sonovelo Chapter 674: Battle at the Peak of the Clouds
Chapter 674: Battle at the Peak of the Clouds
Chapter 674: Battle at the Peak of the Clouds
Upon hearing the word "Resurrected," the three men from the Mount Shu Sect were stunned.
After a long pause, Wang Xuanling said, "An individual at the seventh realm would be borrowing the power of the Great Dao while an individual at the eighth realm would take control of that Great Dao. However, an individual at the ninth realm would merge with the Great Dao... If someone was able to reform the Great Dao again, then it is theoretically possible to resurrect the ninth-realm existence within that Great Dao... I just have never heard of such rumors. It is truly astonishing."
"Merge?" Xu Ziyang asked. "With so many Great Daos in existence, why can there only be one cultivator at the Profound Realm at any given time?"
As young cultivators, they naturally didn't have the same deep understanding of the Great Dao as Wang Xuanling, who had spent many years studying it.
"It's likely because the world lacks enough spiritual energy..." Wang Xuanling explained. "To merge with the Great Dao, a cultivator must elevate the Great Dao of the Profound above all the other Great Daos and complete the act of 'proving their understanding of the Dao.' Only then can one stand at the pinnacle of heaven and earth. Reaching the ninth realm demands an immense amount of spiritual energy from the world itself..."
Chu Liang remained silent.
Upon hearing this, a spark of realization flickered in Chu Liang's mind. Questions he had long pondered now seemed to have answers.
Was this why all traces of the ninth-realm existence would always be erased after their fall?
There were those who did not want the ninth-realm beings from being resurrected. They worked to erase every trace of their existence and diminish their influence, ensuring future generations could not revive them.
A force powerful enough to erase the ninth realm's existence must be ancient and overwhelming. They subdued figures like the Southern Shaman God and the Jiuli Evil God, who had countless followers, and turned them into nothing more than myths in history.
As Chu Liang thought further, he wondered if they had something to do with the fall of the other ninth-realm beings?@@@@
No. Impossible. Even if they were powerful, there had to be limits to their powers. They couldn't truly compare with an actual ninth-realm being, Chu Liang thought.
At the very least, the two Hallowed Ones of the human race, the sea demons' Hallowed Mother, and the land demons' Demon God still had a vast number of followers.
Perhaps no one had dared to take such dangerous actions so far. However, should this hidden force learn of any attempts to bring the ninth-realm beings back, those involved would face a devastating strike.
This reminded Chu Liang of the collapse of the Ancient Dragon Lair.
After the fall of the Dragon God, it wasn't until several thousand years later that the Ancient Dragon Lair was destroyed, as though struck by divine punishment.
Did some dragon try to reform the Great Dao again and resurrect the Dragon God? And that caused the destruction of the Ancient Dragon Lair? Chu Liang wondered.
Chu Liang couldn't help but think of the place he had heard of but never seen—the Divine Ruins Monastery.
Are they the ancient force behind all of this? But why would they do this?
Though Chu Liang pondered deeply, he couldn't find the answer to these questions.
Meanwhile, Princess Liange continued reading her translation. "Only the soul of the Hallowed Mother will be revived. A physical body is required as a vessel, and it must be a merfolk with pure divine blood..."
At this point, she stopped reading and said, "Pure divine blood is very rare among the royal family—only my mother and I possess it!"
"The merfolk queen..." Chu Liang pondered aloud. "Maybe she plans to use herself as the vessel..."
He fell silent, not expanding on the thought.
If the goal was to resurrect the Hallowed Mother, the merfolk queen, despite knowing it was part of the Sea Master's conspiracy, would likely agree.
The Ruins of Return Cult had originally intended for Princess Liange to serve as the vessel for the Hallowed Mother's resurrection, which was why men of the West Sea Diabolical Sect had been sent to capture her.
After all, this was not something that could be made public. Until the Hallowed Mother was truly resurrected, it had to remain a secret from all the other sea demons. Otherwise, it could trigger a powerful strike from that hidden, ancient force.
If not for this condition, the sea demons would never have allowed harm to come to the merfolk princess. This was why the outsiders from the West Sea Diabolical Sect were permitted to take action.
If Senior Brother Xu hadn't helped, Princess Liange would likely be in that pavilion now, staying in the room next door to that large toad.
After learning about these matters, the merfolk queen likely didn't want her daughter to serve as the Hallowed Mother's vessel. After all, infusing the soul of a ninth-realm being into a body would destroy the original soul, much like a candle being snuffed out.
The queen wasn't trying to imprison Princess Liange; she was likely trying to protect her daughter.
Now, she must be using this time for something else, something important.
"No!" Princess Liange shouted anxiously.
Chu Liang replied, "If we want to save both of you, we can only rescue the golden toad and expose the schemes of the Ruins of Return Cult."
"But if we do that, the Hallowed Mother won't be resurrected..." Princess Liange murmured sadly.
Abbot Dayu was far out on the South Sea with the Dharma Lotus Platform, so the only eighth-realm existence left to protect the temple was his senior brother, Dhyana Master Dawu—a Sweeper Monk in the area behind the hill.
With the activation of the Colossal Metallic Body, Dhyana Master Dayu became as large as the serpent, which was as tall as the heavens.
However, Changfeng's attack didn't end there. He flicked his long tail, and a mighty wind swept across, suddenly clearing the air.
The pure qi, impure qi, spiritual qi, yin qi, and yang qi... all dissipated, leaving the sky above as a vast, empty void.
Dhyana Master Dawu slowly murmured, the words barely escaping his lips.
"Severed Breath?"
The Great Dao of Wind, like all Daos, also has its dual aspects of yin and yang.
The Great Dao that the Blue Dragon controlled when it was alive was called "Governing Balance[1]." It was the Dao of Yang Wind, governing the flow of the heavens and earth, sweeping across the world.
The Great Dao that Changfeng controlled was Severed Breath. This was the Dao of Yin Wind, capable of severing the breath of the heavens and returning all things to the void.
At this moment, when he released it within the Buddhist Cloud Monastery, the space would be stripped of all spiritual qi, while the wind of destruction would rise from within the monks and tear through the monks' very flesh.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"
All the monks in the temple screamed in agony. Some of those with lower cultivation levels instantly shriveled up, turning into mummified corpses!
This wind was called "Bifeng[2]." This was not a wind that existed in the natural world, but a wind that existed within the organs, seeking to destroy the liver and intestines!
"As expected, demons are evildoers after all..." Dhyana Master Dawu said with a sigh. "You control the Great Dao only to bring death."
As he spoke, each word reverberated like thunder, echoing painfully in Changfeng's ears.
For some unknown reason, a surge of fury rose in Changfeng's heart, but there was no outlet for this rage. He simply felt overwhelmed by it.
A wave of sorrow and bitterness suddenly swept through him. At the same time, joy surged within him, and he couldn't help but guffaw wildly. Then an inexplicable fear filled him, making him feel as though he might cry in terror at any moment...
All these emotions collided at once, mixing together and exploding within him.
"Stop it," Dhyana Master Dawu uttered.
Overwhelmed by endless pain, Demon King Changfeng obeyed the command and ceased the use of his divine powers. Only then did he feel the turmoil of his seven emotions gradually ease.
Dhyana Master Dawu had used the Brahma Sound of Wisdom.
Pushan had once witnessed the Whale-Riding Immortal perform this technique. While using it against someone at the eighth realm was different from using it on others, the fact that it worked proved the strength of Dawu's cultivation.
The surviving monks of the Buddhist Cloud Monastery were freed and fled for their lives. After all, in this fight between eighth-realm existences, even the fish in the pond were better off than they were.
Golden light flashed in bursts, radiating outward and filling the space. It was Dhyana Master Shenyou, the one who never uttered a word, taking action. Wherever he went, groups of monastery disciples disappeared, whisked away to another place by his hand.
On this battlefield, not only were these monks incapable of offering help, but they would only become a burden to Dhyana Master Dawu.
Eighteen high monks, resembling Arhats, stood firm, each gripping a monk's staff as they led the temple-guarding formation. They invoked the projection of the Buddha's figure, its golden light shining brightly to block the rainbow light cast by the eight-tailed fox demon.
However, as the eight tails swayed, waves of colorful light rippled through the air, and the great formation seemed to be on the verge of collapse.
Once the monks and disciples had been ferried away, Dhyana Master Shenyou flipped his hand and drew forth a vajra pestle. He threw it forcefully towards the sky, and as it flew through the air, it expanded to three zhang in length before crashing down with a thunderous clang!
Bang!
The vajra pestle struck the ground with a powerful impact, releasing a dazzling platinum light that cut through the sky like a sword.
In that moment, a thunderous lion's roar rang out from the sea of clouds, as if answering the golden light released by the pestle.
"Roar—"
With that, the roar shattered a corner of the cloud sea in an instant!
1. The raw being 司舜. 司 (Si) meaning governing and 舜 (Shun) might be related to the Emperor Shun? Refer to Link. ☜
2. The term 赑风 (pinyin: bì fēng) is a Chinese word that means "mighty wind." It refers to one of the great three calamities mentioned in Buddhism, specifically the calamity of wind. It is a storm of furious rage.This was also mentioned in the Journey to the West as a mighty wind that enters through the top of the skull, travels down through the midriff, and penetrates all nine apertures of the body. This wind causes the bones and flesh to dissolve, leading to the disintegration of the body. Refer to Link. ☜