did he incorporate more than one sorcery, but they are also fundamentally incompatible with the Seven Star Sword Formation. He has gone berserk now!”
But Ci En raised his hand without looking back and waved it slightly: “This is a rare heart tribulation for Xue Yuan. If he can overcome it, there will surely be great gains.”
“What about Jiang Ce?” True Person Qin’s face was somewhat cold: “Does Abbot Ci En intend to use him as a whetstone?”
People from the two sects all looked at each other, feeling the atmosphere was somewhat off.
At that moment, the Old Celestial Master suddenly said: “Xue Yuan’s mind is in chaos, but Jiang Ce’s mind is perfectly clear. Look at him—which part of him looks like he has gone berserk? Don’t worry. Since the abbot has said so, let’s watch a bit more.”
True Person Qin looked over. He had only noticed the seven-pointed star diagram earlier, but under the Old Celestial Master’s reminder, he now saw that Jiang Ce’s eyes showed no changes at all. Indeed, it did not look like he had gone berserk.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but held back and sat down again.
In the venue, Jiang Ce’s gaze was solemn.
He finally realized that Xue Yuan wanted to kill him.
Not only that, he also realized that he had been too caught up earlier and failed to notice that even the color of his mental energy light cluster had changed.
With his ample experience in this aspect, he immediately realized that something wondrous must have happened with the sorcery again.
This made him both embarrassed and somewhat disappointed.
The embarrassment was because with so many people watching, he had produced this kind of mess, and afterward, those who could see through it would surely poke at his back.
The disappointment was that Xue Yuan was not the contrast he had speculated—a pure case of his own tuning working well.
The Buddhist Sect was still that boring Buddhist Sect; it had become interesting purely due to his own merit.
However, the only good news was that Xue Yuan was in chaos. As Jiang Ce unleashed crazy output, he had become utterly disordered.
The second and third forms of Buddha’s Palm were completely without method, gradually slipping out of Xue Yuan’s control.
The Ancient Buddha’s golden body began to grow dim and lusterless, the Green Lamp was about to extinguish, the landscape painting turned to nothingness, and everything seemed on the verge of shattering apart.
Jiang Ce seized the opportunity and played the victim first: “What Buddha do you cultivate? The fine Buddha’s golden body has been cultivated by you into this decayed and ruined state. This shows you have no heart toward Buddha at all. Xue Yuan, do you know your sin?!”
With this question, the venue fell into dead silence.
Mental energy is formless and colorless; only the person themselves can perceive its form. Only a Heaven-Reaching Dharma Master, borrowing the sharp perception granted by heaven and earth, or a cultivator who has specifically trained in mental energy, can detect some information from it—but limited to its nature, not its deeper core.
In other words, I can only judge if your mental energy is malicious or benevolent, whether you are using mental energy; other information remains very vague.
So Jiang Ce easily fooled most people; they really believed Xue Yuan had gone berserk.
Because Xue Yuan’s suppressed killing intent, his body’s negative emotions, and the anomalies of Buddha’s Palm were all clear and direct.
In contrast, Jiang Ce had a face full of righteousness, like a hero slaughtering an evil dragon—highly deceptive.
Jiang Ce had originally only wanted to establish a character setting first, so that when someone jumped out to reverse it, there would be people who believed him to help clear his name. But who knew, the four words “heart toward Buddha” seemed to be the last straw for Xue Yuan.
He finally could not suppress the various negative emotions in his heart.
Even Buddha has Vajra’s Wrath; at this moment, he erupted.
“Kill!”
Xue Yuan roared hoarsely, that voice filled with indignation and resentment—let alone a monk, even an ordinary person would hardly produce such emotions.
Jiang Ce saw things were not good and increased the intensity of eroding Xue Yuan’s mind.
But the berserk Xue Yuan had no spare rationality left for Jiang Ce to erode; his mind was full of thoughts on how to kill Jiang Ce.
Those two Ancient Buddha golden bodies, which had been on their last breath, suddenly burst with new vitality in this instant.
One person, one palm—raising a giant hand to suppress toward Jiang Ce.
Unlike the pure sense of oppression from the golden giant hand, Jiang Ce terrifyingly sensed a meaning of forced conversion within it.
It was as if a voice from the void was whispering in his ear: Do not resist; you are about to enter the Pure Land.
Mental energy is not sorcery in the traditional sense; it only targets beings with intellect and has no effect on solid sorcery.
So Jiang Ce watched helplessly as the two Five Finger Mountain-like giant hands descended, anxious in his heart but with no way to counter.
The only method was naturally the Golden Bell Shield, which he had already trained to the third layer.
But as a Daoist cultivator, if he used a Buddhist Sect sorcery…
Unless
No time to think—Buddha’s Palm finally landed on him, erupting with a violent rumbling sound.
Dirt and stones flew, smoke and dust scattered; all the spectators grew tense.
And in the instant the two forms of Buddha’s Palm landed together, Xue Yuan had already suppressed part of the wicked thoughts in his heart and begun to think of stopping.
But it was already too late then.
With Jiang Ce buried in the cracked earth, the mental pollution version of the Seven Star Sword Formation lost control over Xue Yuan, and he instantly sobered up.
He had watched everything just now like a bystander from start to finish. He knew in his heart he should not have gone for the kill, yet he could not suppress the impulse. At this moment, he was momentarily at a loss, panicking.
In cultivating Buddhism until now, he had not even stepped on an ant to death. Could he really have killed someone today?
The representatives of the two sects on the viewing platform were equally grave in expression but did not hurry to announce the result.
Because they could all clearly perceive that Jiang Ce was still alive—weak, but with stable aura.
The next moment, everyone was surprised to discover that even the weakness on Jiang Ce had vanished, replaced by spiritual energy even more abundant than before.
Li Xi repeatedly confirmed if their spiritual sense was malfunctioning, incredulously muttering to themselves: “Is this kid a tardigrade or something?”
At the same time, from the smoke and dust that had not yet dispersed, a voice carrying a hint of regret emerged, causing the self-blaming Xue Yuan to jerk his head up.
“What a pity. Though it looks flashy, it’s still not even one-tenth of a casual strike from a Heaven-Reaching Dharma Master. That’s the real damage that can truly break my defense. Once you’ve seen the sea, how can it be water?”
Jiang Ce walked out from the smoke and dust, his whole body radiating golden light—actually Buddhist Charm externalized, forming a barrier that protected him within. After enduring such a terrifying attack, he remained completely unscathed.
He appeared entirely at ease; if not for him vigorously chewing something, emitting teeth-grinding crunching sounds, it would have been quite dashing.
“Golden Bell Shield?” Xue Yuan’s eyes widened, completely unable to understand why Jiang Ce could use such pure Buddhist Sect sorcery.
Jiang Ce smiled and nodded: “I haven’t formally introduced myself yet. My dharma name is Kakashi. Fellow practitioners respect me and call me the genius copy Daoist Priest. While watching just now, I thought the Golden Bell Shield was interesting, so I casually copied it a bit with the Minor Formless Technique. A mere parlor trick—my apologies for the poor showing.”
Thanks to boss Lin Nima for the ten thousand reward. Boss, may your body be healthy and all affairs go smoothly. Mi Qing wishes to love you forever~
Coded one chapter this morning, took the medicine prescribed by the doctor and slept all day. My head is groggy. Updates later in a few days. I’ll adjust my schedule properly these days and aim to return to eight thousand words a day the day after tomorrow.
