They all became female demons after being reborn.

Chapter 71 The Fourth Prince has arrived! The heavens are at peace!

As soon as Wu Cheng finished speaking, Bai Suyi, Qingque, and Damo moved at the same time!

Bai Suyi's sword flashed like clouds, instantly engulfing the two monks on the left into a curtain of sword light!

Qingque's rapier clashed head-on with the first monk on the right. She staggered back half a step, while the monk staggered back three steps before stopping!

Bodhidharma met the last monk, his fist, as big as a sandbag, collided with the other's iron palm. The roaring wind of true energy even blew the incense burner in front of the main hall away, scattering incense ash all over the sky!

The four groups of fighting immediately divided the open space in front of the Great Buddha Hall into four battlefields. Xue Jianren wanted to go forward to help, but he was too weak and could only secretly encourage himself.

Wu Cheng, carrying his wooden sword, walked across the battlefield and stepped over the threshold into the hall as if no one else was there. The sunlight from outside poured in from behind him, as if gilding him, and a long shadow was cast in front of him, reaching the old monk Yuanye's futon.

"Amitabha......"

With a soft chant of the Buddha's name, Yuanye slowly rose from the futon and drew a thick-backed, black-bladed katana from his robe with his right hand. A small, shrunken, blackened skull was inlaid on the hilt of the katana.

"This old monk's sword is called Black Relic." Yuan Ye's withered fingers traced the top of the skull. "Every Buddhist disciple who passes away in the Iron Buddha Temple will produce a relic after cremation. Ordinary children leave behind a handful of white ash after being burned, but only the bones of those with heavy sins can produce black relics formed from karmic obstacles. This old monk used their ashes and relics to forge this sword. If one dies by this sword, their soul will be trapped inside the blade, never to be reborn."

He looked up at Wu Cheng, the two points of phosphorescence in his cloudy eyes suddenly flaring up, "Benefactor, will your relic be black or white?"

Wu Cheng looked down at the wooden sword in his hand.

The wooden sword had a warm, smooth blade, and the crooked crescent-shaped engraving on the hilt gleamed faintly under the ever-burning lamp in front of the Buddha statue.

He had thought more than once about why he practiced martial arts.

Is it for the youthful dream of wandering the world with a sword in a past life?

Is it because of the helplessness one feels after encountering injustice in a past life?

Or is it because he was exceptionally gifted in this life, able to learn any martial art at a glance, which gave him a great sense of accomplishment?

He spent that day and night in Luoyang, hoping to find a way to uphold justice and clear his mind after encountering injustice.

Now, he feels that the reason why God allowed him to transmigrate here, not only becoming the fourth prince of the Great Yu Dynasty, but also being able to join the Wentian Sect with outstanding talent, is because... he is the chosen one of Heaven to sweep away the injustices of the world.

Otherwise, why would he be a prince after transmigrating, a top disciple of the sect leader of the Wentian Sect, and possess unparalleled talent?

He who bears the nation's disgrace is called the master of the state. He who bears the nation's misfortune is called the king of the world!

This is his mission after he traveled through time!

Who else but me!

He raised the wooden sword, its tip aimed at Yuan Ye, his hand steady without the slightest hesitation. "I have no relics in my bones, only this bone that hardened for sixteen years before awakening. If you want it, come and take it yourself!"

Yuanye took the initiative and seized the first strike!

His movements were extremely strange. Although he was as thin as a rake, he moved like an old snake slithering along the ground.

The black knife hummed incessantly in his hand. As he poured his true energy into it, wisps of black smoke immediately emerged from the eyes of the skull on the knife, turning into blade energy that wrapped around the blade!

As he swung his sword, the black mist-like blade energy suddenly expanded, as if transforming into twisted, ferocious child faces that silently lunged at Wu Cheng!

Wu Cheng, stepping on the Flowing Cloud Step, advanced instead of retreating!

A vortex of energy erupted from his Yongquan acupoint, propelling his body forward!

The wooden sword traced a very faint arc in his hand! The rapidly spinning sword energy at the tip of the sword cut through the air with a very subtle hum, perfectly cleaving the face formed by the black smoke and blade energy in two!

Immediately following was the clash of swords!

As they passed each other, Wu Cheng felt a little more at ease.

This black sword is made of a strange material, and the sword energy condensed by the black sword has the function of subtly devouring and corroding true energy.

However, the true qi seed in Wu Cheng's dantian spun faster, and the true qi of the "Heavenly Dao Scroll" instantly expelled the corrosive true qi from his body.

After exchanging blows for a while, Wu Cheng understood the situation even better.

Yuan Ye's sword technique was domineering but lacked refinement. Compared to Yuan Hao's impenetrable sword net, Yuan Ye's sword moves, though wide and sweeping, left obvious gaps in the flow of true energy.

With his eyes slightly narrowed, Wu Cheng used the Flowing Cloud Step to turn into the empty space on Yuan Ye's left side, channeling his true energy through the Shaoyang Sanjiao Meridian into the Tianjing acupoint! Then, the true energy was compressed like a spring and suddenly released, and the wooden sword in his hand slashed upwards towards Yuan Ye's left rib!

Yuan Ye dodged to the side, his black blade sweeping across!

Instead of retreating, Wu Cheng advanced, and before the blade reached his waist, the Qi vortex at his Yongquan acupoint erupted again, lifting him more than ten feet upwards!

Then, in mid-air, he lightly stepped on the fragments of an incense burner that had been blasted away by Bodhidharma's punch outside the main hall, using the force to deflect back, and then thrust his sword headfirst into Yuan Ye's Baihui acupoint!

This sword strike pushed the sword energy to its limit, accelerating its rotation and sharpness. A faint golden sword light even appeared on the tip of the wooden sword!

Yuan Ye raised his sword to parry, and the moment the swords clashed, the golden sword light pierced through the black smoke and blade energy, leaving a deep, bone-revealing bloodstain on his right cheek!

After forcing Wu Cheng to retreat, Yuan Ye took three steps back, his withered fingers wiping the bloodstains on his face.

He looked down at the bloodstains on his fingertips, and when he looked up, the two points of phosphorescence in his cloudy eyes, caused by his internal energy cultivation, seemed to have burned into two eerie green fireballs!

Then he suddenly slashed his left arm with the black knife, blood seeping into the blade, and the wisp of black smoke on the blade suddenly surged! It even emitted a piercing shriek that sounded like the cries and screams of countless children squeezed together!

Yuan Ye swung his sword down with all his might! The black smoke and blade energy condensed into a crescent-shaped wall that pressed down on Wu Cheng! The air was even filled with a nauseating stench!

Wu Cheng's expression changed slightly.

Yuan Ye's strike was beyond the scope of ordinary acquired martial artists. Although he relied on the power of the black knife in his hand, Wu Cheng knew that if he did not go all out, he might not be able to withstand it!

"Unfortunately, the first move of that self-created sword technique is still being perfected, but I can no longer hold back."

We have no choice but to fight with all our might!

He stood in the middle of the hall without moving, but closed his eyes and sank the true energy of the "Heavenly Dao Scroll" into the seed of true energy in his dantian. Then he guided all the true energy stored in the seed of true energy to circulate throughout his body, and then dispersed it into every meridian of his body.

The Yongquan acupoint on both feet, the Heding acupoint on both knees, the Mingmen acupoint on the waist, the Jianjing acupoint on both shoulders, the Tianjing acupoint on both elbows, and the Shenmen acupoint on both wrists...

As true qi flowed into his body, sixteen acupoints on his body simultaneously lit up with extremely faint golden spots, as if someone had lit sixteen dim oil lamps in sequence at the sixteen acupoints on his body.

The black smoke-condensed blade energy had already pressed down three feet in front of him. The next moment, Wu Cheng suddenly opened his eyes and took a step forward!

With that step, all sixteen acupoints on his body erupted simultaneously! The stone slab beneath his feet was also crushed into dust by the vortex!

His figure vanished the instant the black smoke and blade energy struck him!

Yuan Ye's pupils shrank sharply, and his ferocious and smug old face, which had been contorted with savage pride after unleashing a powerful strike, froze instantly!

He only saw a golden line pierce through the black smoke and blade energy, and also through his own protective true energy, which gathered at the location of his heart between the fourth and fifth ribs on his left chest.

Then Wu Cheng appeared three steps behind him, his back to him, his wooden sword pointing diagonally at the ground.

The sword was unstained with blood, and the golden sword light covering it was gradually dissipating, like the last glimmer of light from the last star in the darkness before dawn.

A crisp cracking sound suddenly rang out in the silent Mahavira Hall.

The black knife in Yuan Ye's hand broke into pieces, and the small skull on the hilt rolled to the ground, eventually landing under the lotus pedestal of the iron-lacquered golden Buddha. Its dark eye sockets seemed to stare straight at the benevolent Buddha with downcast eyes.

The black smoke that had condensed into a blade aura instantly disintegrated and vanished. Wu Cheng vaguely heard many children's voices laughing and thanking him.

Yuan Ye lowered his head and looked at the extremely narrow and thin sword wound on his left chest.

There wasn't even much blood seeping out, but his heart had been pulverized the instant the sword intent penetrated it.

He turned around, opened his mouth, swayed and staggered forward two steps, then fell forward onto the prayer mat in front of the Buddha statue's lotus platform, his forehead touching the ground, as if he were kowtowing one last time to the silent Buddha who never went to work.

A deathly silence reigned both inside and outside the hall, and the battle outside seemed to have reached a conclusion.

Then, a hoarse shout suddenly came from outside the mountain gate.

"Yuanye is dead! The abbot is dead! Tiefo Temple is finished!"

The sound traveled from the mountain gate to the stone steps, from the stone steps to the mountain path, and from the mountain path to the dark mass of people at the foot of the mountain.

Cries, shouts, and curses mingled together. Some people knelt on the ground and kowtowed, some picked up stones and continued to smash the walls of the Iron Buddha Temple, and some rushed towards the children.

The crowd surged into the mountain gate like a floodgate had been opened, and Xue Jianren and Sun Kewang were unable to stop them at all.

Just then, a dark shadow swooped up to the eaves of the Mahavira Hall like a hawk!

An Jingru was dressed in a black flying fish robe, with the Demon Suppression Guard token hanging at his waist. His weathered face showed a rare solemn expression.

He gathered his strength in his chest, and his voice boomed like thunder over the Iron Buddha Temple, "Silence—!"

This sharp shout was like cold water poured into boiling oil, instantly silencing the clamor that filled the mountain.

Hundreds of eyes looked up at the black figure on the roof of the palace.

The reputation of the Demon Suppression Guards is not as bad as that of the Divine Pivot Camp in the martial arts world, but their aura is no less imposing.

"The Iron Buddha Temple has colluded with local officials to harm the people, traffic children, and illegally amass wealth. The evidence is irrefutable! The temple's property is to be seized starting today. Half of the confiscated gold, silver, and farmland will be used to resettle the victimized children, and the other half will be used to compensate the victimized families! All officials and merchants who have colluded with the Iron Buddha Temple will be investigated one by one according to the list, leaving no one out! Today's events are a matter of public outrage, not a personal feud!"

The crowd instantly shifted from indignation to astonishment, and from astonishment to ecstasy.

The old woman, holding her grandson whom she had lost and found again, knelt on the ground and kowtowed to An Jingru. An Jingru turned aside and only accepted half of the bow.

Then he leaped off the roof of the palace, strode up to Wu Cheng, suddenly knelt on one knee, clasped his hands in a salute, and said in a booming voice, "An Jingru, the Demon Suppression Guard, pays respects to Your Highness the Fourth Prince!"

The clamor of hundreds of people inside and outside the Iron Buddha Temple seemed to be cut off by an invisible hand at this moment.

Fourth Prince? Which Fourth Prince?

The Great Yu Dynasty only had one fourth prince, who was the legendary fourth prince Wu Cheng, who was born mentally challenged and sent to the Wentian Sect as a hostage!

Immediately, everyone's eyes turned to the main hall!

Wu Cheng, dressed in a blue robe, stepped out from the shadows of the main hall and stood in the sunlight.

Sunlight happened to shine through the clouds, as if bathing him in a golden halo!

The next moment, countless people knelt down in a massive surge, chanting in unison:

"Long live Your Highness!"