Amid the towering peaks of Yingzhou, Buddhist Child Jijue stood alone where he was, still silently waiting for Xu Ying. He muttered under his breath, "Benefactor Ah Ying told me not to wander far, but where did he go—Great Mercy and Compassion Palm!"
He struck out with a palm, making the distant mountains quake and the earth tremble as an immortal corpse was obliterated by his Great Mercy and Compassion Palm.
In the Immortal Realm.
The Imperial Monarch looked at the only five runes remaining and said unhurriedly, "Zhongfu, do you know? When two immortal seals are layered together, each can only exert seventy to eighty percent of its sealing power. But once one seal is worn away completely, the power of the other gradually comes to the fore."
Hearing this, Jiang Zhongfu immediately understood his meaning and turned to look at another shrine.
Wreaths of smoke curled within that shrine, where eight other characters drifted.
Desolation, premature demise, perversity, sorrow; tyranny, cruelty, obstinacy, confusion!
Looking upon these eight characters, the Imperial Monarch said leisurely, "Now, it is time for these eight characters to exert their greatest potency. When a person becomes desolate, doomed to early death, perverse, sorrowful, tyrannical, cruel, obstinate, and confused, they will make blunders—and death will not be far behind."
Jiang Zhongfu was thoroughly convinced.
Standing upon the immortal mountain, Xu Ying felt waves of emotion surging within his chest. That handwriting belonged to his father. His father was still alive! He was no orphan!
Back then, he must have found his father, stolen Yingzhou away from the Immortal Realm with his own hands, and placed it in this realm so that his father could live here in peace.
"Wait! If Father is here, and Heavenly Monarch Pingnan brought the Corpse Ghost Immortal Domain here as well, scouring everywhere for Young Master Ningqing's whereabouts, what if Father's life is put in jeopardy...?"
Cold sweat rolled down Xu Ying's forehead. His expression flickered between light and dark as a surge of murderous intent rose within him.
"Father lived here in peace all this time, yet he left so abruptly. It must be these intruders disturbing my father's tranquility, frightening him into hiding. These people deserve to die!"
He reached out, grabbed the Buddha Ancestor's prayer beads, and activated them without a second thought.
The prayer beads soared into the air, growing larger and larger, their coverage expanding wider and wider. This treasure had been refined and consecrated by the Buddha Ancestor himself, possessing unfathomable divine might; it could not only save lives, but also purge all evil qi and demonic miasma!
Buddhist Child Jijue looked up to see one hundred and eight prayer beads expanding over an immortal mountain, forming a colossal ring. Their expanse stretched wider and wider until, in the blink of an eye, they resembled one hundred and eight planets floating above Yingzhou, blanketing who knew how many tens of thousands of li across heaven and earth!
"Benefactor Ah Ying truly has affinity with our Buddhist sect!" Buddhist Child Jijue marveled inwardly, a smile gracing his face.
These prayer beads clearly came from his teacher, refined by the Buddha Ancestor. That Xu Ying had obtained them meant he must be the destined person chosen by the Buddha Ancestor to help the Buddhist sect rise once more and make the Buddhadharma flourish.
"Benefactor Ah Ying has a kind heart; one glance shows he is a man of great virtue—"
Just as the thought crossed his mind, Xu Ying fully awakened the Buddha Ancestor's imprint contained within the prayer beads. Instantly, Buddhist chanting surged like a roaring tide, and Buddhist light bathed the world as each bead blazed like a scorching sun!
One hundred and eight prayer beads hung in the sky like one hundred and eight suns radiating Buddhist brilliance. Under their shining rays, no matter where the immortal corpses hid, all of them melted away like ice and snow exposed to the blazing sun, letting out shrieks of agony as their flesh dissolved and turned to withered bones!
Even those of formidable cultivation, such as the corpses and ghosts of Immortal Kings, could barely hold out for long before such a potent Buddhist treasure!
Buddhist Child Jijue immediately noticed something amiss. Though brimming with thriving Buddhadharma and profound mysteries, the prayer beads were actually steeped in ferocious hostility.
This hostile energy did not originate from the beads, but from the beads' master!
Under the beads' coverage, even Buddhist Child Jijue felt as if the Buddhist light pouring from them were trying to refine him away!
"Benefactor Ah Ying's condition seems wrong!"
Far in the distance, Sword Monarch Jinhe could not help frowning. He too sensed the hostile energy emanating from the prayer beads, which was actually trying to suppress and refine him as well!
His aura surged, his sword qi slicing through the Buddhist light, and he murmured, "The young man who wields that supreme sword qi—something is amiss with him. How could someone with sword qi as mighty as his have his Dao heart swayed by another?"
At the same time, numerous immortal corpses leaped into the air in succession, attempting to flee the beads' domain. Yet the prayer beads were their natural bane; no sooner did they take flight than the Buddhist light refined them, dissolving their flesh into dry skeletons!
Suddenly, an immortal corpse lord withstood the refining power of the beads' light and charged into the sky, throwing punch after punch toward the prayer beads. He struck them upward one by one, scattering the Buddhist light into disarray!
Xu Ying snorted coldly. Taking an effortless stride, he arrived before the corpse lord in virtually a single step. He overturned his hand and pressed down a palm, sending the Five Sacred Immortal Mountains crashing down to briefly impede the corpse lord's movements.
The corpse lord billowed with towering corpse qi. An immortal bodhimanda enveloped him, with Dao chains whirling and dancing to prop up the Five Sacred Immortal Mountains, preventing them from falling.
Yet in the next breath, the one hundred and eight prayer beads shrank rapidly. Holding the beads in his left hand, Xu Ying charged ferociously into the creature's bodhimanda!
The corpse lord roared like thunder, utterly enraged. A mere Qi Refiner—even if he was Xu Ying—dared not underestimate an Immortal Monarch, even a dead one!
Bead after bead swatted aside the Dao chains. The prayer beads circled and danced around Xu Ying; though each bead appeared small, every one of them weighed more than a star, smashing the Dao chains in all directions and ushering Xu Ying straight into the bodhimanda!
The corpse lord's corpse qi was thoroughly suppressed by the Buddhist light. Like an enraged Buddha, Xu Ying engaged the corpse lord in close-quarters combat!
Various divine powers detonated between them. Even though Xu Ying's physical body had been reforged by the Qi of Creation, it still could not rival the corpse of an Immortal Monarch; in close combat, he could only rely on the power of the prayer beads to stand against him!
Suddenly, clear qi burst from the crown of Xu Ying's head, splitting into three Xu Yings who also brandished prayer beads and charged in unison.
Xu Ying's true body stepped back, letting the three Heaven and Earth Primordial Spirits hold off the corpse lord.
The corpse lord was incomparably ferocious. Enduring the blows of the prayer beads, he blasted all three Xu Yings apart with three deafening booms. But right at that moment, the Water-Fire Huntian Cauldron flew forth, harmonizing water and fire, and swallowed him into its depths!
Xu Ying seized the prayer beads, smashed them into the cauldron, and spurred their divine might.
The corpse lord rammed violently within the cauldron. His peerless combat strength nearly battered the Water-Fire Huntian Cauldron to pieces, raising palm prints and fractures across the cauldron walls!
This treasure was a Heavenly Dao supreme treasure containing all three thousand Heavenly Dao runes, tempered by forty thousand years of incense and reforged by Xu Ying using the Qi of Creation. Its might was so formidable that even if all the Heavenly Dao divine artifacts of the Heavenly Dao world attacked together, they might not surpass it.
Yet the corpse lord inside had nearly punched through this Heavenly Dao supreme treasure!
Xu Ying pushed the prayer beads with all his might. Incomparably ferocious though the corpse lord was, he remained suppressed by the beads and was refined to death right then and there!
The moment the corpse lord perished, the prayer beads flew from the cauldron and hung once more in the sky, just as vast as before. Wherever their light reached, all immortal corpses were refined away!
Xu Ying suddenly spun around, his expression turning vicious as he sneered, "I rescued you from dark spacetime, yet instead of thinking of repaying me, you want to oppose me too, is that it?"
He flipped his hand and pressed down a seal. It was none other than Lord Lao's Eight Trigrams Furnace tumbling into the mortal realm, turning into the Eight Desolations Sun Refining Furnace—a boundless sea of fire bearing roaring flames that crashed down toward Buddhist Child Jijue!
"The Sea of Dharma is Boundless!"
Buddhist Child Jijue shouted, his sleeves snapping as he met the Eight Desolations Sun Refining Furnace. The divine powers of Buddhism and Daoism collided, sending terrible shockwaves tearing in all directions, slicing a thin rift through the sky!
Fortunately, this was Yingzhou, a fragment of the Immortal Realm where heaven and earth were remarkably sturdy; had this occurred in the mortal realm below, it would have brought apocalyptic catastrophe!
Jijue was jolted until his blood surged unsteadily, and he felt a jolt of shock. *Even after suffering severe injuries against that corpse lord, Benefactor Ah Ying possesses such terrifying combat strength! At his peak, he would surely be no weaker than me! Body sacrifice—*
He leaped forward, darting out from the sea of fire of the Eight Desolations Sun Refining Furnace, leaving behind Buddhist clone bodies within the flames to perish in his stead.
He closed in on Xu Ying, only to be met by a deathly stillness capable of extinguishing ten thousand Daos, forcing Jijue to fly backward to evade the impact of the deathly aura.
It was the Zhuxian sword qi. Even though he was a disciple of the Buddha Ancestor who had received the true transmission of the Buddha Ancestor and the teachings of the Buddhas, he still had no choice but to retreat before the Zhuxian sword qi.
If he did not retreat, then no matter how profound his Buddhadharma, he would surely face death!
*If I cannot get close, I cannot help him neutralize that energy of desolation, perversity, tyranny, and cruelty!* Jijue grew terribly anxious. Catching sight of the Buddha Ancestor's prayer beads, he thought, *World-Honored One above, please lend these prayer beads to your disciple's use!*
The string of prayer beads suddenly trembled. Jijue was just about to rejoice when the beads went completely still.
He had no idea that these prayer beads had once been dissolved into Xiantian One Qi inside the Jade Plate of Returning to the Dao. Although Xu Ying had later restored them along with the Buddha Ancestor's imprint, Xu Ying had also stamped them full of tally marks, imprinting them over and over.
Naturally, Xu Ying's imprint could not match the Buddha Ancestor's, but the Buddha Ancestor was far away at the ends of heaven, while Xu Ying was right here at hand. Even the Buddha Ancestor could do nothing about this string of prayer beads.
Jijue fought his way close to Xu Ying once more, but before he could close the distance, he was first suppressed by the beads and then assailed by Xu Ying, making the struggle exceedingly arduous.
Suddenly, a sword light swept in like a golden river, surging turbulently and holding back the prayer beads.
Xu Ying gave the prayer beads a hard shake. The one hundred and eight beads scattered, each expanding to the size of a planet, parting the golden river and shattering countless sword qi. He sneered, "Sword Monarch Jinhe, do you want to oppose me as well?"
Sword Monarch Jinhe appeared in a flash, holding the Jinhe Sword in one hand. Marvelling at the beads' might, he deflected them with a casual stroke and said, "You clearly possess supreme sword intent, so why let your heart be sealed and your mind clouded? Why not shatter it with sword qi?"
The sword light in his hand exploded, transforming into a towering sword domain bodhimanda. Millions of immortal sword qi converged into a roaring torrent, weaving up and down, left and right, parrying the prayer beads assailing him from all directions.
Sword Monarch Jinhe strode forward until he stood before Xu Ying, calling out, "Attack me with your supreme sword qi, and I will show you how to break the enemy's underhanded scheme!"
His sword intent came surging forth toward Xu Ying, provoking Xu Ying into a furious roar as he raised the Zhuxian sword qi and thrust it at Sword Monarch Jinhe!
Sword Monarch Jinhe surged his sword domain bodhimanda and held the Jinhe Sword in a reverse grip. The instant he slipped past the Zhuxian sword qi, he merged his Jinhe Sword with the Zhuxian sword qi.
Though the Zhuxian sword qi was suppressed by his bodhimanda for a fleeting instant, the peerless murderous intent within it surged forth. Even though Sword Monarch Jinhe was the foremost sword cultivator of the Immortal Realm, the impact still shook his Primordial Spirit and damaged his sword heart.
The Jinhe Sword in his hand was also pressured into emitting faint cracking sounds—a sign that an immortal artifact could not bear the Great Dao and was on the verge of destruction!
Forcibly suppressing the urge to let go, Sword Monarch Jinhe wove his sword into clouds and thrust forth, the sharp tip of his sword light tapping squarely between Xu Ying's brows.
In the Immortal Realm, within the manor of Immortal King Jiang Zhongfu.
The Imperial Monarch looked at the eight characters in the shrine with a faint smile. Just as he was about to rise, the characters for obstinacy and confusion suddenly exploded! A peerless sword intent burst from those two characters, arriving before the Imperial Monarch's brow in the very next instant!
The smile froze on the Imperial Monarch's face. He flew backward and immediately dodged to the side!
The sword qi formed of supreme murderous intent sheared straight downward, grazing his body. The mighty sword qi split the Immortal King's manor open, cleaving the gates and several immortals of the household in two!
The surging sword qi tore through the Immortal King's manor, and with a resonant hum, a beam of sword light over a hundred li long slashed down, cleaving into the Immortal Court and splitting several immortal palaces apart.
A clattering roar echoed as, wherever that sword qi passed, all vegetation was shredded and immortal palaces collapsed!
With an ashen face, the Imperial Monarch walked out of the Immortal King's manor, only to see—
Having refined the corpse lord to death, Xu Ying had suffered heavy depletion of his vitality and injury to his Primordial Spirit from the shattering of his One Qi Transforming into Three Purities, leaving him in a daze. Yet he still drove the prayer beads as hard as he could, flying toward other regions.
"Benefactor Ah Ying, something is wrong with your condition!"
Buddhist Child Jijue flew through the air, calling out loudly, "You seem to be affected by some wicked art! If you encounter a formidable foe again, you will surely perish!"
Xu Ying's eyes were already crimson with bloodlust. In his mind, he had hidden his father here on Yingzhou; if any intruder harmed his father, he would regret it for the rest of his days.
How could he care about anything else? He wished only to slaughter everyone who had entered Yingzhou. Jijue's words did not reach his ears in the slightest, and he shouted, "Get away!"
Jijue suddenly felt the pressure mount drastically as one of the prayer beads bore down on him, leaving him breathless. He channeled the orthodox Buddhist arts, and a ten-thousand-zhang Buddha manifested behind him, propping up the descending bead. Enduring the crushing weight of the prayer bead, Jijue rose into the air and shouted, "Benefactor Ah Ying, I possess a technique passed down by the Buddha Ancestor that can help you dispel this wicked art! Signlessness and Wishlessness!"
He let out a great roar. The Buddhist sound was deafening, striking straight at the heart and surging into the depths of Xu Ying's Dao heart, attempting to help him unravel the eight-character seal of desolation, premature demise, perversity, sorrow, tyranny, cruelty, obstinacy, and confusion.
Where the sword qi had cleaved its path, all vegetation was shredded, and immortal palaces and grand halls collapsed!
With an ashen face, the Imperial Monarch walked out of the Immortal King's manor, only to see that his own Xianwu Palace had also been split open by the sword qi. Its grand gates groaned, slowly toppling to either side.
"Such ability cannot belong to Xu Ying. It must be someone who has comprehended supreme sword dao assisting him, giving me a demonstration of power!"
The Imperial Monarch's expression grew ever more somber. In all the world, there was only one person capable of such a feat.
"Sword Monarch Jinhe, haven't you had enough grief dealt to you? How dare you provoke me! Don't even dream of ever returning to the Immortal Realm!"
Chapter 432