Chapter 217 - 182: The General Offensive Begins

Chapter 217: Chapter 182: The General Offensive Begins

Year 3573 of the Celestial Essence Calendar. April 9th.

The Ascetic Order launched a full-scale assault on the Floating City.

Inside the Floating City, the resistance was not as formidable as expected.

After the Nine-Turned Quantum Furnace was destroyed and the Void Illusion Realm fell under the Ascetic Order’s control, many of the cultivators in the Floating City had fled.

Now, only a portion of the Celestial Dao Alliance’s forces remained.

Zhang Ji raised his arm and issued a rallying cry. Behind him stood Ferguson, Aunt Liu, and several new cultivators who had recently joined the Ascetic Order. The Xuanji Array of Ten Thousand Transformations shattered as if it were made of paper.

Without the support of the Nine-Turned Quantum Furnace, the array was already at its limit just keeping the vast airborne world afloat. Its external protective Spiritual Power had been greatly diminished.

The group charged into the Floating City, smashing countless Spirit Puppets. The Enforcer shuttles clashed with the Ascetic Order’s Immortal Ships and were, for a time, pushed back.

Zhang Ji took action. Using nothing but his pure physical strength, he withstood a direct blast from a Tier Five Immortal Ship’s main cannon, then punched straight through its hull. Most of the Shennong Technology cultivators aboard were killed on the spot.

Then, under his lead, Spirit-Suppressing Needles were driven one by one into the core nodes of the Xuanji Array of Ten Thousand Transformations.

Soon, the first heaven, the Lesser Spirit Heaven, began to crumble.

The cultivators then launched a coordinated assault on the second heaven.

After delegating tasks, Zhang Ji headed straight for the upper levels. He had more important things to do.

As he advanced, he continued driving Spirit-Suppressing Needles into the array nodes he passed.

’Might as well raise my mission completion rate while I’m at it.’

...

In the seventeenth heaven, Enlightenment Heaven.

Countless monks and devotees sat cross-legged around Bodhi Temple, chanting scriptures.

Of all the places in the Floating City, this one had seen the fewest evacuations.

The core monks and their followers, clinging to their faith, refused to leave. In a way, they were no better than zealots.

Huiji had already recovered from the injuries sustained in his previous battle with Zhang Ji. At this moment, he was leading the Martial Monks, guarding the suspended staircase and preparing to stop the intruders.

Huifan, however, was still inside the temple, chanting scriptures and engaging in ascetic practice.

Suddenly, a figure shot up from the suspended staircase. Zhang Ji arrived in Enlightenment Heaven, and with a flick of his hand, he tossed several Spirit-Suppressing Needles into the nearby core nodes of the Xuanji Array of Ten Thousand Transformations.

He immediately realized he’d walked into a formation.

"These monks still haven’t left?"

Zhang Ji was rather exasperated.

All those other Sect forces had pretty much left, but these faith-peddlers were still here, determined to make a stand.

"The intruder has entered the formation! Activate it!"

As Huiji spoke, the Martial Monks instantly erupted in a brilliant golden light. In the void, golden Spirit Patterns descended to suppress the intruder.

Zhang Ji raised a hand and struck out with his palm.

"BOOM!"

The force of his palm shattered the grand formation’s Spirit Patterns. Serving as the formation’s core nodes, five hundred Golden Core Stage monks instantly had their spiritual particles obliterated. With their Divine Souls damaged, their faces twisted into masks of agony.

Zhang Ji hovered in the air, looking at Huiji in the distance. ’I can’t believe I ran into him here,’ he thought.

Huiji didn’t recognize Zhang Ji. Back in the Abyss of Eternity, Zhang Ji had concealed his identity.

But Huiji’s hatred for the Ascetic Order was just as intense.

This was both because of Kong Jue’s defection and because he had lost the Bodhi Seed to the Ascetic Order.

"Vile fiend, die!"

Huiji thrust out his palm. A golden manji symbol flew toward Zhang Ji, its power incredibly intimidating.

Yet Zhang Ji neither dodged nor evaded. He simply threw a punch.

"BANG! RUMBLE!"

The manji symbol shattered, and the force of the punch washed over Huiji.

Zhang Ji had thought that single punch would be enough to obliterate Huiji.

But instead, a golden light erupted from his body, protecting him.

From the void, countless motes of golden light drifted over and settled upon Huiji, who assumed a cross-legged position in mid-air.

His body glowed with a golden light, an effect of those golden motes.

Zhang Ji could feel that his power was increasing at this very moment.

’Faith power!’

This was the cultivation path of Bodhi Temple.

It involved collecting a form of faith power from their followers and using it as an energy reserve.

This power of belief was not mere Spiritual Power.

It could be borrowed and used, allowing the monks to perform all sorts of profound feats.

They used it to heal their followers and display extraordinary martial prowess, creating a virtuous cycle.

At this moment, the entire Enlightenment Heaven was bathed in a golden radiance.

Bodhi Temple had been accumulating faith power for who knows how many years, and for the last millennium, they had almost only taken, never given.

They resorted to any means necessary—deception, trickery, and coercion. As long as they could swindle more faith power, any method was acceptable.

The amount of faith power they had amassed in this one millennium was incomparable to all the tens of thousands of years that came before.

Empowered by this immense faith power, a thousand-zhang-tall Dharma image of a Buddha formed around Huiji, solemn, sacred, and immeasurably majestic.

"Wicked fiend, your sins are heavy and beyond forgiveness! Today, my Buddha shall deliver you into your next life!"

Huiji’s voice shook the heavens, and a Buddha’s palm descended from above to crush him.

"All flash and no substance!" Zhang Ji said with disdain.

As his voice fell, his figure abruptly transformed into a streak of lightning.

"CRACKLE!"

In a flicker, Zhang Ji thrust out his palm.

His small palm collided with the massive one that covered an area of several hundred meters, and the result was utterly astonishing.

"RUMMMMMBLE!"

The golden Buddha’s palm of faith power instantly disintegrated. The force of Zhang Ji’s attack continued unabated, shattering the golden Buddha’s form and landing on Huiji.

In an instant, Huiji’s body was covered in cracks as he was sent flying, crashing through countless buildings.

The light of faith power flickered around him as the golden motes attempted to repair his body.

At that moment, however, his expression suddenly changed.

Countless shouts echoed in his ears.

"I beg the Buddha to bless me with riches..."

"Buddha, I want my cultivation partner to love me forever and never leave me."

"Oh Buddha, I want to break through to the Nascent Soul realm! Help me!!"

"Amitabha, why should my junior brother get to be squad leader? I should be the one! Let him die!"

...

"The poison of desire..."

A dazed look appeared on Huiji’s face.

Faith power was, in essence, the power of belief. Due to the nature of the human heart, it was very complex.

Pure Buddhist faith power was, in theory, a form of gratitude, a pure emotion that asked for nothing in return.

It was the heartfelt gratitude of devotees after being helped by the monks.

But the faith power Bodhi Temple had collected over the last millennium was laced with too much selfish desire. There was no gratitude, only demands.

Once this kind of faith power was absorbed, the desires within would affect the user.

Previously, however, Huiji had only ever used faith power as a tool without truly absorbing it. This was the first time he had done so.

And it was because of this one time that he finally understood why his Abbot Senior Brother did not support their methods.

The fires of desire burned within Huiji, consuming his body and everything around him.

The vast reserves of faith power, tainted with desire, were all ignited. In an instant, the brilliant golden light of Enlightenment Heaven turned into a sea of Karmic Fire.

Even Zhang Ji was startled and quickly circulated his protective energy to shield himself.

"What the hell?"

"It’s the fire of desire. A backlash from the faith power," Taiyi-Zero’s voice transmitted from within the Ark of Hope. "They used improper methods to collect it, so it’s filled with toxic impurities and no longer pure. Now that the faith power is backlashing, the desires within will consume the cultivator. The Bodhi Tree can purify the mind, and it can also purify and absorb faith power, which will accelerate its growth. You should seize this opportunity to collect it; it’ll save you a lot of ambrosia."

"How do I do that?" Zhang Ji asked.

"Just reveal it," said Taiyi-Zero.

Hearing this, Zhang Ji manipulated the Ark of Hope, opening a portal near the Bodhi Tree. He raised his left hand high, and a five-meter-tall Bodhi Tree, emitting a faint golden light, suddenly materialized in the void.

Near its golden halo, the burning Karmic Fire was extinguished. The desires within the countless streams of faith power were purified, and then all the faith power was devoured by the Bodhi Tree, becoming nourishment for its own growth.

"It actually works?"

Zhang Ji was a little surprised. He hadn’t known about this.

After all, back when he played the game in his past life, the developers hadn’t revealed much information about the Bodhi Tree.

Zhang Ji only knew it was a cultivation accelerator.

Beyond that, he was pretty much clueless.

’I’d better let it eat its fill.’

Zhang Ji quickly carried the Bodhi Tree and sped through the sea of Karmic Fire that covered Enlightenment Heaven. Wherever he passed, the Karmic Fire was extinguished, and the Bodhi Tree grew at a rate visible to the naked eye.

Amidst the Karmic Fire, Huiji also saw the Bodhi Tree held aloft by Zhang Ji.

He was stunned.

The Bodhi Tree, unseen for over a hundred thousand years, was now right before his eyes.

In ancient times, Bodhi Temple had been a top power in the world, enjoying a period of immense prosperity and even producing a true Buddha.

All because of the blessing of the Bodhi Tree.

With the Bodhi Tree, collecting faith power was simply too easy.

There was no need to worry about the poison of desire within it; any and all faith power could be used.

Ever since the Spiritual Qi in the world grew thin and the Bodhi Tree reached the end of its life and fell, Bodhi Temple’s power had plummeted.

To this day, more than one hundred and sixty-seven thousand years had passed.

This legend had long been forgotten by the descendants of Bodhi Temple; they even considered it a story fabricated by their ancestors.

But today, Huiji discovered it was all true.

But the Bodhi Seed had not sprouted in his hands. Instead, it had grown into a tree in the hands of someone from the Ascetic Order.

"Senior Brother... Could it be that karmic destiny truly does not lie with me?"

Huiji received no answer. The flames consumed his body, refining even his modified metal frame, until Zhang Ji arrived and saw a thumb-sized alloy sphere.

It was actually glowing with a Buddhist light.

"A Sariputra? A guy with his character can produce one of these?" Zhang Ji flew closer, a look of astonishment on his face.

"When a high-level Buddhist cultivator’s body is refined after death, it will usually form a Sariputra. It has nothing to do with their character, only their cultivation level and the techniques they practiced. Take it. Although it’s not as good as the Bodhi Tree, it can still enhance one’s comprehension and speed up cultivation. You can take it back for your disciple," said Taiyi-Zero.

"And here I really thought you had to be a virtuous person to form a Sariputra!"

Zhang Ji was a little speechless, once again feeling the importance of propaganda.

After taking Huiji’s Sariputra, Zhang Ji glanced from afar at the brilliantly glowing Bodhi Temple.

The Karmic Fire had spread throughout Enlightenment Heaven, but the faith power enveloping Bodhi Temple remained un-ignited, firmly protected by its own purity.

Zhang Ji could see that most of this faith power originated from the old monk in the meditation chamber at the very core of the temple.

Unlike Huiji, Huifan never drew upon the faith power of the devotees.

His faith power came only from within himself.

’This monk is genuinely pure.’

Zhang Ji did not go over to interrupt their chanting. He turned and flew toward the higher heavens.

’Huifan hasn’t come to confront me, which means he won’t interfere in this matter. He must consider Huiji’s fate to be his own doing. No need for me to wipe them all out, then.’

The main reason was that Huifan had left a genuinely good impression on Zhang Ji.

In his past life, when he played the game, Huifan had been the only NPC in the Celestial Essence Realm willing to help players for free.

Among the chaotic masses of players, most also called him Master.

As long as people like that didn’t conflict with his own interests, Zhang Ji was willing to show them some respect.

After Zhang Ji left, Huifan let out a soft sigh and resumed leading the pure-hearted devotees and disciples in their chanting.