"The Divine Sense and Demonic Thoughts upon You Di's person, you cannot suppress them, you cannot scheme for them, and you certainly cannot control them."
The one who spoke these words was none other than Empress Tianzong.
"Heh heh."
Dugu Fengyun chuckled and said, "Let alone merely suppressing the Divine Sense and Demonic Thoughts upon You Di's person, even suppressing You Di himself would pose no difficulty for my Heavenly Dao."
Dugu Fengyun's words could not be described as anything less than arrogant.
So arrogant that Empress Tianzong couldn't even be bothered to respond.
At that moment, Xuan Yuan Qinghou spoke again, "Originally, regarding suppressing the Divine Sense and Demonic Thoughts upon You Di's person, although I, Xuan Yuan Qinghou, had confidence, I did not possess absolute certainty. However, the appearance of you esteemed ladies has made me brimming with confidence, and I now have absolute certainty that I can suppress the Divine Sense and Demonic Thoughts upon You Di's person."
The voices of Dugu Fengyun and Xuan Yuan Qinghou echoed forth. At first listen, they seemed to be bluffing.
But if one pondered carefully, especially Xuan Yuan Qinghou's words, they seemed to hold considerable logic.
First, it was Fusheng Dijun, and now Empress Tianzong, both saying that no one could suppress the Divine Sense and Demonic Thoughts upon You Di's person, even claiming that whoever touched them would die.
If that were truly the case, why would Fusheng Dijun still step forward to stop them?
Why would Empress Tianzong and the other esteemed ladies step forward to stop them?
Wasn't this superfluous?
Perhaps the ones truly bluffing were not Dugu Fengyun and Xuan Yuan Qinghou, but rather Fusheng Dijun and the esteemed ladies.
In a sense, the more they tried to stop it, the more it indicated they feared others scheming for the Divine Sense and Demonic Thoughts upon You Di's person.
Having reasoned this through, the various Ancestral Patriarchs began to grow restless once more.
Elder Tai, in particular, shed his previous despondency and shouted with considerable excitement, "If the Divine Sense and Demonic Thoughts upon You Di's person truly cannot be touched, why do you esteemed ones go to such superfluous lengths to stop us?
Could it be that you fear we might succeed in suppressing the Divine Sense and Demonic Thoughts upon You Di's person?"
Fusheng Dijun, standing opposite, fixed his gaze upon him and said, "Elder Tai, I have said it before. I am stopping you not because I worry, much less fear, that you will suppress the Divine Sense and Demonic Thoughts upon You Di's person. I have also said that you cannot touch the Divine Sense and Demonic Thoughts upon You Di's person; whoever touches them will die. The reason I am stopping you is solely because I cannot bear to watch you risk your lives and thus fall into eternal damnation."
"HAHAHAHA!"
Elder Tai burst into loud laughter, pointed at Fusheng Dijun, and sternly shouted, "Do you think we would believe the nonsense spouted by a traitor to the Great Dao like you?"
"What needed to be said, I have said. Whether you believe it or not is your own affair."
As soon as Fusheng Dijun's words fell, another lazy voice echoed from the void, "Elder Tai, I advise you all to believe what Fusheng Dijun says. To my knowledge, he is one of the very few within this arena who genuinely cares about whether you live or die. If you won't even listen to Fusheng Dijun's words, then you truly are not far from death."
Everyone looked over and were startled to find the speaker was Cang Yan.
At this moment.
She leaned against a vermilion pillar, sitting on a stone stool, holding half a cup of fine wine in her hand. Slightly lowering her head, she gazed at the half-cup of wine and said softly, "Aside from Fusheng Dijun, there are three others who also care quite a bit about your lives. One is Xiaoyao Dadi, and another is Da Xing the Mad Monk."
"Among you, many are friends of Xiaoyao Dadi. His appearance this time is not only to protect a friend like You Di but also to save you, his friends."
"As for Da Xing the Mad Monk, heh heh... the Living Buddha Da Xing, wandering through the myriad realms of the heavens, healing the sick and saving the suffering, delivering all living beings—this is not merely a legend. Though he may not appear Buddha-like on the surface, I dare say his heart is more compassionate than any Buddha, Arhat, or Bodhisattva present here, even more so than Peacock Damingwang."
As soon as Cang Yan finished speaking, the cursing voice of Da Xing the Mad Monk came from over there. Standing atop the mountain-like Prajna Karmic Sin Bowl, holding the Great Compassion Great Mountain, his face flushed red and looking thoroughly drunk, he roared, "I say, Cang Yan, don't spout such damn nonsense here! This old monk has never been one for compassion, and I couldn't care less about the lives of these little brats! What does their life or death have to do with this old monk?
Right now, this old monk wishes he could slaughter every single one of them!"
Cang Yan paid no heed to Da Xing the Mad Monk. Instead, she looked up at Peacock Dadi and said with a smile, "Peacock Damingwang has traversed the Three Thousand Great Daos, not seeking the true Buddha, nor guarding the Great Dao, but to deliver all living beings. To deliver all living beings, he can do anything. If erasing you so-called Ancestral Patriarchs can deliver all living beings, I believe he would not hesitate to erase you all. Am I right, Mingwang?"
Peacock Dadi pressed his palms together and merely chanted, "Amitabha."
"Mingwang, you don't mind if I ask one more question, do you?"
"Of course not."
Cang Yan asked, "Why did you step forward to stop them? Were you worried they would scheme for the Divine Sense and Demonic Thoughts upon You Di's person?"
"The Divine Sense and Demonic Thoughts upon You Di's person, they cannot scheme for them."
"If that's the case, why did you stop them?"
"What I am stopping is not them, but only the Eight Sects of Buddhism."
"Why only stop the Eight Sects of Buddhism?"
"As you said just now, in my eyes, they have long ceased to be among the ranks of living beings. On the contrary, they are the root cause of harming living beings. I do not care in the slightest about their lives or deaths. As for why I only stop the Eight Sects of Buddhism, that is my personal selfishness."
"What selfishness?"
"I do not wish for the Eight Sects of Buddhism to completely perish in this great calamity, and I do not wish for my Buddha to have no successors."
Peacock Dadi's meaning could not be clearer. His purpose in stopping the Eight Sects of Buddhism was solely to prevent the host of Buddhas from the Eight Sects from marching to their deaths, thereby causing the Western Heaven to completely perish. That was all.
"Good!"
Cang Yan acknowledged with a 'good', raised the half-cup of fine wine to her lips, and drank it all in one go. She then continued, "White-Browed Holy Monk, have you all heard clearly?"
The White-Browed Holy Monk and the host of Buddhas from the Eight Sects of Buddhism did not respond. They did not know how to respond.
Cang Yan seemed to have never expected a response from them in the first place. Just as she was about to speak again, Elder Tai finally could bear it no longer. He stepped forward and angrily shouted, "A pack of nonsense!
Utter nonsense!
Cang Yan, this old man warns you, do not..." Before he could finish, Cang Yan ruthlessly cut him off.
Cang Yan looked up, a smile playing on her lips as she stared intently at Elder Tai and said very seriously, "Elder Tai, believe me, if not for being entrusted by someone, I, Cang Yan, would absolutely not waste a single word of nonsense on you here. Not even one character would I deign to speak!"
"What a joke!
Entrusted by someone?"
Elder Tai roared, "Who could possibly have entrusted you?"
"The!"
"Timeless!"
"Nameless!"
Cang Yan mercilessly uttered four words.
When she spoke these four words, Elder Tai was as if struck by lightning, standing dumbfounded and utterly stupefied on the spot. Not only was Elder Tai stupefied, but every Ancestral Patriarch present, whether from the Original Sin or the Great Dao factions, was also stupefied. This included the Heavenly Dao and the Sage Dao, without exception.