Told You I Can Turn Back Time
Chapter 253 - 191: Restriction

Chapter 253: Chapter 191: Restriction

While the Great Bright Buddha and Lin Xing were discussing the attack on Da Guangming Temple that had occurred ten years prior, the Second Elder of Zhou Tian Sect felt a powerful sense of wrongness.

"Great Bright Buddha’s spirit is fragmented; he should lack spiritual wisdom."

Recalling the scenes after the Great Bright Buddha’s appearance at She Shen Cliff, he thought to himself, "Since the Great Bright Buddha knows how to unlock the secret cache, why wait until today?"

"He had just used these people to unlock the cache, and all of them had been invited by Xingxiao. Could it be that the Great Bright Buddha has secretly colluded with Xingxiao?"

At this thought, he became even more convinced that something was wrong, and the idea of retreat started to form in his mind.

"Xingxiao, with his ability to foresee, always plots before acting. If he is in cahoots with the Great Bright Buddha..."

As he slowly retreated, the argument between Lin Xing and the Great Bright Buddha in front of him grew increasingly intense.

When he saw a figure descend from the sky, heading toward their position, his heart tightened.

Especially when he saw the distinct black and white Daoist robe on the other, he felt an increasing sense of alarm in his heart.

"Is this someone from Taihe Sect? Has Taihe Sect also joined forces with the Great Bright Buddha?"

"The retreat of Yun Hezi from Taihe Sect by the Great Bright Buddha, was it all an act?"

"Great Bright... Taihe... Xingxiao..."

The thought that these three forces had already secretly aligned and orchestrated the scenario before him made the Second Elder feel the utmost danger.

Just as he quickly turned around, intending to flee from She Shen Cliff, he suddenly felt a hand rest gently upon him.

A voice, somewhat familiar and somewhat strange, came to his ear, "Don’t be hasty, Taiching. The show has just begun."

The Second Elder’s heart jolted at the words; surrounded by emptiness, he yet felt the firm pressure of a hand on his shoulder, preventing him from moving a step.

With a cold tone, he said, "Xingxiao? Is that you? Have you been watching behind me all this time?"

As he spoke, he activated the power of the Yuhua Reincarnation, and streams of memories flowed through the palm of the hand, then into the other person’s sea of consciousness.

To him, each memory was an incredibly precious resource, and each infusion was a severe drain on that resource.

After the destruction of Taiqing Sect, this resource had become even more precious.

Therefore, he was always cautious with memory infusion, mostly using it when it was necessary to control a target, and rarely in battle.

After all, there were many other ways to kill someone that were more convenient, simpler, and more cost-effective.

But once memory was infused during battle, it almost always guaranteed victory.

Under the onslaught of overwhelming memories, the consciousness of the opponent could quickly become distorted, and in some ways... it amounted to eradicating the original opponent.

At this moment, he felt extreme danger and without hesitation, he infused a vast amount of memory into the pressing palm.

Disciples from Taiqing Sect? Ordinary civilians? Slain soldiers?

Ten years? Twenty years? Or even thirty years of memories?

Memories spanning decades from different entities entered the consciousness of the other.

But the other’s palm showed no sign of change, steady as if it wasn’t a human hand at all, still gently resting upon his shoulder.

With a chuckle, the voice said, "Taiching, this clone you left in the Zhou Tian Sect really does possess the Yuhua Reincarnation, this is... perfect."

The Second Elder, or should I say Taiqing Sect Leader, listened incredulously to the other’s words, "You’re not affected?"

"Not affected? How could I not be?" The other pondered briefly, then continued, "You’ve just infused me with 52 years of memories from five people in one go."

"Now I suddenly have a craving for mutton; isn’t that an effect? I never used to like mutton before."

Taiching frowned, "How could that be? Why weren’t your own cognitions changed?"

The other patted Taiching’s shoulder lightly, saying indifferently, "Taiching, you poured a cup of water into a vast sea, caused a little splash at most. Did you really expect to make waves?"

Right then, a sudden blaze of Buddha’s light erupted in front, as a pair of hands formed from Buddha’s light suddenly appeared beside Lin Xing, closing with a bang and enveloping Lin Xing within the palms.

Taiching clenched his teeth and said, "Xingxiao, did you join forces with Taihe and the Great Bright Buddha for this Martial Arts Dual Cultivation technique?"

Xingxiao’s voice came through, "Not just that, you can continue guessing."

Taiching’s face darkened, "Also because of me? Ten years ago, you intentionally leaked the secret of She Shen Cliff to me, making me believe I had discovered it myself, right?"

"To capture this clone of mine, you all set such a deep trap, I’m truly honored."

Xingxiao laughed, then spoke, "Taiching, there’s no need to test me. If you want to know something, just ask."

"Catching you was just incidental. A single Tian Jizi is enough to keep you deeply troubled; finding your clones is just a matter of difficulty, that’s all."

Taiqing looked at Lin Xing surrounded by layers of Buddha’s light, "Surely, you’re not all this effort just to catch this kid, are you?"

Xingxiao slowly said, "Catch him? Taiqing, your thoughts are always so idyllic."

Taiqing was slightly taken aback, and then saw frenzied Sword Intent rising up from the battlefield.

One after another, flying shuttles tore through the atmosphere, exploding with thunderous noise, and charged towards the Great Bright Buddha.

The Daoist in a black and white Daoist robe was the first to retreat from the battlefield.

In just an instant, the first barrage of 111 flying shuttles burst into a sky filled with fire and dust.

And this was just the beginning; almost simultaneously with the explosion of the first wave of flying shuttles, new weapons started rising from the giant metal boxes.

Armor-piercing shells, incendiary bombs, high-explosive shells... Varied flying shuttles carried a burst of Sword Intent, attacking the enemy on their own under the effect of the Heavenly Sword Domain.

Heavenly Sword Domain: Where the sword goes, makes the domain, within which the swords can attack and defend on their own accord, as if granted by heaven.

Every flying shuttle seemed to have auto-targeting activated, continuously shooting out from the metal boxes and then slamming towards the location of the Great Bright Buddha.

With every instant, hundreds of flying shuttles shot out.

It was like the sounds of hundreds and thousands of thunderclaps going off at once; even the ground beneath trembled violently from the bombardment.

The blinding firelight and thick dust obscured the entire battlefield, but could not stop the self-acting attack of the flying shuttles.

No matter how the Great Bright Buddha flashed and leaped, these flying shuttles surged towards him relentlessly.

A full 5 seconds of relentless bombing expanded the affected area as the Great Bright Buddha’s silhouette moved further and further.

Everyone had already retreated two to three hundred meters away.

Looking at the dense smoke in the battlefield, whether it was Luo Wengao and his temporary followers, the scores of Arhat Bodhisattvas controlled by Taiqing, or the Evil-cutting Sect Master and Fairy Yunxiao, it seemed that at that moment they all fell silent in unison.

Under this destructive power, they found that apart from retreating, they seemingly had no other option, just like mortals of the past dodging their conflicts.

Taiqing looked at the billowing smoke and said coldly, "The weapons from the secret realm are indeed powerful. If not for these weapons, how could that boy ever be so bold in front of the Great Bright Buddha?"

"What is so special about him that warrants the three sects joining hands?"

Xingxiao replied indifferently, "Taiqing, what do you think someone would become if they never died or were imprisoned?"

Taiqing thought for a moment and said, "The freest person in this world?"

Xingxiao continued, "What if this person has been like that since he was five years old?"

Before Taiqing could respond, Xingxiao added, "What if, after he is killed, the person he just killed comes back to life with no memory of their death?"

In Taiqing’s mind, he pictured a five-year-old child repeatedly squashing ants.

But soon those squashed ants turned into people, who were tormented, murdered, and revived by the child with a naive smile, using all manner of bizarre methods, over and over...

Xingxiao said, "Almost unlimited freedom... under these circumstances, it would only take a year or two for the malice inherent to humanity to gradually lose all restraint."

"In his mind, there would be nothing he couldn’t do."

"Ethics, morality, kindness, evil... none of these would mean anything to him."

"And to maintain this freedom, the methods are killing and being killed."

"For him, whether it be killing or being killed would eventually become as natural as breathing..."

Meanwhile, as the gunsmoke slowly dissipated, the situation on the battlefield was revealed.

The Buddha’s light that originally bound Lin Xing had completely vanished, and he floated midair as if sensing something.

The next moment, countless sands and stones around him transformed into flying swords stabbing out behind him.

The figure of the Great Bright Buddha appeared for an instant before dissipating again, causing the flying swords to miss.

Seeing the two parties engaged in combat once more, Taiqing keenly noticed that the Buddha’s light on the Great Bright Buddha had weakened significantly, giving rise to various thoughts in his mind.

"The last round of explosions was too widespread and fast; they clearly hurt the Great Bright Buddha, forcing him to counter the blasts with all his might, consuming much of his strength."

"But he clearly had restrained his opponent already, so why didn’t he just kill this Tang Si or knock him out directly..."

Suddenly, Taiqing thought of what Xingxiao had just said and murmured to himself, "Killing and being killed, huh?"

At that moment, Xingxiao’s voice suddenly came through, "Send the people under your control to aid the Great Bright Buddha."

Taiqing frowned slightly, "You want them to be cannon fodder?"

"You don’t want to?" Xingxiao smiled faintly and then whispered something in Taiqing’s ear.

Taiqing’s expression changed drastically, and the next moment, with a flick of his fingertips, the dozens of old men he controlled rushed towards Lin Xing’s location.