The illusion receded, and the cloth-robed swordsman vanished. Upon the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, two more greatswords had appeared, each embodying the true intent of a sword technique, both equally capable of slaying a dharma idol.
Wei Yuan looked up at the lotus pillar. The charred body of the demon was no longer ferocious, bearing only an indescribable sorrow. She gazed up at the statue atop the pillar, wanting only to look upon her daughter one last time.
Wei Yuan suddenly understood what she and the cloth-robed swordsman had felt back then. The little girl had suffered so much torment that an early release would have been a mercy. Yet at the final moment, she had still wished for her daughter to live just a little longer, even if only for the briefest span. That inner struggle, that agony, was suffocatingly heavy.
In truth... it would be better to return.
Beneath the lotus pillar stood a jade platform, faintly glowing even now. Following the flow of yin qi, Ji Liuli eventually arrived before this jade platform. She reached out and tapped it, causing countless starlike motes of light to rise and form an exceptionally complex pattern.
As Ji Liuli examined it, fury suddenly flickered across her face. "This is the Esoteric Sect's Great Treasure Vase Undying Pure Land Reincarnation Array! It sounds high and mighty, but in truth, it binds souls within an undying pure land to slowly refine them away, never allowing them to reincarnate. Hmph, through all generations of the Esoteric Sect, not a single Dharma King who practiced this ever died well!"
Zhang Sheng was also astonished. "Restraining so many souls and barring them from entering samsara—isn't this usurping the authority of Heaven? How did he become an immortal? Did he not fear heavenly retribution?"
Ji Liuli's expression was peculiar. "Of course he wasn't afraid! Don't you find the layout here somewhat familiar?"
Everyone looked rather bewildered.
Ji Liuli said, "I spoke in anger and forgot none of you understand formations. Simply put, this is a Shaman sacrificial ground for offering to Heaven, and that statue is the altar."
Ji Liuli was referring to the eerie statue atop the lotus pillar, its hands raised high as if offering up something. In the illusion Wei Yuan had witnessed, the little girl had been lying upon the statue's hands; as it turned out, she was being offered as a sacrifice.
"The formation here was modified, and the one who arranged it was exceptionally brilliant. They made it so the souls bound in the square could see only the little girl, leading them to believe she was the culprit who severed their cycle of reincarnation. Everyone hated her. Using the formation to blind heavenly secrets, the architect shifted the great sin of usurping Heaven onto the little girl. Then, by sacrificing her, they returned the sinner to Heaven and Earth, thereby evading heavenly retribution. All the sin, karma, and punishment would fall squarely on her. Who knows how many lifetimes of reincarnation it would take to atone for it."
Ji Liuli's voice was suffocatingly low and heavy, ending in a lone sigh. "No wonder that monster was so difficult to deal with. Bound like this... it truly would have been better to die early on."
Sun Yu suddenly flared up in rage. "How unjust the Heavens are!"
Ji Liuli said, "Beneath the Heavenly Dao, there is neither right nor wrong. It cares nothing for justice or injustice."
Sun Yu could only rage in vain, cursing the thieving Heavens under his breath. Ever since his master's gruesome death, his temperament had changed considerably.
Ji Liuli added, "In a moment, I will reverse the great array to set these souls free. However, they have already fallen outside Heaven and Earth's cycle of reincarnation, which means they have no record in the cosmos and no anchor for existence. They cannot enter reincarnation again. Oh, this yin qi and resentment here—can you make use of it?"
Ji Liuli was asking Sun Yu. Sun Yu immediately shook his head. "If it had condensed from the intangible into physical substance, I might have made some use of it, but pure resentment is useless to me. I'm a physician, not a demonic cultivator."
"Then let it disperse, though there will be natural disasters nearby for years to come."
Wei Yuan frowned slightly, but then thought that the Qingming Domain should be able to suppress the leaking resentment.
Ji Liuli manifested the Nine-Layer Pagoda and placed it upon the jade platform. The pagoda once again radiated a hazy clear light, covering all the starlight and glowing lines upon the jade platform and replacing the platform as the formation's nexus.
Ji Liuli gripped the Nine-Layer Pagoda with both hands and turned it slowly. At this moment, the pagoda seemed to weigh tens of thousands of jun; turning it proved an immense strain.
The entire subterranean expanse suddenly shuddered. Across the square, countless chains glowing with eerie light emerged, crisscrossing and tightly sealing the entire area. As the Nine-Layer Pagoda turned, some of the chains pulled noticeably tauter, then snapped one after another.
As the chains broke apart, the souls of young boys and girls began to manifest. Expressions of panic and terror appeared on their pupil-less faces as they all raised their heads to look upward.
Even within the grotto-heaven, thunder faintly rumbled. These souls were no longer tolerated by Heaven and Earth; a thunder tribulation would soon descend to obliterate them all.
In life, these youths had been ignorant and bewildered, never knowing what it was to grow up. Now, having just broken free of their bonds and gained a fleeting moment of consciousness, they were forced to face a heavenly tribulation. The sole memory left of their existence would be perishing in the lightning. No, not even a memory would remain; things intolerable to Heaven and Earth were erased completely.
Wei Yuan sighed inwardly. If reincarnation truly existed, whoever had reincarnated into these youths must have failed to cultivate any virtue in their past lives.
More and more chains snapped. A dozen or so souls of young boys and girls drifted upward, ascending steadily, until a flash of lightning erupted just as they neared the dome, reducing them to wisps of smoke.
In one of the palaces along the perimeter, a dozen or so youths suddenly burst through the doors, only to collapse the instant they crossed the threshold, their bodies rotting away at once.
Now the formation accelerated its operation. Chains shattered in swaths, and vast crowds of souls drifted slowly into the air. Having gained their own consciousness, these spirits were terrified, darting about in a panic, yet inevitably floating upward all the same.
Sun Yu let out a sigh, unable to bear watching any longer.
Just then, an anomaly stirred within the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains—the door within the Jade Mountain slowly swung open!
Every spirit around seemed to sense something. Two of them moved extraordinarily fast, darting into the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains in an instant and throwing themselves into that door.
Snapping back to his senses, Wei Yuan immediately sealed his sea of consciousness, while Ji Liuli cast a layer of protection over him as well.
Ripples disturbed the black pool, and two soul bodies rose from the water. They appeared to be the two spirits that had just rushed through the door, yet now they were completely translucent. The dull stupor, rot, and sinister aura from before had vanished without a trace, as if they were reborn.
Still somewhat dazed, the two newborn spirits walked out from the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains of their own accord.
Wei Yuan sensed that if he wished, he could make them stop or command them to do something. However, at this moment, he wanted to see what these newborn spirits would do, so he did not interfere.
The newborn spirits each entered a hall along the perimeter of the square. Soon after, two youths walked out of the halls. They proceeded straight to the foot of the high terrace at the center of the square, knelt toward Wei Yuan, touched their foreheads to the ground, and remained motionless.
Sun Yu swept his divine sense over them and was instantly shocked. "They're alive?"
These two youths possessed vitality, consciousness, and complete souls. Though somewhat frail, by every measure they were living, breathing human beings.
The countless spirits hovering and struggling in midair seemed to sense something, and all of them flew toward Wei Yuan. The Nine-Layer Demon-Suppressing Pagoda blazed with radiant light, enveloping the entire high terrace and barring all the spirits outside.
One spirit accidentally grazed the light, let out a miserable shriek, and burned to ash.
Ji Liuli's face darkened, and she immediately dialed back the intensity of the light.
With that single strike, she had effectively killed a mortal, burdening herself with a trace of karma. Although the Hall of Heavenly Secrets possessed secret arts capable of suppressing or transferring away karma—whether from killing one mortal or tens of thousands—slaying a mortal without cause still left Ji Liuli feeling uncomfortable.
Now, upon touching the light of the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda, the spirits were merely injured rather than destroyed. Yet because of this, more and more spirits began throwing themselves against the light. They seemed to realize that if they could not pass through the barrier, they would be drawn into the lightning from above.
Ji Liuli shouted at Wei Yuan, "If you take them in, you will have to bear their karmic cause and effect! There are tens of thousands of them—even a True Monarch wouldn't dare! What's more, this reverses karma and usurps Heaven's authority. The curse upon you won't extend upward to the old ghost; instead, you alone will have to bear all their future karmic sin!"
This sounded like something with everything to lose and nothing to gain. Furthermore, being entangled in karma was the state an immortal body feared most.
By now, countless spirits had surrounded the terrace completely. In the light of the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda, innumerable faces pressed forward—some struggling, some terrified, some pleading.
Gazing at face after face, Wei Yuan suddenly said, "A single thought of mine decides whether tens of thousands live or tens of thousands die."
Ji Liuli said sternly, "They are not tolerated by Heaven and Earth; they were meant to die anyway! You didn't commit this sin!"
Wei Yuan sighed. "Yet now that I am here, they have a sliver of hope to live. If I have the means to grant them life and refuse, wouldn't that be no different from killing them?"
"Absolutely not! Do you still want to become an immortal or not?!" Ji Liuli said resolutely.
Wei Yuan turned to look at Zhang Sheng. Zhang Sheng stood with his hands behind his back and said calmly, "The path of predecessors is not necessarily the right course for our generation, nor must we observe the taboos of the ancients to the letter. Do as you wish. As your master, I will bear this karma and sin alongside you."
Ji Liuli flared up at once. "Like hell you can... How could you possibly bear it?!"
Zhang Sheng said, "It is merely that no one has done this before; that does not mean it cannot be done. If there is truly no path ahead, then forge one yourself."
Ji Liuli laughed in exasperation. "Forge a new Dao path? You really dare to dream! Which Dao path wasn't painstakingly explored over successive generations? You both had glorious paths to immortality before you—why must you entangle yourselves in all this karma?"
Zhang Sheng said slowly, "Our kind cultivates immense power within ourselves so that we may expand our realm and protect mortals. If one can abandon mortal kin for the sake of one's own immortal path, then even if you stand above the Thirty-Three Heavens one day, you will look around and see no one—across all the worlds of the myriad heavens, you would be the only immortal. What is the point of becoming such an immortal? To endure eternally, just to be all alone in the world?"
"You! ...I can't out-argue you, but this is still unacceptable! If worst comes to worst, I'll burn all these spirits to cinders!" Ji Liuli was fuming with rage.
Zhang Sheng suddenly smiled. "My great aspiration for the immortal path is actually rather vulgar: when one attains the Dao, even the chickens and dogs ascend to heaven."
Ji Liuli froze for a second, then snapped to awareness and said angrily, "Make yourself clear! Who's the chicken, and who's the dog?!"
With the tension somewhat diffused, Wei Yuan spoke up: "Eldest Senior Sister, I have already decided. Please withdraw the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda."
"I'll say it one more time: Heaven and Earth do not tolerate them. Helping them reincarnate will bring only karmic sin and zero merit. There is only harm and no benefit. Think carefully!"
Wei Yuan said, "In the days to come, I will lead them to open new frontiers and build a thriving, flourishing era. Even if they themselves bring no merit, the sect will have merit, and the human race will have merit."
Ji Liuli shot Wei Yuan a fierce glare. "Boaster!" Then, she withdrew the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda.
Countless spirits converged into a vast river, pouring into the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains and flying into that great door. Moments later, newborn spirits emerged one after another from the pool, heading toward the surrounding halls to return to their respective bodies.
One after another, young boys and girls broke free from the wooden niches. Though still somewhat stiff and dull, they instinctively walked to the foot of the terrace, knelt, prostrated themselves, and touched their foreheads to the ground before Wei Yuan.
The light within the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains dimmed slightly. Wei Yuan also felt an inexplicable heaviness weigh upon his body and mind, as if stained with a great deal of defilement. Yet gazing upon the tens of thousands of youths who had gained a new lease on life, he felt it was well worth it.
A faint, ethereal immortal sword brimming with the power of extinction suddenly appeared in Zhang Sheng's hand. He said, "No one is to speak a word of what happened today. Everyone, swear an oath upon this immortal sword of mine!"
In today's events, Wei Yuan had displayed the power to reincarnate others. This was usurping the authority of Heaven; if word ever leaked out, the consequences would be unimaginable. If nothing else, should a petty person grow envious and secretly report this matter in sacrifice to Heaven and Earth, thunder tribulation might fall upon Wei Yuan's head at any moment.
The cultivators all nodded, then simultaneously turned their heads to look at one person.
Perfected Chuhe immediately flew into a rage. "Why are you all looking at me?! Is this old Daoist the kind of person who can't keep his mouth shut?!"
Yet with Ji Liuli's Demon-Suppressing Pagoda in front of him and Feng Tingyu's broad saber behind him, after a frantic scuffle, the old Daoist was still forced to swear an oath upon his primordial spirit, forfeiting every shred of face a True Person of the Dharma Idol realm possessed.
With the formation destroyed and the multitude of yin spirits returned to their proper places, the immense sea of yin qi and resentment across the square had nowhere to go. It suddenly stirred with agitation, and like an eye forming at the center of a vortex, it all plunged toward the rear of the lotus pillar.
Everyone hurried over to inspect it, only to find that beneath the demon on the lotus pillar had been a pool of blood. Having witnessed the visions, Wei Yuan knew the blood had originally been tears of blood shed by the woman in her final moments. Even true fire could not burn it dry, filled as it was with boundless obsession and hatred.
Now, having absorbed all the yin qi, the blood transformed into a pool of deep water. Several lotus leaves slowly floated to the surface, and a single white lotus blossomed. Pure and flawless, though born from a place of supreme yin, supreme desolation, and supreme filth, it seemed the cleanest thing in all creation.
Old Daoist Chuhe's eyes went wide as saucers, his jaw dropping so wide it could swallow two steamed buns. Pointing at the white lotus, he stammered, "Th-This is the White Lotus of the Defiled Earth! To think it grows like this—unbelievable! How could anyone have ever imagined it? By the way, this is a supreme treasure of Heaven and Earth! It can break through cultivation bottlenecks, purify souls, elevate natural talent, and prolong life!"
Wei Yuan suddenly felt a wave of deep emotion. Xu Wangu had plotted meticulously for years, orchestrating such an enormous scheme, never realizing that the supreme medicine to prolong his life was right before his eyes all along.
Yet thinking back to the visions, perhaps at this moment, he no longer needed his life prolonged.
Chapter 289