Chapter 859

Brother Qian Chen suddenly unleashed a powerful technique, his hands blooming like lotus flowers as he uttered sharply: "Duo!"

Instantly, the lotus mudra transformed into the Jewel Vase mudra, raised high above his chest, and the entire Buddha stupa was suddenly pierced by a beam of starlight.

The countless stars above were drawn in by the thirty-six million scripture bricks of the nine-tiered stupa; the inscriptions on the golden bricks all transformed into the Sutra of a Thousand Buddhas of the Future Star Constellation Calamity, guiding the starlight straight down to the sixth level of the underground palace.

A star essence as thick as a thumb drew in starlight from hundreds of li around, sinking into the Jewel Vase mudra Brother Qian Chen had formed.

The magically condensed vase, filled with swirling starlight, stirred even Cao Cao Xuanwei's expression slightly.

This star essence surpassed even the celestial essence drawn by the Imperial Astronomical Bureau in Chang'an using its ancient celestial instruments.

Since the immortal Han Emperor Wu first used the Dew Platform to fuse sunlight and moonlight into immortal dew elixirs, the imperial court had established the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, entrusting descendants of the ancient Celestial Dao lineage to oversee astronomy and seek cultivation resources from the sun, moon, and stars.

This ritual of worshipping the sun, moon, and stars had become a major source of income for both immortal sects and the imperial court.

Each year, the court distributed star essence—this was a primary cultivation resource for official sect cultivators and Cao clan descendants.

The Imperial Astronomical Bureau maintained observatories across all prefectures and commanderies, placed at the optimal geomantic sites where earthly veins best received celestial starlight, equipped with celestial instruments to transform starlight into—Star River True Water.

Even with the entire nation's power, the star essence condensed on the most brilliant starlit nights barely matched what Brother Qian Chen had gathered with his Buddha stupa's Jewel Vase.

This could only mean Brother Qian Chen's Buddhist dharma had truly grasped the essence of the stars.

After drawing in the starlight with the Jewel Vase mudra, Brother Qian Chen refined it into a light resembling the reflection of countless stars, where each star was the halo behind a Buddha's head, collectively paying homage to a single future Buddha, whose mind nurtured a perfect radiance.

This light was composed of countless hues, countless Buddha-natures, countless original hearts; even a single thread dimmed Cao Cao Xuanwei's Great Treasure Accumulated Light Cloud behind his head.

Within the entire stupa, the golden glow flowing across the bricks, even the colors of everyone's robes, abruptly turned to black and white—signifying that all phenomena of sentient beings had been absorbed.

Brother Qian Chen's fingertips released this perfected, star-subjugating light—the light of ten thousand extinguished stars, the silent Buddha-light—his two fingers like drills, driving straight into the protruding vertebrae; starlight pierced the vertebrae like a long nail, piercing through the Golden Body's Shanzhong acupoint.

At that moment, the body of Tan Tan Wuchen, cradled in the Golden Body's arms, trembled violently; a reversed ten-thousand-character symbol suddenly appeared on the Golden Body's chest, brimming with boundless demonic nature!

A billion screams erupted from within the Golden Body, layer upon layer of voices seemingly cursing something.

As the starlight nail slowly drove deeper into the dantian, stabilizing the mysterious turmoil within the Golden Body's vessel, the countless strange voices gradually quieted.

"Little Murong Chui is truly a Great Demon!" Brother Qian Chen praised. "His Yu Jiuyou demonic speech is authentic, his accent flawless—pure old Yu Jiuyou Original Flag style!"

"What's the 'old Yu Jiuyou Original Flag'?" Li Zhong couldn't help asking.

Brother Qian Chen replied coolly: "The original followers of the first primordial Demon Ancestor of Yu Jiuyou —every Yu Jiuyou demon god traces back to them. They were the first to create the Yu Jiuyou demonic language."

"Now…"

Brother Qian Chen pondered: these demon gods should have followed the Primordial Great Lingbao Tianzun to Jade Clarity Heaven to become sovereign ancestors.

Thus, the orthodox lineage of Yu Jiuyou lies in the primordial, and the primordial orthodox lineage belongs to the Great Lingbao Tianzun, who now resides in the Jade Void Palace…

The orthodox Yu Jiuyou Jade Void Palace!

Perfectly consistent. From this, Brother Qian Chen's Yu Jiuyou demonic speech still lacks authenticity—it's missing the flavor of Jade Clarity Heaven.

In contrast, Little Murong Chui's Yu Jiuyou demonic speech genuinely carried a trace of the primordial qi of Jade Clarity Heaven.

Why?

Brother Qian Chen reflected inwardly: his Yu Jiuyou demonic speech was learned from the primordial darkness of Yu Jiuyou —the boundless dark source—and should be the purest.

But precisely because of that, he missed the later evolutions of the original Yu Jiuyou demonic language.

He could hear Little Murong Chui's curses in Yu Jiuyou demonic speech, yet he detected the subtle transformation—after escaping Yu Jiuyou, infused with celestial origins, the Dao rhythm of Jade Clarity Heaven…

This suggests—either Little Murong Chui has cultivated Jade Clarity Dao techniques.

Or the title of Great Demon Lord is somehow tied to the transformation of the Primordial Demon Ancestor into the Primordial Lingbao Tianzun!

"Good thing I'm naturally cautious—I set a trap for Little Murong Chui. Otherwise, if the Great Demon Lord title truly relates to that one, his status might surpass my imagination!"

Brother Qian Chen frowned slightly, hesitating inwardly: "No way! No way! The Great Demon Lord can't possibly be the Primordial Demon Ancestor's recognition of a demonic leader! The Yu Jiuyou Demon Ancestor shouldn't be that weak—his own Great Demon Lord title is just a recognition from the Primordial Demon Ancestor…"

Li Zhong rarely saw Brother Qian Chen so grave, but he didn't know what kind of beings Brother Qian Chen usually battled.

He merely assumed that, given Little Murong Chui's reputation, his elder brother needed caution—what level of battle was this?!

To face Little Murong Chui? His elder brother was more extraordinary than he could imagine!

Brother Qian Chen said to Tan Tan Wuchen: "Little Murong Chui is using the embryonic demon I awakened as a seed, your Golden Body as a furnace, practicing demonic cultivation to refine demons."

"Just now, I drove in a nail forged from ten thousand stars' perfected Buddha-light, disrupting his demonic technique once!"

"But with Little Murong Chui's power, he can continuously pour boundless demonic nature and Great Demons into the Golden Body via that lunar demon—eventually he'll refine the fundamental demonic nature of the thirty-six million souls within the stupa, transforming the embryonic demon into his own Great Demon body."

"This ten-thousand-star perfected Buddha-light, the Great Nirvana Golden Body, even that little thing's Great Treasure Accumulated Light Cloud—none can halt this process, only delay it!"

"The deeper the Buddhist dharma we use to resist, the more powerful the demon he twists and refines becomes!"

Tan Tan Wuchen's expression grew grim, yet he harbored not a single doubt.

Among everyone present, none knew better than him how complex and fierce the demonic thoughts of these thirty-six million devotees were.

Brother Qian Chen's single thought transformed their tangled demonic nature into an embryonic demon—symbolizing the ineradicable evil roots even Buddha-nature could not purify: the icchantika!

This alone filled Tan Tan Wuchen with awe—he was utterly humbled by the incomprehensible depth of Buddhist and demonic arts.

And Little Murong Chui refining these boundless demonic thoughts, subduing the embryonic demon—this demonic mastery was utterly beyond Tan Tan Wuchen's understanding.

Frankly, even Tan Tan Wuchen's achievement of liberating all thirty-six million souls within the stupa barely surpassed Little Murong Chui's current control over the embryonic demon and grasp of evil roots.

But Tan Tan Wuchen was still immeasurably distant from the inconceivable merit of liberating thirty-six million sentient beings.

His distance from Little Murong Chui was equally immeasurable…

"If this demon is completed, Wuchuanzhen will fall in an instant!" Tan Tan Wuchen regretted bitterly.

This Great Demon was forged from his own essence, the remnants of the ancient Fucheng, the final reserves of the Jiyin Na Mo Jie Kingdom, and the souls and Buddhist accumulations of the thirty-six million most devout devotees across the infinite worlds.

Once completed, it would be equivalent to a Primordial Spirit-level demon awakening, and with control over the entire city-protection array, it could instantly drag the whole of Wuchuanzhen into Yu Jiuyou, transforming it into demonic land!

The sixth level of the stupa was originally the core of the city-protection array; Tan Tan Wuchen's centuries of cultivation had deeply rooted his cultivation base within the Northern Frontier array. If his foundation were seized by the Great Demon, it would be as if Little Murong Chui had plunged a hand deep into the Northern Frontier array—the situation would collapse instantly.

Without such a tempting bait, Brother Qian Chen worried he might not lure Little Murong Chui at all!

Cao Cao Xuanwei's expression grew grave; merely hearing fragments of Brother Qian Chen and Tan Tan Wuchen's strategy, he understood the gravity.

"Master Tan Tan Wuchen himself cultivated the True Body Golden Body—a Buddhist master equivalent to a Daoist Daoist Yangshen, just one step from breaking through the Life-Death Mystery Gate. Moreover, this stupa is half the accumulated treasure of the Nirvana Sect of Xizhou, a Buddhist treasure forged by the Jiyin Na Mo Jie Kingdom exhausting its last reserves."

Cao Cao Xuanwei said gravely: "If all this accumulation falls into Little Murong Chui's hands!"

"He could forge a Great Demon avatar with Primordial Spirit power in an instant—equal to a Spirit Treasure!"

Only now did Cao Cao Xuanwei understand why Tan Tan Wuchen never left the sixth level of the stupa.

Because this treasure was originally intended by the Buddhist sect as a Pure Land.

When the Jiyin Na Mo Jie Kingdom fell, one of the infinite worlds selected the most devout Buddhist followers to form the final remnant of the Fucheng—how could it be so simple?

At that time, the great being who attained enlightenment and entered Nirvana passed away.

The Nirvana Buddha-fire melted the thirty-six million devotees into the stupa—half out of necessity, half deliberately.

The Qing Sect's killing spawn pursued too fiercely.

That great being's death was likely meant to strike back if he could achieve Buddhahood.

If his cultivation fell short, he would turn the last remnants of the Jiyin Na Mo Jie Fucheng into a seed for the future.

The thirty-six million devout followers likely volunteered to follow the high master into death, refined into this stupa.

In the future, when someone of the Nirvana Sect attains Dao, they could transform this treasure into a Pure Land, like Master Master Zhutanmo's golden bowl—becoming a Spirit Treasure, with the thirty-six million devotees reborn as bhikkhus and Buddha-sons within the Pure Land, sustaining it.

Thus, they could turn defeat into victory, planting a Pure Land in the Earthly Immortal Realm superior to the Fucheng.

Likely, during the fall of the twenty Buddha Cities, the great Buddhist masters had already laid this plan—turning the twenty Buddha Cities into Pure Lands, planted within the Earthly Immortal Realm, truly rooting themselves.

After all, even the most devout Fucheng followers were merely immigrants from another realm, inherently repelled by the Earthly Immortal Realm's Dao.

Only through this transformation, converting local Earthly Immortal Realm inhabitants and expanding the Pure Land, could they gain the Heavenly Dao's recognition.

But this scheme, falling into Brother Qian Chen's hands, was the worst possible fate for them.

He turned it into bait to lure Little Murong Chui into the trap…

Tan Tan Wuchen's worry, Cao Cao Xuanwei's gravity—all were Brother Qian Chen's calculations. If even they couldn't see the immense stakes, how could Little Murong Chui be convinced to invest real capital?

But now it's still not enough…

Little Murong Chui must not refine the demon too easily!

Otherwise, we won't force out his true reserves—Brother Qian Chen won't be able to see all his cards…

Using demon to refine demon, tricking the Great Demon into investing capital, then harvesting it all in one furnace—this is Brother Qian Chen's old alchemy trick!

How he once tricked Great Demons into stealing elixirs, that's exactly how he plans to trick Little Murong Chui now!

"Trick him! Hard trick! Best if you can trick the Great Demon Lord title into coming over…"

Brother Qian Chen watched as the Great Nirvana Golden Body was reduced to a mere skin, its interior surging with boundless demonic nature, refining the demonic taint into a deep, terrifying shadow—various strange phenomena flickered across the Golden Body's skin.

His hidden gaze flickered, brimming with ferocity and deep covetousness…

Little Murong Chui saw the opportunity Brother Qian Chen offered and wanted to claim some interest.

Brother Qian Chen, however, coveted Little Murong Chui's capital—he planned to cheat him out of everything.