Chapter 581 13: The Demon Buddha Manifests

Between heaven and earth, grayish-white spatial turbulence stretched across the horizon, blotting out the sun and sky like the carefree doodles of a playful child.

Upon closer inspection, the spatial turbulence churned violently, letting out a thunderous roar like crashing waves against a shore. It also emitted a tremendous Devouring Power, consuming everything nearby.

In the distance, tornadoes of spatial storms, each a hundred li thick, ran rampant, causing the spatial rift to tremble incessantly.

Amidst these storms, a towering Cloud Tower carried on the back of a giant tortoise emitted a hazy radiance. It blocked the storms' corrosion and leisurely passed through the region of spatial turbulence.

Fang Cheng sat leisurely atop the Taixu Cloud Tower, casually crossing the natural chasm between the Wilderness Domain and the Mingxiao Domain.

At this moment, he held a foot-long, Five-Colored Profound Gold Token in his hand. On it were two characters in bird seal script: "Red Profound."

Through this Red Profound Order, a scene slowly materialized within Fang Cheng's sea of consciousness.

It was an incomparably massive Five-Colored Divine Ox, carrying a magnificent grand hall on its back as it walked upon the Extreme Heaven.

After discerning the direction, he urged the Taixu Cloud Tower onward, flying toward the distant sky.

The Cloud Tower streaked across the firmament like a phantom, disappearing in an instant.

...

「Half a day later.」

Mingxiao Domain, Central Land. High in the Extreme Heaven, astral winds raged.

The Taixu Cloud Tower slowly came to a halt, hanging motionless in the void as if waiting for something.

A stretch of colorful clouds quietly appeared on the horizon, spreading outwards in all directions.

As this large swath of colorful clouds passed over, the vast expanse of the sky and all the cloud banks below were instantly draped in a five-colored, silky sheen.

A Five-Colored Divine Ox the size of a mountain range trod upon the void, leisurely arriving.

The Divine Ox's horns were like crescent moons, and a Dao Pattern was etched in the center of its forehead. On its back, it carried an immense and majestic palace.

Hanging beneath the palace eaves was a giant plaque, inscribed with three large words—

Heaven Crossing Hall.

The Five-Colored Divine Ox noticed the towering Cloud Tower ahead and slowly came to a stop.

Fang Cheng retracted the Cloud Tower and bowed toward the Heaven Crossing Hall. "Is Elder Dragon Elephant present? Fang Mou requests an audience."

Although he had become a Tribulation Realm Cultivator and could, by rights, interact with the Dragon Elephant Wanderer as a peer, he still showed great respect. In his early years, he had received a great inheritance from the Dragon Elephant Wanderer and benefited immensely. Later, the Wanderer had also taught him the Circulation Qi Collection Technique. Though they had no formal master-disciple relationship, Fang Cheng still treated him with the reverence due a master.

An aged voice drifted from within the Heaven Crossing Hall. "So, it's Fang Xiaoyou. I didn't expect you to break through to the Tribulation Realm so quickly. This is truly a joyous occasion! Please, come inside so we can talk."

Fang Cheng smiled faintly, stepped onto a ray of Profound Light, and leisurely walked into the Heaven Crossing Hall.

The hall was filled with a white mist. After passing through it, the scene before him suddenly opened up.

In the distance was the Brocade Mountain Flower Valley. Its peaks were wreathed in clouds and mist, a turquoise river flowed through the valley, and the trees were lush and green.

Nearby stood a fence made of wooden stakes and branches, and within it was a thatched cottage.

An elderly monk dressed in linen robes was watching him with a gentle smile.

"Elder."

Upon seeing the Dragon Elephant Wanderer, Fang Cheng bowed once more.

The old monk chuckled and said, "No need for such formalities. Your Cultivation has greatly advanced; I fear even I would be unable to do anything to you now. We can simply interact as peers."

Fang Cheng walked into the thatched cottage and took a closer look at the Dragon Elephant Wanderer. His brows furrowed slightly. "Elder," he asked, "are you injured?"

The old monk sighed and said, "I suppressed the Night Queen for a thousand years, but in the end, she managed to escape."

'The Night Queen has escaped... No wonder the Hidden Demon Sect has reappeared.'

"Was it the Demon Lord's doing?" The Demon Lord was the first person Fang Cheng thought of.

'In the entire Red Profound Realm, the only one who could injure a Six Tribulation Cultivator like the Dragon Elephant Wanderer was probably the Demon Lord's incarnation.'

Unexpectedly, the old monk shook his head. "Over fifty years ago, the Demon Lord's incarnation had just returned from beyond the domain when he was intercepted by my master. They went to a Grotto Heaven Secret Realm to play chess. The one who injured me was someone else."

Fang Cheng asked in surprise, "The Demon Buddha has appeared as well?"

The Demon Buddha was a legendary figure. The old monk before him was his disciple, and the Night Queen was his Dao companion.

According to legend, the Demon Buddha had comprehended a method to convert Celestial Demons. For every Celestial Demon he converted, his wisdom and Magical Power would grow.

It was through this method that the Demon Buddha cultivated his Supreme Magical Power and founded many top-tier legacies. The *Li Hen Demon Light* that Fang Cheng cultivated was one of his creations.

'However, this legendary figure had vanished without a trace for many years. I never expected that the return of the Demon Lord's incarnation would cause the Demon Buddha to reappear as well.'

A bitter smile appeared on the old monk's face. "Back then," he said, "my master was trapped by a heavenly tribulation. In his desperation, he attempted to convert the Demon Lord's left hand, seeking a path to break through the final calamity of the World Heaven. Unexpectedly, he suffered a backlash from the Demon Lord. From that day on, he has been sealed within a Grotto Heaven Secret Realm, suppressing the power of the demonic corruption and remaining in a deep slumber."

As he spoke, he glanced at Fang Cheng and continued slowly, "It was he who severed the Demon Lord's left hand. Now that the Demon Lord has returned, he cannot bear to watch the living beings of this realm be devastated. He has used his own body as a prison to temporarily trap the Demon Lord, buying us time to refine the Demon-Suppressing Celestial Stele."

"The one who injured me was an expert under the Demon Lord's command. At the time, I was in the middle of Artifact Refining. This person coordinated with a traitor from within the Red Profound Association to rescue the Night Queen."

The Dragon Elephant Wanderer's few words stunned Fang Cheng into silence.

'He wasn't particularly surprised that there was a traitor in the Red Profound Association. Back at their last meeting, he had vaguely noticed disagreements among the members on how to deal with the Demon Lord. The Dragon Elephant Wanderer's heavy-handed approach could easily have bred rebellion.'

'Rumor had it that the Night Queen's Cultivation was at the level of the Fifth or Sixth Tribulation. She also possessed life-preserving Divine Techniques, so even the Dragon Elephant Wanderer had been unable to kill her, opting to suppress her instead.'

'With her escape, it was no wonder the Dragon Elephant Wanderer had been injured.'

Fang Cheng asked, "That expert under the Demon Lord's command—what are his origins?"

The old monk said flatly, "He is a Sixth Tribulation Cultivator from the Chixiao Domain who calls himself the Bitter Elder. I cannot discern his background, but his cultivation and Divine Techniques are in no way inferior to my own."

The Chixiao Domain was one of the five ancient domains of the Red Profound Realm, and it was also where the Demon Lord's physical body was suppressed.

'Fang Cheng sighed internally. The Dragon Elephant Wanderer had obtained the Void Ghost Market Visualization Diagram, which allowed him to trade with All Heavens and Myriads of Realms. His fortune was profound; one could say he was uniquely blessed.'

'For the Bitter Elder to receive such an evaluation from the Dragon Elephant Wanderer, he must possess the legacy of a Spirit Immortal, or perhaps an Upper Realm Treasure Technique, to have such capabilities.'

A look of relief appeared on the Dragon Elephant Wanderer's face. "You've come at just the right time," he said. "I'm afraid my master won't be able to hold the Demon Lord for many more years. With my severe injuries, I am unable to continue refining the Demon-Suppressing Celestial Stele. I sent people to the Dongxuan Realm to ask an old friend for help, but two groups have gone without a single word back. I'm afraid you will have to make the trip yourself now."

"Leave this matter to me," Fang Cheng agreed immediately.

After a pause, he asked curiously, "How much longer can Elder Demon Buddha hold on?"

'Once the Demon Lord's incarnation breaks free completely, he will inevitably clash head-on with the Red Profound Association. At that point, whether they could still gather the entire realm's resources to continue refining the sixth-rank Magical Artifact, the Demon-Suppressing Celestial Stele, would become a major problem.'

The Dragon Elephant Wanderer's expression was complicated. He sighed. "After my master suffered the backlash from converting the Demon Lord's left hand all those years ago, he was afflicted by demonic corruption. Now that he has personally taken action, he has no time to suppress the power of that corruption. In less than a hundred years, he will completely transform into a Demon Fiend."

"We don't have much time left."

...