Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

Incense smoke lingered,

Amidst the devout chanting of devotees and the abbots and novices.

The headless Buddha statue collapsed, crashing onto the ground, its six arms holding Buddha Treasures broken, and the body torn asunder.

Threads of bluegold Sword Qi spread from the Buddha's neck to its entire body, destroying all Incense Fire power, as the golden Buddha light gradually dimmed, turning into ordinary pieces of marble on the ground.

The gilt lost its luster and shine.

"My Buddha Treasure Tripod Maitreya, Vajra indefatigable, indestructible..."

With kind eyes and a compassionate expression, the abbot devotedly chanted scriptures, then suddenly his eyes bulged, his face became blank.

Around him, the reverent chanting halted abruptly, silence falling thick as needles.

"Buddha..."

Many novices turned pale, showing expressions of terror.

"Who is it?"

The abbot abruptly stood, his eyes blood-red, the once warm and kind countenance replaced with a furious Vajra-like visage, his skin emanating golden light.

He became towering and imposing, radiating a terrifying aura at the Foundation Building Stage.

"Who dares to desecrate my Buddha?"

The abbot produced a heavy Zen stick from nowhere, slammed it fiercely onto the ground, stone slabs shattered, the head of the Zen stick embedded deep into a hole several meters wide, and he bellowed furiously, "Immediately inform the City Lord, have someone come and investigate, if they cannot find out, have his entire clan enter the Karma fire to atone for their sins!"

"Yes, Abbot!"

The surrounding novices, ashen-faced, scrambled and tumbled over themselves, running madly towards the direction of the city lord's mansion.

The Karma fire naturally was not something a small temple could possess. The so-called Karma fire is in fact just an eternal fire tripod in front of the temple into which wood, incense, paper money, and more were constantly thrown...

Decades earlier, when the Belief in Incense Maitreya just began to spread throughout Yongling Island, there were often bandits, pirates, and powerful families who didn't know heaven's will, nor understood the scriptures, and would frequently commit acts of desecration against the true Buddha.

Latterly, their entire clans were thrown into the Karma fire, and the scent of scorching incense permeated the air for miles around.

After that, the true Way of the Buddha flourished.

"No one here is permitted to leave!"

Abbots, head monks, and reception monks converged, as if the sky had fallen, furious beyond measure, their cold gazes scanning each person, itching to pick and devour one.

"We will heed the master's command!"

Many of the incense-offering devotees pressed their palms together, trembling anxiously.

Whether officials or commoners, everyone's faces turned pallid, they bowed their heads deep, not daring to make a single move, fearing to draw any attention that could lead to calamity for their entire families.

Whoosh, whoosh whoosh!

In the distance, the many devotees heard some noises followed by the sound of watermelon-like cracking, and a pungent scent of blood filled their nostrils.

Jianghu martial artists' pupils contracted, instinctually looking up.

The enraged and daunting abbots, senior monks, and head reception monks who had been like Vajra figures ready to devour someone, now had their heads exploded into blood mist, their bodies collapsing backward, just like their Buddha ancestor.

"The abbots... they are all dead!"

A novice screamed, causing everyone to look up.

"This is..."

The devotees were shocked and alarmed.

Among the dense blood mist, on the wall where the Daxiong Hall Buddha statue fell, a line of intensely blood-red characters appeared. Without the need for literacy, one glance was enough for comprehension.

"He who re-establishes a Buddha statue, dies!"

"The struggle between Buddha and demon... it's again..."

Many elderly people shuddered, recalling some horrific past.

"Buddha and demon..."

A moment later, the Lord of Yongling City, scared out of his wits, arrived at the scene with his soldiers and constables, showing a horrified expression mixed with hesitation.

For a time, he dared not leave, nor did he know what to do.

"Restore the true image of my Buddha at once!" someone shouted in great fury.

"Demons who dare to profane our Buddha will surely descend to the eighteen levels of hell, to suffer endless torment through the hell of knives, the hell of fire, the hell of boiling oil, the hell of tongue ripping, and so on for countless years. Do you also wish for such a fate?"

"This..."

The heart of the Lord of Yongling City trembled.

The man was the city commander, in charge of the military power in the city, and was always a zealous Buddhist believer, completely disregarding any concerns of demons or not.

If he showed the slightest sign of wavering, he would be immediately killed on the spot.

"This, I, the city Lord, will immediately..."

He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, trying to think of a plan to satisfy both sides.

Bang!

In an instant, there was the whooshing sound of objects slicing through the air, and the heads of the blood-red-eyed city commander and his most trusted followers, who were like left and right arms to him—Martial Artists of Great Achievement of Inner Qi—exploded into a mist of blood.

The surrounding soldiers, about to take action, were splattered with blood, standing there dumbfounded, with a bone-chilling coldness creeping up their spines.

"This, immediately, postpone, postpone..."

The Lord of Yongling City swallowed hard.

...

"The power difference between mortals and Buddhas is immense,"

"Yet, in the essence of the true spirit, they may be equal."

According to the studies of the Xianmen Sect, the Belief in Incense is actually a divine contract; followers provide shelter, while the devout contribute their Incense Fire. Violation of this contract will inevitably invite disaster."

An Siyan gazed upon the deaths of everyone in the upper echelons of Yongling Temple, including the abbot and the four great captains, along with all the zealous Buddhist followers within Yongling City, his emotions unfazed as he spoke indifferently.

"Within the East Sea, it would be best to destroy all temples, and kill all the fanatical Buddhist followers, to the greatest extent possible, to erode the power of Treasure Tripod Maitreya and wear down His Incense Fire Divine Court, as well as diminish the home-field advantage of the Incense Fire Buddha country, to avoid unpredictability in the final battle."

"If we can provoke Treasure Tripod Maitreya to lose his sanity and abandon the advantages of the Xuanwu Four-polar Boundary Array and the geographic position of the Incense Fire Buddha country, and come out to fight us to the death, that would be perfect."

"It's possible. Incense Fire deities often have many emotional actions, and are not as entirely self-controlled and coldly rational as high-level Cultivators."

"Let's handle it this way, then,"

Jiang Ding said indifferently.

These zealous Buddhist followers, each with high status and power within the Maitreya Sect, and even if they did not have high status, they appeared to live in harmless cultivation. In reality, they indulged in the offerings of the hard work and sweat of many devotees and were not innocent.

After all, it is a world where Incense Fire has spirit; earnest belief is not easily feigned, and zealous Buddhists cannot be hidden away.

Even if one truly had a pure and modest heart, a real ascetic Cultivator who did not accept the laborious offerings from the people.

They still deserved to die!

Their existence provided a substantial amount of Belief in Incense, greatly aiding the oppression of millions in the East Sea by the Treasure Tripod Maitreya Sect, no different from taking direct action.

And there was no possibility of them turning from their ways.

It was better to just kill them outright.

"Yes!"

Boom!

Amphibious Tanks spread across the sea did not choose to detour but landed on Yongling Island from the sea. Under the fearful gaze of the city Lord and other officials, they headed towards the distant horizon, in an unbroken line, moving forward.

Unlike what they imagined, the tanks did not destroy their towns. They did not stop to resupply food or freshwater, did not inquire about enemy information, and did not engage in any communication with them.

The Iron Tide passed through the land, heading towards the distant sea.

Even though they were all on land, it gave one the feeling of a wispy, ephemeral presence, as if there was an invisible divide, separating them, far in the distance.