Li Qingshan’s eyes narrowed. The flow of time seemed to slow down. All he saw was the soul nascence lose its intrinsic shape, going from the form of an infant to a blurry white ball. It became covered in cracks as blinding white light poured out. Under Zhu Fuzi’s final command, it rapidly flew towards him.
It was completely impossible for him to dodge such a swift charge. An intense feeling of danger filled his mind. He had used the Frenzy of the Tiger Demon and A Madman at Path’s End simultaneously, so his body was already on the brink of collapse. He could not withstand the denotation of a soul nascence.
“Fellow Zhu!” “Damn you, wretched daemon!”
The grandmasters all called out furiously, but they eased up inside. Surely the wretched daemon was dead this time, right? Sacrificing himself for the sake of purging daemons was an act enough for Zhu Fuzi to be remembered by the entire cultivation community for a thousand years.
The Fierce King of Chu did feel some pity in failing to personally end Li Qingshan’s life, but he did feel delighted inside.
An idea flashed through Li Qingshan’s head, and he made up his mind. Snatching out with his huge hand, he grabbed the soul nascence, and the figure of the spirit turtle appeared behind him, suppressing down on it.
The soul nascence immediately became much more stable, and the white light was forced back inside at the same time. However, the cracks on the surface only multiplied, ready to blow up at any moment.
Under the stunned gazes of the grandmasters, Li Qingshan did something extremely bold. He shoved the soul nascence into his mouth and gulped it down.
The spirit turtle’s suppression was even greater when it came to his interior, but the cracks had already covered the entire soul nascence. An explosion was already unavoidable. If this continued, he would only be blown to pieces.
Is this wretched daemon tired of living?
The same thought crossed everyone’s heads, only for them to see Li Qingshan abruptly stand up and widen his eyes fully. His mouth unhinged to an unbelievable angle, and a blinding streak of light appeared in his throat.
Since he could not suppress it completely, then he would find a way to release it.
The Tiger Demon’s Breath, a furious blast!
“What!” The Fierce King of Chu’s expression changed.
A streak of dazzling, white light whistled out, like a flood that had just overcome a dam, rushing towards the grandmasters.
As soon as the white light left his mouth, it was no longer restrained, rapidly swelling and expanding in size and assuming the shape of a cone. When it arrived before them, it had already sealed up all of their paths of retreat.
Li Qingshan even shook his head around maliciously, making the white light twist and surge so that he could guarantee that this furious blast covered an area that was large enough, so that he could guarantee that he would not spare a single bad person or a single good person either!
“When a White Horse is not a Horse, a Confusion Between Labels and Reality!”
TL: This is based off the Chinese philosophical paradox, which you can read about here.
The grandmaster from the school of Names’ expression changed. A hazy figure emerged from his mouth; it was shaped like a horse, yet not a horse, seemingly white in colour, yet not white. When the light blast struck it, it all turned into nothingness as if his words had directly negated it.
“Mechanical Battle City!”
The grandmaster of the school of Mohism swung his hand and summoned a towering, black city. It was littered with gaping cannons. The cannons all fired together, erupting with white light.
“Confusion of the Heavenly Melody.” The grandmaster of the school of Music swung her hands and plucked the strings of the pipa rapidly, producing waves after waves of sound, except they only gathered together, stacking together right in front of her in defence.
The grandmasters unleashed their various techniques, all supreme defensive techniques unique to their respective schools. If it were a regular detonation of a soul nascence, then perhaps they still could have guarded against it, but the detonation this time did not spread in all directions under Li Qingshan’s intentional restraint. Instead, it was concentrated in a single direction under his control, so its destructive power was more than ten times greater.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The white horse died, the battle city fell, and the heavenly melody shattered!
The grandmasters were like mortals caught in a flash flood. They were washed downwards uncontrollably, slammed against the base of Great Buddha mountain heavily.
The light blast splattered, and Great Buddha mountain shook violently.
The grand hall on the peak was completely enveloped in white light. Countless glazed roof tiles and golden tiles collapsed and shattered, such that even the World Purifying Formation of Buddha Hymn could not protect this grand hall that had stood for ten thousand years. It completely collapsed, going up in dust.
The Fierce King of Chu let out a violent bellow, and a pentagram appeared before him, flickering with five kinds of light. It possessed the profound phenomenon of mutual promotion and restraint, spiralling as it blocked the blast. Only he managed to advance against the flow.
“Li Qingshan!”
Li Qingshan wiped his mouth even though that part of him no longer existed. His neck to his entire oral cavity had been melted away by the violent power, revealing his jagged bones. Four long teeth intersected from above and below, shining with a metallic lustre, but that did not hide his hideous grin.
Before he knew it, the sonorous hymns had eased up drastically, and his soul settled down. Battle spirit surged through his heart as he swung the Frenzy Flower Blade of Path’s End.
“Again!”
……
Deep within the soil, the grandmaster of the school of Agriculture sensed the shaking earth and did his best to dive deeper. Because all of the soil on Great Buddha mountain had been seeped with holy light, it was an extremely slow process for him to move through the soil, but he had the patience. All he wanted to do right now was leave this damned place and return to the fields and gardens that he yearned for.
Li Qingshan had been very rude with what he said, but it made very good sense to him. Farmers should remain in the fields obediently. They should not be running around everywhere outside.
What purging daemons and upholding justice? That was not something an old farmer like him should have participated in.
Perhaps he would be ridiculed by his colleagues for deserting in the face of battle, but farming had never been a particularly glorious task in the first place. If he desired to prevail over others back then, he would not have chosen the school of Agriculture, and it would have been impossible for him to reach his current realm of cultivation.
He dove straight to the depths, entering the underground caves that crisscrossed the Green province. A slight smile appeared on his wrinkly face. He could finally move through the earth at full speed now.
He sat on a rock and took out a smoking pipe in a jolly mood, taking a sweet hit and even letting out a few smoke rings. He had grown all of the tobacco in his Secret Realm of Fields and Gardens, so not only did it cause no harm, but it was even filled with spiritual qi instead. If mortals caught even a whiff of it, they would become addicted.
“Old man, give me a taste too!”
A pair of cold, compound eyes lit up in the darkness behind him. A raspy voice rang out.
“You’re-”
……
In the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga, countless monks stared at the top of the mountain dumbfoundedly. The grand hall had vanished!?
However, most of them could not care about this anymore. A great buddha was rampaging through the monastery right now, chasing after a small, white figure.
Boom!
The great buddha swung down with his hand, which sank several meters into the mountain and left behind a deep handprint. A large swathe of temples and halls collapsed.
Xiao An was sent flying by the shockwave, basically evading the attack by the skin of her teeth. Before she could even catch her breath, there was a flash of golden light from the corner of her eye, and the great buddha swung his hand over again. It was unavoidable this time.
Bang!
Bones shattered, and the Samādhi Flames of White Bone were extinguished with a flash. The strange cackling came to a halt. A Skeleton Demon had been smashed to pieces. Its body that was even tougher than arcane treasures was as frail as a clay idol under the great buddha’s hand.
In the heat of the moment, Xiao An released a Skeleton Demon that blocked the attack for her. She used the opportunity to pull a little further away.
By now, seven of the thirty-three Skeleton Demons had already been destroyed. Only three had been destroyed in the chaotic battle between the two Monk Kings and the eight legions. The four others had all crumbled from a single palm strike from the great buddha.
The Skeleton Demons that were as powerful as great cultivators could only be used as meat shields before the great buddha. Fortunately, the great buddha did not know any techniques and lacked sufficient intelligence, such that it was very easy to predict its movements, or she would have stood absolutely no chance.
But even with that being the case, this was the strongest enemy she had faced in her life so far.
This is just a statue. If it was a real buddha, just what would it be capable of? If it weren’t for the Path of White Bone and Great Beauty that makes me immune to the suppression of the great buddha’s buddha nature, I probably would have become stuck in a bitter battle already. Sure enough, slaying buddhas isn’t that easy, Xiao An thought to herself.
She gripped the Buddha Slaying sword in her hand, but she never found an opportunity to strike. Perhaps a slash from her could injure the great buddha, but she would not be any better off compared to the Skeleton Demons if one of those palm strikes landed on her.
If she summoned all the Skeleton Demons and assembled the Skeleton Demon Formation to suppress the great buddha, she could create an opportunity, but she did not choose to do that. Apart from the five prayer beads in her hand, the remaining twenty-one Skeleton Demons had all been scattered.
Under the fearful gazes of a group of monks, a hideous Skeleton Demon climbed up a bell and drum tower with difficulty. Under the barrage of the chanting and humans, its body shook violently. Its bones could shatter at any moment, but it could not drown out the cackling laughter.
Finally, it reached the very top and tore through the ringing bell with a single swipe, which made the hymns weaken slightly yet again. It ignored the group of monks and lunged towards the next tower.
The same scene happened all over Great Buddha mountain. The Skeleton Demons darted left and right, destroying countless bells and drums like there was no one to stop them. That was the foundation of the World Purifying Formation of Buddha Hymn.
The eight legions had been annihilated, while the two Monk Kings that fell to the bottom of Great Buddha mountain were on the brink of death. No one could stop them anymore in the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga. The hymns gradually subsided, guaranteeing that Li Qingshan would not be suppressed anymore.
“Now, I can finally go to that place.”
That was the place she had always wanted to go to from the moment she set foot in the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga.
Bang! Another Skeleton Demon had been smashed to pieces.
She did not even spare a glance at it. Instead, she gazed at a certain location on Great Buddha mountain. Right when she was about to fly over, two figures blocked her way.
“Buddha nemesis!” The Dauntless monk and Seven Treasures Monk King glared at Xiao An furiously. They both seemed to be in rather sorry shape, but they were filled with determination. One unleashed the guardian king avatar, while the other controlled five buddhist treasures.
She had two Monk Kings blocking her way in the front and a great buddha tailing after her from behind. With another palm strike, she was immediately thrown into dire straits.
She smiled in an alluring manner, “I’ve been waiting for you all this time.”
Xiao An swung the Blood Sea Banner without even looking back, sucking the great buddha inside again, before raising her hand.
“Dharmagupta-vinaya, Conduct of Vinaya!”
The furious expressions of the two Monk Kings stiffened, before immobilised. A familiar sight unfolded before them yet again.
Bang! Bang!
They saw each other from the corner of their eyes. They should not have been so close together…
With a rumble, the great buddha landed head-first on the mountainside, leaving behind a great gully as it slowed down.
With a hiss, a hole ripped open in the Blood Sea Banner and the blood-red colour dimmed heavily. Xiao An stowed it away and leapt towards the forest of pagodas and stūpas standing in the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga.
The exquisite buddhist towers were scattered about randomly, varying in height and age. They enshrined the ?arīra left behind by past eminent monks. These were not bones that had not been incinerated during cremation, but a condensation of true power. Those that could condense ?arīra had undergone the second heavenly tribulation at the very least too.
These ?arīra happened to be the best resources for the Path of White Bone and Great Beauty!
Xiao An brought her palms together, shutting her eyes and murmuring, “Past seniors and masters, please lend me your ?arīra.”
ps: 啊，我又做回3k党了，感觉十分愉悦，不过也好累，赶紧抽口烟放松一下!
