Chapter 488 - 487: The Cry of the Phoenix

Chapter 488: Chapter 487: The Cry of the Phoenix

Chapter 487: The Cry of the Phoenix

Buddhist Sect, Spirit Mountain Pure Land.

The vast lotus pond now looked as though it had been split clean in two. At the fracture, sword intent lingered for a long time, preventing the water from flowing back to its original state.

Deep within the pond, Spirit Mountain—shaped like a Buddha—had collapsed by nearly half. Enormous chunks of rock tumbled into the water, and the entire Pure Land space trembled from time to time, the vibrations spreading throughout the Buddhist Sect’s Three Thousand Pure Lands.

While chaos reigned across the sect, near the location of the Buddha Mountain, two enormous golden lotuses slowly bloomed open from their closed state, forming two lotus thrones. Two figures stood quietly atop them.

One was tall and imposing, draped in a kasaya robe, his golden body immaculate, with the shadow of a thousand hands behind him. The other wore spotless white monk’s robes, five jeweled lights covering his body so that neither face nor figure could be seen clearly.

Together, they bowed toward the Buddha Mountain that now remained only half intact.

"Chief Buddhist."

After a brief wait, a voice sounded—as if it came simultaneously from every corner of the Spirit Mountain Pure Land—entering their ears.

"From today onward, I will enter seclusion to rebuild my Buddha body. For the next month, matters within the Pure Land shall be handled by Miao Yan."

"Miao Yan accepts the order."

The white-robed figure answered softly, his voice ethereal, as though it could stir the hearts of living beings.

After bowing in acknowledgment, the gaze beneath the jeweled radiance turned back toward the Buddha Mountain.

"...Chief Buddhist suffered grave injuries this time?"

The tall monk on the neighboring lotus throne could not help but speak as well.

"Could it be that the Chief Buddhist truly received a strike from the Sword Ancestor? If that is so, then over at the Diabolic Buddha side..."

Before he could finish, the voice in the void interrupted him.

"If it had truly been only a single strike from the Sword Ancestor, the present development would still have been within expectations—indeed, even another outcome I had intended to bring about... Unfortunately, this humble monk ultimately underestimated him—the sword of weaponized release..."

The hollow voice echoed, then paused, changing tone:

"The situation of the Diabolic Buddha may still be observed for now. The Sword Ancestor’s ’Oath of Abandoning the Sword’ has, after all, been shaken somewhat by this strike. Though the obstacles to my forging of a golden body have not been removed, they have been lightened considerably. If the golden body of the Diabolic Buddha can return because of this... Prajna, this matter shall be entrusted to you."

The tall monk froze for a moment, then pressed his palms together.

The two massive golden lotuses slowly closed.

Just as everything seemed about to fall back into silence, an uncertain, startled voice echoed once more from the void.

"This is... gathering phoenix incense through the power of all living beings? Without phoenix intent, relying only on that trace of spiritual resonance should not make this possible... The Ancient Underworld? The fragment that the Sword Ancestor severed in ancient times, it was actually that patch of soil?"

...

Royal City.

Luo Wusheng propped up his body, which seemed ready to dissipate at any moment, staring fixedly at the place he had just blown apart with a single sword strike.

Ever cautious, he forcibly shut down every effect that could obstruct his vision, determined to personally watch the enemy turn to ashes, to avoid the classic scenario of smoke without injury.

If even that strike had not been enough, he could consider carving off another portion of his origin to perform weaponized release again... Even if it did not kill his opponent, it would at least accelerate his own "revival escape" process.

Of course, that was strictly a last resort. Injuries to the origin were still deadly serious, whatever could be spared, should be spared.

Fortunately, everything was over.

At the instant the sword-light fell, Luo Wusheng finally saw the gray-robed monk’s face—three parts similar to his own, but even more like that extremely unlucky former Daoist Artifact Pavilion Head... It seemed that the body the Buddhist leader had descended into was originally that poor fellow’s flesh and blood.

When the sword landed upon him, that calm face flashed with shock, and in the end he still could not withstand such a terrifying blow.

In a sense, that strike had nearly fused together everything belonging to Luo Wusheng... not just himself, but also all the karmic ties he shared with those around him.

Put that way, this sword could almost be called the "Peach-Blossom Sword," or perhaps the "Sword of Womanly Disaster"?

Pah, pah, pah—he’d been infected again by that white-haired loli’s way of speaking.

In short, he had won this deadly first battle of fate.

If he could win the first time, he could win the second—just thinking that way made the Demon Purging War scheduled for a year later, which had once pressed on him until he could hardly breathe, now seem like nothing much at all.

Luo Wusheng very much wanted to laugh aloud, but he no longer had the strength.

His temporary physical body had long since collapsed, and the spiritual form wrapped in the nirvana flames of the ancient phoenix was riddled with cracks.

His consciousness wandered along the edge of clarity; once he finally relaxed, he could no longer control himself and fell backward.

He landed in something soft and bouncy.

Ah~ So satisfying~

That was the final thought that flashed through his mind before everything blurred.

Immediately after, a phoenix cry resounded between heaven and earth.

...

Ancient Phoenix Nirvana—its momentum shook the skies.

With the royal city as its origin, a single phoenix cry spread across every state of the Immortal Nation, and countless cultivators felt it in their hearts and looked up toward the heavens.

Then, together, they witnessed such a scene.

A gigantic ancient phoenix wrapped in undying flames spread its wings and soared, as though carrying a kingdom of fire straight into the firmament, setting the entire sky ablaze.

The scorching heat seemed to warp space itself, and within the flames appeared a silhouette.

That figure stood in the fire like a monarch of flame, a wooden sword in hand, his body covered in fissures, yet his aura unfathomably deep.

This was the rite of phoenix nirvana.

Before undergoing nirvana, the ancient phoenix clan would always manifest such phenomena, revealing the posture of the ancient phoenix prior to rebirth—proclaiming it to the world to display the might of their race.

The more it showcased the phoenix clan’s grandeur, the greater the scope and momentum of the phenomenon, and the more benefits the phoenix undergoing nirvana would receive.

Conversely, if one died too miserably, the effects of resurrection might even be weakened.

And Luo Wusheng’s performance this time could be called top-tier even among the ancient phoenixes—facing the strong with a weak body, gathering every ounce of his strength to fight and win, even triggering weaponized release in a desperate gamble, the might of that single sword pushing right up to the threshold of the human-immortal realm...

The ancient phoenix spiritual resonance was ecstatic.

How could it not announce to the world that this was a chick of the phoenix clan?

And so the present scene came to be.

Those who did not recognize Luo Wusheng were all guessing which great expert stood within the flames—such terrifying might was something that not even Peak Divine Transformation realm cultivators could achieve, right?

As for those who did recognize Luo Wusheng... among the various sects, a small batch of Golden Core elders who had visited the Ancient Heavenly Gate last year were trembling, their scalps going numb.

They weren’t blind, one look and they could tell that the fiery silhouette in the sky was the Demon Sect’s Holy Saint... the very same one who had hammered them mercilessly in the Ancient Heavenly Gate last year...

How had this brute’s aura become so terrifying? Had they all woken up wrong today?

Thinking that in their hearts, they nevertheless transmitted the information at once.

Being beaten into psychological shadows by a junior in the Ancient Heavenly Gate had left them unable to lift their heads before their fellow sect members for a whole year... Now it was fine, whoever dared say again that they had been blown away by a mere junior could go test for themselves whether they could withstand this pressure more frightening than that of the various sect masters.

And so even more people were left with their eyeballs nearly popping out.

The Demon Sect’s Holy Saint’s bone age wasn’t even twenty yet, was it?

Seriously?

Did his talent have to be this monstrous?

Those influenced were still ultimately a minority. Most of the onlookers who did not know the truth were now all thinking that this phenomena is amazing while hurriedly checking what exactly this phenomenon was about.

Within the Netherland.

Yao Ji rested one hand on a nearby stone stele, gazing into the distance at the seemingly burning sky.

"Young master..." she murmured softly, only to see that sea of fire suddenly flutter, from which descended a tiny phoenix bird formed of flames, landing before her.

Firelight flickered, illuminating the inscription on the stone stele beside Yao Ji.

Tomb of Yue Xuanji, Tower Master of the Heavenly Divination Tower — erected by a fox who refused to reveal her identity.

The flaming phoenix bird lingered atop the stele for a moment, then scattered into a shower of starlike sparks.

...

At the same moment, a similar scene was unfolding within the royal city.

The three young women withdrew their gazes from the fiery silhouette in the distant sky, then stared wide-eyed at the fire phoenixes floating in front of each of them.

The fire phoenixes circled around them, and in the end shattered before their eyes into streams of pure energy.

That energy flowed into the women’s bodies, replenishing all their expenditures, erasing their injuries, and even faintly giving them the sense that their cultivation had advanced another step.

Bai Xiaoyao felt this most strongly, she had already reached the peak of Foundation Establishment and could break through to Golden Core at any time, and now she was almost unable to suppress her realm.

"This is... the power of all living beings?"

The empress’s voice carried a strange note.

She had invoked the power of all living beings through the Human Emperor Sword countless times in battle, and the instant she sensed the energy left behind when the fire phoenix dispersed, she recognized its true nature.

But she had never known the power of all living beings could be used like this... Even the multiple backlashes she had suffered earlier from forcibly unleashing Divine Transformation realm moves were now gradually fading under the restorative effects of this power, without her needing to suppress them herself.

What was going on?

While she was full of questions, the distorted flow of time within the royal city—disrupted again and again—finally returned to normal.

On the other end of the signal line that had gone quiet after being connected, fragmented images were transmitted back.

The first thing to come through was the scene of Luo Wusheng slowly sheathing his sword after a single strike annihilated everything in its path, a majestic phoenix shadow behind him that accentuated the aura of having just slain a great foe.

Seeing this—and linking it with the present phenomenon of phoenix flames filling the heavens—the three women finally let out genuine sighs of relief.

This time, it was truly over.

Only then did they relax enough to start receiving the rest of the footage... The previous connection had been reinforced by special means; now that the effects on time had been erased, the entire battle in the sky would be counted as having occurred at the instant the connection was established, and transmitted back along that link.

The Empress watched the images of Luo Wusheng’s contest with the enemy behind the scenes while also extending her spiritual awareness to sense the sheath of her Human Emperor Sword... Normally, the sheath should have returned by now, but she discovered that it was in a state of "having too much fun to go home."

She now knew where the power of all living beings she had sensed had come from.

Within the vision of her awareness, the golden-glowing sheath overlapped with a cube-shaped artifact, drawing in power from the countless shocked gazes across the Immortal Nation. Each time the cube artifact acquired energy, it funneled it into the Human Emperor Sword’s sheath, converting it into stored power of all living beings.

The sheath of the Human Emperor Sword already possessed properties similar to the sword itself, and the formless cube’s ability to draw energy from being watched by the masses was itself a special expression of the power of all living beings.

These streams of power of all living beings seemed to have additional uses, some portion of them directly merged with the flames, transforming into phoenix-shaped forms.

After figuring out the source of the power she had sensed, the empress relaxed, though a strange thought suddenly popped into her mind.

Her own sheath was only of upper-grade quality... with so much power of all living beings flowing in, wouldn’t it burst?

Meanwhile, on the other side, Bai Xiaoyao pressed on the red-cord mark at her wrist, a hint of strangeness and complexity flashing through her beautiful eyes.

Her Senior Brother had used the Red String of Causality again, meaning another Predestined Effect would have to be fulfilled.

’The last karmic link only just ended...’

Thinking back to the form she had shown her Senior Brother in the sea of consciousness in order to completely conclude the previous karmic link, Bai Xiaoyao’s cheeks flushed slightly.

For that previous Predestined Effect, she had neither fully succeeded nor fully failed.

It was unclear how the Red String of Causality made its judgments, but it had forcibly counted the words her Senior Brother had spoken to her while she was pretending to sleep in the Demon Moon space as fulfilling half of that karmic link... perhaps because her Senior Brother had vaguely mentioned something about being willing to act as her "bedside licking-dog"?

Bai Xiaoyao didn’t know what that phrase meant, but it somehow gave her a very vivid mental picture.

She also had no idea what exactly her Senior Brother was planning to lick.

In any case, after that half-completion, the Red String of Causality had produced a hidden option, allowing the entire karmic link to be concluded with only mild backlash.

Otherwise, based solely on what she had done in the sea of consciousness earlier, it definitely wouldn’t have been enough to complete the backlash requirement.

’It’s just that... this time’s karmic link...’

Bai Xiaoyao seemed to ponder something, then reined in her thoughts and gently shifted her gaze to the person beside her—Ling Shuangxue.

Ling Shuangxue was lightly covering her lower abdomen at the moment, sensing the connection with the sword embryo inside her gradually returning to normal.

Yet on that usually cold and ethereal immortal face, several strange expressions surfaced that rarely appeared on her features.

Her body was faintly stiff.

After watching the entire final battle—the kind that left one full of emotion—only a single sentence echoed in Ling Shuangxue’s mind:

"Pah! Brother Luo belongs to Little Yuli!"

Little Yuli’s...

Yuli’s...

...’s...

???

My dear disciple, isn’t that the husband you personally picked out for your master?

...

Luo Wusheng felt his consciousness sinking deeper and deeper.

In his hazy state, he felt as though he had truly become an ancient phoenix.

Again and again he traversed a primordial world, roaming with the might of a Great Netherfiend, watching endless ferocious beasts bow their heads—then, after getting tired of showing off, returning to his own paulownia tree to perch.

It was a life full of exhilaration, but day after day, it eventually grew dull.

So boring... really want to... er... really want to add something different to life.

Thinking that way, he suddenly noticed that a fruit had grown on his paulownia tree at some unknown time.

Wait, could it bear fruit without even flowering first?

Perhaps becoming a phoenix had made his brain worse as well. Luo Wusheng instinctively opened his mouth and took the fruit between his lips.

The moment it entered his mouth, his eyes lit up.

Not bad, it tasted a bit like cherries, and even gave him a strangely familiar feeling.

It was just that for some reason it felt a little soft, and even though he hadn’t actually bitten down yet, sweet juice was already flowing uncontrollably.

Just as Luo Wusheng was about to yank the fruit down and swallow it, he merely tugged a little—and abruptly froze.

It seemed... he couldn’t pull it off?

Phoenix-Luo refused to believe that and simply increased the force of his mouth.

Then he quickly realized something was even more off.

The "fruit" in his mouth suddenly started struggling, and he seemed to hear some kind of sound by his ears.

The instant he noticed this, the surrounding scene was suddenly replaced by something else.

He was no longer an ancient phoenix, nor was there any paulownia tree before him.

All that met his eyes was a pair of beautiful pupils that looked as though misted with anxious moisture.

And what he was holding in his mouth was no fruit at all, but a moist, soft pair of red lips, currently being firmly sucked and tugged at by him.

"Mmm-mm-mm-mm..."

<+>

Cultivation Realm:

1, Qi Refining

2, Foundation Establishment

3, Golden Core

4, Nascent Soul

5, Divine Transformation (Formerly Known as Tribulation Crossing)

6, Tribulation Transcendence

7, Land Immortal

Note: Link to the character Illustration:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lkIcPnCxeyuyZA4Kkb621dPC05UvWjhD