Chapter 786: This humble monk presumes to ask the Golden Immortal to slumber

"Senior, you must be an existence that has transcended both realms, and it would not be proper for you to meddle in the affairs of the mortal world."

Qixian did his utmost to calm his emotions, and stole a glance at Shen Yi beside him, whose expression showed nothing out of the ordinary. The other party could remain so composed even after being intercepted; he must have foreseen this long ago, and it likely was not a fatal calamity.

He immediately wished to distance himself from the affair, and said to the white-robed monk, "We have come by decree of our sect. We do not know whom you are waiting for here, nor what matter you have to instruct us in."

"..."

Jing Shi Zunzhe stood up, walked barefoot down the withered tree, and stepped into the clear water.

He did not look at Qixian, but carefully examined that Dao Lord in dark robes. His gaze passed through the hazy concealment and fell upon that fair, handsome, and utterly familiar face.

The last time he had seen this face was within Nan Xumi.

At that time, this person had stood calmly before him, and because of the fall of the Thousand-Arm Bodhisattva, those clear eyes had concealed killing intent and a cold gleam.

This young man had said that he had sent the Thousand-Arm back, and wished to fulfill the matter he had once promised that Bodhisattva—to enter the world to undergo tribulation, and to spread the scriptures on behalf of the Putida Sect.

But now, that very same face was instead clad in splendid dark robes, hair bound with a golden pin, hailed as the foremost disciple of the Sanxian Sect, titled Taixu Zhenjun!

Jing Shi Zunzhe had once thought that, once he found this Taixu Zhenjun, everything would come to light.

But he had not expected that the matter would be so simple—merely casting a glance at the other party had resolved all his doubts at once.

There had never been any contest between two great prodigies. The matter of protecting the scriptures beyond the Beiliu River had been nothing more than a junior staging his own drama. Such a crude ploy had nonetheless deceived Nan Xumi.

Now, the other party had, by order of the Sanxian Sect, successfully ruined the affairs of Da Nanzhou, and then returned in glorious fashion, earning great merit and becoming the so-called foremost disciple.

"What should This Seat call you?"

Jing Shi Zunzhe spoke softly: "The Dragon-Subduing, Tiger-Vanquishing Great Ming King personally canonized by our sect... or Taixu Zhenjun?"

As his words fell, Daoist Qixian froze in stunned disbelief, then turned his head in disbelief to look to the side.

In truth, more than one person had questioned it—when the purges in Beizhou grew ever more intense, and several Bodhisattvas could hide themselves no longer, why did they not choose to flee, but instead act like cornered dogs, fighting to the death to strike at Shen Yi, who occupied only a single Kaiyuan Prefecture?

But at the time, everyone had been drunk on the satisfaction of a great vengeance avenged, and with their attention fixed on how Mei Jiyao would respond to the matter, this suspicious point had been overlooked.

Until now, after that single sentence from the monk, Qixian finally saw the light.

This Taixu Zhenjun had fled to Beizhou not because he could not overcome his peers, but because he was a traitor to the Puti Sect!

There had never been any hatred over a murdered master, any vendetta for a destroyed clan—the other party was himself a Ming King Bodhisattva!

"You..."

Daoist Qixian's lips trembled faintly. He had originally thought, seeing how calm the other party was, that the matter was not serious. But now that he knew everything, his heart had turned cold on the spot.

When dealing with a traitor of the sect, today there must surely be a killing tribulation!

The utter lack of ripples on Shen Yi's face was perhaps not because of some scheme in mind, but more because his heart was as good as dead.

"Senior! I am an emissary under Dongji Dijun. This is a matter within your Puti Sect, and has nothing to do with me, Qixian!"

Daoist Qixian unhesitatingly summoned forth a statue, seeking to commune with the Dijun's residence, and at the same time declared loudly, "This junior shall take his leave at once, and will not trouble you further."

But in an instant, his face turned utterly ugly.

The statue in his hand was utterly lifeless, and there was simply no way to contact the residence of Dongji Dijun.

"Enough, I shall still call you Xianglong."

Jing Shi Zunzhe shook his head—this way it could be considered a domestic matter of the sect in dealing with a traitor.

He bent slightly forward, and his fair, plain, clean hand gently dipped into the water. The next moment, countless pure and pristine fire lotuses blossomed in magnificent array upon the water's surface, sweeping across the entire great marsh.

This was the Fire of Purification, capable of burning away all filth.

And in Jing Shi Zunzhe's eyes, that Dao Lord in dark robes was the greatest filth of all.

At any other time, being repeatedly ignored like this—even if the other party was an elder of the sect—would have stirred discontent in Qixian's heart. But at this moment, watching the towering sea of fire that had suddenly risen around him, with fire lotuses quietly floating up into the sky, he only wished that the monk would continue to ignore him.

Yet already one fire lotus had drifted toward him.

Qixian turned to flee, only to find the lotus petals suddenly transforming into fiery ropes, binding his entire body in an instant!

Amidst the sea of fire, a string of obscure Dao patterns flowed—that was the manifestation of communion with the Heavenly Dao.

"Dijun... Dijun..."

Those pure flames seemed able to pierce through the body and directly melt the Dao Fruit.

Daoist Qixian's hand trembled violently as he tried to grip the statue in his hand, only to watch helplessly as it was devoured by the flames and reduced to ashen powder.

The instant the statue was destroyed, the light also faded from his eyes.

The monk dared to show disrespect to Dijun—he clearly had no intention of leaving anyone alive.

"What does the matter of your Puti Sect have to do with me! Why!"

Even now, Qixian still could not understand. If Shen Yi were a legitimate foremost disciple of the Sanxian Sect, and this monk wanted to kill him, silencing witnesses would naturally be in order. The problem was that this wretch was not a member of the Puti Sect, was he? If he truly were a traitor, he could be openly punished—why risk offending Dijun by killing one more person?

Stimulated by the searing pain, he glared venomously toward the right.

Sure enough, sending a single fire lotus to deal with him had been but a casual matter. The rest of the boundless sea of fire had all converged toward Shen Yi.

"..."

Shen Yi felt the terrifying temperature drawing near.

After a moment of silence, he waved his hand and dispelled the concealment he had left upon his face before departing.

Indeed, even within the same realm, once one reached the level of Great Freedom, it was very difficult to continue acting in disguise.

Fire lotuses, translucent as jade, blocked every avenue of retreat from all directions.

Above the great marsh, Jing Shi Zunzhe's wide white robe billowed gently, a faint flush rising on his emaciated chest. He stepped forward with composure, each barefoot tread sending ripples of lotus shadows across the water, and thus walked step by step toward Shen Yi in the air.

As a Great Freedom Bodhisattva who had been renowned for many years, dealing with two third-rank juniors and reducing them to ashes would be but a matter of a snap of the fingers.

But he still had many questions to ask, and so chose first to capture this Xianglong Bodhisattva.

As for Qixian beside them, who should long since have perished beneath the fire lotuses—it was precisely that "why" he had just asked that made Jing Shi Zunzhe temporarily spare his life.

By all reason, if one were to slay a meritorious minister of the Sanxian Sect, silencing witnesses would be a perfectly normal thing to do. But the anger and bewilderment on this man's face suggested there might be other hidden circumstances.

Just then, both Qixian, who watched helplessly, and Jing Shi Zunzhe, simultaneously froze.

They saw that the fire lotuses which had enveloped Shen Yi had quietly ceased their advance, all suspended in the air, turning slowly.

Looking carefully, one could see strands of black mist slowly spreading out, wrapping around the lotus flowers like ripples of water and gently pushing them aside.

Upon noticing this clue, Qixian's pupils abruptly contracted, and he even forgot to wail.

The dao patterns that had just appeared had already confirmed that this monk's realm was that of the Great Freedom Bodhisattva; it was simply that his own cultivation was too low to understand the specific content of the dao patterns, and so he could not recognize the other's identity.

Yet such an existence who had set foot within the Heavenly Dao had his technique actually dissolved by a junior.

This had already completely exceeded the scope of Qixian's understanding.

Fortunately, he soon obtained an answer.

He saw that around the sea of fire and great marsh, at some unknown moment, they had been shrouded by black clouds like silk and mist; below, crimson churned, while above was a tranquil, empty ink-black, and the two gradually intertwined, forming a brand-new world.

A second dao pattern flickered into view between them.

When Qixian looked again at that figure in dark robes, his face was already full of horror, his features twitching slightly; he wanted to utter those two words, but felt as if a fishbone were stuck in his throat.

While everyone else was still contending for the position of Immortal Emperor, the other party had actually already silently leapt free of the two realms!

"Yuxu Universe…"

Jing Shi Zunzhe raised his eyes to look at the dao patterns flowing within that ink-black firmament, and could not help but reassess Shen Yi. He let out a long breath: "Forgive this old monk's poor eyes; it turns out you are a Jin Xian."

He had thought he was about to unravel the perplexities along this journey, but had not expected that the closer he got to the other party, that layer of fog would instead grow ever thicker.

A Slain Hunyuan Daluo Jin Xian, traveling thousands of miles to Beizhou, fighting back and forth with juniors, and even forging a fruit position to deceive himself.

Thinking of this, he glanced at Qixian in the distance.

He discovered that the other party was equally terrified, and moreover, the way this person looked at Shen Yi was absolutely not the way one looked at a fellow disciple, nor even the attitude toward an elder; instead it was filled with dread and panic, clearly having only just learned of it.

Then his previous thoughts had been wrong.

This person was not a member of the Puti Sect, nor a meritorious minister of the Sanxian Sect… In fact, to think through one matter was very simple: cast aside those tangled thoughts and point straight to its essence.

Whether it be the Subduing Dragon and Taming Tiger Great Great Ming Wang, or the current Slain Hunyuan Daluo Yuxu Universe Jin Xian, after doing so many things in Da Nanzhou, who exactly reaped the benefits?

After pondering for an instant, two characters surfaced in Jing Shi Zunzhe's mind.

Divine Dynasty.

"So that's how it is."

A relaxed smile finally appeared on the monk's face; the answer he had sought so hard had already been placed before his eyes, and at last he could account for it to Nan Xumi.

He only needed to bring this news back; as for the rest, it would be left for the True Buddhas to decide.

Of course, before that, there was still one thing to do.

In just a few short years, the other party had ruined the plans in Da Nanzhou. Jing Shi Zunzhe did not wish, during the days while he brought back the news, to let this person cause anything else detrimental to the Puti Sect; moreover, Jin Chan's fall also required someone to quell the wrath of the future Shi Zun.

Even with sufficient reserves of tribulation force, reshaping a physical body still required time; for immortals, three to five years was but a snap of the fingers, but it was enough.

Once the two sects had ascertained this person's true face, the next step would be to find his position within the Heavenly Dao, and then suppress him for eternity.

Having thought this, Jing Shi Zunzhe pressed his palms together and said lightly: "This poor monk makes bold to ask the True Person of Jade Universe to slumber."

Within the seemingly respectful words, however, there shone an overwhelming and ineffable confidence.

Even though both were existences who had entered the Heavenly Dao, so long as he was willing, the other's physical body would be unable to walk the mortal world.

In an instant, clusters of fire lotuses gathered like dragons, reversed their course, spiraled back beneath him, and transformed into a cyan glazed lotus platform.

Jing Shi Zunzhe sat cross-legged, watching as the black clouds had already completely shrouded Shen Yi; the silent ink-black firmament stretched boundlessly, making one's spirit feel empty and vast, while also giving rise to a near-submerging trance.

The monk slowly closed his eyes.

How could his Buddhist heart be shaken by such external things.

The moment the Zunzhe had identified Shen Yi as a demonic evil, these World-Purifying fire lotuses had gained the might to burn the heavens!

"Go!"

Jing Shi Zunzhe reached out and flung his prayer beads, sweeping along waves of flame; the sandalwood surface flaked off with a rustle, revealing the warm, jade-like body of the beads.

The moment he struck, it was a five-tempered Buddhist treasure, and in the hands of the Great Freedom Bodhisattva, this treasure could display its true efficacy.

The prayer beads, like a ring, whistled as they plunged into the black clouds, rapidly locking onto the other's position within this boundless universe.

Not every second-grade cultivator had experience fighting those of the same realm; after all, at their level, there was rarely a need to resolve matters through magical combat.

But it was very clear that Jing Shi Zunzhe not only had such experience, but had it in abundance; he knew very well how many bizarre techniques these immortals possessed, and absolutely could not give the other party room to breathe.

He had lost his handy monk's staff, but casually produced a short club.

The next moment, the cyan glazed lotus platform bore Jing Shi Zunzhe aloft, tracing a surging long rainbow of cyan fire through the air, following closely behind that string of prayer beads.

He stared indifferently in the direction the prayer beads had encircled; the dense black clouds were easily torn apart.

That plain, clean hand slowly tightened around the shaft of the club.

In an instant, the World-Purifying Bodhisattva violently hacked forward; the vast tribulation force contained within the club caused everything within the great marsh to warp and distort.

Even Qixian, at the extreme distance, had every bone in his body shattered, and even heard the crack-crack sound of his dao fruit fracturing under the strain.

"True Person, you cannot leave."

Jing Shi Zunzhe watched the black cloud trapped by the prayer beads scatter beneath the club, the corner of his lips lifting in a cold smile; at the same time, his other hand slowly opened, the entire palm covered in flames, ready to receive the other's desperate counterattack with his dharma treasure.

However, he did not see any dharma treasure.

From within the black clouds, a muscular, perfectly contoured arm of Bai Yu suddenly reached out, and five fingers fiercely gripped the descending short club.

In an instant, the degree of distortion around them surged once more; the collision of the purest tribulation force could nearly crush everything in the vicinity.

The boundless universe instantly boiled; the fire lotuses below were like candles in the wind, as if they would be extinguished the next moment.

Sizzle-sizzle!

The black clouds dispersed, revealing the tall, sturdy figure within.

A six-armed construct of Bai Yu thus abruptly appeared before Jing Shi Zunzhe.

Those eyeless eyes gazed over quietly.

As the flowing ribbons swayed, it was as if the mortal world had been cleansed away, giving it a sense of otherworldly detachment utterly out of place with the mundane realm.

"I never intended to leave."

Shen Yi's face showed no expression; he slightly lifted his head and said softly, "Don't even think about it."

The Jing Shi Zunzhe pretended not to hear, slowly widening his eyes as he once again saw a Dao mark on this nearly perfect body.

He felt his throat dry for the first time, his voice now hoarse: "Great Freedom… Immovable Vow King Bodhisattva."

The moment the words left his lips, Shen Yi violently kicked him in the chest.

Boom!

The earlier rising rainbow of blue flame, amid a deafening roar, shot downward at a speed invisible to the naked eye, crashing into this sea of fire and stirring up waves ten thousand zhang high!

(End of Chapter)