The ancient sage emperors were born, establishing the way of humanity. One after another, powerful beings who could shatter the void emerged, such as the Longevity Emperor, the Creation Daoist, Tai, Xuan, Yuan, Pan, Shi, Ji, Du, Hong, and Yu, all appearing around the same time.
The philosophers of the Middle Ages emerged with the power of "creators," a constellation of brilliant minds, and almost all of them existed in the same period.
This phenomenon is strange, without any pattern or reason. Hundreds of years of peace seemed to be a period of recuperation, until one day, this continent felt it had been too lonely for too long and needed these powerful figures to appear, and so they appeared.
Ancient times and medieval times were two great eras, each brimming with brilliant stars.
Eight hundred years have passed, and another great era has begun!
In this great era, with its great fortune and extraordinary opportunities, the Wu Gui Dao sect, situated in the wilderness, clearly did not possess a single one of them.
A dark cloud flew out from Tianwu City, accompanied by gusts of cold wind and a sinister aura, filled with evil, malevolent, ghostly, and fierce spirits. Within the dark cloud, a thin, dark-skinned Taoist priest could be vaguely seen, holding a command flag covered with talismans.
This was an evil cultivator, at the Ghost Immortal realm, who hadn't survived the tribulation. If he had, his aura would have transformed into the strength of an early-stage Earth Immortal from the Journey to the West world. The command flag in his hand seemed to be a decent magic weapon; it was only the size of a palm, triangular in shape, and its material was unknown. As it swayed, it emitted several wisps of black, eerie wind, enveloping the thin, dark-skinned Taoist's body and lifting him into the air.
Three more Taoist priests flew out from around the city, each carrying a nine-headed demon corpse.
Jiang Liu looked up at the dark clouds overhead and saw five menacing demonic corpses emerging from the thick, sinister aura surrounding the thin, dark-skinned Taoist priest. They possessed golden wings and golden fleshy crests, resembling emperors among demonic corpses. In an instant, these demonic corpses spat out a gleaming golden pill, somewhat similar to the Golden Essence Demonic Pill from the Peacock King's Five Elements Sword Pills.
The monk Jingren looked up at the thin, dark-skinned Taoist above him and said, "That's Yu Wutong, the sect leader of the Witchcraft and Ghostly Path, along with his five Corpse Kings and his magical treasure, the Myriad Ghosts Command Flag. Its power..."
He was originally going to say something about its immense power and the need for caution, but he swallowed the words back down.
"Who are you? How dare you trespass into my Heavenly Witch City! Take this!"
In an instant, the pills spat out by the five corpse kings attacked, exuding a sharp and evil aura.
The demonic ape "Ba" rolled its eyes, and before it could utter a single word of "noisy," a gust of wind carrying thick black mist swept away. Within that black mist lay a nakedly domineering, ferocious, and extremely malevolent aura.
Heavenly Demon Slaughtering God Technique, Heavenly Demonic Qi!
In an instant, the five corpse kings let out a miserable scream and turned into five blobs of sewage in the black mist.
The dark-skinned, thin Taoist standing in the dark clouds shuddered and immediately flew down, prostrating himself on the ground and kowtowing repeatedly, hurriedly saying, "Grandmaster, spare my life! This humble Taoist was blind and did not recognize your greatness. I have offended you, please spare my life!"
As the sect leader of the Witchcraft and Ghost Path, although his strength was lacking, he knew from the passed-down scriptures and oral traditions that at the end of the East Sea, in a corner of the desolate continent, there was a Heavenly Demon Cave where the mighty Vajra Divine Ape lived. The ancestor there was a figure from ancient times with great supernatural powers, who had cultivated for a thousand years.
With a single strike, he killed five Corpse Kings. Such strength, coupled with the appearance of the Mighty Vajra Divine Ape, could only be attributed to the Heavenly Demon "Ba"!
"Master, should we kill him or spare him?" The demonic ape "Ba" didn't even glance at Yu Wutong, the sect master of the Witch Ghost Path.
With a flick of his finger, something resembling a large pouch flew up from Yu Wutong's back and landed in his palm.
"Keep him!" Jiang Liu said. He had no intention of subduing such a minor and evil figure. Whether to kill him or spare him was just a matter of a single thought. He had obtained the Qiankun Bag, subdued the demon ape, and had a sudden enlightenment. If he was in a good mood, he would spare his life.
"Get lost!" Ba sneered, and Yu Wutong immediately scrambled away, not daring to utter a sound. He was covered in cold sweat, feeling as if he had been given a second chance at life. It wasn't that he lacked courage, but the difference in strength was too great. The other man could kill him with a single breath; how could he possibly fight? In this situation, to fight desperately would be suicide, a sign of stupidity.
Jiang Liu stroked the large bag, overjoyed. The plans of Yin Guanjun Hou would all depend on this Qiankun Bag. The sword energy emitted by the Panhuang Life Sword could even injure a Creator at the seventh level of lightning tribulation; it contained thirty percent of the power of the ancient Panhuang, which was thirty percent of the power of a Yangshen realm expert. This power was enough to rival that of an expert like Meng Shenji!
Jiang Liu naturally didn't want to risk his life. This Qiankun Bag was perfect for blocking the attack of the "Panhuang Life Sword." Once he broke the Qiankun Bag, he could get his hands on it—killing two birds with one stone, so why not?
This bag is neither silk nor linen; it is made of leather, but it is not the skin of any animal; it is human skin!
The large bag was tightly tied with a rope, which looked like a tendon, but it didn't seem to be an animal's tendon; rather, it seemed to be a human tendon.
Human skin and human tendons! Not the skin and tendons of ordinary people, but the skin and tendons of immortals.
A wisp of vast and powerful pure Yang energy faintly emanated from the pocket. This was the pure Yang energy that Jiang Liu had sensed earlier.
Jiang Liu's smile was naturally impossible to hide from the demon ape. He also observed the bag and said, "This must be the Qiankun Bag of the Great Zen Temple! It's made from the skin of a human immortal, truly domineering. There should be a stable little world inside. It may not be a supreme treasure, but it's not bad either."
In the eyes of the demon ape "Ba," the Great Zen Temple's treasure was merely decent. And indeed, even if he obtained it, it wouldn't significantly enhance his strength.
Looking at the Qiankun Bag in Jiang Liu's hand, Monk Jingren couldn't help but say, "Back then, the abbot foresaw the destruction of the Great Zen Temple, so he put some of our temple's scriptures, treasures, weapons, and magical artifacts into the Qiankun Bag and handed it to me. I don't know any Taoist arts, so I don't have the ability to open this bag. I also want to see what our Great Zen Temple's remnants are still inside the Qiankun Bag. I wonder if the Witchcraft and Ghost Path has been used."
Jiang Liu ran his hand across the cloth bag, producing a series of buzzing sounds, a constant humming and whirring...
In an instant, the opening of the Qiankun Bag burst open, and a stream of azure energy shot out, subsequently forming a giant gate on the ground, about the height of three people and the width of ten. A hazy, ethereal blue, it resembled a mirage, a phantom gate formed from the energy.
Jiang Liu scanned the giant gate with his divine sense and quickly discerned what was inside: "There's quite a lot of stuff—money, provisions, weapons. It seems it's for rebuilding the Great Zen Temple. Go in and take a look!"
With that, he swept the monk Jingren inside, then rolled up the bag and stuffed it into his robes: "Ba, you should also tidy up the Demon God Cave and bring the Mighty Vajra Divine Ape into the world! I'll be waiting for you in Izumo!"
"Master, then I shall take my leave first!" With that, the demon ape "Ba" stirred up a cloud of black clouds and disappeared into the horizon.
The Qiankun Bag, this small world, is a hundred miles in circumference and is an extremely stable and solid world. In addition to its size, it contains eight plazas, on which are piled up things as big as mountains.
One pile was gold, one pile was silver, one pile was jewels, one pile was snow-white rice, one pile was weapons and armor, one pile was cloth and silk, one pile was medicine chests, and one pile was rows of bookshelves filled with books.
This wealth is enough to rival that of a nation.
Jiang Liu glanced at his storage space. Although it had grown to the size of a football field with his increased strength, it was still insignificant compared to this Qiankun Bag. Fortunately, the space generated by "Escape One" was still growing and could isolate cause and effect. It even had earth and sky, seemingly evolving into a middle-thousand world. Jiang Liu was very much looking forward to it, wondering if this storage space would eventually become a world of its own.
Looking around, Jiang Liu knew there should be another Qilin on this desolate continent, but he couldn't locate it or sense it, so he had no choice but to give up! He then prepared to return to Chuyun Kingdom to obtain the Champion Marquis's stone embryo, as well as other treasures!
Chapter 207 Half a Tathagata Sutra
In the misty rain of March, the river flows into the Hidden Dragon Temple of Chuyun Kingdom.
In just one month, a huge religion rose up in the island nations of the East China Sea, sweeping away all the small sects and even the Peach God Path, one of the six holy lands, bowed down to it.
On that day, the Azure Emperor used the "Seven Killings" technique to fight the Peach God Sect Master and the eight elders alone in the Peach God Palace and defeated them!
The Azure Emperor forced Luo Tiannan to acknowledge the status of the Hidden Dragon Temple in the East China Sea, but he did not destroy the Peach God Path. Instead, he allowed it to remain the face of the overseas island nation and one of the six great holy lands in the world.
However, the Hidden Dragon Temple spread rapidly throughout more than a hundred countries in the East China Sea, blossoming everywhere and snowballing into a religion with tens of millions of followers, worshipping the one and only god—the Azure Emperor.
After condensing the four great divine powers of "Ji, Sheng, Lei, and Wu", the Azure Emperor's fifth great divine power has also been fully condensed, which is "Kill".
The Path of Slaughter! Its full name is the Path of Seven Kills. The disloyal can be killed! The unfilial can be killed! The unkind can be killed! The unjust can be killed! Those who are impolite, unwise, and untrustworthy—all can be killed!
With the condensation of the Killing Dao, not only did the Azure Emperor's physical strength increase once again, but even his loyal followers and the Daoists who were endowed with supernatural power seeds also made rapid progress in strength.
The Seed of Divine Power can directly grant a person supernatural abilities. Of the five great divine powers comprehended by the Azure Emperor, "Ji" and "Sheng" are not combat powers, but they are powerful tools for developing followers. The paradise dreamed of by the lowest classes of people is nothing more than being well-fed, warmly clothed, and free from the suffering of disease; these two great divine powers can solve this problem.
"Thunder," "Martial Arts," and "Killing" are protective divine powers. The power of thunder can injure ordinary ghost immortals, and the fusion of martial arts and killing allows ordinary people to fight against innate martial masters. Moreover, those who are granted these two divine power seeds are all accomplished warriors from Izumo Kingdom. Obtaining one of them makes one a grandmaster of martial arts, and obtaining both makes one invincible below the level of a martial saint.
With the worship of tens of millions of people and the accumulation of endless faith, the Azure Emperor has begun to gather the sixth halo of faith. However, the higher he goes, the more faith power he needs.
The sixth supernatural power is the "withering and flourishing" power of his original wood attribute.
Jiang Liu stood in the Qianlong Temple, looking at the statue that resembled his own face, and many memories of the Azure Emperor flooded back. After a long while, he opened his eyes and understood everything the Azure Emperor had done and thought over the past month, even the "Seven Killings" Dao had been fully integrated into his own body.
"Who are you? How dare you trespass into Qianlong Temple!"
A clear, melodious female voice rang out behind Jiang Liu, as sweet and melodious as a silver bell.
This is a girl of seventeen or eighteen years old, dressed in yellow, with a green bamboo flute tucked into her waist. She exudes a quiet yet domineering aura, and there is a peach blossom between her eyebrows. It should have five petals, but now it has only three, as the other two petals look like they have withered.
"Zen Silver Gauze!"
Jiang Liu slowly turned his head, and the moment she saw his face, Chan Yinsha's heart skipped a beat. She then looked away at the statue of the Azure Emperor, quickly bowed, and said, "This humble woman, Chan Yinsha, greets the Abbot!"
"kindness!"
Jiang Liu nodded, and a small blue figure jumped out from between his eyebrows. After landing, it quickly grew to the size of a five-year-old child before stopping.
It cannot be the Azure Emperor!
Bowing to Jiang Liu, the boy shook his head and said, "Master, you truly have excellent skills! Subduing the Mighty Vajra Divine Ape has completely stabilized the situation. Even if the Great Qian invades, we will not be afraid! Master, your instantaneous and subtle understanding of the Dao has incorporated physics and chemistry..."
Jiang Liu said, "It's a pity that I skipped too many classes back then. Even if I could recall my memories now, it would be difficult to extract any valuable knowledge. Thinking back now, we really missed out on so much during our time at Dragon Snake. Knowledge is power, and the higher you go, the more you realize the depth of your accumulated knowledge. Master math, physics, and chemistry, and you'll be able to go anywhere in the world without fear. If we can master all the scientific theories and rules, then we will have truly attained enlightenment!"
The Azure Emperor pondered for a moment and said, "So, if we master atomic fission, we master infinite energy. If we master Schrödinger's cat, which is both dead and alive, wouldn't we master immortality?"
"Heh, don't even mention having only a superficial understanding. Even if you become a master of quantum mechanics, it's still just theory. The gap between theory and practice is like heaven and earth plus the eighteen levels of hell..."
“Master, when are you going to separate your Great Sun Tathagata form? Otherwise, the Buddha might descend at any time and say to you, ‘You are destined to be with the Buddha,’ and will save you.”
"Let's give it to that immortal who sprang from the stone!"
"Excellent! He might just be another monkey causing havoc in heaven..."
Zen Yinsha listened to their strange and incomprehensible words, and stood quietly for a long time before the two stopped talking.
"Oh, right, Monk Jingren is still in the Qiankun Bag... We need to get the things out of it too, otherwise it would be a waste to destroy them." Jiang Liu suddenly slapped his forehead. Fortunately, there was still time, and there was food inside. If it had been a long time, leaving a person in the Qiankun Bag would have starved them to death.
With a shake of the bag, a large monk fell out. He was supposed to land face-first, but with a flick of his finger, he landed steadily, put his hands together in front of Jiang Liu, uttered a Buddhist chant, and then looked around.
"This humble monk is Jingren, one of the 108 Bodhisattvas of the Great Zen Temple. Greetings, everyone!"
The Azure Emperor circled around him and said, "Martial Saint realm, refined fist intent, remarkable martial arts, not bad, not bad! My name is Azure Emperor, you can call him Abbot. This is the Hidden Dragon Temple. The overseas island of Izumo is where the Silver Shark King Zen Silver Gauze is."
"So it's the Eight Great Demon Immortals. This humble monk greets you. This humble monk greets the Abbot and the Azure Emperor!" Monk Jingren lowered his head and clasped his hands together respectfully.
The Azure Emperor suddenly turned to look at Chan Yinsha and said, "Who did you encounter after using two peach blossom petals?"
Zen Yinsha gave a wry smile and said, "Qingdi, I encountered the Great Qian Navy, Champion Marquis! However, I brought that Buddha statue back from Giant Whale Island intact."
“Champion Marquis…hehe…” Jiang Liu and the Azure Emperor exchanged a glance and nodded in unison.
“Let’s go see that Buddha statue! Jingren, the real treasure of your Great Zen Temple is inside that Buddha statue,” Jiang Liu said with a smile.
"The real treasure of the Great Zen Temple?" Jingren followed with curiosity.
Before they could even step out of the plaza outside the main hall, a giant Buddha statue, sixteen feet tall, flew down from the sky. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that a small child was supporting the Buddha with one hand beneath it.
It landed as lightly as a dragonfly skimming the water, then released it silently. This effortless skill astonished the monk Jingren; such power was something even a peak Martial Saint would find difficult to achieve!
“Back then, Master Yinyue ate an elephant every day and possessed the strength of a dragon and a tiger, able to lift an elephant with one hand. Could this child be a human immortal? How is that possible? He flew here; even the strongest human immortal cannot fly!” Monk Jingren’s mind raced with a hundred thoughts before he turned to look at the great Buddha.
This Buddha statue is 16 feet tall and gilded, but it is actually carved from wood, and from extremely precious golden nanmu wood.
This type of nanmu wood was used to build the roof beams of imperial palaces. Its wood is dense and will not rot for a thousand years, nor be infested by insects or ants. Even a single Buddha statue made of this wood would weigh 1,800 jin (approximately 600 kg).
The Buddha statue is draped in a golden robe inscribed with merit, and the sutras on it are clearly visible.
"Unimpeded thoughts are meritorious... Recognizing one's true nature is meritorious... Acting in accordance with one's true nature is virtuous..."
“This… should be the Buddha statue that Master Yinyue carved by his own hands back then, and it has actually ended up overseas…” Monk Jingren stroked the Buddha statue, his face full of emotion.
"So it was him who created it, no wonder!" Jiang Liu looked at the Buddha statue, one hand hanging down to the ground, the other with the middle and index fingers forming a ring, as if the entire world was contained within the ring.
"Seize the present moment; this is the essence of the Buddha's teachings!"
As he spoke, he probed the Buddha with his divine sense, going straight to the center. After searching for a while, he discovered a tiny microcosm. With a pull, a scripture appeared in the real world, while the microcosm instantly collapsed.
This scripture is woven from black gold thread, so it cannot be burned by fire or submerged in water!
The fact that the two scriptures are made of different materials confirms that they were not written by the same person.
Jiang Liu glanced at the cover of the book and saw that it also featured a large Buddha image, but this Buddha was completely different from the Amitabha Buddha of the past. It had large earlobes that reached its shoulders, and its middle and index fingers formed a mudra.
The scripture was only half-finished; the first half had been torn out and its whereabouts were unknown. On the first page of the remaining half, one could see the Buddha image. Jiang Liu turned to another page, and there was yet another Buddha image, making a different mudra. The Buddha image was drawn so lifelike that it had a three-dimensional feel.