Chapter 440: Who Says Good Men Can’t Be Devious?

At this moment, all was silent.

“Ah.”

Guang Ming stood there dumbfounded, his mind replaying everything that had happened until now. Cold sweat uncontrollably streamed down his face.

‘What have I done?’

Becoming the Buddha Child, ruling over the Pure Land, manipulating the world, scheming across the Four Realms—he had seemingly held all under heaven in his grasp.

But damn it, was that really him?

‘That’s not me!’

No one knew himself better than Guang Ming did. He was just an ordinary man without grand ambitions—content to live peacefully, with enough food and drink to get by.

How could someone like him risk everything to stir up worldly chaos?

And yet, through all these years, he had felt nothing amiss.

‘What exactly am I doing?’

Guang Ming stared blankly at his hands. The golden body that had once been full and radiant with flesh and blood now seemed nothing more than a thin layer of human skin.

‘Ah...’

Lifting his head, he gazed toward the Demon-Suppressing True Person. His eyes gleamed brilliantly—yet the emotion that surfaced at the end was not fury or hatred.

It was resignation.

‘So that’s how it is... I’m already dead.’

He was different from others.

Others were not the 【Buddha Child】. Even if their connection was severed, they could return to their true selves.

But his very life had long been anchored elsewhere.

When the Demon-Suppressing True Person cut off his link with the World-Honored One, it was as though his roots had been severed. Now, he could not even speak a word—he merely pressed his palms together and allowed the Buddha light upon his body to intertwine, stagnate, collapse, and finally scatter into a cloud of golden dust.

A soul drifted down gently into reincarnation.

Guang Ming was dead.

However, the Buddha Child did not vanish with him.

Behind his dissipating form, the vast and magnificent vision of the 【Manifest World Aspect of Shengyi Shengming Heaven】 stirred for the very first time.

“Amitābha!”

The grand Buddha voice echoed across the Pure Land, yet none of the Pure Land monks answered in chorus as usual.

Each stood frozen, faces blank, gazing around in confusion.

‘Demonic influence... demonic influence!’

At last, an old Arhat with white hair and beard moved.

His face was filled with shock and fury, as though a fledgling bird had suddenly glimpsed the boundless sky.

“How dare you! How dare you do this!?”

He pointed furiously at the Demon-Suppressing True Person and shouted, “You have ruined the very foundation of my Pure Land! You have destroyed its roots! Great Demon! What a Great Demon indeed!”

“Kill him!”

In the past, the moment those words left his mouth, the monks would have rushed forward as one.

But now, their reactions were entirely different.

The next instant——

“Boom!”

A newly ascended Arhat suddenly shut his eyes tight—then, with a thunderous explosion, self-destructed on the spot.

A soul floated gently into the cycle of rebirth.

The old Arhat turned, aghast. “Why!?”

To enter reincarnation, to wash one’s soul clean—and now, with their connection to the World-Honored One severed—this meant they wished to completely depart from the Pure Land!

“How utterly foolish!”

The old Arhat’s hands trembled with rage.

“The World-Honored One, out of compassion, shone his light upon us so that we might cultivate to this blissful land of Jiangxi’s Pure Realm—why, then, would anyone wish to leave!?”

He could not understand.

Thus, he could only blame everything on the Demon-Suppressing True Person, convinced that this fiend had corrupted the Pure Land’s purity and deceived its monks.

Seeing this, the Demon-Suppressing True Person suddenly laughed.

Within the Great Hero Treasure Hall—

The rising clamor slowly faded.

When the Demon-Suppressing True Person regained his senses, he realized a young man had appeared before him.

The youth’s face was unremarkable—common, even familiar.

The Demon-Suppressing True Person felt he had seen him somewhere before, yet could not recall where.

It was as though every face beneath heaven had been merged together to form this one countenance.

At that moment, the youth was studying him with calm curiosity.

A second later, the youth spoke.

His voice was gentle, like that of a soft-spoken woman, yet carried a masculine firmness—aged like an elder, yet vibrant as a child.

“Amitābha.”

That single Buddha name instantly made the Demon-Suppressing True Person’s expression turn grave.

He looked upon the youth with deep solemnity and disbelief.

—The World-Honored One?

“Forgive the disappointment,” the youth said, seeming to read his thoughts.

“I am not the World-Honored One. The World-Honored One is far beyond—he would not descend personally to meet you, Daoist friend.”

Hearing this, the Demon-Suppressing True Person’s mind raced before realization dawned.

“So... you are that Dharma Aspect.”

【Manifest World Aspect of Shengyi Shengming Heaven】!

At the thought, the Demon-Suppressing True Person frowned again.

“Why have you come to see me?”

“There is confusion in my heart.”

The youth joined his palms and said calmly, “Your sword intent is unparalleled. You skillfully borrowed the not-yet-formed 【Sword Dao Fruitional Rank】 to strike that sword.”

“But in the end, it is rootless water.”

“Those monks who self-dissolved and entered the cycle of rebirth aside—when you perish and your Dao dissipates, the others’ connection to the World-Honored One will quickly be restored.”

“Since that is so, what meaning does your action hold?”

“Is that so?” The Demon-Suppressing True Person smiled instead of despairing.

“How could it be meaningless? Did you not just say several monks have entered reincarnation? Then I have saved those few. That, in itself, is meaning.”

The youth’s expression did not change. He pressed further:

“You condemn our Pure Land as a false path, yet you carry countless severed heads in your

bag—deciding countless fates by your own will.

Is that not another form of a Pure Land?

To deny the Pure Land—is it not, in essence, to deny yourself?”

At this, the Demon-Suppressing True Person laughed even more joyfully.

“How could that be the same?”

Those simple five words stunned the youth.

After a long silence, he smiled bitterly and shook his head.

“I nearly forgot—you are of the Sword Pavilion...”

Then, unwilling to give up, he asked again:

“And what of the Sword Pavilion? You suffered under its yoke all your life—do you feel no resentment?”

“Of course I do.”

The Demon-Suppressing True Person nodded without hesitation, smiling faintly.

“That’s why I left the 【No Killing Sword Intent】 and sword techniques with the Ye Family, didn’t I?”

The 【No Killing Sword Intent】 was the Pure Land’s coveted goal.

Its accompanying sword arts—how could the Pure Land not desire them?

To obtain them, they would inevitably become entangled with the Ye Family.

The longer the connection lasted, the heavier the karma.

The Demon-Suppressing True Person had deliberately left behind 【No Killing】 while withholding 【All-Slay】—just to set up the Ye Family!

Utterly devious!

“I have learned much,” the youth sighed, joining his palms.

“It seems your heart’s wish is truly fulfilled. You have no further attachments and are prepared to sacrifice yourself to the sword.”

The Demon-Suppressing True Person had not changed his fate.

He was destined to die.

If he did not die—did not sacrifice himself—then the 【Sword Dao Fruitional Rank】 could never manifest.

That outcome could not be altered.

The youth’s expression grew sorrowful.

“I had thought, at your final moment, you might waver. With Guang Ming’s death, I now lack a vessel to anchor in. Had you been willing to merge with me, you might have been reborn anew.”

But the Demon-Suppressing True Person refused.

“Crack—!”

The surrounding scene fractured inch by inch—an omen that the illusion was fading, reality returning.

It also meant that death was near.

Yet even so, the world’s foremost sword cultivator still wore a tranquil smile.

Having upheld No Killing nearly his entire life, even in his final moments he did not break that vow—choosing instead to save lives.

The next second, all illusions vanished.

Lü Yang’s sword incarnation lifted his head—only to see the Demon-Suppressing True Person gone.

Floating in the air remained only the 【Sword of No Killing】.

On the blade, an inscription gleamed with radiant light:

“To sacrifice one’s body for righteousness is to honor righteousness above oneself.”

“Therefore, of all things under heaven, nothing is more precious than righteousness.”

In that instant, ten thousand sword auras converged.

Heaven and earth echoed with a restrained sword cry—stifled, yet brimming at the brink.

“This is...”

Lü Yang’s eyes widened in astonishment as he perceived the Demon-Suppressing True Person’s final stratagem.

‘He bound the formation of the 【Sword Dao Fruitional Rank】 to the Pure Land itself—anchoring its foundation to the unity of all beings!’

The Demon-Suppressing True Person had severed the Pure Land’s “oneness of all hearts,” thereby defining the very root of the 【Sword Dao】.

Once the Pure Land later restored its unity, that act would overturn the sword’s foundation—instantly causing the 【Sword Dao】 to collapse.

‘What a man!’

For a moment, Lü Yang was awestruck.

The unity of all hearts was the Pure Land’s foundation— while the 【Sword Dao】 was the Sword Pavilion’s ultimate pursuit.

And this man had forced them into enmity.

If the Sword Pavilion desired the 【Sword Dao】—they would have to keep undermining the Pure Land.

If the Pure Land wished to preserve its unity—then it must destroy the 【Sword Dao】.

Who said good men couldn’t be devious?

The Demon-Suppressing True Person—what a master schemer indeed!

He had simply been biding his time all these years.

And now, with one move, he had trapped both the Pure Land and the Sword Pavilion together in his web.

A single pit, deep enough for all!