Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
A strange look came over the faces of Saint Xia and Saint Li who were playing chess in Holy Sage Pavilion. They turned and looked at the woman who was coming towards them from the sky.
“What a beautiful woman,” said Saint Xia. “That seems to be a Buddhist technique. Although she’s dressed in plain clothes, it can’t hide her splendor. The Barren State is truly amazing.”
“Is she coming to help out?” asked Saint Li. The disciples of the Holy Zhi Palace had incredible potential in today’s battle, but were still at an absolute disadvantage in terms of numbers. If it had only been the Hall of Holy Light, Xihua Sacred Mountain and the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty they could have probably handled it, since the Yue clan cultivators were there as well. But there were also the three great holy lands of the Endless Sea to contend with. Such an impressive lineup was enough to consume the palace.
The woman who was coming was Hua Qingqing, one of the three beauties of the Eastern Barren Territory. Her life had been quite tragic. She had become a nun and studied Buddhism under Monk Qingdeng. At the battle of the palace all those years ago she had turned into a lotus lantern and had enhanced Ye Futian’s spiritual willpower and then left the world of mortals.
This time Monk Qingdeng did not come with her. She came alone and barefoot, and her white feet were like jade. Everywhere she stepped lotuses bloomed. She was so beautiful it was suffocating, even in the midst of battle her beauty would drive those who beheld her to distraction.
Her eyes were clear and pure, and her body shone with radiance and brilliance, illuminating everything. She was surrounded by lotuses in full bloom, and a divine light. She seemed to be burning in Buddha’s light, turning her into a lotus lantern. Her beautiful figure acted as the lantern’s wick, and her endless Buddha light radiated towards the battlefield.
Soon, a line of figures were illuminated by the light.
The lotus lantern grew brighter and brighter as it gradually lit up some of the cultivators from the palace. The line seemed to enter their heads, just like the light of Buddha was truly shining into the world.
When the sacred war had broken out, everyone had an emblem that represented their holy land on their clothes. Otherwise, once this huge battle had become chaotic it would have been difficult to tell friend from foe. Thus, it was very easy for Hua Qingqing to find the cultivators from the palace.
Soon, everyone from the palace felt that their spiritual will had been enhanced and now resonated with the entire world. Not only that, they could sense where all the disciples of the Holy Zhi Palace were and what was happening to them.
“Is that the Buddhist lotus lantern?” A strange look came over Saint Xia’s face. This kind of power was simply extraordinary. It connected all the disciples of the palace together and let them see the overall situation of the battle clearly. They could reinforce each other and avoid danger whenever they wanted, and their personal power had been increased. Although it was subtle, everyone on the battlefield’s power had been increased a little bit, and the effect was devastating.
“A lamp in front of the Buddha illuminates the road of all beings,” whispered Saint Li. He was also quite astonished. Who was this incredible woman?
Ye Futian naturally felt Hua Qingqing’s arrival, along with her terrible power. The entire battlefield was clearly presented in his mind, as if they all had the perspective granted by Buddha’s lamp.
He thrust the Halberd of Space and Time forward and pierced through several cultivators. He turned and looked at Hua Qingqing and there was a warm feeling in his heart. Last time she had also appeared at a time of great danger to help them.
He saw that the fight with the cultivators from the Endless Sea was not going well. Since the Yue clan cultivators and the monks from the Vajra Region had joined, the place where he was now would be able to hold just fine.
He turned around and flashed in the other direction, his body moving almost as fast as light.
None could stand in his way. As they saw him flying through the air, several mighty cultivators from the three holy lands of the Endless Sea shot towards him.
A cultivator from Ocean King Palace was riding a Kunpeng, and he swept over everything as he rushed towards Ye Futian. But the Kunpeng roared as Ye Futian’s eyes fell upon it and its massive body began to tremble as it tried to throw off the person on its back.
“What’s going on?” The man riding the Kunpeng was a very famous figure in Ocean King Palace, and he was very strong. He had taken the beast as his mount, but once it saw Ye Futian it became wild. His beast taming skills were extremely powerful, and he could feel the beast’s mood.
Its roar grew louder. A storm shot out from Ye Futian’s terrible eyes and entered the Kunpeng’s giant eyes, imprinting itself on the beast’s spiritual will. It threw off its rider, and then rushed towards the cultivators from the three great holy lands of the Endless Sea. It smashed through more than ten of the, splattering blood everywhere.
“Evil beast!” A sea god halberd descended from the sky and pierced through the Kunpeng, making it scream. It fell towards the ground, but at the same time, that powerful figure from Ocean King Palace felt a strong sense of danger. He looked up and felt like his body had been imprisoned. He screamed as the Halberd of Time and Space pierced through him. His body burst apart as Ye Futian drove the halberd through his back.
Many demonic beasts were taking part in the battle, but even so they were far from enough, and many of them had been slaughtered.
“The Halberd of Time and Space!” The cultivators of the Endless Sea had a special feeling towards this weapon. It was a treasure that had been left in the Lost Ruins, the weapon of the one who had once controlled the Endless Sea. But now it was in Ye Futian’s hands.
Many more cultivators rushed towards Ye Futian, and many attacks came his way. They hoped to bury him under the weight of their assault.
Behind him, Hua Jieyu, Yu Sheng, Sword Saint, Huang Jiuge, Qin Zhuang, Yun Shang and others followed him all across the battlefield. Countless cultivators had fallen at their hands.
The battle was becoming unimaginably chaotic. A destructive airflow raged all around the Holy Zhi Palace, killing countless cultivators.
The fighting was fiercest around Ye Futian. All of them were very good at killing, and they sent their enemies fleeing in all directions. They were even breaking through battle matrices. The three great holy lands of the Endless Sea were taking heavy losses.
Many of the commanders had their attention focused on Ye Futian. They saw him killing endlessly with the Halberd of Time and Space. He was like a god of slaughter.
Ao Feng of Ocean King Palace was a cultivator of the Sage Ranking, and was number seventeen on that list, which could be said to be very high. He was incredibly powerful. He fixed his gaze on Ye Futian and said, “Given Ye Futian’s strength and the strength of those around him, the three great holy lands of the Endless Sea will send countless cultivators to their deaths trying to wrest the Halberd of Time and Space from him.”
“Do you have any ideas?” asked a Sage from the North Deep.
“There.” Ao Feng pointed to where two cultivators were fighting, a man and a woman. The man was wearing black and giving off a poisonous aura. Every punch that he threw carried poison sorcery with it which could kill even a Sage in an instant. His manner was so cold that it made people tremble to behold.
But the woman beside him was completely opposite. She was like a fairy. Countless colorful butterflies flew around her. But they were killing butterflies with wings sharper than knives, and they were highly poisonous. As a disciple of Saint Jiang, Little Butterfly had of course not only studied the healing arts. She was also good at killing people, otherwise she would be in big trouble whenever she ran into enemies.
“Saint Jiang’s disciples, Xu Chehan and Goddess Die. If we take them we can force Ye Futian to hand over the Halberd of Time and Space. If he is really as magnanimous as the rumors say, that he could even give Renhuang’s inheritance to his sworn brother, then he will definitely give up the halberd.” Ao Feng looked down at them coldly. “And if he doesn’t, Xu Chehan and Goddess Die will hate him for it, and may even turn against him. Either way it will be to our advantage.”
“Excellent.” The cultivator from the North Deep swept his gaze over Little Butterfly and licked his lips. “Such a beautiful woman. We should take her away for some extra cultivation.”
“You’d best put that idea out of your mind. And we can only capture them, not kill them. Otherwise you will die without even knowing how,” warned Ao Feng.
“I understand,” said the cultivator from the North Deep. Saint Jiang only had two disciples, and he ranked twelfth on the Saints Ranking. The three holy lands of the Endless Sea could not afford to provoke him. If he bore a grudge against them it would be a disaster.
“Let’s go,” said Ao Feng, and suddenly he swooped down, along with many other figures, towards where Little Butterfly was fighting. All of the ones who swooped down were extremely powerful.
Xu Chehan had been by Little Butterfly’s side protecting her all along. This scene was a little embarrassing for them. They had originally been following Ye Futian, but as the battle had grown fiercer they had become separated.
“Such a beautiful woman should be taken away for some extra cultivation,” came a cold voice. A hand reached out for Little Butterfly. A terrible force swept out, swallowing up all the flying butterflies.
A figure appeared before Little Butterfly. It was Xu Chehan. He went up with that devouring force, letting his opponent’s vortex pull him in. A poisonous fog poured out from him and was swallowed up by the vortex and his opponent. The cultivator from the North Deep’s face changed, turning ashen.
“Be careful, Great Teacher Xu is an expert in poisons,” Ao Feng reminded him. The cultivator from the North Deep suddenly stopped the storm coming from him, and he shot forward like a bolt of lightning, slamming out with his fist. There was no way a cultivator from the North Deep could be weak.
There was an arcane secret hidden in his fist.
Xu Chehan rushed towards his opponent and collided with him without hesitation. Now that he had cultivated to the top of the Sage level, he saw himself as worthy to enter the Saint Ranking.
He had cultivated with his master in the Medicine Garden of Nine States College. Most people only knew him as Saint Jiang’s disciple, and did not know how strong he was.
Boom! Their fists collided, and suddenly a mysterious darkness rushed over Xu Chehan’s arm. It seemed to freeze. A poison flame that contained extremely cold Qi had been thrust into his arm.
“You’ve lost.” The cultivator from the North Deep stared at Xu Chehan coldly. The mark that his opponent had left on him was quite soft, as if he did not pose a threat to him at all. Was this truly Xu Chehan, who was so skilled with poisons and was Saint Jiang’s disciple?
He had overreached himself.
The poison flame raged with the cold Qi within Xu Chehan. He looked at his opponent indifferently, not even breathing. He waved his hand and let the two forces erode his body until they finally extinguished each other.
“How can this be?” The cultivator from the North Deep’s facial expression changed, and then went pale. The breath within him quickly withered away until he soon became a skeleton lying on the ground.
Xu Chehan still had no expression as he swept a glance across his opponents.
Little Butterfly was calm and undisturbed, as if this was something she took for granted. Only she knew how strong her sworn brother was and how much he had experienced these past few years!
