Chapter 980: Forcefully Accepting the Cosmic Dao

On the seventh night of the blood moon, an ancient bell toll rang from the deepest part of the Dongxing Sea Region.

Three caves that had lain silent for a thousand years opened simultaneously, a vast oppressive pressure causing the sea water within a ten‑thousand‑mile radius to solidify into crystal. The first to step out was a bare‑foot figure, whose ankle silver bells chimed lightly as they shattered a hundred‑li sea of ice.

"What a gray‑mist Yanluo." The bare‑foot master was a girl cloaked in star‑silk, a vivid drop of vermilion at her brow.

Silver threads coiled around her fingertips pierced the void, the other ends linked to a pot‑shaped phantom above Ten Thousand Immortals Island. "Pretending to be a mad demon to lure us into watching, in truth using a blood sacrifice to stabilize the realm."

The silver threads suddenly snapped, blood beads oozed from the girl's fingertips, "What a ruthless scheme."

A bronze lotus platform rose from the eastern sea surface, and the old monk's kasaya on the platform was embroidered with closed‑eyed human faces.

"Amitabha, the path of desire this child cultivates has already brushed the edge of 'other‑transformation freedom'."

With each word spoken, a human face on the kasaya opened its blood‑streaked eyes: "If we let it continue to grow, it may become a world‑ending demon."

The last to appear was a dwarf, riding atop a nine‑headed flood dragon, cackling: "What compassion are the two immortal elders putting on? They're just afraid he'll break through the Great Vehicle and steal your incense."

All eighteen eyes of the flood dragon turned toward Ten Thousand Immortals Island: "If you ask me, strike while he hasn't fully digested those desires..."

Great Vehicle cultivators already stand at the pinnacle above the cultivation world. For ordinary cultivators, the Great Vehicle Stage may exist only as legendary elites, but for true Great Vehicle cultivators, there are many restrictions.

Leaving other matters aside, a Great Vehicle cultivator's own Dao is already complete, and every word and deed can affect the heavenly and earthly laws; without restraint, the Nine Heavens Five Regions would have long since fallen apart, let alone a civil war among Great Vehicle cultivators, like the ancient conflict in Zhong Tian Zhi Yu's Luo Huang Prefecture.

If not for being shrouded in mutated rosy mist, it would have long since sunk into the land.

The three's spiritual senses collided violently in the void, ultimately reaching a subtle balance.

The star‑silk girl flicked her palm, unveiling seventy‑two jade tablets, each depicting Yan Buji's slaughter: "The Ascendant Bright Sect issues a decree: slay this beast and receive Three Tribulation‑Crossing Pills."

The old monk, hearing the words, snapped his head up; the faces on his kasaya chanted in unison, the wave of sound cracking the sea floor.

A Tribulation‑Crossing Pill can offset one heavenly tribulation of the Great Vehicle Stage, and for the ancient monster whose lifespan is nearly exhausted, it is more precious than any supreme treasure.

"Pretentious!" the dwarf suddenly commanded the flood dragon to lunge at the girl: "Who doesn't know your Melody Pavilion excels at stabbing from behind?" The poisonous flame spewed from the dragon's mouth was blocked by the moon formed from the silver bell on the girl's wrist.

The old monk timely tossed a wooden fish; with a "dong" sound, the two stepped back three paces: "We must wait until that demon is destroyed before we strike!"

Just as tensions peaked, a clear, resonant pot‑tone suddenly came from the direction of Ten Thousand Immortals Island.

The three were horrified to discover that the blood‑sacrificed cultivators who should have perished had their lingering souls regroup into an army within the pot's sound. Worse yet, the eyes of these soul‑bodies flickered with the purple‑golden flames of the Swallow Desire Pot.

"He is using desire to manipulate the dead's Dao resonance!" The old monk's kasaya swelled a thousand zhang, enveloping the first three hundred soul‑bodies that charged.

Yet the next moment, Yan Buji's visage appeared on the kasaya: "The greed of the Great Vehicle Stage... truly delicious."

During his violent retreat, the old monk tore off an entire piece of his kasaya; the contaminated portion had sprouted fine pot spouts.

The dwarf seized the opportunity to fling nine dragon‑binding spikes, each bearing the law chains unique to the Great Vehicle Stage.

Just as they were about to nail into the pot‑shaped phantom, seven hands formed of gray mist emerged from the void, each palm bearing the single eye of the Swallow Desire Pot.

"Careful!"

The star‑silk girl's warning came a step too late; the moment the gray hands seized the seven dragon‑binding spikes, they rusted to ash, and the laws they contained were devoured on the spot.

The girl finally changed hue, the moon formed from the silver bell spun rapidly: "We can wait no longer, form the Triple‑Talent Mortal‑Slaying Formation!" She bit her tongue, spitting blood mist, the blood beads coalescing in the air into an ancient formation pattern.

Although the old monk and the dwarf each harbored hidden motives, they now recognized the gravity of the situation and each offered their signature Buddha bead and the flood dragon's reverse scale.

The three Great Vehicle treasures collided at the formation's eye, the burst of light making the entire Dongxing Sea Region shine like daylight.

All cultivators saw a massive array appear on the heavens, the Extermination‑Immortal Spear woven from the three treasures aimed at Ten Thousand Immortals Island. This strike, containing the lifelong cultivation of the three Great Vehicles, summoned a warning thunder from the Dao before it could even be released.

Yan Buji within the pot‑shaped phantom finally rose.

His form now was no longer human; his upper half a purple‑golden shell studded with pot spouts, while his lower half still floated in blue robes. Facing the world‑destroying Extermination‑Immortal Spear, he performed a chilling act, voluntarily tearing open his chest to reveal the pulsating core of the Swallow Desire Pot.

"Come." Yan Buji's voice suddenly became crystal clear, as if a youth inviting by a stream: "Let me taste how pure the desire of the Great Vehicle Stage truly is."

"Arrogant!"

The Extermination‑Immortal Spear thundered down!

At the moment of impact there was no explosion, only a thick swallowing sound. The massive spear pierced the bottomless abyss, vanishing inch by inch from its tip.

The three Great Vehicles at the formation's eye spat blood simultaneously, feeling their lifelong cultivated "Dao" being analyzed, replicated, and devoured by some existence.

"Not enough... need a stronger impact..." He stared at the fissure appearing in his palm, the backlash of forcibly comprehending the Cosmic Dao law.

At a depth of ten thousand meters beneath the sea, the three figures faced each other inside a bronze palace. The star‑silk girl's fingertip silver threads pierced the void, pulling forth an image of Yan Buji gravely wounded, spitting blood: "Did you all see? This beast is already at the end of its strength." She deliberately omitted the strange formation patterns flickering at the edges of the image.

"When did the Melody Fairy become so naive?" the dwarf cultivator's nine‑headed flood dragon suddenly spoke in human words: "That demon deliberately feigned weakness, clearly to lure us into striking."

In the dragon's eyes reflected the faint, wavering spacetime folds behind Yan Buji.

The faces on the old monk's kasaya suddenly screamed in unison: "He is refining the Dongxing Sea Eye!"

Everyone's spiritual senses swept toward the deepest part of the sea, and indeed the ancient stone tablet suppressing the Sea Eye was cracking. The inscription recorded that the Sea Eye connects to the shattered ancient realm of the Cosmic Dao.

The three Great Vehicles instantly comprehended: Yan Buji was not breaking through the Great Vehicle, but seeking to use their power to shatter the Sea Eye seal!

The girl sneered: "Since that's the case, let's turn the plan to our advantage." She flicked three blood‑colored notes from her fingertips, "Refine him together with the Sea Eye using the Extermination‑Immortal Formation."

At dawn, a rainbow of light rain suddenly fell over Ten Thousand Immortals Island.

Each drop of "rain" was a condensed Law Fragment; upon landing it corroded a bottomless hole. Yan Buji feigned panic, raising a gray‑mist barrier, while secretly aligning the Swallow Desire Pot's spout toward the densest part of the light rain.

"Well timed..." he deliberately let three drops of light rain pierce the barrier, scorching a through‑wound on his left shoulder.

Inside the sea‑bottom palace, the three Great Vehicles sat in a triangle.

The old monk's wooden fish strikes transformed into golden ripples, constructing the Extermination‑Immortal formation diagram between the three.

"When the formation is complete, the Sea Eye will reopen," the dwarf snarled, pulling out his signature soul‑spike, "just right to use that demon's blood‑sacrifice formation."

When the seventy‑second soul‑spike pierced the formation's eye, the entire sea region suddenly inverted.

The seawater turned into billions of crystal‑clear threads, wrapping Ten Thousand Immortals Island into a massive cocoon. Yan Buji cackled within the cocoon, the Swallow Desire Pot swelling to a thousand zhang, its body displaying a pattern opposite to the Extermination‑Immortal formation.

"Thank you, three fellow Daoists, for helping me complete the final piece of the puzzle!"