Chapter 7
Chapter 7: The Vairocana Buddha, Life and Death Parting
Outside the city.
Pudu Cihang's Divine Procession did not linger long in Jing'an Perfecture—his destination appeared to be Lanruo Temple.
Jiang Linxian watched from a distance. As the Divine Procession passed over a marshland, it suddenly came to a halt.
A Buddhist Chant drifted out from within the Lotus Palanquin.
"Amitabha Buddha, since you have already come, why not step forward and show yourself?"
"I have nothing to say to a Centipede Sprite masquerading as a monk."
Lady White rarely spoke harshly—which made plain just how despicable Pudu Cihang truly was.
"That is merely a misunderstanding the world holds of me. Since you have come, Benefactress, you may as well stay."
Pudu Cihang shook his head and began to chant.
"Lay down the blade of slaughter and attain Buddhahood on the spot. The sea of suffering knows no shore; turn back and find the bank."
Lady White stood at the edge of the marshland. Her white robes looked all the more cold and pure amid the vast golden radiance flooding down.
The Buddhist Chant reached her ears, and at first it caused a faint tremor in her mind—but in an instant, the Demon Core forged from a thousand years of cultivation stirred of its own accord, circulating within her and repelling the chant's attempt to soften and erode her will.
Lady White's magic was unleashed without warning, clashing utterly with the golden Buddhist Chant—like a razor-sharp white blade cutting through embroidered silk.
She straightened 2 fingers into a sword gesture, pointing directly at the radiant Lotus Palanquin.
Tss!
A sliver of white blade energy shot from her fingertips.
The lotus petal illusions on the ground below—formed from the condensed golden light of the Divine Procession—shuddered violently like reflections struck by a thrown stone, then shattered in silence.
Within the all-pervading, soul-soothing Buddhist Chant, an imperceptibly faint discordant tremor appeared.
That tremor might have gone unnoticed by those already entranced, but for the one upon the Divine Procession, it struck like a thunderclap.
"Hmm?"
Inside the Lotus Palanquin, the majestic and compassionate Buddhist Chant faltered.
Though only for an instant, it left a crack in that perfect, flawless "Sacred Tone."
Then—
Lady White moved. She stepped forward.
A faint, moonlit-white lotus seemed to bloom beneath her feet as her figure became a streak of pale white smoke, appearing in an instant directly before the Lotus Palanquin, suspended in midair.
Her robes billowed gently. Her expression was cold and still as the autumn moon reflected in a silent pool—a stark contrast to the blazing golden radiance that filled the sky.
"Centipede Sprite—how dare you borrow the Buddha's name to deceive and corrupt the hearts of men?"
Before the words had fully left her lips, her hands had already formed an ancient and profound seal before her chest.
No demonic surge rose from her—only a layer of clear, warm moonlight radiating from her body, and behind her, the faint silhouette of an enormous coiled White Serpent materialized, its clear and icy serpent eyes gazing down upon the Buddhist Procession below.
"Break!"
The seal thrust outward. A bolt of pure, concentrated white energy erupted from her palm.
The white bolt drove straight toward the core of the Lotus Palanquin—toward the figure behind that veiled curtain!
Pudu Cihang's reaction revealed the terrifying depth of a thousand-year Demon Lord.
The Lotus Palanquin did not budge. The great Buddhist Chant merely paused for an instant before surging back even higher—more solemn and urgent than before.
"The sea of suffering knows no shore—turn back and find the bank! Release your obsessions and attain Buddhahood on the spot!"
As the amplified chant rang out, the golden light around the Lotus Palanquin blazed. The 8 bearers and the procession children stopped in unison, turned around, and faced Lady White.
The hollow, compassionate smiles on their faces did not change. They opened their mouths as one and released a thunderous chorus, identical in tone to the Lotus Palanquin.
Dozens of voices layered together—the power of the Buddhist Chant increased tenfold, crashing toward Lady White like an invisible tidal wave, attempting to utterly drown and dismantle her at the spiritual level.
At the same time, the golden light before the Lotus Palanquin condensed on its own, instantly forming a golden light-shield engraved with twisting Sanskrit characters, blocking the white bolt.
BOOM!
When the radiance faded, the golden light-shield was visibly shaking, its surface corroded by the white bolt into a deep dent, cracks spreading outward—yet it held. The white bolt, its power spent, dissolved into the air.
The 1st exchange appeared to be a draw.
Jiang Linxian had used the time to slip out of the city and conceal himself in the marsh grass nearby, watching the battle unfold. The serpent scales on his body itched more fiercely with every passing moment, and the Dragon Pearl nearly overflowed with Spiritual Energy.
For the moment, though, all attention was fixed on Pudu Cihang and Lady White, and no one spared a glance for him.
He hoped Lady White would succeed—but from what he could see, Pudu Cihang, who had gained dominion over an entire dynasty as its National Preceptor, wielded far greater power.
Pudu Cihang knew this thousand-year Serpent Demon was no easy prey. He would use her to try out a new technique.
"Stubborn and blind—without beholding the Tathagata, one can never be delivered."
He spoke, and his voice was no longer that of one person—it layered and folded, as though ten thousand believers were sighing, chanting, and expounding the dharma all in the same moment.
The vast Buddhist Chant that Lady White's moonlight had partially diminished returned with a hundredfold, a thousandfold force—no longer soothing, but a crushing, commanding edict bearing supreme authority!
The heavens and earth shifted.
Above the marshland, the sky that Pudu Cihang's golden light had dyed collapsed inward and condensed.
It formed a searing, blindingly bright golden vortex at its center.
Boundless divine pressure descended.
Lady White bore the full brunt of it. Her body sank sharply under the force, and the moonlight surrounding her was compressed to barely 3 inches from her skin.
She felt as though the entire sky had become a golden Five-Finger Mountain, slowly pressing down upon her.
How could this be? A Centipede Sprite had cultivated Buddhist techniques to such a profound depth?!
"Namo—A—mi—tuo—Fo——"
Pudu Cihang and all the children and bearers chanted the Buddha's name together in one long, drawn-out declaration. The instant the final syllable fell—
"Vairocana Buddha!!"
The golden vortex erupted with a thunderous blast!
Boundless light, boundless heat, boundless divine authority.
The golden form of the Vairocana Buddha manifested from within the blaze of gold!
It stood over a hundred zhang tall, its hair coiled in a sacred topknot, its face full and round as the moon, earlobes hanging to its shoulders. Its brows and eyes were half-lowered, and at the corners of its lips rested a compassionate smile that encompassed all living beings.
Around its body, jeweled light and golden radiance flowed like waterfalls.
When Jiang Linxian saw this, he immediately knew things had gone terribly wrong—Lady White had likely been immobilized.
The golden-form Tathagata was already slowly raising one enormous golden palm.
The motion was unhurried, solemn, and weighty—as though it moved with the turning of the stars themselves.
5 fingers parted slightly, palm facing downward. The swastika seal pulsed at the center of the palm, carrying the will to deliver all living things, and pressed downward slowly toward Lady White!
The suppression of Buddhist power—unavoidable.
A dull, thunderous impact rang through the sky, swallowed immediately by the ever-swelling Buddhist Chant.
Lady White's slender figure—like a snapped, white kite without its string—was struck by the edge of that enormous golden palm's boundless force.
Blood burst from Lady White's mouth, tracing a devastating arc through the sky full of Buddhist light.
The moonlight surrounding her shattered in an instant, like shards of a broken glass lantern, scattering in all directions and dissolving into the golden Buddhist radiance.
Her magic could no longer be sustained.
The air twisted with colliding forces. Where white light and golden radiance clashed violently, a long, pained, and piercing cry rang out.
The next second, a white form erupted outward.
A massive, graceful, and slender White Serpent revealed herself beneath the golden Buddhist palm!
She bore none of the grotesque brutality of an ordinary demon—instead, she radiated a breathtaking beauty that fused the sacred and the demonic.
The Vairocana Buddha's suppression of demon-kind was too overwhelming. Even though Lady White had cultivated Orthodox Method, she could not break free. A wild-path Great Demon would likely be crushed and sealed with a mere backhand.
It was not that Lady White had been careless—no one could have anticipated that a Centipede Sprite would have mastered Buddhist techniques to such depths, let alone summoned a Tathagata manifestation.
At this point, Pudu Cihang dropped all pretense of the virtuous monk, and open greed for Lady White gleamed in his eyes.
If he devoured this Serpent Demon and then absorbed the Dragon Fortune, his odds of achieving Dragon Transformation would already reach 70%.
Lady White still had the will to resist—but she was already a turtle in a jar.
Just as Pudu Cihang was about to make his move, a great surge of Spiritual Energy erupted from the marsh grass far in the distance. When he looked with his true sight, he found yet another White Serpent.
Hmm?
Pudu Cihang found himself seized by an even greater craving when his gaze fell upon this one.
Could it be that this serpent carried a trace of true Dragon bloodline?
"Amitabha Buddha. It seems Heaven itself is aiding this poor monk."
To everyone's astonishment, Pudu Cihang simply abandoned Lady White entirely and fixed his sights on Jiang Linxian.
Lady White had been prepared to fight to the death—but when she saw Jiang Linxian, her composure crumbled.
"Little Immortal, run!"
Jiang Linxian naturally wanted to flee—but it was obvious he had already been marked.
And Lady White—where were your allies?
Had she truly come to assassinate Pudu Cihang alone? That was far too bold.
Fortunately, Jiang Linxian noticed that he did not seem to be suppressed by Pudu Cihang's Buddhist power at all. He also reasoned that Pudu Cihang would not be reckless enough to abandon his current host body just to chase him down—after all, that body was the cornerstone of his scheme to seize an entire dynasty's Fortune.
But he quickly realized he had underestimated just how alluring he was to this Centipede Sprite. Pudu Cihang had truly and directly abandoned Lady White and was coming straight for him.
Seeing this, Jiang Linxian had no choice but to make the most of the situation.
"Sss!"
That hiss meant nothing to Pudu Cihang—but Lady White understood it perfectly, and a single tear ran down her cheek.
Jiang Linxian dove into the marsh waters in the opposite direction. Since he had already been marked, he might as well earn Lady White a debt of gratitude.
"Strange."
Pudu Cihang found that his Buddhist light could not suppress this Serpent Demon—but he did not dwell on it and went after the serpent himself.
A newly manifested Serpent Demon—where could it possibly escape to?
With Pudu Cihang's departure, Lady White broke free of her bindings. She did not flee immediately, but hesitated.
Jiang Linxian glanced back at her once. His meaning could not have been clearer.
Little Immortal……
After wavering several times, Lady White finally turned and left in the opposite direction—spending the last of her magic on the way to harass Pudu Cihang, again and again.
Pudu Cihang paid her no heed, pressing forward through Lady White's spells. The escaped White Serpent drew him with a pull nearly equal to that of the Nation's Destiny.
This larger one—he was no longer so concerned with her.
Once Jiang Linxian confirmed that Lady White had gotten away, he plunged headlong into the deep water.
Pudu Cihang arrived at the very spot where Jiang Linxian had been almost the instant Jiang Linxian left it, thrusting one hand directly into the marsh.
"Got you!"
Pudu Cihang withdrew his hand—only to find nothing in his palm but a length of wet, slippery shed serpent skin. He slowly closed his 5 fingers; the skin rasped with a faint sound like crumbling leather.
The mask of compassionate Buddhist light cracked and fell away from his face.
How could this be?!
"Cunning Serpent Demon—scour this entire waterway! Dig 3 feet into the earth if you must—I want him found!"
"Yes!"
The remaining Minor Demons shuddered with a start, then transformed into several dark shadows and vanished in silence into the depths of the dense, gloomy marsh.