bioinnovel Chapter 796 Lu Xueqi and Biyao
Chapter 796 Lu Xueqi and Biyao
A young disciple rushed up to greet him, “The evil creature has awakened ahead of schedule and has already destroyed three cities. The cultivators in the human realm have suffered heavy casualties. The sect leader has already led people there.”
Su Han's heart tightened: "When did this happen?"
“Three days ago. We’ve been looking for you, but we can’t get into the Buddhist realm,” another disciple said. “Senior Brother Su, did you receive the Pure World Buddha Light?”
Su Han was silent for a moment. He could see the expectation and trust in the eyes of those young disciples; they believed that he would return from the Buddhist realm with a treasure capable of saving everything. How could he tell them? That he returned empty-handed, carrying only a string of Bodhi seeds and a principle?
But the next moment, he remembered what Buddha had said. When he stopped thinking about "gaining," the light would shine.
He touched the Bodhi seed on his wrist, smiled at his disciples, and said, "Got it. Let's go to the human realm."
He wasn't lying. He did get it—in a way he couldn't have understood before.
When they arrived in the mortal realm, Su Han was met with an apocalyptic scene. The once verdant mountains were shrouded in black smoke, and the sky was a dark red, as if it had been scorched by fire. The aura of evil creatures surged from the depths of the earth, carrying a rotten, sweet, and pungent smell that made people dizzy. The sect leader, along with the main disciples of the Lingxiao Immortal Sect, formed an array in mid-air. The light of the array flickered, barely holding off the first wave of evil creatures' attacks. But Su Han could tell at a glance that the array wouldn't last long.
As he landed, the sect leader glanced back at him. His eyes held a thousand unspoken words, but ultimately condensed into a single question: "Han'er, did you get it?"
Su Han walked to the sect leader's side and stood shoulder to shoulder, looking down at the giant black shadow slowly emerging from the crack in the ground. The thing was like a flattened nightmare, without a fixed shape. Black viscous liquid kept oozing out of the crack, and each clump that emerged condensed into some kind of twisted monster shape, baring its fangs and claws as it lunged at the cultivators' defenses.
"Got it," Su Han said.
The sect leader nodded and refocused on maintaining the formation: "Alright. I'll create an opportunity for you in a moment. You can unleash your Buddha light and kill it in one strike."
Su Han did not answer. He looked at the black, evil thing, at the cultivators whose flesh was corroded and mangled by the venom it spewed out, and at the scattered lights still shining in the destroyed city in the distance—there were still people alive, still people struggling to survive in the ruins.
He thought of the old woman. She must have been very tired as she carried firewood through the snow, and she must have thought, "Why should I, an old woman, work so hard?" But she didn't stop, because there was a child waiting for her inside the house.
Su Han stretched out his hand, fingers spread, looking at his palm. There was nothing there—no golden light, no Buddhist light, just a pair of ordinary hands, calloused from the stone steps of Mount Ling. But suddenly he understood what the Buddha meant by "light." That light wasn't in his palm, but in what he wanted to protect. As he looked at the lights amidst the ruins, imagining a child, like in the illusion, sitting trembling beside their parents, a warm feeling welled up inside him.
The warmth spread from his heart, flowed through his arms, and gathered at his fingertips. His palms truly lit up. At first, it was just a faint golden halo, like the light before dawn, but it grew brighter and warmer until his entire palm was enveloped in a soft golden glow. It wasn't the power of chaos, nor the righteous energy of heaven, nor any of the spells he had ever practiced. It was simply a pure, warm light, carrying the scent of sandalwood.
The sect leader froze on the spot: "This...this is the Pure World Buddha Light?" Su Han did not answer him. He looked down at the ball of light in his palm, remembering the Buddha's last words—"When you love them, you are shining."
He raised his glowing hand, aiming it at the surging black monsters below. He didn't chant any incantations, didn't form any hand seals, he simply pushed his palm forward. Golden light shot out from his hand, like a ray of dawn breaking through the battlefield silently. It wasn't like any offensive spell; there was no explosion, no loud noise, it simply shone. The black slime touched by the golden light melted away like snow, and the twisted monsters, illuminated by the golden light, let out silent howls, their forms gradually disintegrating, finally turning into wisps of black smoke, dispersed by the wind.
The colossal form of the evil creature trembled violently deep underground, its aura contracting wildly as if it had encountered a natural enemy. Golden light pierced through layers of black mist, shining into the depths of the crack. Su Han heard a low, painful howl, as if something deep within the earth was being torn apart, purified, and completely wiped out. The edges of the crack began to close, the black viscous liquid stopped flowing, and the remaining remains of the evil creature on the ground turned to powder in the afterglow of the golden light, scattering with a gust of wind.
The battlefield fell silent. The cultivators stood frozen in place, watching the golden pillar of light descend from the sky, piercing through heaven and earth, illuminating the entire ruins. Some knelt down, some covered their mouths and wept, and some shouted, "We won!" Su Han stood there, the golden light in his palm gradually fading, until only the string of Bodhi seeds on his wrist gleamed faintly.
The sect leader walked to his side, looked at him, and after a long while, finally said, "Han'er, you did it."
Su Han looked down at her palm. There were no marks left, but the warm, smooth feeling still lingered on her skin, like a stone that had been exposed to the sun, its warmth lingering for a long time.
“Master,” Su Han said, “it wasn’t me who did it. It was an old woman.”
The sect leader looked at him with a puzzled expression.
Su Han smiled but offered no explanation. He pulled his hand back into his sleeve, touched the Bodhi seed on his wrist, and silently thought: Buddha, thank you. I understand.
After that day, the evil spirits of the mortal realm vanished completely, the rifts were sealed, and the destroyed cities began to be rebuilt through the combined efforts of cultivators and mortals. Su Han returned to the Lingxiao Immortal Sect, still living in the small courtyard on the back mountain, practicing swordsmanship, meditating, and lecturing to newly initiated disciples every day. He always wore the string of Bodhi seeds on his wrist, and sometimes when he got tired of lecturing, he would unconsciously rub it a couple of times before continuing.
Later, a junior disciple asked him, "Uncle Su, why do you keep touching that string of beads? Is it some kind of treasure?"
Su Han thought for a moment, then looked down at his young disciple sitting on the futon, craning his neck to look at him. The child had big, bright eyes, a round face, and a grain of rice stuck to the corner of his mouth, probably having just eaten before coming to the lesson. Looking at him, Su Han felt as if he were looking at the child who had cried on the illusory battlefield many years ago, and a warm feeling welled up in his heart again.
He reached out to wipe the grains of rice from the corner of his young disciple's mouth, smiling as he said, "It's not a treasure. Just a string of ordinary Bodhi seeds. But it reminds me of what kind of person I should be." (End of Chapter)