Cultivation: I Have a Golden Talisman

The Celestial Crane Palace flew west for several days, crossing the Wilderness Fury Sea before arriving in a vast desert.

Other than the boundless land itself, there were no hills or mountain ranges for tens of thousands of miles in any direction. The ground was covered in sand and gravel, a picture of desolation. It was as if the magnificent palace was the only thing left between heaven and earth.

The Wilderness Domain was typically abundant with Spiritual Mechanism, home to countless plants and Demon Beasts, but this place was an exception.

Compared to the Fury Sea, which spanned eighty thousand miles from north to south and over nine thousand miles from east to west, this desert was like a forbidden land for all living things.

The Celestial Crane Palace flew onward through the desert for another hour before slowly coming to a stop.

Inside the flying palace, Blood Demon Zhao Wuji lightly waved his Jade Ruyi toward the ground below. A swath of Demonic Light descended from the sky, sweeping downward.

As the Demonic Light reached mid-air, the seemingly empty space trembled and rippled like the surface of water. Then, a massive, blue-black tomb, as large as a mountain, was revealed.

The great tomb sat in the middle of the desert, its body like a single, impossibly hard slab of stone. On each of its four cardinal sides was a lotus platform. On the southern platform stood a Buddha Statue a hundred feet tall.

The Buddha Statue was a faint, uniform white, looking as though it were made of Profound Gold rather than stone or wood.

Fang Cheng’s heart skipped a beat when he saw the Buddha Statue. ’It’s just as I guessed,’ he thought. ’The Extraterritorial Bodhisattva Statue I got before is one of the Tomb Guardian Statues from this very tomb!’

’Of the original four Buddha Statues, only one is left here. The other two must have fallen somewhere else.’

"Very good. It seems no one has discovered this place yet," the Qianmu Demon King said with satisfaction.

Zhao Wuji said in a low voice, "We’ll enter from the west."

With that, he was the first to leave the Celestial Crane Palace, transforming into a streak of Demonic Light that descended toward the lotus platform on the tomb’s western side.

The golden eagle at his side also took flight, its body shrinking until it was only a foot tall before it landed on Zhao Wuji’s shoulder.

The others followed one after another. Finally, the Qianmu Demon King recalled the flying palace.

The group passed through the Grand Array that Zhao Wuji had deployed and landed on the lotus platform in front of the tomb.

Looking up at the great tomb from this angle was like gazing upon a majestic mountain, and an overwhelming sense of pressure washed over them.

A pitch-black entrance appeared before them on the lotus platform. This was the same entrance Zhao Wuji and the Qianmu Demon King had used to enter the ancient tomb before.

The entrance had once been protected by a Prohibition Array, but Zhao Wuji had already broken it.

The group flew down into the entrance, which was like a vertical shaft. After descending for over three hundred feet, they arrived in a magnificent grotto. Two stone doors on the far wall had also been broken, revealing a tall, straight, and pitch-black tomb passage beyond.

Zhao Wuji, the Qianmu Demon King, Xue Jiu, the Cyan Rattan Demon King, Lady Wei, Mo Wu Yong, Bing Wuyi, and Fang Cheng—the group of eight—stepped into the tomb passage. The Cyan Rattan Demon King produced a brilliantly glowing Talisman, and a dazzling white light instantly illuminated the entire passage.

Standing on Fang Cheng’s shoulders, Jingyuan and Jingxuan looked all around, a feeling of nervous excitement welling up inside them.

The walls on both sides of the passage were covered in a series of vividly colored murals. Despite the long passage of time, they remained as lifelike as ever.

Fang Cheng examined the murals as he walked, and a look of slight surprise appeared on his face as he progressed.

The protagonist of the murals was a strikingly handsome man with a face like carved jade and a tall, slender build. He had mastered the Divine Techniques of a Mystic Sect and roamed the world, subjugating demons and devils, freely repaying kindness and taking revenge.

It appeared he had reached the Dharma Realm, and he later took a peerlessly beautiful woman as his cultivation partner.

The Female Cultivator appeared to be from a large Cultivation Family. With his talent and her beauty, they were a perfect match, enjoying a life of boundless glory together.

One day, while exploring a dangerous land, the man chanced upon a peculiar jade pendant. Strangely, the pendant flew into his chest of its own accord and fused with his heart!

From then on, the man’s power grew immensely, and he broke through to the Tribulation Realm.

The murals depicted the man bathing in endless lightning—the very image of a Tribulation Realm Cultivator undergoing their tribulation.

As terrifying tribulation lightning struck down, the man’s body would disintegrate, his flesh and blood turning to ash. But new flesh and blood would quickly regenerate, as if he were immortal. He passed through one lightning tribulation after another, his power growing stronger each time.

At this point, the murals were interrupted, and the passage ahead was blocked by a Buddha Statue.

Behind the Buddha Statue, a mass of golden Buddha Light formed a prohibitive Grand Array. The light suffused the surrounding passage, making it feel like a pure land.

Standing beneath the Buddha Statue, Zhao Wuji pointed to a specific Array Pattern within the prohibition and ordered his servant, Xue Jiu, "Attack that spot."

Xue Jiu acknowledged the order, then stepped forward and channeled his Magical Power, fully activating the Profound Flood Dragon Breaking Forbidden Halberd. A brilliant golden light erupted from it, and the Dragon Scales on the weapon seemed to come alive, squirming slowly.

Xue Jiu floated into the air and swung the halberd fiercely at the Buddha Light Array. A phantom image of the weapon flashed, and in an instant, it tore a dark fissure into the Buddha Array.

With a flicker, Zhao Wuji slipped through the opening.

The rest of the group also used their Escape Techniques to fly quickly through the fissure.

A moment later, the fissure in the prohibition slowly sealed itself, and everything returned to the way it was.

Zhao Wuji glanced at Fang Cheng and Lady Wei. "We’ll have to rely on the two of you for the next prohibition," he said.

He himself was an expert in Arrays, but when he and the Qianmu Demon King had first entered the great tomb, they had only managed to pass two prohibitions—the one at the entrance and this one. At the end of the passage ahead stood yet another Buddha Statue.

Pale golden Buddha Light, like a ball of fire, blocked the center of the passage.

Just then, a black shadow suddenly tumbled out of the murals on the wall. Wreathed in thick black smoke, it lunged at the group.

...

「Outside the ancient tomb.」

Suddenly, with a loud CRACK, a thousand-foot waterfall of light descended from the sky, tearing through the spatial prohibition and landing in front of the ancient tomb.

From within the shimmering light, nine figures slowly stepped out of the void. Their attire was varied: some wore magnificent dresses, others were draped in heavy cloaks or donned brocade robes with wide sleeves. Some wore the tall hats and wide sashes of scholars, while one was dressed in a Kasaya.

Each of the nine held a Magical Artifact, their bodies surrounded by scattered golden motes and a brilliant, colorful glow.

"Someone has indeed beaten us to it!"

One of them, who held a Duster, noticed something unusual about the entrance on the western lotus platform with a single glance.

The expressions of the others changed slightly, their faces growing grim.

About a month ago, a Life Talisman Disciple from the Qiankun Saint Sect, the greatest sect in the Western Wilderness, was traveling the world when he happened upon this place. He found it very strange that a Third-tier Array was concealing the area’s aura.

For a highly concealed Grand Array to exist so suddenly in this uninhabited desert clearly meant that something was being hidden.

Unfortunately, his Cultivation was limited, and despite numerous attempts, he made no headway. So, he returned to his sect and presented this information to a Saint Heir of the Qiankun Saint Sect in exchange for a reward.

That Saint Heir was at the Peak of Life Talisman Cultivation, possessed an extraordinary background, and had astonishing methods. He even boasted the proud achievement of having slain a Life Soul Realm Loose Cultivator while being in a lower realm.

The Saint Heir came to the desert personally and used a third-tier Breaking Charm to tear an opening in the Grand Array Zhao Wuji had left behind. He broke in and discovered this Outer Ancient Tomb.

Unfortunately, even with his abilities, the Saint Heir was unable to enter the ancient tomb itself...

After the Saint Heir returned, he reported his findings about the ancient tomb to the upper echelons of the Qiankun Saint Sect.

And so, the four Supreme Elders of the Qiankun Saint Sect took action personally, even inviting two eminent monks from the Great Brightness Temple to help break the arrays.

Three of the five great Saint Heirs of the Qiankun Saint Sect had also come.

"They went in from the west. We’ll enter from the east!" an Elder from the Qiankun Saint Sect declared.

His intuition told him that the Buddha Statue to the south was strange, and it was best not to provoke it.

The group landed on the tomb’s eastern lotus platform and, just as expected, found it enveloped by an extraordinarily profound Buddha Light Array.

"Amitabha Buddha! To think I would get to see the legendary Bright Mandala Embryo Barrier in a place like this..."

An eminent monk from the Great Brightness Temple said with delight, his eyes shining.

...