The Eastern Region was vast and boundless, its mountains and rivers magnificent. Yet at this moment, the clouds and bloodshed of the Witch-Demon War shrouded this fertile land.
At times, the sky was crimson as blood; at others, Killing Intent filled the air. Earthshaking battle cries, the roars of giant beasts, and the thunderous collisions of divine abilities
rumbled faintly from the direction of Buzhou Mountain far away. Spiritual energy across the land was in turmoil, while Calamity Qi bred like poisonous miasma.
Countless weak creatures trembled in fear. Worse still, those burdened with deep Sinful Power took advantage of this upheaval and collapse of Order to run wild.
They slaughtered living beings, seized flesh and blood, plundered spiritual treasures, and turned this land into hell.
Amid this turmoil and bloodshed, a gray figure came from the West and set foot upon the Eastern Region.
Ming Xin.
He wore simple gray hemp robes, his long hair loosely tied with a bone hairpin. His features were refined, yet carried an ancient chill.
Nirvana Buddha Flame flickered dimly in his left eye, while a Demon Abyss vortex churned in his right. He neither rode clouds nor wielded a sword, but walked like an ordinary man.
Step by step, he traveled across this land steeped in Calamity Qi and boiling karmic debts.
Every step he took was exceptionally steady. An invisible Dao rhythm seemed to flow beneath his feet, silently purifying the bloodstains and Sinful Power on the ground, leaving behind a tiny patch of barely perceptible purity.
His pace appeared unhurried, yet with every step, his figure seemed to merge into the void and appear far away. He used Shrink Ground to Inch, but still carried the weight of someone firmly treading the earth.
His calm gaze swept across the ravaged land: collapsed mountains, severed rivers, burning forests, and shattered corpses from countless races scattered everywhere.
The air was thick with the stench of blood, charred flesh, and the lingering aura of desperate cries.
"Karmic hindrances... So this is the karmic hindrance beneath a Tribulation..." Ming Xin murmured inwardly as the Dark Gold Killing Buddha Wheel between his brows slowly turned.
Cold, murderous intent flowed through his sea of consciousness. The scripture of the Great Nirvana Killing Buddha Scripture echoed within his heart: "To kill is to protect life; to slay karma is not to slay people..."
He had not come to participate in the heart of the Witch-Demon War. That monstrous slaughter involving the fortune of the Primordial World and the survival of entire races was not something he, at the early Great Luo realm, could influence.
His target was the overlooked corners beneath this Tribulation—the "sinful deeds" that bred amid chaos, like festering sores eating away at the foundations of the land.
One day, he arrived at a valley shrouded in black mist. Yin winds howled within it, ghostly wails shrieked endlessly, and the heavy stench of blood was enough to make one vomit.
Deep within the valley stood a sinister altar built from white bones. A wizened figure in black robes, surrounded by countless phantoms of resentful souls, danced wildly while chanting evil incantations.
Around the altar lay heaps of fresh corpses belonging to weak demon clans and other races. Blood gurgled forth and flowed into the Blood Pool at the altar's center.
The Blood Pool boiled as a filthy, evil power gathered within!
That wizened figure radiated a cold aura. He was clearly at the early Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm!
He was using the blood and souls of countless living beings as sacrifices to cultivate an incomparably vicious demonic art!
Countless resentful souls wailed above the Blood Pool. Their twisted faces were filled with pain and despair, while scarlet karmic debts hung like tangible chains.
They densely coiled around the wizened figure, so thick they were nearly impossible to dissolve!
Ming Xin stood calmly at the valley entrance, watching this scene that resembled a human hell.
There was no anger in his eyes, only a coldness that saw through to the essence of things.
"Sinful Power clings to your body, and your karmic hindrances tower to the heavens. Using the blood and souls of all living things to forge your own demonic Dao... You must be slain!"
There were no wasted words, nor did he even draw his sword.
Ming Xin merely looked calmly in the wizened figure's direction.
Nirvana Buddha Flame burned dimly in his left eye, while the Demon Abyss vortex in his right slowly revolved.
Karma Life-Death Eyes—open!
In an instant, the world abruptly changed in the wizened old devil's perception!
To his horror, he "saw" the countless scarlet Threads of Karma winding around his body, representing the blood debts he had personally created, the curses of resentful souls, and the deadly karmic calamities of his sins.
Under the gaze of Ming Xin's indifferent eyes, they became clearer, more savage, and more deadly than ever before!
What truly terrified him out of his wits was that he clearly "saw" the two invisible, formless blades of karma deep within Ming Xin's pupils.
They had already risen, coldly locking onto several of the thickest, most scarlet "death threads" linked to the backlash nodes of the demonic art he was cultivating!
"No...! Who are you?!!" The old devil let out a shrill, despairing scream, trying to activate his demonic art to resist and trying to detonate the altar's Blood Pool!
Yet every struggle seemed pale and powerless beneath the lock of the Karma Life-Death Eyes!
Sshhk—!
A faint sound that only the old devil himself could "hear," as though the threads of Fate had been severed.
The old devil's body abruptly stiffened! The boiling Demonic Energy around him instantly spiraled out of control!
The boiling Blood Pool atop the altar seemed to have been plunged into ten thousand years of black ice, freezing solid in an instant!
The countless phantoms of resentful souls wrapped around him released piercing shrieks as the backlash erupted with a thunderous roar!
"Ugh, aaah—!!!"
Before the horrified eyes of the creatures who had been captured but not yet slain, that once-unrivaled old devil, who regarded them as mere weeds, cracked apart inch by inch like shattered porcelain!
Thick, filthy black blood mixed with shattered organs burst from the cracks!
The demonic essence he had gathered within his body frantically rebounded, instantly igniting both his primordial spirit and flesh into a raging black demonic fire that reeked horribly!
Within a few breaths, he burned away without even ashes remaining! Only the Bone Altar and the frozen Blood Pool silently testified to the horror that had just occurred.
Meanwhile, when the backlash erupted and the old devil's soul scattered, the scarlet chains of karmic debt binding the phantoms of resentful souls snapped apart inch by inch!
Relief appeared on their twisted, agonized faces. They silently bowed toward Ming Xin, then turned into specks of pure spiritual light and dissipated between heaven and earth.
The black mist in the valley quickly dispersed, and sunlight fell upon it once more. The surviving creatures seemed to awaken from a nightmare, staring blankly at the valley restored to clarity.
They looked at the vanished devil and altar, then finally at the calm gray figure leaving from the valley entrance. One after another, they fell to their knees, weeping bitterly and kowtowing without end.
Ming Xin did not look back. His steps remained steady as he headed toward the next place shrouded in sinful deeds.
Within his sea of consciousness, the scripture of the Great Nirvana Killing Buddha Scripture glowed and flowed, and a trace of enlightenment arose:
"To slay karma is not to slaughter the body, but to sever the cause of evil and end the result of harm. Destroy the body, free the resentful souls from their bonds, and return purity to this land—this is protecting life."
Another day, he arrived at the bank of a great river occupied by a small contingent of routed demon soldiers.
These demon soldiers had scattered under pursuit by the Witch Clan's main force. Their ferocity erupted as they burned, killed, and plundered along the way, using villages of weaker races as food and staining the entire river pale red.
Their leader was a Winged Tiger Demon at the middle Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm. With savage fangs bared, he roared as he commanded his subordinates to assault a settlement of a weak race, which was barely holding on behind a crude formation.
Upon the settlement walls, young warriors fought covered in blood, while the elderly, weak, women, and children clung to one another and wept. Despair filled the air.
Ming Xin walked upon the waves as though on level ground, heading directly toward the riverbank overflowing with Demonic Energy.
His arrival instantly drew the attention of every demon soldier. Their savage, bloodthirsty gazes all focused on him.
"Roar! What bald donkey dares meddle in my affairs? Perfect—he'll make an extra meal for my boys!"
The Winged Tiger Demon roared. A foul wind rushed toward Ming Xin as a massive tiger claw, wrapped in demonic wind, tore through space and crashed down upon his head! It intended to smash this foolhardy cultivator into pulp!
This time, Ming Xin did not use the Karma Life-Death Eyes.
He needed a more direct method of slaying karma!
"Vile beast, you deserve death!"
His cold voice was like the frigid wind of the Nine Netherworlds.
The White Bone Life-Death Sword flew from its sheath!
There was no earthshaking sword light, only a flash of a pale, deathly sword shadow, its edges entwined with dark-red Slaughter patterns!
Where the sword shadow passed, space itself seemed to freeze and collapse!
The Winged Tiger Demon's descending giant claw, along with half his body, silently shattered and vanished like fragile glass!
He did not even have time to scream!
"Kill him!" The remaining demon soldiers were terrified beyond measure and rushed at him madly, demonic arts and divine abilities raining down like raindrops!
Ming Xin stood with sword in hand, his body as immovable as a rock. Behind him, the terrifying phenomenon of the White Bone Life-Death Myriad Buddhas Kingdom suddenly unfolded!
A vast land of white bones rose and fell, while phantoms of Nirvana Demon Buddhas cycled through life and destruction beneath a sky where gray-white Buddha light interwove with pitch-black Demonic Energy!
At its center, the enormous Dark Gold Killing Buddha Wheel slowly turned, radiating terrifying pressure capable of suppressing all living beings!
"Suppress!"
At Ming Xin's low shout, the phenomenon's domain crashed down!
Puff! Puff! Puff!
The demon soldiers who charged into the domain were like grain thrown into an invisible millstone!
The weaker ones exploded directly into blood mist. The stronger ones were ground to death by the power of the Life and Destruction Cycle, pierced by the white bone earth, and torn apart by the phantoms of Nirvana Demon Buddhas!
In an instant, the demonic miasma on the riverbank was swept clean!
The remaining demon soldiers were scared out of their wits. With a single cry, they scattered and fled in every direction.
Ming Xin did not pursue them. He sheathed his sword as the phenomenon behind him slowly faded. His gaze swept over the piled demon corpses and bloodstains on the riverbank before turning toward the dumbfounded creatures on the settlement walls, who had survived the disaster.
He said nothing. He merely raised a hand and pressed it through the air toward the river surface stained red with filthy blood.
"Purify!"
Gray-white Nirvana Buddha Light rippled outward like waves. Wherever it passed, bloodstains dissolved, Demonic Energy scattered, and the wails of resentful souls were forcibly delivered from suffering!
The murky river water visibly became clear, even giving off a faint sense of purification.
After doing all this, Ming Xin turned and took a single step. His figure had already vanished from the river's surface, leaving behind only thunderous cheers and the cries of survivors in the settlement he had saved.
One step, one killing karma.
One sword, one life protected.
Ming Xin traveled across the Eastern Region like a silent judge and purifier.
He avoided the meat grinders of direct clashes between the Witch Clan and demon armies, seeking only the festering tumors that bred and spread through the cracks of war—
Devils who slaughtered living beings to cultivate evil arts, routed demon soldiers who plundered amid chaos, scum of the Witch Clan who enslaved the weak for sacrifice, and even certain creatures who had fallen into the demonic Dao...
Every strike was precise and fatal.
Sometimes, it was merely a glance: karma locked in place, karmic debt rebounded, and sinful obstacles dissipated on their own. (Karma Life-Death Eyes)
Sometimes, a single sword strike shattered white bones and determined life and death. (White Bone Life-Death Sword Dao)
Sometimes, the phenomenon unfolded, the domain suppressed all, and all living beings entered Nirvana. (White Bone Life-Death Myriad Buddhas Kingdom)
Sometimes, it was only a palm pressing down, Nirvana Buddha Light washing through everything and purifying filth. (Nirvana Great Hand Seal)
His methods grew increasingly refined, and his understanding of "to kill is to protect life; to slay karma is not to slay people" deepened further and further.
He no longer acted merely to sever karmic hindrances. After every strike, he also used Nirvana Buddha Light to purify the battlefield.
He dispelled lingering resentment and filth, leaving a chance to breathe for the trampled land and its surviving creatures.
He gradually came to understand that protecting life did not merely mean saving those before his eyes. It also meant cutting away the soil that bred evil karma and purifying this world polluted by the Killing Intent of the Tribulation.
The cultivation of those he slew also grew higher and higher: from early Taiyi, to middle Taiyi, and even late Taiyi!
Every battle was fraught with peril. The gray hemp robes on his body had long been soaked through with blood and dried again, leaving dark-red stains.
His White Bone True Body cracked and healed again and again, while his aura became increasingly condensed, restrained, and profound through each desperate battle at the limit!
Tempered through blood and fire, the Great Dao of Killing steadily advanced toward the threshold of fifty percent mastery!
His use of the Karma Life-Death Eyes also became ever more exquisite. He could even briefly disrupt the karmic connections between his enemies and their magical treasures or formations during battle!
His title, too, quietly spread like a plague throughout the Eastern Chaos Land, carried by his repeated lightning-fast attacks and bizarre methods of death.
"Gray-Clad Killing Buddha..."
"Walking Death God..."
"Demon Monk Who Cuts Karmic Hindrances..."
"Monster That Kills with a Glance..."
Fear and reverence took root in the hearts of those burdened with deep Sinful Power. Wherever he passed, evil beings retreated and demonic miasma slightly receded.
Countless weak creatures regarded that gray figure as a faint glimmer of light amid despair.
Ming Xin did not care about any of it. He continued steadfastly in one direction—toward the place where the Killing Intent of heaven and earth and the will of Destruction were strongest, like a giant vortex drawing the gaze of the entire Primordial World:
Buzhou Mountain!
The closer he came to Buzhou Mountain, the more shocking the traces of war became.
The shattered earth was covered in bottomless craters, scars left by the trampling of Ancestral Witches in their true forms or the self-destruction of great demons.
Terrifying Dao traces from all kinds of divine abilities lingered in the sky, while spatial cracks hung like ugly scars that refused to heal for ages.
The stench of blood and Calamity Qi were so thick they nearly condensed into substance.
Patrols from the Witch Clan and demon clans, along with small-scale skirmishes, became increasingly frequent.
Ming Xin walked as though upon a blade's edge. Relying on his powerful primordial spirit perception and the warnings of the Karma Life-Death Eyes, he avoided large-scale conflicts ahead of time again and again.
He focused only on clearing out those "karmic hindrances" that clung to the war and gnawed upon its carrion like hyenas.
One day, he reached the edge of a vast battlefield called the Weeping Blood Wasteland.
This was a place repeatedly contested by the Witch Clan and demon clans, where countless powerful beings had fallen. The earth had been soaked dark red with blood, not a blade of grass grew, and the air was filled with nauseatingly sweet blood stench and the unwilling wails of innumerable dead souls.
The dense blood Killing Intent had even formed a faint crimson mist.
Deep within the wasteland stood a sinister fortress piled from enormous skeletons, radiating powerful Demonic Energy and soaring resentment.
Above the fortress circled countless vicious Demonic Birds condensed from resentful souls and blood Killing Intent.
Clearly, some contingent of routed demon soldiers or evil cultivators had occupied this place, using the battlefield's lingering Killing Intent and dead souls to cultivate evil arts.
Ming Xin stopped and looked toward the Bone Fortress. His Karma Life-Death Eyes slowly turned, allowing him to clearly "see" above the fortress.
A scarlet cloud of karma, rolling like heavy black clouds, formed from the resentment of countless unjustly slain creatures and the karmic debts of slaughter!
Its density far surpassed that of any target he had slain before!
Deep within the fortress lurked a concealed yet exceptionally powerful aura, filled with greed and brutality. It frantically devoured the blood Killing Intent and resentful souls across the wasteland, and had clearly reached the peak Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm!
It was only one step away from Great Luo!
"What a nest of sinful deeds..." Nirvana Buddha Flame flickered in Ming Xin's eyes as cold killing intent burst from his body.
"Slaying this karmic hindrance will cleanse a stretch of pure land from the Weeping Blood Wasteland!"
He no longer concealed his aura. With one step, his figure shot forward like lightning, charging directly toward that sinister fortress piled high with bones!
His gray robes fluttered fiercely, and the White Bone Life-Death Sword gave a hungry hum! The phantom of the White Bone Life-Death Myriad Buddhas Kingdom flickered behind him!
A new round of killing karma was about to begin upon this blood-weeping wasteland!
His steps moved resolutely toward the final battlefield beneath Buzhou Mountain. His Dao, too, would receive its final tempering amid the blood and fire of the Tribulation!
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