Chapter 470: Giving You a Seashell (Thanks to Alliance Leader

Outside Yujing Cheng, deep within Qingshan Ridge.

The Buddha Light that had shone for two years had already vanished.

Amidst the darkness, an aged figure stepped into this place.

That was right, he was originally the strongest in the world; now that he was merging with the Source, it was only natural he should choose the Killing Forbidden Land, regardless of whether this place was Yujing.

However, a figure stood ahead.

It was a tall woman, dressed plainly, with an expressionless face.

Cao Ci narrowed his eyes and looked to the left.

Suddenly, a monk in red robes appeared there; the monk was tall and robust, with a halo of light behind him, looking at him with a calm expression: "Benefactor Cao, your obsession is deep; you are walking further and further down a misguided path."

"Daoxin, if you aren't going to suppress the calamity in Nanzhou, what are you still doing here?"

"No rush."

"You want to persuade me to turn back?"

"It is to stop."

"You know full well that is impossible."

"This path leads nowhere."

The Calamity-Responding Buddha pressed his palms together, the light behind him shining, making him appear particularly holy; this was his final advice as an old friend.

The two stared at each other, falling silent for a time.

Cao Ci already understood; even if he had triggered the Nanzhou calamity, they still held cards up their sleeves.

This was, from the start, a complex confrontation.

"Can you suppress Nanzhou alone?"

"I cannot."

"..."

Cao Ci fell into a deep silence; even so, they still refused to let him attain Godhood.

The Calamity-Responding Buddha watched him quietly.

If he were allowed to attain Godhood, would he go with him to suppress the Nanzhou calamity? Would he protect this Plane just like every deity for the past five thousand years?

The Calamity-Responding Buddha felt that he would.

But that was his own answer.

It was a judgment he could only make because he had known Cao Ci for many years and understood him deeply.

The other deities did not know Cao Ci.

"Why can it not be me?"

"Originally, not letting you attain Godhood was the decision of the previous Martial God; the previous Martial God was too upright and could not tolerate a single flaw. At a time when the world was in danger, our world could not tolerate any potential accidents." The Calamity-Responding Buddha looked at him, "Later, they also felt this was unfair to you, so when they felt the crisis was gradually easing, they gave you another chance to choose, but you missed it. By now, even I cannot let you attain Godhood."

"What chance?"

"It would disturb your heart."

"You monks still talk in such an annoying way."

"It is right now."

The Calamity-Responding Buddha said to him: "If you hadn't caused so much trouble, hadn't walked further and further down a misguided path, when the Nanzhou calamity arose, the Godhood would naturally have been yours. At that time, the time of your Spirit Decay would have been several years later than it is now, and the world would have had one more powerful Martial God."

"Heh..."

Cao Ci, however, revealed a look of sarcasm.

The tall woman in front spoke up, her voice devoid of emotion: "You have at most one minute left."

Cao Ci turned his head to look at her: "Is she the one attaining Godhood in my place?"

"Not so."

"..."

"Benefactor Cao, release the Source." The Calamity-Responding Buddha said, "The will of the Reed God has not completely dissipated. Furthermore, without the recognition of the wills of past deities, you have no way to bypass the deities' recognition and forcibly merge with the Source; your ending is already destined."

"So that's how it is..."

Cao Ci muttered to himself, yet he still walked toward the Forbidden Land.

At this moment, he was like a moth flying into a flame.

Knowing it could not be done, he still insisted on going his own way; the dark Forbidden Land ahead seemed to him like a road leading to death.

His master said he was born for martial arts; at this moment, he should naturally die for martial arts.

The Source was released.

According to what the Heavenly Human Mirror said, once a complete Source was freed from its restraints, it would automatically fly into a nearby Forbidden Land, but he had not expected that after he released the Source, this Source would automatically fly toward the west, disappearing in an instant.

Cao Ci was stunned.

He had even thought there would be a confrontation.

The Calamity-Responding Buddha was silent for a moment, his expression complex.

Then the Buddha Light shone, and the two disappeared.

Boom—

The Nanzhou Forbidden Land trembled once more.

The power of an alien world erupted.

Everyone only felt the world gradually growing dark; sight vanished, hearing vanished, smell vanished, and the perception of the air and temperature around them also vanished. The last sound they heard was Cao Ci's long sigh:

"Time to run."

Following that was an explosion of Spirit Power.

This is the purest Spirit Power; without the effect of any Rune, without the control of any Cultivator, it has no lethality whatsoever and does not come into contact with anything in the world.

This avatar of Cao Ci has Transform into Dao.

This avatar had already been eroded by the power of the otherworld and had completely severed its connection with the main body; if it did not Transform into Dao, it would have had its consciousness eroded and become an alien race. It could be said that he was sacrificed the moment he arrived here, yet every avatar possesses its own reason.

The Ming Sect is truly a perverted sect.

Chen Shu did not have time to think too much and used all his strength to fly to the other side of the midline, where the Beast Ancestral Court is located, which could barely contend with the power of the otherworld.

His perception gradually recovered, but it also became chaotic.

His consciousness was also somewhat unclear.

Chen Shu looked up and, borrowing the moonlight, saw one figure after another crossing the midline, though some flew crookedly and fell one after another into the jungle.

Immediately, the beasts fled frantically toward the other side.

Just at this moment, the world lit up with golden light.

Soft Buddha Light showered down, and everyone felt as if they were bathed in a spring breeze; their originally chaotic perception and thoughts recovered rapidly, and the power of the otherworld was also restricted. At the same time, this golden light was similar to the Divine Power of the Killing Forbidden Land, capable of helping people cultivate.

"The Calamity-Responding Buddha..."

Chen Shu looked far away toward the south of the continent.

The Buddha Light in the Forbidden Land grew intense.

The two types of power seemed to be clashing, colliding violently.

The Calamity-Responding Buddha had, after all, come in response to the calamity.

"Cough, cough..."

The heavily injured Little Master Xuanzhen appeared beside him, also looking toward the other side: "I fear the Calamity-Responding Buddha cannot suppress it..."

Chen Shu nodded in silence.

Cao Ci knew clearly that the Calamity-Responding Bodhisattva had already attained Buddhahood and was digesting the origin in the Forbidden Land, yet he still used the premature release of the otherworld's power as his bargaining chip to become a god, precisely because he knew that a single deity could not suppress the calamity of Nanzhou. If one deity could easily suppress it, it would not have been dragged out until now. At least two or more deities are needed to suppress it, and coupled with the fact that the deities had been short-handed over the past few thousand years, that is why it has been dragged out until now.

I wonder how the main body of Cao Ci is doing now.

"Let us leave first," said the Daoist friend Huang from Dongzhou, taking the lead, "I have a rather bad premonition."

"I do as well."

Zhang Suannai also nodded in agreement.

Chen Shu exchanged a glance with Little Master Xuanzhen again.

This ominous premonition might be that we cannot leave.

Sure enough, when everyone brought the wounded and flew to the coast of Nanzhou, they discovered a pale golden transparent barrier isolating the entire Nanzhou, blocking all the power of the otherworld inside and also preventing the beasts from flying out.

It stands to reason; these beasts, including those people in the south, might all carry the power of the otherworld or have already been eroded, so it is impossible to let them out.

However, just at this moment, everyone glanced over and saw someone walking along the beach.

It was a tall figure; she was walking along the reef beach by the sea, suddenly bent down to pick up a seashell from the water, and the splashes caused the moonlight to shimmer.

"A Nanzhou person!"

The Night Person brother, who had been beaten silly, had his expression tighten, and he said coldly before preparing to charge forward.

"Slap!"

Zhang Suannai gave him a slap.

Almost simultaneously, Chen Shu had already flown down.

That figure also turned around and looked at him; until he landed in front of her, she still had no expression, as if she had known this would happen, and simply reached out to hand him the seashell she had just picked up:

"A gift for you."

"I don't want it," Chen Shu said, "How did you come here?"

"?"

"I'm asking you."

"I said I was coming; did you not listen?"

"When did you arrive?"

"Just now."

"How did you come?"

"I caught a ride."

"Whose ride?"

"..."

Ning Qing stretched out her finger to point into the distance, toward the center of the Buddha Light shrouded by the power of the otherworld, and continued to hand the seashell in her hand to him: "A gift for you."

Chen Shu then took it and looked down; it was a very ordinary seashell.

"So ugly."

"Don't you often pick up junk for me?"

"..."

In the past, Chen Shu would have definitely sorted it out with her properly, what is meant by picking up junk, but now he had no time and only tucked the seashell away:

"How did you manage to catch a ride with the Calamity-Responding Buddha?"

"Because it was on the way."

"What did you come here for?"

"To advance to the Eighth Stage and mooch some Divine Power," Ning Qing pursed her lips, "And to accompany you, to clear up your confusion."

"..."

Chen Shu pursed his lips, looked at the people flying over from behind, and said to her: "Let's find a place first."

Ning Qing did not speak, but simply followed him.

The group flew toward the Beast Ancestral Court.

Along the way, the group was full of confusion, especially those from outside Yiguo.

Fellow Daoist Huang and Senior Sister Jin drew close to Zhang Suannai and couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "What exactly is the background of this girlfriend of Fellow Daoist Chen?"

Zhang Suannai only spat out a few words:

"Secret Sect Shengnyu."

Her tone was indifferent, yet it could not hide a hint of small pride, as if she felt honored by association, and as if she possessed a sense of superiority in knowledge because she knew what they did not.

The expressions of the others immediately tightened.

Even if their own backgrounds were extraordinary, they would still be stunned by the two words "Secret Sect."

In truth, "Secret Sect" was just a name given to them by others; they did not call themselves the Secret Sect, had no name, no sect, and not even an organizational structure; there were neither leaders nor master-disciple relationships, only guides and the guided. They were merely a group of special people. And the so-called Saint Son and Saintess were simply those universally acknowledged as having the highest talent and the greatest potential to become gods.

In the eyes of this group, things like the Buddhist Sect, the Daoist sects, descendants of demon gods, or the Dayi Imperial Family were nothing at all.

Not long after, the group arrived at the Divine Hall located on the Danxia landform mountain, each remaining silent, carrying their doubts, their gazes unable to help but glance toward the center.

The moonlight was like water, and a bonfire had been lit on the ground.

Two people were sitting together.

Chen Shu asked, "How is it outside?"

"Everything is well."

"What about Cao Ci?"

"Dead."

"How did he die?"

"He died from a severed martial Dao."

"What about the Origin?"

"A senior of the Secret Sect hid one of the fragments of the Origin in a Forbidden Land in Xizhou, used a Secret Technique to conceal it, and made him believe he had gathered the full Origin; in the end, when he released the Origin, the fragment that should have flown to the nearest Forbidden Land flew toward the west instead."

"Then what about here?"

"The Calamity-Responding Buddha is temporarily suppressing it; two months later, the Reed God will awaken, and together with him, will seal it again until you all join forces to eliminate it."

"The Reed God awakens..."

Chen Shu could not help but mutter and repeat.

The Origin that the Reed God scattered into the world was indeed prepared for the calamity of Nanzhou, so the gods had long since made arrangements; Cao Ci's attempt to use it to become a god was destined to be impossible.

If Cao Ci had not done this, in a few years, when the Nanzhou calamity arose, the best outcome would have been that they had already become gods or possessed the qualifications to become gods, at which point they could have directly solved this problem in one fell swoop; the worst case would have simply been the natural awakening of the Reed God, who would have sealed it again together with the Calamity-Responding Buddha.

Now that Cao Ci had opened it prematurely, it had not made the result any worse.

Cao Ci's ending was actually destined long ago...

For some reason, a sense of sorrow rose in Chen Shu's heart, even though he should not have felt this way.

At this moment, a Night Person spoke up and asked, "Was this all arranged by you?"

Ning Qing did not answer him, as if she had not heard.

Immediately after, Zhang Suannai asked, "Then when can we leave?"

"In two months, you can naturally leave." Ning Qing pursed her lips, as if speaking to Zhang Suannai, and as if speaking to everyone, her tone indifferent. "The Divine Power of the Calamity-Responding Buddha can complement your marks; take advantage of this time to cultivate well. This is just a trivial matter of no importance."

---Author's Note---

Bonus chapter for the Alliance Leader *1.

Thanks to the big boss "Supreme Sect Leader" for the Alliance Leader; because I had no backlog of chapters, I have delayed this for a long time.