Chapter 74: Buddha Kingdom in the Palm

After bringing Shan Ling and Xiao Song back to the Third Peak, Hua Changxi began packing her belongings; everything else was easy to handle, as she could simply store it all in the Shennong Cauldron.

The only thing giving her a headache was the Buddha Hand, which could not be fitted into the Shennong Cauldron.

Moreover, the Buddha Hand was covered in cracks, and she worried that even a slight bump might shatter it.

Hua Changxi asked Shan Ling to fetch her a piece of the sturdiest timber, intending to craft a wooden box to encase the Buddha Hand.

Watching from the side, Xiao Song asked puzzledly, "Master, why don't you store the Buddha Hand inside your dantian?"

Hua Changxi paused her movements: "This thing can be stored in the dantian?"

Xiao Song nodded with certainty: "Of course. My inheritance tells me that this Buddha Hand broke off from the Dharma Aspect of a deity. A deity's Dharma Aspect is a supreme heavenly treasure, so naturally, it can be stored in the dantian."

Sometimes, others do not mean to harm you; they harm you without realizing it.

Seeing the Guest-Greeting Pine speak with such conviction, Hua Changxi believed her, feeling she had gained new knowledge.

Severely lacking in cultivation common sense, Hua Changxi only thought that since her dantian sea of qi could accommodate the mountain seal of Mount Wuzhi, storing a shattered Buddha Hand should not be a problem.

What she did not know was how vital the dantian sea of qi is to a cultivator; it cannot be used to store things at will. She failed to consider whether the Buddha Hand posed any danger to her or whether her dantian sea of qi could even contain it.

Hearing the Guest-Greeting Pine's suggestion and deeming it feasible, she pricked her finger and dripped a drop of blood onto the Buddha Hand.

The blood sank into the Buddha Hand, yet there was no reaction.

Hua Changxi looked at Xiao Song, who looked back at her: "Perhaps... there wasn't enough blood?"

Thus, Hua Changxi dripped several more drops; only when the ninth drop fell did the Buddha Hand suddenly whoosh away, transforming into a stream of spiritual light that vanished into Hua Changxi's dantian.

The moment the Buddha Hand entered her dantian, Hua Changxi's consciousness was instantly pulled inside; her body, seeming to lose its soul, collapsed directly beside the Fire Spirit Spring Pool.

Seeing this, Xiao Song was terrified.

"Master!"

"Master, what is wrong with you?"

"Shan Ling, where are you? Come back quickly! Something has happened to Master!"

Xiao Song, nearly crying from anxiety, carefully straightened Hua Changxi's body before rushing off to find Shan Ling.

Meanwhile, within the sea of qi in the dantian, the spot where her golden core had originally resided was now occupied by the Buddha Hand.

The sea of qi churned and boiled, piling up layer upon layer of giant waves, as if trying to smash the Buddha Hand to pieces.

Instead, a swastika symbol manifested on each finger of the Buddha Hand; brilliant golden light surged forth, suppressing the churning waves of qi.

It was amidst this blinding golden radiance that Hua Changxi regained consciousness, only to discover she had become a round golden core, yet instead of floating above the sea of qi, she was cradled within a gigantic palm.

This giant hand was undoubtedly the Buddha Hand.

A sense of panic rose in Hua Changxi's heart, accompanied by a single thought: she must escape the Buddha Hand immediately.

The ruddy golden core darted swiftly within the golden palm, weaving between the fingers; just as she neared the edge of the palm, she realized her range of movement remained confined entirely within it.

Hua Changxi flew around several more times, as if trapped in a ghost wall; no matter what she tried, she simply could not fly out of the palm.

It was then that she noticed the Black Flame.

The Black Flame had also entered the Buddha Hand along with her, remaining just as before, steadily positioned beneath the golden core.

Within the Buddha Hand, Hua Changxi could not perceive the passage of time, yet her heart grew increasingly anxious and panicked; this agitation prevented her from calming down, causing her to merely weave back and forth between the five fingers repeatedly.

During this period, she failed to notice that the Black Flame, originally some distance from the golden core, was drawing closer and closer, showing signs of growing larger.

The moment the Black Flame touched the golden core, an intense desire for destruction surged within Hua Changxi's heart.

Gazing at the Buddha Hand, only one thought filled her mind: since she could not fly out, she would destroy the Buddha Hand!

"Boom~"

Fire lotuses shot forth; in an instant, the Buddha Hand was submerged beneath bloom after bloom of fiery lotuses.

Watching the burning flames, Hua Changxi's desire for destruction climbed ever higher; fire spiritual energy continuously overflowed from her golden core, pouring into the fire lotuses and making them burn fiercer and brighter.

There was a resolve in her that even if all the fire spiritual energy within her golden core were exhausted, she would not care.

After all, the Buddha Hand had been left behind since time immemorial; through endless ages, its magical power had long been nearly depleted, and having been severely injured by the giant monkey earlier, it was covered in cracks and could not last much longer.

Now, scorched by the fire lotuses, crack after crack soon appeared across the palm.

As the flames climbed onto the fingers, the swastika symbols upon them began to radiate intense golden light; the swastika on the thumb flew out first, attacking Hua Changxi as if to suppress her.

Just as the swastika was about to cover the golden core, a bird pattern manifested upon the core.

Once the bird pattern appeared, the swastika immediately became unstable, trembling violently before flying backward.

Seeing this, the swastika symbols on the other fingers flew out simultaneously; the five swastikas surrounded the golden core completely, then slowly began to close in.

As the swastikas drew nearer, the bird pattern on the golden core grew increasingly brilliant.

"Screech~"

The bird pattern flew out, transforming into Zhu Que; it circled the golden core once, then directly shattered all five swastika symbols.

The swastikas dissolved into golden specks of light that sank into the golden core; Zhu Que, falling slightly behind, also flew back into the golden core.

On the golden core, the bird pattern flashed brightly once more before fading away again.

With the swastikas gone, the cracks on the Buddha Hand grew larger and more numerous.

At this point, had Hua Changxi simply let the fire lotuses burn, the Buddha Hand would eventually have been destroyed anyway; however, her desire for destruction was too intense, preventing her from stopping there, and instead she plunged headlong into the sea of fire lotuses.

The golden core entering the sea of fire was like pouring gasoline onto flames; the fire lotuses burned even more fiercely and violently.

This was entirely a stance of exhausting all spiritual energy to die together.

"Rumble~"

Amidst the burning of the fire lotuses, the Buddha Hand collapsed and melted.

The melted fragments of the Buddha Hand became fuel for the fire lotuses, further amplifying their power.

Consequently, under the scorching of the fire lotuses, the Buddha Hand accelerated its collapse and fragmentation.

"Bang~"

Finally, the Buddha Hand shattered into pieces, swallowed entirely by the fire lotuses.

The inner elixir had also reappeared above her qi sea.

By the edge of the Fire Spirit Spring Pool, the Mountain Spirit and Little Pine, who were guarding Hua Changxi, saw her eyelashes tremble and immediately became excited.

"Is Master about to wake up?"

As soon as the words left his lips, Hua Changxi slowly opened her eyes; her gaze was initially blank, but once she clearly saw the Mountain Spirit and Little Pine, it fully regained its clarity.

Looking at the two little children before her, Hua Changxi felt utterly speechless at that moment.

"You two... are such scoundrels!"

Because of the Mountain Spirit, she had moved the Buddha Hand away and nearly died under the giant monkey's heavy fist; because of the Welcoming Pine, she had withdrawn the Buddha Hand, nearly causing herself and the Buddha Hand to perish together.

They had nearly ruined her!

The Mountain Spirit and Little Pine exchanged a glance, their faces filled with innocence.

They hadn't tricked the Fairy (Master)!

Lying motionless by the Fire Spirit Spring Pool, Hua Changxi glanced at the Zhu Que breathing meditation image in her mind, which had dimmed several shades further, and simply wanted to sit in silence.

Facing life-and-death crises twice in succession had left her trembling with aftereffects.

Only recently had she warned herself not to be rash, yet she had foolishly erred again so quickly; how could she have so easily trusted the Welcoming Pine and stored the Buddha Hand inside her dantian?

Should she blame the Mountain Spirit and the Welcoming Pine?

But the decision had been hers.

Hua Changxi suddenly recalled the scene from her past life when her eldest and second uncles had fought over her grandfather's house; in truth, she could have prevented that situation.

When her grandfather was nearing death, a neighbor had reminded her to have his will notarized.

What had she been thinking at that time?

She had believed that since her eldest and second uncles both had houses and were living quite well, they would not fight her for the house, so she had not bothered with such trivial matters.

The consequence was that she had died during the struggle for the house.

Ultimately, the luck-based mentality and gambling nature deep within her bones were still too strong; even though she deliberately avoided such things in many matters, at many critical moments of decision, this psychology still influenced her unconsciously.

Although this journey to Mount Wuzhi had involved crises when releasing the Monkey King's domain, the final outcome was still good; she had not paid much of a price and had even gained Mount Wuzhi.

Coupled with her rapid cultivation progress over the past two months, she had developed the illusion that she was a chosen one.

The matter of the Buddha Hand was a stark wake-up call; she was no chosen one, and on the path of cultivation, a single carelessness could lead to her death.

Looking at the Zhu Que breathing meditation image, which had dimmed to the point of becoming somewhat illusory, Hua Changxi smiled bitterly; she had wasted this life-saving method twice.

The next time she encountered a crisis, would Zhu Que appear again to save her?

"Fairy, are you alright?"

Seeing Hua Changxi lying motionless, both the Mountain Spirit and Little Pine felt somewhat worried.

Hua Changxi glanced at the two of them, and thinking of her inner elixir which had become dim and lusterless due to excessive consumption of spiritual energy, she felt somewhat distressed: "How long was I unconscious?"

The Mountain Spirit held up three fingers: "Three days and three nights."

Hua Changxi had originally planned to return to San Cha Medicine Valley immediately, but now she would have to postpone it: "I am fine; you two go play."

After the two left hand in hand, Hua Changxi took the Fire Spirit Stone Bed out of the Shennong Cauldron, lay prone upon it, and began to cultivate.

As soon as her consciousness entered the dantian qi sea, it settled upon the inner elixir.

Looking at the black flames burning beneath the inner elixir, Hua Changxi's brows knitted together; she wished to move the inner elixir farther away from the black flames, but no matter where she guided the inner elixir to float, the black flames followed closely, making it impossible to shake them off.

The outer flames of the black fire had already touched the bottom of the inner elixir; being burned like this continuously, she always felt that something particularly terrible would happen.

Especially when recalling her uncontrollable desire for destruction while burning the Buddha Hand earlier, which had manipulated her into risking her own life just to destroy the Buddha Hand, that style of fighting truly left her trembling with aftereffects.

These black flames could control a person's emotions, forcing them to commit uncontrollable, extreme acts; it was too terrifying.

"What exactly are these black flames?"

Looking at the black flames, which had grown much larger than when they first entered her qi sea, Hua Changxi was deeply worried.

If she could not get rid of the black flames and allowed the inner elixir to be burned by them, or if one day the black flames grew larger and engulfed the inner elixir, would she be completely controlled by the black flames?

She needed to hurry her search for the Asura Gate.

Suppressing the urgency in her heart, Hua Changxi sank into cultivation, deciding to return to San Cha Medicine Valley once she had replenished her consumed spiritual energy; after meeting her family, she would go find the Asura Gate.

The spiritual energy at Mount Wuzhi was dense, and Hua Changxi absorbed it quickly enough that after one night, her inner elixir had once again become brilliant, dazzling, and radiant.

Once her spiritual energy recovered, Hua Changxi thought of something; golden light condensed in her hand, and five 'wan' characters appeared on the five fingers of her right hand.

Spiritual energy gathered in her right hand as she slapped toward a small hill not far away.

Hua Changxi's body did not move, and her right hand merely remained raised, yet a palm formed of gathered spiritual energy flew out, growing from small to large as it slapped toward the small hill.

With a loud "boom," the small hill collapsed.

This formidable combat power brought Hua Changxi some comfort; although she had nearly lost her life, she had at least gained the essential intent of the Palm Buddha Kingdom; although she could not yet fully refine the five 'wan' characters or unleash the full power of the Palm Buddha Kingdom, she had ultimately gained a powerful method of attack.

"In the future, I must proceed steadily and step by step."

Hua Changxi warned herself once again in her heart; eager to resolve the issue of the black flames, she did not stay long at Mount Wuzhi.

On the nineteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, after giving early instructions to the Mountain Spirit and Little Pine, Hua Changxi mounted a cloud and flew toward Jingcheng.

Although she had not yet mastered the Somersault Cloud to the point of divine proficiency, her return speed was still several times faster than when she had come, relying on lightness skills to run.

The moment Hua Changxi exited Mount Wuzhi, in a guest room within the courtyard of an inn in Anyang Prefecture, the closest prefecture to Mount Wuzhi, Jiang Guanyun, who was sitting in meditation to heal his injuries, instantly opened his eyes.

"Finally out!"

Looking at the talisman pendant flashing at his waist, killing intent surged in Jiang Guanyun's eyes.

That wild girl had become the master of Mount Wuzhi, so he had been unable to kill her within the mountain; now that she had emerged, everything would be easy to handle.

Once he killed that wild girl, he would return to find the Mountain Spirit and refine it again; at that time, Mount Wuzhi would still belong to him.

Jiang Guanyun exited the room, summoned his innate sword, stepped onto the sword, and flew into the sky, chasing after the flashing light spot on the talisman pendant.

As the year drew to a close, Hua Changxi rode her cloud, observing that the several cities she passed through were bustling with people and decorated with lanterns and festoons; everywhere was permeated with a joyful atmosphere for the New Year, and infected by this happy vibe, she felt somewhat eager to see her family soon.

Just as she was approaching Daicheng, the prefectural capital of Qingzhou, and hesitating whether to enter the city to buy some gifts for her family, Hua Changxi suddenly detected a fluctuation of spiritual energy coming from behind and whipped her head around to look.

Turning around, she saw a giant sword, a hundred meters long and formed of spiritual energy, slashing toward her.

Hua Changxi's expression changed; she rode her cloud and darted aside to evade.

She avoided the giant sword, but it slashed downward toward Daicheng below.

Seeing this, a 'wan' symbol appeared on Hua Changxi's right hand; just before the giant sword struck Daicheng, she swung a massive hand formed of spiritual energy and seized the blade.

At that moment, all the common people in Daicheng saw the giant sword and the giant hand.

The giant sword's aura was too sharp; even without striking down, its powerful shockwave knocked down several houses.

The giant hand crushed the giant sword, but before Hua Changxi could move far from Daicheng, a second sword slashed down.

At this, the people of Daicheng sensed the danger; the once joyous populace instantly became panicked, and in an instant, Daicheng descended into chaos.

Hua Changxi had now clearly seen that her attacker was the old Daoist Priest who had previously tried to refine the mountain spirit; killing intent boiled within her, and she nearly lost control, ready to fight the old priest right above Daicheng.

Fortunately, she retained a shred of reason; after using the giant hand to crush the second sword, she slapped the old Daoist Priest, sending him flying, then rode her cloud in pursuit, leaving Daicheng at maximum speed.

"What evil sorcerer dares to cause havoc in Daicheng!"

Shortly after Hua Changxi departed on her cloud, more than ten Demon-Suppressing Army soldiers wearing qilin masks flew out from the city, hovering in midair, clearly assuming a stance to protect Daicheng.

Chu Junyi watched the two figures rapidly receding with a grave expression: "This world... is about to descend into chaos!"