Chapter 825: Where Shall It Steer?

Chapter 825: Chapter 825: Where Shall It Steer?

A trace of amusement crossed Boluo’s face. He reached up and peeled the jade token from his forehead without sending his spiritual consciousness into it, his expression already one of complete understanding as he spoke:

"What you’re referring to is probably the emergence of an evil cultivator named Xu Si, who intends to refine an entire nation to achieve blood-energy Tribulation Transcendence — and even the Black Crow has been drawn in, preparing to join the effort... Isn’t that right?"

Zhong Su’s eyes slid sideways. His slightly inverted triangular eyebrows gave him a fierce look:

"You’ve cast your net wide. Just a short while ago you were dealing with Bai Xuanling, and now there’s already a new play. The target is clear — Black Crow doesn’t know about your meeting with Bai Xuanling, so he doesn’t see anything off. But you should."

"Anyone who cultivates blood energy can’t resist a temptation this big. The entire Evil Spirit Sect could be wiped out over this."

Boluo sat up straighter, though he was still planted in the mud:

"Wiped out, then wiped out. Just the Evil Spirit Sect — it was never escaping Chu Xingchen’s grasp anyway. It’s just a question of when he decides to deal with them and how."

Zhong Su let out a derisive snort, his gaze fixed on Boluo:

"More than half the Evil Spirit Sect is under our control. The vice sect master is our man. You’d hand it all over with one sentence? All those dirty jobs in the future — you planning to handle them yourself?"

Boluo reached into the mud beside him, fished around for a moment, and withdrew a lotus seed caked in grime:

"We only need the bloom. All that filth before it is just nourishment. Unless... you’re reluctant?"

Zhong Su stared at Boluo’s unfocused gaze fixed on the muddy lotus seed, held back for a moment, then gave up — he kicked Boluo’s hand, blasting the seed into a puff of dust.

The violent shockwave sent the surrounding mud flying in all directions, splattering everywhere.

Zhong Su grabbed Boluo’s collar, his voice savage:

"Cut this crap. You know my temper. Today, either you explain yourself clearly, or I beat your brain into working properly! Tell me — why hand over the entire Evil Spirit Sect for nothing?"

Boluo looked at the flicker of purple lightning in Zhong Su’s eyes and chose his words carefully:

"With Chu Xingchen’s vision, he’s absolutely figured out that we have our fingers in the Evil Spirit Sect. Dealing with the Evil Sect is something he’s bound to do — an evil cultivator organization under our control might not threaten Chu Xingchen directly, but it will poison the mortal world and collapse mortal order. You can understand it this way: Chu Xingchen is already carving out time to deal with the Evil Spirit Sect."

"So whether it’s Chu Xingchen making this move or not, we can’t get too involved — that would only set the fire at our own feet, expose our trail, and derail our plans."

"What we need to do isn’t to stop it or warn them — we need to fan the flames. On the surface we can offer unlimited support. Even the forces we’ve invested in the Evil Spirit Sect — we support them completely. But that’s where it ends."

"If this is Chu Xingchen’s setup, seeing such enthusiastic support, he might think we’ve fallen into a trap — and that would actually delay him, buying him time to see if he can catch our tail. And time is exactly what we need. If we can stall, we don’t lose."

"But if it really is some Mahayana evil cultivator who’s lost his mind, then Chu Xingchen will naturally have to carve out time to deal with it — and the Evil Sect wouldn’t be given away for nothing. It would be ’heroically resisting Chu Xingchen.’"

"If you look at it from a different angle, the Evil Spirit Sect’s destruction benefits us too."

Zhong Su listened through to the end, considered for a moment, then shoved Boluo back down into the mud with considerable force. A savage grin crossed his face:

"So you can actually talk like a normal person. Do that next time too. If you start imitating those bald monks again, my fist will reach you before your apology."

Boluo lay in the mud, and hearing these words, he suddenly burst out laughing.

A loud, resounding laugh that echoed across the lotus pond.

A sliver of moonlight pierced through the dark clouds and shone down.

Zhong Su frowned, his voice cold: "What are you laughing at?"

"I’m laughing that we all want simplicity — we’d love nothing more than for everything to go our way the moment we try." Boluo’s expression was strange, caught between laughter and fury. "But we’ve forgotten — other people always find ways to make things complicated."

"You’ve gone mad from staying with the Buddhist sect too long," Zhong Su barked coldly.

Boluo’s gaze drifted into Zhong Su’s eyes, and from his lips came a truth he’d hidden for years:

"I’m not mad. I’ve simply seen more clearly than all of you."

"That year, when the Mahayana Buddhist Teachings first appeared, I listened as if hearing the Great Dao itself. Not the Dao of cultivation — the supreme principle underlying all things under heaven. The Mahayana teachings illuminated the world’s truth. That Buddha was a genius beyond compare."

"There were things even he might not have understood, but I understood them all. The conflict between the Small Vehicle and Mahayana doctrines — I was the one who engineered it."

"This supreme truth could not become the Buddhist sect’s new orthodoxy. Otherwise, the Buddhist sect today would be far vaster than it is."

"This truth could not be passed down to the world. Otherwise, there would be no room for us to ever rise again."

"I still consider the Mahayana Teachings the greatest thing under heaven. I acknowledge that I was converted by the Mahayana."

"That is why I still wear monk’s robes and enter the lotus pond."

"Nothing is absolute. Karma cycles. When the heart harbors greed, gain will surely lead to loss."

"Only by holding fast to one’s true heart — neither greedy nor aggressive, advancing step by step, treating gain and loss without grasping — can one achieve the great fruit within."

"Before the great fruit, every loss becomes mud — nourishing a single seed that will blossom into lotus flowers spanning ten thousand miles."

Zhong Su stared at Boluo with unconcealed shock, and in the end could only spit with contempt:

"You truly have gone mad! You’re a Heavenly Demon, not some monk."

Boluo looked at Zhong Su with pity, then stood. Brilliant Buddhist light began to radiate from his body — genuine, pure light:

"Buddha has no cause. Buddha is the fruit."

"I can be a Heavenly Demon, and I can be a Buddha."

"It’s a shame you cannot comprehend this sublime truth. This is the limit of your potential."

"I’m not mad. I’ve simply found the method to achieve great things. Do as I say."

"Back then, I could peel away the Mahayana Teachings. Today, I can peel away the fog before us and fulfill the great vow in our hearts."

"The Evil Spirit Sect matter — consider it all a gift to Chu Xingchen. Before the Evil Spirit Sect’s dust settles, you and the others don’t need to come find me. I have other important matters to attend to."

Zhong Su watched the glowing Boluo before him, doubt and revulsion warring in his eyes:

"The Evil Spirit Sect is gone. We’ll see what tools you have left to oppose Chu Xingchen and Bai Xuanling."

Boluo smiled triumphantly, his gaze even more pitying as he looked at Zhong Su:

"You haven’t grasped gain and loss — that’s why you think this way. Bai Xuanling is nothing. I’ve said it more than once. When the time comes, I’ll handle Bai Xuanling myself."

Zhong Su took a deep breath, feeling that trusting the arrangements of a half-mad Heavenly Demon was enough to make his blood boil.

But Xu Linglong was dead. Right now, Boluo was the only one they could listen to.

Thinking back on it all.

Xu Linglong’s death — it must have been Boluo’s doing, deliberately arranged.

So that he could hold the reins when the moment came.

A madman. Who knew where he’d steer this ship that was about to hit the rocks.

Where would it end up heading?