Chapter 836
Battle of the Land Gods
On the nameless hill, Phagpa landed on the ground, and the eagle that had been following him spread its wings and flew away in the blink of an eye.
Chen Jie landed on the ground and looked at the eagle that had flown away, saying, "Living Buddha, you really have a benevolent heart, you can't even bear to kill an eagle."
Phagpa said, “My mind is my existence. The Buddha I cultivate is not the Buddha who does not kill, but only the Buddha who does not kill unnecessary beings. This is also great compassion.”
Phagpa smiled, his face showing compassion, but his eyes held murderous intent. He was half Buddha and half demon; perhaps that was the essence of it.
Chen Jie looked at Phagpa and said, "Then, Master, shall we begin?"
Phagpa laughed and said, "Please, if we rely on words, it's probably hard to determine a winner. Let's rely on our fists and feet instead."
Chen Jiedao said, "The debate over the Great Dao is just like this. There is no right or wrong, only different positions. If Master and I did not have opposing positions, I think we could sit down and discuss the Dao."
"Although I wouldn't dare call them friends, it's perfectly fine to call them fellow Daoists."
"It's a pity that we are not on the same page, but today I have to face the master on the battlefield."
Upon hearing this, Phagpa gave a wry smile: "This is fate, what can be done? Benefactor Chen, please."
Seeing this, Chen Jie sighed and said nothing more; a great battle was about to break out.
Historical records state: In the autumn of the sixteenth year of the Zhizheng era, Emperor Taizu fought a decisive battle with Phagpa at the Two Holy Mountains!
At that time, the Ersheng Mountain, which would later become famous, was just a small earthen mound.
At this moment, on the earthen hill, two of the most powerful figures of their time, like immortals on earth, stood with their hands behind their backs, their eyes revealing a profound understanding of heaven and earth.
Meanwhile, twenty miles away outside the capital city, hundreds of thousands of eyes were fixed on that lonely earthen hill.
There, two worlds will collide, and the outcome will determine the future of this world!
The wind stopped, the clouds dispersed, as if heaven and earth knew that the two were about to make their move.
"Master, shall we test our skills together first?"
Phagpa said, "Alright, using the laws of heaven and earth would be too disruptive. Let's try the basics first."
He finished speaking.
Two figures, one in front of the other, took a step forward in unison. It was just a simple step, but it seemed as if they were stepping on the pulse of heaven and earth.
The one from the north is the Great Qian National Preceptor, the living Living Buddha Phagpa.
He was dressed in a moon-white monk's robe, his skin was as smooth as jade, and his brows were filled with an eerie beauty. However, his eyes were like lightning, and his body radiated a compassionate and majestic Buddhist light. This was an outward manifestation of the ultimate cultivation of the "Great Liberation Quran". He did not look like an ordinary monk, but rather like a living Buddha walking in the world.
The one from the south is the King of Han, Chen Jiu Si, the last hope of the Han people.
He wore an old blue robe and his hair was loosely tied up, looking like a Taoist priest in the mountains. But if someone looked closely, they would find that the dust that should have been flying up when he stepped down would sink half an inch silently, as if even the earth was afraid of his weight.
The two stood still, about ten feet apart.
“Benefactor Chen, although I do not wish to engage in a war of words, the sea of suffering is boundless, but there is always a shore to return to.” Phagpa clasped his hands together, his voice deep and resonant, echoing throughout the entire battlefield, “Submitting to the Great Qian can save the people from suffering.”
Chen Jiu Si chuckled and said, "Master, there's no use talking about this now. Let's see what our skills are like and let me see what the world's best are like!"
As soon as the words were spoken, two invisible waves of energy collided violently!
Centered on the earthen hill, the rubble and withered grass within a radius of a hundred feet were instantly scraped clean, and the ground looked as if it had been turned over by a giant plow, revealing the scorched yellow hard soil underneath.
A flash of anger crossed Phagpa's eyes. He didn't move, but his right palm slowly rose. A faint golden light emanated from his palm, but it wasn't ordinary golden light; rather, it was a crystal-clear Buddhist light with flowing Sanskrit runes.
"The Vajra Palm, for subduing demons."
This palm strike did not produce a howling wind; instead, the surrounding air suddenly became still.
Immediately afterwards, a huge golden palm print appeared out of thin air, three zhang long and one and a half zhang wide, with palm lines as clear as if they were engraved, and each line contained a deep "Amitabha".
Wherever the palm print passed, the space distorted slightly, as if even the light was swallowed up by the Buddha's light.
Chen Jiu Si squinted as he watched the massive golden hand descend, obscuring the sky, and without dodging or avoiding it, he also raised his right hand.
But his palms were red, and when he spread his fingers, he let out a loud dragon's roar.
"The Eighteen Palms of Dragon Capture - The Dragon Regrets!"
A crimson dragon-shaped burst of energy shot out from the hand. It was not a physical object, yet it was more solid than steel. The dragon's head was raised high, its whiskers fluttering, carrying a fierce and resolute imperial aura as it fearlessly crashed into the golden Buddha's palm.
"boom--!"
The moment the two palms collided, there was no earth-shattering loud noise, only a muffled popping sound that made your teeth ache.
The next second, the shockwave exploded in a ring!
The summit of the earthen hill was leveled by three feet from the impact! Countless fragments of rock were swept up by the shockwave and shot outwards like meteors. The nearest crooked trees were instantly reduced to dust, leaving not a trace.
Twenty miles away, in the Qian army's formation, they were observing the battle.
A military officer from the Great Qian Dynasty was holding up a telescope, trying to get a clear view of the situation on the mountain, when suddenly he felt a burning sensation in his palm. The bronze telescope tube instantly melted and deformed. He dropped it in alarm and looked up, only to see that the distant sky looked as if it had been wiped away by an invisible hand, with a huge hole opened up in the clouds.
"Stay calm! Don't panic!" the general shouted, but his voice trembled slightly.
Meanwhile, the Han army's positions.
A sudden gust of wind, carrying sand and gravel, swept in, blinding the soldiers. Dozens of soldiers at the front, though wearing helmets, were struck by the aftershocks of the attack, their chests feeling as if hit by a heavy hammer, spitting out blood and collapsing to the ground.
With just a single probing move, the aftershocks were enough to injure people twenty miles away.
Phagpa frowned slightly, seemingly not expecting his opponent to be able to withstand his Vajra Palm so easily.
“Benefactor Chen is indeed highly skilled. In that case, this humble monk will not stand on ceremony.”
He took a sudden step forward, his robes billowing beneath his feet without wind. Behind him, in the void, six enormous phantom images of Dharma forms faintly appeared, representing the "Six Realms of Rebirth" from the *Mahasattva Quran*. Each image emanated a different aura: the majesty of the heavenly realm, the compassion of the human realm, the ferocity of the Asura realm…
Chen Jiu Si's expression also turned serious. He knew that Phagpa was about to get serious.
"Good timing!"
He let out a long roar, his feet stomping on the ground as his hands rapidly formed hand seals in front of his chest. The once clear sky, under his hand seals, began to strangely shift in color. "The Four Seasons Celestial Phenomena Technique—Spring brings life, summer fosters growth, autumn harvests, winter stores!"
With a loud shout, the climate of the entire hill was forcibly altered in an instant!
First came the warm spring sun, and countless emerald green vines broke through the soil and twined around Phagpa. These vines were not plants, but were formed by the condensation of extremely strong and yang internal energy, sharp as knives.
Then came the summer thunder, dark clouds overhead, and bolts of purple lightning as thick as buckets rolled through the clouds and crashed down.
Then comes the bleakness of autumn, with the temperature plummeting and countless golden leaves falling. Each leaf carries a sharp edge that cuts through space, a concrete manifestation of "autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves."
Finally, the harsh winter arrived, with heavy snow falling from the sky. This snow was black, carrying a chilling cold that could freeze the soul, and in the blink of an eye, it froze the ground for miles around.
"A mere trick, nothing more than borrowing the power of heaven and earth." Phagpa sneered, clasped his hands together and then separated them, chanting, "Great freedom, unrestrained, all laws return to one!"
The six dharma images behind him roared in unison, transforming into six streams of colorful light that merged into his palm.
He shattered the ice with a single step, letting lightning strike him without causing any harm, and letting vines tear his robe, drawing blood. He was like a cannonball, forcefully breaking through the seal of the four seasons.
"boom!"
The two finally closed in, fist to fist, palm to palm, clashing together without any fancy moves.
This time, the earth remained silent for three breaths.
Then, terrifying cracks spread from beneath their feet, rapidly expanding like a spiderweb. The entire hill groaned under the weight, and the mountain began to collapse!
"kill--!"
On the battlefield, someone shouted first, and the soldiers of both armies, after witnessing the terror of the gods fighting, were instead aroused by a crazy bloodlust and began to charge.
But their charge lasted less than ten breaths.
Because on the other side of Tushan, the battle had reached a fever pitch.
Chen Jiu Si was covered in blood and dressed in rags, but his eyes shone brightly and his long hair danced wildly. He waved his hands, which no longer simply summoned the seasons, but rather celestial calamities.
"The Celestial Phenomena of the Four Seasons - Zhurong: A Thousand Miles of Drought!"
With a single palm strike, a blazing storm of flames swept across the heavens and earth. This was no ordinary fire, but the incinerating fire of Zhurong, capable of burning everything in its path. Wherever the flames passed, even the air itself was distorted by the heat, crackling and popping.
Phagpa dared not be negligent. He sat cross-legged, suspended in mid-air, and a huge, transparent phantom of a scripture appeared around him—the very essence of the Mahāsvara Quran. The scripture flowed, scattering countless golden Sanskrit characters. Each Sanskrit character that landed transformed into a golden Arhat, holding a weapon, densely packed together to meet the flame storm.
The Arhats clashed with the flames, creating a continuous series of explosions, much like firecrackers on New Year's Eve, but with a power that was hundreds or thousands of times greater.
The shockwaves surged layer upon layer, sweeping across the army twenty miles away.
On the Qian army's side, although the heavily armored soldiers in the front row on the city wall raised their shields, the shockwaves strong enough to tear through steel easily penetrated the shields, the armor, and even flesh.
Swarms of soldiers fell like wheat cut by a sickle, their screams drowned out by the deafening roar.
The Han army wasn't faring much better; the terrifying aftershocks were hitting them hard. Many soldiers were bleeding from their ears, blinded, and writhing on the ground in agony, clutching their heads.
The sky was dyed an eerie red and blue, with raging fire on one side and golden light from ten thousand Buddhas on the other.
After an unknown period of time, the flames dissipated, and the Arhat vanished.
Chen Jiu Si stood in the center of the ruins after the collapse of the earthen hill, with a bottomless pit beneath his feet. He gasped for breath, each breath exhaling hot white smoke.
Phagpa hovered above the giant pit, his robe tattered, revealing a lean upper body covered with charred palm prints. His face was pale, clearly at his last gasp.
"Chen Jiu Si, do you still want to continue?" Basiba's voice was a little hoarse. "If we continue fighting, this mountain, along with you and me, will be reduced to nothingness."
Chen Jiu Si grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth, though tinged with blood: "Scared? This is just the beginning. Monk, you try taking one of my moves."
He slowly closed his eyes, no longer using his internal energy, but instead vibrating his entire body at a strange frequency.
"The Four Seasons Celestial Phenomena Technique - Summer and Autumn Combined, Heaven and Earth Live Together!"
At this moment, he no longer borrowed the power of heaven and earth, but transformed himself into "heaven" and "earth." His body seemed to disappear, transforming into a black hole that frantically devoured all the spiritual energy around him. The clouds in the sky were torn into spirals, surging madly into that black hole.
Phagpa's pupils contracted sharply as he sensed a deadly threat. He held back no longer, his hands suddenly reaching down as if to grab something.
"The Great Freedom of the Quran—Taboo, Buddha!"
Above his head, the enormous phantom of the scripture began to burn, not with flames, but with the laws of nature.
The scriptures were opened, and out of them emerged a Phagpa who looked exactly like him, but this Phagpa had no facial features, only endless chaos.
The two "gods" are about to clash again.
The surrounding air was so thin it was almost a vacuum; the army twenty miles away felt breathless, as if suffocating. The warhorses neighed in terror and knelt down on the ground.
Everyone knew that the final moment had arrived.
This strike will determine who dominates this battle and the course of this war.
The giant pit beneath Chen Jiu Si's feet began to collapse, extending deeper into the earth's core; the chaotic Dharma body above Phagpa's head began to expand, bursting through the sky.
Just moments before the two world-destroying forces were about to erupt completely,
Suddenly vanished again, and the two of them compressed their power once more, holding back their strength. If this formidable power were to erupt, the capital city twenty miles away would probably be reduced to ruins.
At this moment, Chen Jie looked at Phagpa and said, "Master, behold my Great Dao Laws."
As he spoke, Chen Jie struck out with a palm. This palm strike seemed simple, but it contained the laws of the Great Dao. And the power of these laws was the power of the Human Emperor—the Human Emperor absorbed the faith of the people of this world, which is the same principle of heaven and earth.
Thinking of this, Chen Jie pushed Phagpa directly with a palm.
Phagpa's gaze sharpened, and countless images of Buddhas flashed in his eyes. Then Phagpa said, "The Great Way is boundless, and Buddhism draws upon the power of all beings. Benefactor Chen, if we truly fight to the death, the heavens and earth may collapse."
"Let's use this palm strike as our foundation. The outcome will be clear. Let's see if your power as the Human Emperor is stronger, or my power as the power of all living beings is more powerful."
Upon hearing this, Chen Jie looked at Phagpa and said, "Since that's the case, then let's fight. Take this palm strike from me."
Chen Jie simply thrust out a palm strike, the extreme compression rendering it completely devoid of any brilliance, appearing as an ordinary palm strike. However, this palm strike contained the power of the Human Emperor.
Meanwhile, Phagpa also unleashed a palm strike, equally colorless, a simple palm strike that encapsulated the power of all living beings.
And so, the two slowly extended their palms. Though slow, the space around them began to crack, as if even the space itself could not withstand their immense power. Finally, in utter silence, their palms met! (End of Chapter)