The Art of Cutting

"Om, ma, ni, pad, me, hum..."

The Demon-Subduing Pestle flew over on its own, purple qi billowing in an auspicious display. The Emperor Weapon's divine spirit recited the Six-Syllable Mantra, unfolding a scripture of the Great Dao. All six syllables of the Six-Syllable Great Mantra actually manifested.

This was the Buddhist Sect's supreme sacred art. Each syllable rivaled one of the Nine Secrets and could subdue the divine spirits of all the heavens.

Among the Buddhist temples of the Western Desert, only the most ancient sacred temples—the Great Thunderclap Temple, the Suspended Temple, Lantuo Temple, and Divine Radiance Temple—each possessed a One-Syllable Mantra. Ordinarily, bringing them together was difficult.

But the Emperor Weapon was a continuation of Amitabha Buddha Emperor's life, and with the Present Buddha and Future Buddha returning, the Great Thunderclap Temple's position had been cemented. Its authority brooked no challenge. At a single decree, the myriad temples of the Western Desert gathered to hold an Unrestricted Assembly.

Divine Monks and Buddhist Children emerged from ruined temples and broken walls, while Bodhisattvas and Arhats searched through heaps of old manuscripts for the faintest clues. At last, the Six-Syllable Mantra was united.

Those mantras already declared lost reappeared in the mortal world through the spiritual resonance of the Buddhas in the Bodhisattva Realm.

This was another marvelous use of the Spiritual Universe. It was the world's largest archive, the Buddhist Sect's library, preserving scriptures of the past and carrying generation after generation of Buddhist civilization.

They might not need it in ordinary times, but they could never afford to be without it.

At this moment, the six syllables united, and the Buddhist Sect's most ancient reserves erupted, startling immortals and suppressing emperors. Vast Buddhist chants transcended everything, seeming to echo from the dawn of the universe.

**"The six syllables