Chapter 1173: Mara Sacrament Buddha Kingdom

“What more do you have to say for yourself, ant?”

Devi Ruyi stared at Ye Qing with cold, unfeeling eyes. It looked like she was staring at an ant.

“Who are you?” Ye Qing stared back at the woman and asked. Although Devi Ruyi was talking to him, her voice was decidedly different. Specifically, it sounded exactly like the voice he heard from the mouth of the giant face. Devi Ruyi’s aura was also much changed from what it was before.

Clearly, the light that entered her body earlier was a wisp of martial intent. It had temporarily taken control of Devi Ruyi’s body.

“I am the cardinal of the Maya Sect, the one they call the Mara Sacrament Heavenly King!”

Devi Ruyi, or rather Mara Sacrament Heavenly King said slowly as his energies warped everything within fifty kilometers of him and transformed it into a kingdom of Buddha.

Crimson flames churned like the sea, dragons and serpents soared the skies, and red lotuses floated from above within the kingdom of Buddha.

Countless demons and monsters could be seen struggling and wailing inside the sea of crimson flames. Try as they might, they could neither live nor die.

On the red lotuses, countless humans were kneeling and chanting the Mara Sacrament Heavenly King’s title with a zealous expression.

Finally, one man was sitting cross-legged above the sea of flames. Surrounded by boundless Buddhist light, he carried a veluriyam pagoda on one hand and a copper truncheon on the other. Snakes and dragons draped over his shoulders, stars resided between his lips, and a sun and a moon floated inside his pupils. Divine light shining down from the top of his head, he looked both dignified and divine.

He was the manifestation of the Mara Sacrament Heavenly King’s martial intent.

“Welcome to my kingdom of Buddha, the Mara Sacrament Buddha Kingdom...”

Mara Sacrament Heavenly King opened his arms wide, and the martial intent bowed his head. Where his gaze landed, martial pressure cascaded like an entire ocean.

For a moment, Ye Qing felt as if the weight of this entire corner of the world was pressing down on him. It wasn’t exactly an exaggeration.

The kingdom of Buddha was both the Mara Sacrament Heavenly King’s kingdom and his domain.

A Sage was someone whose qi, essence, and spirit had merged into one; whose body had joined with the earth, whose mind had bridged with the heavens, and whose will had become molded into the world itself. Not only could they change their surroundings at a whim, they could channel the power of the Heavenly Way and even create a territory composed of their martial intent, spirit, and mind. People called it a Martial Domain.

Inside their Martial Domain, a Sage was like the ruler of a kingdom and the master of the world itself. There was nothing they couldn’t control; nothing they couldn’t conjure. Inside their Martial Domain, they were multiple times stronger than they were before.

Of course, not every Sage met the requirements to create their Martial Domain. Only those who had reached a certain cultivation level and attained a certain level of understanding of the principles of the Martial Way, the rules of the Heavenly Way and so on could perform such a feat.

The best of the best could even create a literal world, form their own Heavenly Way and principles etc using their Martial Domain as the foundation.

A Sage wasn’t a true Sage until they had mastered and created their own Martial Domain. Should they succeed, they could easily kick the asses of ten ordinary Sages.

There was no doubt that the Mara Sacrament Heavenly King was a champion who had grasped and created their own Martial Domain. In fact, he was at the level where even a wisp of his martial intent was enough to manifest a Martial Domain.

“Kingdom of Buddha? Heavenly King?”

In response, Ye Qing circulated the Yin Yang Qi and shook off the suffocating pressure in an instant. Then, he taunted, “You, a monster who practices via the sacrifice of countless innocent, ordinary souls, dare to call yourself a Buddha? A king?”

Another person might have missed this, but he saw clearly that both the struggling monsters in the sea of crimson flames and the devout worshipers praying on the red lotuses were all humans. Judging from their appearance, he dared to say that they hadn’t died of natural causes either. Clearly, Mara Sacrament Heavenly King had killed them and extracted their souls.

To put it bluntly, Mara Sacrament Heavenly King’s actions were no different from the heretics who killed the living and extracted their souls for cultivation purposes!

“Those who enter my kingdom of Buddha will enjoy eternal life!”

Mara Sacrament Heavenly King declared indifferently, “It is their honor to be able to serve me, and you will soon join them.”

The next moment, both the monsters in the sea of flames and the worshipers on the red lotuses turned to look at Ye Qing in unison, eyes filled with so much malice and bloodthirst that they were almost tangible. The next moment, the sea of flames flooded toward Ye Qing.

“Hah! You are certainly welcome to try!”

Ye Qing let out a chuckle. He clenched his fist like he was lifting a mountain, and he punched like he was throwing a mountain.

Boom!

The sea of flames was rolled back to where it started almost comically. His fist intent shattered countless souls as well.

It seemed futile though. Not only did the sea of flames regenerate the souls he killed, they were clearly stronger than before.

Mara Sacrament Heavenly King smiled when he saw this. He said, “Inside my kingdom of Buddha, they are eternal!”

“That may be so, but what about you?”

Smiling, Ye Qing crouched a little—the ground dropping a whole ten meters as he did this—and jumped into the air, fist already shooting toward the martial intent like a dragon.

The earth was his bowstring, and his fist the dragon capable of shattering the sun and moon. Destructive fist intent potent enough to annihilate heaven and earth and crush yin and yang shot forward in a straight line, threatening to deliver the sky of Buddhas to nirvana in one fell swoop.

“The arrogance!”

Mara Sacrament Heavenly King let out a cold hmph before swinging his copper truncheon. Immediately, the sky launched a sea of flame of thunder at Ye Qing’s fist.

There was a series of rumbles before the sea of flame broke, and the thunder dissipated. The next moment, the copper truncheon smacked against Ye Qing’s fist.

Profound light exploded from the point of impact. Then, all five of Ye Qing’s fingers crumbled and melted into nothing, and Ye Qing himself was flung back to the ground. He crashed against the icy plains so hard that everything within several hundred meters of him shattered like glass.

“Haha... now that’s what I call a clash! Again!”

Ye Qing was undeterred, however. A mad laughter erupted from underneath the ice, and the next moment, Ye Qing shot into the sky even faster than when he initially fell.

Even as he shot through the air, Ye Qing’s fingers had already regenerated themselves. At the same time, profound light slowly sank into his body and turned his pupils dark like the nine heavens, and his body yellow like the earth.

“Earthly Sovereign True Body”

“You overestimate yourself.”

Scoffing, the Mara Sacrament Heavenly King summoned another blast of fire and thunder at Ye Qing. This time, the fire transformed into a nine-headed sacred serpent, and the thunder an eight-headed flying dragon.

Both dragon and the serpent circled around the truncheon and made it look even more divine and powerful than before.

Boom!

The truncheon descended, and the dragon and the serpent roared. It sounded like the collapse of the nine heavens.

And yet, the strike that was easily several times stronger than before failed to crush Ye Qing’s fist as it had before. On the contrary, it was the truncheon that was bounced off to the side; the dragon and the serpent wailing as they shattered into pieces.

“I have more than one fist, you know?”

Ye Qing laughed loudly as he abruptly swung both fists and unleashed a storm of punches at Mara Sacrament Heavenly King.

Dark yellow light shone brightly and ensured that his strength was inexhaustible, yin and yang circulated to ensure a steady stream of true qi, and his mental sea kicked up a titanic tsunami of fist intent.

In just the blink of an eye, a deadly storm was blowing across the heavens. If one gust of wind was a punch, then thousands of gusts of wind was a storm of punches that could destroy heaven and earth.

The truncheon was tough, but not tough enough to weather the storm of punches. Cracks spread across its surface like a spider web before it inevitably shattered into pieces.

The storm wasn’t over though. The fist intent was still pushing forward.

Shocked, Mara Sacrament Heavenly King activated his veluriyam pagoda and surrounded himself in a layer of clear light.

When the storm struck the light, it actually elicited a metallic clash like it was metal.

“I will acknowledge your strength. No ordinary warrior could have broken my Sacred King Golden Truncheon[1]!”

Feeling sure that Ye Qing’s fist couldn’t break his light, Mara Sacrament Heavenly King regained his cold indifference. “But this is as far as you go!”

“Is that what you think?”

Ye Qing kept punching even as he spoke, “I think this is just the beginning!”

For a time, fist intent pitter-pattered against the sheen of light like raindrops on a banana leaf.

Then, the sound changed into an anomalous Buddhist sound that was somehow laughing and wailing, sorrowful and ecstatic at the same time. It was bewitching and corrupting.

1. It’s fucking red-colored though. ☜