Volume 5, Chapter 115 – An Old Acquaintance

“Hm?”

At the very moment Bai Xiang and her companion laid eyes on the tiny feathered figure, a soft exclamation suddenly sounded in secret within a relic hall far away.

This place was not the Buddha-realm ruin where Guo Family Village was located. It was smaller and more cramped: a fragment of a giant island drifting through the void, with that relic hall situated inside a mountain cavern at the island’s center.

A closer look inside the hall revealed a sudden openness after one passed through the narrow, gloomy tunnel. There sat a three-hundred-meter brass Buddha statue upon the main dais, and beneath it stood three scattered figures, two of whom were quietly meditating and regulating their breathing.

After all, this was the vessel-abode of the “Jiuluo Guangyu Buddha.” A careful look showed streams of fine golden dust constantly flowing together into drifting ribbons from the crisscrossing tunnel openings. The end of those ribbons fell upon the great Buddha statue, and most of the benefit naturally went to it, but some was inevitably lost along the way. That in turn made this hall itself a cultivation treasure ground steeped in its influence. Cultivating here not only brought rapid progress without side effects, it also offered considerable benefits in nourishing the soul.

That was why the two people meditating were completely focused, cherishing this opportunity to the utmost. Only the tall, gaunt figure in a cloak was moving about beneath the statue, checking things everywhere and studying the ancient Sanskrit script extending from beneath the lotus pedestal.

The tall figure turned slightly, revealing half an alluring face from within the shadows. It was actually a woman, and she looked faintly, just faintly, familiar.

If Bai Xiang had been here, with her unforgettable memory, she definitely would have recognized this person. It was Yan Yaoluo, the Seaheart Sect Master, whom she had met once on the day of the Dao-Void Tournament finals.

The Seaheart Sect was a high-grade sect. Although in the previous epoch it could not compare with Zhengtian Dao or Qianyuan Sect, it had still been one of the top-ranking powers. This woman had also taken part in the chaotic melee at the venue back then and seemed to have even supported allies of Bai Xiang such as the Silver Sea Merchant Guild and Taixu Monastery. Yet for some reason she had appeared here instead, with her head and face concealed, looking as though she could not bear to be seen in the light.

Yan Yaoluo’s face was cold as her gaze locked onto a carving beneath the lotus platform.

Just moments ago, she had personally seen a four-legged bronze mirror carved there get wiped away.

It was said that she had transformed from a demon vine. Her skin was purple-white, like that of her kind, and with her face cold at this moment, her beauty appeared even more icy and striking. She suddenly spun around and barked, “Get up, both of you! You idiots!”

What was it now?

The two people meditating on the ground immediately opened their eyes. Both frowned slightly when they looked at Yan Yaoluo.

The Seaheart Sect had indeed never held the top position among the sects, but because Yan Yaoluo had always remained alive, that sect had never truly declined either.

Rumors said that, like Pang Tiandao, this demoness had survived multiple Void Tribulations. They said her background and life history were all fake, and that in truth some ancient monster was residing inside her, continuously borrowing the bodies of her descendants to grow young again.

So many such rumors had spread that even they did not know whether they were true or false. They only knew that the demoness was genuinely formidable, especially her attainments in the soul path, which were far beyond theirs.

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“Sect Master Yan,” said the man on the left as he stood up. “What happened?”

“Here. One of Jiuluo’s ‘Six Precious Wondrous Artifacts’ has been erased.” Yan Yaoluo motioned for them to come over and pointed at the vanished carving for them to see.

The two looked and saw that the slab originally depicted five objects: a monk’s staff, a razor, an alms bowl, Buddhist beads, and a wooden boat. Only the middle section was missing, as if a standing bronze mirror had once been carved there.

“The carvings of the Six Precious Wondrous Artifacts are closely linked to the artifacts themselves. If the carving is damaged, then the artifact itself has probably met with trouble as well.” The man on the left nodded, his brows knitting just as tightly as Yan Yaoluo’s. “Looks like some outsider is making trouble.”

“This is exactly when the two of you are needed.” Yan Yaoluo immediately lifted her chin.

“You should know that both of you have already died once.”

“It was Master who used the rules of this place to give you a second chance. You should be helping Master solve his problems. Why aren’t you hurrying to the Buddha-realm side to investigate?”

This…

The two men frowned, somewhat hesitant.

If it had been an ordinary task, they naturally would not have refused.

But what kind of treasures were the Six Precious Wondrous Artifacts? Any single one of them could easily suppress ten of themselves.

If even such a treasure could be broken, then the outsider’s strength was naturally terrifying. If they went, there was an eighty percent chance they would simply be going to their deaths.

“Hm?” Relying on her master’s backing, Yan Yaoluo immediately glared and was just about to scold them again.

At that moment, however, the giant Buddha statue above suddenly shone with golden light. The light descended and formed the blurred image of a tall, gaunt man. A closer look showed that it was the Demon Lord.

“Master!”

Yan Yaoluo immediately bowed to him.

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“Master!”

The other two did the same.

“We are all spirits born and raised by heaven and earth. If you trace us back to our roots, there is no difference of nobility or baseness between us. There is no need for such ceremony,” the Demon Lord’s projection said calmly.

“Rise, Yanji.”

“Yes!”

“And Daoist Master Luo and Daoist Master Yue, you may rise as well.”

“Yes…”

The two men stood and revealed their true faces. They were none other than Daoist Luo Ying and Yue Canglan, both figures who had shown their faces in the final battle of the tournament and had once even stirred the winds and clouds of the world.

Yue Canglan in particular had once ranked first on the Venerable List as a sword expert. He had even crossed swords with Bai Xiang during the final battle, and after his defeat he had vanished. No one knew how he had ended up here.

“I already have a general idea of what happened,” said the Demon Lord. “The enemy is troublesome. You are probably no match for them, and sending people over would only waste manpower for nothing.”

“Then, Master, are we going to do nothing?” Yan Yaoluo asked at once. Her eyes, fixed on the Demon Lord, were filled with fervor and admiration, as if she regarded him as the faith of her entire life.

“Of course not.” The Demon Lord smiled, then straightened his expression.

“I have a few suspicions…”

“First, on the main-world side, the team sent to intercept that ship has lost contact. Get in touch with Meng Wanyu and have her investigate what’s happening at Shenming Mountain and Listening-to-Rain Tower. I need to confirm whether that person is still in Zhennan.”

“No problem! What next?”

“Next, we activate this thing’s power.” The Demon Lord turned to look at the great Buddha behind him and shook his head with a sigh. “‘One does not come for death, nor transform into life’… If we want to spy on a powerful enemy without anyone knowing, there is nothing better than using this.”

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“Ah!” Yan Yaoluo went pale with shock. “Master, are you certain?”

This thing… this thing’s power, even Master hasn’t fully mastered it, has he?

“Thanks to Meng Wanyu’s gift arriving in time, and because I prepared early, I’ve already made some headway,” the Demon Lord said with a nod. “So there is no need to drag this out any longer. These relic sites must be emptied as soon as possible.”

“Good!” Yan Yaoluo nodded hard, wild delight surging onto her face.

She knew far too well what was involved here… Heavens, if Master could really accomplish that, then who in the world could still stand against him?

He truly was the future chosen by our race!

Entirely worthy of the title he bestowed upon himself!

“See it done as soon as possible.”

After offering the three a final word of encouragement, the Demon Lord’s figure scattered into motes of light and vanished completely.

“You heard Master’s words.”

Yan Yaoluo first stood there with a flushed face, watching the last points of light disappear entirely, then turned with a frown toward the two behind her. “Do I still have to teach you what to do?”

Alas…

Daoist Luo Ying and Yue Canglan exchanged a glance, each seeing the bitterness in the other’s eyes.

But circumstances were stronger than men. Even now, they did not know whether they counted as truly living beings. Their life and death depended on a single thought from the other side, so they absolutely did not dare disobey.

After a pause, the two simultaneously extended their left arms. With their right hands, they gripped their left wrists tightly and, with one forceful wrench, snapped their entire arms off with a crack.

Yet strangely, no blood flowed from the severed ends. Instead, they glowed with a lustrous golden light.

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The two handed their severed arms to Yan Yaoluo. Only then did she nod in satisfaction. After taking them, she placed them as offerings beneath the great Buddha’s seat, then stepped back several paces and watched as those limbs turned into specks of light and, together with the streams of light converging from every direction, were absorbed by the great Buddha.

“May the Buddha manifest his power,” she intoned with hands pressed together, her expression devout.

“May the Buddha manifest his power.”

Luo and Yue did the same.

After waiting for a while, the two felt that nothing had happened and could not help lifting their heads to look upward.

But that glance was anything but ordinary. The face of the brass Buddha actually began to twist at that moment, transforming until it resembled a member of the demon race by seventy or eighty percent. It even opened its eyes, and from them burst two bolts of golden light like thunder, sweeping the two men into its gaze.

“Quick!”

“Quick, make your wish!”

Yan Yaoluo urged them.

“We… we ask the Buddha to descend into the Buddha-realm and investigate the secret behind the destruction of the Six Precious Wondrous Artifacts.”

The two men forced themselves to make the wish. As soon as the last word left their mouths, they suddenly felt something, then looked up again, only to find that the Buddha statue had already returned to ordinariness. Not a trace of its own light could be seen anymore.

Could anyone really subdue something this evil and bizarre…?

At the mere thought of the strange power hidden inside the statue, the two men could not help breaking into a cold sweat.

“I’m going to take a look myself.”

Still uneasy, Yan Yaoluo walked toward the mouth of the cave.

“You two stay here. Don’t move around!”