From a refugee to a martial artist

Chapter 303 Perfection of the Essence Fire
The night is deep and there is no moon.

Zhihe seemed to have gone mad as he headed towards Meng Yuan, but Dugu Ying arrived first, a wisp of smoke meeting the Buddha's light.

The two separated immediately upon contact, and Dugu Ying retreated hastily before disappearing into the darkness.

After Na Zhihe defeated Dugu Ying with a single blow, the Buddhist light emanating from his body intensified.

The Buddha's light should have a righteous and bright meaning, but the Buddha's light emanating from Zhihe's body was tinged with blood.

Zhihe showed no mercy, transforming into a radiant light that surged towards Meng Yuan once more.

"The only thing we can do now is to stall!" Jie Kaiping, who had just been shouting that they should go side by side, now retreated after shouting, clearly quite frightened by Zhihe.

Meng Yuan had already summoned the gods to descend to earth, and his mind was as calm as a still lake, undisturbed by external things.

However, in this situation, Meng Yuan knew that he absolutely could not confront Zhihe head-on.

This wisdom and the motivation to sacrifice oneself to become a Buddha clearly demonstrate that one is willing to give up one's life and exert all one's strength.

This method is similar to Nirvana and Returning to Heaven, burning away flesh and blood, even the flames of life. However, Nirvana and Returning to Heaven is a method of seeking life in the midst of death, while sacrificing oneself to become a Buddha is a method of fighting to the death.

Just then, a figure in black emerged from the light-colored Buddhist light emanating from the thin black robes. Dugu Ying appeared behind Zhihe.

Suddenly, a candle seemed to ignite around Dugu Ying, and the flame then enveloped Zhihe. Immediately afterward, the long sword in Dugu Ying's hand shone with a blinding light as she charged towards Zhihe with all her might.

This is the Heavenly Secret Divine Power Box Sword and Curtain Lamp!
Although Meng Yuan didn't have much tacit understanding with Dugu Ying, he knew this was an opportunity. He immediately stepped forward without hesitation, and with a flying rainbow, he was already five steps in front of Zhihe.

He then used Bodhi to extinguish the path and open the way, and then with a single stroke he cleaved open the cave, and thousands of floating lights surged out.

Despite being attacked from both sides, Zhihe showed no signs of being overwhelmed. Instead, he completely ignored Meng Yuan's offensive and struck Dugu Ying with a single palm.

It was as if a high mountain had collapsed, a great river had surged, and Buddha's light had soared into the sky; it was clearly Zhihe's Buddha-manifestation that moved mountains and rivers once again.

But Zhihe did not defend his back, and the power of Bodhi's Annihilation of the Path arrived in the blink of an eye. Then, countless streams of light shuttled through the endless Buddha light, and all kinds of colors touched the Buddha light, the two echoing each other and illuminating a piece of the sky.

Bodhi Extinction Path and Floating Light Cave Heaven are both unique skills that Meng Yuan relied on to defeat his enemies. He also used these two methods to defeat countless enemies and save his life several times.

At the seventh rank, none of those of the same level dared to directly confront these two techniques. Now, having advanced further, their power is even greater.

But despite these two formidable skills that had defeated countless enemies, Zhihe neither blocked nor dodged them, and instead went straight for Dugu Ying.

Dugu Ying's longsword shattered into dust, and the candlelight around him was instantly engulfed by Buddhist light.

The power of the Buddha's power to move mountains and rivers diminished slightly, but its might remained. Dugu Ying was not alarmed and turned to disappear into her black clothes. However, the Buddha's light suddenly intensified, and Dugu Ying reappeared, her entire body enveloped in the Buddha's light.

Dugu Ying knew she could no longer hide and had no choice but to block it head-on.

But the Buddha's power to move mountains and rivers is not an ordinary method of attack; rather, it is incredibly powerful, almost capable of destroying the world.

Although the Buddha's power to move mountains and rivers was partially blocked, its momentum remained, and countless fluorescent lights immediately appeared around Dugu Ying.

With a sudden crash, the fluorescent light shattered, and the Buddha's light entered the body.

Seeing that he had defeated Dugu Ying, Zhihe was about to give chase when he suddenly felt a force behind him, a feeling of pity mixed with a sense of impending doom.

"Bodhi and the path to annihilation are useless to me!" Zhihe did not turn around. The attack that had the power to destroy all things and all matters was actually wiped out without a trace when it met the Buddha light surrounding Zhihe.

But then countless more rays of light fell, piercing through the endless shimmering light, and all landed on Zhihe.

In an instant, Zhihe's back was first illuminated by a floating light, and then his entire body was enveloped in the light, obscuring most of the Buddha's light.

Seeing that Zhihe was being slightly obstructed, Dugu Ying immediately retreated and hid in the darkness.

At this moment, countless tiny wounds appeared on Zhihe's body, and then countless golden bloodstains gushed out.

As the shimmering light and Buddha's light faded slightly, Zhihe staggered a few steps, and not only was he still alive, he was also still standing.

“This is no ordinary fifth-rank!” Dugu Ying appeared beside Meng Yuan.

Her hair was disheveled, her chest heaved, her shoulders slumped, and her small body seemed unable to bear the weight of mountains and waters.

Zhihe turned around, his eyes filled with golden blood. He glared at Meng Yuan and Dugu Ying, truly like an angry Vajra.

"Why is the path to enlightenment useless?" Meng Yuan asked Dugu Ying.

“It wasn’t useless.” Dugu Ying gasped for breath and took another sword from his waist. “He was just taking the hits. Normally, he would have blocked it.”

Having received the hint, Meng Yuan stood in front of Dugu Ying, his long sword blazing with intense heat.

"Aaaaah!" Zhihe had lost most of his rationality, and his madness intensified.

Golden blood gushed from countless wounds on his body; his back was rotting and his flesh and bones were decaying, but his chest was not badly damaged.

Zhihe stepped forward again, and with his selfless devotion to Buddhahood, he once again stirred the mountains and rivers.

This time, its power was even greater than before, rumbling as if a true Buddha had descended to earth, and the mountains and rivers were transformed.

The precious spring boils and surges, withered leaves and rocks gushing forth.

"Brother Zhihe, is this still Buddha? What is the purpose of your self-sacrifice?" Jie Kaiping leaned close behind Meng Yuan and asked Zhihe loudly.

"The cassock was originally stained with blood, and a knife and bow were hidden under the Bodhi tree," Zhihe replied, pressing down with all his might.

Dugu Ying breathed a sigh of relief, but the person had vanished again.

Meng Yuan stood in front of Jie Kaiping, neither dodging nor avoiding, and stepped forward.

The flames engulfed his entire body, igniting fires all around him, and even flickering flames appeared in the Buddha's light surrounding Zhihe.

Seeing that the Buddha's power to move mountains and rivers was already close at hand, and that his aura was fixed, leaving him no chance to dodge, Meng Yuan immediately went to meet him.

The two collided instantly, causing the mountains and rivers to surge and the flames to rage.

Meng Yuan only managed to hold on for a moment before feeling he could no longer endure it.

Just then, Jie Kaiping stepped forward, and his whole body was also radiating Buddhist light, though it was far inferior to that of Zhihe.

But that Buddha's light seemed to have an endless and inexhaustible quality, and also a sense of purity.

In an instant, Jie Kaiping was covered in sweat, his face gaunt and haggard. "The Buddha's teachings are as bright as the sun; how can they be allowed to sink to the west! You are a false Buddha!"

Before he finished speaking, Zhihe seemed to be in a daze.

When Meng Yuan saw that the Buddha's power to move mountains and rivers had subsided, he immediately switched from defense to offense, and Bodhi and the path of annihilation reappeared.

The screen didn't hold for long before Zhihe broke free of the restraints, still ignoring the power of Bodhi's annihilation of the Dao.

Bodhi's demise was imminent, and Zhihe swayed for a moment before grabbing Meng Yuan's neck with a palm strike.

Just then, a dazzling light appeared in the sky amidst the intermingling of Buddhist light and darkness.

The light was extremely bright, like a comet, and fell swiftly and with unparalleled force towards Zhihe's nape.

Zhihe seemed to sense something, but he still ignored it. However, the light of the comet suddenly became intense and pierced through Zhihe's throat.

"Amitabha, a comet strikes the moon." Jie Kaiping knelt down with a thud.

Meng Yuan, also panting, looked at Dugu Ying, who had fallen behind Zhihe. Dugu Ying seemed unable to stand any longer, kneeling on one knee. She was covered in blood, her hair matted with blood and smeared on her face, making her look less like a well-behaved girl and more like someone possessed.

Zhihe could no longer stand and collapsed to the ground with a thud.

Everyone looked at Zhihe and saw that his body was tattered, with flesh and blood stuck together and bones broken. There was no longer any Buddha light around him, only golden blood flowing incessantly.

Zhihe was stabbed in the back of the neck and suffered a serious injury, yet he did not die immediately.

He lay on the ground, raising his head on his own. His eyes were already bloodshot holes, yet he seemed to be able to see his surroundings clearly, staring intently at Jie Kaiping.

"Senior brother, do you have anything to say?" Jie Kaiping's tone didn't sound like someone who had just fought a great battle; rather, it sounded like someone trying to alleviate suffering.

"Why can't I become a Buddha?" Zhihe was still thinking about becoming a Buddha.

“Senior brother, the key to becoming a Buddha through self-sacrifice lies in self-sacrifice, not in becoming a Buddha.” Jie Kaiping sat cross-legged on the ground, clasped his hands together, and said, “This method is like the path to enlightenment and the path to cessation; each person has their own power. Becoming a Buddha through self-sacrifice should be done with great compassion, for it is a method to save others, not a method to fight for one’s life at the end. Senior brother, you are not becoming a Buddha through self-sacrifice, but rather sacrificing yourself to seek death.”

"Amitabha." Zhihe coughed up a mouthful of golden blood, his face seemingly sneer.

"Old monk, you've lost!" Dugu Ying's black clothes were covered in blood, and the sword in her hand was broken. She forced herself to brush away the hair that covered her face. Her usual coldness and disdain were gone from her obedient face, replaced by a bit of madness.

Zhihe ignored Dugu Ying and let out a desolate laugh from his already broken voice.

"What are you waiting for?" Dugu Ying glared at Jie Kaiping while clutching her badly injured left shoulder.

Uncovering the screen revealed that this was to help him quickly enter into meditation so that Zhihe could say more.

"It's no use, he's going to die, I can't make a dead man talk." Jie Kaiping's face was blank, sweat poured down his forehead, washing away the dirt on his face, and he was still trembling.

Meng Yuan and Dugu Ying looked at Zhihe, only to see that Zhihe seemed to be forcing himself to sit up cross-legged.

However, Zhihe's injuries were too severe. His flesh, bones, and muscles were shattered inch by inch, and his internal organs were also broken. There was not a single intact bone on his body.

Zhihe was indeed unable to stand up. His neck was the most severely injured, and his throat was gaping open, yet he was still muttering to himself.

The sounds of fighting ceased, all colors vanished, and the deep silence of the night returned.

Zhihe passed away on his deathbed, leaving behind a verse that reads: "The Buddha's words about the Pure Land are all lies; only then do we realize that compassion is a smiling monk's robe. The human world should have become a demon kingdom, where countless white bones are planted with lotus flowers."

His voice was extremely low, showing no sign of suffering the pain of falling into hell, but rather a mixture of compassion and defiance.

But regardless, Zhihe is dead.

The spring water flows again, making a tinkling sound.

Suddenly, Meng Yuan recalled the first time he went out with Master Nie to subdue demons and encountered the Great Tail Venerable.

When the Venerable Mahavairocana was dying, he left behind a verse full of compassion, which seemed to be a true Buddhist teaching.

At this very moment, a high-ranking monk of the "Zhi" generation, a successor of Lanruo Temple, also left behind a verse on his deathbed.

"Amitabha." Jie Kaiping's face was pale. He crawled forward on the ground to Zhihe's side, grabbed Zhihe's broken and unrecognizable left hand, and then closed his eyes and murmured the Buddha's name.

"Miss Ying." Meng Yuan was the only one of the three who hadn't suffered any injuries.

Just now, when Zhihe delivered his final blow, Meng Yuan was prepared to withstand it with his body, which had undergone several rounds of tempering. He never expected that Jie Kaiping would exert his strength.

This immediately turned the tide of the battle. Meng Yuan was only slightly affected by the residual power of the Buddha's Earth-Shaking Technique, and still had the strength to unleash the Bodhi Extinction Path, buying time for Dugu Ying to make her move.

Meng Yuan stepped forward, helped Dugu Ying up, and checked her injuries.

Dugu Ying was severely injured; her left shoulder was caved in, clearly indicating that her shoulder and arm were shattered. Finally, she forcefully summoned the comet to strike the moon, further draining her physical and mental strength.

"I'm fine." Dugu Ying sat down. She couldn't move her left hand, so she rubbed her waist with her right hand and took out a pill bottle.

Meng Yuan immediately took it, poured out three pills, and said, "Open your mouth."

He stuffed it into Dugu Ying's mouth and asked, "We need to leave as soon as possible!"

Dugu Ying nodded and looked at Zhihe's corpse remains.

The ritual of exorcism was completed after the screen was removed. He was not seriously injured, but he was very weak from using forbidden magic.

"This is the seventeenth ritual I've performed since leaving Songhe Prefecture," Jie Kaiping murmured. "I haven't charged a single penny."

He was full of compassion just now, clearly resembling a virtuous and eminent monk, but as soon as he spoke, his words reeked of money.

Meng Yuan glanced at the untied screen and stepped forward to Zhihe's side.

"Reciting the Buddha's name, one sees the Buddha and reaches the shore of enlightenment; though one's body and life are but a fragile vessel, one enters the furnace of boiling water. One is reborn in the Pure Land with karma, cultivating the true fruit of enlightenment; one finds peace and endless joy in the Pure Land."

Meng Yuan also chanted a verse, and then extended a tiny flame from his finger.

The flame was tiny, like a firefly, but once it touched Zhihe, it immediately grew larger and obscured his body.

With his frail body and fragile life, he was gone in the blink of an eye. The once eminent monk of the "Zhi" generation at Lanruo Temple had already turned to dust.

Meng Yuan stood up, closed his eyes, and looked up.

In an instant, the essence fire, which was originally as small as a soybean, surged and rose, and then grew stronger and stronger.

Before and after the Songhe Prefecture Incident, Meng Yuan had to use the bodies of several sixth-rank martial artists to nurture his essence fire to perfection. But now, Zhihe, a fifth-rank martial monk, has already nurtured his essence fire to perfection.

When Meng Yuan opened his eyes, his energy and spirit had returned to their peak. Although the jade liquid in one of his dantian was empty, it immediately began to regenerate.

Meng Yuan's sleeves twitched slightly, and the dust left by Master Zhihe surged and fell into the spring water.

The Baoquan River flows slowly westward, and the traces of Master Zhihe can no longer be found in the world.

Meng Yuan took off his clothes and stepped forward to roll up Dugu Ying's clothes.

Dugu Ying had been resting with her eyes closed when she opened them and found herself wrapped in Meng Yuan's clothes, then held in his arms.

She wasn't coy, nor did she resist, nor did she say anything.

"Brother Jie, I'll seek you out for a drink another day!" Meng Yuan said.

"No, let's not!" she immediately refused after unlocking the screen. "Running into you never brings anything good!"

"Bald monk!" Dugu Ying exclaimed.

"Amitabha." Jie Kaiping saw that Dugu Ying was not hiding in the red cloak, but was hiding in Meng Yuan's clothes, only revealing her delicate face covered in blood, as if Meng Yuan had abducted an innocent girl.

"Should I call you a peacock, or should I unfold your tail feathers?" Dugu Ying asked.

"A bald monk is fine." Jie Kaiping has never cared about titles or reputation.

"Fine, I'll have Meng Feiyuan come find you in three days!" Dugu Ying sneered. "This is all for the sake of helping you today! What do you want?"

"Amitabha, just give me some loose change." Jie Kaiping was overjoyed. "You are truly a kind-hearted benefactor, unlike Brother Meng who only gives useless tea leaves and shows no sympathy for the suffering of the ascetic monks!"

Dugu Ying closed her eyes, not wanting to talk to anyone anymore.

She was very petite, and Meng Yuan felt like he was hugging a pillow as they immediately disappeared into the darkness.

(End of this chapter)