The Emperor Reigns Them All

Chapter 350 Special Treatment

As the Land Buddhism monks and the demon clan cultivators continued to compress the encirclement inwards, the Immortal Court cultivators felt more pressure. Some counterattacks were too impulsive, exposing their bodies, and those cultivators who were not smart enough to defend themselves began to get hurt.

The Land Buddhism monks and the demon clan cultivators relied on their numerical superiority. Some of them used firepower to suppress the Immortal Court cultivators, and some of them alternately advanced. Although this method of warfare was simple, as long as it was agile and in cohesion, it was a very effective way to attack. Before long, the activity space of the Immortal Court cultivators was smaller and they could not strike back.

Of course, in this process, there were also Immortal Court cultivators who were agile and responsive, had killed some demon clan cultivators and Land Buddhism monks but the latter’s loss was not great.

There was a 3-story attic on the side of the street where the demon clan and the Land Buddhism positions intersected, beyond the range of the Immortal Court cultivators’ bows and arrows. The attic frame was fairly complete. Li Ye looked at the formation of the Immortal Court cultivators and stood with Feihong Bodhisattva side by side on the roof.

“It seems that the Immortal Court has been crushed and they can’t strike back at all. But it is not easy to push forward from this point. At this moment, the two sides are close. The Immortal Court cultivators protect themselves by the walls and houses and their defensive formation is complete. Under this situation, it will be difficult for us not to be killed as we no longer have anything to cover ourselves during the charge.”

Li Ye said those words with acute military literacy. Thus his judgment on the battlefield situation would naturally be accurate.

When he attacked Huang Jingyuan in the past, the reason why he was able to get close quickly was that he relied on laying ambush beyond the opponent’s range of expectation. And the opponent’s defense was not tight enough to form a complete barrier in a hurry.

However, at the moment, although the Immortal Court cultivators were adverse, their formation was not chaotic. With the adjustments made by Huang Jingyuan in the battle before, the Immortal Court cultivators’ limited combat power was placed in the most reasonable position to ensure the greatest effect.

Feihong Bodhisattva had no expression on her face. Or it could be said that she didn’t show any abnormal expression or attitude.

Most of the time, she looked calm and casual and you couldn’t tell what she was thinking.

She was bold and wild when she was drinking. But when she was not drinking, she was quiet; there was a sharp contrast.

If it weren’t for the fact that everyone knew her identity as the Bodhisattva of Land Buddhism as soon as they laid eyes on her, they might think that she were an Immortal of the Taoist sect based on her actions.

Feihong Bodhisattva didn’t speak, and Li Ye didn’t care. After all, he had just tricked her.

Li Ye continued, “As the heads of the seventy-two Earth Devils, Chen Jizhen and Huang Jingyuan are sent to unify the world, recover the rules, and maintain the orthodox order of the Taoist sect. They not only have the secret method to suppress the demon clan, but also hold the magic weapon given by the Immortal Court. Does the Bodhisattva have the confidence to deal with the two men who are extraordinary powerful when they are together?”

Li Ye had fought with Huang Jingyuan before. Even though he had comprehended the second realm of Way of Emperor, and the mysterious realm had also closed the absolute gap between their cultivations, he still had no chance to win in the frontal attack. Once Huang Jingyuan and Chen Jizhen joined together, one plus one must be greater than two. Li Ye naturally would not want to fight recklessly.

As the Great Power of Land Buddhism, before Feihong Bodhisattva descended to the world, Chen Jizhen and Huang Jingyuan were far from being comparable to her in terms of reputation and cultivation. Although she was now stuck in a bad situation, Li Ye still had some confidence in her strength.

Feihong Bodhisattva glanced at Li Ye with an angry look.

This glance was full of warning and indignation, just like Li Ye had done very unreasonable things to her, and she was greatly wronged.

Feihong Bodhisattva sulked. “You provoked the battle, and you also dragged Land Buddhism into the water. Now you want me to clear up this mess for you?”

After hearing those words, Li Ye was speechless.

It really made sense and it was all true. Objectively speaking, this was indeed the case.

The key point was that Feihong Bodhisattva, the superior Great Power, used such a tone of accusation when she said this.

Full of grievance.

Even Li Ye couldn’t help but feel ashamed, deeply feeling apologetic for her.

After a long time, Li Ye coughed and quickly changed the topic, “Such vulgar words seemed weird to have come out from the Bodhisattva’s mouth.”

Feihong Bodhisattva snorted, “Compared to what you have done, I think those words are very elegant.”

Li Ye, “...”

He had nothing to say, not because he choked, but the attitude of Feihong Bodhisattva was fresh and smart when she was talking, like a girl next door—she even lifted her nose when she crooned.

Naturally, it was not strange for ordinary people, but it was Feihong Bodhisattva before him. Not to mention that in the eyes of the world, she was that dignified and sacred existence that could not be blasphemed. Even during the encounter in the Battle of Hedong, she was always calm and expressionless.

She always looked like a person in the painting.

But at this moment, she came out of the painting.

Li Ye blushed with shame and added, “Buddhists often say that ‘fullness’ and ’emptiness’ are the same things. And the mortals also say that great vulgarity is great elegance.”

“Bullshit!” What Feihong Bodhisattva replied to Li Ye were those two shocking words. She raised her delicate jaw and gave Li Ye a glance. With that action, she even revealed a hint of rudeness like a dominant female innkeeper.

Then, with a slightly disdainful tone, she said to Li Ye, “Goodness is goodness, evil is evil, black is black, and white is white. If goodness and evil are not distinguished, black and white are indistinguishable, wouldn’t the world be in peril?”

Li Ye countered, “There’s an ugly side to every beauty. Everything in the world is a mixture of goodness and evil. Black and white are blended. There are few purely good or bad things or people. Isn’t too bias that Bodhisattva said this arbitrarily? If you are right, how could you explain that ‘everything visible is empty’?”

—“Everything visible” refers to the colorful world, meaning everything in the world. “Empty” means nothingness and nihility. “Everything visible is empty” was like the theory of “to be or not to be” in the Taoist sect. There were three thousand ways of the Great Tao but was only one philosophy behind them.

Feihong Bodhisattva laughed aloud, and even sat on the roof. She took out the flagon and poured wine down her throat. And then she began to talk with Li Ye with a swipe of her mouth. She was getting excited, it turned out that she had a very strong urge for discussion. And she wanted to sit down and discuss Tao with Li Ye.

Naturally, Li Ye was no frightened, so he immediately sat down next to Feihong Bodhisattva.

Feihong Bodhisattva stretched out her hand and passed the flagon to Li Ye.

Li Ye didn’t hesitate. He took the flagon and raised his head to drink.

With a swipe of the mouth he said, “Fantastic.” He then returned the flagon to Feihong Bodhisattva.

It was only then that Li Ye suddenly realized that this flagon was the Jade Vase!

But he was not entangled with it, even if this treasure was in his hands, he couldn’t exactly keep it for himself.

The two started a heated debate with a flagon of wine. When the discussion got to high interest, and no one could persuade the other, they even stared at each other like they were about to eat the other alive.

Fierce battles were still going on and the repressive attacks of the demon clan cultivators and the Land Buddhism monks could not results quickly. But as the battle wore on, the results were gradually accumulating.

However, most of them were only of the Warrior Mentor Realm, and their Spiritual Qi and bodies couldn’t sustain continuous fighting. Therefore, in the end, it became a deadlock.

Gradually, the crossfire of the crossbows slowed. Later, the sounds almost stopped, with only occasional firing noises. Or a large-scale exchange of fire broke out when the other party made sudden moves. Most of the time, everyone was hurrying to recover.

When it reverted to a certain level, there would be another fierce offensive and defensive battle until both sides were exhausted again.

Such regular, intermittent fighting continued for three days and nights.

Li Ye had known that the battle would be like this, so he had been talking with Feihong Bodhisattva. They drank and talked on the roof, but basically had no rest for three days and nights either. When they felt tired, they would sit quietly, looking at the scenery, and drank.

Feihong Bodhisattva was the Great Power of Land Buddhism with a deep understanding of the Tao. There was an old saying, ‘Good advice is beyond all price’, and talking with the wise, often gave people a sense of openness. This conversation between Li Ye and Feihong Bodhisattva was like that.

For the cultivators, both from heaven or earth, they rarely had a chance to listen to Feihong Bodhisattva’s lectures on Buddha Dharma, let alone a three-day debate.

On the way to the enlightenment of Tao, Li Ye went a lot further.

Li Ye was in a good mood.

Feihong Bodhisattva was also in a good mood.

In the beginning, Feihong Bodhisattva was just curious. When they met for the first time, how Li Ye could resist the power of her Immortal Area and not “enter the painting”. She wanted to figure out how deep that Li Ye had comprehended the Tao.

These three days of debate on Tao gave her a clear understanding of this.

As it pertained to the comprehension of Tao, Feihong Bodhisattva was a real master and Li Ye was far from that. That was the difference between an immense number of books and a box of books.

But Li Ye had a great sense, the experience of the earth, an open-minded vision, and a different mind than ordinary people. That was his strength. Therefore, he did not have too much restraint in understanding problems, and he could often pierce to the heart of the matters and infer other things from one fact.

In this argument, Feihong Bodhisattva also benefited a lot.

On the way to enlightenment, getting rid of restraint and being enlightened were two very important points. In this regard, Li Ye had given Feihong Bodhisattva a lot of ideas.

The decisive joining of forces of Li Ye and Feihong Bodhisattva had already surprised many people. This time, their three-day discussion had stunned everyone, especially the Land Buddhism monks who had witnessed it.

In their past battles of life and death, previous grudges could be put aside for a while to jointly resolve the common threats, but the fact that they had been discussing Tao for such a long time was too much to comprehend.

Especially for the Land Buddhism monks, they simply could not accept it.

Prior to this, Feihong Bodhisattva sustained wounds and suffered losses at Li Ye’s hands, which directly affected the overall situation of the battle of Hedong. It was also an important factor in Hedong’s unfavorable situation at the moment. After all, more than half of the eighteen arhats were killed by Li Ye. They were the powerful force of the Land Buddhism, and it was not a small blow to them.

How could Feihong Bodhisattva not hate Li Ye and find a chance to kill him?

Even if it was not possible to kill Li Ye at the moment due to the fact that they needed to join forces to eliminate the same enemy, it would still be impossible for Feihong Bodhisattva to open her mind to discuss Tao with Li Ye.

But Feihong Bodhisattva did just that. And from the beginning to the end, she was calm in temperament and behaved casually, without any reluctance.

The Cloth Bag Arhat even thought, “Has Bodhisattva been hoodwinked by Li Ye’s witchcraft? If not, how could he be treated so specially?”

In contrast, the demon clan cultivators were only surprised and shocked.

Zuo Che’er also smiled and said to Yang Tingge, “The Prince An is as sharp as a razor, who has made Feihong Bodhisattva lose her temper. That is Feihong Bodhisattva and even the Seven Saints must be obedient and courteous when they see her! When can I be as good as Prince An?”

Yang Tingge laughed. “Are you seeking for distress comparing yourself to the Prince An?”

Zuo Che’er was stunned at first. After thinking about it, he smirked while scratching his head, “You are right, how could I compare with the Prince An.”

Three days later, the situation on the battlefield changed. Li Ye and Feihong Bodhisattva had to suspend their discussions and adjust to the changing circumstances.