Chapter 386

Yu Ke remained noncommittal about this.

He recalled the last time he personally participated in a simulation during his previous life as "Lu Chen," which began inexplicably and ended just as inexplicably.

He had wasted a 【Personal Participation】 for nothing.

Now, the Master had gone to such lengths to make him descend into this world and activate the God-Startling Array, all to trap him.

Yu Ke looked up at the sky, though everything had returned to normal.

The night remained deep, the moon hung high, casting its clear radiance.

The Master opposite him seemed to have no desire to converse with him further.

Dong Cheng said with emotion: "Perhaps, since the beginning of time in this world, no one has ever forced you into such a predicament."

Yu Ke knew that the Master had already glimpsed the secret of the Kunxu Cauldron—that it contained a world within itself, carrying the sun, moon, mountains, and rivers.

"Heaven and Earth nurture all things; you do not think of repaying this kindness, yet you harbor the hatred of one who would swallow the heavens?"

Yu Ke looked at the Master and said slowly, "I do not know where you obtained this God-Startling Array, but what exactly are you plotting by doing this?"

The Master's expression changed slightly, but he quickly regained his composure.

"A thousand years ago, had I attained the Dao and ascended, I would surely have been grateful to this world and wished to leave my name in history like Lu Chen."

"Three hundred years later, I vowed that if I attained ascension, I would ensure the people of Daqi, and indeed all living beings under heaven, would be far from the flames of war."

"Another three hundred years passed, and if Heaven and Earth allowed my ascension, I would send disciples to travel the world, spreading grace and saving all living beings."

"Heaven and Earth honored me with great righteousness, and I repaid Heaven and Earth with the spring and autumn."

"However, to this day, I know deeply that Heaven and Earth have never favored me, so I shall play the role of... one who defies the heavens."

Yu Ke just smiled slightly and said nothing more.

"Is that truly so?"

"Is it not that you wish to act on behalf of Heaven and enjoy the same longevity as Heaven and Earth!"

The Master stared at Yu Ke's expression, which seemed to have long since understood his thoughts, and his face grew increasingly gloomy.

Ordinary people would naturally be unable to stir his heartstrings, yet standing opposite him was the embodiment of the "Dao" of this world.

"That you still have the leisure to waste words with me shows that your situation is exactly as I expected; otherwise, I would have long since died without a burial place."

"You disdain to speak with me, but today I shall tell you."

"It is precisely those of us who are like ants in your eyes—I will do as was done six thousand years ago when spiritual energy dissipated: mortals will overthrow the altars and temples, and trample the immortals beneath their feet."

Having spoken!

The Master's aura suddenly became profound, the wind and clouds of heaven and earth churned like ink, and his form actually transformed into a void vortex that devoured all things.

A bone-chilling coldness permeated the air, more biting than the dead of winter.

The mist by the river grew thicker, and as the breeze blew, it carried an endless chill.

The dense fog by the riverbank condensed into frost on the planted willow trees, falling with a rustle.

The hair of "Xie Guan" was gently stirred by the cold wind; Yu Ke felt as if he were standing on a peak of ten thousand blades, with vast snow-capped mountains before him and biting cold winds rushing toward his face, making it difficult to climb.

It was truly too cold!

Cold to the very marrow of his bones.

The air he inhaled felt like ice needles piercing his lungs.

Yu Ke had no choice but to circulate his entire cultivation base, mobilizing the primordial qi he had refined within his body, striving to resist this chill.

It seemed the Master was prepared to get serious.

Yu Ke opened his eyes abruptly and initiated the "Roaring Buddha Hand" taught by Master Master Lianchi; a glazed golden Buddha hand instantly enveloped his entire body.

However, it was only for an instant!

Under the assault of the cold wind, cracks appeared on the Buddha hand, and it shattered with a boom.

Seeing this, the old man shook his head slightly, his eyes filled with a touch of pity and indifference.

"Sure enough, you are far too weak right now."

"This was merely my aura."

The Master rolled up his sleeves and slowly extended a hand, as if reaching out from a cold pool; the chill condensed and pressed directly toward Yu Ke.

Yu Ke had long been poised and ready; on the spiritual platform within his Niwan Palace, two strands of sword intent waited like a coiled dragon.

He formed sword fingers with both hands, took a deep breath, and slowly pushed his hands forward.

One sword to slay demons!

One sword to slay ghosts!

Two strands of sword intent erupted from between his index and middle fingers; one was as cold and bright as moonlight—this was the Ghost-Slaying Sword.

The other was as fierce and dazzling as the scorching sun—this was the Demon-Slaying Sword.

These two swords had been nurtured for months and had also fused with the sword intent accumulated in the lake over the years; their power far exceeded Yu Ke's expectations.

The sword intent soared into the sky, its momentum like a rainbow!

Yu Ke was certain in his heart that even a powerhouse in the Upper Three Realms of martial arts could be killed!

The surrounding mist was shaken by the sword intent, and all of it was swept up by the two swords as they charged straight at the Master.

The blue stone slabs on the ground were overturned, and the earth churned like a subterranean dragon passing through, leaving a deep gully in its wake.

The primordial qi and spiritual soul power within Yu Ke's body were exhausted in this moment; his breathing became rapid, his face turned slightly pale, and the Shaoyang meridians in his fingers burned with a dull ache from the sword intent.

He endured the pain, circulated the "Spirit Turtle Nurturing Will Method" from the "Seven Arts of the Yin Talisman," suppressed his exhausted mind, and slowly absorbed the lunar essence from the moonlight to repair his damaged primordial spirit.

At the same time, the pattern of the second art, the "Five Dragon Flourishing Luck Talisman," had already taken shape in his heart-sea; this technique could keep his essence, qi, and spirit from declining, suppress his personal luck, and help him stabilize his mind.

Yu Ke looked up, casting his gaze in the direction of the two strands of sword intent.

He saw!

The old man was still standing in the same spot, his figure having not moved a fraction, a faint smile on his face.

Those two fierce strands of sword intent, the moment they approached the Master's side, were actually torn into fragments by the invisible gang-qi surrounding him and vanished without a trace.

The ground was left with a deep trench as if plowed.

Dong Cheng spoke slowly, his voice cold:

"Borrowed sword intent is, after all, not one's own."

His gaze was like a torch, staring straight at Yu Ke. "If you have no other means... I had forgotten, since you descended into this world, you can only use the power of this world."

"Unfortunately, in this world, I am the supreme!"

As his voice fell, the world seemed to fall silent, and even the mist and river breeze came to a standstill.

Yu Ke had exhausted his strength just resisting this chill, and his two sword strikes couldn't even get close to the Master's body.

"What realm have you reached?"

Hearing this, the Master looked up at the sky; the horse-headed dragon-bodied constellation on the God-Startling Array had fully formed, its starlight brilliant.

Several magic arrays on the roads of the capital also shot into the sky to connect with the God-Startling Array, a world-shaking array reflected in the firmament.

Only then did Dong Cheng reveal a true smile, his gaze turning to Xie Guan, his tone carrying a touch of arrogance:

"In the martial arts of the world, a martial artist reaches at most the Ninth Realm of the Profound Elixir, but I have long since stepped into the Tenth Realm, my blood and qi do not decline, and even if only flesh and blood remain, I can be reborn."

"In the cultivation of the primordial spirit, the highest is the Tenth Realm of the Yang Spirit; I have already condensed a Nascent Soul, and even if I leave my physical body, I can walk the world."

"In the six thousand years since spiritual energy disappeared, I dare say I am the best in the world. Even if Lu Yu, who three thousand years ago was said to be undefeated throughout the world and whose height no mountain could match, were alive today, he would not equal me."

"Or rather, even if Lu Chen were resurrected, I could defeat him."

Yet Yu Ke felt that the Master at this moment had undergone a subtle change compared to just before, possessing an extra measure of composure and confidence.

Just at this moment!

From within the dense fog, a familiar female voice rang out.

"Old Master Dong, you have no shame in boasting. Ancestor Lu Yu only cultivated for forty-eight years before he shattered the void with his fists and ascended alone."

"Master Dong, take a look at your own age!"

Yu Ke looked toward the sound and saw several figures vaguely approaching in the dense fog.

After he had just performed "Demon-Slaying" and "Ghost-Slaying," he had sensed several auras approaching, three of which were particularly familiar.

The mist gradually dispersed, and several figures became clear.

On the left was an old monk in cloth robes, his face kind, eyes slightly closed, twisting a string of prayer beads in his hand.

In the middle was a woman in Daoist robes wearing a bamboo hat; her figure was obscured by the wide robes, her face hidden beneath the hat. It was she who had just mocked Dong Cheng.

On the right was a mature middle-aged man standing with his hands behind his back, his temples slightly gray, his temperament refined.

The last to appear was a youth with an ordinary appearance, but his eyes revealed a vicissitude inconsistent with his age.

Yu Ke recognized Master Master Lianchi, Lu Hua, and the Demon Master Xu Xu Jiangxian; only the youth was someone he had never seen before.

Following the appearance of the four!

The Master's aura retracted, and that chill gradually vanished.

Only then did Yu Ke have a chance to catch his breath, slowly exhaling to recover his vitality.

Seeing "Xie Guan" here, Lu Hua's face first showed joy, but then she thought of something.

The youth among the four stepped forward, looked at the Master, and bowed respectfully.

"Student Xu Li Xian, greets the Teacher."

The Master seemed to have long anticipated their arrival; his eyes lifted slightly, his gaze sweeping over them without the slightest surprise.

Finally, his gaze fell on Xu Li Xian, and he said indifferently:

"Xu Xi, you and I have long since ceased to be teacher and student, and I have never regarded you as a disciple. When we left the East Sea back then, you were the one steering the boat, a good friend traveling with me."

"When the four of you joined forces to kill me back then, you were the one who held back the most."

"Unexpectedly, you are the one who arrived earliest today."

A flash of pain crossed Xu Li Xian's face, but he shook his head, his tone firm: "A teacher for a day, a father for life."

After he finished speaking, he had already straightened his body.

"Today Xu Li Xian comes because I have no choice but to come."

Xie Guan realized that this youth was actually the Great Scholar of the Academy.

Hearing this, the Master sneered, "Teacher-student affection? It is nothing more than a vain trick in the reincarnation of the Heavenly Dao."

"Is this 'no choice but to come' for your own selfish desires, or for the sake of the so-called masses?"

His gaze shifted to Lu Hua, his tone flat: "You are the Heavenly Master of the Sanzhen Sect? But at such a tender age, you do not know the height of the heavens or the depth of the earth. Even the ancestor of your ancestor would have to respectfully call me Senior Brother upon seeing me."

From beneath Lu Hua's bamboo hat came a contemptuous sneer:

"Old Master Dong, our Ancestor Sancong had long since seen through your secret of stealing your Senior Brother's physical body, which is why he lured you into the Tomb of the Living Dead on Mount Zhongnan. If you were truly invincible in the world, why did you flee in such a sorry state on Mount Zhongnan?"

Hearing this, Yu Ke's heart stirred; the Lu Hua before him was exactly the same as the fearless image in the simulation.

Sure enough, Lu Hua was the Heavenly Master of the Sanzhen Sect!

Hearing this, the Master's expression remained like water, and he even nodded slightly.

"The ancestors of the Sanzhen Sect have all been extraordinary."

His tone was indifferent, as if speaking of someone else's affairs.

The Master had experienced many corpse-dissections and rebirths, founding Daqi, the Eternal Heaven, and the Buddha Kingdom, all invincible.

Only in the Tomb of the Living Dead on Mount Zhongnan did he encounter the immortal physical bodies of the ancestors, whose divine thoughts still remained, and his physical body was shattered by their joint efforts, leaving him no choice but to undergo corpse-dissection once more.

Demon Master Xu Xu Jiangxian stared at the Master before him; he merely released his divine thoughts, only to feel as if he had fallen into a whirlpool of mud, like a clay ox entering the sea.

And in his perception, the Master seemed to be empty of everything; had he not seen it with his own eyes, it would have been almost impossible to detect his existence.

A sense of not being of this world!

The Master had traversed the world for a thousand years; how could he be a man of empty fame?

According to the genealogy of the Xu family ancestors, that Xu family patriarch who forged the "Golden Bloodline" with his own hands and lifted the Xu family to the throne of the descendants of the supreme gods of the grasslands.

This person was highly likely to be the identity of the Master after one of his "corpse-dissections."

Cold light flickered in Xu Xu Jiangxian's eyes.

The Master looked around at the four people present and said slowly: "One is the Demon Master of the Eternal Heaven, one is the walker of the East Saint Sect, and one is my eldest disciple; they are all related to me."

"It is good that you have come; otherwise, I would have had to go looking for you one by one later."

He looked again at the Invitation Immortal Tower at the Flower Banquet after the flood control.

The Master said indifferently, "However... I still have two good disciples; one is obsessed with the endgame of a chess match, and the other has never shown his face due to guilt."

Master Master Lianchi pressed his palms together and chanted a low Buddha name: "Amitabha, Donor Dong, cause and effect revolve, retribution is unerring. Ordinary people grasp at realms, practitioners grasp at the heart; forgetting both heart and realm, the true Dharma is revealed. When the heart arises, all kinds of Dharma arise; when the heart is extinguished, all kinds of Dharma are extinguished."

"With your cultivation realm, how can you still not see through it?"

Hearing this, the Master smiled slightly: "Buddhism speaks of reincarnation and cultivating the heart, but I have long since seen through the illusions of this world; why must I be attached to cultivation?"

"I am, by nature, that existence which transcends everything, like the Tathagata!"

Hearing this, Master Master Lianchi just softly chanted a Buddha name: "Amitabha."

This Master had once incarnated as a monk a thousand years ago and was the second-generation ancestor of the East Saint Sect; the Buddhist scriptures he left behind still circulate as classics within the East Saint Sect.

If one speaks of Buddhist cultivation, the Master also had profound attainments.

Xu Xi's expression was complex, his gaze finally falling on Xie Guan, who was present; he already had a guess in his heart.

"Those who follow the Dao naturally have much help; those who lose the Dao have little help."

Hearing this, the Master seemed not to care about all this.

"However, what qualifications do you have to judge me?"

"I established a nation, quelled wars, founded Confucianism, and educated the masses. In the eyes of the world, I am that sage."

Lu Hua could no longer hold back and retorted, "This world originally had no demons; since the Tang Dynasty, demons have run rampant, and the world says it was because the Tang King married a demon fox, leading to the wrath of heaven and the resentment of men. Little did they know, all of this stemmed from your first corpse-dissection, when you injected corpse qi into the destiny of the Tang Dynasty, thereby triggering the chaos of demons in the world."

"In these thousand years, I do not know how many common people have died; a sage? Is there such a sage in the world?"

"You are nothing more than a coward who fears death."

Hearing this, the Master actually nodded and admitted:

"You are right, I do indeed fear death. But what I covet is that supreme Dao, that free and unfettered Great Dao. What I fear is becoming dry bones in a grave, unable to learn the methods of longevity and the books of the immortals."

Xu Li Xian also knew that it was impossible to move the Master with a few words.

"Those with different Daos do not conspire together, and each follows their own will."

"This is what you taught me, Teacher, and today the student returns it to you."

(End of chapter)