Before his words had even faded, Lü Yang made his move.

He wasn’t holding back or putting on an act. This was a true, all-out attack. With a single thought, a Talisman materialized in his hand.

[Gold-Plated Military Token]!

As the Talisman unfurled, the five Innate Abilities Lü Yang had previously absorbed manifested one after another. They formed a self-sustaining cycle, their power augmenting the blade of the Tribulation Wave.

[Heaven-Slaying Sword-Drawing Technique], [Heartless Slash].

[Formless and Thoughtless], [Dust Separation and Disruption].

[One Thought Divine Saber]!

"Kill!"

The Five Dharma Appearances never expected that Lü Yang, who had just seemed so tempted, would attack in the very next instant. One of them was caught completely off guard and struck by the slash.

The brilliant Sword Light instantly swallowed it.

There was no suspense. The Dharma Appearance’s Golden Body, which should have been indestructible, cracked and shattered on the spot. In the blink of an eye, it was reduced to a cloud of fine dust.

Empowered by the five Legendary Techniques of the [Gold-Plated Military Token] and combined with the Quasi-Essence Artifact, the Tribulation Wave, this strike was Lü Yang’s most powerful killing move. Though it lacked the subtlety of Demon-Vanquishing Perfected’s Sword Intent, it excelled in sheer power—a brute-force attack that was almost certainly a one-hit kill if it landed.

CLANG! CLANG!

Almost simultaneously, Demon-Vanquishing Perfected also drew his sword, letting out a hearty laugh. "Good... Good! My Dao is not a lonely one! My Dao is not a lonely one!"

His Sword Light swept out, obliterating another Dharma Appearance.

Meanwhile, Minor Metal, who had been hiding and building up power, made a stealthy move. Its [Golden Cup Fire] flared to life, taking out yet another Dharma Appearance.

In a flash, only two of the Five Dharma Appearances remained!

"Why...?"

The two remaining Dharma Appearances stood side by side, their faces filled with confusion. Yet, their movements were swift. Even as they questioned him, they formed a Daoist Hand Seal, and the Buddha Light around them pulsed once.

’[Great Nyingma Mantra of the Great Gathering]!’

In the next instant, the three Dharma Appearances that had just been slain walked out of the Buddha Light completely unharmed. In a moment, the lineup of Five Dharma Appearances was complete once more!

"Why did you refuse?"

The Five Dharma Appearances spoke in unison, their voices full of bewilderment.

"We were not lying. Everything we said was the truth. It is a great benefit to you and not a bad thing for the Dao Court. Do you no longer wish for Seeking Gold?"

The emotions of the Five Dharma Appearances were genuine.

After all, Demon-Vanquishing Perfected didn’t truly understand Lü Yang. As a straightforward Sword Cultivator, he foolishly regarded Lü Yang as a like-minded Daoist.

But they wouldn’t make that mistake.

’This Demon Dragon is clearly a Demon at heart—a heartless person who believes he is the greatest being under Heaven. How could he care about illusory dreams? There must be something wrong here!’

And that was indeed the case.

Lü Yang greatly admired Demon-Vanquishing Perfected and would have been happy to be his friend, but he knew in his heart that he could never be like him.

He had refused for one reason and one reason only:

’In my previous life, I saw it with my own eyes... The Bhagavat descended, split the Pure Land in two with a Divine Cutting, and easily restored Unity!’

What did this mean?

It meant that if the Bhagavat wished it, this broken Buddha Statue and its so-called "Unity" were completely meaningless.

Taking over the Pure Land? It was all bullshit!

The fact that the Bhagavat hadn’t mentioned this proved he had other plans. Although Lü Yang couldn’t guess what they were, he was sure it was nothing good.

’When I do things, I always prioritize one thing: stability.’

’As the saying goes, the more you do, the more mistakes you make. If you do nothing, you can’t be wrong. No matter what the Bhagavat is planning, if I don’t agree, his schemes can’t touch me!’

’Besides, taking a step back, if I were to take over the Pure Land and control Unity, then in the future, the one Master Demon-Vanquishing Perfected would come to slay wouldn’t be the Bhagavat, but me. Isn’t that basically the same as taking the fall for the Bhagavat? So no matter how you look at it, I can’t do this!’

BOOM!

Lü Yang struck with his sword again. This time, he didn’t use the [Gold-Plated Military Token]. That Talismanic Magic integrated five Legendary Techniques and couldn’t be used multiple times in quick succession.

However, this sword strike contained a different kind of Profound Mysterious.

The Sword Light flowed like water, not as fierce as before, but it made all Five Dharma Appearances frown. As they calculated the karmic links, they sensed an even more intense Life and Death Crisis.

In a daze, they seemed to see flowers, birds, fish, and insects within the Sword Light. They saw the sun, moon, mountains, and seas—all of creation, like an ancient scroll slowly unfurling—

’The East?’

The pupils of the Five Dharma Appearances contracted as they understood the mystery within: Empowered by the [Immortal Dao Law], this seemingly ordinary sword strike was actually carrying the weight of the entire East!

’You think the Dao Court is the weakest faction just because the tiger doesn’t show its claws?’

Lü Yang thought viciously. It would be one thing if this were anywhere else, but in the East, the boost the [Immortal Dao Law] gave to Dao Court Cultivators was terrifying!

"Amitabha!"

At that moment, the Five Dharma Appearances chanted the Buddha’s Name in unison. Their forms merged within the Buddha Light, and like a volcanic eruption, they shot up from the ground in an instant.

Lü Yang’s Sword Light crashed down upon them, revealing the countless beings of the East. The intangible imagery now exerted a tangible, immense pressure, yet the Five Dharma Appearances managed to hold it up. In the empty wilderness, a Golden Buddha, towering over ten thousand zhang high, now stood between the earth and the azure sky.

"To reject us is to sever your Dao!"

The voices of the Five Dharma Appearances merged into one, thundering in their ears. "Even if you kill us, there are millions upon millions of Monks. New Buddha’s Sons can be brought to Enlightenment at any time."

"You will gain nothing!"

"Without Jiangxi, you are destined to fail in proving the [Fruit of Celestial Fire]. All your schemes will be for naught... Are you truly willing to see all this come to nothing?"

The sky-high Golden Buddha, the thunderous rebukes—at first glance, one might think a Golden Core Perfected Lord had descended. It was incredibly intimidating. But amidst the Buddha Light radiating from the Golden Buddha’s back, a Flying Light was mixed in, moving silently and with incredible speed, about to vanish into the void...

But in the next second, the Flying Light came to a sudden halt.

It abruptly dispersed, revealing the figure formed by the merging of the Five Dharma Appearances: a middle-aged Monk with a round head, large ears, and a solemn, dignified appearance.

However, the Monk’s expression was anything but pleasant.

Because he had discovered that he couldn’t escape... At some unknown point, the entire wilderness had been sealed, and even with his abilities, he couldn’t flee!

"Did you think the East was a place you could come and go as you please, Senior?"

Lü Yang approached, walking on air with his hands clasped behind his back.

At the same time, with a sound of clashing Gold and Iron, chains forged entirely from the runes of the Great Dao suddenly appeared between Heaven and Earth.

[Immortal Dao Law]!

The chains were densely packed, weaving into a net that wrapped around the merged form of the Five Dharma Appearances, layer after layer. With each layer that fell upon him, his Qi trace weakened.

"This... This..."

Seeing this, the being’s face finally changed. "Going this far... Are you really trying to kill me? Don’t you understand how meaningless this is?"

He didn’t understand.

If Lü Yang didn’t take over the Pure Land, he couldn’t rule over Jiangxi. Without that piece, his chances of obtaining the [Fruit of Celestial Fire] would be no more than fifty percent. It was all downside and no upside.

Unless—

At this thought, the Monk suddenly raised his head and gnashed his teeth. "You want to walk that path... Do you really dare to fake holding that Outer Dao Fruit and walk that path?"

—That’s right. There was another path. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

There was another way to make Jiangxi submit without taking over the Pure Land:

"Just kill all the Monks, wouldn’t that solve it?" Lü Yang said with a light laugh.

Jiangxi’s lack of submission was, in the end, the Monks of Jiangxi’s lack of submission. Therefore, as long as all the Monks were killed, the region of Jiangxi would submit even without submitting.

"Absurd!"

The Monk gritted his teeth and sneered. "Kill all the Monks? Unheard of in all of history! If all the Monks die, the [Fruit of Rampart Earth] will surely break away. Aren’t you afraid the Bhagavat himself will descend then?"

"I am afraid. That’s why..."

Lü Yang nodded, then stepped aside to reveal Demon-Vanquishing Perfected.

The next moment, Demon-Vanquishing Perfected said with a sternly righteous expression, "Killing is wrong. Leave this matter to me. Don’t worry, not a single person will die."

Lü Yang grinned, showing his teeth. "Any more questions?"

The Monk: "..."

’You animals!’