Chapter 164 – “Do You Think He Will Come?”
Fire raged within Plum City, while miasma rose without. The nine-story pavilion of the Golden Tower White Jade Ship rotated at a speed approaching its limit. The beasts and guide-immortal statues on its cyan-gold glazed roof were little more than a blur. An endless stream of golden light, as if it cost nothing, poured out in the night, a night where stars and moon were obscured by black clouds. It traced a circular line three hundred miles outside Plum City, raising a half-moon-shaped wall that forcibly held back the surging miasma.
This was one of the results of twelve years of research by the Heavenly Works Mansion and the Mountain Sea Pavilion. Back then, Zuo Liangshi had combined the Buddhist Sect’s Brahma Purity Dust with Zhunan’s Nine Cities’ Golden Feather Diagram, successfully sealing the Tranquil Sea for a short time and holding back the desolate miasma. After Zuo Yuesheng became the Young Mansion Master of the Heavenly Works Mansion, he joined forces with Monk Budu of the “Pure Buddhist Sect.” Combining the power of three sects, they used the Golden Feather Diagram as a prototype to create this mobile fortress capable of resisting the miasma.
For this single mobile fortress, Zuo Yuesheng had even abandoned his youthful passion and obsession with the concept of a multi-ship battle fleet. Given the current situation, possessing a single massive warship capable of holding a position while the stars were being set was far more useful than a million flying boats whose individual attack power would be of little use against god-level enemies.
However, despite the presence of this astonishing Golden Tower White Jade Ship, wails of agony still filled the air at Plum City’s north gate. Cracks had appeared in the ground before the gate, and from them emerged pale, icy hands that grabbed the ankles of the living, dragging them down into the earth! The Buddhist disciples continuously chanted scriptures, their golden light scattering, but it was like a single ladle of water against a raging fire—futile. There were too many of them! Too many white-boned corpses crawling out from the cracks in the ground.
“Where did all these corpses come from?” a Mountain Sea Pavilion disciple in a silver cloak asked hoarsely as he controlled his flying sword.
A Plum City Oracle Master, standing guard on the wall alongside the Buddhist and Mountain Sea Pavilion disciples, pointed at a corpse emerging from a crack, his voice trembling as he answered, “The… the… the floating corpses from the blood pool at Hundred Bows Manor!”
“What?” The Mountain Sea Pavilion disciple didn’t understand.
“There! There, and there! Those over there are all corpses that were just recently transported to the mass grave outside the city for burial,” the Plum City Oracle Master’s voice was sharp and piercing from excessive shock and fear.
After the stone cavern blood pool beneath Hundred Bows Manor in Plum City was discovered, the demonic qi was dealt with by the Divine Lord. The piles of overlapping corpses in the blood pool were all transported outside the city for mass burial. The one who had organized the manpower to transport and bury the corpses at the time was none other than this very Oracle Master. The sight of those bodies had left a deep impression on him.
They had all been drained of blood, as dry and withered as a bundle of firewood.
Now, the Desolate Attendants and evil demons had animated those corpses, along with the many more buried in the mass grave. The Earth Corpses had walked through the soil, right under their noses. The daily influx of refugees had conveniently masked the sounds of their corpse-driving movements.
On any other day, even if the Miasma Moon had arrived and Earth Corpses were active, it wouldn’t have been a major issue. The city was protected by the spirit of the ancient plum tree, and the Earth Corpses couldn’t cross the city wall line. They could only mill about at the base of the walls, just like the Dead Souls and Wild Ghosts held back by the miasma. The city’s inhabitants just needed to hide behind the walls, endure the long winter, and when spring returned, the darkness would naturally recede. Without the support of the miasma’s yin qi, the Earth Corpses would return to their rest beneath the soil, and the living could walk freely above them.
But things were different now. Outside Plum City’s gate were tens of thousands of refugees!
The earthquake had cracked open the hard, frozen surface of the winter ground. One by one, corpses pushed through the soil and snow, drawn by the scent of living flesh and blood, and crawled out from beneath the earth.
The crowd of refugees, which had quieted slightly at the appearance of the Golden Tower White Jade Ship, was once again thrown into a panic. Before them was the tightly shut city gate, behind them was the miasma held back by the ship, and beneath their feet were the flesh-craving Earth Corpses… They were trapped like beasts in a cage.
Someone screamed, “To hell with it! I want to live!” and everyone went mad. Like wild animals, they roared and surged toward the city wall, desperately clawing at the cold bricks to climb up. The scene was so shocking it even stunned the Buddhist disciples sitting on the wall chanting scriptures.
The scene before them was like tens of thousands of ants, pressed by a flood, swarming in a black mass to cross the chasm that blocked their path.
The dark mass of refugees piled up. Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people, crammed against a section of wall only a few kilometers long. People stacked on people, people stepping on people, people treading on people. In the blink of an eye, they formed small hills like inverted buckets—or rather, ladders made of flesh and blood.
Those who had been the first to cry out and rush to the wall hadn’t climbed far before they were crushed by the surging crowd behind them, flattened against the wall, squeezed into a thin paste of mud by the tide-like force. A small number who had managed to maintain their composure were swept along, shouting something, but their voices were drowned out by the roar, and soon their figures were drowned out as well.
The weather was so severe that the flowing blood froze before it could even hit the ground. The blood-ice froze people together, layer by layer, raising hills of flesh and blood that reached toward the parapets of the city wall.
On the north gate of Plum City, the Buddhist monks sat cross-legged, their lips moving as they rapidly chanted mantras to suppress demons and deliver the dead. They frantically twisted their prayer beads, trying to maintain their meditative calm, but their faces were as white as paper, utterly drained of blood by the scene.
Buddhist doctrine held that the Avici Hell was located in the Netherworld within the Great Wilderness, which was why “dead souls enter the miasma” was the state of the world. Six thousand years ago, a high monk named Yi Fa, holding the Bodhi Clarity Beads, had explored the Great Wilderness. After narrowly escaping with his life, High Monk Yi Fa concluded that the most terrifying hells in the depths of the Netherworld were the “Eight Cold Hells,” located in the deepest part of the Great Wilderness.
To this end, High Monk Yi Fa personally wrote a treatise on the Dharma Treasury, warning the world to do good deeds, accumulate merit, and often recite scriptures while alive, and to never commit crimes, lest they fall into the Eight Cold Hells after death and suffer unspeakably.
“…From the mind, all things arise. From all things, the mind arises…”
The monks’ prayer beads clicked like a torrential rain, their lips moving, but though they forced themselves to remain calm, their chanting was already trembling. The “Eight Cold Hells” described by High Monk Yi Fa were far away in the Great Wilderness, ninety thousand li from the mortal realm. How desolate and cold it was, no one in this world could possibly know. But what they saw and heard before them was clearly a living, breathing, mortal Eight Cold Hells!
The Sanskrit chants of the Buddhists mingled with the shrill wails and screams of the refugees. The Mountain Sea Pavilion disciples walked the walls, their blades and swords constantly swinging. With the Buddhist disciples present, the vengeful souls of the newly dead were purified and suppressed, and there were no more signs of immediate reanimation. But the Earth Corpses that had crawled out of the soil took the opportunity to hide among the living. Once they were close to the city wall, they immediately burst forth, lunging at the chanting monks.
“Where there is attachment, the mind follows. If the mind has no substance, there can be no attachment. If there is no substance… Ahhh!”
A young chanting monk was caught off guard, a corpse leaping from a refugee’s torso and pouncing on his face. He screamed and fell backward, his neck seized.
The moment he fell, black qi erupted from the section of the wall he had been guarding. The corpses crushed in the middle of the human ladder immediately reanimated, exploding outward from within. A refugee who had just climbed onto the wall only had time to shout, “Don’t pull me!” before three or four cold, stiff hands hooked into his flesh like claws and dragged him down.
Flesh and blood flew, and screams filled the air.
“…Something’s wrong.”
A white-robed monk of striking beauty and young age stood on the glazed, pointed roof of the Golden Tower White Jade Ship. As he sent down a beam of Buddhist light, he quickly scanned the entire chaotic northern section of the city.
The white-robed monk’s dharma name was Qing Tan. In terms of seniority, Qing Tan was Monk Budu’s martial nephew. He was the new Buddha’s Son, recently selected by the Buddhist Sect.
Compared to Monk Budu, who in his youth was known throughout the world for his “Three Crossings and Three Non-Crossings” and later wore a blood-soaked robe over white bones, Qing Tan the Buddha’s Son seemed somewhat lacking. Although his cultivation was high, he had yet to perform any astonishing feats. One must remember that Monk Budu, at around his age, had already been ordered by the Buddha to go to Qingzhou, had personally experienced the great calamity of Zhunan, and had participated in the events of Yongzhou.
This time, with a great catastrophe looming over the West Continent, Qing Tan had volunteered to lead a team of Buddhist disciples, accompanying the Mountain Sea Pavilion’s treasure ship to assist Monk Budu in defending Plum City. On one hand, it was to practice the Buddhist tenet of “saving people in troubled times”; on the other, there was undeniably a desire not to be outshone by the previous Buddha’s Son.
Sweeping his gaze over the chaotic scene below, Qing Tan’s eyes turned to the miasma held back by the light barrier. Within the thick, heavy black miasma, many overlapping ghostly and demonic forms could be vaguely seen. They used the miasma to conceal their forms, seemingly in no hurry. At their head was a blurry, indistinct demon statue. Qing Tan focused the light of his spirit into his eyes and glanced at the demon statue, his brow immediately twitching.
Four faces, a human body, and a snake’s tail. This image was not too unfamiliar to those of higher status in the Immortal Sects! Before the Night of Dusk and Dawn’s Division, studying the totems of the Hundred Clans of Kongsang was a daily lesson for disciples of the Immortal Sects. Among them, the family crest of the Fuxuan Clan was a four-faced, human-bodied, snake-tailed figure. And as the current Buddha’s Son, Qing Tan knew even more—the Fuxuan Clan carried the lineage of the God Bi’a.
Clearly, He was one of the twenty or thirty streams of light that had escaped from the Cloud City twelve years ago. Bi’a had once been the God of Chariots in Heaven Beyond Heavens. According to the secret scrolls of the Buddhist Sect, His four faces corresponded to four incarnations: one of joy, one of sorrow, one of hatred, and one of wrath.
As if sensing Qing Tan’s gaze, the human-bodied, snake-tailed Bi’a in the black miasma suddenly straightened up. He raised his arm as if to grab something from the darkness. He had been still before, his form half-hidden, seemingly no different from when he was a high god of the Cloud City. But as he moved now, the flesh on his arm revealed stark white bone beneath, and his rotten lungs were visible.
He was clearly a demon, no longer a god!
Qing Tan was startled. The next moment, a long spear was thrown by Bi’a. In his panic, Qing Tan only had time to grasp the Bodhi Clarity Beads on his wrist. The spear had already pierced the light wall set up by the Golden Tower White Jade Ship, carrying with it a terrifyingly deep chill as it tore through the air.
The sound of the wind was compressed to its limit, leaving only a small popping sound. Qing Tan felt as if his very bones were frozen by an intense cold. Even though his mind was still clear, and his fingers had even touched the Clarity Beads, he was unable to react in the slightest. After twelve years, the former heavenly god, now treading the mortal realm again, taught this fledgling Buddha’s Son a near-devastating lesson.
Not everyone was qualified to face the gods of old!
His pupils shrank to two small dots. Qing Tan watched helplessly as the spear tip magnified in his vision, drawing closer. The pride he had felt, comparing himself to Uncle-Master Pudu and thinking he was only born twelve years too late, had vanished without a trace.
Back then, Uncle-Master Pudu had been a key force in the battle against the god of war, yet he couldn’t even block a casual spear throw from a Bi’a who had fallen to become a demon!
Fear, regret, unwillingness… Before these myriad thoughts could even flash through his mind, he heard a “pu” sound beside him, like someone spitting out a bone.
A chicken bone, picked clean of its meat, flew past Qing Tan’s cheek and met the spear thrown by Bi’a. The spear tip and the chicken leg bone collided. At the point of impact, invisible ripples of an air blast exploded outward, the sound like a muffled thunder. Then, the spear and the bone both flew backward, spinning as they returned along their original paths.
Smack.
Monk Budu raised a plate and caught the returning chicken leg bone right in the center.
“…Hah… hah.” Qing Tan staggered back two steps, steam rising from his body. In the brutally cold Ice Season of the West Continent, he had broken out in a heavy sweat. In that instant, he had truly believed he was going to die. Catching his breath, Qing Tan tightly gripped the Clarity Beads and stood up straight.
The ripples on the Brahma Purity light wall of the Golden Tower White Jade Ship, which was holding back the miasma, slowly faded.
Having just straightened up, Qing Tan froze for a moment. A question flashed through his mind: Clearly, the Golden Tower White Jade Ship could block the miasma, but it wasn’t as if the demons led by Bi’a had no way to break through it. So why hadn’t they attacked? Why were they waiting silently outside the Brahma Purity light wall?
“Not good!” Qing Tan’s gaze swept over the city gate, a scene of flying flesh and blood, as chaotic as the Eight Cold Hells. He suddenly understood and blurted out, “Uncle-Master! They’re waiting!”
Among Bi’a’s four faces, “Sorrow,” “Hatred,” and “Wrath” could amplify the fear, despair, hatred, and anger in people’s hearts. And under the pressure of the encroaching miasma and the rising Earth Corpses, the refugees who had fled a thousand miles to get here were already at their breaking point. He didn’t even need to do much; casually amplifying the despair and anger in one or two hearts was enough to ignite the entire chaotic crowd. The saying “the human heart is like a demon” had never been more apt. If the Buddhist Sect and Mountain Sea Pavilion didn’t abandon these refugees, the Desolate Attendants and evil demons could launch their attack when they were overwhelmed and exhausted. If they did abandon the refugees, and tens of thousands of them were killed by the demons, then tens of thousands of new Living Corpses and vicious ghosts would immediately appear outside Plum City’s north gate!
“Uncle-Master Pudu.”
Qing Tan turned around in a hurry. Monk Budu was leaning against the carved corner of the painted tower’s hip-and-gable roof, his right knee bent. He was half-sprawled, half-reclining on the rooftop, his robes open, drinking himself into a stupor. His bare chest was covered in dripping soup and strong liquor. His gray monk’s sleeve swept past a plate of meat soup with a few leftover bones as he grabbed a cold chicken leg.
He seemed completely oblivious to the wails below, drinking and eating meat on his own, with an air that said not to bother his revelry even if the sky fell.
“Greed… greed for things, greed for views, greed for greed, greed for stinginess, greed for hindrances…”
The bones of chickens, ducks, oxen, and sheep were scattered across the glazed roof, and broken wine jars were everywhere. If Zuo Yuesheng saw Monk Budu trashing his beloved treasure ship like this, he would surely jump up and fight him to the death.
“Uncle-Master Pudu, Uncle-Master Pudu! Wake up, stop drinking! Think of something!” Qing Tan shouted anxiously while controlling the Golden Tower White Jade Ship. “Stop drinking!”
“Greed for evil deeds… greed for children… greed for friends and family… greed for possessions… greed, greed… hic…”
Monk Budu, deaf to his anxious cries, let out a loud belch, liquor bubbling from his mouth and nose. Then he bit into the chicken leg, tore off a piece, and spat.
Pu.
A chicken bone landed at Qing Tan’s feet, almost spitting away the admiration he had felt for the previous chicken-bone feat.
“Uncle-Master Pudu!”
Qing Tan lunged to snatch the wine jar from Monk Budu’s hand. What time was it for this?! Still drinking!
“Hic…”
Monk Budu tossed the wine jar into the air, then drunkenly ducked like an eel under Qing Tan’s arm. He staggered to his feet on the pavilion roof, caught the falling jar, and yanked out the stopper with a flourish, tilting his head back. Gush. A waterfall of strong liquor, at least a kilogram and a half, poured down without a single drop wasted, all of it into Monk Budu’s wide-open mouth.
Qing Tan was furious. Seeing Monk Budu acting mad and completely ignoring him, while his fellow Buddhist disciples on the city wall below had to chant and slay Earth Corpses, the situation was about to completely spiral out of control. He gritted his teeth, and with a flip of his hand, the hovering seal that controlled the Golden Tower White Jade Ship appeared in his palm. He was about to activate a certain mechanism.
Just as he reached out, a hand clamped down on his shoulder. The force was so great that Qing Tan nearly cried out in pain.
“What’s the hurry? A monk without even this much composure?”
Monk Budu finally opened his eyes and asked lazily.
“But…”
Qing Tan tried to say more. Monk Budu casually tossed the empty wine jar aside, wiping the grease from his hand onto his unfortunate martial nephew’s robes. Then he walked past him, stepping onto the cyan-gold glazed tiles.
In the miasma, Bi’a’s snake tail gently tapped the ground, the “Hatred” face staring coldly at him. Monk Budu twisted his prayer beads. His gaze seemed to pierce through the void, seeing something much, much farther away—observing all beings, observing the past, the present, the future, observing mortals, demons, and the four directions. The pure soul born in the Buddhist Sect’s sacred lotus pond, born with eyes open, able to see the four directions. He was a natural for cultivating the art of Observing All Beings, a natural-born holy son of Buddhism.
No father, no mother, his six roots were cleansed.
“…But in this world, who is truly pure?” Zen Master Wuchen had stroked his disciple’s head and sighed. “You were born without parents, without attachments. From the very beginning, you had no connection to the mortal world. How can you understand what the mortal world is? What its people are? If you don’t even understand that, how can you talk about saving the world and its people?”
Go.
His master sent him down the mountain for the first time. First, go see what the mortal world is.
He descended the mountain. Under the gaze of Observing All Beings, he knew the past and the future, but before reaching great mastery, he could not see the present. He finally understood why his master had said that although he could see all beings, he could not understand them. When a person’s eyes can see the past and reflect the future, they often fail to see the present clearly. Because of this, when he first descended the mountain, he suffered greatly. He would either condemn a person’s present based on their past mistakes or mistakenly believe someone was a good person based on a shadow of their future. He made many absurd mistakes, and in the end, he didn’t know how to judge who should be saved and who shouldn’t, nearly losing control of his Bodhi Clarity Beads.
The rich are noble, the poor are base. The strong are respected, the weak are despised. Black is white, white is black… Why did the mortal world look like this? What was the use of such a world? Who could the Buddha truly save, and what kind of great compassion was this “great compassion”?
All these confusions erupted on that stormy night in Yongzhou. The holy son of the sacred lotus pond, born of purity, let down his hair and became a Buddha, and with it came a heart-devil. He cleansed the Buddhist sect with blood, and made Bodhi from white bones.
Faced with all that he had done later, his master, who had rushed back from the Vicious Plow Earth-Mound to defend him, didn’t say much. He simply sent him down the mountain a second time.
…Saving all sentient beings… If what you see is a scene like the one in Zhunan, where immortals and mortals protect each other, then it is easy to sacrifice yourself to suppress a demon. But if what you see is the ugly side of the world, people fighting and killing each other, then it is difficult even to recite a single scroll of the Heart-Calming Sutra for them. And the difficulty of saving all sentient beings lies right here, in whether you are still willing to guide them after you have seen all their greed and ugliness. The choice between willingness and unwillingness lies in a single thought.
…And this single thought is enlightenment.
The Buddha bows his head to a single Bodhi.
Monk Budu stood on the upturned eave-hook, shaped like a flying swallow. The White Bone Buddhist Beads on his wrist clinked in the wind. He looked down at the scene, like the Eight Cold Hells below: twisted “people” climbing upward like beasts. You pull me, I pull you, each afraid the other will escape first, and in the end, they grapple and fall together… The exploding heads were like the karmic red lotuses that the Buddha said would bloom on the earth when the final age arrived.
The living craved to live longer. The dead craved to live again. The living were greedy for life, and the dead were greedy for life too.
“Greedy when you have, greedy when you have not, greedy for all the gold and silver, greedy for all the joys and sorrows. The Buddha is greedy, the demon is greedy, greedy for a thousand autumns, greedy for ten thousand mountains,” Monk Budu seemed to ask, seemed to sing, seemed to pity, seemed to mock. “Greedy for wine and meat, greedy for talk of Zen, greedy for life and death, greedy for rash judgments… Greed, greed, greed, when will the greed ever end, and when will it be repaid?”
The greed of the heavenly gods had buried Kongsang, buried the Zhoubi Heaven Stabilization that could have succeeded. The greed of the Hundred Clans had buried the impartiality of the sun and moon’s orbits. The greed of the Immortal Sects had buried the hope of reconciliation between immortals and demons.
“Master…” Monk Budu murmured. “Nirvana is enlightenment, but the indignation in my heart cannot be quelled.”
A faint, seven-colored glazed light emerged from within Monk Budu’s body. Outside the miasma, the Bi’a demon god, who had been observing coldly and holding his troops back, suddenly changed expression. He no longer waited to watch a good show of “being caught in a dilemma” and directly ordered, “Attack!”
In an instant, a fierce, mournful wind swept up from the cracks in the ground, seeking to slaughter all the refugees before the Buddhist Sect and Mountain Sea Pavilion could react. At the same time, a sinister wind howled, and from the black miasma, countless ghostly figures and evil spirits swarmed out, pouncing on the barrier formed by the Golden Tower White Jade Ship.
“Uncle-Master!” Qing Tan shouted.
The red string connecting the White Bone Buddhist Beads snapped. Thump! Thump-thump! One hundred and thirty-two White Bone Buddhist Beads, trailing long, meteor-like golden lights, shot out in all directions. When they landed, it was as if giant hammers had struck the ground, incredibly heavy. The one hundred and thirty-two beads acted like one hundred and thirty-two anchors, and the Brahma Purity light wall, which had been wavering under the assault of the ghosts and demons, instantly stabilized.
Amidst the howling wind, Monk Budu could be heard laughing loudly. He leaped up, spreading his arms as if embracing the moon, and in mid-air, transformed into a colossal Buddha. The Buddha’s chest and abdomen opened like great gates, and a strong wind rushed out from within, sweeping up the grappling, crying, and struggling refugees on the ground. Like a great whale sucking in water, tens of thousands of refugees were swept up by the wind, soaring into the air and into the Buddha-city that had opened in the Buddha’s chest.
Qing Tan’s mouth fell open, and he stared dumbfounded at the scene before him.
—Fleshly Buddha Kingdom.
This was the Fleshly Buddha Kingdom!
From ancient times to the present, the only other time the miracle of the Fleshly Buddha Kingdom had appeared was in the Middle Antiquity. That was during the period of the “calamity of the twelve continents, darkness for three thousand years,” triggered by the Divine Lord’s resurrection and subsequent fall. At that time, the Divine Lord’s attempt to sever the heavenly ropes had failed, and the Great Wilderness took advantage of the Divine Lord’s second divine fall to launch a full-scale desolate calamity. Miasma swept across the Twelve Continents, plagues afflicted every household, and walking corpses roamed every city.
During the most difficult period, Lan Continent, where the Buddhist Sect was located, was almost entirely engulfed by the miasma. The desolate calamity pressed all the way to the location of the Buddhist Sect’s main sect, attempting to destroy the Heavenly Wedge. The situation was critical. To protect the Heavenly Wedge and the sect, the then-Sect Master of the Buddhist Sect did something astonishing: he manifested his Buddha’s Glazed Body, his head touching the azure sky and his feet on the thick earth, and then took the entire Buddhist Sect, along with the surrounding cities, into his own body. In this way, the people of the Buddhist Sect, along with the mortals from the cities near the main sect, lived within the Buddha’s body for nearly three hundred years, until they recovered their strength and organized the first counterattack.
This event was recorded in detail in the golden scrolls of the Buddhist Sect. Even now, traces of the Fleshly Buddha Kingdom from that time remained in the sect. This piece of history was familiar to every Buddhist disciple, but everyone, including Qing Tan, was witnessing it for the first time with their own eyes. Although the glazed body that Uncle-Master Budu—no, Pudu—had manifested now was far from the scale of that Buddha from the Middle Antiquity, this act of taking tens of thousands of people into his own body, of saving them with his own body, was indeed the Fleshly Buddha Kingdom that had not appeared in the mortal realm for nearly ten thousand years!
“I Attain Avici, Not Bodhi!”
A booming voice, that of Monk Budu, issued from the mouth of the Buddha-form.
Inside Plum City, Zuo Yuesheng suddenly looked up. He stared in astonishment at the strange yet familiar giant Buddha in the direction of the north gate. He had heard Lu Jing describe Monk Budu summoning the Buddha’s golden body and letting down his hair to become a Buddha in Yongzhou, but he wasn’t Lu Jing; he hadn’t personally seen Budu transform and suppress ten thousand demons… For the past twelve years, they had both been busy, meeting infrequently. When they did meet, he only felt that this bald donkey, after his hair grew back, was neither monk nor layman, and nothing more. Furthermore, every time they met, Monk Budu was incorrigibly obsessed with money, making it even harder to directly associate this fellow with a lofty existence like a Buddha.
“Holy shit…” Zuo Yuesheng muttered. “You bald donkey, you said you could only hold out for a few days? You could burn yourself into a torch to light up the night!”
A vast expanse of glazed fire erupted from the Buddha-form that Monk Budu had become, spreading out in all directions. The moment the surging black mist met the glazed fire, it was like snow meeting fire, melting and scattering away.
“You’re too damn humble, you bald donkey!”
The glazed fire illuminated the night sky of Plum City. Zuo Yuesheng, carrying his Mo Sabers, swept through the snow-covered streets. Outside the city gate, the Buddha lowered his brows and joined his hands, sitting cross-legged. The vast snow piled up on his shoulders.
***
Not a single patch of clean snow could be found on the four outer mountain ranges of the Beast Taming Sect’s main sect. Blood and an unnaturally bizarre, torrential rain had washed over the peaks. The bodies of Beast Taming Sect disciples lay strewn about. The face of a female disciple in a moon-white dress, washed clean by the cold rain, still held a trace of delicate beauty, but her body below the waist had been torn in two by the sharp teeth of some sea demon. Her upper body hung from a broken tree, her lower body wedged in a rock crevice. Her intestines hung down, flapping like cloth strips in the fierce wind over the roaring sea-river.
Not far from her, another girl in a moon-white dress lay askew. Most of the other bodies on the slope were positioned feet down, head up, having fallen on the path of retreat to the summit. Only she lay in the direction of someone running down the mountain. She was probably a senior or junior sister who had been on good terms with the other girl, and seeing her fall behind and in danger, had turned back to save her. A bone spear had pierced her chest, pinning her to the ground.
Her life was frozen in that last second, frozen with her hand desperately outstretched toward her friend.
Rain washed over the mountain peaks. The moon-white dress sash hanging from the bone spear, the pale white intestines wrapped around the tree branches, all rose and fell in the wind.
…Earlier, when the sect was still mountains and seas, the girls would walk hand in hand on the suspension bridges. They would wear identical dresses, braid each other’s hair in the same style, share a piece of osmanthus cake, and secretly gossip about which new junior brother had arrived at which peak, under which elder, and how tall and handsome he was.
Their long dress sashes fluttered in the wind. Rising and falling, falling and rising.
A murky wave crashed over. It swallowed the broken wood, the half-corpse of the girl on it, and along with it, all those years of bright sunshine in the sect, the times when the girls held hands, talking and laughing.
In the center of the Dragon Rearing Pool, surrounded by eight trigram-mountains, water mirrors floated in the air, projecting the battle situation within the Beast Taming Sect. Seeing the last Red Elephant fall, a giant crocodile with black scales leaped out from among the West Sea Sea Demons, biting through the throat of the beast-suppressing ring-dog at the pass of the fifth mountain range. Several hundred disciples who had failed to retreat in time were surrounded at the foot of the mountain by dozens of white-haired great demons from the Cold Wilderness. Finally, someone could no longer bear it.
“Sect Master! It’s time to activate the formation! If we don’t, even the disciples on the fifth mountain range will be wiped out!” The speaker was an elder in a green shirt. She stared intently at the hundred or so disciples trapped in the water mirror.
The hundred-odd disciples were doing their utmost to retreat inward, luring the Cold Wilderness great demons closer to the fifth mountain range, but these disciples were also falling one after another. The pattern on their sleeves was identical to the one on the green-shirted elder’s. Those were all disciples from the peak she managed.
The bodies in the thirty-six cities, the million or ten million refugees trekking on the road—their suffering, their despair, their cries of agony were all too distant from the Dragon Head Thousand Peaks. Although they spoke of “the common people” day in and day out, in the end, “the common people” was just a concept. Mortals were in the mud, immortals in the clouds. A mortal’s life was a fleeting hundred years, for an immortal, it was the flick of a finger. Thus, it was easy for them to convince themselves with phrases like, “Mortal life is short, after a hundred years, there will be new people and new cities,” and “To move the Heavenly Wedge, sacrifices must be made.” With this, they supported Zhuang Xuan’s plan to push for a rift between immortals and demons and to use a blood sacrifice for the Heavenly Wedge, feeling guilt but no hesitation.
They were doing it for the generations of common people in the West Continent, so they sacrificed the people of this generation. This, too, was protecting the common people.
However, the strength of the West Sea Sea Demons exceeded their original estimates. What was supposed to be a feigned defeat to lure the enemy in had now turned into a genuine rout… The excuse of “sacrificing for the common people” could be used for the thirty-six cities, for the millions of desperate refugees, but it was difficult to apply to the familiar disciples of their own sect.
Some were their apprentices, some were the children of their friends. They were all children they had watched grow up. The human heart can be as cold and hard as steel, or as soft as cloth; it all depends on whether it concerns oneself.
In the water mirror, the Cold Wilderness great demons closed in on the stranded hundred-odd disciples and slowly raised their bone spears. These bone spears, besides serving as giant arrows in long-range combat, were also terrifying weapons of slaughter at close range.
“Sect Master!”
The green-shirted elder urged anxiously.
“No,” Zhuang Xuan refused flatly. The other elders, witnessing their disciples being slaughtered, all showed some change in expression, but this man was as if his heart and bones were cast from iron; he had never shown a single flicker of hesitation. “They haven’t fully entered the formation yet. Wait for the main force of the Cold Wilderness Nation to enter the formation! We must wait!”
As he spoke, in the water mirror, the Cold Wilderness great demons raised their bone spears.
“Jingsu!”
The green-shirted elder let out a sharp cry and took a sudden step forward.
In the water mirror, a disciple with a handsome face was pierced through the chest by a bone spear. He gripped the spear tip with both hands, trying with all his might to stop it from advancing. The demon with cold, cyan skin looked at him mockingly, its lips curling into a savage, chilling sneer. The next moment, the bone spear thrust and pulled back.
A spray of blood shot toward the sky. The color seemed to drain from the green-shirted elder’s face along with that spray of blood. She stood there, stunned. Motionless.
The moment the Cold Wilderness great demon lifted her disciple high, used both arms, and tore his body in two, the green-shirted elder suddenly erupted, lunging like lightning toward the coldly standing Zhuang Xuan in front of the Silver Dragon’s Dragon Pill. “Jianzhi!” “Elder Bai!” Amidst the shocked and chaotic shouts, Sect Master Zhuang Xuan’s figure flashed like a ghost.
The sound of metal clashing rang out. A narrow sword shaped like a horned dragon fell to the ground at the same time. A deep cyan light armor gradually faded from before Sect Master Zhuang Xuan. He held a red sword, which had pierced through the green-shirted elder’s left shoulder.
The elders who were about to rush forward to protect Zhuang Xuan stopped in their tracks, a sense of horror in their hearts. Bai Jianzhi was considered the best sword wielder in the sect, second only to the late Gu Qingshui. She had also fused the “Startled Swan” divine ability of a Green Flood Dragon, known for its swift and mysterious movements, into her personal sword. For her to launch a surprise attack, few of the elders present were confident they could have blocked it in time.
“Sect Master, Elder Bai just lost control for a moment.” An elder who was on good terms with the green-shirted elder cupped his hands and pleaded for mercy. “Please, Sect Master, for the sake of many years of friendship and the current perilous situation, show leniency.”
“Take Elder Bai aside,” Zhuang Xuan ordered, pulling out his sword.
Immediately, two elders, half-restraining and half-supporting, led Bai Jianzhi away.
“You madman!” Bai Jianzhi shrieked. “You don’t care about the disciples’ lives at all! You’re just an animal in human skin! The reason so many people in the Beast Taming Sect will die today is all for your own selfish ambition!”
“Selfish ambition?” Zhuang Xuan, who had already turned and was walking toward the Silver Dragon’s Dragon Pill, suddenly stopped and gave a mocking smile. “Elder Bai, so now you know about selfish ambition? When I used the city seals of Mianjin, Qinhuang, and Songlai to exchange for your support, why didn’t you know how to write those words then?!”
Zhuang Xuan’s speech suddenly quickened, laced with mockery.
“When the people of the thirty-six cities died, you were indifferent. When the disciples of other peaks died, you were also indifferent. Now that your own peak’s disciples are dying, you finally feel the pain? You dare to draw your sword at me, but you don’t dare to charge out and fight those great demons to avenge that bastard who died without ever knowing his master was his own mother?”
“You!”
Bai Jianzhi’s face flushed crimson.
“You what?” Zhuang Xuan sneered. “What the hell do you think you are, to even speak to me?”
“You, surnamed Zhuang!” Bai Jianzhi’s voice was sharp and shrill. “You think you’re so great? You really think no one knows how you became sect master! How Senior Sister Liu died?! How Second Senior Brother Yun died? You think you did it flawlessly, fooling everyone, but don’t treat people like…”
The last two words were not uttered.
“Enough.”
One of the three grand ancestors sitting cross-legged near the Silver Dragon’s Dragon Pill had, at some point, come to Bai Jianzhi’s side. He pressed down on her shoulder, putting a stop to this dog-eat-dog farce.
Bai Jianzhi’s face turned from blue to purple, but she didn’t dare be presumptuous in front of a grand ancestor and forcibly suppressed her raging anger.
“Let’s not bring up the past,” Grand Ancestor Taiqing said, his gaze slowly sweeping over the surroundings. “The plan to perform the blood sacrifice and move the Heavenly Wedge was agreed upon by everyone present. Arguing about who is at fault is useless.” After a slight pause, his gaze fell on the tragic scene in the water mirror. “So many disciples have died. It’s normal for everyone to feel bad.”
The air was heavy and oppressive. No one spoke. There was only the sound of a slow, viscous flow. Not rain, nor the sea-river. It was blood.
Eight of the largest Vicious Flood Dragons were bound to a bronze net by Dragon-Binding Ropes. Each flood dragon had a deep, bone-visible gash below its head, but their heads were not completely severed. Their powerful life force, which ranked among the top of the demon race, drove their strong hearts to continue beating, pumping out blood that flowed down the chains on the concave, web-like bronze net, converging at the center below.
The Silver Dragon’s Dragon Pill floated there. The eight streams of blood were like eight blood vessels nourishing it. As the blood of its kin was infused, crimson patterns gradually appeared on the Silver Dragon’s Dragon Pill. It began to look like a heart, a bloody, beating heart.
Elder Yan of Changyu Peak stood near the Gen position, his hands tucked into his sleeves, not making any rash moves.
Grand Ancestor Taiqing looked at the constantly falling disciples in the water mirror and asked, “What are you all feeling right now? Anger? Or regret?”
No one answered.
Grand Ancestor Taiqing shook his head. “I’m old, so I won’t deceive myself. I feel regret.”
The elders exchanged glances. Before this, Grand Ancestor Taiqing had been the earliest supporter of the Heavenly Wedge plan.
“The demons have died, the people of the West Continent have died, Jianzhi’s child, your disciples, they have all died,” Grand Ancestor Taiqing’s voice was aged. “So many people have died. If you don’t feel regret, how is that possible?”
Most of the elders looked grim. Zhuang Xuan’s expression was cold and harsh, and he said nothing.
Grand Ancestor Taiqing sighed. “But at this point, what’s the use of regret? The strength of the West Sea Sea Demons is indeed greater than we anticipated, and the number of disciples sacrificed has indeed exceeded our original estimates. But right now, neither we nor they have any room for reconciliation!” He pointed at the piles of corpses reflected in the water mirror. “I ask you! Even if the demon race retreats now, would you agree to it?!”
No one answered, but Elder Yan had already read the answer on everyone’s faces.
“I ask you again,” Grand Ancestor Taiqing pointed to the Cold Wilderness demon race that had crossed the mountain pass and entered the sea-river between the fifth and sixth mountain ranges. “If we tell them we want a truce now, would they agree?!”
It was another question that had an answer without needing to be asked.
“That’s enough,” Grand Ancestor Taiqing said faintly. After a pause, his voice suddenly became severe. “Don’t talk about whose child has died. Even if I were to die right now, this battle must go on! Unless the Beast Taming Sect is completely wiped out, the Heavenly Wedge must be moved, even if it costs us our own people! Otherwise, for the next ten thousand years, the Beast Taming Sect will be the absolute sinner of the West Continent! There will be no place for the Beast Taming Sect in the mortal realm! Conversely, if we can truly replace the Heavenly Pillar, then no matter how many people die this time, no matter how many demons die, what we leave behind in the annals of history will be a meritorious achievement! Anyone who has thoughts of regret, stifle them in your belly, or don’t blame me for being merciless.”
“Yes!”
Everyone responded in unison.
“Zhuang Xuan!”
“Your disciple is here.” Sect Master Zhuang Xuan bowed slightly.
“You will be in charge of timing the activation of the formation. If anyone dares to question you again, I will be the first to kill them,” Grand Ancestor Taiqing said coldly.
“Yes!”
Grand Ancestor Taiqing turned and returned to the side of the Silver Dragon’s Dragon Pill, sat down cross-legged, and along with the other two grand ancestors of the “Tai” generation, placed his hand on the pill.
***
“What a pity. It didn’t cause a major commotion after all.”
A Desolate Attendant watched the scene unfolding in the water mirror and shook his head, clearly quite disappointed. The kind of people who could fall to evil and become Desolate Attendants were mostly unhinged lunatics who wished for chaos in the world. They loved to watch a good show, regardless of whether it affected their own Great Wilderness’s plans.
They were located in the Northwest Corner, four or five thousand kilometers from Dragon Head Thousand Peaks where the Beast Taming Sect’s main sect was. This distance was considerable and they wouldn’t be discovered by the Beast Taming Sect, but for the Desolate Emissaries and evil demons who could travel with the desolate miasma, it was nothing. They could intervene in the battle at any time.
However, for some unknown reason, the Desolate Lord had not allowed them to set foot in the Northwest Corner.
“It won’t get stirred up.” Huai Ningjun smiled faintly. “Zhuang Xuan is a man of deep cunning. Rather than saying he was angry just now, it’s more like he wanted to use that anger to tear away everyone in the Beast Taming Sect’s last shred of shame and cut off all their paths of retreat. If that Taiqing elder hadn’t spoken up and let him continue to use the issue to his advantage, the effect would have been even better.”
“Compared to some gentlemanly words about leaving a name in history, the threat of a villain’s ‘all in the same boat’ approach is more effective.”
“I see.” The speaking Desolate Attendant had a sudden realization and hurriedly flattered Huai Ningjun. “As expected of Lord Desolate Lord, your insight is like fire.”
“These fellows from the Beast Taming Sect, with half their bodies in the grave, still want to play at intimidation and deterrence at a time like this…” Huai Ningjun shook his head. “When the Heavenly Wedge is truly moved, the first ones Zhuang Xuan will kill are them. In a way, the Beast Taming Sect has truly produced a remarkable figure.”
“Are you saying Zhuang Xuan is like Zuo Liangshi of the Mountain Sea Pavilion?” the attendant asked speculatively.
Huai Ningjun laughed and shook his head. “Putting those two together is like comparing foul soil to fragrant grass. Zuo Liangshi endured for eight hundred years, and though he also did many things he had to do, his actions were for the final goal of purging the mountains and suppressing the seas. He was a thorough gentleman, forced by circumstances to act like a villain.”
“Then isn’t resetting the Heavenly Wedge a more gentlemanly act than purging the mountains and suppressing the seas?” The attendant had followed him for a long time and knew that this Huai Ningjun didn’t much care if his subordinates raised questions. What he hated more was when the people around him were like wooden blocks, only capable of sycophantic agreement, not daring to say anything.
As the former White Emperor and current Desolate Lord, Huai Ningjun’s habit was actually a bit strange. Perhaps it was because he used to often argue and debate with someone, each holding their own ground. Even though there were no longer many who were qualified or dared to argue with him, and even the questions asked were tinged with a desire to please, he still retained this habit, which was better than nothing.
“From the perspective of the mortal realm, resetting the Heavenly Wedge is indeed an act of sin in the present but merit for a thousand autumns,” Huai Ningjun said. “But Zhuang Xuan’s desire to move the Heavenly Wedge is by no means because he is righteous or far-sighted. It is born of hatred. He was born in a snow city in the north and witnessed a city trampled by a herd of elephants. The rampaging Red Elephant herd destroyed his hometown, so he wants to completely suppress and destroy the demon race. During the West Sea Sea Demons’ attack, he even specifically used the Red Elephant herd as the first line of defense—now, the Beast Taming Sect’s elephant tamers have all been wiped out. This is a man whose life is fueled by hatred. What’s frightening is that he truly has the ability to act on it.”
“When he discovered that moving the Heavenly Wedge could eliminate the most powerful demon forces in the West Continent at once and bring the demon race completely under human control within the West Continent, he would do everything in his power to move the Heavenly Wedge… It’s quite interesting to think about. One is a true gentleman who can only pretend to be a pseudo-villain. The other is a true villain who can only pretend to be a pseudo-gentleman.”
The attendant praised, “It is this lowly one who was foolish, deceived by appearances.”
Huai Ningjun smiled. As they spoke, the scene in the water mirror showed that the Beast Taming Sect’s Grand Ancestor Taiqian’s tamed beasts had all been killed in battle. The silver-haired Nu Mie struck him with her sword, sending him crashing into a cliff face. But she did not press the attack, instead tapping the Fish Breath Cauldron, summoning the Bing Yi Bell, and shaking it three times.
“The West Sea Sea Demons are urging us on,” the attendant said, frowning. “These demons aren’t complete fools either. Their main great demon force has been delaying until now, refusing to step into the sixth mountain range… Desolate Lord, it seems that if we don’t make a move, they won’t fully enter the formation.”
Huai Ningjun smiled nonchalantly. “After all, they’ve been betrayed for so many years. They should at least have learned a little something.”
Hearing this, the Desolate Attendants on either side couldn’t help but laugh. In their eyes, the West Sea Sea Demons were truly the epitome of foolishness.
After laughing for a few moments, the attendant who had spoken before carefully chose his words and began, “Although the demon race and the Beast Taming Sect do indeed have a blood feud, but…” He watched Huai Ningjun’s expression, and seeing no change, he boldly continued, “But the West Sea Sea Demons have deep feelings for the Divine Lord. This lowly one is worried that if the Divine Lord appears, the sea demons might break the agreement and abandon the alliance…”
The faint smile that had been on Huai Ningjun’s face vanished. The attendant’s heart immediately skipped a beat. You and your big mouth, he thought.
In his trepidation, he heard Huai Ningjun say, “He can stop this calamity. He can indeed do it… and only he can.”
…But that would only cause the mortal realm to slowly sink into the mire of a death sentence, and it would never truly change.
He gazed in the direction of Dragon Head Thousand Peaks, his eyes suddenly growing distant. Soon, Huai Ningjun came back to himself, pondered for a moment, and whispered, “But it is indeed strange. The plan has been implemented too smoothly, and the Divine Lord has yet to appear… It’s unlikely that he wouldn’t intervene.”
The attendant, however, didn’t understand the unspoken words. He only heard “the Divine Lord is unlikely not to intervene” and immediately became tense. If this were in the past, so long after the Primeval Era, when the story of the Divine Lord’s lone ascent of Incomplete Mountain was buried in dust, the Desolate Attendants, while wary of him, might not have felt a tangible fear. But after the Divine Lord, contrary to everyone’s expectations, entered the Great Wilderness in white robes twelve years ago and single-handedly sealed the Netherworld, everything changed.
The Desolate Attendants finally understood where the deep-seated wariness and fear that the heavenly gods of Heaven Beyond Heavens had for the Divine Lord came from. The deep cold of the Netherworld and the lightless black miasma were not foolproof protections. They could not stop that man’s steps, much less his sword.
“Then, then should we be on guard against the West Sea Sea Demons suddenly betraying us?” the attendant asked timidly. He actually wanted to ask what they would do if the Divine Lord really came, but he didn’t have the courage. Or rather, they simply didn’t want to think about that possibility.
“It doesn’t matter if the West Sea Sea Demons betray us.”
The attendant didn’t understand, but Huai Ningjun seemed to have no interest in chatting with them any longer. “Make your move. Give them a signal. There’s no point in dragging this out.”
The attendant dared not ask any more questions. The moment the sound of the Bing Yi Bell ceased, the black miasma surged forward with a fierce wind. The Desolate Attendants and evil spirits, borrowing the miasma, traveled a thousand kilometers in an instant, arriving near Dragon Head Thousand Peaks.
Fierce winds and torrential rain, lightning and thunder. Black clouds pressed down on the earth. Oddly shaped Dead Souls and Wild Ghosts followed the Desolate Attendants, pouring into the Beast Taming Sect’s main sect through the breach in the defensive line previously opened by the West Sea Sea Demons. The second act of the battle had begun. But Huai Ningjun, who had raised the curtain, did not move. He remained where he was.
A harsh wind blew through his sleeves. Ahead, in the wind, came the sound of bells, tinkling, ethereal and faint.
Huai Ningjun looked up toward the nearby Northwest Corner. As the most remote piece of land in the West Continent’s sea, the Northwest Corner was a small floating island situated in the vast, icy sea. Apart from a dead Ruo Tree, there was nothing—no grass, no insects, no birds, no beasts. The sound of the bells came from there, or more precisely, from the Ruo Tree on the island.
Huai Ningjun walked across the sea’s surface, unhurriedly, like an ordinary person, slowly approaching the floating island. Large and small silver bells hung from the high and low branches of the Ruo Tree. The moment Huai Ningjun set foot on the island, the sound of all the bells abruptly ceased, then suddenly became frantic, as if he were a most unwelcome guest. This was because these bells had been made by Shi Yi in imitation of the Bing Yi Bell. Over time, they had gained a bit of spiritual awareness and naturally repelled the aura of the Great Wilderness.
However, this small incident made Huai Ningjun pause for a moment. In a daze, he felt as if he had returned to Kongsang.
…The Fusang tree was vast and green, covering a hundred miles, boundless and immense. That was when everyone was still discussing how to establish the four poles. Calendrical arts were still in their infancy, and everything had to be proposed and then overturned, bit by bit. It was a tedious, boring job. Many heavenly gods and earthly demons were not suited for it and would find all sorts of excuses to slack off. “The view from the tree is good, I’ll listen from up there,” or “The mulberry fields are newly plowed, I’ll go help them with the plowing.”
Shi Yi was also one of those “not suited for it.” Unlike the others, other demons and gods, even someone like Mu Di who only liked literature, could learn a little something if they forced themselves, and could crudely calculate the shadow of a pole. Only Shi Yi, though he studied the most diligently, truly couldn’t keep up, truly couldn’t learn.
Shi Yi, Shi Yi, a stone head. What kind of intelligence could you expect from a stone?
The Divine Lord didn’t mind teaching it over and over, but though it was just a stone head, it wasn’t as if it didn’t have a heart. After the Divine Lord had taught it many times and it still couldn’t learn, it no longer wanted to. It would just squat silently to the side while everyone else discussed. It didn’t understand, but it didn’t leave either. Just stood there. Mutely. Silently. Foolishly.
Later, who knows which mischievous little brat from the Vermilion Bird family gave it a bell, so it could have something to listen to when it was bored. From then on, it was unstoppable. Shi Yi inexplicably fell in love with collecting bells. And out of a certain mentality of “if it’s a good thing, I should share it with everyone,” it hung the collected bells on the Fusang tree with the little Vermilion Bird.
Such a large fellow, liking flowers and plants, liking exquisite trinkets, it was a bit of a case of “don’t judge a demon by its appearance.” At first, the few scattered bells were indeed a welcome diversion when everyone was being driven to distraction by the constantly overturned ideas. But soon, there were a few too many bells on the tree. Whenever the young ones bounced and jumped on the branches, the ringing was enough to make the already dizzy heavenly gods and earthly demons’ heads buzz.
But Shi Yi protected its bells like a mother hen, refusing to let anyone touch them. Everyone was at their wit’s end and could only scheme behind its back every day, wondering when they could tie up this stupid blockhead while the Divine Lord was away and go fill a sea eye with it.
“Long time no see,” he said softly.
Tinkle, tinkle. Tinkle, tinkle.
“In the end, you really did let someone fill a sea eye with you, huh.” Huai Ningjun smiled silently.
A large, square stone stood beneath the Ruo Tree. At first glance, it looked like a dull, foolish Giant Spirit God sitting cross-legged. On the stone stele, written in red lacquer seal script, was a lengthy inscription praising the Beast Taming Sect’s achievements in slaying demons and calming the wind. It was likely the work of some scholar from a villa supported by the Beast Taming Sect.
“Do you think the Divine Lord regrets not teaching you how to calculate the wind’s direction using the sun and moon?” Huai Ningjun asked.
There was no answer, only the bells gradually calming down. The floating island was cold and desolate. When Shi Yi was alive, it couldn’t speak. After being refined into a stone stele, it truly became just a stone.
Huai Ningjun stood at the edge of the floating island for a while before slowly stepping onto it. He sat down on one knee opposite the stele that was once Shi Yi and took out a jar of wine. The clear liquid was slowly poured into a cup. He set out three cups… a long time ago, they had also drunk together like this.
The trunk of the Ruo Tree was coated in a thick layer of grayish-white ice from the wind. The ice grew year by year. The branches grew icy twigs, like deer antlers, increasing year by year until they could no longer bear the weight and would snap with a crack. It was as if this ancient tree, which had once almost connected heaven and earth, were still alive.
A small cluster of snow fell into the wine cup. Huai Ningjun picked up the white jade cup and swirled it slowly. He watched the water mirror. In the mirror, after the Desolate Attendants joined the battle, the West Sea Sea Demons no longer delayed. They cut through the breach in the Beast Taming Sect’s fifth peak and into the sixth. The reason the Beast Taming Sect’s main sect was called “Dragon Head Thousand Peaks” was because of its numerous strange peaks, which linked and wound around each other, forming a twelve-layered ring of mountain ranges.
Under natural conditions, the probability of forming such twelve concentric mountain ranges was almost negligible. And indeed, the orientation of the Dragon Head Thousand Peaks was not naturally formed. The entire Dragon Head Thousand Peaks mountain range was the location of the northwest Heavenly Wedge. Although it was not the location originally set by the Divine Lord, every single peak had also been carefully calculated by him. To completely destroy the Heavenly Wedge set by the Divine Lord with external force alone was almost impossibly difficult—all the Heavenly Wedges, Heavenly Pillars, and Kongsang in the Twelve Continents were connected by a very clever force, linked together, so that pulling one would move the whole.
That was a model that had taken the Divine Lord almost his entire life to calculate. The entire Twelve Continents had become a vast, interconnected formation in his hands. Unfortunately, by the time the final “Zhoubi Heaven Stabilization” was confirmed, Kongsang had already fragmented and collapsed. Besides the Divine Lord himself, no one else had a true, complete understanding of it. The Heavenly Wedges, the Heavenly Pillars, Kongsang, the cities. The sun, the moon, the stars. When all these things were combined—even in an incomplete form—any changes at its key nodes, before exceeding the overall carrying capacity, all external forces and internal disorders could be shared, resolved, and maintained by this overall framework.
In the early Middle Antiquity, the Great Wilderness took advantage of the Divine Lord’s fall to a demon and being trapped and killed in Kongsang to launch its first full-scale encroachment on the mortal realm. During that encroachment, the Undying City, where the Southern Chen Heavenly Pillar was located, had fallen under the control of the Great Wilderness. The Great Wilderness had tried many methods, but could only affect the tilt angle of the Heavenly Pillar to a certain extent, thereby affecting the sun and moon of the mortal realm and creating an unobstructed gap between the mortal realm and the Great Wilderness. Beyond that, the goal of completely destroying the Heavenly Pillar was never achieved.
The Heavenly Pillars, the Heavenly Wedges, could only be raised from the mortal realm’s side. A framework that should have been full of life ended up being hung with nothing but rotting flesh and maggots. No wonder the Netherworld of the Great Wilderness both feared and despised that person.
…From its perspective, it was indeed terrifying… An unfinished mortal realm, an unfinished system of seven traverses and six interstices, was so difficult to shake and destroy. If he had truly completed his original plan, then today, whether it would be the mortal realm fearing the Great Wilderness, or the Great Wilderness fearing the mortal realm, would be uncertain.
Huai Ningjun thought slowly, drinking wine nonchalantly while watching the battle through the water mirror. In the water mirror, the West Sea Sea Demons, having joined forces with the Desolate Attendants, no longer stretched their battle lines thin, slaughtering every last person. They finally gathered their elite forces, compressing them into a single line, like a knife, cutting toward the core area of the Beast Taming Sect. But it was obvious that the West Sea Sea Demons were deeply wary of the Desolate Attendants. In the battle, the elite forces led by the Cold Wilderness great demons deliberately kept a distance between the two sides.
Huai Ningjun knew their intention. This was to prevent the Great Wilderness from suddenly stabbing them in the back when they entered the heart of Dragon Head Thousand Peaks, and joining forces with the Beast Taming Sect to completely slaughter them, using them as the sacrifice needed to activate the Heavenly Wedge.
What could he say? The Great Wilderness was indeed not an ally of the demon race. Because about half of the Desolate Attendants and demons were still hiding outside Dragon Head Thousand Peaks, not having directly joined the battle.
In the water mirror, the West Sea Sea Demons, allied with the Desolate Attendants, were unstoppable. Grand Ancestor Taiqian was killed by Nu Mie’s sword, his bones thrown into the Fish Breath Cauldron. Just as they were about to cut into the core area of Dragon Head Thousand Peaks, the eight trigram-mountains of the Beast Taming Sect began to faintly glow with a silvery-red light. The Cold Wilderness great demons suddenly let out a sharp whistle together. The next moment, they actually turned their giant bows around. With taut strings, bone spears as arrows, a dense rain of arrows, like a downpour, blanketed the Desolate Attendants.
“A war with sacrifices on both ends…” Huai Ningjun paused his wine cup, a look of surprise on his face. “Who is the mantis, and who is the oriole?”
He stood up, but then suddenly stopped. Without turning back, he asked the stele that was once Shi Yi:
“Do you think he will come?”
***
“Lady Nu Mie, those guys from the Great Wilderness are indeed despicable and shameless!”
A-He, a sea demon with deep blue skin and scales covering his arms and legs, landed beside Nu Mie, the giant sword in his hand dripping with blood. Who knew how many people he had killed tonight; the giant sword was already stained a dark black. The torrential rain washed over the blade, dyeing the rainwater red as well.
Rumbling sounds echoed all around, unceasingly. It wasn’t thunder. It was the sound of the mountains. The mountains were shaking.
Centered around the eight trigram-mountains, the entire Dragon Head Thousand Peaks mountain range was slowly trembling. Even the Beast Taming Sect disciples standing on the peaks were stunned. They watched in horror at the flood surrounding the mountains. The flood was creating huge crests, but the force stirring them was not from the outside, but from beneath the earth.
“Heavens above…”
On a mountain peak, the stone beneath a Beast Taming Sect disciple’s feet suddenly collapsed. He nearly fell into the seawater and scrambled back. But at this moment, no one on the peak could stand steady. Everyone had to fly up on their swords. Because… the mountains were rising! The mountains were moving!
This scene was beyond their comprehension, beyond their imagination. The mountains that had been half-submerged by the seawater and flood were now fully exposed again. Dragon Head Thousand Peaks was like a real giant dragon. It had awakened, and in the moment of its awakening, it moved its meridians, its muscles, its bones. The ring-shaped mountain ranges, amidst the earthquake-like roars, moved forward, backward! Piecing together!
The rapid movement of the mountains stirred up high, murky waves. The twelve concentric mountain ranges merged amidst the booming sounds. Only three layers remained: inner, middle, and outer. And as the peaks pieced together and merged, the lone peaks of the front and back mountain ranges perfectly filled each other’s gaps. After the twelve mountain ranges were riveted together, they formed a triple-layered, impenetrable siege city.
The West Sea Sea Demons were trapped in the very center of this triple-layered siege city made of a thousand peaks and ten thousand crags. The shadows of the moving mountains, crisscrossing with the lightning that constantly streaked across the sky, cast huge patches of light and shadow over the gathered army of the West Sea Sea Demons. The Fish Breath Cauldron floated in the middle of the demon host, enveloping them. Nu Mie’s snow-white robe, embroidered with strange patterns, billowed in the wind.
Her Bing Yi Bells, which had somehow returned to her wrists and ankles, were now tinkling incessantly. It was like a premonition of some danger.
“Lady Nu Mie!” A-He held his giant sword at a slant, his bangs plastered to his skin by the rain. “Is this the Heavenly Wedge left by the Divine Lord?”
“No.” Nu Mie replied, her crimson-gold pupils revealing an unprecedented chill. “This is a killing formation that the Beast Taming Sect has modified, based on the Heavenly Wedge’s protective array.”
The rage in her eyes was like a world-consuming fire.
“I know what they did with the Dragon God’s bones.”
***
Thump, thump, thump.
The storm, the thunder, the moving peaks—none of it could drown out this low, drum-like sound. It was the sound of a beating heart.
The flood dragons in the Dragon Rearing Pool had all been slain, and all their blood had been channeled into the long-dormant Dragon Pill. The once-pristine, full-moon-like inner pill was now covered in thick blood vessels. It had truly transformed from an inner pill into a living, beating, bloody heart—and originally, the inner pill was equivalent to a demon’s second heart. But now, it was not the Silver Dragon’s heart, but the heart of Dragon Head Thousand Peaks.
With each beat of this heart, the mountains of the Beast Taming Sect rapidly revived, grew, and moved.
The priestess of the Cold Wilderness Clan, Nu Mie, was right. This was indeed a killing formation, one modified from the protective array the Divine Lord had left behind to guard the Heavenly Wedge. The Beast Taming Sect’s main sect comprised a total of 1,368 peaks. When this killing formation was activated, these 1,368 peaks would become a giant dragon with mountains and stones as its bones. It could both contract inward, like a python hunting its prey, squeezing enemies who had recklessly entered the formation’s depths into a bloody pulp, and also rotate its peaks, using them as blades to form a gear-like meat grinder, both internally and externally.
It was a killing formation that combined both offense and defense. And the key to making this modification possible was that the Beast Taming Sect had captured a giant dragon! A real giant dragon. Not one of the useless creatures in the Dragon Rearing Pool with only a wisp of ancient dragon bloodline, but a true, genuine giant dragon from the Primeval Era. One that could carry the peaks of the West Continent’s northern corner, just as the Black Tortoise of Zhunan carried its nine cities.
Using the Silver Dragon’s skeleton as a frame, and aligning all the mountain peaks with its vertebrae, when the formation was activated, the mountains of the Beast Taming Sect would coil and dance like a dragon. This was the Beast Taming Sect’s trump card in their plan to move the Heavenly Wedge. Or rather, it was also the reason they could not turn back.
Stones rolled, and the killing formation activated for the first time. Even the elders who had personally awakened it were aghast. Among them, the most horrified were the three grand ancestors of the Beast Taming Sect who had their hands on the Silver Dragon’s Dragon Pill. After the formation activated, the Dragon Pill’s suction of flood dragon blood did not disappear; instead, it became even more terrifying. Now, there was no more flood dragon blood to channel. The Silver Dragon’s Dragon Pill began to absorb their cultivation instead!
“What’s happening?”
One of the three grand ancestors asked in horror. Grand Ancestor Taiqing, who had just awed the crowd, suddenly turned to look at Sect Master Zhuang Xuan standing to the side. His cyan-gui-colored robe fluttered in the wind.
“You… what have you done?!” Grand Ancestor Taiqing was both shocked and furious.
“Grand Ancestor, you deeply understand the great righteousness of changing the heavens and replacing the pillar, and you have long had the will to die for it. I am sure you can understand your disciple’s painstaking efforts now,” Sect Master Zhuang Xuan said politely. “On behalf of the entire sect, Zhuang Xuan thanks you, Grand Ancestor, for sacrificing yourself for the West Continent.”
“You! You! You treacherous fiend!” the other two grand ancestors reacted, immediately roaring at the elders on the other side, “Hurry and kill this traitor to the sect!”
The elders were already stunned by this unexpected turn of events. Hearing the grand ancestors’ command, they subconsciously moved forward, but when their eyes met Zhuang Xuan’s cold, indifferent face, a chill ran down their spines, and for a moment, they all stopped in their tracks.
“Three Grand Ancestors,” Zhuang Xuan said, walking unhurriedly toward the Silver Dragon’s Dragon Pill, his cyan robes fluttering. “To fully awaken the Silver Dragon’s Dragon Pill, how could a single pool of flood dragons be enough?” As he spoke, he smiled faintly. “Besides, as for where the missing essence of the Silver Dragon’s inner pill went, I believe you three Grand Ancestors, and the recently martyred Grand Ancestor Taiqian, know better than I do.”
He sighed.
“Within the sect, among the ‘Tai’ generation of grand ancestors, there are so many of astonishing talent. You four elders were not the most outstanding, yet how is it that you were the ones who broke through to the next realm and extended your lifespans?”
The faces of the three grand ancestors changed. Before they could say anything more, Zhuang Xuan had already bowed slightly.
“It’s getting late. I must ask the Grand Ancestors to die for the sect.”
“You…”
The voices of the three grand ancestors had just come out when, in the next moment, the terrifying suction from the Silver Dragon’s inner pill suddenly intensified, sucking them dry into three shriveled skeletons. The wind blew, and they turned into grayish-white dust, disappearing to who knows where.
Zhuang Xuan beckoned, and the Dragon Pill landed in his palm.
***
A thousand peaks moved, ten thousand mountains spun. The first peak, being lower in altitude, had already been submerged by the sea. Now, it broke through the waves, like a giant dragon parting the waters. Its beautiful horns, like a small forest, were devoid of the birds that used to fly to and fro; instead, pale, swollen corpses hung from the branches. Cold rainwater flowed through their empty eye sockets.
The last small bird’s nest that hadn’t been washed away by the torrent teetered on the dragon’s horn. A pale, beautiful hand steadied it.
The corner of a red robe hung down.