Chapter 777: Three Saints Slaughter the Demon

The rain curtain was like woven fabric, draping layer upon layer of ethereal water veils across the world.

The sacred mountain was hidden within milky-white mist.

The blue-green rocks seeped with faint light, and ancient pines slanted to probe the drifting clouds.

A man in green robes stood still in the rain, watching the mountain scenery with a heartfelt smile.

Beneath his feet, the stone steps were covered in moss.

Occasionally, a startling peal of thunder rolled across the sky, and an ancient temple on the peak revealed half its form, as if the sound of Buddha were drifting down with the rain threads.

"Truly a magnificent human world."

Zhao Zhugui spoke, breathing in the cold air deeply, as if every moment of his life were precious to the extreme.

He dared not waste his extravagant time on any other matter.

"Zhao Zhugui, you really are..."

Within his consciousness, the Ji Lord, dressed in a phoenix gown, shook her head slightly and followed Zhao Zhugui's gaze toward the ancient temple on the mountain peak.

The Ji Lord's heart was stirred; she longed to reach the front of the ancient temple immediately.

But the controller of this body was Zhao Zhugui; though she felt helpless, she had already grown accustomed to it.

Yet, having traveled the human world with Zhao Zhugui during this time, the Ji Lord, despite her urgency, had also felt how beautiful the human landscapes she had never cared about before truly were.

Perhaps the powerful person who created Zhao Zhugui had given Zhao Zhugui the best mission.

Just as Zhao Zhugui said, appreciating the human world was a beautiful thing in itself.

Since she knew she was merely a tool, she should also look at this world properly without wasting a single second.

His existence was not to prove to the world that he had been there.

It was to truly understand this world with his perhaps short life.

Even if she was unwilling to say it, the Ji Lord understood that this period might be the most relaxed moment of her life.

Sometimes, she might even forget the heavy burden on her shoulders and forget that bone-deep hatred.

She was not the Ji Lord, she was not the peerless prodigy of Ji Province; she was Ji Ling.

Merely a living soul of the human world.

And it was at this moment.

A figure stepped onto the rugged blue-green stairs in front of the mountain.

It was a young boy in white robes; before he even walked close, he bowed to Zhao Zhugui and said:

"Benefactor, please return; the Abbot does not wish to see you."

Zhao Zhugui was taken aback, then said to the boy:

"Very well."

Having said that, Zhao Zhugui prepared to return the way he came.

At this instant, the Ji Lord froze, then immediately let out a low shout:

"Zhao Zhugui, you are not allowed to go back!"

"Zhao Zhugui!"

The Ji Lord grew anxious, and in the next instant, she transformed directly into a streak of red light that dispersed from Zhao Zhugui's body.

Her remnant soul appeared directly in the outside world and spoke toward the ancient temple on the mountain:

"Ancestor, Ji Ling knows you have severed your karmic ties with the human world; if there were any other way, I would not have come to find you!"

As the Ji Lord's voice fell, an ethereal man's voice resonated from within the ancient temple.

"Yesterday's matters have already passed; today's matters only disturb the heart.

I desire longevity and have long since severed all affairs of the human world.

Benefactor, please return."

The Ji Lord's thin, remnant soul body stiffened, and the next moment, she gritted her silver teeth:

"Ji Chen!

Ji Province gave you resources, gave you opportunities, and gave you endless glory and a noble bloodline.

Yet what have you done? You declined the position of Province Lord, refused to bear the responsibilities you ought to bear, and failed to carry out the grand ambition of the Ji clan that has lasted for ten thousand years.

Instead, you chose to be a longevity-seeker who only knows how to idle away the days, and even as a longevity-seeker, you still pray every day that others can solve the calamity of malice!"

As the Ji Lord's voice fell, her brows slanted like ice blades, her eyelashes lowered to hide the frost in her eyes, and her lips were pressed into a cold arc.

Ji Chen, the originally designated Province Lord of Ji Province three thousand years ago.

Yet the other party was unwilling to accept the future destined to become the Province Master, choosing instead to flee the human world and become a longevity-seeker.

Longevity-seekers are said to have severed all seven emotions and six desires.

But those in high positions like the Ji Lord understood.

This group of people were simply the parasites of the human world; they fled the malice-filled human world, yet they still prayed daily that other human powerhouses could resolve the increasingly dense malice.

To put it bluntly, they were just a group of tall people unwilling to shoulder responsibility.

The Ji Lord's words were nothing short of an insult.

But within that ancient temple on the mountain peak, faint Buddha light swirled.

"Benefactor, you are attached to appearances."

This voice was peaceful and gentle, without a trace of anger.

The Ji Lord narrowed her eyes:

"Ji Chen, Ji Province has fallen!

The high-level combat power of Ji Province has been completely wiped out, and I, the Ji Lord of a generation, Ji Ling, was killed by the thieves of Great Xia, leaving only a wisp of a remnant soul!"

As the Ji Lord's voice fell, that gentle voice did not sound again.

The Ji Lord sneered:

"You wish to leave the world, yet you are forever within the human world; you wish to escape karma, yet you have always been within karma!"

The Ji Lord's voice fell.

Between heaven and earth, only the rustling sound of rain remained, and the pattering sound of leaves being struck.

Zhao Zhugui's gaze was calm, and just as he was about to speak, he suddenly felt a blur before his eyes.

The next instant.

He had actually appeared in the depths of the Buddha Courtyard.

A monk wearing white kasaya was sitting cross-legged in the rain, but as the rain fell from the sky, it could only strike the void more than three feet away from the monk.

The monk looked to be about twenty-five years old, with a handsome appearance and a pair of eyes as pure as an infant's.

"Ji Province has fallen?" the monk asked.

The Ji Lord did not appear, but his voice sounded:

"Your news is too closed off."

The Ji Lord's voice was somewhat cold.

The handsome monk pressed his palms together:

"Amitabha, a hundred years is but a snap of the fingers to me."

He held a single finger in a flower-pinching gesture, and wisps of Buddha light containing Sanskrit bloomed at his fingertip, drifting toward the distance.

The next instant, when this wisp of Buddha light returned, the monk's eyes paused, and a trace of shock and sorrow flowed into the depths of his eyes.

"Ji Province... has truly fallen..."

He opened his mouth:

"My Buddha is merciful."

"Can your Buddha withstand a single finger-crush from the Xia Lord?" the Ji Lord mocked.

This world had never seen a Buddha, but it had Buddhism, and even more so, martial arts based on Buddhist Dharma.

The handsome monk did not speak, but there were still traces of shock in the depths of his eyes.

He had not expected the human world of today to have undergone such changes.

"You are afraid." The Ji Lord sneered: "No one is guarding the human world for you anymore; you worry that the Ancient Gods will awaken and you will not be able to survive yourself.

You use your Buddha as an excuse to find a so-called reason for your thousands of years of hiding, one that allows you peace of mind and self-righteousness.

Now, can your Buddha save you?"

The monk named Ji Chen fell silent.

He raised his head again and looked at Zhao Zhugui:

"Who is this benefactor?"

Ji Chen had long been paying attention to Zhao Zhugui; upon entering the Buddha Courtyard, Zhao Zhugui had not paid any attention to the conversation between the Ji Lord and Ji Chen, but instead had been watching the curtain of rain in the sky the entire time.

In the world of consciousness, the Ji Lord sighed and said:

"Zhao Zhugui, I suspect he is the one whom the Lord of Will..."

The Ji Lord paused:

"Appointed as an envoy."

Ji Chen's gaze flashed, and the next instant he waved a single hand.

Zhao Zhugui disappeared from within the Buddha Courtyard, while the Ji Lord's remnant soul and Ji Chen remained inside.

"You have harmed me!"

Inside the Buddha Courtyard, the expression on Ji Chen's face no longer held its previous gentleness, but was instead extremely cold.

"The Lord of Will is a supreme existence; having you make him appear before me is to entangle me in karma with such an existence."

The Ji Lord's remnant soul drifted:

"I had no choice, but if the Lord of Will wanted to kill me, he would have acted long ago."

As the Ji Lord spoke, he bowed slowly:

"I ask the ancestor to enter the world and save Ji Province from fire and water!"

Ji Chen's brows furrowed slightly; he looked deeply at the Ji Lord at this moment and sighed:

"Enough."

The Ji Lord's gaze was calm; he was not surprised by Ji Chen's choice now.

After all, so-called long-lived ones are just a group of selfish people.

But when this group of selfish people discovers that they can no longer continue to be selfish, they cannot continue to hide.

After all, if the human world is finished, everyone will die.

Regardless of whether you are a long-lived one.

The reason the Ji Lord did not clarify Zhao Zhugui's identity from the beginning was also to make this plan.

Ji Chen cares about karma; the moment he met Zhao Zhugui, he could no longer avoid being entangled with karma.

Ji Chen did not blame the Ji Lord and waved a single hand.

A palm-sized lozenge-shaped mirror suddenly appeared in his hand.

This mirror was strange.

The mirror surface did not reflect human figures, only floating with pale cyan mist, within which silver threads flowed, as if tracing the tangled threads of karma.

"The fifth divine artifact under heaven, the Retracing Mirror." The Ji Lord said in a deep voice:

"The divine artifact was lost years ago; I did not know who stole it, but I did not expect it to be you."

Ji Chen's expression remained calm as he said:

"The Retrograde Mirror can examine cause and effect; if this item is in the hands of others, it becomes my weakness."

He stated his own selfishness without any avoidance.

He does not use the Retrograde Mirror, but he also does not want others to use it to plot against him.

Although he is an Eternal, he is also a peak Eighth Rank.

At any time, plotting against a peak Eighth Rank will bring others immense gains.

Ji Chen sighed softly:

"Retrograde, retrograde, following the retrograde, the path is obstructed and long.

I hold the Retrograde, the Retrograde holds me."

The next instant, his pupils suddenly erupted with golden Buddha light, and a strand of green silk suddenly appeared on the Retrograde Mirror.

This green silk traveled through the blue void as if tethered to something in the human world, its other end extending toward a certain point in the future.

The Ji Master narrowed her eyes:

"Whose cause and effect is this?"

"Zhao Zhugui," Ji Chen said:

"I previously discovered that this benefactor had great cause and effect entangled upon them; the Retrograde Mirror has indeed corroborated my guess."

He pointed a finger at the Retrograde Mirror and spoke calmly:

"I have been thinking, Chen Yan destroyed Ji Province, you placed your divine soul upon Zhao Zhugui to seek survival, and then you came to find me.

Is this, in the end, a plot aimed at me?"

The Ji Master's eyes flashed wildly.

Indeed, everything that happened in Ji Province seemed to be controlled by an invisible, massive hand.

Why did Chen Yan destroy Ji Province, and why was Zhao Zhugui her only chance at survival?

All of this is too profound.

It seems, just as Ji Chen said, someone is plotting something.

Who is this person?

Only the Lord of Will.

The Ji Master's expression turned cold.

The Lord of Will has never appeared, yet has always been influencing the human world.

What exactly does he want to do?

And on the Retrograde Mirror, outside of Zhao Zhugui's green silk of cause and effect, two other strands of green silk appeared.

These three strands of green silk intertwined and extended, drifting toward a certain place in the future.

"What is this?" the Ji Master frowned and said:

"How could two more strands of cause and effect appear?"

"This is the evolution of future cause and effect; Zhao Zhugui's cause and effect is destined to be entangled with the other two strands, they..."

As Ji Chen spoke, the Buddha light in his pupils grew intense.

And the Ji Master's expression also began to change wildly.

Because apart from these three strands of green silk, a pitch-black line of cause and effect appeared within the Retrograde Mirror.

This pitch-black line of cause and effect was extremely thick and terrifying.

It continued until a certain point, where the pitch-black line of cause and effect intertwined with the other three strands of green silk.

The four lines of cause and effect were bound together, and in the end, all three strands of green silk disappeared, swallowed completely by the pitch-black line of cause and effect.

Seeing this scene, Ji Chen's expression also turned deathly pale.

"What does the pitch-black line of cause and effect represent?"

"Ancient God," Ji Chen said in a deep voice:

"The black in the Retrograde Mirror represents the Ancient God, while white is the Lord of Martial Dao."

The Ji Master was stunned; at this moment, she looked unintentionally toward a certain direction of the Buddha Courtyard and saw Zhao Zhugui outside the Buddha Courtyard.

Her expression changed:

"The Ancient God will swallow Zhao Zhugui and the other two people?

Why did the Lord of Will not appear?"

The Ji Master's voice carried a slight tremor; she had once thought that Zhao Zhugui was merely a tool of the Lord of Will, and would be pointed at and killed by the Lord of Will in the future.

But she did not expect that Zhao Zhugui would die at the hands of the Ancient God.

Such cause and effect also indicates an extremely terrifying future.

That is, the Ancient God has emerged.

"It is the Ancient God, and yet it is not the Ancient God," Ji Chen said in a deep voice:

"Look closely, this strand of black line was not entirely black at the beginning; it carried a trace of gray. The longer the time, the denser the black becomes.

In other words, this black line did not represent the Ancient God at the beginning, but a Lord of Martial Dao possessing a white fate.

But this Lord of Martial Dao was swallowed by malice, eventually turning into an Ancient God, and swallowed Zhao Zhugui and the other two powerhouses."

As Ji Chen's voice fell, the Ji Master's body trembled.

A Lord of Martial Dao who fell into becoming an Ancient God?

The only one existing in this world is the Lord of Will, who has never appeared.

Will the Lord of Will eventually fall completely into becoming an Ancient God?

It was as if endless cold air had exploded in the Buddha Courtyard, and both the Ji Master and Ji Chen fell silent.

"I did not expect that it would actually involve such a massive cause and effect..."

Ji Chen's expression could no longer maintain its gentleness.

He felt some regret for taking out the Retrospection Mirror.

If he had not taken it out, had not used it, he would not have been dragged into this.

But now, there was no turning back.

"The power of the Retrospection Mirror lies in its ability to alter karma," Ji Chen said calmly:

"What the mirror displays is the future of the Demon Devouring the Three Martial Artists.

But why is it not the Three Saints Slaughtering the Demon?"

His eyes widened, and a phantom of a True Buddha appeared behind his head; the Buddha's body seemed to carry the immense power of all the Buddhas of the heavens, and vast, pure Buddha light was injected into the Retrospection Mirror.

Under the astonished gaze of the Ji Clan Master, the lines of karma upon the Retrospection Mirror began to change.

Three cyan lines of karma that were originally going to be swallowed by the pitch-black karma actually began to struggle.

The future karma changed.

And Ji Chen pinched his hand, grabbing another cyan thread of karma from the void and injecting it into the Retrospection Mirror.

In an instant, the Ji Clan Master felt in the dark that something of theirs had been affected.

"Is that my line of karma?" The Ji Clan Master narrowed their eyes, looking at the newly appeared line of karma within the Retrospection Mirror.

"It is." Ji Chen looked at the Ji Clan Master, a cold light suddenly appearing in his eyes:

"The future will change; it will not be the Demon Devouring the Three Martial Artists, but the Three Saints Slaughtering the Demon!"

His voice was vast, having already revealed the future situation in advance.

The Three Saints of the Human World!