“Crunch... Crunch...”
“Crunch... Crunch...”
A bone-chilling sound of chewing resounded as the immortal palaces and jade towers atop the black stone coffin all shattered like illusions, vanishing into nothingness. Only a boundless sea of blood and infinite karmic grievances remained—
The first few who had entered had no time to escape. No one knew what was transpiring inside that coffin, but agonizing shrieks echoed forth, as if something utterly horrific was taking place.
Endless darkness spread out from the coffin, carrying with it a power capable of consuming all creation. Wherever it passed, flesh and blood dissolved, and bones decayed into ash—
In the span of a single breath, the ground littered with flesh and blood had its essence sucked dry by the black aura, rapidly reducing to piles of black ash.
“Huiyuan! You traitorous monk! How dare you harm me?!”
A ferocious dragon head bolted frantically out of the stone coffin, only to be forced right back down by a slender, elegant hand holding Buddhist prayer beads.
“Amitabha. Excellent, excellent.”
Huiyuan turned a deaf ear to the wails and curses. With lowered eyes, he reached out and crushed the Dragon Prince’s divine soul to dust. Upon opening his hand, a shower of pale-gold light rustled downward, nourishing the thing inside the stone coffin.
Dropping lightly onto the coffin lid, he reached out and plucked twelve bone flutes floating in midair, tucking them into his robe with immense care:
“How could an ancient Witch Coffin be satisfied with merely consuming tens of thousands of ordinary souls? This humble monk must thank my fellow Daoists for making this trip on my behalf, saving me quite a bit of trouble.”
Waves of wild beast roars erupted from the black coffin, as though answering the monk’s words.
As for the survival of those who had stepped into the Witch Coffin, there was no longer any need to ask.
He possessed a face of distinct compassion, genial and warm, yet the words coming out of his mouth sent chills down one’s spine, filling hearts with instinctual dread.
Wherever the black mist swept, the land was left scorched and dead.
“Having watched for so long, do you still not plan on coming out?”
Huiyuan suddenly spoke. Without any apparent secret technique, his voice was transmitted with precision to every corner of Ruyi Pavilion, echoing within all the stone grottoes, big and small:
“Could it be that this humble monk must invite you out personally?”
The voice reverberated through the black mist, but after a long moment, only dead silence remained.
Huiyuan shook his head and gazed toward a specific spot with a look of helplessness. He simply reached out and made a snatching motion into empty air. In the next instant, a beautiful young woman tumbled out from nowhere—
“Huiyuan, you bald donkey! How dare you join forces with evil to perform licentious and wicked sacrifices! Are you not afraid of heavenly retribution? Do you not fear the punishment of blades through your heart and lightning tearing apart your soul in the days to come?!”
Who else could that woman be but Xu Zi, holding the purple gold bell?!
The purple gold bell, seemingly a treasure, suddenly expanded to a zhang in height, flying up heavily to press down above Huiyuan’s head. Unhurried and unbothered, the monk raised a hand to command the black blood mist to meet it head-on:
“Miss Xu, have you stayed in the mortal realm for so long that you forgot your own origins? They are merely a sacrifice of dead souls and hungry ghosts—what is there to pity? Once our grand cause succeeds, you will understand why this humble monk did what he did today.”
Huiyuan’s tone was entirely composed, as though he were not the very person who had just committed such an atrocious evil.
“Bah!”
Xu Zi glared at him furiously, unable to hold back her harsh scolding:
“Slaying the enfeoffed gods of the Heavenly Court, taking dead souls and demon flesh and blood as sacrifices... every single count is a grave sin! Do you think I don't know? You secretly colluded with that black robed witch for no other reason than to awaken the thing inside that stone coffin! Before it has even awakened, it has already harmed so many living beings. If it truly wakes up, the mortal realm will suffer a catastrophe!”
“And so what?”
Huiyuan looked at her, explaining with a surprisingly good-natured temper:
“Before a great upheaval, sacrifices must always be made. In ancient times, blood sacrifices of human heads and demon beasts were always used to show sincerity. Now that the great shift of heaven and earth is near, is this humble monk guilty of a thousand deaths merely for seeking a way out through other methods?
“Miss Xu, why don't you think carefully about this? In the past hundred years, have those who ascended to the upper realm even numbered a hand's count? And why did the last person who ascended manage to do so? Gods rely on the power of incense to exist. Without devout believers, what will become of them?
“The Heavenly Court... Ever since that female emperor performed the Fengshan ceremony, the Heavenly Court has been nothing more than a faction clinging to life on its last breath. When the human race prospers day by day, just wait and see—which of the heavenly gods and divine generals across the firmament will be able to survive?
“Mortals only remember the Demon Suppression Division; who still remembers the immortals in Heaven? Only when the mortal world falls into chaos will gods and immortals have a way to live... This humble monk is willing to borrow the power of divine witches to restore the wild primordial order, seek an opportunity for the Great Dao, and fight for this slim chance at survival!”
He chanted a Buddhist prayer and pressed his palms together, putting on a display of utmost compassion:
“This humble monk will naturally chant scriptures daily to guide the souls of everyone present to the afterlife, remembering their merit. Miss Xu, keeping you alive until now was only out of fear that no one would witness my deeds. Though I have ties with the Demon Suppression Division, after today, I am afraid all the gods across the sky will know the name of this humble Earth Immortal. Creating one more killing karma is nothing to speak of.”
Several hundred years ago, spiritual energy began to wane throughout heaven and earth. Empress Shenlong held the Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai and established numerous rules, causing the number of immortals walking the mortal realm to plummet overnight.
Nowadays, the immortals and gods who ascended to the upper realm either accepted enfeoffment from the Heavenly Court, shedding their mortal flesh to become incense gods who cultivated daily on mortal worship—though the day mortals grew weary of gods would be the day of their dissipation.
Or they became free-and-easy rogue immortals, fighting with other ascendants over thin spiritual energy, dragging out their existence with no hope of further progress in cultivation.
Some even used secret arts to seal themselves within secret realms, praying to climb the immortal path once more when the great shift of heaven and earth arrived.
At the thought that even high-and-mighty sages could not escape the fate of the Five Decays of Heaven and Man, panic filled Huiyuan’s heart.
Though mortals were like ants, to many gods and immortals, only when the mortal realm was plunged into chaos would they truly have a chance to live.
—While the two were speaking, neither noticed a thin paper figure sticking to the black coffin. With a single red dot between its eyebrows, it was crawling upward inch by inch.
It would crawl a bit, check its surroundings, crawl a bit more, and glance at Huiyuan.
In a short moment, it actually managed to reach the bottom edge of the coffin.
“You're actually a rogue immortal who descended from the Heavenly Court! Who on earth are you?! To come up with such an evil method—have you gone mad?!”
Xu Zi snapped out of her shock and cursed furiously:
“What an addled bastard of a monk! If I die, the Heavenly Court will surely sense it—what exactly is inside this Witch Coffin?!”
There's still a living creature?
Huiyuan frowned and suddenly turned to look at the black coffin. But before he could react, tens of thousands of vines shot out from Xu Zi’s sleeves, fluttering with purple wisteria petals. Every single petal flew toward Huiyuan like a sharp blade. Taking advantage of the moment he dodged, she lunged forward, but only managed to catch a glimpse of a corner inside the coffin:
Inside the cracked black coffin, there was nothing else—only a fair, plump baby of unidentifiable gender, its mouth dripping with blood. In its hands, it held half a fox paw, chewing on it meticulously while making a series of crisp crunching sounds.
How could it be a child?!
Xu Zi was gripped by horror. Behind her, a jade sword thrust directly toward her lower back with a flash of white light—it was Huiyuan controlling the White Bone Heavenly Maiden to take her life:
“Miss Xu, this humble monk has already resolved your doubts. Now you may rest in peace. When the grand cause is accomplished next year, your name will surely be carved upon the monument...”
!
She could never let Huiyuan have his way!
Xu Zi desperately reached out to snatch the baby in the coffin, taking a direct blow from the sword. Spitting out a mouthful of purple wisteria petals, thousands of tree branches whipped out from her sleeves—
Wisteria flowers danced and the golden bell shook, creating a scene of exquisite beauty and wonder. Huiyuan’s face darkened slightly as he chanted an incantation. The stone walls beneath his feet rumbled upward, turning the entirety of Ruyi Pavilion upside down. Loose rocks collided violently between stone grottoes of all sizes, as if the earth were caving in and mountains were shaking. In just a single breath, the true form of Ruyi Pavilion was laid bare:
It was a massive, ancient Buddha head that had weathered countless storms.
The Buddha head’s eyes were slightly open, narrow at the corners. Its expression was half-smiling, half-angry, exuding an aura that was both compassionate and evil—
This was an Evil Buddha!
“Rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble—”
The giant statue standing before Ghost Buddha Temple slowly stood up, picking up its own head and placing it back onto its severed neck. Standing atop the Buddha head, Huiyuan looked down with cold indifference:
“If I do not enter hell, who will?”
“Under the Heavenly Dao, all things are straw dogs. I dare to take the lead.”
“Miss Xu, you may depart now.”
“You may depart now.”
“You may depart now.”
The Evil Buddha spoke in unison with a muffled, booming voice. Its narrow, ghostly eyes half-opened as its colossal stone hand raised high and slammed down heavily!
Black mist billowed and shattered rocks flew everywhere!
Xu Zi threw out her purple gold bell to block the attack, but the treasure could only hold out for a moment before cracking apart inch by inch under the force!
She was no match for the black mist, and with Huiyuan aided by the Evil Buddha, escape was impossible under such overwhelming power!
Seeing the giant Buddha raise its leg to stomp her down, Xu Zi gritted her teeth and severed her roots to save her life, sending half of her vines escaping underground through earth element movement. Yet the Evil Buddha seemed to have eyes, pursuing her closely behind—
Whoosh!!
In a flash of lightning, Nan Zhi emerged from the clouds and mist with a golden lotus floating above her head. Grabbed hold of the vine sprouting from the ground, she dashed away frantically, vanishing from the spot without a trace in the blink of an eye!
【Azure Sea Sky Boots · A Thousand Miles a Day】!
Atop the Buddha head, Huiyuan sensed that something was wrong and turned to look at the black coffin. However, the inside was completely empty, leaving behind only half a tearing, barely standing paper figure.
“Ignorant, foolish woman! You ruined my grand plan!!!”
“How dare you! How dare you!”
“Villains, do not run!!”
Furious roars echoed throughout Yin Yang Road as endless black mist surged from the Evil Buddha—matching the thunderous wrath of Huiyuan himself.
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