MF-novel Chapter 425 : Doubt
Chapter 425 : Doubt
After Lü Yang followed the Demon-Suppressing True Person and rode upon the escaping light out of the mountain gate, he soon saw the vast crowd gathered outside the Sword Pavilion’s entrance, bustling and noisy.At the forefront stood an old man.
He was covered in wrinkles, his figure slightly hunched, yet he wore a monk’s robe upon his body, holding a string of Buddhist beads in his hand, standing silently in the middle of the crowd.
‘.A Buddhist Cultivator.’
Lü Yang’s heart moved slightly, but he soon shook his head after seeing through the old man’s background. He knew the man had merely practiced a few Buddhist cultivation methods and recited a few sutras, but had not gained the recognition of the Pure Land. There were many such wandering cultivators across the world, yet they were entirely different from true Buddhist Cultivators.
‘But his courage surpasses that of genuine Buddhist Cultivators.’
Looking at the old man and the crowd behind him, Lü Yang could not help but sigh inwardly: what did a group of unaffiliated cultivators without backing intend to do gathered at the Sword Pavilion’s gate?
Rebellion!
‘.No, not right. Perhaps they do have someone backing them.’
Under normal circumstances, these people’s voices would not even reach the ears of the Demon-Suppressing True Person. There must be a hidden manipulator orchestrating everything from behind.
‘Evil-Banishing True Person and Bodhisattva Guang Ming? Have they moved so quickly?’
Lü Yang suddenly understood — the reason rogue cultivators had come to make trouble at the Sword Pavilion’s gate was not because the Pavilion respected them, but because someone within the Pavilion needed this chaos!
Yet, this was simply taking advantage of the Demon-Suppressing True Person. As the world’s foremost sword cultivator, he personally came out to greet a group of scattered cultivators — if this had happened in the Saint Sect, those people would have long since been vaporized on the spot, their souls sent to the Secret Realm of Law Refinement to serve as nourishment for the disciples’ cultivation.
“Shi Yuan, you’ve grown old.”
The Demon-Suppressing True Person descended in a streak of light before the old man. Seeing his monastic robe, his brows furrowed slightly before he sighed.
“It seems the aftermath of that year still troubles you greatly.”
“You’ve again grown thoughts of entering the Pure Land?”
As his words fell, the Demon-Suppressing True Person extended a hand, seemingly wanting to pat the old man’s shoulder — yet the next instant, his expression froze.
For the old man had stepped back.
His hand hung stiffly in midair, his gaze met the old man’s furious eyes, and in his ears suddenly rang a trembling accusation:
“Ye Guangji!”
The old man trembled all over, both fearful and hesitant, yet still he lifted his head firmly, actually calling out the Demon-Suppressing True Person’s personal name aloud.
“I ask you! That drop of Buddha’s Blood that fell into Jimo City back then — was it because of your battle with the Pure Land Great Virtue? You slew that Great Virtue, yet deliberately let the Buddha’s Blood fall into my Jimo City! Later, you used it as a pretext to massacre my entire city’s people — isn’t that the truth!?”
The old man’s voice thundered like rolling mountains.
Standing beside the Demon-Suppressing True Person, Lü Yang saw the followers behind the elder also gazing toward them, eyes filled with questioning and accusation.
However, Lü Yang felt nothing.
After all, Jimo City was but a minor rogue cultivator force, with only Mo Shiyuan, the old man — a mere Foundation Establishment True Person — while the rest were just Qi Refinement cultivators.
Hardly worth a thought, let alone a concern.
While Lü Yang remained unmoved, the Demon-Suppressing True Person’s expression changed. He exhaled a long breath, a helpless look spreading over his face.
“That affair of the past was not my doing — there were hidden reasons.”
After a pause, he sighed and continued, “When I battled Pure View, though I took his head and severed his form, it was not an easy feat.”
Still, as he always said — he was not yet a True Lord.
The world’s number one Foundation Establishment cultivator could, at best, slay a Bodhisattva in three strikes. Three swords meant the battle was a process — it showed that both sides still had room to struggle.
But if it had been a Golden Core True Lord?
Unless the World-Honored One personally descended, how could a mere Bodhisattva, no matter how miraculous, survive even one grasp?
The Demon-Suppressing True Person could not achieve that. He needed three swords — and thus, there were always some things beyond his control, such as a single drop of the Bodhisattva Pure View’s Buddha Blood.
“The Jimo City Incident was indeed caused by that drop of Buddha Blood. It contained the Pure Land’s evil method — the Chant of Conversion. All who heard or saw it were infected and transformed into Buddhist Cultivators. Had it not been stopped, Jimo City and even its surrounding regions might have turned into a miniature Pure Land.”
If she had succeeded, even in death, the Pure Land’s goal would have been fulfilled.
Moreover, since the Pure Land and the various True Lords had long reached an accord, none of the Sword Pavilion’s True Lords had acted.
It was even advantageous to the Demon-Suppressing True Person — afterwards, he could easily frame it as rogue cultivators going mad, and his slaying of them could be seen as righteous vengeance.
Yet he had refused.
He was not there to avenge the dead.
He was there to save them.
Thus, with but one sword, he decapitated every soul in Jimo City, severing their connection to the Pure Land’s influence and restoring their sanity.
Speaking thus far, the Demon-Suppressing True Person revealed a puzzled expression.
“I explained this to you years ago, Shi Yuan. Your relatives and friends did not die. Hadn’t you even met and spoken with them in past years?”
“Not dead?”
At those words, the old man’s eyes reddened instantly. “You deceived me! If you have nothing to hide, then open your storage pouch and let everyone see!”
The Demon-Suppressing True Person nodded calmly. He untied his storage pouch and opened it. In an instant, a sea of voices echoed from within. Countless severed heads were gathered in innumerable circles, chatting and laughing together, faces bright and joyful — without a hint of death or sorrow.
Yet the more lively it appeared, the more grotesque it became.
Even after seeing it many times, Lü Yang still felt his scalp crawl. As for the wandering cultivators behind the old man — they were utterly terrified, stumbling backward in horror.
“Look, all of you!”
“Do you think these are living beings?”
The old man’s eyes bulged with rage as he shouted, “A man without a body is a dead man! Below the neck, all is gone — how can such beings still be called alive!?”
“How are they not alive?” The Demon-Suppressing True Person appeared genuinely puzzled. With a wave of his hand, the once-decapitated people of Jimo City appeared before them. “You spoke with them not long ago. Though they never reached Foundation Establishment, my power shields them. After all these years, their faces remain unchanged.”
“You lie!”
The old man cut him off with a furious cry. “I have received guidance from the Great Virtue — these people are neither living nor dead! They are your puppets!”
“In name, you saved them; in truth, you enslaved them.”
“All those you have killed — they may appear unharmed, yet what you’ve given them is a punishment more terrifying than death itself! They are forever bound to your will, condemned to act as your thralls!”
Lü Yang: “.”
By the end, the old man was stamping his feet in fury. “Moreover, the Pure Land is the holiest of realms — how could we ever need your salvation? Were it not for your meddling, perhaps by now I would have cultivated in the Pure Land, become a Buddha, and enjoyed eternal bliss! Yet instead, I still suffer here in this dusty mortal world!”
“You have severed our path to the Buddha — and now seek to take our lives!”
“What ‘Sword of No Killing’? Lies for fame and false virtue!”
Lies for fame and false virtue!
As his voice fell, the entire crowd behind him roared in unison.
To Lü Yang, it was but a breeze brushing his cheek — insignificant. Yet to the Demon-Suppressing True Person, those cries made him exhale a deep sigh.
It was not the old man nor Jimo City that made him sigh.
As the world’s foremost sword cultivator, the Demon-Suppressing True Person had a gentle and approachable nature — yet that never meant he was weak.
Even accusations Lü Yang ignored would not truly shake him.
‘Shi Yuan is no well-informed man. For him to know about my storage pouch — and these things… it must have been someone within the Sword Pavilion who told him.’
That alone confirmed Lü Yang’s earlier report.
That was the true reason for his sigh.
‘So they could not even wait any longer?’
‘Do they so desperately wish for me to sacrifice the sword intent I have cultivated for a lifetime?’