Agility: B
Mana: A
Luck: C
Noble Phantasm: Not acquired
Heavenly Eye: EX
Able to perceive the life, death, suffering, and joy of all beings in the Three Realms and Six Paths, as well as the forms and appearances of everything in the world, without obstruction.
Demonic Sword Companion: Not acquired
Man-slayer: Not awakened
Limitless Zen: ???
Was this considered weak or strong?
Fujimaru Kyoya looked at his current status panel. As long as he killed someone, he could awaken "Man-slayer." Awakening "Limitless Zen" was even simpler—he merely had to use a killing move while in Meditative Absorption.
The methods of awakening were easy, but did he really need to do this?
In this life, Fujimaru Kyoya was not a descendant of the Age of Gods who needed to struggle against anything. Nor was he the Benevolent Dark Emperor, living for the people. He had never set foot upon that land and stirred the faint impulses within his heart.
Fujimaru Kyoya had already entered the Buddhist path. If he broke the precept against killing, the old monk would surely be heartbroken. Was it truly worth it?
On one side was the power to protect those around him; on the other was the hope of the person who had raised him.
Fujimaru Kyoya had been meditating all this time, hoping Buddha would give him an answer and let him make his final decision.
Would Buddha give him an answer?
Fujimaru Kyoya did not know. What he knew even less was that while he was meditating, a group of sword-wielding ronin had come from afar, their target being this temple hidden in the barren mountains.
Their eyes brimmed with boundless greed.
"Liaochen, have you seemed somewhat lost lately?"
The old monk Kong Xuan looked at the disciple he had picked up. From childhood, he had been exceptionally intelligent and seemed to possess a thorough understanding of the Buddhist Sutras. It seemed as though nothing could make him lose his way.
Yet today, the old monk sensed that his disciple seemed to be somewhat lost.
"Master, what exactly are the Precepts that we follow in our cultivation?"
Although Fujimaru Kyoya had always lived in the mountains, he had heard from his senior disciples who left the temple to purchase supplies about the era they were currently living in.
The era he was in this time was Japan's Warring States Period, when figures who would later become household names throughout Japan were active everywhere.
Oda Nobunaga had already risen to power, and the various Daimyo intended to form an encirclement to attack him.
In this age of ceaseless war, even farmers in their hometowns would be dragged onto the battlefield. In such chaos, one seemed to need enough power to protect what one wanted to protect.
Fujimaru Kyoya had power, but if he needed to obtain that power by killing people, then it conflicted with the Precepts he followed.
Was it worth sacrificing the Precepts in exchange for power? That was Fujimaru Kyoya's current confusion.
"The Precepts are tools that help us become Buddha."
Though Kong Xuan was merely a mountain monk, he knew that some High Monks not only ignored the Precepts, but drank wine, ate meat, and indulged in women. Yet that did not prevent them from being High Monks.
"If a person's cultivation has reached the point where they have already become Buddha, then naturally they no longer need to follow the Precepts. The Precepts are merely ladders, tools that let us reach greater heights. Once we have reached those heights, we no longer need the ladder."
With one simple sentence, Kong Xuan explained the truth behind "wine and meat may pass through the stomach, yet Buddha sits within the heart." Still, afraid that Fujimaru Kyoya might stray onto the wrong path, he deliberately added another sentence.
"However, that is something for after one becomes Buddha. If we abandon the ladder while still climbing, then the higher we climb, the harder we fall. You must remember this."
"This disciple understands."
Fujimaru Kyoya pondered this answer, but there still seemed to be a thin layer of paper between him and the truth—vague and intangible, impossible to break through.
"Master, this disciple wishes to enter seclusion in the Back Mountain for a while. I hope to dispel the confusion in my heart."
"I will have your senior disciple bring you food."
[You came to the Back Mountain to dispel the confusion in your heart and began living a life of quiet cultivation.] [You could enter Meditative Absorption with great ease. It was as though voices of gods and Buddhas conversed by your ears, but you could not understand their words. This proved that your cultivation was still insufficient.] [During this period of cultivation, you gradually began to see a phantom.]
It was the phantom of a Bodhisattva.
While in Meditative Absorption, Fujimaru Kyoya opened his "eyes" and once again saw the phantom before him. It was a Bodhisattva with her back turned to him.
She seemed to be chanting scriptures at all times and did nothing else. She did not answer Fujimaru Kyoya's questions either.
Mind-to-mind transmission, without reliance on words.
Fujimaru Kyoya recalled what Kishinami Hakuno had said. Speaking in riddles had always been part of Zen Buddhism's transmission. Thinking itself was cultivation, but asking a mere mortal to understand the thoughts of a Bodhisattva was asking rather too much.
At the ruined mountain gate, a group of ronin who had traveled a long distance finally reached their destination. Following the rumors, they had arrived at this temple.
"Esteemed patrons..."
"Cut the crap. Hand over the Demonic Blade Murasame."
The ronin leader gave the Welcoming Monk almost no time to react before slashing directly at his body. The Welcoming Monk fell slowly to the ground with shock in his eyes, blood spreading across the floor.
"Murder!"
Panicked cries spread through the temple. Unlike these monks who cultivated in the deep mountains, these ronin who eked out a living outside had long grown accustomed to life and death.
Over the years, the Daimyo had governed independently and fought one another. Most of these men were deserters who had crawled out of heaps of corpses on the battlefield.
After leaving the battlefield, they neither dared return to it nor possessed the ability to farm. They could only occupy mountains and become bandits. The bolder ones became mercenaries. To them, killing was as simple as drinking water.
They had come to this ruined temple deep in the mountains for one reason: the legend of the Demonic Blade Murasame.
"Drag all these monks into the main hall. I'll question them one by one."
The Demonic Blade Murasame was said to grow stronger endlessly as long as it kept killing people. In this era, people were the one thing in endless supply.
There were countless people to kill on the battlefield. It was also this war that made countless people see how insignificant human lives were. On the battlefield, a person's life was perhaps no heavier than a speck of dust.
In this era, everyone had begun pursuing power madly. Most people made themselves stronger through training, but some set their sights on so-called demonic blades.
"Esteemed patron, this is a pure place of Buddhism. Why create more slaughter?"
Monk Kong Xuan looked at the ronin before him and clearly understood that they would never give up unless they obtained what they wanted.
"If this is a pure place of Buddhism, then why are you keeping a demonic blade? Master, you wouldn't want your temple burned to the ground, would you?"
"I understand. Please wait a moment, esteemed patrons."
Master Kong Xuan wore a sorrowful expression. This small temple truly did conceal the Demonic Blade Murasame, and it was inside the clay Buddha Statue in the main hall.
For years, Kong Xuan had led the temple's monks in chanting scriptures before Buddha, all to erase the blade's demonic nature. But now, it seemed all their efforts had been in vain.
Kong Xuan led them to destroy the Buddha Statue, gradually revealing a long sword within. The greed in the ronin leader's eyes grew ever stronger. He pushed aside the people around him and directly pulled out the demonic blade hidden inside the statue.
Even after being sealed away for so many years, time had left no trace upon the blade. It looked as though it had just been forged.
Seeing the bewitched look on the man's face, Kong Xuan understood that the demonic nature on the blade had not been completely purified.
With the Demonic Blade Murasame emerging into the world once more, another storm of bloodshed was surely about to begin.
"Old monk, I heard that after this blade kills someone, rainwater flows from its body to wash away the blood. I need to verify that."
The ronin leader looked at the monks before him with an ill-intentioned smile.
His concern that the demonic blade might be fake was only one reason. The other was simply to silence them.
More and more people knew about this temple. They had merely arrived sooner than the others. If anyone else learned that Murasame was in their hands, they would not be able to keep the blade.
Leaving these monks alive had never been an option. That had been decided from the beginning.
The ronin leader smiled viciously, but his smile quickly vanished because... the back of his head exploded.
"I'm launching a sneak attack."
Along with those words, the ronin leader collapsed to the ground. The demonic blade slipped from his hand and was caught by a young monk.
Bounty Notice
I didn't expect everyone to want me to open a bounty. At my current update speed, I can probably finish paying it off in a week, so I'll give it a try.
This time, we'll follow the usual rules.
An extra chapter for every 100 monthly passes.
An extra chapter for every 1,000 recommendation votes.
An extra chapter for every 10,000 Cat Biscuits.
An extra chapter for every 100 blades.
No limit.
Let me list the current numbers.
Monthly passes: 7407
Recommendation votes: 98732
Donations: 190140
Blades: 1986
Then let's set the deadline for 23:00 on the 7th of this month.
At my pace of owing 28 chapters, the pressure from an unlimited bounty shouldn't be too great... probably.
Although I don't think anyone will send Treasure Chests, if some big shot sends a Gold Treasure Chest, it will count as 20 chapters. A Silver Treasure Chest will count as 6 chapters.
There probably won't be any Treasure Chests, right? Probably.
Restless. Uneasy.
While cultivating in the Back Mountain, Fujimaru Kyoya inexplicably felt these emotions. They marred his previously perfect state of Meditative Absorption, forcing him to awaken.
[You felt an inexplicable unease. You understood where it came from; there were not many things tying you to this world.]
Something had happened at the temple.
Fujimaru Kyoya barely needed to think to understand the source of his unease. Activating his "Heavenly Eye," he quickly saw what was happening within the temple.
A group of ronin had arrived at the temple and forced Monk Kong Xuan to smash open the Buddha Statue, revealing the blade inside.
It was too late.
Fujimaru Kyoya would not judge people with the greatest malice, but neither would he hold expectations of human nature that it did not deserve.
This was an age of war. Could he really expect these ronin to possess high moral standards?
The problem was that the Back Mountain was too far from the temple. He could not reach it in a short time, yet he still began to run.
But it was too late. Through his "Heavenly Eye," he could see that the ronin leader had already raised the blade and was walking toward his master, Kong Xuan.
[You recalled the stories in the Buddhist Sutras. They said that all things possess Buddha-nature, yet you could not see even the slightest trace of anything worthy of being called Buddha-nature in the man before you.]
Even if all things possessed Buddha-nature, how many people had become Buddha throughout all of history? Fujimaru Kyoya understood that once someone decided to kill, they had to be prepared to be killed.
[You had to save your master. You made this decision and prepared to break the Precepts.]
Precepts? He no longer needed such things.
Fujimaru Kyoya had already seen through it. Even if killing would disappoint his master, compared to letting his master die, then let him be disappointed.
[You saw through the essence of the Precepts and understood their nature as tools. Nothing could stop your steps.] [Talent "Supernatural Footwork" awakened: Free and unimpeded, following your heart's desire.]
At that moment, space lost all meaning to Fujimaru Kyoya. Across the Three Realms and Six Paths, wherever his eyes could see and his heart desired, he could arrive in but one step...
He picked up a wooden stick from the ground, then took a step forward. In an instant, he crossed an immeasurable distance and appeared directly behind the ronin leader.
Before you continue