Sword Heart as One

Chapter 21: Sword Heart as One

Three hundred miles away stands Hanwu Mountain, and upon it, a nameless temple.

The villagers for miles around all know that a master named Ku'e resides in the temple, dedicated to the salvation of all living beings.

Those who pray for a child conceive within the month; those who pray for wealth find gold and silver by midnight; even those who pray to pass the imperial examinations are at least guaranteed the status of a scholar.

Such miracles have made this small, nameless temple thrive with incense, bustling every day as if it were a market fair.

The devotees all wish to beg Master Ku'e for a blessing, hoping to secure a better life for themselves.

Master Ku'e is indeed compassionate, receiving pious followers every day to help them resolve their worries and troubles.

However, today is different; the devotees who arrived before dawn to compete for the first incense offering were all blocked outside the temple. An invisible layer of golden light barred the way, and no one could enter the temple gates.

Assuming Master Ku'e was manifesting a miracle, the crowd knelt outside the temple and kowtowed repeatedly. Even after finishing their prayers, they were unwilling to leave, hoping that when the golden light dissipated, they would be the first to rush inside and let Master Ku'e witness their piety.

Inside the temple, Master Ku'e sat in the main hall. Beneath the Buddha statue, the high monk pressed his palms together, chanting scriptures. Standing behind him was a woman in a goose-yellow robe: Su Chunyi.

She had pursued the murderer for three hundred miles without rest, searching bitterly for half the night before finally arriving at this place.

The direction of her sword intent pointed directly at this monk, Ku'e, but Su Chunyi did not strike immediately; she had to get to the bottom of the rights and wrongs. The Qinghe Sword Sect had strict rules, and she was never permitted to kill an innocent person by mistake.

Even if the current Buddhist sects were either demonic or heterodox, Su Chunyi required concrete evidence before she could act.

Yet, the moment she entered the temple and before she could state her purpose, the monk Ku'e had sealed the temple and driven all the devotees away.

Su Chunyi stood with her sword in hand and asked, "Master Ku'e, what is the meaning of this?"

The monk Ku'e chanted "Amitabha," then said to Su Chunyi, "Benefactor, you are filled with killing intent. Regardless of your purpose, do not harm others."

Su Chunyi felt a surge of doubt. The monk truly looked compassionate; could he really be a demon who killed to cultivate his power?

But Su Chunyi trusted the sword intent she had cultivated through years of hardship. The resentment of those who had died unjustly was tied to this monk, and if she listened closely, she could even hear the wailing and weeping emanating from his kasaya.

Having grown up in the Qinghe Sword Sect, Su Chunyi was not skilled with words, so she asked directly, "I followed the guidance of my sword to track down a demon who has harmed countless people. Master Ku'e, are you connected to that murderer?"

The monk Ku'e shook his head and said, "This poor monk has never harmed anyone."

"We are both practitioners. If you have never harmed anyone, Master, how do you explain this kasaya stained with resentment?"

"All living beings are dull, and all living beings suffer. In saving them, I naturally become stained with the resentment of mortals. Amitabha."

After finishing this "Amitabha," a layer of hazy golden light appeared on Master Ku'e's body, as if he were a golden Buddha.

Su Chunyi frowned. This divine ability seemed unusual, appearing similar to the Buddhist arts recorded in her sect's archives. However, the archives of the Qinghe Sword Sect were too vast, and Su Chunyi could not remember them all; in her urgency, she could not recall the specifics.

Bathed in Buddha-light and looking solemn, Master Ku'e asked in return, "Benefactor, you are filled with killing intent—did you come here just to kill? It seems you have also violated the precept of hatred. Why not listen to me chant scriptures to dissolve the evil thoughts in your heart?"

Su Chunyi retorted, "Upholding justice and eliminating harm for the people—how can that be an evil thought?"

The monk Ku'e continued, "Benefactor, you are a practitioner and should not be stained by the mortal world. To take on karma that is not your own is unwise. Foolish actions breed evil fruits; this is the nature of evil thoughts. If you do not remove them soon, you will surely face retribution."

Su Chunyi felt that the monk was spouting nonsense, but she was not good with words and did not know how to refute him.

Just as she was about to change the subject to clarify whether he was the true culprit, she saw golden light emerge from the monk again, with another layer of golden radiance manifesting outside his original golden body.

"A spell of the verbal-command type?! No, this is Kaikou Chan—you are a demon of the Nirvana Sect!"

Su Chunyi's expression changed drastically, and sword light swirled around her body to protect her vital points.

The monk Ku'e sighed, "Benefactor, you are entangled in evil thoughts and do not understand the subtlety of my Mahayana Buddhism. My Nirvana Sect saves all living beings; how could we be evil?"

"Your Nirvana Sect's 'saving of all living beings' is nothing but the slaughter of the innocent?!"

The sword light followed her voice, striking the monk Ku'e. Once Su Chunyi had identified his identity, she no longer hesitated and sought to execute him on the spot.

The Nirvana Sect was a demonic faction.

This sect claimed to "lay down the butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the spot," using this as a pretext to recruit all the villains of the world and commit monstrous atrocities.

Years ago, the leader of the Nirvana Sect had died by the sword of the Qinghe Sword Sect's master; the two sects were not only ideologically opposed but also held deep personal grudges.

Recognizing this as a technique of the Nirvana Sect, combined with the monk's overwhelming resentment and the warning of her sword intent, Su Chunyi had no more doubts and moved to kill this evildoer immediately.

The sword light landed on the monk's protective golden light with a massive roar, shaking the entire temple and sending dust flying everywhere.

However, only one of the two layers of golden light on the monk Ku'e shattered, and he remained completely unharmed.

Su Chunyi looked surprised. She could clearly sense that the monk's cultivation was inferior to her own, yet her full-powered strike hadn't even broken through his protective light?

The monk Ku'e laughed, "To resort to violence at the slightest disagreement—this is the true face of you 'righteous' people. When you cannot win an argument, you kill to vent your anger. Who is the real demon?"

Su Chunyi remained silent, but another layer of golden light appeared on the monk's body.

This was Kaikou Chan.

Most Buddhist divine abilities were related to precepts or were a form of contract; by fulfilling certain conditions, one could achieve effects similar to spells.

This Kaikou Chan looked like "words becoming reality," but Su Chunyi remembered her elders mentioning that as long as one could refute the opponent's fallacies, one could break their technique directly.

But how was she supposed to debate scriptures with a monk?

As if seeing through Su Chunyi's thoughts, the monk Ku'e mocked her again, "Benefactor, you know the secret of this Kaikou Chan, and now you are thinking of reasoning with me? You are not here to distinguish right from wrong; you only wish to defeat me. Your motives are impure and your heart is filled with malice. What kind of logic are you debating? A person who is insincere and foolish can never see the truth, and you will never be able to break my Wulou Golden Body."

Watching another layer of golden light appear on the monk Ku'e, Su Chunyi bit her lip tightly. This Kaikou Chan was indeed formidable; her previous sword qi had been unleashed without reservation, yet it had only managed to shatter one layer.

The monk's mouth never stopped, and with every sentence, another layer of golden light appeared. If this stalemate continued, Su Chunyi's spiritual energy would not be able to keep up with the consumption.

As for the scripture debate, Su Chunyi couldn't help but think of Chen Ye, whom she had just met.

"If he were here, perhaps he could break this monk's Kaikou Chan in just a few words. Cultivating in seclusion on the mountain really does mean missing out on so much."

Su Chunyi sighed inwardly, but she quickly regained her composure.

Although years of bitter cultivation had left Su Chunyi unskilled with words, they had not been a waste of time.

Her sect elders had said that when encountering such divine abilities from the Nirvana Sect, if one could not refute the opponent with logic, one should break their golden body using another method.

Su Chunyi pressed her fingers together like a sword, and a Green Lotus bloomed at her fingertips; a brilliant sword edge emerged from the lotus, instantly suppressing the golden light radiating from the monk Ku'e.

"Nurturing a sword with your own body?! Are you not afraid of the sword's backlash? Your very soul would be damaged!"

Monk Ku'e was filled with shock.

Su Chunyi was turning her physical body into a sword sheath, keeping her flying sword inside her; while this could greatly increase the power of a magic treasure, the sword qi rampaging within the body was a pain no ordinary person could endure.

Even within the Qinghe Sword Sect, there were likely few who would practice using such an extreme method.

"The sword heart is the human heart; as long as one is sincere and single-minded, and both hearts are righteous, how could one be hurt?"

Su Chunyi held the sword in her hand, the radiance flowing around her like a fairy descending to the mortal world.

"Demon, die!"

The Green Lotus Treasure Sword thrust toward monk Ku'e, and ten thousand rays of sword light bloomed like a lotus flower.