Everything unfolded exactly as Chen Kuang had predicted, so long as he truly resolved to block Xiuxin, then Xiuxin would inevitably escape.
The Pure Land's barrier, fortified by the power of the Three Great Chan Masters, was indeed impregnable.
Xiuxin had been driven into a desperate position, surrounded on all sides by Chen Kuang, Xiuzhu, and the multitude of Pure Land monks.
Xiuzhu couldn't help but glance at Chen Kuang. Even with his deep insight, he felt that things had reached a dead end. There should have been no way out.
Yet Chen Kuang, when explaining his plan, had vowed with absolute confidence...
Was this guy trying to deceive him?
Using Xiuxin as a pawn to test him?
Or did he have another plan entirely?
Chen Kuang, still calm as ever, wore a murderous expression that didn't seem the least bit feigned. He even drew his killing sword, pointing it squarely at Xiuxin.
Though Xiuxin's cultivation was profound, her greatest weakness was equally obvious:
Her disposition was truly upright and incorruptible.
At this moment, in her eyes, all these fellow disciples were innocent victims, bewitched and controlled by Chen Kuang and Xiuzhu, the so-called "heavenly demons."
Which, ironically, was almost entirely true.
Even now, surrounded and driven to the edge of death, Xiuxin still could not bring herself to strike back.
Or rather, it was precisely because of that compassion that she had been cornered into this hopeless situation.
High above, Chen Kuang looked down upon her and shouted:
"Heavenly demon! The Three Great Chan Masters have already seen through your true nature. Surrender immediately! Were it not for your possession of a Buddha-child's body, the Masters would have acted long ago. Do you really think you could have survived until now?"
Hearing this, Xiuxin frowned.
She had already accepted the truth: the Three Great Chan Masters were Saints, and this farcical chaos had dragged on for quite some time. By now, they should have known everything.
Yet they had not responded at all, instead silently allowing Chen Kuang and Xiuzhu to act on their behalf.
There could only be one explanation: they too had been possessed by "heavenly demons."
It was a truth so terrible that it could drive one to despair.
For a moment, Xiuxin's heart sank and she nearly gave up resisting altogether.
But Chen Kuang's words just now, ironically, reminded her of something:
Yes, if the Three Great Chan Masters had been possessed by demons, why hadn't they struck her down immediately, this person who had seen through them?
It certainly wasn't because they cherished past bonds and couldn't bear to act...
So then, why?
As Xiuxin's thoughts churned like lightning, Chen Kuang launched another strike, this time using the sword technique he'd learned from Huo Hengxuan:
Void-Slicing Sword, a blade that could tear through the sky.
Xiuxin's expression turned grim.
She had never taken this Moon-Embracing Realm cultivator seriously. Despite Chen Kuang's fame in the outside world, the difference in cultivation was real.
Could a mere mortal without even a Master Realm foundation really defeat a Profound Realm powerhouse like her?
Although she had some internal demons, they were not like Martial Saint Mu Zhao's greed-driven heart-devils. Xiuxin had long tempered her will with Buddhist scripture. Her mental cultivation was firm and her Dao-heart unshakable.
But several exchanges later, Chen Kuang had completely overturned her assumptions.
Everything else she'd expected, but one thing stunned her beyond belief, Chen Kuang had not even established a Dao Foundation, and yet he had already grasped at least two Daos.
This should have been impossible under the cultivation framework of Cangyuan!
Xiuxin formed a seal with both hands, and behind her rose a pure white Buddhist light.
A massive, indistinct Buddha manifested, gazing downward at all sentient beings, one hand delicately pinching a flower, the other lowered in natural repose.
Where the Buddha's light fell, no evil could invade.
But that sword, able to tear apart the sky, swept through, distorting even the Buddha's glow for a moment, pulling it into its terrifying spatial rift.
Xiuxin's eyes widened. She could clearly see that this sword was far from ordinary.
Yet instead of panic, she thought:
Perfect timing.
In that instant, she changed the seal in her hands. Though she hadn't yet escaped the rift, she was already swept into it like a shredded scroll.
Then, suddenly, the Buddha holding the flower took on a clear visage: Xiuxin's own.
And the figure below, the "Xiuxin" in the midst of the sword-light... turned into a dusty stone statue, which shattered into powder!
From within the stone, layer after layer of pure white lotus petals burst forth, merging with the sword-light.
Originally, Chen Kuang's sword merely drew upon a powerful Dao to approach Upper Third Rank strength. But now, Xiuxin had imbued it with the full might of her Profound Realm cultivation, strength upon strength, this strike approached the Daoist Shore Realm!
She was using force against force, borrowing Chen Kuang's blow to break the barrier of the Pure Land!
Zzztt-!!
As sword-light clashed with the invisible boundary, the two Daos of Space entangled and devoured one another, producing a shrill screech that made the skin crawl.
To her credit, Xiuxin's timing and judgment were perfect.
Only Chen Kuang's Void-Slicing Sword, imbued with the Dao of Space, could have possibly damaged the Pure Land's barrier.
A flicker of joy flashed in Xiuxin's eyes, but it quickly turned to gloom.
Because the shattered barrier began to rapidly regenerate!
That glasslike veil, once fragmented and translucent, now revealed a glimpse of the sandy wasteland beyond, but in the next instant, tiny exposed root tendrils began knitting it back together.
Chen Kuang's pupils contracted.
Those tiny roots, merged into the barrier itself, were like the fibers of a fabric, woven so tightly as to be inseparable.
Now they converged again, like glue, binding the broken seams.
Whether it was Chen Kuang's sword, or Xiuxin's full-powered gambit, neither could break through for more than a moment.
Because this barrier... was being maintained by three genuine Daoist Shore Realm beings.
Even their best efforts could only scratch the surface.
There was no way out.
Xiuzhu had already noticed Xiuxin's escape technique. His expression darkened, and he leapt toward the real Xiuxin with a deadly palm strike.
That palm held nothing back. Within it, once more, appeared the horrifying multi-eyed eye.
Xiuxin, startled, remembered the last encounter and quickly averted her gaze while chanting scripture.
But Chen Kuang had already closed in. His expression solemn, he radiated the phantom of a moon-white kasaya, and from his forehead bloomed..
A white lotus with thirty-three petals!
In his time within the Pure Land, under the guidance of three Saints, Chen Kuang had pushed the "White Lotus Rebirth" to its limit: thirty-three layers of explosive force!
Though his cultivation was still two whole major realms below Xiuxin, his body brimmed with passives. When he released the full force of this thirty-three-layered strike, it was even more terrifying than the empowered sword from earlier!
Xiuxin had no time to dodge. She raised her hands and braced for the blow.
Boom!
A massive white lotus phantom bloomed in midair.
Nearby buildings collapsed in waves, clouds of dust rolling outward.
The two of them slammed into the barrier again, blowing open the freshly mended crack.
But even now, the barrier was healing once more!
Just then, Chen Kuang's expression shifted, he once again heard that eerie, ethereal female voice.
"That sword... so familiar. You've finally returned."
"But look at me now... hideous beyond recognition... Our promise back then, just pretend it never happened. Go. Don't come back."
As the words faded, the barrier, just about to heal again, suddenly stopped.
The countless root tendrils shrank back, leaving a path open.
Xiuxin didn't know why.
But she did know, this was the only chance.
With a loud shout, she struck at Chen Kuang once more and used the force to launch herself backward, vanishing through the rift.
Chen Kuang was flung aside, blood spilling from his lips. As he watched the barrier seal shut once more, he froze.
Then... realization struck:
"So the Bodhi tree really is the problem!"
"The one maintaining the Pure Land's barrier... isn't the Three Great Chan Masters, it's the Bodhi Tree!"
Chen Kuang coughed, pale-faced, his expression shifting rapidly.
"That Bodhi Tree is without a doubt... the very woman who once knew Huo Hengxuan. But, how did she become a tree?"
...
In the meditation courtyard, the Bodhi Tree rustled its leaves softly.
Then, a seam split down its trunk, and blood began to flow, like a tear running down its bark.
On its once-smooth surface, bulbous tumorous growths began to swell and writhe, as though something deep within was about to break free.