Upon a straw mat, a corpse covered in fractures and dripping with blood abruptly sat upright and opened its eyes—a thoroughly horrifying sight. He was Past Rulai's true body.
Amid the fog, the ancient, battered, silent Past Hall had accumulated the dust of ages. Desolate in the extreme, it appeared as though no one had set foot there for countless eras.
Outside, the disciples and masters of the Hunyuan force lineage broke into a cold sweat, completely stunned. That terrifying, blood-colored figure upon the straw mat shared the exact appearance of their patriarch.
If this person was Past Rulai, then whom had they been paying homage to day in and day out? A stitched-together substitute? A vessel for the light of the mind? Or something else entirely?
"Heh, heh!" The blood-colored figure on the straw mat swayed to his feet, a short, guttural, chilling laugh rattling from his mouth, truly like a ferocious ghost smuggling itself back from the netherworld.
Lu Yu spoke: "As expected, you no longer exist in the present world. Perhaps you could be considered dead—your true conscious self plunged into the abyss long ago."
He ascended into the heavens and stood tall before the Lingxiao Treasure Hall, crowned with an imperial tassel. Vague manifestations of the sun and moon shone, and indistinct gods stood in array around him.
The Six Imperials Patriarch scrutinized his opponent and said, "Perhaps you died five hundred years ago. Even before you departed for Pugong, you had ceased to walk the mortal realm. The creature before me now is merely an evil spirit that has slipped out of hell for a fleeting moment!"
The blood-colored figure rolled his shoulders and flexed his frame, saying, "You should know what kind of ancient hall this is. It intercepts past time and freezes it right here. My true body merely resides within the Past Hall. Such a heritage expounds the supreme truth of the Dao. You cannot comprehend it."
*Pfft!*
Blood splattered in every direction. As Past Rulai's true body stepped out from that dilapidated ancient hall, the scar-riddled body outside shattered, turning into fragments and bloody mist that converged upon him.
Piece after piece of dripping skin plastered itself onto his true body, and bones laced with blood vessels drove straight into his frame in an intensely gory spectacle.
It was as though he were piecing together and reconstructing his so-called true body.
This sight left the onlookers outside slack-jawed and chilled to the bone. Never had they imagined their own patriarch possessed such an aspect.
He seemed like a dreadful entity from a kingdom of death, possessing a temporary "vessel" to walk the mortal plane, while his true body could revive at a specific nexus, returning in this hair-raising fashion.
In fact, some of Past Rulai's own disciples and followers felt he was like an evil spirit that had smuggled itself into the night-fog world.
The heavy fog surged. High above the nine heavens, the magnificent Lingxiao Treasure Hall grew increasingly real. Colossal pillars of white jade bore up the roof, and golden tiles rippled with radiant divine clouds that hovered about like converging stars.
Lu Yu attacked brazenly and majestically. With a turn of his hand, he seemed poised to punch through heaven and earth. Heavenly light poured down as though tearing through an endless pitch-black curtain, bringing the daylight era back into existence!
Within the Mist Sea, brilliance erupted!
Once the blood-colored figure emerged from the Past Hall, he unleashed horrifying techniques. His fist light was boundlessly dreadful, akin to incinerating the heavens and boiling the seas!
As the two figures clashed inside the Mist Sea, the momentum shook heaven and earth, reaching across all bounds. Dao rhythms materialized with crystalline clarity, transforming into runes that condensed into towering waves whose crashing billows slammed against the firmament.
Outside, everyone trembled with boundless terror in their hearts. Had such a battle taken place in the mortal world, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
Even a great master went pale. He was certain that such methods were enough to pulverize these splendid mountains and rivers; any towering peaks, magnificent cities, or anything else would be erased permanently.
Spillover of heavenly light seeped from the Mist Sea. The pitch-black clouds in the mortal world began to burn before detonating with deafening rumbles, illuminating the entire realm as bright as day.
Such a cataclysm was truly shocking to the world!
Many felt suffocated, but then secretly rejoiced that only a fraction of heavenly light had splashed outward, and that the clash was taking place within the hazy depths of the multi-layered fog.
At last, the world-incinerating heavenly light began to recede, and the battlefield within the Mist Sea was revealed once more, allowing glimpses of the situation.
Not only were the two patriarchs fiercely locked in combat, but two types of "scenery" were also colliding.
Across the fog, the Lingxiao Treasure Hall and the Past Hall erupted with Dao rhythms in what seemed like a ferocious duel of their own, accompanied by the roars of gods and endless Zen chanting.
Furthermore, a vast multitude of indistinct beings, half-real and half-illusory, fought amidst the Dao rhythms.
What was that? Why were there ancient buildings that seemed exceptionally real, yet emanated such dreadful might?
"That is the 'Past Hall' of the Great Thunder Sound Temple!" a great master said grimly.
He knew nothing of the Lingxiao Treasure Hall, having never heard of it, but Past Rulai had once mentioned the Past Hall.
"Legend has it that if one cultivates the Golden Cicada Scripture to the supreme realm, one can unlock the hidden trove and behold a new world—the Great Thunder Sound Temple," an elder said, full of wonder and doubt.
The great master shook his head and said, "It is not limited to the Golden Cicada Scripture. If one cultivates other secret canons and true scriptures to perfection, it is also possible to behold a new world and thereby enter that ancient monastery. However, that is entirely different from the Great Thunder Sound Temple our patriarch saw; they are two separate matters."
To comprehend the Divine Cicada Scripture and behold a new world merely triggered a projection or phantom scenery of the Great Thunder Sound Temple, having nothing to do with reality. Though it offered opportunities, it could hardly be called a grand fortune; rather, it served as a guide, hoping that future generations might one day draw near to the true Great Thunder Sound Temple!
The great master continued, "The Past Hall our patriarch saw was more like 'true scenery'—though naturally, he only gazed upon it from afar and was irradiated by its scattered radiance."
Some young disciples, hearing such secrets for the first time, were spellbound.
Without question, the Lingxiao Treasure Hall and the Past Hall inside the Mist Sea had both condensed from the deep foundations of these two powerhouses.
"Just where are such extraordinary places located?" someone asked wistfully.
"Extremely far away. Perhaps drifting in the endless void, having only fleeting intersections and momentary reflections with the realms where Yujing appears."
...
Past Rulai spoke: "Six Imperials, you old bastard, you probably aren't any younger than me. The previous Six Imperials and you are likely the very same person! Is this the limit of your skill? I've only used my opening stance—the slaughter hasn't even begun!"
At this moment, he was mighty, terrifying, and grotesque. His skin showed differing tones—golden in some patches, jade-colored in others—and even the bones within his body bore distinct colors.
Past Rulai deployed true Chaos force. This was merely the beginning; now, he elevated his power further.
His hands moved slowly as force surged. A vortex of heavenly light, flowing with countless golden characters and densely interwoven with rich Dao rhythms, emerged in consummate brilliance.
Lu Yu looked grave. His long hair cascaded loose as he stood above the nine heavens. Before him, a dragon chariot manifested. Standing atop the ancient war chariot, amid clanging metallic reverberations, he donned armor of heavenly light like an emperor embarking on an imperial expedition.
Hideous though Past Rulai was, he truly radiated peerless divine majesty. Surging heavenly light billowed across the heavens; even if the sun, moon, and stars reappeared, they would be suppressed by that glaring golden vortex, before which all creation seemed utterly dim.
Suddenly, he vanished into thin air. Though invisible to the eye, all the fog in this domain blasted apart, and layers upon layers of extraordinary space seemed to be punched clean through.
Past Rulai struck. Teleporting without a trace and wielding Chaos force, he seemed to merge as one with heaven and earth to obliterate the Six Imperials Patriarch.
Lu Yu waved his voluminous sleeve, flooding heaven and earth with golden light. Furthermore, he opened the Eyes of the Six Imperials—under which not even a dormant Earth Immortal could remain hidden.
He witnessed his opponent's terrifying state. The golden vortex Past Rulai manifested had undergone an astonishing transformation: collapsing, condensing, and turning into a black hole that seemed poised to swallow everything and conceal his own existence.
With a tremendous boom, Past Rulai unleashed his trump card. The collapsed vortex exploded anew as boundless Hunyuan force surged forth without end.
The imperial tassel on Lu Yu's head fractured, and parts of his armor of heavenly light blasted apart. With a low roar, the entire void resonated. His hands formed fist seals, and stars emerged as if pantheons of gods descended in unison, charging forth alongside his fist light. Heavenly light materialized in boundless abundance, blanketing the sky.
At this moment, the True Dragon war chariot beneath Lu Yu's feet glowed in tandem. He was like an emperor of the mythic era reviving from dead silence.
The emotional ripples of the Six Imperials Patriarch manifested as terrifying celestial phenomena—wind, rain, thunder, and lightning—the shifting of the four seasons and the evolution of the stars unfolding in time with his breathing and his conviction.
An unprecedented confrontation erupted here.
Yet outside, nothing could be seen at all. Inside the Mist Sea, heavenly light incinerated the heavens like an endless catastrophe descending, drowning the place entirely in destructive energy and anomalous scenery.
In the mortal world, onlookers heard deafening roars that threatened to tear their eardrums, and some disciples even fainted dead away.
One could easily imagine just how horrifying this bloody clash between the two powerhouses within the Mist Sea truly was.
When the heavenly light subsided, Six Imperials' imperial tassel was shattered, and his armor had completely disintegrated, leaving only a few broken plates clinging to his body. He was drenched in blood from head to foot, riddled with wounds.
The True Dragon war chariot beneath his feet had utterly disintegrated, the phantom gods were reduced to a sparse few, and part of the Lingxiao Treasure Hall had collapsed.
The watching masters and disciples desperately wanted to cheer aloud, but feared being crushed to death in the Six Imperials Patriarch's grasp. With past lessons in mind, they reined in their excitement and kept their mouths clamped shut.
Yet on the battlefield, Past Rulai looked grave, without a shred of joy. Although he appeared to have wounded the Six Imperials Patriarch severely, he had paid a steep price himself.
On the surface, his body looked the same as before, but the Chaos force within was churning out of control. One misstep, and he would explode on the spot!
Past Rulai said, "You people truly managed to advance down that other path."
Back then, among the Newborn system of Night Province, the patriarchs had first developed Chaos force in order to blaze a path and break through the bottleneck. But it had consumed patriarchs at an appalling rate; nearly everyone who practiced this skill met a gruesome end.
Before their demises, those figures had conceived of another approach. The so-called Newborn path was suitable for most ordinary people, but standing out at the very peak required personal mutation.
Hence, after the silk book method met with setbacks, the patriarchs sought to modify several supreme methods, causing them to undergo "mutation" just as the practitioners on the Newborn path did.
In those days, Rulai force, Six Imperials force, Yuqing force, and others were all within the scope of their research.
Over the years, several of the Newborn path's highest heritages had indeed been modified and optimized, nearing mutation, but they were still far from their original ambition.
Yet right now, even after going all out with Chaos force, Past Rulai had still failed to defeat Lu Yu. Thus, he guessed that a fully mutated Six Imperials force might have truly come into being, one that was not inferior to his own heavenly light.
Lu Yu said, "Our approach has yet to reach full fruition. It only shows that your Hunyuan force has not reached great accomplishment."
"Nonsense!" Past Rulai hated hearing such words above all else.
Lu Yu showed no mercy: "If you had truly mastered it, you could have caused Hunyuan force to mutate once again and walked both paths concurrently. For all these years, you lot have dragged your feet without a single new achievement. It can only be said that you have contributed nothing more to the Newborn path!"
"Chaos force ranks first on the Newborn path, with scarcely a peer!" Past Rulai said in a heavy voice.
"Yet you cannot even kill me!" After adjusting his breathing, the Six Imperials Patriarch's blood-qi steamed, scattering the clouds in the night sky. His physical condition appeared to have recovered.
Past Rulai burned with inner anxiety, not daring to strike immediately, wanting to cool his blood. After taking a brief respite, he ground his teeth and cast the Golden Body Permanent Fixation Technique.
To sustain a high-intensity battle, he did not hesitate to employ a forbidden art, even knowing he would have to pay a grievous price afterward that might even endanger his life.
The Six Imperials Patriarch remarked, "Hunyuan force should have been stronger than what you're displaying now. However, you feared your body exploding, so you deliberately weakened it, and never dared to integrate the supreme true scriptures."
Casual and nonchalant, his simple words were like thunder crashing from the nine heavens into an abyss, tearing through the darkness. Past Rulai's expression changed repeatedly, his sore spot thoroughly exposed.
Past Rulai said in a grim voice, "Chaos force, Holy force, Heavenly God force—all are honorary titles, praise lavished upon it. Dangerous as this method is to both oneself and others, no one has ever dared to underestimate it. Since you dare to treat it with such contempt, fine! In this final clash, let us see how you break my technique!"
Lu Yu said, "What a pity that you never cultivated Chaos force to its pinnacle. I wonder if your master ever reached true perfection. As for his return, we are rather looking forward to it!"
Past Rulai asked coldly, "What do you mean by that? With the likes of you, how dare you face a living sage of this world?"
With that, he brought out his strongest methods. With his Golden Body permanently fixed, he disregarded all consequences, resolved to end the battle decisively in this clash.
Standing before the Past Hall, he formed nine great seal arts in an instant. His whole body swayed violently; even before striking, blood was already erupting from his pores.
Evidently, he was drawing on power far beyond his limits.
The nine great seal arts resonated, as though channeling the power within the Past Hall. He was executing a forbidden method, and at this moment, time itself seemed to flow backward.
The Six Imperials Patriarch naturally would not stand idly by and watch him cast his technique. He deployed his own supreme method. At this moment, bathed in Dao rhythms of yin and yang, life and death, light and darkness, he redonned his armor of heavenly light and stood before the Lingxiao Treasure Hall.
Rumble!
Around him, misty astral constellations appeared, mingled with strands of his own essence-blood. The Six Imperials force took on an aura of commanding the heavens and all creation, causing the entire Mist Sea to resonate in sympathy.
"Mottled time, sever the foundation of your past—cleave!" Past Rulai attacked. His low voice sounded like a curse, yet also as though he had genuinely reached back into the so-called "past time."
A terrifying power expanded everywhere, seeming poised to dismantle the foundation of the Six Imperials Patriarch's Dao attainment and cut away his roots.
This time, Lu Yu split into six forms, all appearing completely real. Six ancient emperors manifested at once, as if residing across different points in space-time.
Channeling the power of the Past Hall, Past Rulai's nine seal arts slashed down to kill.
Pfft!
Some of Lu Yu's manifested figures were slashed to pieces on the spot.
Immediately afterward, three figures in succession detonated again, reducing to nothingness!
Blood-red fissures crisscrossed Past Rulai's face as he broke into a grin, exceedingly grotesque.
Yet in the very next instant, his smile froze.
As long as a single one of the Six Imperials Patriarch's manifested figures remained undestroyed, all of them would instantly reconstitute.
There, the Six Imperials' bodies appeared in unison once more!
"The Six Emperors made real?" Past Rulai had heard of the Six Imperials' techniques and knew where their ultimate path of mutation led. The true meaning of the Six Imperials had multiple interpretations—it could signify six supreme domains, or specifically denote the Six Emperors.
Past Rulai had intended to wear him down by repeatedly cutting down the Six Emperors. However, even with the Golden Body Permanent Fixation Technique active, he could no longer endure it. His true body had exploded years ago, leaving behind unhealable Dao wounds; now, his blood was boiling like molten iron, threatening to burn clean through a physique that was already on the verge of splintering apart.
"Thinking of leaving? Take a strike from my Six Emperors Palm!" Lu Yu bellowed.
Once the six remarkably lifelike bodies manifested, they struck forward together, unleashing an incomparable power of heavenly light that seemed ready to blow the Mist Sea to pieces.
Past Rulai was furious. Chaos force was hailed as number one on the Newborn path, yet today he had been forced into dire straits by the Six Imperials Patriarch, facing the threat of his body exploding.
He had half a mind to fight another bloody round and stake his life against him.
However, when he caught sight of a seventh, more ethereal figure emanating a decayed aura, a chill ran down his spine.
He realized that the Six Imperials Patriarch had touched the seventh realm. Though unable to step into it completely, having made progress filled Past Rulai with immense dread.
"The mutated Six Imperials force... is formidable indeed!" Past Rulai was forced to admit.
Then he broke free from the Mist Sea, unwilling to fight to the death any longer; his wretched physical state simply would not permit him to drag this out.
Dao rhythms rumbled into motion as each of the six figures unleashed a Six Emperors Palm. Truly horrifying, at least one palm was always in position to intercept his retreat.
With a wet pfft, Past Rulai spat a mouthful of blood. Flesh was torn from his body, and bones even snapped, threatening to burst outward from his frame.
Past Rulai was shocked and enraged. When had he ever suffered such a devastating loss? He felt that if he fought to the bitter end, he could probably drag the other man to the grave with him.
Yet as he turned back, intending to stake his life, a violent shudder ran through him. He saw a tall, imposing figure striding forward—none other than his martial nephew, Present Rulai.
"Martial Uncle, it seems I overestimated your strength," Present Rulai said impassively.
Past Rulai's heart sank. Having tasted the mutated Six Imperials force, he had absolutely no desire to experience the mutated Rulai force!
He turned and fled. Present Rulai did not attack him, but Lu Yu's methods were unfathomable; across the Mist Sea, with a resounding boom, he struck Past Rulai with another palm, landing a solid hit.
Past Rulai groaned, his flesh and blood tearing apart and three shards of bone blasting out of his body.
And then, he saw Lu Yu and Present Rulai both gathering up his flesh, blood, and broken bones.
In addition, a scruffy old man emerged silently, also "scavenging."
Worse yet, Past Rulai noticed other experts lurking in the darkness—at least in the domain of formidable patriarchs—spying upon him.
Sure enough, when he took yet another Six Emperors Palm, more patriarchs of Night Province appeared. Not limited to the Newborn path, there seemed to be patriarchs of the esoteric sect and the immortal path as well, joining the scavengers to gather his flesh, blood, and bone fragments, intending to take them back for study.
Past Rulai noticed that Present Rulai, taking full advantage of his proximity, scavenged most diligently of all.
"A bunch of unfilial degenerates!" Past Rulai's scalp tingled. He already sensed pair after pair of eyes opening in the dark. He felt that the patriarchs of Night Province were all twisted freaks!
Chapter 387