384: Chapter 384 There's still a connection

"Husband, your ability to strategize and plan from afar has truly startled the Old Celestial Master and the others."

Xiao Qingxuan had long since grown accustomed to her man's "wisdom," and her eyes were full of adoration.

Her husband was simply that outstanding!

Lin Xiao, however, was muttering to himself. Compared to being the King of the Peacock Kingdom, the status of being the Sweeping Monk's disciple actually didn't count for much...

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He planned to discuss this matter with Xiao Qingxuan when they were alone.

After all, Western Shu bordered sixteen foreign nations, and the Great Peacock Kingdom was one of the larger ones among them.

Perhaps Xiao Qingxuan knew some useful information.

Although Lin Xiao's current sphere of influence hadn't reached Nanling or Baiyue yet, he would have to deal with those countries sooner or later.

If this Ruoyu truly had some use, he needed to mark him down in advance.

While he was lost in thought, the fight on the arena had already begun.

Ruoyu's opponent was a young swordsman from the Iron Sword Sect, ranked in the teens on the prodigy rankings, which was roughly equal to his own rank.

The swordsman launched move after move, but Ruoyu used Buddhist movement techniques to dodge them relatively lightly.

Surprisingly, Ruoyu didn't use any counter-attacking moves; he just kept chanting sutras on the stage...

After he had chanted about a dozen lines, the swordsman suddenly dropped his longsword and burst into tears, clutching his head!

"Stop chanting! Stop chanting! I was wrong! It's my fault!!"

"Amitabha. Benefactor, the shore is just behind you if you turn back..."

Ruoyu walked up and bowed with his palms pressed together.

The swordsman, weeping bitterly, hurriedly stood up and said, "Master Ruoyu's Buddhist dharma is profound; I am ashamed to be your equal!"

After saying that, the swordsman surrendered and admitted defeat directly!

A wave of exclamations rose from the scene. Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what was going on!

"Hey! How can this be!? They didn't even touch, and he's already admitted defeat!?"

"You from the Iron Sword Sect! Did you take donation money from the monks?!"

"Old Celestial Master! This is your Daoist Sect's territory. Are you just going to let them act so recklessly?!"

"Exactly, winning just by chanting sutras? Then the Buddhist Sect might as well be number one in the world from now on! Why even compete?!"

"Could it be that the Buddhist Sect is getting desperate since they haven't produced results in the last few tournaments..."

Gou Qizi jumped up and roared loudly, "All of you shut up! This is the Tianwu Grand Tournament hosted by our Daoist Sect. Who dares to cheat?!"

"Daoist Mad Dog, what are you getting so worked up about? Then why don't you explain how that chanting won just now!"

Gou Qizi was suddenly at a loss for words. He didn't know either and was wondering about it himself!

"Rigged! Rigged!"

"Get the Buddhist Sect off the stage! It's unfair!"

Seeing the scene starting to get rowdy, Xiao Dan stood up.

"Everyone, please calm down. This little Master Ruoyu did not cheat; it is just that his technique is quite unique."

Seeing the Old Celestial Master finally speak, everyone pricked up their ears to listen.

"The Buddhist Sect has a cultivation technique called the 'Rebirth Mantra,' which can use Buddhist sutras to deliver spirits."

"Those baptized by the mantra will have the three poisons of life awakened: greed, anger, and delusion."

"If one cannot bear the bitter fruit of these poisons, they will naturally discard their armor and admit defeat willingly."

A flurry of discussion broke out across the field. Everyone was amazed; such a technique actually existed?!

"The reason you have never heard of it is because practitioners of this technique require many specific karmic conditions."

Xiao Dan looked at Ruoyu meaningfully. "Most young monks cannot possibly meet the requirements. Little Master Ruoyu, you have suffered."

Ruoyu hurriedly bowed. "Amitabha. This monk does not deserve such praise. Thank you, Old Celestial Master, for clearing my name."

The biggest prerequisite for the "Rebirth Mantra" was that one's own heart must first be as cold as dead ashes!

Only by "passing on" oneself first can one find life in the midst of death!

Only in this way could one have a heart strong enough to face the three poisons of greed, anger, and delusion of the world's people!

When Ruoyu first joined the Buddhist Sect, he was bullied by some of the "well-connected" members of the sect because he was a foreigner.

Before meeting the Sweeping Monk, he had actually intended to seek death.

It was precisely because of this experience that he was chosen by the Sweeping Monk to learn this unique technique.

With the Old Celestial Master's explanation, the controversy at the scene completely vanished.

On the Blade Mountain spectator stand, Child Ghost was biting his nails, his eyes gloomy and irritable.

"Don't panic. He might not necessarily last until he fights you."

The Blade Emperor patted his disciple's shoulder, but his gaze was also somewhat helpless.

Ordinary bladesmen might not fear the Rebirth Mantra; at most, they would wail in pain.

But Child Ghost, whose heart was filled with greed, anger, and delusion, might just explode all at once!

The subsequent battles mostly lacked suspense.

Child Ghost used an unsharpened blunt knife to chase and hack at his opponents wildly, scaring some of the women so much they didn't dare to look.

Yin Zhong, who carried the high hopes of the Sword Forest, had a swordsmanship that looked clumsy, yet he somehow won inexplicably.

And the most surprising one was Xiao Yangliu.

This seemingly frail young girl actually used a powerful "Great Dragon-Elephant Power" hand seal to blast a giant of a man away!

Other than that, the rest were fairly standard, with nothing particularly special.

As the final match before lunch began—the round of sixteen to eight, Leng Bingyan versus Ruoyu—everyone became excited again!

Leng Bingyan did not underestimate her opponent at all just because she had won with a single strike earlier; she attacked fiercely from the start.

Ruoyu's movement techniques were very ethereal, and he successfully dodged two sword strikes in a row.

But on the third strike, Leng Bingyan changed her move again, choosing a wide-range sweep of her sword curtain.

Ruoyu, who lacked frontal defensive capabilities, had no choice but to be defeated.

Even so, Leng Bingyan broke out in a cold sweat.

Ruoyu's Rebirth Mantra had made her constantly remember those months when Western Shu fell, as well as her long-lost father, General Leng Duo...

"Well played!"

Leng Bingyan bid farewell to Ruoyu and drifted back to Lin Xiao and the others.

"Husband, did I fight well?"

Leng Bingyan didn't care at all what others thought; she only wanted to know what her man thought.

Lin Xiao went up and wiped the sweat from the woman's face with his hand, smiling. "More than just 'well,' you've really brought honor to our Prince's Mansion!"

"Husband is just teasing me. Why would the Prince's Mansion need the Tianwu Grand Tournament to gain honor?"

Even though she knew he was teasing her, she was still very happy.

For lunch, Lin Xiao and the others naturally left first, while everyone else silently watched them go.

Before leaving, Lin Xiao glanced at Ruoyu and saw him standing below the stage looking lost, with a hint of sorrow in his eyes.

Once they were further away, Lin Xiao said to Xiao Qingxuan, "Wife, how much do you know about... the Great Peacock Kingdom?"

Xiao Qingxuan was startled. "Why would husband suddenly bring this up?"

Lin Xiao then gave a brief account of Ruoyu's situation.

The women all showed expressions of shock upon hearing this, and Xiao Qingxuan felt even more sympathetic.

"So... Prince A-Lai is still alive and has even become a disciple of the Sweeping Monk..."

Xiao Qingxuan sighed, "The world truly is unpredictable."

"Could it be that you've met him, wife?" Lin Xiao asked.

Xiao Qingxuan nodded. "When he was still a child, he visited Yancheng, the imperial capital of Western Shu. I suppose we met once."

"Back then, he was a cheerful youth, so I never imagined Ruoyu would be him."

"A few years before the fall of Western Shu, he inherited the throne, and my father even sent a state letter to congratulate him."

"But later, news came from the foreign lands that because the First Prince of Great Gan, Li Chengqi, was assassinated, a mutiny occurred in the Great Peacock Kingdom."

"It was said that King A-Lai was overthrown by a coalition of his cousin and the Prime Minister, and his cousin directly usurped the throne."

"After that... I'm not sure what happened exactly, because the Great Peacock Kingdom stopped having any dealings with our Western Shu from then on."

Lin Xiao found it strange. "Wait a minute... this Great Peacock Kingdom has a connection to Great Gan's First Prince?"