Chapter 573 - Defenders of the Dharma

Chapter 573: Defenders of the Dharma
Translator: 
EndlessFantasy Translation 
 Editor: 
EndlessFantasy Translation

Shen Lian’s thoughts were bright and clear. He could tell that detached Dao rhythm of the rainbow above the pagoda was somewhat unharmonious. He rampantly went on to the bright gold path and attacked it like a thunder. It was indeed effective. But he did not expect to see a Tong Tian Sword Cloud the moment he broke free from the monk’s Dharma.
Shen Lian may not be a genius swordsman but had experienced and fathomed the meaning of supreme Killing Swords such as the trapping of a celestial, Yuantu and Avici. To other people, this Tong Tian Sword Cloud was terrifying to the core but to Shen Lian, it was not that scary.
A mouthful of pure Qi of vitality that contained the Killing Sword spurted out and clashed against the Tong Tian Sword Cloud. The clouds scattered, waves of the Blood Sea surged. The dragon groaned loudly and then came dead silence.
The mountain, the pagoda, and the bright golden path vanished. A horsetail whisk landed in the hands of a Daoist with silver hair. The Daoist looked at Shen Lian deeply.
Shen Lian looked at him and then joyfully greeted,
Senior-Apprentice Brother Sanwen!



The Daoist was, in fact, Daoist Sanwen who incarnated earlier than Shen Lian. Shen Lian did not expect that they would reunite under such circumstances but he was still delighted by it.
Daoist Sanwen was excited. A thought crossed his mind, he tidied his outfit and bowed down with his head almost touching his toes. He said,
Sanwen of Qing Xuan greets the headmaster.

The eleven swordsman too bowed down and said,
Greetings to the headmaster.

Although they were not of the levels of a Dixian, the combat power of swords was generally quite strong. No one knew what have they experienced in the past years. Their divine Qi was interconnected and their minds were compatible with each other. This was something that Dixian would try to avoid. They were in sync with each other as they bow to greet Shen Lian. Although it was not intentional, they released a dash of majestic Qi of sword that stirred the Qi of vitality like a dragon and tiger.
Shen Lian was standing upright and the Qi of the dragon and tiger would melt like snow as it approached Shen Lian. He did not make any movements and stood still. Just like God, he was not affected by the waves of the mortal world.
All eleven of them were respectful of Shen Lian. They knew that he had attained immortality back then when he was still in the mortal world, and the current Shen Lian was probably ten or hundred times more powerful than the old Shen Lian. Even if their master always gave them a sense of helplessness, Shen Lian’s depth was a different ball game.
Initially, they wanted to show the headmasters some of their cultivation accomplishments over the years but the idea died down.
Shen Lian smiled,
Apprentice-Senior Brother, You don’t have to do that, we have known each other for so long.

Daoist Sanwen knew best about the calm and detached temperaments of Shen Lian. He could not help but feel pitiful that if Shen Lian and Junior-Apprentice Brother Chen were still at Qing Xuan, Qing Xuan would have been glorious.
He was not as detached as Shen Lian and he could not match Chen Jianmei’s solitary. The school played a big role in shaping him and he had shadows of Zhang Ruoxu in his character.


Shen Lian took a step across the void to join them. He pointed at each and of them and said,
Li Yuanliang, Yuan Xuefeng, Ni Hongyi, Pi Yushan, He Gangjie, Jin Jianzhang, Liu Weiyi, Yu Yingfa, Xiao Kaiding, Song Xiuwei, Wang Gaochang. Good, very good. I still remember that time where I guided you guys about Dao techniques and now, all of you turned out well. I would be so happy if only Yanying was here too.

The eleven disciples knew that it was common for cultivators to not forget things but they were still happy when the headmaster remembered their names. At that very moment, if Shen Lian asked them to take on mountains of daggers and leaped into the sea of flames, they would be more than willing to do so.
Daoist Sanwen laughed,
Headmaster, let’s go and meet Junior-Apprentice Brother Chen.

Shen Lian nodded. Now that he had met Chen Jianmei’s disciples, it was clear that Chen Jianmei was the Great Asura that slew the Asura Blood Sea. Shen Lian had a good feeling about this, especially after he had decided to rewrite the destiny of Yinshang replacing Xia. With Senior-Apprentice Brother Chen and Senior-Apprentice Brother Sanwen, he had solved his biggest issue, which was the foundation to start his mission.
After all, Tianyi had someone unfathomable like Wen Zhong to assist him while Shen Lian was a lone ranger. Although he had the kingdom of Xi Liang to support him, Xi Liang was still too weak to be of any help.
In fact, he was uncomparable to Yunyang in terms of influence. Even if Shen Lian established a reputation, it would take him time and effort to set up a solid foundation. This would cause him to fall behind Yinshang greatly.
But with the help of Daoist Sanwen and Chen Jianmei, he would be able to make up for his biggest shortcoming in the shortest time.
The Blood Sea was truly infinite. Shen Lian traveled with Sanwen and the pact and their divine thoughts gradually stopped picking up on the borders. As they reached a certain spot, they could sense a hint of killing vibes.
Shen Lian kept to himself and shortly, the long swords of Li Yuanliang and his friends started to groan. Beyond the Western Paradise, Buddhist rays were gleaming and ten of thousands of Defenders of the Dharma came out. Each and one of them had a mana that was equivalent of a Huandan Daoist.

What is this?
Shen Lian asked curiously.


Li Yuanliang took out a conch-like instrument and started blowing it. The Blood Sea were raging and demonic soldiers surged out from the waves. There were men and women, the men looked unattractive and the women seemed flirtatious. Although they were not as powerful as the Defenders of the Dharma, they had the home advantage and were definitely not at the lower-hand.
Daoist Sanwen explained to Shen Lian,
This is a long story. The aborigines of the Asura Blood Sea are known as the Asura clan. They feed themselves by engulfing the lost souls of the Blood Sea. All of them had supernatural powers and strong mana. Junior-Apprentice Brother Chen entered the Netherworld and incarnated in the Asura clan. His lineage was not considered as the royalty of the Asura clan. He was ordinary but he had extraordinary skills. In less than thirty years, his killing sword Wu Shuang challenged the Asura King then. He succeeded in killing the king and became the leader of the Asura clan.
There were many tribes within the clan and the uprising of Junior-Apprentice Brother Chen who was not a pure royalty had triggered the royalties of Asura. They worked together and went against him. Junior-Apprentice Brother Chen eventually broke free from their trap and with his supreme sword, he killed each and every one of the royalties who trapped him.
The Asura clan idealized the concept of the survival of the fittest and thus a big chunk of Asura chose to follow Junior-Apprentice Brother Chen. Junior-Apprentice Brother Chen’s supernatural power improved and he stumbled upon the secret techniques of the Nine Underworld, the Spirit Summoning Technique. He searched for our soul imprint and incarnated us to the Asura clan. At that time, he has mastered his Killer Sword and he personally cleansed off the grievance that the Asura clan was born with. He reshaped and helped us restored to the appearance we had in the previous life.
As he was occupied with working on us, Junior-Apprentice Brother Chen did not have the time to focus on the Blood Sea. The remnants of the royalties of the Asura clan got together in secret and took refuge at the great Buddhist monk. The monk’s Dharma was terrifying. He actually turned their Asura bodies to the Buddhist sect’s Defenders of the Dharma and as a result, their mana got stronger. On top of that, the monk had a deep relationship with the Earth Treasury. That was why he intended to copy what the Earth Treasury did years ago, which was to wipe out the Blood Sea and to have a bet with Junior-Apprentice Brother Chen.
No one knew of the full details about the bet but Junior-Apprentice Brother Chen promised the monk that he would never step out of the Blood Sea. At the same time, the monk also promised to not liberate the Asura clan.
However, the Asura royalties that were turned into the Defenders of the Dharma were greatly satisfied with the other people of the Asura clans who were floating around the Asura Blood Sea. Because of that, they fought relentlessly and they took some of the Asura people to be their slaves and turned into the Defenders of the Dharma. This was how your apprentice-nephews honed their skills over the years.
Fortunately, Junior-Apprentice Brother Chen was at the Blood Sea. Although they had the upper hand, they did not have the guts to come to the Blood Sea. In a nutshell, we win some and we lose some. But in the end, we just could not finish off the other party.
I did not expect you to encounter this the moment you arrived.

Things started to make sense for Shen Lian.
So that was the story behind why Senior-Apprentice Brother Chen has never come out of the Asura Blood Sea and why he was not very famous within the Netherworld.



That monk was indeed something. As long as Senior-Apprentice Brother Chen did not attain Taiyi, he would not be able to completely solve the issue. But Shen Lian could sense that something was holding the monk back and he could not use all of his powers. If not, Shen Lian would not have escaped from his Dharma.
Senior-Apprentice Brother Sanwen was probably not aware of the monk’s cultivation experience. Otherwise, he would not have done something so reckless earlier on.
However, Shen Lian knew that the monk was not malicious. If he had ill intentions, Sanwen and his apprentice-nephews would have suffered for their actions.
Shen Lian did not want to poke the bubbles. After all, it does not harm them for not knowing the truth. Besides, if they have learned the truth, their self-esteem might be dampened.
By the time Sanwen was done explaining, the demonic soldiers were ready in their formations. The many years of fighting had indirectly formed a tacit understanding within the two parties. They would not pull a surprise attack against each other while the other party was not ready.
Shen Lian thought it was a funny situation. Perhaps both parties knew that they would not be able to do anything to each other and thus they would routinely fight once in a while.
Among the Defenders of the Dharma, none of them were truly of the level of a Dixian. Shen Lian would never shamelessly fight them as it would make him look bad.
Li Yuanliang waited for the demonic soldiers to align themselves. He then bowed down to Shen Lian and said,
Chief Uncle-Master, please first take a break. We will cast them out really soon.

Shen Lian responded,
Sure.

Someone among the Defenders of the Dharma laughed out loud,
Shadowless Sword, you have not been making much progress but you seem to be more arrogant now. How dare you utter such ignorant words.



The person who laughed was as tall as sixty feet. He had a golden bright body and a solemn face. He had a Vajra on his hand and clearly, he was the leader of the Defenders of the Dharma.
Li Yuanliang’s nickname was Shadowless Sword. He earned the name from his successful cultivation of the Shapeless Sword Incantation. His flying sword would come without a shadow and leave without a trace. It was so quick and had killed many Defenders of the Dharma.
Although the man was laughing, his divine Qi was actually condensing. The Vajra too was highly concentrated with Buddhist power and there were signs of an outbreak.
Li Yuanliang sneered,
Mo Luojia, be careful of your head. After today, it might no longer grow on your neck.

He unleashed his long sword as the demonic soldiers received their command and dashed out of the Blood Sea to fight with the Defenders of the Dharma.
Chapter 573: Defenders of the Dharma
Translator: 
EndlessFantasy Translation 
 Editor: 
EndlessFantasy Translation

Shen Lian’s thoughts were bright and clear. He could tell that detached Dao rhythm of the rainbow above the pagoda was somewhat unharmonious. He rampantly went on to the bright gold path and attacked it like a thunder. It was indeed effective. But he did not expect to see a Tong Tian Sword Cloud the moment he broke free from the monk’s Dharma.
Shen Lian may not be a genius swordsman but had experienced and fathomed the meaning of supreme Killing Swords such as the trapping of a celestial, Yuantu and Avici. To other people, this Tong Tian Sword Cloud was terrifying to the core but to Shen Lian, it was not that scary.
A mouthful of pure Qi of vitality that contained the Killing Sword spurted out and clashed against the Tong Tian Sword Cloud. The clouds scattered, waves of the Blood Sea surged. The dragon groaned loudly and then came dead silence.
The mountain, the pagoda, and the bright golden path vanished. A horsetail whisk landed in the hands of a Daoist with silver hair. The Daoist looked at Shen Lian deeply.
Shen Lian looked at him and then joyfully greeted,
Senior-Apprentice Brother Sanwen!



The Daoist was, in fact, Daoist Sanwen who incarnated earlier than Shen Lian. Shen Lian did not expect that they would reunite under such circumstances but he was still delighted by it.
Daoist Sanwen was excited. A thought crossed his mind, he tidied his outfit and bowed down with his head almost touching his toes. He said,
Sanwen of Qing Xuan greets the headmaster.

The eleven swordsman too bowed down and said,
Greetings to the headmaster.

Although they were not of the levels of a Dixian, the combat power of swords was generally quite strong. No one knew what have they experienced in the past years. Their divine Qi was interconnected and their minds were compatible with each other. This was something that Dixian would try to avoid. They were in sync with each other as they bow to greet Shen Lian. Although it was not intentional, they released a dash of majestic Qi of sword that stirred the Qi of vitality like a dragon and tiger.
Shen Lian was standing upright and the Qi of the dragon and tiger would melt like snow as it approached Shen Lian. He did not make any movements and stood still. Just like God, he was not affected by the waves of the mortal world.
All eleven of them were respectful of Shen Lian. They knew that he had attained immortality back then when he was still in the mortal world, and the current Shen Lian was probably ten or hundred times more powerful than the old Shen Lian. Even if their master always gave them a sense of helplessness, Shen Lian’s depth was a different ball game.
Initially, they wanted to show the headmasters some of their cultivation accomplishments over the years but the idea died down.
Shen Lian smiled,
Apprentice-Senior Brother, You don’t have to do that, we have known each other for so long.

Daoist Sanwen knew best about the calm and detached temperaments of Shen Lian. He could not help but feel pitiful that if Shen Lian and Junior-Apprentice Brother Chen were still at Qing Xuan, Qing Xuan would have been glorious.
He was not as detached as Shen Lian and he could not match Chen Jianmei’s solitary. The school played a big role in shaping him and he had shadows of Zhang Ruoxu in his character.


Shen Lian took a step across the void to join them. He pointed at each and of them and said,
Li Yuanliang, Yuan Xuefeng, Ni Hongyi, Pi Yushan, He Gangjie, Jin Jianzhang, Liu Weiyi, Yu Yingfa, Xiao Kaiding, Song Xiuwei, Wang Gaochang. Good, very good. I still remember that time where I guided you guys about Dao techniques and now, all of you turned out well. I would be so happy if only Yanying was here too.

The eleven disciples knew that it was common for cultivators to not forget things but they were still happy when the headmaster remembered their names. At that very moment, if Shen Lian asked them to take on mountains of daggers and leaped into the sea of flames, they would be more than willing to do so.
Daoist Sanwen laughed,
Headmaster, let’s go and meet Junior-Apprentice Brother Chen.

Shen Lian nodded. Now that he had met Chen Jianmei’s disciples, it was clear that Chen Jianmei was the Great Asura that slew the Asura Blood Sea. Shen Lian had a good feeling about this, especially after he had decided to rewrite the destiny of Yinshang replacing Xia. With Senior-Apprentice Brother Chen and Senior-Apprentice Brother Sanwen, he had solved his biggest issue, which was the foundation to start his mission.
After all, Tianyi had someone unfathomable like Wen Zhong to assist him while Shen Lian was a lone ranger. Although he had the kingdom of Xi Liang to support him, Xi Liang was still too weak to be of any help.
In fact, he was uncomparable to Yunyang in terms of influence. Even if Shen Lian established a reputation, it would take him time and effort to set up a solid foundation. This would cause him to fall behind Yinshang greatly.
But with the help of Daoist Sanwen and Chen Jianmei, he would be able to make up for his biggest shortcoming in the shortest time.
The Blood Sea was truly infinite. Shen Lian traveled with Sanwen and the pact and their divine thoughts gradually stopped picking up on the borders. As they reached a certain spot, they could sense a hint of killing vibes.
Shen Lian kept to himself and shortly, the long swords of Li Yuanliang and his friends started to groan. Beyond the Western Paradise, Buddhist rays were gleaming and ten of thousands of Defenders of the Dharma came out. Each and one of them had a mana that was equivalent of a Huandan Daoist.

What is this?
Shen Lian asked curiously.


Li Yuanliang took out a conch-like instrument and started blowing it. The Blood Sea were raging and demonic soldiers surged out from the waves. There were men and women, the men looked unattractive and the women seemed flirtatious. Although they were not as powerful as the Defenders of the Dharma, they had the home advantage and were definitely not at the lower-hand.
Daoist Sanwen explained to Shen Lian,
This is a long story. The aborigines of the Asura Blood Sea are known as the Asura clan. They feed themselves by engulfing the lost souls of the Blood Sea. All of them had supernatural powers and strong mana. Junior-Apprentice Brother Chen entered the Netherworld and incarnated in the Asura clan. His lineage was not considered as the royalty of the Asura clan. He was ordinary but he had extraordinary skills. In less than thirty years, his killing sword Wu Shuang challenged the Asura King then. He succeeded in killing the king and became the leader of the Asura clan.
There were many tribes within the clan and the uprising of Junior-Apprentice Brother Chen who was not a pure royalty had triggered the royalties of Asura. They worked together and went against him. Junior-Apprentice Brother Chen eventually broke free from their trap and with his supreme sword, he killed each and every one of the royalties who trapped him.
The Asura clan idealized the concept of the survival of the fittest and thus a big chunk of Asura chose to follow Junior-Apprentice Brother Chen. Junior-Apprentice Brother Chen’s supernatural power improved and he stumbled upon the secret techniques of the Nine Underworld, the Spirit Summoning Technique. He searched for our soul imprint and incarnated us to the Asura clan. At that time, he has mastered his Killer Sword and he personally cleansed off the grievance that the Asura clan was born with. He reshaped and helped us restored to the appearance we had in the previous life.
As he was occupied with working on us, Junior-Apprentice Brother Chen did not have the time to focus on the Blood Sea. The remnants of the royalties of the Asura clan got together in secret and took refuge at the great Buddhist monk. The monk’s Dharma was terrifying. He actually turned their Asura bodies to the Buddhist sect’s Defenders of the Dharma and as a result, their mana got stronger. On top of that, the monk had a deep relationship with the Earth Treasury. That was why he intended to copy what the Earth Treasury did years ago, which was to wipe out the Blood Sea and to have a bet with Junior-Apprentice Brother Chen.
No one knew of the full details about the bet but Junior-Apprentice Brother Chen promised the monk that he would never step out of the Blood Sea. At the same time, the monk also promised to not liberate the Asura clan.
However, the Asura royalties that were turned into the Defenders of the Dharma were greatly satisfied with the other people of the Asura clans who were floating around the Asura Blood Sea. Because of that, they fought relentlessly and they took some of the Asura people to be their slaves and turned into the Defenders of the Dharma. This was how your apprentice-nephews honed their skills over the years.
Fortunately, Junior-Apprentice Brother Chen was at the Blood Sea. Although they had the upper hand, they did not have the guts to come to the Blood Sea. In a nutshell, we win some and we lose some. But in the end, we just could not finish off the other party.
I did not expect you to encounter this the moment you arrived.

Things started to make sense for Shen Lian.
So that was the story behind why Senior-Apprentice Brother Chen has never come out of the Asura Blood Sea and why he was not very famous within the Netherworld.



That monk was indeed something. As long as Senior-Apprentice Brother Chen did not attain Taiyi, he would not be able to completely solve the issue. But Shen Lian could sense that something was holding the monk back and he could not use all of his powers. If not, Shen Lian would not have escaped from his Dharma.
Senior-Apprentice Brother Sanwen was probably not aware of the monk’s cultivation experience. Otherwise, he would not have done something so reckless earlier on.
However, Shen Lian knew that the monk was not malicious. If he had ill intentions, Sanwen and his apprentice-nephews would have suffered for their actions.
Shen Lian did not want to poke the bubbles. After all, it does not harm them for not knowing the truth. Besides, if they have learned the truth, their self-esteem might be dampened.
By the time Sanwen was done explaining, the demonic soldiers were ready in their formations. The many years of fighting had indirectly formed a tacit understanding within the two parties. They would not pull a surprise attack against each other while the other party was not ready.
Shen Lian thought it was a funny situation. Perhaps both parties knew that they would not be able to do anything to each other and thus they would routinely fight once in a while.
Among the Defenders of the Dharma, none of them were truly of the level of a Dixian. Shen Lian would never shamelessly fight them as it would make him look bad.
Li Yuanliang waited for the demonic soldiers to align themselves. He then bowed down to Shen Lian and said,
Chief Uncle-Master, please first take a break. We will cast them out really soon.

Shen Lian responded,
Sure.

Someone among the Defenders of the Dharma laughed out loud,
Shadowless Sword, you have not been making much progress but you seem to be more arrogant now. How dare you utter such ignorant words.



The person who laughed was as tall as sixty feet. He had a golden bright body and a solemn face. He had a Vajra on his hand and clearly, he was the leader of the Defenders of the Dharma.
Li Yuanliang’s nickname was Shadowless Sword. He earned the name from his successful cultivation of the Shapeless Sword Incantation. His flying sword would come without a shadow and leave without a trace. It was so quick and had killed many Defenders of the Dharma.
Although the man was laughing, his divine Qi was actually condensing. The Vajra too was highly concentrated with Buddhist power and there were signs of an outbreak.
Li Yuanliang sneered,
Mo Luojia, be careful of your head. After today, it might no longer grow on your neck.

He unleashed his long sword as the demonic soldiers received their command and dashed out of the Blood Sea to fight with the Defenders of the Dharma.