A great battle erupted at the ancient site of Fengdu City.
Yue Wang and the Ghost Empress clashed, while tens of thousands of ferocious ghosts and yin soldiers were restless. Fortunately, not only had Yue Wang arrived, but also two guardians had come along.
They intercepted the restless commanders of the yin soldiers to prevent the situation from escalating.
Yue Wang took all of this into his eyes, his copper-bell-like eyes surging with Buddha's radiance.
"All of you, stay put and behave yourselves."
He softly murmured a sentence, and behind him, Buddha's radiance illuminated all, forming a phantom image of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva.
The phantom of Kṣitigarbha put its hands together in prayer, and with a harmonious murmur of 'Amitabha', the Diting divine beast beneath its seat roared toward the sky.
The ancient site, once shrouded in gloomy and eerie yin energy, resembling the underworld, was instantly bathed in a harmonious glow.
The tens of thousands of restless yin soldiers and ferocious ghosts instantly felt their bodies burning.
At the same time, the Ghost Empress looked at her arm. Her pale skin was sizzling as if drenched in boiling oil, as if about to be charred.
Beneath her red bridal veil, her delicate brows furrowed slightly.
Lowering her gaze to look at the yin soldiers and ferocious ghosts below, the weaker ones were already burning all over, like zombies afraid of sunlight, catching fire the moment they touched it.
"Ah!!" Shrill ghostly wails echoed endlessly.
Kṣitigarbha, the Buddha of the underworld, once declared with unyielding resolve. "If I do not enter hell, who will enter hell?"
"Until hell is empty, I will not attain Buddhahood."
To put it bluntly, among all the Buddhas, the one that suppresses ghosts and evil spirits the most is undoubtedly Kṣitigarbha.
And at this moment, Yue Wang, who walks the path of Kṣitigarbha's Dharma, was truly like Kṣitigarbha incarnate. With Buddha's radiance shining upon him, a single utterance of Amitabha could deliver all the yin soldiers and ferocious ghosts present.
"I admit, you are the strongest lay Buddhist disciple I have ever seen." The Ghost Empress's leisurely voice drifted over, completely ignoring the burning pain caused by Kṣitigarbha's Buddha light.
"You are also the most capable person I have ever seen who walks the path of Kṣitigarbha's Dharma. I think I now understand why the people of the Yang Realm sent you here."
"You flatter me." The Buddha's radiance around Yue Wang intensified, becoming even brighter.
Several ferocious ghosts and yin soldiers who couldn't withstand it were instantly delivered, and this trend showed no signs of stopping.
The other yin soldiers and ferocious ghosts were also burning all over, their souls scorched.
He walked forward slowly. "The 749 Bureau sent me because, among the Ten Grandmasters, I am the one who suppresses ghosts and evil spirits the most. So, Your Excellency, you should return to the Gates of Hell. I do not wish to increase my karma with unnecessary killings."
But just as he finished speaking, accompanied by the Ghost Empress's gentle voice. "I admit you are formidable, but that does not mean I have no way to deal with you. I simply follow my husband's example. He likes to first observe the strengths of his enemies."
Rumble~
Above her head, yin energy gathered into clouds. In the blink of an eye, it condensed into an endless dark mass, shrouding the entire battlefield.
Not only that, Yin energy spread in all directions. It became so thick that visibility was significantly reduced.
A gust of yin mist blew through, and the Ghost Empress, wearing her bright red bridal gown, vanished without a trace.
Looking around, no sign of the Ghost Empress could be found. Only her voice echoed from all directions—heard, but not seen.
"My husband once said: Only by recognizing the strengths of your enemy can you understand where their true power lies. Only then can you recognize your own weaknesses." Her voice lingered.
Whether it was Yue Wang, the two guardians, or the distant commander of the local bureau and his subordinates, they all felt the Ghost Empress's voice as if she was whispering right beside their ears, soft and eerie, making their hair stand on end.
Yue Wang's expression darkened, his vigilance rising.
"When I first met my husband, he told me that my strength was great, but my greatest weakness was encountering Buddhists."
"Because I walk the path of the ultimate yin ghost way, while Buddhism walks the path of ultimate yang, which naturally suppresses me."
Mentioning her so-called husband, the Ghost Empress's tone was filled with affection. Yet no one found it pleasant to hear. Instead, it made their skin crawl, and even Yue Wang was no exception.
At this moment, Yue Wang unleashed Kṣitigarbha's Buddha light to the fullest, forming a ten-meter-wide sanctuary around him.
Within this range—serenity and harmony. Beyond this range—howling yin winds. As if two completely different worlds.
But soon, like clear water being tainted by filth, his ten-meter sanctuary was gradually eroded.
Ten meters became nine meters... eight meters...
As the Ghost Empress's voice continued, the surrounding yin energy gradually turned blood-red, as vivid as her bridal gown.
The corrosion intensified.
"Whenever I encounter a powerful Buddhist master—especially those who have cultivated a golden body, relics, and the Buddhist path—I am inevitably weakened by threefold."
"At the time, I accepted this as an unchangeable truth. After all, everything in the world has its natural counterbalance."
"But my husband said counterbalance is not absolute. He taught me how to turn things around and suppress Buddhists instead."
Hearing her words, Yue Wang's heart sank, an ominous feeling creeping in.
"Wife!"
"My goddess."
Suddenly, voices filled with deep emotion came through. Yue Wang raised his eyebrows and looked in the direction of the sound.
The ones speaking were none other than the two guardians who had come with him.
Under the corrosion of the bright red sinister aura, their protective energy had been broken, and their eyes became dazed.
Yue Wang wanted to save them. But he discovered, during the time the Ghost Empress spoke, his Buddhist light's range had shrunk to five meters, and the surrounding red sinister aura was so dense that it felt like he was sinking into a swamp, making even lifting his feet feel like trudging through thick mud.
"Amitabha."
He dared not delay. Choosing to sit cross-legged on the spot, he pressed one palm together while the other hand rotated in the air. A string of prayer beads condensed from Buddhist light appeared in his hand. As they spun, he seemed like the immovable Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva.
Golden light surged from his body, and his burly figure appeared as if plated with gold.
Yue Wang had gone all out. His cultivated Buddhist golden body was fully revealed.
The sub-bureau leader, watching from afar, kept changing expressions. To avoid being caught in the battle, he had led his men to retreat rapidly when the red sinister aura appeared, creating an extreme distance.
The distance was so great that they could only see the battle through binoculars.
"Yue Wang… actually had to go all out." The sub-bureau leader murmured in shock.
Ever since Yue Wang became one of the Ten Grandmasters, this was the first time he had seen Yue Wang dealing with a ghost and actually needing to use his full strength.
At the same time, Yue Wang, having gone all out, managed to stabilize his Buddhist light's range, stopping at five meters.
But even so, while chanting the Kṣitigarbha Sutra, Yue Wang furrowed his brows.
The reason?
He realized that the Ghost Empress's voice had disappeared from his ears, replaced by a familiar sound—the voice of his deceased first love.
Moreover, as the voice of his first love echoed, he saw, at the gates of the Underworld, a delicate figure with a face full of terror and fear rushing out. She was afraid of the surrounding ghosts, so scared that she cried like pear blossoms in the rain.
It was his first love.
"Buddhists cultivate extreme yang, which requires forsaking the seven emotions and six desires. But my husband once said that as long as one is human, it is impossible to truly abandon emotions and desires, especially love."
The Ghost Empress's voice swayed gently like a mist, blending with the helpless cries of his first love.
Yue Wang spun the prayer beads condensed from Buddhist light.
"I am a lay disciple. There is no need for me to forsake emotions and desires. Trying to disturb my Buddhist heart—you cannot do it. This is nothing more than an illusion."
But just as he finished speaking, what answered him was the Ghost Empress's soft laughter.
"An illusion? Are you sure it is an illusion? What if it is not? Can you truly be one hundred percent certain that it is just an illusion? What if, by some minuscule chance, it is really your once-beloved?" Her voice echoed beside his ear.
Yue Wang frowned deeply. But before he could respond, he sensed something and turned to look behind him.
His pupils suddenly contracted.
Within his own Buddhist light's range, he had no idea when the Ghost Empress had gracefully stepped forward, wearing red embroidered shoes, taking one step over the Buddhist light and entering its range.
This scene made Yue Wang's expression change.
The principle of extreme yang suppressing extreme yin was being broken right before his eyes.
The Ghost Empress, dressed in a red wedding gown, covered by a red bridal veil, stood beneath the illumination of the Buddhist light. Step by step, she approached Yue Wang. The Buddhist light no longer seemed to restrain her; instead, the dazzling golden light only served as a backdrop, making the red wedding gown appear even more vividly red.
She was about to reach him.
"You tell me—am I an illusion or real?" Her voice resounded.
Suddenly, before Yue Wang could respond or react—
"Ghost Empress Yanzhi, you still love using that technique your husband taught you to toy with Buddhist practitioners, huh?"
A voice, carrying an inappropriate sense of amusement, broke in.
———
At the same time, far beyond Fengdu County, in the city of Dali.
Inside an internet café, Qin Ye had just finished paying, selected a computer, and was about to play League of Legends for the first time in a thousand years.
Suddenly, he sensed something and glanced toward the direction of Fengdu County, feeling a long-lost familiarity.
"That girl Yan Zhi… Who is she dealing with? Why is she using the technique I taught her for countering Buddhist practitioners?"
As he spoke, a thought formed in his mind. 'The 749 Bureau sure knows how to make arrangements—sending a Buddhist to handle a ghost. Sigh… If I had known, I wouldn't have taught Yanzhi how to counter Buddhists. I hope she doesn't end up killing the Bureau's Buddhist.'
Just as Qin Ye was pondering whether the Ghost Empress Yanzhi would cause a huge mess— "Hm? Why is there another aura? It feels so familiar… Who is this now…?"
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