The Empress's No.1 Lackey

Monks stared in bewilderment, their faces filled with terror.

Master Bian Ji saw chaos spread, pressed his palms together, his voice resounding like a great bell:

"Amitabha Buddha!"

Accompanied by the chant of his Buddhist name, the monks' panicked minds were soothed, and they all quieted down.

Bian Ji stood among the crowd, looking up at the Empress in the sky, he called out loudly:

"Your Majesty, what brings you here? The abbot has been in seclusion for many years and has not shown himself to the world. If there is any misunderstanding, I beseech you to enlighten us, and I will relay the message..."

Facing the clearly enraged Empress, Bian Ji humbled himself like a young monk.

Xu Zhenguan, however, couldn't be bothered to waste words with Bian Ji. Hovering in the sky, she pointed with her sword towards the main hall of the Divine Dragon Temple, the place of Master Xuan Yin's seclusion in the Heavenly Human Realm. Her voice grew even colder:

"Xuan Yin! If you do not come out now, I shall destroy your temple today."

Bian Ji was alarmed; he knew his master Xuan Yin, although his physical body was in seclusion at Divine Dragon Temple, his Divine Soul often wandered astray.

Fearing that he had not yet returned to his body, and with Long Shu and Da Jing absent from the temple, and Prajna being indifferent to the situation, he bit the bullet, leaped into the air and said:

"Your Majesty, please calm your anger. If there is any misunderstanding, please come into the temple to discuss it in detail…"

Xu Zhenguan's expression remained impassive, as she casually slashed a magnificent Sword Qi towards a side hall with the Taia Sword in hand.

"Ah!"

The whole temple gasped in shock.

Master Bian Ji felt a sinking feeling in his heart, and without further thought, he raised his hands above his head, silently chanting a Buddhist name, accompanied by a "thud."

From around him, a massive illusory Golden Bell suddenly appeared, blocking the path of the incoming Sword Qi.

"Crack!"

At the collision, the huge Golden Bell instantly cracked, and Bian Ji, hanging in mid-air, spat out a mouthful of blood, falling to the courtyard like a kite with its string cut.

The residual Sword Qi struck the side hall, and in an instant, the glazed jewel roof shattered, and the entire Buddhist Temple collapsed into ruins as if hit by a divine weapon.

Dust and smoke filled the air.

"Master—"

The monks caught the falling Bian Ji in horror. Although there were also many skilled practitioners in the temple, none had the courage to resist at that moment.

With a sword in hand, Xu Zhenguan declared sternly, "Xuan Yin, come out!"

This was the third sentence she spoke after arriving. Seeing that the Great Hall remained quiet, Xu Zhenguan's brows furrowed, and she truly did not wait any longer.

The Empress stood suspended in white, her three thousand strands of hair dancing in the cold wind.

Like a demoted celestial being, her gaze stern as a divine being, she suddenly hurled the Taia Sword toward the most majestic hall within Divine Dragon Temple!

Sword Qi soared like a rainbow.

The Divine Weapon descended.

In that moment, under the gaze of countless Capital citizens, a thin streak of firelight suddenly brightened in the murky vault of the sky, like a world-annihilating meteor.

And in the eyes of the Cultivation practitioners in the city, the sword tip pierced through sound barriers, creating an arc-shaped Qi Shield a hundred meters in diameter, formed by the resistance of the wind.

The destruction-bringing divine blade, glowing red-hot like coals, hissed as it burned and twisted space.

The streak of red light, too vast to imagine, grew in an instant like a cascade of red waterfall, pouring down upon the mortal world.

"Ah—"

Amid the monks' terrified cries, it was the moment when the hundreds of years old Buddha statue in the Divine Dragon Temple was on the verge of shattering.

Suddenly, a surging Buddha Light rose from the Great Hall.

The Buddha Light, like dawn tearing through the morning, a great sun rising from the eastern horizon illuminating the mortal world.

Within the Buddha Light, an immense and solemn yet compassionate "Buddha" deity slowly rose, accompanied by rolling Buddhist chants.

An old monk in brown robes quietly appeared on the temple roof, his frail and small stature wobbling in the winter wind.

Abbot Xuan Yin pressed his palms together.

The grand "Buddha" deity also pressed his palms together, not retaliating against the Empress, but rather erecting a huge Golden Bell, large enough to cover the entire Divine Dragon Temple.

Then, like a fiery red waterfall, the meteor-like Sword Qi crashed against the gigantic Golden Bell.

...

ps: Thank you to book friend Little Radish 9975 for the 10,000-coin reward support! Generous boss!