Wielding the Divine Weapon

Lu Li's figure gradually came into view on the road. Barricades had been set up at the checkpoint, and more than a dozen soldiers drew their blades and raised their weapons, watching the approaching man warily.

Clad in a black robe, with a saber at his waist and a felt hat on his head, Lu Li slightly raised his head as dust churned behind him like a tidal wave.

For some reason, despite the blazing noon sun, the soldiers felt a profound chill.

"This road is closed!"

One of them swallowed and shouted.

Lu Li did not slow his pace. He merely rested his right hand lightly on the saber at his waist and slowly drew it. His voice was calm, yet it rang in every person's ears.

"If you leave now, I can spare your lives."

"Damn it, quit playing tricks!"

A soldier who was clearly their leader flew into a rage and drew his saber with a clang.

Yet before he could step past the barricade and strike, Lu Li had already vanished from where he stood.

As though an invisible hurricane had swept through, the remaining soldiers saw a blur before their eyes. Lu Li appeared before them like a ghost, his left hand formed into a claw around the throat of the soldier who had drawn his blade.

Lu Li's Poison Blood Hand had reached the eighth level alongside his advancement in cultivation. Its blood-draining power was no longer what it had once been.

With only a light squeeze, the saber-drawing soldier died instantly, his limbs hanging limp.

The other soldiers watched helplessly as the flesh on the strangled man's cheeks bulged outward. His entire body visibly shriveled, and his robes slipped loose at once, exposing a corpse-like, dried body.

"What kind of monster is that?!"

That horrifying sight shook the remaining soldiers to their cores.

Overwhelming terror surged through them. One soldier threw down his weapon on the spot, mounted a fine horse tethered nearby, and galloped toward the Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva Temple.

Yet some still feared death too little and charged at Lu Li with their sabers raised!

Lu Li remained expressionless, lowering his gaze to the soldiers rushing toward him with murderous shouts.

He ignored the soldier right before him and lightly pointed a finger. An invisible, razor-sharp burst of qi shot forth, piercing the heart of the man fleeing on horseback in an instant.

Blood gushed wildly. The startled horse let out a long neigh and collapsed to the ground.

Only then did he look at the soldiers before him and sigh softly.

"Why bother?"

Lu Li stepped forward, and his long saber swept up in a shimmering arc. Saber light rose like rippling water, and the soldiers' charging movements abruptly froze.

They lowered their heads with difficulty and saw a line of blood appear across each of their waists and abdomens. Then blood sprayed forth wildly as their upper bodies toppled to the ground.

Lu Li slowly sheathed his saber without sparing them a glance, then quietly continued onward.

Meanwhile, in the woods a mile behind him, people from the Hidden Heroes Alliance, the Righteousness Gang, and the Heavenly Righteousness Society lay concealed.

Yan Dan stared at Lu Li's distant back, clicking his tongue as his eyelids twitched wildly.

"What ruthless methods, what formidable martial arts. This is probably strength only someone at Late Meridian Opening could possess. No wonder Brother Lu dared to face the Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva Temple alone."

Though separated by a mile, he had seen everything clearly. More than ten men had died the moment they encountered Lu Li, in less than the time of a breath!

His movements had flowed as naturally as an antelope hanging its horns, clearly requiring no effort at all.

Yan Dan's emotions surged at the sight of such strength. Even the Drooping-Ear Monk was likely no stronger than this.

"Have the brothers inspect the mechanism crossbows and weapons. We'll follow from the rear. These soldiers are nothing special, but those Buddhist Soldiers will not be easy to deal with. If Brother Lu runs into trouble, we will immediately support him and carve a bloody path out for him."

Peng Shan stared blankly at the corpses lying a mile away. He forcibly suppressed the shock in his heart and turned to address everyone solemnly.

Liu Qi and the others immediately nodded.

Before long, the group followed far behind Lu Li.

The Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva Temple stood at the center of a peach grove. This was the true site where Evil Armaments were forged; the temple in the city was merely a cover.

It was now the third month of spring. Peach blossoms covered the mountains, while stretches of terraced fields halfway up the slopes gleamed lush green. Tender shoots of rice and wheat radiated vibrant life, presenting a scene like a paradise beyond the world.

Yet though the peach grove appeared pleasant at first glance, it concealed hidden dangers.

Large numbers of Buddhist Soldiers stood guard and patrolled along both sides of the road leading to the Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva Temple. Beneath the peach trees, one could vaguely see the stark white bones of children.

This was a paradise nourished by blood and tears.

On a cliff far from the Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva Temple.

The massive carriage of the Thousand Theater hovered at the cliff's edge. Three figures looked down at the mountain below, taking in every detail of Lu Li's battle.

"Senior Sister, why is that brat so reckless? With his martial arts, he might have had a chance to kill the Drooping-Ear Monk if he infiltrated alone."

The burly man shook his head.

"Indeed. All eight hundred Buddhist Soldiers wear armor, and every one of them is a martial artist skilled in military formations."

"The Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva Temple amassed wealth without restraint and supplied them almost without limit, which was how it raised these eight hundred elite Buddhist Soldiers. Even I would not dare barge in so casually. That brat must have lost his mind."

The elderly man beside him also shook his head, showing no optimism for Lu Li.

The Buddhist Soldiers raised by the Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva Temple were not merely monk-soldiers in the usual sense. They were monsters created by the Myriad Life Sect through an extremely cruel process of castration.

Without sex or desire, they would not feel the slightest pain even if their hands and feet were cut off. They were nothing more than killing machines.

Though their cultivation was only at the first or second level of Meridian Opening, once equipped with armor and arranged into military formations, even a Qi Solidification martial artist would face a threat to his life if trapped among them.

It was precisely because the Myriad Life Sect possessed this special method that it had caught the attention of the Xue Household and the Merging Cavern.

"That man possesses a Treasure Artifact and an extraordinary technique. The eight hundred Buddhist Soldiers may be terrifying, but they might not be able to stop him. What remains unclear is how much strength he will have left to deal with the Drooping-Ear Monk once he reaches the temple."

The beautiful woman's alluring eyes shimmered as she gazed toward the peach grove and spoke slowly.

The forging of Evil Armaments had a long history, yet it had never truly succeeded. Although the Xue Household had not made a great spectacle of this attempt, it was no secret to certain forces.

Yet aside from these wandering martial artists, no righteous sects had appeared to stop it.

Perhaps they feared the Xue Household's power, but more likely, they were simply watching and waiting.

If the Evil Armament was successfully forged and proved no inferior to a Treasure Artifact, the balance of the martial world would inevitably change.

The materials used to forge Treasure Artifacts were exceedingly rare and precious. Heavenly Meteoric Iron and Myriad-Gold Stone Mother were merely the most basic of them. Otherwise, there would not have been only thirty-six Treasure Artifacts after all these years.

"What is most important when wielding a Divine Weapon?"

The beautiful woman murmured to herself.

"Willpower is the most important thing. That brat dared to face eight hundred Buddhist Soldiers alone. Setting aside everything else, that fearlessness in the face of death is already enough to earn the Divine Weapon's recognition."

The elderly man frowned. "But wielding a Divine Weapon requires more than temperament..."

"Could a brainless brute possibly wield a Divine Weapon?"

The beautiful woman sighed softly. "That is why we shall wait and see. I hope that brat can give us a surprise."

The burly man shook his head instead.

"I still think more highly of that brat with dragon sinews and tiger bones."

The beautiful woman smiled.

"Then let us see which of them will wield a Divine Weapon in the future."