Chen Yi now understood that when Min Ning shone the lantern on him then, she had already seen so clues. She wasn’t sure if it was him, so she followed him all the way.
"My disciple is a Buddha Seed, so the Infinite King keeps a very close watch on her. Because of my espionage, the watch is even stricter. The palace looks empty now, but in fact, it’s full of traps. If I hadn’t stopped you from going deeper in ti, you would have been in big trouble. I’ve scouted after entering the guards; there are two ways to get to the depths of the palace. One is through the Imperial Kitchen, which is safer but ti-consuming. The other is to go straight to the Bone Shedding Pool. She’s there; as long as we move fast enough, by the ti he’s aware, we’ll be out."
After Min Ning finished speaking, she snatched the wine gourd back from Chen Yi’s hand, took a sip, and said, "Which route will you choose?"
"Do you even need to ask?" Chen Yi just smiled slightly, "Haven’t we already thought of the sa thing?"
Min Ning wiped her mouth, "Let’s go!" One word, no need for further explanation. The corner of her mouth lifted in a long-lost, young hero’s smile, and she leaped towards the palace wall.
Chen Yi closely followed behind, the two figures darted like night owls into the forest, one after another, heading straight for the core of that golden light-flooded Demon Cave.
.........
Chen Yi was here this ti to gather intelligence about the enemy, and following Min Ning into the palace to rescue her disciple Qing Li was perfectly in line with his intentions.
"There it is."
She pointed to the main hall deep within the palace, twisted and towering like a giant python coiled. The few glazed tiles on the do were seeping with a dim gold light, starkly out of place with the false splendor below.
Chen Yi raised an eyebrow slightly, the closer he got to the palace depths, the louder the captivating Buddhist music beca, and the Buddhist Mantra ca from deep within. Following the sound, his heart suddenly sank.
The Buddhist Mantra held no ditative purity but an unsettling sense of eerie intrusion that made one’s Divine Soul feel as if it would rupture. What set his internal alarm off further was that those originally frenzied dancing souls in "Paradise" were now lined up like puppets controlled by invisible threads, expressionless, stumbling toward a dark entrance beneath the main hall.
The entrance seed to be a giant beast swallowing an endless stream of souls. From deep within the entrance, ca deafening and even more distorted Buddhist sounds.
"Let’s go, we’ll follow them."
The closer to the main hall, the stronger the "swelling" sensation of the palace beca. The pillars twisted like intestines, stone walls exuded a dark yellow viscous liquid, and the floor bricks were slippery and sticky, as if stepping inside the cavity of so giant beast. The exotic fragrance was so thick it couldn’t be dissolved, mixed with a heavy tallic and an indescribably... rank sandalwood scent.
Passing through the last low, throat-like giant archway, the scene changed abruptly.
No pavilions or towers, no gentle songs or dances. Before their eyes was a deep dark gold pool, with a viscous substance rolling within, glimrs of dark gold intertwined with blood. Mist rose from the surface, flickering with tiny distorted Sanskrit letters, the source of that eerie Buddhist music.
In the center of the pool, a young girl floated quietly - it was Qing Li! Her eyes were tightly shut, face pale as paper, her entire body enveloped in a semi-transparent layer of golden serpent skin with fine snake scale patterns, resembling a giant, bizarre amber.
At the pool bottom, a large shadow seed to be writhing slowly beneath the dark golden light fluid.
"My disciple is right there, she was taken to refine that ridiculous ’Buddha Fruit’," Min Ning clutched the sword hilt, eyes glinting coldly, "That Infinite King, that goddamn serpent, sohow got hold of an Evil Technique from so maverick Zen, planning to use my disciple as the catalyst, burning a myriad of souls like fuel to forcefully forge a Glazed Buddha Fruit to swallow and certify his damn Bodhisattva Fruit Position!"
Chen Yi’s heart shuddered.
Buddha Fruit? Certify Bodhisattva?
The Old Saintess, who had recently been sparing with her words, spoke up, "No wonder... this Python God cos from Tianzhu. In Tianzhu, there’s a Secret Technique, using pure souls as a guide to steal a sliver of the Buddha Country’s position fruit. No wonder this Demon Cave had to concoct a ’Paradise’. It was to use the obsessed souls to stoke the furnace..."
"Can Buddha Fruits be stolen?"
"In Tianzhu, yes. Not in Zen Sect." The Old Saintess continued, "The Tianzhu Buddhist Sect talks about ’certification’, which is certifying the fruit, whereas Zen talks about ’enlightennt’, sudden awakening leads to imdiate Buddhahood. To put it simply, the forr is discovering the unknown, the latter understanding the known. Therefore, more people in the Tianzhu Buddhist Sect beco Buddhas compared to Zen."
"Why such a difference?"
"When an orange is born south of the Huai River, it’s an orange; north of the River, it’s a trifoliata."
Having said that, no matter how Chen Yi pressed, the Old Saintess wouldn’t answer anymore. Lately, she was not as talkative as before, going on endlessly. Ever since visiting Gongsun Guan on Gaoliang Mountain, she only spoke when necessary, seemingly to avoid giving him too much help.
And now wasn’t the ti for more questions; they needed to rescue that girl as soon as possible.
Chen Yi and Min Ning wielded their swords as they slowly approached the Bone Shedding Pool, making their movents appear like those mindless souls.
The distance closed quickly, and in no ti, only ten steps remained.
Ten steps, nine steps, eight steps...
Chen Yi looked again, and the plain-faced girl was already close in front of him, her figure ethereal and tightly wrapped by golden snake scales. At her heart, a piercing, pure golden light was pulsating rhythmically with the beats of the Buddhist music.
Each pulsation drew out wisps of white qi from the souls that surged into the pool edge in a daze, converging into the golden light. With each brightening of the light, Qing Li’s complexion turned a shade grayer.
Chen Yi extended his hand, attempting to envelop Qing Li with Sword Creation of Heaven and Earth, using dense Sword Qi to gradually strip off the golden scales on her body.
Suddenly,
"Watch out!"
From the bottom of the pool, a massive shadow suddenly arched upward, and a huge claw covered with dark gold scales, its fingertips shimring with glazed Buddha Light, tore through the surface of the light paste, lunging straight at Chen Yi.
The attack ca suddenly, but Chen Yi was not completely unprepared. With a slight turn, the claw brushed past him.
Missing its target, the pool water surged like waves, and the colossal python head shot out of the pool like a Jiao Dragon erging from the sea, its massive, emotionless amber vertical pupils opened in the dark, coldly locking onto the intruders.
It did not fully reveal itself, but the terrifying oppressive presence that filled the entire space was enough to freeze the air.
"Would you really think a thief raised by servants would leave you a way out?"
The words just dropped.
Chang!
No need for extra words, nor enigmatic dialogues, Min Ning already held her sword, as it erupted with an unprecedented, clear Dragon Roar.
The sword light was concentrated like a pale lightning bolt, striking fiercely at the golden snake molt enveloping Qing Li.
Before the sword edge even arrived, the fierce, unmatched sword gang roused violent fluctuations in the semi-transparent "amber" layer. The snake scale patterns frantically swirled, trying to resist!
"Hiss—!" An expression of rage and disdain flashed across the enormous amber vertical pupil of the Infinite King!
Pool water exploded fiercely, a snake tail covered with dark gold scales, as thick as a palace column, broke through the light paste. With overwhelming power, it rushed forward, carrying a foul wind and a piercing whistling through the air, aiming a fierce strike at the side of Min Ning’s sword light.
This strike was not only terrifying in force but also imbued with the viscous, filthy Buddha Demon Power, enough to corrupt Magic Treasures and disperse Primordial Qi.
Facing this tail capable of splitting mountains and cracking stones, Min Ning surprisingly did not dodge or avoid. A clear shout erupted from her throat, and her wrist holding the sword suddenly sank and rotated! The originally straight sword light bizarrely drew a rounded arc in a flash. The sword tip vibrated, emitting a shrill buzz, instantly splitting into three solid sword shadows.
Ding! Ding! Dang!
Three sharp collision sounds, sharp enough to make teeth ache, exploded almost simultaneously!
The first sword shadow precisely pinpointed the force node of the sweeping tail, sparks flying, slightly diverting that mountain-splitting, earth-cracking force.
The second sword shadow followed closely, sticking to the rapidly passing scale crevice, stabbing fiercely. Although it couldn’t break the enduring scales, it left a glaring white mark, causing Infinite King to briefly halt the tail movent as if in pain.
The third sword shadow, also the most core pale lightning, utilized the montary gap gained by the first two sword shadows, unaffectedly maintaining its original trajectory, harshly slashing onto the golden snake molt.
Shhhlak!
The sound was like cracking silk, and the incredibly tough snake molt of Infinite King was forcibly split open by Min Ning’s three-layered continuous sword strike, creating a giant crack nearly a foot long. Dark golden liquid mixed with strands of pure Spiritual Energy spurted out from the opening.
"Roar!" The pained Infinite King unleashed a furious roar.
At the mont Min Ning’s sword slashed the snake molt, and Infinite King roared in rage due to both the blocked tail strike and the crack in the snake molt.
Chen Yi, who had been lurking like a shadow waiting for the right mont, suddenly sprang into action, seizing the timing when Min Ning’s sword completed its blow and returned to Qi, while Infinite King was about to strike with thunderous force.
Between him and Min Ning, there had long been a heart-to-heart connection through the sword,
requiring no communication, yet coordinating flawlessly.
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