Cultivation: Fortune by Lots-Chapter 495 - 253. The Great War Begins (Combined Chapter)_2

Chapter 495: 253. The Great War Begins (Combined Chapter)_2

Currently, a new Abbot presides over the Great Void Temple.

His mentor was none other than Jixiang, the former Abbot of the Great Void Temple.

Jixiang had not perished; at this moment, he was standing right behind Yuanmie.

Previously, he voluntarily passed on the position of Abbot to Yuanmie and stepped down to become a Dharma King.

Jixiang Fawang was certain that Yuanmie would be a more suitable Abbot for the Great Void Temple, and under his leadership, an era of rightful dharma would eventually arrive.

In the current Great Tang Dynasty, Yuanmie’s fame had indeed surpassed that of his mentor, Jixiang Fawang, although most of it was infamy.

Back when the Great Void Temple first returned to the mainland, Yuanmie himself led the charge, breaking through the gates of Bodhi Temple, one of the Four Sacred Grounds of the Buddhist Sect.

Afterwards, he journeyed thousands of miles to intercept a delegation from another Sacred Land, the Vajra Temple, killing many of his opponents.

By the time they attacked Tianlong Temple later on, Yuanmie had already taken over from Jixiang Fawang, becoming the new helmsman of the Great Void Temple.

With his notorious reputation, his hands were stained with blood.

Generally speaking, cultivators who successfully cultivate to the Seventh Layer of Heaven Realm before the age of one hundred are universally recognized as geniuses. Their potential is not yet exhausted, and they have the possibility to climb even higher.

Cultivators under the age of fifty who have reached the Seventh Layer of Heaven are undoubtedly geniuses among geniuses, considered exceptionally rare talents.

And Yuanmie... He was an Eighth Heavenly Layer expert of the Great Void Temple lineage, not yet fifty years old.

The only people of his generation comparable to him were the former Empress Zhang Wantong and Xu Yuanzhen from the Celestial Master Mansion. In the present day, those who could be mentioned in the same breath included Tang Xiaotang from the Celestial Master Mansion, the Future Maitreya of the White Lotus Sect, Li Tianqing from Gepo Mountain in the Southern Wilderness, and a mere handful of others.

On the other hand, within and without the Great Tang today, there are only four leaders of major powers under the age of one hundred: the current Emperor, Empress Zhang Wantong; the Current Celestial Master, Tang Xiaotang; the Clan Chief of the Xiao Clan from Longwai, Xiao Hang; and this Yuanmie Monk from the Great Void Temple.

A monk dressed in black whispered beside Yuanmie, "Abbot Brother, the Diamond Temple Gate remains closed, barring all entry and exit."

Yuanmie smiled, "They will be opened soon."

His mentor Jixiang Fawang said, "There is something peculiar inside Vajra Temple. Those Confucian scholars have noticed it too. They are trying to win over Tianlong Temple and persuade us to shift our focus to Vajra Temple, clearly intending for us to probe it."

Yuanmie replied, "It doesn’t matter; each takes what they need. Even without this move from them, I also want to see what secrets Vajra Temple is hiding. Now that the battle of Jinzhou is about to begin and all sides are gathering, no one will disturb us. This couldn’t be better."

He opened his palm. A cluster of light flickering with a dark golden sheen appeared above it. This light cluster simultaneously exuded an intermingled artistic conception of Clear Purity and Silent Extinction, causing the eyes of every Great Void Temple disciple who saw it to light up.

"Besides, there might be some additional gains," Yuanmie said, flexing his fingers as the light cluster rose and fell.

The Four Great Families and the Six Elite Clans often communicated and traded with the Great Void Temple.

In the past, when the Great Void Temple was exiled overseas, the material provisions and support it received from the mainland all came from the major noble clans.

But the Great Void Temple was not a vassal of the Four Great Families or the Six Elite Clans.

Nothing is unbreakable.

In some ways, according to their beliefs, these Confucian families, too, are entities that should be destroyed in this world.

For the Great Void Temple, however, their most immediate and primary enemies were the Four Sacred Grounds of the Buddhist Sect. Thus, they currently had many collaborations with the Four Great Families and the Six Elite Clans, with both sides taking what they needed.

The Great Void Temple had fixed their sights on the Four Sacred Grounds of the Buddhist Sect and had their own ideas on which to target. They had been covetously watching Tianlong Temple in the South for a long time.

The leaders of the major families who wanted to divert Great Void Temple’s attention to Vajra Temple naturally had to make some gesture first.

Hence the light cluster now in Yuanmie’s palm.

Although, Yuanmie himself had already set his sights on Vajra Temple.

Vajra Temple currently appeared weak and closed off, but what truly lay within, no one knew.

Yuanmie’s visit this time was not like the initial assault on Bodhi Temple’s mountain gate, which from the very beginning was aimed at complete annihilation.

This time, he sought out Vajra Temple more to probe and confirm.

Of course, if Vajra Temple couldn’t demonstrate some real capability, this visit would have a different outcome.

"I leave the other matters to you, Master. If there are any major developments in Jinzhou, inform me then," Yuanmie instructed Jixiang Fawang, retracting the fluctuating light cluster above his palm.

「...」

Lei Jun departed from Taihu Daze and headed north. While en route, he contacted Tang Xiaotang, who had already arrived in Jinzhou ahead of him.

"Quite a number of people have arrived, and for now, most are lingering around the periphery," Tang Xiaotang said casually.

In duels between top-level experts, the combatants often prefer not to have onlookers.

However, this time neither Xu Yuanzhen nor Ye Moquan intended to clear the field.

The reason Tang Xiaotang and others were currently staying on the periphery was because the main participants had not all arrived yet.

"From Jingxiang came Fang Du; from Suzhou, Chu Peng; from Qingzhou, Ye Ming; and from Youzhou, Lin Lishan..." Tang Xiaotang casually listed a few names, all of whom were core, high-ranking members of the major noble clans.

Every single one of them was an Eighth Heavenly Layer Great Scholar. They had come to Jinzhou as representatives of their respective families to witness a duel between Ninth Heavenly Layer experts—an event not seen for many years.

As for whether they had other plans or arrangements, that was a question for them individually.

"As for the representative from the Tang Imperial Court observing the battle this time, it’s Prince Changshan, and also that vixen from Suzhou," Tang Xiaotang said.

Lei Jun understood upon hearing this. The ’Suzhou vixen’ Celestial Master Tang referred to was naturally Chu Yu. The other individual was an expert from the Royal Family, Prince Changshan Zhang Junhai.

For various reasons, the Zhang Family of the Royal Family was, strictly speaking, the foremost family in the Great Tang currently, possessing numerous experts, though they were somewhat dispersed.