Qing Chen did not stop. What he needed now was to keep this momentum going.
"Faneng!"
He lowered his eyes toward the white-browed old monk inside the monastery gates. His voice suddenly grew calm, yet within that calm lay a killing intent colder than thunderbolts.
"You just said that I let my troops surround your temple and disturbed the peace of your Buddhist Sect."
"Provincial Governor Mei also said the Northwestern Circuit must not fall into chaos."
"And Deputy Sect Master Xue urged me to quit while I was ahead."
"I can understand that all of you have the bigger picture in mind, that you want stability for the Northwestern Circuit, that you do not want to make a laughingstock of us before the Golden Tent Khanate."
The next instant, the corner of Qing Chen's mouth lifted slightly, and his gaze abruptly sharpened like a blade.
"But today, I would like to ask you this-"
"If the bigger picture means letting spies continue to enjoy offerings of incense, if stability means leaving the heroic souls of the Border Army wronged for all eternity, if keeping up appearances means sacrificing tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of Great Jin's border soldiers for nothing, then I want no part of this bigger picture!"
"Whoever stands in my way, I will kill!"
"If the bigger picture stands in my way, then I will kill the bigger picture!"
Boom!
Killing intent surged skyward from the Demon Lotus Army.
Four hundred thousand cultivators tightened their grips on their weapons and Dharma Artifacts at once. The military formation's qi mechanisms linked up layer by layer in that instant, its black banners snapping like a furious black tide pressing against the monastery gates.
Qing Chen raised a hand and pointed toward the mountain behind Faneng Temple.
"That