Chapter 218 Might of an Immortal Venerable (1 / 2)
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Ji Hongli was as if struck by lightning. Fragments of the past suddenly pieced together in her mind.
No wonder she found his eyes familiar when they first met; no wonder the lazy diviner on the street would occasionally have a flash of that same tranquility she had seen on the Immortal Venerable when he looked up.
She had thought it was just an illusion. After all, one was an Immortal Venerable above the clouds, the other an idler setting up a stall in the marketplace. How could they be the same person?
—But she had forgotten. Did she not also walk the mortal realm with a doppelganger?
It was just... her main body was still in seclusion. What about him? His true body was clearly in that valley, so why would he need to split off another incarnation to hide in the mortal world?
"What was the point...?"
She suddenly felt an absurd, crying-but-not-crying sensation. She looked up and glared at Chen Chang'an: "You clearly look like this, yet you insisted on disguising yourself as so ordinary?"
Hearing this, Chen Chang'an chuckled softly. His gaze swept over her exquisitely beautiful features, and he said warmly, "Isn't your main body also much more beautiful than this incarnation?"
As the words fell, they both froze for a moment, then looked at each other and smiled.
At this moment, all the probing, distance, and suspicion vanished in that smile.
Ming Xin stood upon the clouds, in no hurry at all. Instead, he remarked with interest: "The Buddhist sutras say, the pain of separation from loved ones, the pain of meeting those one hates—yet mortals willingly endure it. Truly marvelous."
Hearing this, Chen Chang'an immediately turned around, cupping his hands with a cheeky grin: "Since Master finds love so beautiful, why not let us go? We can all be friends."
Ming Xin shook his head. "Of course not."
He smiled and said, "You were quite satisfied with your cursing earlier."
Chen Chang'an sighed, his smile fading slightly as he turned to look at Ji Hongli.
The moment their eyes met, he suddenly felt something ignite in his chest.
He thought of ancient times, when Hou Yi shot down the nine suns for Chang'e. He thought of the Overlord parting with his concubine, blood staining the Wu River. He thought of those moments in the annals of history when men had drawn their swords for the women they loved.
—So that's how it was.
For the first time in his life, his fingertips grew hot. His will to fight, like a prairie fire, burned through the carelessness of several hundred years.
The sky was as dark as ink, with swirling vortexes of clouds.
Ming Xin stood in the void, the Buddha light around him like a sea. Every wisp of golden light was as heavy as a mountain, pressing down on the space within a thousand-li radius until it twisted and trembled. He merely stood there, as if he had become the center of heaven and earth, to which all laws must bow.
Chen Chang'an and Ji Hongli stood shoulder to shoulder. Though their auras mingled, they were still forced back step by step by the immense pressure.
"Nine Heavens Thunder Move—!"
Chen Chang'an's fingers formed a sword as he suddenly slashed.
"Boom-crack—!"
A myriad-zhang thunder dragon descended from the Nine Heavens. Purple lightning tore through the sky, rushing toward Ming Xin with a destructive fury. This strike was enough to cleave mountains and rivers, but the moment the thunderlight touched him, Ming Xin merely flicked his sleeve. The Buddha light, like gauze, dissolved all the lightning.
"Great Day Burns the Heavens!"
Chen Chang'an changed his move with incredible speed. His sword stance shifted, and a torrent of red flames surged up like a scorching sun falling to the world, searing the void until it twisted and melted. Yet Ming Xin still did not dodge or evade. The "Swastika" Buddhist seal in his palm rotated, actually suppressing the heaven-burning flames completely!
"It's useless." Ming Xin shook his head. "Below an Immortal Venerable, all dharmas are illusory."
Chen Chang'an gritted his teeth, finally giving up the attack. His sword momentum abruptly retracted, transforming into a sword screen that reached the heavens, blocking his path.
"Clang—!"
Ming Xin pointed down. The Buddha light crashed down like a celestial pillar. The heaven-reaching sword screen trembled violently. Chen Chang'an's tiger's mouth split open, and blood flowed down his wrist.
On the other side, Ji Hongli seized the opportunity to summon the Yata Mirror.
"Buzz—"
The mirror's surface flowed with immortal light. A scorching white divine rainbow tore through the air, freezing the space inch by inch wherever it passed.
This time, Ming Xin finally tilted his body slightly, avoiding the direct hit from the mirror's light.
"So it's the Yata Mirror?"
A hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.
"I have indeed underestimated you."
Ji Hongli's face was pale, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, yet she continuously channeled the Yata Mirror. The mirror's light fell like rain, forcing Ming Xin to adopt a defensive stance for the first time.
Seeing that the immortal light of Ji Hongli's Yata Mirror was dimming but she still refused to give up, Ming Xin couldn't help but sigh softly.
"Though the Yata Mirror is strong, it ultimately cannot overcome karma."
He slowly raised his hand, and an ancient bronze mirror appeared in his palm. The mirror's body was engraved with Sanskrit characters, its rim entwined with the seven treasures, but its surface was hazy like mist, as if reflecting the inverted image of the three thousand worlds.
"This mirror is called the 'Karma Sea Reflection Mirror.' It is an innate Buddhist treasure that grew at the bottom of the Eight Merits Pool in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss during ancient times," Ming Xin said, his fingertips gently tracing the mirror's rim, his voice like a low chant. "The Buddha once used this mirror to see the karmic obstacles of all living beings and later bestowed it upon me to suppress the demonic calamity. Today, I shall let it meet your Yata Mirror."
Before the words had fully left his mouth, the Buddha light of the Karma Sea Reflection Mirror flared brilliantly!
Countless illusions appeared in the mirror—a monstrous sea of blood, mountains of white bones, and thousands of living beings struggling and sinking in the cycle of karma and reincarnation. These scenes were not illusory but manifestations of real karmic force, each image as heavy as Mount Sumeru!
"Boom—!"
Buddhist mirror against immortal mirror, the two rays of mirror light collided in mid-air!
The immortal light of the Yata Mirror was like snow meeting a scorching sun, beginning to dissolve inch by inch.
A crisp "crack" sound came from the mirror's surface.
Ji Hongli was as if struck by lightning, violently spewing a mouthful of blood.
She staggered back, and a crack suddenly spread across the Yata Mirror. Its immortal light immediately dimmed by more than half, and the mirror's surface was now mostly shattered.
"Ah Li!"
Chen Chang'an's eyes split with rage. He quickly moved to block Ji Hongli.
The heaven-reaching sword screen fell like a river of stars. Chen Chang'an used his body as a sheath, condensing his life's sword intent into a barrier that stretched across the heavens and the earth.
As the sword energy flowed, faint illusory shadows of the stars of the heavens flickered.
But Ming Xin merely shook his head.
"No matter how sharp the sword path, it ultimately exposes its edge." He formed a virtual grip with his right hand, and a stream of dark gold light emerged from his palm. "Why not try the most rigid and simple method of Buddhism."
"Clang—!"
A Vajra pestle, dark and dull all over, tore through the air!
The pestle was no more than three feet long but weighed over ten thousand jun. Its body was densely covered with the Sanskrit Shurangama Mantra, and its top was entwined with four prongs, each engraved with the six-syllable mantra "Om, Ma, Ni, Pad, Me, Hum." The most terrifying part was the point of dark light at the pestle's tip, which seemed capable of devouring even light itself—it was the number one offensive weapon of Buddhism, the "Nirvana Vajra Pestle"!
"This item was forged from the leftover material of the Vajra Seat under the Bodhi tree when Shakyamuni attained enlightenment," Ming Xin said, holding the pestle with one hand. The void itself began to crack. "Back then, the Buddha held it to subdue the heavenly demons. The bones of the demon kings annihilated beneath this pestle were enough to fill the Eight Cold Hells."
Before the words had fully left his mouth, the Vajra pestle had already smashed down with a boom!
"Dang—!!!"
The heaven-reaching sword screen shattered like glass.
Chen Chang'an was as if struck by lightning, spitting blood and flying backward.
Only now did he realize just how perverse the sect master's secret chamber had been.
Ji Hongli tried to catch him but was swept by the shockwave, her delicate body falling like a kite with a broken string.
The dust settled.
Ming Xin stood on the clouds, without a speck of dust on him, while below—
Chen Chang'an was on one knee, his green robe stained with blood. Ji Hongli lay in the ruins, the fragments of the Yata Mirror scattered across the ground, completely devoid of the strength to fight again.
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