Mt. Mijie within the Buddhist Nation, a sacred mountain held in the highest esteem in the Buddhist Nation. Today, it played host to a group of unwelcome visitors.

Upon making camp, Ning Chen gave the order to seal off the route to said mountain. With only one road leading into the mountain, there was no other way in. As for whether or not there were other hidden routes leading in or out, that was something he had no way of finding out now.

As of this moment, Mt. Mijie was at its weakest point ever. As long as that old abbot and his experts remained elsewhere, this mountain couldn't be considered that same forbidden grounds of yesteryears that inspired fear in its enemies.

Naturally, the mountain wasn't completely devoid of experts so a.s.saulting it wouldn't be that easy either.

"Make camp here."

Giving it some thought, Ning Chen barked an order for the forbidden army to rest on the spot. Their journey to this sacred mountain was one fraught with battle. Given that, Mt. Mijie most likely made preparations to welcome them already and thus there was no point in rus.h.i.+ng either.

At times like this, he really missed Prince Yan. If the senior was here, he wouldn't even need to care about such nonsense at all, all they had to do was a.s.sault.

In this world, martial might wasn't omnipotent but the lack of it made you impotent.

Regarding how many defenders were left behind on the mountain, he had no way of uncovering that information. He did, however, know that the old abbot and his four dharmapalas were gone. With that, the majority of their known experts had basically left for Gu Lan City. The only thing he feared right now were those hidden forces every sect had.

These experts usually didn't show themselves in public but were extremely strong and formed the foundation of their respective sects; truly people Ning Chen didn't want to offend.

Night slowly fell and yet atop Mt. Mijie, a radiant Buddhist glow shone over the entire mountain base, illuminating it in a warm glow that jockeyed for dominance with the moon itself.

Even at night, this imposing Buddhist mountain inspired wors.h.i.+p from those who saw it. Such an majesty was the crystallization of countless years of Buddhism history that stretched so far back no one could even uncover its depths. By the time it reached the era of the Western Doya's head abbot, it could be said to have reached its peak with a Third-Calamity Xiantian guarding the faith. With such a terrifying leader, there was no one in this world who would recklessly try and invade them.

Currently, Ning Chen was seated within his tent, keeping little Ming Yue company as he quietly stared at the mountain. Putting aside all these b.l.o.o.d.y matters for a moment, Mt. Mijie truly was a perfect spot for sightseeing given its picturesque surroundings.

The pair sat there for a long while, taking in the sights. Neither spoke and each mulled over their own concerns as they sat there.

Unknowingly, this war had gone on for several months already. Spring was more than half over and summer was about to arrive. Yet no one knew how long more would this war drag on for.

A single Fan Lingyue was already enough to turn Grand Xia into a dishevelled mess. With these d*mned donkeys thrown into the mix, Grand Xia's internal situation was nothing but a chaotic mess now.

Staring at the Buddhist mountain before him, Ning Chen couldn't help but fume. These accursed monks, rather than cultivate, or purge evil and aid the virtuous, they actually chose to war with Grand Xia, truly a bunch of donkeys with waterlogged brains.

"What are you thinking about?" Ming Yue asked out of curiosity, having observed the teen for a while now.

"I'm just wondering how are we going to scale that mountain and then blow it up."

"…" Ming Yue was at a loss for words. Clearly, that was impossible and even she knew that.

Mt. Mijie was big and scary, plus it was full of hard rocks. Even that whatcha call it explosives shouldn't be able to do much against that.

"Ming Yue, did you sign some kind of agreement with the Buddhist Nation?" Ning Chen asked after a brief pause to contemplate.

Back during his little jaunt in the Mongolian territories, he met a junior monk wandering around one of the towns. No matter how Ning Chen looked at that incident, it clearly wasn't a coincidence. Like Grand Xia, the Mongols usually didn't believe in Buddhism, so what was a monk doing there?

"Nope." She shook her head. All these years, their relations.h.i.+p had been one of "the well water does not intrude upon the river water". There were no grudges between the two kingdoms but neither were there any communications between them.

Hearing that, Ning Chen sighed mentally in resignation and asked no more. Mostly likely, this matter was one that only the head abbot and Fan Lingyue knew about. Probing further was pointless.

Five days had almost gone by, Ning Chen mused to himself. How was Qing Ning doing over there right now?

Compared to Fan Lingyue, Ning Chen wasn't all that concerned with those monks in Gu Lan City. At the very least, they weren't well-versed in the art of war and should be a lot easier to deal with. Of course, that was a.s.suming the head abbot wasn't there to lead the charge.

Such overwhelming martial power tended to nullify any sort of schemes and that was exactly what concerned him right now.

Thankfully, the Buddhist Nation didn't possess a tactician of Fan Lingyue's caliber or they really didn't have to fight this war at all.

"Ming Yue, want to go on a trip up the mountain?" As he asked that, Ning Chen threw a look at the imposing Buddhist mountain.

"You're sure I won't slow you down?" Ming Yue gingerly asked.

"It's fine, if it's just us, it will be safe."

Those hidden forces on the mountain wouldn't show themselves so easily after all. As long as the thousand forbidden guards stayed below, both of them should be safe.

Hearing that, Ming Yue nodded her little head. She did in fact desire to have a look.

Even though everyone knew of Mt. Mijie located within the Buddhist Nation, the number of people who were actually able to scale it were far and few between. If she were to say that she wasn't curious, that would be an obvious lie.

"Let's go."

Immediately, he picked up little Ming Yue and turned into a ray of light that rushed towards the mountaintop.

Mt. Mijie was an imposingly tall mountain. It reached over a thousand zhang (3333km) and even pierced the clouds. In front of such a towering mountain, humans were nothing but ants.

The Western Doya temple held the highest peak amongst all the other Buddhist temples and could be said to be just as imposing as the mountain itself. Just looking at its gigantic size, one couldn't help but wonder how much blood and sweat had been expended by the faithful to build it.

Ning Chen always held this belief that in this world, these fake Buddhists were all vampires who fed on human meat and human blood. Other than cannibalizing on the labor of their millions or so of faithful, they basically did nothing and merely waited to be fed.

Exactly where was their Buddha to be found?

Hugging the little girl tightly, he charged up the mountain road all the way to the Western Doya Temple. Throughout that journey, he never stopped, not even once. Neither did he encounter any resistance along the way.

Naturally, that didn't mean he went completely unnoticed either.

At the very least, he felt the gazes of three Ninth-grade experts sweep over him. They did so in a stealthy manner; they clearly didn't wish to be noticed.

With regards to such cowardly curs, he wasn't willing to waste any effort on them. As long as they stayed hidden like that, he wasn't opposed to playing the fool.

Moon bright and hung high above, it accompanied the pair with its silvery radiance all the way up to the Western Doya Temple.

*Dong*

A clarion chime echoed throughout the entire Mt. Mijie as if it was warning the inhabitants of an unwelcome guest.

Right at the very top was a giant Buddha statue, over a hundred zhang tall, carved right into the mountain face. The Buddha had on a peaceful expression but even so, it radiated a natural sort of dominance. From its imposing perch, it bathed those who looked upon it with the golden glow of Buddhism and imparted an imperceivable and undescribable pressure on them.

This statue wasn't just any old statue. Having been infused with Buddhist energies by countless generations of esteemed monks, its glow had basically become undying and was now a miracle in its own right.

Lowering little Ming Yue, Ning Chen came to a stop in front of the Buddhist figure. He wanted to see for himself exactly what was so miraculous about this statue of theirs.

At over a hundred zhang tall and bathed in golden light, it truly felt like Buddha himself had descended onto the mortal realm and was overlooking the mortal realm.

In order to bewitch their faithful, these hypocrites had to have some tricks up their sleeve. This imposing Buddha statue, this man made Buddhist miracle, was one such trick.

Ning Chen walked up to the statue and reached out to touch it. The moment he did so however, a surge of Buddhist energies that almost seemed at the level of a Xiantian, rushed at him.

At the end of the day however, an inanimate object was just that, an inanimate object. No matter how much power it possessed, it was useless.

"Marquis Zhiming of Grand Xia, the sacred lands of Buddhism aren't lands you should tread upon, please see yourself out at once." It was then that a powerful presence made itself known with that warning.

"Buddhism espouses that all life is equal, if you all are permitted why am I not?" Ning Chen coldly smirked as he replied.

"Buddhism graces those who are fated, your murderous sins are too heavy and you have shown no intention of turning over a new leaf. The faith does not welcome you." That voice boomed once more.

*s.h.i.+ng*

The Ink Sword left its scabbard and was stabbed into the ground after which Ning Chen blandly declared, "I've laid down the butcher's knife, does that mean I can become a Buddha now? See for yourself, my knife has been lowered and yet those of your faith are still slaughtering people in Gu Lan City. Exactly who is the Buddha here and who is the devil?"

(TL: Just some saying which goes, lay down the butcher's knife and you can become a Buddha. Not sure if there's some official translation for that but the usage is to persuade an evildoer to see the light.)

"Sophistry!" As the voice boomed once more, a noticeable hint of anger could be heard within. Immediately, an overwhelming palm energy descended upon Ning Chen, its aim, to suppress this blasphemer.

Even so, Ning Chen showed no fear whatsoever. With a flip of his hands, his body radiated a blue light. His palm shot upwards to meet with the palm strike, not willing to budge an inch at all.

*boom* The ground in front of the statue quaked. All around, the stone tiles shattered, forming a snaking crack a hundred zhang long.

All that from the power of a palm strike. Truly frightening, these Buddhist experts. And yet the blasphemer was just as strong.

Beneath the Buddha statue, that lone figure stood there as unmoving as a mountain. Having cultivated the martial path till now, Ning Chen was no longer that easily bullied teenager of yesteryears.

A mere Late Ninth-grade wishes to kill him? Such a foolish dream.

"Ming Yue, step back for a moment, I'm just going to fix this Buddha's feet real quick."

Pulling her back a dozen paces, he called forth the Ink Sword and with one surge of frost and snow, swung down viciously at the statue.

*boom* The statue quaked followed immediately by a deafening sound of cracking that seemed to drag on for an eternity as the snaking crevice continued to expand.

"Blasphemy!' Incensed, the expert within the temple charged out with a flash and appeared before the pair, eyes and palm glowing with energy as he sliced downwards with his palm.

*Clang*

Sword point clashed with diamond palm, giving off that signature clang of mineral and metal. The resulting shockwave blasted the two men, and caused their clothes to flap violently in the wind.

"Blasted Diamond Body." Ning Chen griped to himself. Truly a disgusting Buddhist technique.

In a fight, an opponent you couldn't defeat wasn't scary at all, what was scary was an opponent that couldn't die. This Diamond Body of theirs rendered them nigh impervious to blades and swords, and truly made any attempts at battle pointless.

Till now, he failed to uncover a way to handle this const.i.tution of theirs effectively. Fighting them headon was clearly too much of a waste of energy and not an option.

"Bah, I give up, Ming Yue, we're leaving."

With a wave of his sword, he pushed away the monk and immediately reached out to grab little Ming Yue.

"Just because you wish to leave, you think you can? Exactly where do you think you are right now?!" In the middle of his yelling, the monk lashed out, golden glow radiating ever brighter by the second till it seemed to fill the entire sky.

"Buddhist Sacred Words: Rulai Basks in the Heavenly Light."

Rulai ever so imposing, makes his ironclad words known!

Lines after lines of sanskrit descended from the heavens in a blinding display of golden light. The technique which the Bodhisattva once used to slay demons made its appearance once more.

As the Bodhisattvas descended, the sounds of chanting echoed throughout the mountaintop, a.s.saulting Ning Chen's psyche with a barrage of blows.

"F*ck"

The chanting grew ever more deafening to the point where Ning Chen finally lost his patience. With a flash, he appeared before the monk, who was most likely a Vajra of the temple, and with one vicious swing of ink and frost, slashed at his eyes.

Once more, the clanging of metal and mineral boomed. This time however, the monk didn't get off scot free. As the sword energy rushed into the Vajra's body, his eyes burned from the piercing pain. His blood roiled and his innards churned. Immediately, the purifying Buddhist figures behind him shattered like gla.s.s.

Flipping his palm, Ning Chen gathered even more True Qi and with one overwhelming display of ocean blue Qi, struck out at the monk's Dantian with his palm.

*Bang*

The Vajra flew backwards ten paces, blood streaking out of his mouth as he did so. Around him, the golden glow of Buddha began to dim.

"Just so d*mned hard to kill, I swear." Ning Chen cursed as he flicked his palm which had gone numb from the reverberations of striking such a hard body.

His mood was terrible at the moment. His opponent was merely a late Ninth-grade expert and yet it took him that much effort to wound him. Had it been that old abbot or those four dharmapalas, that strike probably wouldn't have made them budge at all.

"Well, take care of yourself for now. I'll be back tomorrow."

Having said that, he tarried no longer and disappeared in a ray of light with little Ming Yue.

With the pair gone, the monk retreated as well. No longer able to suppress his internal wounds, he spat out a gout of fresh blood.

As the moon hung high above the statue of Buddha, its silvery light cast a glaring spotlight on the stone shards scattered all around and the conspicuously missing feet of the Buddha. What was once a benevolent gaze now held within it a hint of fury as it watched over the mountain base, seemingly furious at the great disrespect it had suffered at the hands of that debaser.