My Enemy Became My Cultivation Companion
Chapter 130 - 110: Broken Mirror Rejoined? (Additional Double-Length - )_2

Chapter 130: Chapter 110: Broken Mirror Rejoined? (Additional Double-Length Chapter)_2

He has always been one to repay kindness. Now, as he sends Buddha westward, he happens to guard Chen Yi’s companions’ safety along the way.

As for the internal strife among these people...

The Crown Prince with the donkey head is not interested.

Buddha once enlightened the celestial Rakshasas in the Garden of Solitude, making the demons understand that each has their own karmic path. The donkey-headed Crown Prince deeply agreed with this.

As the donkey-headed Crown Prince traced words with his finger, a sudden stiffness interrupted him. An inexplicable sense of crisis surged against him in reverse.

He abruptly turned his head and gathered a long spear in his hand, its flames roaring like a lion’s mane, hurling it fiercely toward the distance.

This shot, brimming with overwhelming power and ominous killing intent, halted abruptly just ten zhang away — stopped by a single finger.

Faintly, there seemed to be the cry of a celestial crane.

A female crown practicing in meditative silence afar opened her eyes, her face filled with astonishment, involuntarily calling out:

"Master?"

Yu Zhen Daoist gently grasped the spearhead and stepped forward one step at a time. With every step, the ground beneath the donkey-headed Crown Prince emitted deep rumbling sounds as his feet sank deeper into the earth.

"It’s you..."

The donkey-headed Crown Prince’s voice was hoarse.

"I clearly promised Your Highness: If the deed is accomplished, I would surely pursue her soul for you. But why is it that Your Highness..."

Yu Zhen Daoist remained respectful in words, yet the last few syllables dropped heavily:

"...why have you shifted with the wind?"

The word "wind" fell, and the donkey-headed Crown Prince vomited blood, his robes inflating and trembling violently.

Struggling to resist the oppressive force, he attempted to recall the fire spear. On his head, the purple-gold crown trembled incessantly. The fire spear tried to return but failed, firmly fixed in Yu Zhen Daoist’s hand.

From afar, Min Ning witnessed the scene, clutching his bronze sword tightly but daring not to act rashly.

Though Taoists and monks excel in subduing demons, their skill in close combat is limited. But even then, this female Taoist, addressed as "Master" by Yin Weiyin, was suppressing the donkey-headed Crown Prince singlehandedly to the point of breathlessness. How could someone like herself, a mere seventh-rank martial artist, possibly contend against such a force?

"Dog Taoist! I’ve already helped you open the Heavenly Altar—settling our differences! Besides, I am inherently a demon, what loyalty or righteousness matters between us?!"

The donkey-headed Crown Prince roared angrily, blood relentlessly spilling from his mouth.

As his words echoed, Yu Zhen Daoist merely chuckled. Following that, with one hand forming a spell, another deliberate step landed on the ground.

With a thunderous crash, the donkey-headed Crown Prince instantly fell into a massive pit, blood-stained all over. Lying on the ground, his body appeared shattered with crushed bones. Yu Zhen Daoist casually dropped a talisman to temporarily suppress him,

"You may change with the wind, but I cannot break faith. Now... we are truly even."

Having said this, Yu Zhen Daoist began walking step by step toward the gathered women.

Min Ning advanced a step, blocking the others, prepared to raise his sword.

But then, the female crown abruptly rushed forward. Yin Weiyin hastily approached Yu Zhen Daoist and stopped ahead.

"Weiyin, it has been two years since our last meeting."

Yu Zhen Daoist spoke kindly.

Yin Weiyin performed the disciple’s salute, then raised her eyes to meet her master’s gaze, her heart trembling suddenly.

She recalled something.

"Master, that prophecy..."

She stammered.

"It was an intentional act."

Yu Zhen Daoist admitted frankly. As the words reached her ears, the female crown felt as if struck by lightning, frozen in place, trembling visibly.

After a long while, tears welling in her eyes, her delicate face bore an indescribable pain.

"Alas, Weiyin, your master wished to deceive you, but as a person of the Way, I do not utter falsehoods and cannot deceive. You rely on your innate talent, cultivating the Supreme Forget Love Technique through the path of heartlessness with great efficiency. Without a Golden Boy Dao Companion, you’ve achieved Core Formation at a young age. Yet, the Heartless Technique is ultimately a dead-end.

I had no choice but to plan accordingly, eventually orchestrating for you to experience a heart-devouring deviation. It seemed harmful to you, yet the saying goes: ’Fortune and misfortune are intertwined.’ A person who has fallen into deviation once is unlikely to succumb a second time."

Yu Zhen Daoist softened her tone as she spoke, Divine Sense scanning Yin Weiyin’s Heart Lake. There, amidst the waters of her heart, was a shadow resembling a Sumeru seed — a black silhouette tracing the face of Chen Yi, an embodiment of her inner ignorance.

"But... my senior brothers and sisters also entered the path through heartlessness."

Yin Weiyin replied with mixed emotions.

The master, usually so kindly, spoke bluntly at this moment:

"They were all wrong."

Yin Weiyin fell silent.

"You too were mistaken."

Yin Weiyin’s eyes brimmed with tears. Bitterly, she said:

"Master... but during every recess, I must visit his manor. The dignified daughter of Prince Jing... reduced to a courtesan-like fate..."

"What harm is there in being a courtesan?"

Yu Zhen Daoist suddenly countered,

"The daughter of Prince Jing?

Have you not yet detached yourself from worldly entanglements?"

The female crown awakened abruptly but then wore a bitter expression.

"In the Supreme Way, there is possession yet no conscious knowledge of possession. Have you... grasped this principle even slightly?"

Yu Zhen Daoist’s voice softened.

The female crown nodded bitterly. After a long pause, she spoke:

"But the price is too great.

If my chastity is compromised, I might bear that. But in the future... he wishes to drain my cultivation."

Yu Zhen Daoist smiled faintly and reassured her,

"There is no need to fear. Once he returns, he will no longer be the same as before."

Yin Weiyin was startled.

Suddenly, an inexplicable surge of joy rose from her Heart Lake.

"The Sword Armor will sever his Three Corpses, and moreover..."

Yu Zhen Daoist’s gaze turned, her eyes bypassing Yin Weiyin and landing on another — the daughter of the Xiang King — Yin Tingxue shrinking her neck nervously.

"Once the self-attachment dissolves, and his lower corpse is severed, his character will naturally exhibit saintlike virtues; your worries are utterly laughable."

Yu Zhen Daoist shook her head and smiled.

The once-rejecting Yin Tingxue would likely be spared by Chen Yi and perhaps accompany her to Taihua Mountain, where she would take her as her apprentice, leaving behind this Heavenly Ear Technique.

"A love restored."

Recalling the Daoist Immortal of Penglai, Yu Zhen Daoist felt a sense of nostalgia.

Since the transmission of Buddhism to the East, numerous disputes between Buddhist Tao and Taoist thought had ensued, often ending in defeats for Taoist practitioners. Many Taoists were forced to shave their heads and join monasteries, their Daoist temples transformed into Buddhist shrines. However, sixty years ago, the monumental contention between Buddhist and Taoist teachings at Yintai Mountain ended in a draw.

This was because the Penglai Daoist Immortal, representing the Taoists, reached an agreement with the Medicine Bodhisattva. Though labeled as a draw, the result was as turbulent as either side suffering total defeat, as these two supremely cultivated figures surprisingly advocated for the unity of Buddhism and Taoism!

Though both exerted their utmost efforts, their conclusion was ultimately too radical to bear, with no sect willing to accept it. The Medicine Bodhisattva had no choice but to send her dharma body to Ling Mountain and wander the mortal world as a mere incarnation — the later Princess of Xiang. Meanwhile, Yu Zhen Daoist’s master, the Penglai Daoist Immortal, ultimately imprisoned himself on Penglai Island.

The daughter of the Medicine Bodhisattva incarnation became the protégé of the Penglai Daoist Immortal. Was this not the very essence of a love restored?

Fate would have it that the figure central to this tale was, yet again, a concubine.

Now, all that remained was for Chen Yi... to fulfill destiny.

When the Celestial Gates are cracked open, and the Three Teachings unite, merging Buddhism and Taoism...

The countless beings bearing witness, achieving enlightenment and ascension in a great karmic deed...

Yu Zhen Daoist would pray for mortals, hoping this...

Love restored.

...............

Chen Yi struck with a single sword slash.

For no apparent reason, a knot of resentment lodged in his heart.

The vast Xia encampment split into two, collapsing heavily. Scattered across the ground were remnants of living-dead souls, accompanied by countless bronze weapons scattered across the earth.

Chen Yi exhaled deeply, hoping to expel the suppressed grievance within, yet felt it lingering in his throat.

Nearby, a one-armed woman had sheathed her sword and approached him slowly.

"Using a sword single-handed... isn’t easy,"

Chen Yi remarked, raising his still-bruised left hand.

His injuries hadn’t completely healed, and his left hand lacked strength. However, when facing these Xia soldiers and generals here, it sufficed.

Earlier, they had arrived at another stele, which resembled an expansive burial pit. The Xia soldiers and generals scattered across the ground gradually resurrected, only to be swiftly eradicated by them.

Zhou Yitang glanced briefly at him before turning to gaze upon the stele at the center.

Chen Yi came up beside her, curiosity piquing his interest.

At the moment he laid eyes upon it, his mind wavered.

Etched upon the stele were ancient carvings of a snake transforming into a fish and a fish transforming into a snake — diametrically opposed forms, yet harmoniously integrated. Faintly discernible profound meanings emerged as if a guiding lamp illuminated Chen Yi’s path, and celestial melodies whispered in his ears.

When Chen Yi returned to his senses, he found Zhou Yitang’s gaze fixed upon him.

"Your self-attachment has broken."

As her voice fell, Chen Yi’s mind abruptly descended into chaos.

The snake and fish alternated back and forth between forms. In his confusion, he struggled to distinguish between them. But upon deeper reflection, why bother distinguishing? Why not... follow the natural flow?