National Guardian's Gone and We're Done

Lately, Chu He had been staying at the National Road Academy.

There were quite a few matters that required his personal attention.

First, he selected a group of green, young students from the National Road Academy. They would be sent to the Great Xia Empire’s Border City for rigorous training.

Meanwhile, the members selected from the Border City Defense Team had also been arriving at the National Road Academy one after another,

and were now undergoing systematic training.

They were randomly assigned and placed into various classes.

As for the students from the National Road Academy who were chosen to be sent to the Great Xia Empire’s Border City,

there were naturally some who were unwilling to go.

Chu He did not coddle these people.

After all, everything at the National Road Academy—all resources, food, clothing, housing, and transportation—was provided for free.

Moreover, ever since Chu He had become the head of the National Road Academy,

even resources that some of the most prestigious families wouldn’t dare to dream of

were unsparingly poured into these students by Chu He.

When he first took over the National Road Academy, he had already stated that all resources would be made freely available,

but he also hoped the students would understand the weight of the burden they carried and what they needed to do when the time came.

But clearly, while these students had no hesitation in enjoying the resources,

when it was time to fulfill their responsibilities, they started trying every possible way to evade them.

Naturally, Chu He wouldn’t indulge such people.

He directly issued a public notice of punishment for all these students and then had them expelled,

and he also ordered all Martial Arts Academies in the Great Xia Empire to be forbidden from accepting these expelled students.

He even restricted them from leaving the Great Xia Empire,

converting all the resources they had used into an equivalent value in money or goods.

Only when their debt was paid in full would their personal restrictions be lifted.

When they learned they would face such severe punishment, the students burst into tears of regret.

They begged to be allowed back into the National Road Academy, promising they were willing to go serve in the Great Xia Empire’s Border City.

Chu He just gave a cold smile and chose to ignore them completely.

After dealing with this matter,

Chu He began selecting students for the Martial Arts Academy ranking competition on the Black Continent Grassland.

In short, he had been really busy during this period.

When he saw Liu Yuzhu walk in holding a phone, Chu He curiously took it from her.

’I’ve already cleaned up the White Elephant Empire completely. What other problems could there be?’

Liu Yuzhu reached out and tapped the phone’s screen, and a video began to play.

Liu Yuzhu provided a brief introduction from the side, ”Mr. Chu, do you see this monk? He’s the leader of this group of monks. Everyone calls him Abbot Tonghua.”

Chu He nodded and continued to watch the video.

In the video, Abbot Tonghua stood on a street ravaged by destruction, with many collapsed skyscrapers.

He was surrounded by a crowd of people.

Not far away, the bodies of many civilians lay strewn about. Some were just a head, their vacant eyes staring in one direction, clearly long dead.

In other places lay half a torso,

the upper half of a body. This person wasn’t completely dead yet; their mouth opened and closed unconsciously. It was obvious they wouldn’t last long.

Yet, Abbot Tonghua’s gaze remained calm from beginning to end, completely unaffected by the scene around him.

In the video, many people in the crowd were speaking up, one after another.

”What’s the use of Deities? Didn’t our White Elephant Empire have Deities before? Weren’t they still slaughtered by that Chu He?”

”I don’t believe in Deities anymore. If the existence of the Deities hadn’t given our previous king such confidence, he wouldn’t have provoked a huge problem like Chu He.”

”You’re so foolish. Did the king really provoke Chu He? Even if he hadn’t, a man with such vicious ambitions would have invaded our White Elephant Empire’s territory sooner or later.”

Liu Yuzhu had already told Chu He about the cause and effect of the situation beforehand.

Hearing the citizens of the White Elephant Empire call him a man with vicious ambitions, he just chuckled.

”Our Buddhist Sect is different from the Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma you previously believed in.”

Abbot Tonghua showed no displeasure at the crowd’s skepticism.

He knew what the White Elephant Empire had just been through.

In fact, Abbot Tonghua would have found it absurd if these people from the White Elephant Empire had trusted him blindly from the start.

Abbot Tonghua put his palms together.

A string of Buddha Beads was draped over his fingers as he slowly said, ”The supreme principle of our Buddhist Sect is Nirvana. Within the Buddhist Sect, it is regarded as the highest state for everyone who seeks inner freedom and tranquility. It means liberation from the cycle of life and death, achieving eternal peace and omniscience.”

”Does Nirvana mean you can be reborn?”

a citizen of the White Elephant Empire asked. He had clearly heard the term before.

Abbot Tonghua gave the man an appreciative glance and said, ”Nirvana is like a phoenix enduring the torment of flames and the ordeal of pain to achieve rebirth, and through that rebirth, be sublimated.

Those who believe in the Buddhist Sect are like the phoenix.

They carry all the unhappiness, hatred, and grudges accumulated in the mortal world and throw themselves into a blazing fire.

After their physical bodies have undergone immense pain and tempering, they will be reborn in a more perfect form.”

”Then can our White Elephant Empire be reborn?”

Another citizen asked, ”Look, even the skyscrapers in our Bird City have collapsed. Not to mention other places. The White Elephant Empire is now an old man on his deathbed; it’s beyond saving.”

These words made the other citizens nod in agreement. They too had lost hope for the current White Elephant Empire.

Before, they had the Supreme God and many Divine Children to support them, yet their strength was far inferior to Chu He alone.

What’s more, now that the Deities were gone, what future or hope was there to speak of for the White Elephant Empire?

”As long as you believe in the Buddhist Sect, why can’t you be reborn through Nirvana?

We have come to save you, bearing the will of the Buddhist Sect.

We will build a Great Leiyin Temple in your White Elephant Empire’s Royal City, Bird City.

From now on, the White Elephant Empire will be history. This land is now called the Great Western Heaven.”

Abbot Tonghua said with a smile.

”You want to build a temple? There are no workers to help you right now, not to mention purchasing and gathering the materials.

I think this ’rebirth through Nirvana’ you speak of is just empty talk. You’re not just seeing that our White Elephant Empire is about to be finished and trying to take advantage of the situation to squeeze some more out of us poor people, are you?”

a citizen asked maliciously.

His words immediately caught the attention of the other citizens, and numerous hostile and suspicious gazes fell upon Abbot Tonghua.

Abbot Tonghua smiled faintly and shook his head. ”If I can bring you the miracle of rebirth through Nirvana, would you be willing to join the Buddhist Sect and serve the True Buddha?”