Ruyi Great Luo

As the immortal raft flew between the immortal and mortal realms, Emperor Chonghua suddenly saw a streak of golden light surge into the air. It shot past the raft, hurtling along the Heavenly River, and then seemed to pierce right through a barrier, vanishing from sight! The golden light moved with such blistering speed that even the immortal raft was left far behind. The two aboard the raft were dumbfounded, having no idea what that golden light could possibly be to move so fast. Xiyue looked toward the spot breached by the golden light. A strange, unfamiliar world met her eyes, its entrance rapidly shrinking and on the verge of closing up entirely. In all her forty to fifty thousand years of running the smuggling trade across the Heavenly River, she had never known there was another pocket of heaven and earth hidden within it! Alas, that world sealed shut too quickly and disappeared. "Did you hear a bell toll just now?" Emperor Chonghua asked. Unsettled and full of doubt, Xiyue shook her head. Her cultivation was inferior to Emperor Chonghua's, so she had not caught any sound from within the golden light. Emperor Chonghua took on an odd expression and said, "A moment ago, I thought I heard the tolling of a bell from inside that golden light—clang, clang, clang—as if it were swaying left and right." Puzzled, he wondered, *Could a bell have gone flying through the void? What sort of bell possesses such astonishing speed?* With the Three Realms Tide approaching, far too many strange things were happening. He did not pay the matter further heed. Inside that streak of golden light, the big bell hovered above Xu Ying's head, tolling away. It was only doing so because Daoist Wukong flew so fast that the violent turbulence sent it rocking back and forth. Before Xu Ying's eyes, a kaleidoscope of lights flashed by in a brilliant blur. He had no way of knowing how fast they were traveling or where they were headed. Suddenly, the golden light came to a halt. Daoist Wukong said with a laugh, "Little Friend Xu, I've been pondering this these past few days. I gave Qingbi three lotus seeds, but that little girl wasn't the main force who saved me; you're my true savior. So whatever I give you cannot be inferior to what she received." After obtaining the three lotus seed Dao fruits, Fairy Qingbi's cultivation, strength, and Dao attainments had advanced by leaps and bounds, allowing her to ascend directly to immortality without enduring a tribulation. Her Dao foundation had grown far more stable as well, granting her benefits so immense that countless people envied her. Xu Ying surveyed his surroundings. All around was a desolate, empty expanse of ruined, rotting heaven and earth. The sky hung like a spiderweb riddled with thousands of holes, and the land was shattered to pieces—a scene of universal decay and death. There was also an evil, sinister aura here that made Xu Ying profoundly uneasy. That foul malice kept trying to seep into his Dao heart, as if attempting to awaken something within him. The big bell floated up and gave a single loud clang. Instantly, vast swathes of the sky were obliterated, and the earth splintered apart, churning into continuous quakes of earth, water, wind, and fire. Torrential floods rose to the heavens, and winds fueled towering blazes, instantly destroying thousands of li of space! The big bell was startled and blurted out, "Trying to scam me?! This is a setup, isn't it? I'm not taking the blame for this!" Xu Ying was also startled. The hidden pocket of space within the Heavenly River had become more fragile than porcelain; the slightest carelessness threatened to reduce it to ash! "I spent quite a while figuring out what kind of decent gift to give you, so I checked your body and Primordial Spirit," Daoist Wukong said with a sigh. "And what a look that was! Turns out Taiqing, Yuxu, and the Void Emperor have already bestowed benefits upon you. That put me in a tight spot. I couldn't very well be stingier than the Demon Ancestor, could I? I thought about it back and forth, and if I just gave you three lotus seeds too, people would surely mock me for it. So I wandered around everywhere, checking to see who still had treasures to spare." Xu Ying blinked. What did he mean, "checking to see who still had treasures"? Daoist Wukong broke into a beaming smile. "Who would have thought I'd actually find something! Right here! Don't look down on this place—it's the bodhimanda of a Great Luo Golden Immortal named Xiao Lanshan. In my era, he was a famous figure, though he committed countless atrocities and was renowned as a monstrous titan of the heretical path. Yet his power was truly formidable, and he actually managed to cultivate himself into a Great Luo Golden Immortal! Normally, a Great Luo Golden Immortal's bodhimanda isn't all that special, but this place is out of the ordinary. It wasn't built out of just any random space he stumbled across." Only now did Xu Ying notice that wisps of wondrous pristine qi were rising where the bell's chime had shattered the surroundings, slowly restoring the broken world to its original state. He couldn't help but marvel. This world had clearly rotted to such an extreme degree, yet it could still repair itself—truly bizarre. "Even though Xiao Lanshan walked a wicked path, he was exceptionally remarkable," Daoist Wukong said, flying forward. "Who knows where in the cosmos he collected a mass of innate qi to forge into a Great Luo bodhimanda, imprinting his own Great Dao within it in an attempt to achieve immortality and imperishability. Sadly, he died anyway. Looking at how decayed this world is, he must have met with the Dao weeping just before his death. His Great Dao fractured and collapsed, and even this innate qi couldn't keep him alive and imperishable." Daoist Wukong did not understand much about the Dao weeping. When the Dao weeping occurred, he was already sitting motionless before the great chasm of the Supreme Realm, mesmerized by the Supreme Dao. In truth, Daoist Wukong had effectively slept for hundreds of thousands of years, only to wake to a world where everything had changed. It was only after seeking out a few old acquaintances for a "heart-to-heart" that he learned of the Dao weeping, though he remained hazy on the specifics. "Xiao Lanshan was a grandmaster of the wicked path, hailed as the Heretical Patriarch. His cultivation could shake heaven and earth, but his Dao heart fell slightly short, and he was wept to death by the Dao weeping," Daoist Wukong said with a grin. "Since then, this Great Luo bodhimanda forged from innate qi has been masterless land. A gentleman pursues wealth through proper means, and following the principle of 'finders, keepers,' this Great Luo bodhimanda belongs to me. Now, I give this bodhimanda to you..." Before he could finish, violent tremors erupted from the depths of the bodhimanda. Wicked qi billowed out as an ancient, evil consciousness slowly stirred awake. "Who dares trespass upon my Great Luo Heaven?" That consciousness was profound and immensely powerful. The moment it revived, the world repeatedly collapsed and reconstituted itself! Destruction and rebirth occurred in a mere heartbeat! In an instant, the rotting realm turned lush and verdant. Mountain ranges rose from the earth one after another, surrounded by the sweet song of birds, fragrant blossoms, lush vegetation, blue skies, white clouds, babbling brooks, and cascading waterfalls. Everything sprang to life, transforming what was once a devastated ruin into a paradise on earth in the blink of an eye! Yet in the very next instant, the world collapsed once more, and all Daos withered away! The moment Xu Ying and the big bell brushed against that consciousness, their minds went groggy, and they felt as though the Great Dao divine powers they cultivated were about to fracture and be destroyed! Evidently, though this wicked powerhouse had perished during the Dao weeping, he was not completely dead! Xu Ying's Dao attainments were extraordinarily high. For someone to make even him feel his cultivated Dao and divine powers were on the verge of ruin, their depth had to be unfathomable! "Daoist Wukong, this isn't masterless land!" Xu Ying said hurriedly. "We should leave at once!" Daoist Wukong stepped forward and said, "Wait just a moment. It'll be masterless very soon." He muttered to himself, "What a buzzkill. Xiao Lanshan isn't thoroughly dead yet. It really is too hard for a Great Luo Golden Immortal to die completely..." The big bell whispered, "Ah Ying, this Senior Wukong seems a bit unreliable. There's clearly still an owner here." Before it could finish speaking, a terrifying surge of divine consciousness churned at the center of the Great Luo bodhimanda. In an instant, it coalesced into an innate divinity towering between heaven and earth, its entire body composed of the Great Dao—a so-called Dao god, likely created by the Great Luo Golden Immortal Xiao Lanshan out of the innate qi. The aura radiating from this Dao god suppressed heaven and earth, far more terrifying than any immortal Xu Ying had ever encountered. All the vital qi, divine consciousness, yin and yang qi, and Primordial Spirit within Xu Ying's body were entirely suppressed. The entity raised a hand. Looking up at the lines across its palm, Xu Ying saw the myriad phenomena of the cosmos mirrored within the print! *Whoosh!* The palm came crashing down toward them. The world of the Great Luo bodhimanda collapsed in its wake, everything obliterating into dust! That sinister voice rang out in excitement: "My Great Dao was polluted, but you arrived at just the right time! I shall use your flesh to be reborn! Great Luo Heaven Annihilation Art, myriad forms converge into one, flesh and blood brought to life!" A wave of wicked daoist methods swept over them. Xu Ying felt the flesh and blood throughout his body stir restlessly, seemingly about to sprout in every direction and merge with the surrounding world! Daoist Wukong was smaller than Xu Ying, appearing quite diminutive, yet he simply raised a hand to meet the peerless strike of Xiao Lanshan's Dao god. He chuckled, "A petty trick." *Boom!* The colossal Dao god's hand broke inch by inch, its massive form shattering repeatedly until it was thoroughly eradicated. Daoist Wukong leaped into the air and punched into the hiding place of Xiao Lanshan's remnant divine consciousness, obliterating the area and sweeping through every scrap of consciousness inside and out. Instantly, Xu Ying felt the evil pressure dissipate. The Great Luo bodhimanda beneath his feet shook violently, as if a behemoth were crashing through the depths of the earth, accompanied by Daoist Wukong's distant shouts. "Are you going to die or not? Fellow Daoist Xiao, will you just die already?!" Xu Ying and the big bell were horrified. A moment later, the golden ape in yellow robes walked back toward them, grinning from afar. "Rest easy, Little Friend Xu. It's masterless land now." Xu Ying ventured cautiously, "Senior Xiao, that wicked Golden Immortal...?" Daoist Wukong said regretfully, "He couldn't pull through the Dao weeping. His Great Dao decayed in the crying, reduced to dust. Just look at how ruined his Great Luo Heaven is, and you'll know how terrible his plight was back then. Fellow Daoist Xiao truly died a miserable death." Xu Ying and the big bell could only mumble noncommittally. Daoist Wukong chuckled. "Your cultivation realm is still far from the level where your Great Dao can imprint upon a Great Luo Heaven. Fortunately, this is an unowned Great Luo Heaven. You can imprint your own Dao images and Dao runes into this innate Great Luo, refining it into your very own." Xu Ying hesitated. "My cultivation realm is so far behind. Will I actually be able to leave an imprint?" Daoist Wukong laughed. "If it were an intact Great Luo Heaven, you wouldn't stand a chance. But because this world has decayed, it's actually much easier to brand. Your imprints will also serve to repair this Great Luo Heaven. As your Dao attainments reinforce it, the Great Luo Heaven will gradually stabilize. Give it a try!" Xu Ying immediately unfolded his Domain of Seven Immortals. Having opened seven cave-heavens, each harboring different powers, he now possessed the power of life and death beyond his original Domain of Six Immortals. He imprinted the various Dao images contained within the Domain of Seven Immortals onto the surrounding world. Sure enough, the rotting realm began to reinforce itself, and some of the fissures slowly healed under the influence of his Dao images. Even more wondrous, this barren, desolate place began to show a hint of emerald green alongside Xu Ying's imprinting, gradually stirring with vitality. Xu Ying then branded the three thousand Heavenly Dao runes into this innate Great Luo. The world consolidated further, the Heavenly Dao began to circulate, and daoist principles gradually flowed through the realm. Daoist Wukong let out a breath and chuckled, "Little Friend Xu, your kindness to me has now been repaid! I'm off!" *Swish!* He transformed into a streak of golden light, pierced through the void, and vanished from the Great Luo Heaven. "Senior Wukong, wait!" Xu Ying called out, but Daoist Wukong had long since disappeared and didn't hear a word. Standing within the Great Luo Heaven, Xu Ying muttered, "You haven't told me how I'm supposed to return to the Ancestral Court..." Hanging high above, the big bell vibrated and suddenly chimed, "Ah Ying, do you think that Great Luo Golden Immortal named Xiao Lanshan is thoroughly dead?" Xu Ying couldn't say for sure. "He should be, right? He suffered the Dao weeping, his Great Dao was shattered, and Daoist Wukong just beat him like that. He ought to be dead no matter what..." At this, he couldn't help shivering and cast a wary glance around. All remained calm; Xiao Lanshan's consciousness did not suddenly reemerge. Xu Ying dared not dawdle. He redoubled his efforts to imprint his Great Dao, branding all his comprehension of the various Daos into this innate Great Luo Heaven. He had comprehended the bodhimandas of five ancient beings: the Taiqing Bodhimanda, Yuxu Bodhimanda, Xuandu Bodhimanda, Nether Sea Bodhimanda, and Xuanhuang Bodhimanda. As for Chaos, though he had never found a Chaos bodhimanda, he had comprehended the Chaos Mud Pill Palace, intuitively grasped its profound Dao wonders, and opened the Immortal Realm Mud Pill cave-heaven. Adding his insight into the power of life and death, that made seven Dao wonders in total. Although Xu Ying's seven Dao wonders gave him Dao attainments comparable to a Heavenly Monarch's, the restrictions of his realm prevented him from unleashing their full power. Now, while imprinting this innate Great Luo, he suddenly felt that this realm was the very path he had been searching for all along—the path he had been trying to forge on his own! His Dao attainments were too high while his realm was too low, preventing him from bringing his true power to bear. But with this innate Great Luo branded with seven Dao wonders, wouldn't he be able to leverage the full strength of his attainments? His heart pounded. If he went on to comprehend the wonders of Dao strength, the void, and Primordial Hunyuan Taiyi, could he imprint those into the Great Luo Heaven as well, giving expression to all ten Dao wonders? Xu Ying imprinted the innate Great Luo over and over, steadily stabilizing his marks. The big bell also felt the Dao wonders flooding into the area, making it feel as though it were in an immortal paradise. These were the profound mysteries of the Great Dao that Xu Ying had grasped. Usually, when Xu Ying explained them, the principles felt dry, tedious, and difficult to comprehend. Here, however, it found that understanding the Dao was unimaginably easier than before! Such was the function of a bodhimanda. At this moment, this innate Great Luo served as Xu Ying's Great Luo bodhimanda, allowing the big bell to achieve twice the results with half the effort while comprehending various daoist methods. Without realizing it, several dozen days passed as Xu Ying remained there, refining the innate Great Luo countless times until his imprint was thoroughly anchored. *Staying here forever isn't an option. How do I get out?* The moment the thought crossed his mind, the ground beneath his feet vanished. Opening his eyes, he found himself hovering above the Heavenly River, the waters surging and coursing endlessly below. Xu Ying stared blankly, murmuring, "How do I get back in?" *Whoosh!* His figure reappeared inside the Great Luo bodhimanda. Xu Ying was both surprised and delighted, but soon felt a bit troubled. *This Great Luo bodhimanda has everything going for it, but it's just too vast. Every time I want to enter, I'd have to travel to the Heavenly River and spend time searching for it. If only I could carry it with me...* The moment that thought surfaced, he found himself outside the innate Great Luo once more. That mass of innate qi had turned into a halo resting behind his head. The big bell hung in the center of the halo, deep in comprehension, breathing and exhaling rhythmically. Xu Ying turned his head, and the innate Great Luo turned with him. The movement caused the bell to ring out in soft peals, yet because it was currently within the innate Great Luo bodhimanda, the tolls sounded as if they came from unimaginably far away. "A Great Luo bodhimanda forged from innate qi truly answers every wish! Why not call it the Ruyi Great Luo Heaven!"