Chapter 360: A Flash of Beauty! The Abbot of Mount Zhongnan

In the vast, dark night, amidst the desolate mountains, looking south toward the land of old acquaintances, at the moment the Profound Void Law was born, a sudden change occurred like a thunderclap, shaking the eyes of everyone present.

That eerie figure seemed to have come from the netherworld, silent and soundless, yet it had forcefully pierced through Wang Qingyi's skull and restrained his Nascent Soul.

Life and death flow, impermanence is swift; those in the world who know their fate and can avoid calamity obtain immortality.

However, for all living beings, life and death are like a great barrier, an innate calamity of existence.

If one says that thoughts are the calamity of cultivation and the Three Corpses are the calamity of becoming an immortal, then life and death are the calamity of existing in the world.

From the moment of birth, everyone is within this calamity of life and death; where there is a beginning, there is an end, where there is life, there is death. As long as one is in this rolling red dust, no one can escape.

In an instant, Wang Qingyi met this great calamity of life and death.

"Who is it? Who exactly is it?"

At this moment, everyone in the Wang family was shocked, feeling horrified by the scene before them.

Wang Qingshan's eyes were splitting with rage; he was the closest and felt it most vividly. That eerie figure seemed to be hiding in a fog, with no clear appearance or form, and one could not even feel a trace of a living person's aura from him...

It was precisely because of this that he could appear silently behind Wang Qingyi and seize his Nascent Soul with inconceivable means.

"The Method of Restraining Spirits... Is this a demon from the Wu Wei Sect!?" Wang Qinglian roared in her heart. Her eyes trembled, and the sound was stuck in her throat, yet she dared not make a single noise.

"Jia is born, Gui dies!?"

Just at this moment, Wang Qingyi's Nascent Soul let out an angry, painful roar.

Boom—

At almost the same moment, the 【Blazing Flag】 stuck in the ground in the distance shook violently. A red light shot into the sky, scorching and dazzling, magnificent like a volcanic eruption. The terrifying phenomenon was more than ten times stronger than when it was just in Wang Qingshan's hands.

This Green Feather treasure had been worshipped by the Wang family for hundreds of years, with great incense offerings, and had become spiritual on its own. At this moment, it actually resonated with Wang Qingyi's Nascent Soul.

Hum...

In a fleeting moment, a great fire erupted like a wild tide, instantly swallowing the eerie figure.

Following this, a violent sound pierced through the Cang Mountains, echoing under the dark night sky. The air waves stirred up by the terrifying explosion affected several hundred meters.

A group of Wang family experts were all overturned.

Zhang Fan waved his hand violently, shaking away the air waves and dust, only to see a sea of fire before him; the place where the eerie figure had stood had turned into scorched earth.

"This is the true power of the 【Blazing Flag】!" Wang Qingshan's heart jumped; he finally realized how terrifying the Green Feather treasure was once it awakened.

True fire covered the Cang Mountains; that kind of destructive fluctuation was enough to turn an expert of the Great Being Realm into dust.

Hum...

The red flag flew out and stuck horizontally on a large rock on the Cang Mountains. The flowing light it stirred up supported Wang Qingyi's broken body. His Nascent Soul had actually been snatched back, yet it was shattered and withered. Most importantly...

That 【True Seed of Life and Death】 was nowhere to be found.

That was where Wang Qingyi's Dao was placed, the location of his lifelong cultivation. Having lost the 【True Seed of Life and Death】, even if his Nascent Soul was preserved, his realm and foundation were all ruined, gradually regressing until he became a mortal, even more miserable than Wang Qingshan.

Whoosh...

The mountain wind blew hard, scattering the dust. A figure walked out slowly. Where he stood, the ground was scorched, and the 【True Seed of Life and Death】, like a firefly, flew into the center of his brow.

Hum...

Suddenly, the scorched earth under the eerie figure's feet changed violently. The desolate, dark soil actually sprouted fragrant grass everywhere, full of vitality. Yet, in an instant, the grass withered, appearing as scorched earth once again.

Just like this, every step the eerie figure took, the environment around him changed—scorched burial earth, colorful fragrant grass, life and death flowing, reflecting each other.

"Between life and death, it is but a sudden moment..."

At this moment, as everyone looked at this scene, strange thoughts arose. Clearly, fear was before them, yet in their eyes, they saw something profoundly mystical.

Flowers are not flowers, mist is not mist. They come at midnight, and leave at dawn.

How long is the spring dream of arrival? Departure is like morning clouds, nowhere to be found.

Years age in a snap of the fingers, a flash of beauty like lightning; yin and yang shift, unbearable to look back upon; life and fate are like morning dew.

Life is suddenly like a sojourn; only then do we realize life and death do not stop. In the human world, there are only quiet, desolate tombs.

"To be born is to die, to die is to be born..."

At this moment, everyone had a brand-new understanding of this sentence spoken by Zhuangzi. Life and death are not necessarily a single lifetime; in a fleeting moment, it is but a sudden occurrence, and it hides the greatest secret of the human world.

That is life and death.

That is Pure Yang.

That is longevity.

Hum...

Suddenly, all changes stopped, and the eerie figure turned around abruptly.

Such a small movement caused everyone's expressions to change. At this moment, they finally woke up; the means of the person before them were terrifying without bounds. If he could silently ruin Wang Qingyi and seize the 【True Seed of Life and Death】, then he could kill all of them here without the slightest effort.

Fortunately, the eerie figure seemed not to have placed these small fries in his eyes at all. He took a step and was about to leave.

"Wait!"

Just at this moment, Zhang Fan suddenly shouted loudly.

This shout of his made the hearts of everyone, which had just settled, rise again.

Is he f*cking crazy? This god of slaughter before us—it's too late to send him off, and he actually dares to shout 'wait'? Wait for what? Wait for death?"

"Zhang Fan, don't..." Meng Qiwu's expression changed slightly, wanting to stop him, but it was already too late.

Zhang Fan took a step, his figure like lightning, and caught up with the person's trail.

Boom—

At almost the same moment, the eerie figure seemed to sense something, turned around abruptly, and reached out with a punch.

This punch was extremely slow, yet as the Nascent Soul reflected it, there were external scenes appearing; what everyone saw was different.

Some saw a newborn, that cry exceptionally loud, bringing endless hope and brilliance.

Some saw graves everywhere, bones piled high, the world cold and murderous.

Some saw a quiet valley, grass and trees growing together, wild beasts running.

Flowers blooming and falling, sun rising and setting, tides rising and falling, life and death, withering and flourishing... countless light and shadows seemed to have merged into this punch.

From nothing to something, from far to near.

The trajectory it traced was like the trace of all things existing, carrying yin and yang, condensed into life and death.

Boom—

Facing this punch, Zhang Fan had no time to think, and raised his hand for a punch as well.

This punch of his likewise had no flowery tricks, nor any Daoist methods flowing.

Just a single punch, no long night, no day intersecting. Where Zhang Fan stood, it was actually a chaotic blur. He seemed to have disappeared, and there was only that phenomenon, overwhelming, like outside black and white, like between god and demon, indescribable and impossible to grasp.

Boom—

The two figures collided, terrifying fluctuations spreading. In the sky, thunder resounded, wind and clouds surged, obscuring the great moon. Two completely different phenomena seemed to have split the sky in two.

At this moment, everyone's thoughts stopped along with it.

Their Nascent Souls seemed born to be pulled by this completely different phenomenon. At this time, their thoughts, their reflections, and the fragments of their Nascent Souls all seemed to be swallowed and crushed by it.

In an instant, these people even forgot the brilliance of those two fist tips, just like waking from a great dream, leaving no trace.

Whoosh...

The mountain wind whistled, blowing across the Cang Mountain wasteland. When people came to their senses, they did not know how much time had passed, only seeing Zhang Fan standing in the distance, looking at the endless rolling mountain ranges...

As for that eerie figure, there was no trace left. ===== CHAPTER 361 =====