Chapter 299 - 283: Buddhist Cultivator
About half a day passed after Qi Yun’s departure.
The peace of the sea region where Huangli Island was located, a peace once veiled by natural sea mist and chaotic currents, was brutally torn asunder by a tyrannical will descending from above.
"RRRIP—"
The Celestial Vault was ripped open as if it were a bolt of silk, revealing a gash thousands of feet long.
The true form of the Crown Prince of Nanyin, dressed in bright yellow casual robes and wearing a jade crown, descended with a thunderous presence.
His pale gold Emperor Dragon Qi was no longer restrained. It flowed like a misty haze, weaving behind him the faint phantom of a kingdom. Within it, towering palaces stood and great rivers flowed, and the faint sounds of civilized rites and music could be heard.
His deep eyes, now as cold as eternal Profound Ice, swept over the lone island below, which was shrouded in a faint blue halo.
Huangli Island rested quietly on the ink-blue surface of the sea. Its verdant peaks were clustered together, its streams flowed like ribbons, and a spiritual mist suffused the air. It appeared no different from any ordinary Overseas Spirit Island.
But the Crown Prince of Nanyin’s brow slowly furrowed.
His Divine Sense had long since spread out like an invisible net, enveloping, probing, and dissecting the entire island—inside and out, top to bottom—from its Earth Vein nodes to the most minute traces of Spiritual Qi flow.
Nothing.
There was nothing at all.
No residual Magical Power from Qi Yun. No fluctuations of Dao Rhyme left from his breakthrough’s communion with Realm Heaven. No traces of runes from any Array Formation. Even the very "presence" of recent activity had been wiped completely clean.
The island’s Spiritual Mechanism cycled naturally and harmoniously. The plants grew according to the seasons, and the traces of birds and beasts were all consistent. It was as if no Cultivator had set foot here for a thousand years.
Just a pure, untouched, solitary island overseas.
’Such a masterful way of erasing his tracks,’ the Crown Prince of Nanyin murmured, the coldness in his eyes intensifying.
He slowly raised the right hand he held behind his back, spread his fingers, and aimed his palm down at the hundred-li-wide island below.
The gesture seemed casual, but the instant his palm faced downward—
The grass and trees on the island, which had been swaying gently in the breeze, suddenly froze. Every single leaf remained in its previous posture, utterly still.
Streams stopped flowing, their droplets suspended in mid-air.
Birds froze atop the trees, their wing-beating posture solidified into eternity.
"Since it’s useless, what’s the point in leaving it here?"
He spoke faintly as his five fingers slowly closed into a fist.
There was no earth-shattering boom, no violent eruption of rampaging energy.
The hundred-li-wide Huangli Island, along with the deep-sea bedrock it was rooted in, was like a ball of dough clutched by an invisible giant hand. Suddenly... it collapsed inward.
The cliffs, beaches, and reefs at the island’s edge were the first to turn into the finest dust, particles that shimmered with a faint Spiritual Light as they drifted inward.
Ten breaths.
After just ten breaths, all that remained where Huangli Island had been was a hundred-li-wide, slightly sunken patch of ink-blue seawater.
A hundred-li-wide island had vanished into thin air.
"Daluo..."
The Crown Prince of Nanyin stood in the void, his gaze turning to the southeast.
That was the direction the last thread of Qi Yun’s karma had pointed, but now it too had become blurry, obscured by some masterful technique.
’To perform a Golden Cicada Shell escape right under my nose, steal my Daoist Intent, and vanish without a trace... truly not some ordinary Wild Fox Zen.’
’I will remember this karmic debt.’
’We will most certainly meet again. Next time, don’t even think about escaping!’
As his voice faded, he lingered no longer. He turned, took a step, and his figure disappeared into the rift in the void.
The rift sealed, and the Celestial Vault returned to normal.
Only the moaning sea breeze remained, as if whispering of the terrifying power that had just silently and completely erased a Spirit Island from the world.
...
At the same time, tens of thousands of li away from Huangli Island, high above the vast ocean.
A streak of blue-gray rainbow light was gliding at a steady speed toward the Northwest Continent.
Within the rainbow light, Qi Yun stood with his hands behind his back, his deep blue Daoist Robe fluttering gently in the sea breeze.
His eyes were half-closed as if contemplating the various profound changes brought by the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage. His aura was harmonious and restrained, yet an obscure Dao Rhyme, born from a deep communion with the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Mechanism, flowed around him.
Suddenly, he sensed something and raised his eyes.
He looked toward the distant horizon to his side.
There, a brilliant golden radiance filled the sky.
It was formed from countless tiny, endlessly flowing Sanskrit True Words, layered and interwoven into a massive, three-dimensional formation that covered an area tens of li in radius.
The formation was shaped like an inverted alms bowl, with the phantoms of eight treasures floating at its edge.
At its center was a slowly rotating, giant golden Swastika seal over a hundred zhang in diameter.
With each rotation of the golden seal, a vast Brahma Chanting arose from the void, sweeping in all directions like a tide.
The sound resonated directly at the level of the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Mechanism and the Divine Souls of living beings, carrying with it an supreme Wish Power of Enlightenment, suppression, and conversion.
"A Grand Array from the Buddhist Cultivators?" Qi Yun’s figure paused slightly, his rainbow light halting amidst the high clouds.
His Divine Sense, now tempered by the Heavy Light Qi, was far sharper and more expansive than that of other Masters at his level.
Despite the great distance, he could clearly "see" every detail of the Grand Array’s operation.
Within the Grand Array, golden Wish Power flooded every inch of space like an ocean. Countless small Sanskrit chains emerged from the void to entwine and bind a struggling figure at the array’s center.
The figure was shrouded in a black and red halo, within which countless twisted, tyrannical faces could be seen wailing. It emanated an extremely despotic and surging Demonic Qi.
Right now, this Demonic Qi was being constantly scoured and worn away by the golden Wish Power, letting out a sizzling HISS.
With every bit of Demonic Qi that was eroded, the person’s struggles weakened, and the Brahma Chanting grew louder.
’Using Wish Power as fuel for forced Enlightenment...’ Qi Yun nodded slightly, having discerned the foundation of the Grand Array.
’This is the typical method of the Buddhist Cultivators.’
He had no desire to get involved. The Buddhist Cultivators were powerful Overseas, almost deserving of the title of the number one faction. Only the Dragon Race could contend with them.
They had numerous disciples, a profound heritage, and their overall strength was in no way inferior to any of the great sects of Central Earth.
However, when his Divine Sense swept through the array and he saw the face of the figure being subjected to Enlightenment by the Buddhist Cultivators, he was slightly taken aback.
’That face...’
Qi Yun’s brow twitched. He unconsciously tapped his glabella with a fingertip as a dusty memory was quietly stirred.
’I remember now!’
’He’s that Demon Cultivator from the Yellow Springs Marketplace back then, the one who was being suppressed and sealed...’
’Situ Huaji!’
Back then, Qi Yun was just a Junior Cultivator in the Qi Refining Stage. He had been ordered by the Holy Sect to raid the marketplace and had released this man on a whim to stir up trouble.
At that time, Situ Huaji had fought a battle to the death with the Qi Cultivation Great Perfection master guarding the marketplace. Both were severely injured, and Situ Huaji had fled far away, never to be heard from again.
He never expected that after all this time, that madman from the Qi Refining Stage had actually broken through the Life and Death Profound Gate, condensed a Dao Foundation, and become a Foundation Establishment Master.
’He’s got some luck, actually managing to succeed in his Foundation Establishment.’
Qi Yun shook his head and chuckled lightly, his tone betraying no particular emotion.
’I just didn’t expect that upon seeing him again today, he’d be trapped by someone else...’
The Buddhist Cultivator’s Grand Array was exquisitely laid out. Three Buddhist Cultivators were stationed in each of the eight directions, their auras linked and their Wish Power shared.
It was clearly a well-practiced combination Array.
Presiding over the golden Swastika seal at the center of the array was an Arhat wearing a Red Gold Kasaya, a phantom of a Seven-Layered Wisdom Light Wheel above his head.
His aura was as solid as a mountain, his Wish Power as vast as the sea.
With such a setup, any ordinary Foundation Establishment Master who fell into it would, in all likelihood, be unable to escape the fate of having their Dao Foundation gradually eroded before finally being converted.
Qi Yun watched quietly for a few breaths and saw the halo of Demonic Qi around Situ Huaji dim a little more.
The Brahma Chanting from the Buddhist Cultivator Arhat grew more majestic, and the golden Swastika seal in his palm slowly pressed down, about to completely suppress Situ Huaji’s Purple Mansion Divine Soul.
’That guy’s not going to last much longer...’
Behind Situ Huaji, the Dao Foundation phenomenon—an image woven from the phantoms of countless ancient Fierce Demons—was now flickering like a candle in the wind, its outline growing more illusory.
Qi Yun retracted his gaze and decided not to linger. With a flicker of his Heart Thought, the blue-gray rainbow light beneath his feet began to turn, preparing to flee.
’On the Great Dao, everyone has their own fate and encounters.’
Their parting at the Yellow Springs Marketplace had settled their karma. He had no intention of getting involved in this feud.
But just as the rainbow light was about to turn, at the very instant before Qi Yun moved—
From the ink-black depths of the sea below, an extremely faint and obscure ripple spread out without any warning.
The ripple was silent, but it precisely pierced through the hundred-zhang barrier of seawater, shot up into the air, and stopped three feet in front of Qi Yun.
The radiance receded, transforming into a palm-sized, ferocious-looking mask. It was entirely blue-gray, its texture neither skin nor wood.
The mask’s features were twisted, its eyes hollow, but its mouth was bizarrely stretched into a crooked, mocking smile.
The moment it formed, it "came alive." Its lips parted, spitting out a rushed but clear mental transmission:
"Are you a fellow Daoist from the Northwest?
"I am Situ Huaji, a Loose Cultivator from the Northwest! I’ve been ambushed and trapped by these bald donkeys from Overseas. I ask that you lend a hand, for the sake of our shared Northwest origins!"
The voice, transmitted through the mask, was clearly weak and anxious:
"If I can escape, I will reward you generously!"
Qi Yun’s figure froze, his rainbow light hovering among the clouds.
"You’ve got a few tricks up your sleeve."
A faint, almost imperceptible smirk played on Qi Yun’s lips as he said lightly:
"Tell me, what kind of generous reward are we talking about?"
Upon hearing this, a ghostly light seemed to flash in the mask’s hollow eyes, and its speech quickened:
"I won’t hide it from you, fellow Daoist! My journey across the ocean to this desolate corner of the Overseas was not without purpose. I came in search of an ancient treasury!"
It paused slightly, and seeing Qi Yun’s expression unchanged, it continued:
"As long as you are willing to help me escape, I am willing to share the location of that treasury and the method to enter it. We can explore it together.
"Of whatever we find, you... can take thirty percent first!"
"An ancient treasury?" Qi Yun’s eyebrow twitched, a flash of interest in his eyes, but he didn’t immediately agree. He only said slowly:
"In these Overseas lands, there are eight hundred, if not a thousand, places claiming to be treasuries or secret mansions. Nine times out of ten, they are just red herrings left by predecessors or ruins that have already been picked clean."
"What’s so special about this ’treasury’ of yours that would make a Northwest Master like you cross the ocean to find it?"
The mask fell silent for a moment.
In the distant Grand Array, the tide of golden Wish Power surged once more.
The gray-white halo around Situ Huaji’s body flickered uncertainly, and the Fierce Demon phenomenon behind him had already half-dissipated.
Clearly, this incarnation of his Divine Thought was directly linked to the state of his main body. He was running out of time.
The mask’s lips parted again. The syllables it uttered were very soft, yet they seemed to carry a heavy weight, cutting through the sea breeze to land clearly in Qi Yun’s ears:
"That treasury is no ordinary Ancient Cultivator’s cave residence, nor is it something left behind by an Overseas Loose Cultivator."
"Its name is—"
"The Celestial Court!"
...