She pointed her sword at me, her gaze cold and stern, her lips moved slightly as she called me a "demon".

There are not only the guardians of the Yin merchants in this world, but also the guardians of gods and Buddhas.

She is a legitimate sword cultivator from Western Kunlun, and her duty is to prevent the "demon" of the Yin merchants' remains from causing chaos in the world.

But she is too weak, even inferior to ordinary Yin merchant soldiers. Perhaps the gods and Buddhas have withdrawn their powers, and there are no top cultivators left in the world.

I asked her:

"Have you seen me causing trouble in the mortal realm?"

She shook her head.

I asked again:

"Then am I plotting for wealth and harm?"

She shook her head again.

I laughed:

"In that case, let me go."

She still shook her head.

We confronted each other on the mountaintop for a long time, and in the end, I broke her treasure sword with a single finger.

She cried bitterly on the mountaintop, and I had to give her my own Qinglian sword.

She followed me all the way to Chang'an, saying that she couldn't kill me, this "demon", but at least she could supervise me to prevent me from causing trouble.

I also learned her name—Xu Ziyao, the daughter of the former prime minister.

After the dynasty changed, she studied at Western Kunlun. In her eyes, the lofty halls of power were not as enjoyable as wandering the rivers and lakes.

In fact, she also had her own difficulties. Since the fall of the Human Emperor, the world has changed.

Everything in the world is decided by gods and Buddhas, and the men sitting on the throne are nothing but puppets of gods and Buddhas.

There are numerous temples under the heavens, most of which worship the Three Pure Ones, and a few worship the Buddha.

As we traveled from the Shu region, all we saw were famished corpses and people resorting to cannibalism.

But inside the Buddhist temples, each and every monk was well-fed, as long as they recited the words "Amitabha Buddha".

Everyone under the heavens had to offer their own rations obediently, or else they would be defying the will of the Buddha.

Taoist temples were slightly better. The common people could at least pray for good weather.

But the Taoists were also greedy. In places where they didn't worship the Three Pure Ones, there were years of drought, forcing the people of Shu to hang up the Bagua symbols in their homes every day.

Xu Ziyao had given alms to the disaster-stricken people many times, and it wasn't until we were nearing Chang'an that she asked me:

"Why is it that with so many believers in the world, the gods and Buddhas don't protect them?"

I looked her up and down, and what I saw was a Daoist whose faith had wavered due to the suffering of the common people.

I smiled and told her:

"Calamities and disasters are constant, and sentient beings have faith because of that."

I also told her that before the Yin merchants, few people believed in immortals.

Firstly, under the rule of the Human Emperor, the common people were self-sufficient and had no need to seek immortals.

Secondly, immortals and humans are two different paths. The human race strives for self-improvement, so why seek immortality?

As for Buddhism? I asked her to carefully observe the statues in the temple. Those were not monks or clergy, but demons.

Xu Ziyao didn't understand.

So, at night, I took her to meet the true Buddha...