Chapter 332 - 323: Three Realms of Heart and Intent, My Heart is Scorched Earth, Master, Please Wake Up

Chapter 332: Chapter 323: Three Realms of Heart and Intent, My Heart is Scorched Earth, Master, Please Wake Up

The Three Realms of Heart and Intent.

The Initial Realm of Manifestation, the Middle Realm of Transformation, and the Final Realm of Illuminating Void.

Fan Wuyan, the Black Tower Deputy Lord who died at Fu Juemin’s hands, and the Martial Tributor who accompanied the Royal Banner Envoy a few days ago were both in the Manifestation Realm.

A Manifestation Realm Martial Artist’s consciousness could distort light and change temperatures within a certain area. When they attacked, their Heart Scene would erupt within their opponent’s perception.

Against someone with a weak will, they could shatter their opponent’s fighting spirit on the spot, subduing them without a fight.

Even against a strong-willed opponent, they could still cause a degree of mental interference, making them dazed and causing their attacks to be slower, more error-prone, and weaker—their strength would be cut by a significant margin.

And this man before them, Zhong Yin, was clearly a master of the Heart Intent Transformation Realm!

The man strode forward. The moment he moved, Cao Tian, Zhang Yi, and Mu Tingzhou felt the bright sun above suddenly dim, and the surrounding scene of misty mountain peaks rapidly receded.

In its place, a vast sea of yellow sand and the solitary smoke of a great desert swept over them!

The scene was so real that the three of them could almost feel the turbid, sandy wind on their faces, and they squinted their eyes reflexively.

The stone slabs underfoot had become sand dunes, scorching hot, and their feet sank directly into them...

The scene of the great yellow desert moved with the man’s steps. With every step he took, the sandstorm grew more violent, and the sense of desolate boundlessness intensified.

This was the Transformation Realm!

The Martial Artist didn’t even need to attack. Once their Heart Scene was deployed, it would silently draw their opponent into its range, as if dragging them into a domain where the user was the sole ruler.

The man’s expression was grim as he threw a simple punch toward Fu Juemin.

In an instant, the yellow sand surged, and the force of his fist carried with it what seemed to be real, scorching grains of sand, attacking with savage fury!

The light in Fu Juemin’s eyes intensified.

He wanted to use the method for breaking into the Heart Intent realms to condense his own Demon Magic Dharma Form. He was in need of a subject to study, and this middle-aged man in the Transformation Realm before him was the perfect specimen.

He held the scabbard in his left hand and casually drew the saber with his right.

The Exorcism Saber slashed out silently.

The dense, ribbon-like Profound Evil True Gang on the blade quickly condensed into a single line. Like a black rainbow streaking across the sky, it instantly pierced through the layers of illusory yellow sand and shot straight toward the man!

CLANG—

The saber’s energy and the man’s fist collided, producing the crisp sound of striking metal.

It was immediately followed by a BOOM as the energy exploded. The man’s advance halted, and he stumbled back two steps.

With his retreat, a large hole was "torn" in the center of the previously seamless picture of the desert sandstorm, causing the entire scene to become illusory and blurred.

"You..."

The man stared in astonishment at his fist, from which black blood was seeping from a fresh cut. Then he looked back at Fu Juemin, speechless for a moment.

He could sense that Fu Juemin had not entered the Heart Intent realms and had not yet formed a Heart Scene. He, a dignified master of the Heart Intent Transformation Realm, had intended to break the man’s leg, but instead... he was the one who ended up bleeding after the first exchange?

’What kind of logic is that?!’

"Show me what you’ve really got."

Fu Juemin, carrying his Exorcism Saber, strolled through the yellow sand desert formed by the man’s Heart Scene. With every step he took, the surrounding desert illusion faded a little more.

His posture was so composed, it was as if this was his own home ground.

Fu Juemin gently stroked the spine of his Exorcism Saber. While speaking to the man, his gaze fell on the red-skirted girl not far away. His tone was flat. "Otherwise, with my next slash, I’ll take off her left leg."

The red-skirted girl’s face turned pale as Fu Juemin’s gaze locked onto her, and she subconsciously took two steps back.

"You dare?!"

The man, both anxious and furious, let out a low roar.

The next second, he lunged forward with all his might.

"Sandstorm!"

His body moved like a falcon, leaping into the air with his arms spread wide, blocking the light.

The damaged Heart Scene solidified once more. Within the desert, a tornado of yellow sand rose up, following the man’s fist as it descended upon Fu Juemin’s head like a furious dragon.

The small open area in front of the temple was now completely engulfed by sweeping yellow sand. The wind howled, and the sand was blinding. Zhang Yi and the other two felt they could barely keep their footing. For a moment, they couldn’t distinguish illusion from reality, feeling as if they would be torn apart by the sandstorm at any second.

The power of this punch was more than ten times greater than that of a Gratitude Sensing Realm Martial Artist who had mastered Merging Force into the Fist!

The sand-filled wind billowed the hem of Fu Juemin’s long robe. He raised his eyes slightly and slashed again with his Exorcism Saber.

His [Life] Attribute was absurdly high, and his willpower was far stronger than that of an ordinary Gratitude Sensing Realm practitioner.

After reaching Perfection in the Dragon Elephant Skill, his [Defense] was also terrifyingly high.

The mental impact of the man’s Transformation Realm Heart Scene on him, while not entirely nonexistent, was negligible.

He was purely using the man for practice. His previous slash had been the Scorpion Slayer Blade from the Five Evils Fusion Muddy World Blade Technique.

In the Yin Five Elements, it belonged to Metal. Among cold, fierce, corrupting, sharp, and eroding, it represented "sharp," specializing in piercing and transformation.

And the slash he unleashed now was—the Toad’s Blade of Evil!

As the saber slashed out, the Profound Evil True Gang clinging to the Exorcism Saber exploded like a mist, vanishing without a trace.

A saber wind surged!

If one were to view the man’s Heart Scene as a dynamic, unfolding scroll, then in the eyes of the onlookers, as Fu Juemin advanced with his saber, wherever the blade’s light pointed, the vivid painting of the vast desert and raging sandstorm rapidly corroded, dissolved, and vanished inch by inch...

With a whisper of his robes, Fu Juemin’s single rising and falling slash completely shattered the force of the man’s punch.

His Profound Evil True Gang, empowered by the Five Phases Enter the Palace and Five Slaughter Perfection, was simply too tyrannical. Even for a Heart Intent Realm Martial Artist, any Protective Qi or Light of Consciousness was as fragile as paper.

The man’s body, like a hawk with a broken wing, was blown down by the formless, malevolent wind.

But Fu Juemin didn’t pursue him. Instead, he turned his blade and sent a slash flying through the air, directly at the distant red-skirted girl.

The girl cried out "Ah!" and quickly dodged back. The man’s eyes were wide with fury as he recklessly lunged forward.

"Where is your Organ Installation and Spirit Awakening Method?"

Fu Juemin asked.

The man threw a fierce punch, hoping to draw Fu Juemin’s "aggro," and snarled through gritted teeth, "Not everyone practices that Evil Technique!"

With that, the man let out a low roar.

"Broken Desert Solitary Smoke!"

"BOOM!"

As his voice fell, the vast Heart Scene rumbled and contracted, completely merging into the man’s body.

His entire being suddenly became "obscure," as if he were absorbing all the surrounding light, and his aura began to climb steadily.

"Just as I thought. People only put in real effort when they’re pushed."

Seeing his stance, Fu Juemin nodded with satisfaction.

He gently gripped the hilt with his right hand. On the Exorcism Saber, an iridescent black, murky light swirled ceaselessly.

Just as Fu Juemin was about to test the full-power strike of a Transformation Realm master with his "Five Evils Return to the Origin," suddenly—

DONG—!

The sound of a bell rang out abruptly.

Fu Juemin’s hand on his saber paused, and the man’s steadily rising aura also faltered.

Both of them snapped their gazes toward the same spot!

Not toward the rusty Ancient Bell hanging outside the temple, but... toward the unremarkable, even overly simplistic, thatched hut not far away.

An invisible ripple silently spread out from within the hut.

Wherever the ripple passed, the auras of both Fu Juemin and the man rapidly dissolved. The scattered gravel and dust on the ground lifted into the air on their own, and the dark green moss shriveled and burned...

CRACKLE—

A sound like firewood burning crackled through the air, and the smell of something scorching began to fill the scene.

Fu Juemin gazed at the thatched hut, the source of all these strange phenomena. He sheathed his saber, his eyes glowing.

The man’s Transformation Realm aura, which had just reached its peak, instantly dissipated completely. His expression changed drastically as he flew to the red-skirted girl’s side.

"The Monk is awake!"

The man’s face was a mixture of fear and uncertainty as he hissed in a low, urgent voice, "You have terrible luck, catching him just as he’s Fallen into Demon and gone mad.

While he hasn’t come out yet, I suggest you leave now!..."

Fu Juemin seemed not to have heard, simply standing his ground and staring fixedly at the hut.

The strange phenomena in the air grew more intense.

A patch of crimson rose from the roof of the hut. Beneath the crimson, countless illusory images of a monastery engulfed in raging flames appeared...

This, too, was a Heart Scene.

But compared to the Transformation Realm man’s Heart Scene Map, it was immeasurably stronger—the difference was like heaven and earth.

Even Fu Juemin’s five senses were affected by this slowly unfolding Heart Scene—he heard the sound of blades cutting into flesh, of fire burning, all intermingled with battle cries and screams.

He smelled the scorching heat, mixed with the stench of gunpowder and blood.

He saw monastery halls collapsing in the inferno, arrows raining down, waves of blood-red light, monks dying horribly, and the sutras and scriptures in the pavilions turning to ash that filled the sky...

"RUMBLE!"

When the crimson color covered the entire sky above the mountaintop temple and the firelight completely replaced the daylight, the closed wooden door of the hut suddenly swung open.

An emaciated old monk with eyes weeping tears of blood emerged, bathed in the raging flames, walking out of the hut step by step.

"My heart is scorched earth! My heart is scorched earth!"

The old monk looked lost as he walked, chanting the words.

The expression on his face gradually twisted into a savage sneer, and only a single word remained on his lips: "Kill! Kill! Kill!..."

A monstrous wave of resentment and killing intent emanated from the old monk, causing all the virtual images of the Heart Scene to distort violently. Under this killing intent and resentment, every person within the Heart Scene’s illusion became like a vicious ghost.

On the field, Mu Tingzhou was already lying on the ground, foaming at the mouth with the whites of his eyes showing. Zhang Yi and Cao Tian, their faces etched with shock and horror, kept retreating.

The red-skirted girl and the Transformation Realm man had long since dashed into the temple, their expressions tense as if facing a great enemy.

Only Fu Juemin remained in the field.

Fu Juemin tilted his head up, oblivious to all the changes around him. He simply stared at the rippling illusion of the Heart Scene, a dazed look on his face, as if he were truly present on that tragic, bloody, and utterly desperate night from decades ago.

"This is... the scene of the former dynasty’s generalissimo trampling Celestial Blessing Temple..."

Fu Juemin murmured softly.

When he pulled himself away from the scene, his eyes regained their clarity and he retracted his gaze.

He was startled to find that the old monk who had walked out of the hut was now standing right in front of him.

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

Two streams of bloody tears flowed from the old monk’s pure black eyes. He stared fixedly at Fu Juemin, and with every "Kill!" he spat, the violent cruelty emanating from his body grew stronger.

Surrounded by this terrifying and dense killing intent, Fu Juemin’s expression remained exceptionally calm.

"Amitabha—"

Fu Juemin put his palms together and chanted softly, "Master, you are trapped by appearances."

At these words, the Fallen into Demon old monk’s emaciated face twisted even further.

He gave Fu Juemin a savage grin, and his aura, along with the sky-filling Heart Scene, came crashing down on him with a thunderous roar.

The terrifying firelight and illusions of slaughter were about to completely envelop Fu Juemin, and the killing intent had become so intense it couldn’t be stronger, as if it already saw Fu Juemin as one of the culprits who had burned down Celestial Blessing Temple all those years ago!

But just then—

"K-K-CRACK!..."

A series of crisp bone-cracking sounds erupted, followed by an even more terrifying and substantial heatwave that exploded outward!

Amidst the flickering, rising orange flames, Fu Juemin’s entire body rapidly expanded and grew taller. An aura of ultimate tyranny and pure evil swelled up like an inflating balloon...

In an instant, a massive shadow completely enveloped the old monk.

The old monk froze for a second.

The next second, a long, wide, and menacing demon palm had silently and gently come to rest on the old monk’s head.

From within the shadow, a pair of dark golden eyes looked down upon the old monk, and a voice, calm yet filled with deep indifference, rang out amidst the raging fire.

"Master Huai Hai, if you would please..."

"Wake up!"

As his voice fell.

The palm gripping the old monk’s Celestial Spirit suddenly exerted force, viciously slamming him downward—

"BOOM!!!"

....

Inside Panxiang Temple, the middle-aged man standing in the center of the Buddhist hall trembled slightly as he heard the massive explosion from outside.

Then, with a somewhat complicated expression, he shook his head and said to the red-skirted girl beside him, "That man’s Evil Technique is tyrannical and his strength is not weak, but he’s too arrogant. He didn’t even try to avoid the old Monk who is deeply trapped in his Heart Demon Barrier....

This time, even if he doesn’t die, he’s definitely in for a world of pain."

The red-skirted girl nodded in deep agreement. She recalled the man’s appearance and his dashing, composed posture when fighting Zhong Yin earlier, and for a moment, couldn’t help but feel a pang of regret.

....