Estranged - Chapter 93

Proofread by Snake

Yun Weisi clearly felt that the spiritual powers of his opponents were like an inexhaustible spring—no matter how much was taken from it, it would never be drained dry.

The Sixteen Vajras were like the sixteen petals of a lotus. They stood strictly in a row, closely cooperating and moving in such impeccable coordination that they seemed to be one person.

But the most troublesome thing about them was their spiritual powers.

Countless souls of wrongly accused people had filled the lotus pond. The disciples of the Wanlian Buddhist Temple had been gathering souls from each corner of the world for many days and nights. The aggrieved souls were dropped into one place, and, supported by the faith of believers who worshiped the sect daily, had been circling in here for a long time in order to provide boundless spiritual powers for the diamond lotus formation.

The Sixteen Vajras were just like a child, who still had their hair down, but who had suddenly obtained an extraordinary spiritual weapon of great might—even if the child was unskilled, and brandished the weapon as they pleased, it could also lead to devastating consequences. As such, while the Sixteen Vajras’ level of cultivation was not as high as Yun Weisi’s, they were still attacking in unison. On top of that, they were supported by this malicious, infinite spiritual power, and, as a result, they still managed to encircle Yun Weisi, giving him no chance to escape.

Has his hair down: children from ~3 to ~8 didn’t have their hair done

Their chanting entered his ears, and he could not isolate himself from it. Even if Yun Weisi sealed off his heart, the sound would still continue to pour towards him from every direction, permeating every nook, as if persuading him to leave the Dao for Buddhism and become a disciple of the Buddhist sects.

The sixteen of them had surrounded Yun Weisi closely. By setting up a complete lotus formation, they had blocked all his ways of retreat and left no gaps, placing a firm grip on Yun Weisi’s every movement. As soon as he thought about raising his hand, the spiritual power of the lotus pond would start surging up violently, condensing into one point to form an impregnable barrier that reflected Yun Weisi’s attack back to him.

“When a Buddha comes to life, every single person worships them. During this time, golden light shines all around, flowers and fruits cover the earth, lotuses bloom, heavenly music plays in unison, fragrance envelops everything, the grass and the trees flourish, the dead and dying are brought back to life in perfect health, the crippled can walk with confidence, and every creature pleads with the Buddha to teach them. The Buddha says, the Dharma is in eluding appearances, and in seeking truth. What is the truth, one must ask themself. Every living entity in the world, be it a grass or a tree, a bird or a beast, as lofty as a falcon or as lowly as a fish, has the real self…”

Yun Weisi closed his eyes, unruffled.

The chanting voices were loud and soft in turns, piercing his consciousness, filling his soul, invading his spiritual power, isolating him from his Dao heart unbeknownst to him, and worrying his spiritual soul.

The sword glow of the Chunzhao was shrinking gradually under the layers of golden light, growing murkier and murkier. The golden light was advancing forward, while the white light was weakening. Eventually, there was not much of a barrier around Yun Weisi’s body left.

Shoufan was the most irascible out of the sixteen.

It had been twenty years since he had entered the Wanlian Buddhist Temple. All these years had not refined his short temper, and allowed him to reassess how the things of the world appeared to be.

The common people always had insatiable desires—they were driven by material wealth, authority, rank, women, glory, love, hate, anger, or ignorance. Yet they were willing to give up everything in exchange for the protection of the Wanlian Buddhist Temple, and eventually had their souls melt away, leaving them with nothing.

Because of this, Shoufan felt that the Wanlian Buddhist Temple was omnipotent. Any ordinary person had something they sought, and if one had a request, they therefore had a weakness. Even if they were arrogant like cultivators, who regarded themselves to be above other people, they were actually full of flaws. It went without saying that Demonic cultivators were seething with desires, and even Daoists and Buddhists were not completely free of them.

The higher the cultivation level, the more the cultivator was trying to obtain. The reason for this was, after one had seen the scenery at the top of a mountain, they would thirst for more, and would never agree to scale down to the middle of the mountain again, let alone return to the foot of the mountain. If one wanted to obtain more, they would also be filled with the desire.

Who was this Daozun of a Daoist sect, the oldest disciple of the once most formidable person in the world? Shoufan really wanted to know what the wishes hidden in his heart were. Once the veil was lifted, it would not matter who was the strongest—every single person was equal before their desires.

Shoufan was itching to see this Daozun Yun wallow in his desires with no way to escape his plight. Would that not prove that Daoist cultivators were inferior to Buddhists?

Thinking about it, Shoufan silently changed his finger seal, folding the fingers on both of his hands into a Lotus Seal of Eight Treasures. Shoufan’s spiritual seal had entered the breach, trying to disturb Yun Weisi’s mind to lead him astray and make him go mad. Shoufan’s consciousness slipped through to Yun Weisi’s amidst the layers of golden light.

Yun Weisi had already been surrounded by the sixteen people, and was desperate, like a cornered beast. His eyes were tightly closed, and although he seemed calm, his consciousness was struggling fiercely, and he had no place to retreat to.

The sword glow protecting him was getting weaker, and the Chunzhao Sword was lacking strength, like a candle flickering in the wind, ready to go out at any moment. At the same time, the golden light became even more dazzling.

Right now!

Shoufan’s consciousness pierced the golden light, sweeping towards the back of his opponent’s head!

Shoufan only needed to break the barrier in front of him, and thus invade the sea of Yun Weisi’s consciousness, which would ruin this Yun Weisi completely, so that even his soul would scatter away.

Yun Weisi’s spiritual power had been stranded, so he could not stop Shoufan. The latter smiled smugly in his heart, as he had his opponent under his control.

Wait…

In a moment, Shoufan’s trembled. If his consciousness had been corporeal, he would have stared at the sight, unable to believe his eyes.

What was he seeing?

His enemy’s sea of consciousness—

What he saw was not a cornered victim struggling to survive, not a mind and a consciousness on the verge of collapse, and not a feeble Daoist Heart threatened with imminent danger, completely constricted and hopeless. Shoufan saw a boundless sea of blood.

The foul stench assaulted his senses. Bones had surfaced from the blood, and every skull revealed an odd smile towards him. A tremendous power made him shrink back subconsciously, and the bloody sea flooded the earth in front of him, drowning his mind.

It was a trap from the very beginning!

Yun Weisi had noticed Shoufan’s intentions in advance, but did not reveal this. He watched as Shoufan came to his death, and used him as a breakthrough point to destroy the Lotus Formation!

By the time when Shoufan realized this, it was already too late.

The sea of blood surged high up, and the last thing Shoufan had felt was fear.

He had seen Yun Weisi’s secret.

In the depths of the sea of Yun Weisi’s consciousness was not a Daoist Heart, but—

A Demonic Heart!

Yun Weisi opened his eyes abruptly!

Red flames started to spread from the bottom of his eyes, quickly enveloping his pupils.

The red line, invisible to everyone’s eyes, became apparent, as violent as fire, and so bright that no one could extinguish it.

It happened because of the suffering caused by his desperate wishes in the Nine Layers of the Abyss, because of his heart that was tied in knots, and because of the seeds of demonic qi planted in him during his fights with demons. To bring them under control, he had forcibly broken off from Yun Hai, and later, to subdue the demonic qi, he had fused with Yun Hai again. But if demonic qi could fade away that easily, it would not have been able to turn one into a demon. As he was fighting against demons, the qi was being coerced to come out, and he could barely suppress it.

If they treated the symptoms but not the disease, the repressed demonic qi would sooner or later resurface like an erupting volcano, with things reaching an extreme, and, as a result, nothing would be able to restrict it again. Yun Weisi and Changming had understood this, so, inside the glazed pagoda of the Luo Capital, Changming had rather sacrifice his own chance at a breakthrough in his cultivation and the Sifei Sword’s spiritual powers to help Yun Weisi.

Yet right now, when he was inside a Lotus Formation in a Buddhists’ domain, Yun Weisi let his Demonic Heart wreak havoc. The red flames burst out. The preaching voices were getting louder, and scriptures were flourishing more, yet the result was the opposite of intended. He even felt that his thoughts had started to change.

Using the crack in the Diamond Lotus Formation created by Shoufan’s death, Yun Weisi could easily destroy it. But he had not done so.

He saw that Zhou Keyi was in a dangerous situation, and that Changming was caught in a dilemma.

A certain dark and gloomy thought took root in Yun Weisi’s heart.

Yun Weisi thought, It turns out that acting wilfully is so much fun.

The other fifteen guardians had noticed Shoufan’s death.

They attacked Yun Weisi even more resolutely.

Yun Weisi drew the bow without shooting, struggling against the overwhelming power of the Buddhist light.

Draw the bow without shooting: from Mencius: be prepared to attack

He saw the perplexed expression disappear from Changming’s face, and saw him rushing to Zhou Keyi in the end.

The corners of Yun Weisi’s mouth rose slightly. He was mocking himself with a cold expression.

He always knew that Jiufang Changming had treated him preferentially. However, these preferences and care were only the result of Yun Weisi having spent more time with him than the others, and because Yun Weisi understood him the best. In the past, even though Yun Weisi knew what he wanted, after being rejected, he always thought it was fine either way. If Yun Weisi could just see Changming, and remain by Changming’s side until the end, he would already be satisfied.

But thinking this was only deceiving himself and others. Now, Yun Weisi knew it was enough.

He did not want to bear it patiently at all.

And if he did not want to tolerate it, why would he force himself to do so?

The Demonic Heart was only an excuse for him to justify his connivance.

At this crucial moment, Jiufang Changming had finally confirmed Yun Weisi’s old worries, and proved his lies to be ridiculous. At most, Yun Weisi was only a bit more important to him, but not all that important that Jiufang Changming would throw away everything else for his sake.

Yun Weisi, your existence is an outright joke!

A voice blasted deep inside his mind, laughing at him maliciously and in a crazed manner.

Why don’t you turn into a demon!

Turn into a demon!

Nothing in this world will shackle you ever again. All mortals deserve death. You’ll get anything you want!

What’s the point in being a human?

Red flames suddenly burst out, obliterating the golden scriptures!

The gold and the red mixed together, gradually turning black. The intense dark flames burned vigorously. The Lotus Formation collapsed in an instant, and the fifteen people were forced to show themselves. They were struck with the black flames, and were caught in it in mid-air, turning into ash.

The lotus pond with Yun Weisi at the center of it started to tremble, and the water surged, crushing the stone lotuses. The quaking quickly spread, and the whole place was soon covered in cracks. The aggrieved souls from the pond were rushing away with howls, striving to be the first to run away in the opposite direction from Yun Weisi. Yet the black fire had engulfed them all as well, and everything was sucked into the vortex around Yun Weisi’s body.

The whirlpool of black flames was getting more and more solid, concealing Yun Weisi’s position.

Changming, for his part, was half a step late.

He rushed over with all his might, but could only watch Zhou Keyi’s body being dismembered, pieces of his flesh and skin falling into the pond, leaving only bones behind. Zhou Keyi’s spirit soul was sucked into the lotus pond.

Suffering caused by being struck with lightning and split into half was way less painful than this. Changming was so angered that his eyes were almost popping out. But just when he had managed to capture Zhou Keyi’s immortal souls, the black flames reached him!

He turned around, looking at the long flames breaking the black lotuses. Yun Weisi came closer step by step. His eyes were blood-red, and traces of madness were flashing through his calm exterior.

It was a body corrupted by a Demonic Heart, having already adopted the appearance of a demon!

Changming’s heart abruptly fell.

The lotus pond had been enveloped in the raging fire, and the formation was collapsing. Every incarnation had lost its form, and a person slowly appeared out of nowhere. It was Chunchi, the leader of the Wanlian Buddhist Temple.

Yun Weisi stopped, looking at Chunchi.

Three people were holding three positions, locked in a stalemate.

Chunchi’s line of sight swept past Changming, stopping at Yun Weisi. He suddenly recalled the last words of the master of the Wanjian Immortal Clan.

Yun Weisi will help you.