Chapter 466

In the chaos void, there was no concept of time.

A person and a dragon fought each other until they went mad.

Whether the gods of Jiuzhou or the gods of foreign lands, in the end they all share a common trait: indestructibility through myriad calamities.

The battle between the Responding Dragon and Mu Yi was flesh to flesh, blade to blade drawing blood, yet to both sides it was nothing.

In countless clashes, the person and the dragon were constantly being destroyed and constantly healing.

In the chaos void, the raging wind and sudden rain remained as before, yet they were now worlds apart.

The Responding Dragon showed an unprecedentedly miserable state.

The broken dragon horn, the shattered scales, and even the severed dragon claw all indicated the fierceness of the battle.

Upon its endless body, several deep wounds down to the bone sprayed hot blood recklessly, and an extreme will clung to the wounds, preventing them from healing.

Its once holy and slender body was now riddled with wounds, and even one eye had been hacked blind.

Mu Yi, standing opposite the Responding Dragon, was no better off—in fact, even more miserable.

His six arms now had five broken, his three heads had two skulls smashed, the Responding Dragon's power likewise restricted his recovery, his bones shattered repeatedly, and almost no part of his body remained intact.

It looked utterly horrific, yet his aura grew even more formidable.

Both sides held nothing back in this bloody battle.

In this fierce clash, Mu Yi once hovered on the brink of death, repeatedly jumping back and forth across the line between life and death.

If he hadn't grasped a deeper truth of reincarnation, Mu Yi would have already perished; of course, the reason he can barely cling to life now is inseparable from the Tiger Soul Blade in his hand.

The Tiger Soul Blade ceaselessly devoured the Responding Dragon's blood, transforming it into barbaric vital energy, and ceaselessly infused it into Mu Yi, allowing him to hold on until now.

As for the price, the Dragon Scale gradually sprouting on Mu Yi's face is a price; absorbing the Responding Dragon's bloodline, even as an incarnation, has substantially impacted Mu Yi's own bloodline.

Yet Mu Yi paid no heed to these changes; his sole intact right hand gripped the Tiger Soul Blade and savagely chopped toward the Responding Dragon.

"Not bad, Mu kid!" Bai Ze happily appreciated this battle.

Mu Yi was like a lump of iron embryo; under the hammer named Responding Dragon, he constantly shattered his inherent state, reformed into a new state, and continually solidified in this process.

Compared to the beginning, Mu Yi's abilities have begun to fuse.

Mu Yi's learning was too mixed, he knew too much; although he had his own understanding, compared to those Great Daos, it was too shallow and thin, fundamentally insufficient to form a system of its own.

But facing the six-sided, off-the-charts Responding Dragon, everything Mu Yi had learned began to integrate and penetrate.

If one says that at first Mu Yi's internal powers were independent, and using them was merely a simple one-plus-one, then now all his powers have gathered together, beginning to produce a special chemical reaction.

"It's coming!" Bai Ze became excited, focusing all his attention on Mu Yi.

What he had been waiting for was this moment; after the mingled powers fused and penetrated, they would transform into something entirely new, and this unknown fascinated Bai Ze.

"Reincarnation Calamity!"

The Six Paths realms expanded simultaneously, layer upon layer of mandala patterns lit up, and in an instant they became indistinguishable, forming a expanse of chaotic void.

Endless reincarnation power surged from the barrier, pouring into the Tiger Soul in Mu Yi's hand, as if it were the supreme authority of reincarnation, and in an instant Mu Yi grasped the materialized concept of reincarnation.

True reincarnation.

With a single stroke, myriad principles shattered together; the power of reincarnation severed everything—time, fate, matter, both tangible and intangible—all snapped violently at this moment, and the world wailed beneath the Tiger Soul Blade.

The unstoppable reincarnation arrived, and even an indestructible body through myriad calamities was swallowed.

Instantly, blood sprayed across the heavens!

That nearly materialized concept of reincarnation, along the damage split by the blade, drilled into the Responding Dragon's massive body.

So-called reincarnation rebirth is merely one new life after another.

Past deeds utterly severed, once again descending into the mortal realm.

Utterly different from an illusion, it is a genuine rebirth.

Those with steadfast minds might perhaps manage not to forget their original intent, but what about one lifetime, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand?

In the deepest depths of hell, countless mighty beings are suppressed by the endless reincarnation, split into billions of bodies, falling into billions of reincarnations, their power continually weakened, ultimately reduced entirely to nothing.

The Responding Dragon's incarnation is ultimately not its true form.

When the blade sliced through flesh and blood, sending reincarnation into the body, the Responding Dragon's incarnation was then cast into reincarnation.

The Responding Dragon's incarnation underwent a hundred lifetimes of reincarnation, each lifetime being struck by a blade of light, whether alive or dead, regardless of outcome.

Each time struck by the blade's light, it would enter the next reincarnation, each time causing the Responding Dragon's power to diminish by a segment.

Thus repeatedly, the incarnation's aura weakened segment by segment.

Until its form shattered, leaving only a faint, imperishable spark of the true spirit.

Mu Yi's current power wanting to affect the true spirit of the Responding Dragon's main body is still a foolish dream; even multiplied a hundred million times it might work, but a mere hundred lifetimes of reincarnation isn't even a fraction of how long the Responding Dragon has lived, so how could it affect it?

However, the incarnation ultimately shattered, leaving only a speck of true spirit that burrowed into Mu Yi's body.

"……" Bai Ze fell into silence.

Even he had never imagined that Mu Yi's new path would be this.

"Everyone seeks to prove and attain eternity, yet you instead pursue to slay and attain eternity?" Bai Ze burst out laughing.

He couldn't help but admit that his eye for people was not as keen as Chi You's and the Yellow Emperor's; they might have already discovered this.

"Interesting, interesting!"

"Hehehe, going against time upstream, from the source to slay and attain eternity—now this is interesting."

Bai Ze walked away chuckling, the excitement here was over; he ought to go prepare to watch the next excitement.

Only in an age of great calamity is it interesting, with surprises constantly emerging; even he could not possibly foresee everything.

On the other side, Mu Yi stood there honestly.

At this moment, not far from him, the Responding Dragon was single-handedly violently beating a host of Yang Jian, Sun Wukong, and other mighty beings.

Yet the Responding Dragon didn't even glance at them, staring with eyes fixed on Mu Yi.

After a long while, the Responding Dragon said nothing, and with a flick of a finger directly shoved that returning speck of true spirit into Mu Yi's body.

Zongwang Prompt: Responsive Dragon's trial has ended.

The trial evaluation is in progress……Based on your performance, your evaluation is perfect, with no additional bonus.

Zongwang Prompt: You have obtained part of the Responsive Dragon's inheritance——the Cloud-Commanding and Rain-Bringing divine ability.

Zongwang Prompt: You have obtained a drop of the Responsive Dragon's essence blood!

Seeing the information on the prompt before him, Mu Yi's pupils contracted sharply; back then Chi You had told him that if the Great Mist divine ability wanted to advance further, it needed the assistance of the Wind and Rain divine ability.

If he could use the Responsive Dragon's blood to draw a totem, master the authority of wind and rain, then the Great Mist divine ability could reach great accomplishment.

At that time he only thought it was an Arabian Nights tale, but he never imagined he would actually obtain the Responsive Dragon's blood.

The difficulty of drawing blood from the Responsive Dragon—just looking at the group of great deities subdued by one of its hands over there shows how terrifying it is.

Or rather, if one truly possessed that ability, there would be no need for such a clever shortcut.

"Although you have learned my divine ability, if you want to fully comprehend it, you still need to choose a suitable place to hone it; you should know where to go without me telling you much."

The Responsive Dragon's voice transmitted into Mu Yi's ears.

How could Mu Yi not know? Naturally, it was the time when Da Yu controlled the waters.

"Go!" the Responsive Dragon flicked its finger.

The next moment, Mu Yi's form, uncontrolled, returned to the Dragon Palace.

After asking the East Sea Dragon King for the Pearl of Calming the Seas, Mu Yi left the Dragon Palace; for him, the greatest benefit of this gathering had already been obtained, so there was no need to compete with those dragon princes and grandsons.

The East Sea Dragon King was also generous, directly telling Mu Yi the method to refine the Pearl of Calming the Seas.

The method is actually simple; the most important thing is the Water Vein Power.

A Pearl of Calming the Seas without Water Vein Power is merely an empty shell toy, while a true Pearl of Calming the Seas, like the one in Zhao Gongming's hand, can evolve a world using Water Vein Power.

This counts as a clever shortcut, and is also the embryonic form of a divine realm.

Mu Yi's divine kingdom is also of this type; although the method of construction differs, the principle is the same.

True great divine ability users all possess their own divine realm, i. e., they evolve a world; Guanyin Bodhisattva's Bahya Pure Land and Manjusri Bodhisattva's Ultimate Bliss Pure Land are examples of this.

After sizing up the Pearl of Calming the Seas in his hand and his divine kingdom, Mu Yi actually had a different idea.

Thanks to the Responsive Dragon, he has already comprehended the realm of reincarnation in the cycle of life and death.

What best matches reincarnation is naturally the Eighteen Levels of Hell; he still does not have a proper treasure for it.

Using the structure of the Pearl of Calming the Seas and the divine kingdom, refining a treasure that can evolve the Eighteen Levels of Hell seems like a good choice.

To refine the Eighteen Levels of Hell, one naturally should first visit the Underworld for a tour; speaking of which, as a Yin deity he has not yet toured the eighteen layers of Hell.

Upon arriving at the Ghost Gate along the Yellow Springs Road, Mu Yi saw the headless Zhang Fei sitting cross-legged before the Ghost Gate; the passing Yin officials and ghosts dared not make a sound, fearing to disturb him.

Without White Marsh's Ghost Gate, it seemed to have become much quieter for a while.

Keeping watch also became a boring task.

"Three Generals! Are you still alright?" Mu Yi took the initiative to step forward and speak.

"Lord Mu Tian, this matter still requires thanks to you!" The headless Zhang Fei seemed to open his eyes, and a strong force fell upon Mu Yi.

"Sorry, this body still cannot control the power well!"

Although one cannot see Zhang Fei's expression, Mu Yi can feel that apology.

"Congratulations, Three Generals, your strength has greatly increased!" Mu Yi congratulated from the heart.

"Lord Mu Tian, you must not underestimate this calamity!" Zhang Fei's voice sounded somewhat bitter.

"Lord Mu Tian, do you know how I was defeated last time?"

Mu Yi shook his head upon hearing this; indeed, no one had ever told him the details.

"Last time, we gave our all, marching out of Sichuan to support our second brother who had just been flooded by the Seven Armies; however, just before entering Jingzhou, several mountain and water gods transformed into my soldiers and launched a night raid on us."

"At the same time, a large Eastern Wu army came to raid our camp."

"I fought desperately for a day, yet my two fists could not match four hands; I was beheaded and my head presented to Sun Quan."

"The more history repeats, the harder it is to change; once the situation becomes entrenched, everything is doomed."

Mu Yi really frowned this time; this time will only be harder than last time, and the number of immortals, gods, and ghosts participating will only increase.

Everyone has opened a god's-eye view, so the course of the war will only collapse further.

The worst outcome is that the first battle becomes the decisive battle; they cannot maneuver at all and can only fight desperately.

After the upper limit is restricted, even an emperor-level being would be injured and die; he had already tested this point in the Responsive Dragon's trial just now.

Even though Guan Yu cannot be matched by a single person, he still cannot withstand being surrounded by enemies.

Compared to the mountain and water gods of the whole world and the Cao Wei and Eastern Wu officers, the Shu Han side truly has too few personnel.

We must think of some ways to recruit more manpower……

"Water God?" Mu Yi suddenly thought of a water goddess——the Luo River Goddess.

Others may not be able to guarantee it, but this goddess has a mortal enmity with the Jin dynasty.

As the saying goes, the enemy of an enemy is a friend; perhaps this goddess can be won over.

"We have run out of strategies; we hope the Heavenly Lord will help!"

Zhang Fei bowed deeply and bowed to Mu Yi, but Mu Yi quickly dodged, for he could not accept such a salute.

However, a black dragon restrained him in place, and he deeply received Zhang Fei's bow.

"Three General, why go to such lengths? I have a true master-disciple relationship with Guan Sheng Dijun; I will certainly give my all."

"That's excellent, thank you, Heavenly Lord!"

Zhang Fei said this, then sat again in his original spot; the power that had been gradually boiling on his surface once again subsided.

As he said, he still cannot fully control his new power; after communicating briefly with Mu Yi, it already shows some loss of control, forcing him to focus on suppressing it.

Mu Yi silently clasped his fists in salute, then entered the Ghost Gate.

After learning of his purpose, the Ten Courts Yama also did not refuse, directly gave him a pass, and arranged for Ox-Head and Horse-Face to accompany him on a tour of the eighteen layers of Hell.

The Eighteen Levels of Hell originally came from Buddhist teachings.

It was also built with the effort of the Buddhist Sect, which is considered an innovation of great progressive significance for the Underworld, and thus the Underworld has retained and promoted it.

The Eighteen Levels of Hell are respectively: Tongue-pulling Hell, Scissors Hell, Iron Tree Hell, Mirror of Sin Hell, Steamer Hell, Copper Pillar Hell, Blade Mountain Hell, Ice Mountain Hell, Oil Cauldron Hell, Ox Pit Hell, Stone Press Hell, Mortar Hell, Blood Pool Hell, Wrongful Death Hell, Volcanic Hell, Stone Mill Hell, Blade Saw Hell.

They respectively handle the souls judged and punished by Yanluo and the judges; these souls suffer in Hell to atone for their sins, which is also a means of reducing power.

Souls that have undergone the Eighteen Levels of Hell will find reincarnation smoother, reducing the workload of the Underworld.

As he browsed along, Mu Yi, who had some grasp of reincarnation, pondered; the deeper nature of the Eighteen Levels of Hell became clearer to him, and the existence of these hells serves not only to maintain the operation of the Underworld.

They are also auxiliary tools that drive reincarnation; the significance of these atoning souls' existence is to gradually wear down the will of the great supernatural beings suppressed in the Unintermittent Hell.

The entirety of Hell is not scattered but mutually complementary; his earlier conception was indeed correct, and the Eighteen Levels of Hell are absolutely the most suitable Dharma treasure for reincarnation.