Origin Capital Circuit, White Lotus Mountain.
The Seventy-Two Minor Mindlands broke apart and collapsed. The Thirty-Six Great Vowlands turned to sand, and the golden light glittering in the heavens vanished, exposing the gray sky once more. On the summit, within the temple.
The Diamond guardians shed tears, the Bodhi lowered their brows, and the monks stood in silence, without a word.
"We won."
Tian Tanban sat high upon his Lotus Throne. His once-spotless white-lotus monastic robes were coated in dust, and the flesh of his face had withered further, leaving only a pair of astonishingly bright eyes.
Behind him, the golden Buddha statue was shrouded in vermilion Li Radiance. Its gold and jade peeled away beneath the flames, and it swayed precariously, ready to fall and crush the Main Hall's beams at any moment. The monks below wore varying expressions, but none answered. Even the masters of the three main-lineage Pure Lands-[White Lotus], [Yutai], and [Treasure Tower]-remained silent.
The atmosphere in the hall grew increasingly oppressive. Finally, the master of the Treasure Tower Pure Land could bear it no longer. He climbed out of the cradle atop his rhinoceros beast, straightened, and said, "Demon Fang fell without the slightest power to fight back. The defensive line our Dao constructed might as well not have existed. Yang Puto, tell us what you saw!" Jin Guangying had the body of an infant, and his voice was young but forceful. He turned his gaze toward the newly returned Yang Puto.
"The Demon-Binding Pure Land has been utterly destroyed. There is no hope of turning things around."
Yang Puto shook his head, clear light wavering across his face. Had he fled any slower, he would likely have met with disaster on the spot.
Treasure light rippled and wood energy unfurled as the infant planted