Chapter 273

When the two approached the Bai Yu Forest, they could better appreciate the vastness of the forest and the insignificance of man.

Right on the edge of this Bai Yu Forest, in the Jin Sha River, a giant warship was anchored. The flag on the warship's mast was hung high, fluttering in the wind, with the pattern of the Emei Golden Summit embroidered on it, which was particularly eye-catching in the sunlight.

This was the temporary stronghold for the Western Sichuan Sword Pavilion to attack the Bai Yu Forest.

Because it was a protracted war, the Sword Pavilion Xuan cultivators had to take turns, and the replaced Xuan cultivators needed a safe place to heal, recover Qi, sharpen their swords, and rest. If they returned to the Sword Pavilion every time, time would be wasted.

Around this giant warship, there were occasional flashes of escape light, traveling back and forth between the giant mountain forest and this place.

"How many people are here? And how many demonic monks are in that mountain?"

Cheng Xinzhan asked.

Wu Mei replied,

"There aren't many people now. There are about fifty people stationed on the warship, and about fifty people searching the mountain. At the beginning, there were at most four or five hundred people attacking the mountain at the same time.

"As for the demon lords, there were over a thousand at the beginning, and now there are more than two hundred. However, these two hundred-plus people are hiding very deeply, hiding in the stone mountain and not coming out.

"The problem now is that they are hiding inside and not coming out, and we have no choice but to go in and search mountain by mountain, so it has taken a long time. And once we meet, it is close-quarters combat, so we have to be careful."

Cheng Xinzhan nodded, roughly understanding.

"Yunlai, aren't you curious why we don't blast the mountain to drive the demonic monks out?"

Wu Mei took the initiative to ask.

Cheng Xinzhan smiled and pointed to the Jin Sha River,

"How could we dare to blast the mountain? If any one of these mountains collapses, the Jin Sha River would have to stop flowing or change its course. I think even for the Emei Sect and the Biyun Nunnery, it would be very troublesome to deal with."

Wu Mei smiled and nodded, thinking to herself that Yunlai is indeed Yunlai. Many newcomers from Shu often ask such a stupid question.

She then introduced the Bai Yu Forest to Cheng Xinzhan,

"Although these stones were ordinary stubborn stones at the beginning, these monks have shallow foundations and no incredible immortal arrays to protect the mountain. But Yunlai, look closely, every stone brick on this mountain is densely carved with scriptures and talismans. These were all carved by hand by countless demonic monks over thousands of years.

"After thousands of years of blessing, these scriptures and talismans have permeated the mountain stones, making these stones extremely solid. Each stone-piled mountain is also a seamless whole, which is the reason why every high mountain has withstood thousands of years of wind and rain without collapsing.

"However, these mountains can withstand the tossing of celestial phenomena and the second realm, but they cannot withstand the magic power of the third realm. So, if Yunlai feels itchy for a fight later, you must hold back your strength.

"The demonic monks are even more so. They regard these stone-piled mountains as holy mountains, saying that as long as they are piled high enough, they can reach the Buddha Kingdom. Therefore, they neither dare to use their full strength to hit these mountains nor want to leave these mountains.

"To be honest, this has provided a lot of convenience for our demon elimination. If they had fled at the beginning, it would have been difficult for us to stop them. But they were reluctant to give up this Bai Yu Forest, and after a little hesitation, they were all surrounded by us."

Cheng Xinzhan nodded and asked again,

"Are there still many third-realm demonic monks in here?"

Wu Mei shook her head,

"Not many, because there weren't many to begin with. Now there should only be three or four, otherwise, we wouldn't have let a large number of second-realm disciples come over to test their skills.

"And from the information gathered before, there are only two demon lords above the third purification inside: one is a five-purification abbot named Master Hanshan, and one is a four-purification scripture lecturer named Master Wanfa Jing Shi.

"The abbot here appeared at the beginning of the mountain attack and was killed by Yan Renying with the 'Immortal Raft'. However, the four-purification one has never been found; he should still be hiding inside."

"'Immortal Raft'? What is that?"

Cheng Xinzhan heard a term he hadn't heard before.

Wu Mei explained,

"An immortal weapon, an immortal flying sword just like the Purple and Green."

Cheng Xinzhan nodded and secretly noted it down.

"You wait for me here, no need to come. I'll go down and ask if your two children are inside."

Wu Mei said, and then fell from the sky into the giant warship.

After just a moment, she flew out again.

"They are not inside. They finished their rotation yesterday and went in again early this morning. Shall we go in and take a look?"

Cheng Xinzhan naturally said yes.

Wu Mei then said,

"Since Yunlai is here, you can't come in vain. There is still a four-purification demon lord inside, I wonder..."

Cheng Xinzhan smiled and nodded,

"If I encounter him, I naturally won't stand idly by."

Wu Mei wanted exactly this sentence. She smiled and led Cheng Xinzhan to fly into the Bai Yu Forest, while saying,

"Actually, the secret techniques of our Western Sichuan Sword Pavilion are also quite good. It is the 'Heavenly Light Transformation Rainbow Technique' that Wanli Feihong is good at. I wonder if Yunlai is interested."

"If there is such an opportunity, I would naturally be more than happy."

The two went into the Bai Yu Forest. Cheng Xinzhan felt like he had walked into a land of giants. Looking from afar, he couldn't tell and still felt they were all mountains, but after truly walking in, he could clearly see the traces of giant stones piled up. Every scripture carving on those giant stones was larger than a person, giving a feeling that was extremely shocking.

Moreover, the piling of these stones was not all tightly matched; they were staggered, leaving many holes. The holes could not be seen from afar, but up close, they were several zhang high.

"It's all hollow inside here."

Wu Mei said,

"Yunlai can think of these stones as walls. Each mountain is a room, and those holes are windows and doors. There is a different world inside."

Cheng Xinzhan exclaimed in admiration,

"This is truly a miracle!"

"Yes."

Wu Mei responded,

"These monks don't have great magic power, but their ability to do hard work is something few can compare to. So we hold back our strength when fighting. Besides being afraid of affecting the Jin Sha River, we don't want to destroy such a piece of stone-piled mountain. After this place is recovered, people can live here directly and establish a sect. In the future, it will be considered a great wonder of Xikang."

Cheng Xinzhan nodded.

Now the periphery of this stone-piled mountain had been cleared, and it was quiet, without a single shadow. Moreover, these mountains were all pasted with huge talismans. These talismans intertwined into an array, emitting shimmering waves of light that shrouded the mountain.

"What is this for?"

Cheng Xinzhan pointed to those talisman arrays and asked.

Wu Mei explained,

"I just said that this place will definitely not be left idle in the future. However, if our Xuan Sect wants to move in, then these mountains full of Buddhist scriptures would be an eyesore. This is specifically used to wear down the Buddhist scriptures on the stones. At the same time, it is also to reinforce these stone-piled mountains with Xuan Sect magic techniques. In addition, it is also to serve as a reminder and a mark that such mountains have been searched clean."

"How many stone-piled mountains are there in total here?"

Cheng Xinzhan asked.

"Ninety-one. But for so long, we have already cleared the seventy-two on the periphery, and there are still nineteen inside that are still being searched.

"The ability of these termite monks to pile mountains has been improving. The further out and the newer the stone mountains, the higher they are. So we search from the outside in, and it is getting faster and faster."

The two continued to go deeper, like two mosquitoes flying in the most magnificent Buddhist temple. Not long after, Cheng Xinzhan heard the sounds of fighting and magic light.

He saw the remaining nineteen stone-piled mountains that Wu Mei mentioned. There were no marks or water-light magic arrays on them; instead, the Buddhist scriptures carved on the stones were very dazzling.

Now, sounds of fighting were coming from two of the stone mountains, and five-colored magic light was shining out from those holes.

"There are fewer people now. They should have divided into two teams, one team exploring one mountain, and the other team is still led by Uncle Tanbai."

Wu Mei explained,

"I just don't know which mountain your two children are in."

Cheng Xinzhan looked, then pointed to the one on the left hand side and said,

"Here."

"Oh, why?"

He smiled and said,

"You'll know at a glance."

Thus, the two flew towards that mountain and landed in a hole.

Cheng Xinzhan looked inside and realized that there were also many scriptures carved inside these stone mountains. These scriptures emitted a soft white light, illuminating the interior of the stone mountain very brightly.

The stone mountain was hollow inside, with many stone pillars, like a bamboo shoot forest growing inside the mountain. And between the stone pillars, he saw a group of Daoists chasing and fighting a group of monks.

Among them, he saw that the one chasing the fiercest was the third sister. She was riding a smoke dragon condensed from red fire and golden stars, flying at the very front, holding a banana fan in her hand, and with one fan, a stream of golden smoke was released.

It was because he saw the smoke light outside just now that he was certain the two children were here. The smoke and fire supernatural power of the Suanni is not often seen.

Bai Long was much steadier, holding an iron rod in his hand, stepping on the wind and guarding by the third sister's side, vigilantly watching in all directions to prevent anyone from suddenly popping out from behind a stone pillar to launch a sneak attack.

He glanced again at the demonic monks who were fleeing in all directions. They were all below the second realm, and only one had formed a core, but there was no smell of thunder tribulation on his body, he hadn't purified the core, and he posed no threat.

He also saw Huqing, who was not participating in the chase and siege, standing on top of a stone pillar, looking after the little ones. Huqing also noticed him.

The two looked at each other and smiled.

Cheng Xinzhan watched quietly for a while, watching Zhaoli and Bai Long join forces to besiege that Golden Core, fighting with great method, thinking that he should keep an eye on the Gang and Sha for the two children.

"Let's go, leave this place to them."

Cheng Xinzhan said to Wu Mei.

So the two flew away from this place.

"Yunlai, shall we split up to explore the stone mountains that haven't been searched yet, to scout the path for the juniors?"

Wu Mei said, which was also the purpose of the Sword Pavilion sending her here this time.

Cheng Xinzhan naturally said yes.

So the two parted ways, each picking a stone mountain to enter.

After Cheng Xinzhan entered the stone mountain, he first flew to the highest point, then slowly descended. While operating his pupil technique, under the illumination of the green eyes, he could see people through the stones, and the demon lords had nowhere to hide.

Afterwards, he went all the way to the bottom of the mountain and saw dozens of demon lords hiding in the stone crevices, all of the first or second realm. He didn't bother with them and walked away after seeing them.

If there were any who were a few minor realms higher than him, such as the level of six purifications and above, they might be able to escape his eyes by holding their breath and hiding their tracks. But Emei's news said that there were no high-realm demon lords here, so there was no need to be extra careful.

Then he looked at three more stone mountains in a row. Only one of them had a one-purification one, and Cheng Xinzhan still let him go. The foundation of demonic cultivation is shallow, and the Golden Core is mixed. A Xuan Sect Golden Core leading a team to supervise, plus a group of second-realm ones, is enough to deal with it.

Until he entered the fifth mountain, the Fushi in the Zique suddenly called out. But it was just a call, and then there was no further reaction.

Could it be that the four-purification one is here?

Cheng Xinzhan became vigilant.

With a thought, "Youdu" flew out from his right eye, which was glowing with green light, and turned into sword light circling around him.

He still searched all the way down from the top of the mountain, but what made him feel strange was that, let alone the Golden Core aura, he didn't even see a shadow of a first or second-realm person.

It seemed to be an empty mountain.

But Fushi would not warn him for no reason.

He landed at the bottom of the mountain. This was also paved with giant stone floor tiles. However, he discovered a special feature: the bottom floor tiles of other stone mountains, although also paved with bricks and stones, did not have scriptures on them; only the inner and outer walls of the mountain and the stone pillars had them. But in this mountain, the bottom was also covered with scriptures.

He felt a bit strange. He saw that the scriptures here were also written in vine script, so he wanted to recognize them. However, the carved characters were too large. Standing on the bricks and stones, he found that he could lie in the trenches of the carved characters himself, and he really couldn't see the full picture, so he had to fly up again.

It was only after about thirty or forty zhang from the ground that he could see clearly.

As he read, his expression changed.

This was not a scripture, but a record, recording the reason why the Bai Yu Forest was chosen here!

Monks who practice "Stone-Carrying Suffering" believe that carving scriptures on stones is the best way to preserve scriptures for a long time. Piling these stones carved with scriptures up, and piling them high enough, will reach the Buddha Kingdom.

However, to reach the Buddha Kingdom, one more thing is needed.

A divine messenger.

In ancient Western Buddhism, it is believed that there are three divine messengers who can guide monks to reach the Buddha Kingdom: the Green-Maned Snow Lion, the Six-Tusked White Elephant, and the Five-Colored Kong Que.

Only by piling stones in places where these three divine messengers are willing to stop can one reach the Buddha Kingdom.

So thousands of years ago, these monks were digging mountains and carving stones to prepare, while also searching everywhere for the divine messengers.

And among these three types of divine messengers, the Five-Colored Kong Que was the most unthinkable. There are blue peacocks and white peacocks in the world, but no one has ever seen a Five-Colored Kong Que. That is an ancient god. It is said that it appeared during the first killing tribulation of gods and immortals, and no one has seen it since.

As for the Green-Maned Snow Lion and the Six-Tusked White Elephant, although they are also legendary spirit beasts, the Dao Sect is not the only one that knows how to borrow the false to seek the true; ancient Western Buddhism also does.

It should not be as difficult to find a white elephant with many tusks in its mouth and a white lion with mixed green hair as it is to find a Five-Colored Kong Que.

The original monks thought so. However, all kinds of divine forms in the world have the principles of existence. They had found four-tusked white elephants, eight-tusked white elephants, and six-tusked green elephants, but they just couldn't find a six-tusked white elephant. The same goes for lions; they had found gold-maned white lions, black-maned white lions, and pure green lions, but they just hadn't found a green-maned snow lion.

They finally couldn't wait, and many scripture stones were already prepared, so they thought about catching lions and elephants with similar divine forms to replace them. For example, knocking out two teeth of an eight-tusked white elephant, and then driving it to see where it was willing to rest.

They were prepared to do that at the time.

However, just at this time, another group of people digging mountains and taking stones discovered that a mountain lord had already been born when they were excavating a snow mountain by the Jin Sha River.

The so-called mountain lord is a monster that has attained the Dao from mountain stones.

Demons, spirits, ghosts, and monsters—people distinguish these four types of aliens very clearly.

【Demon】 is the attainment of the Dao by all birds and beasts with fur, feathers, and scales. The three-colored cat Cheng Zhaoli is a demon.

【Spirit】 is the attainment of the Dao by wood attributes such as grass, trees, flowers, and vines. The ginseng Bai Yongliang is a spirit.

【Ghost】 is the attainment of the Dao by dead things such as souls, bones, and corpses. The walking corpse Long Boyan is a ghost.

【Monster】 is the attainment of the Dao by things without life such as gold, stone, fire, and water.

Among these four categories of demons, spirits, ghosts, and monsters, monsters are the most difficult to attain the Dao. The most common monsters are those where gold, stone, and utensils are refined by humans, adjusting Yin and Yang, and giving birth to utensil spirits. Then utensil spirits can also be called monsters.

However, the intelligence of monsters is very difficult to be sound. For example, "Taodu" is only a line away from an immortal weapon, but the spirituality of the utensil spirit is only at the level of a child, and this is considered very rare.

And monsters in the natural world are even rarer. Because this kind of monster is too difficult to be born, it is a scarce creature in heaven and earth. Therefore, in ancient times, naturally born monsters would be directly conferred as gods.

Gold and stone monsters were conferred as mountain gods, water monsters as water gods, and fire monsters as fire gods.

Later, when they were no longer conferred as gods, these monsters had other names: mountain lord, water lord, fire lord.

And after they were no longer conferred as gods in heaven and earth, the appearance of this kind of monster became even more rare. If people discovered one, they would definitely have to worship it well.

Because the lifespan of a monster is extremely long, especially a mountain lord, with the nature of gold and stone, even without cultivation, it has the lifespan of an immortal. Therefore, as long as it is guided to be good and educated, even in a great sect of the world, it is a presence like a pillar of the sea.

Cheng Xinzhan knew that his own sect had a mountain lord—the Kuishan Lord.

The old man didn't know if he was in seclusion or taking a nap. Anyway, a sixty-year cycle had already passed, and he hadn't seen him move at all. The whole sect were his juniors.

In the face of such a lifespan, a flood dragon would have to be inferior by three points.

And thousands of years ago, a group of demonic monks actually discovered a mountain lord while digging mountains and opening stones.

Perhaps mountain lords all like to take naps. This mountain lord was also taking a nap at the time, and suddenly the earth vein was dug and broken, which woke him up. Naturally, he was furious and flew out of the mountain—

A green-maned snow lion.

Correct, the Kuishan Lord is a single-clawed, single-horned, purple-scaled Kui python divine form, and this Xikang snow mountain lord happened to be the green-maned, white-haired, golden-eyed snow lion divine form that the demonic monks had been seeking for a long time!

However, this Shishan Lord did not have the luck of the Kuishan Lord.

The Kuishan Lord was born in the Sanqing Mountains, nourished by spiritual energy, and attained the Dao from an isolated peak shaped like a giant python. Once he attained intelligence, he was carefully educated and cultivated by the high Daoists of the Sanqing Mountains. His realm improved rapidly, and he even served as the mountain master of Shuji Mountain and the deputy sect leader for a period of time. His realm was profound, and he was majestic.

And this Shishan Lord attained the Dao from an isolated snow mountain on a spiritual eye of the earth vein on the Xikang Plateau. After attaining intelligence, he practiced ignorantly all the way. He didn't know how many years he had practiced before he attained a Golden Core, and he was found by a group of demonic monks. He was caught off guard, his earth vein was dug and broken, and his mountain body was injured.

The Shishan Lord had bad luck, but the group of demonic monks thought they had received the mandate of heaven. Suddenly seeing the snow lion, they were overjoyed, thinking it was the Buddha's mercy and guidance, sending a divine messenger.

However, the demonic monks wanted to worship and pay homage, but they had truly broken the foundation of others and injured their vitality. The Shishan Lord was furious. Where would he care about your worship? Naturally, he killed indiscriminately.

And this group of demonic monks who practiced "Stone-Carrying Suffering" and had their heads cultivated into stones were obviously not kind people either. Seeing that the snow lion refused to give up no matter what, that stubbornness came up, thinking that the holy land suitable for piling stones had been found, right here. Immediately, they didn't stop halfway and dug the entire snow mountain flat!

Although the snow lion attained the Dao as a mountain lord and had thick skin and flesh, he was ultimately only at the Golden Core cultivation level and had no lineage inheritance. He was just brute force. Even his birthplace and Daoist field were broken and flattened by others. After being seriously injured, he was naturally suppressed by that group of demonic monks in the end.

So at this moment, the place where Cheng Xinzhan was located was the place where the snow mountain where the Shishan Lord was born was flattened. And under this stone-piled mountain, that Shishan Lord was suppressed!

This stone-piled mountain was called "Lion-Carrying Temple" by the demonic monks, meaning that this place would be carried by the snow lion to fly to the Buddha Kingdom. It is the core of the entire Bai Yu Forest and is also a forbidden area where stepping is strictly prohibited. For thousands of years, only the abbots of the Bai Yu Forest of past generations have practiced here, guarding the snow lion.

And the abbot of this generation of the Bai Yu Forest was called Master Hanshan, who was killed by Yan Renying with an immortal weapon as soon as he appeared.

And what truly made Cheng Xinzhan's expression change was that this record also said that in order to suppress the snow lion, the demonic monks of thousands of years ago specially created a forbidden magic curse and passed it on to their disciples in the form of scriptures, letting them carve it on the stone walls of the stone-piled mountain, using the stone temples of the mountains to suppress the mountain lord snow lion.

After thousands of years like this, one stone mountain after another was piled up, higher and higher, and the forbidden magic curse was carved more and more. Therefore, for so many years, the suppressed Shishan Lord had never made any movement.

But Cheng Xinzhan remembered that when he walked near the Bai Yu Forest just now, he saw the Western Sichuan Sword Pavilion posting talismans to wear down the scriptures on the mountain! And there were more than ninety mountains in total, and the Western Sichuan Sword Pavilion had already dissolved more than seventy!

At this moment, he finally knew why Fushi was calling out.

"Roar—"

Just as he realized it, a roar came from the ground, and the earth shook and the mountains swayed.

(End of chapter)