A desolate valley lay strewn with jagged rocks.
Tongtian sat cross-legged, his face pale and his breathing uneven. The backlash from forcibly breaking Yuanshi's Saint's Will seal was not to be underestimated. But he had no time to attend to his injuries. All his attention was focused on his palm.
There, a faint wisp of pure qi slowly swirled, radiating an aura that was familiar yet incredibly fragile. It was the remnant of Yun Xiao's origin. The wisp was so weak it seemed like a candle flickering in the wind, liable to go out at any moment. It might not even be able to enter the cycle of reincarnation.
Saint Mother Wudang and Kui Niu stood guard nearby, too tense to breathe, their eyes filled with a complex mix of grief and hope.
"Master, Senior Sister Yun Xiao, she..." Wudang's voice choked with emotion.
"Her origin has collapsed, and her true spirit is clouded. Her condition is worse than Turtle Spirit's." Tongtian's voice was grave, but his gaze was unwavering. "Ordinary methods can no longer save her. Only by using Chaos Origin as a foundation to rebuild her immortal body and Dao Foundation will she have a chance at survival!"
Rebuilding her with Chaos Origin! At his words, Wudang and Kui Niu both drew sharp breaths. This was nothing short of defying fate! The difficulty and risks were beyond imagining.
Tongtian said nothing more. Carefully, he placed Yun Xiao's origin before him, then formed a hand seal. The Chaos Bead (Fragment) appeared above his head once more, slowly rotating as it released an even purer Chaos Qi than before, gently enveloping the fragile wisp of origin like a seed being nurtured.
Without hesitation, he then took several immensely precious treasures from System Space and his own accumulated collection!
First was a withered section of root. It seemed lifeless, yet gave off an ancient aura from the same source as the Chaos Bead—it was the remnant of the Chaos Green Lotus that had grown alongside the Chaos Bead, which he had obtained in the Blood Sea secret realm!
This was the foundation of a Chaos Supreme Treasure, a divine object. Though withered, its essence was of the highest order, making it the ideal framework for rebuilding an immortal body!
Next came a swirling drop of emerald-green liquid, radiating boundless life force: Three Lights Divine Water! This water was the essence of the sun, moon, and stars, brimming with creative vitality. It was the finest healing treasure in the Primordial World, obtained from a hidden Dragon Palace storehouse. He had only three drops, yet now Tongtian took one out without hesitation.
Last came all manner of supreme auxiliary materials: Nine Heavens Breathing Soil, Essence of Five Elements, Taiyin Moon Essence...
Tongtian's eyes gleamed. He took a deep breath and suddenly began to move his hands!
Using Primordial Unity Magic Power as the flame and the Chaos Bead as the furnace, he began to refine these astonishing divine materials!
First, he cast the remnant of the Chaos Green Lotus into the Chaos Qi and painstakingly refined it, drawing out a thread of its most fundamental vitality and shaping it into the rudimentary form of an illusory lotus Dao body. The process took an immense toll on his concentration. Fine beads of sweat appeared on Tongtian's forehead, and his face grew even paler.
Then he refined the Three Lights Divine Water, Nine Heavens Breathing Soil, and other materials into the lotus Dao body, imbuing it with the feel of real flesh and blood and an immense vitality.
Finally, he carefully guided Yun Xiao's faint wisp of origin into the newly formed lotus immortal body, which shimmered with Chaos radiance.
The entire process was intricate and exacting; not a single mistake could be made. Tongtian focused all his attention on it, like an artist creating a masterpiece. He brought every measure of magic power and every wisp of divine sense to bear.
Wudang and Kui Niu watched, dazzled and utterly shaken. With the Chaos Green Lotus as its foundation, the Three Lights Divine Water as its catalyst, and countless divine materials to support it, their master was rebuilding Senior Sister Yun Xiao's body into one with limitless potential—a Chaos Immortal Body! Such a feat was nothing short of defying the heavens!
Time passed, bit by bit.
The lotus immortal body gradually took shape, its outline growing clearer. It had the form of a woman and was suffused with a faint Chaos radiance. Her features were identical to Yun Xiao's, yet her bearing was even more sacred and ancient.
But just as the immortal body was about to be fully formed, at the crucial moment when Yun Xiao's origin began to merge with it—
A sudden change struck!
A tiny, almost imperceptible point of Jade Pure Immortal Light erupted from within Yun Xiao's origin, its edge razor-sharp. Like a venomous snake, it lunged for the core of the newly formed body!
It was a hidden safeguard Yuanshi Tianzun had left behind when he sealed her away—a trace of Saint power meant to completely erase her true spirit and prevent anyone from saving her!
Tongtian's pupils contracted, but he wasn't surprised. He had long expected Yuanshi to have a hidden trick.
"Hmph! You dare cause trouble with a mere remnant of Saint power?" he muttered. He didn't panic; the countermeasure he had prepared sprang into action!
The Chaos Bead hovering in the air shuddered. The tiny Chaos Vortex within it spun wildly, releasing an even purer and more overbearing force of Chaos Origin. Like a millstone, it came crashing down on that point of Jade Pure Immortal Light!
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss! Chaos Qi and Jade Pure Immortal Light clashed violently, making a grating sound! The Jade Pure Immortal Light was powerful, but it had no source to sustain it, while Tongtian was drawing on the Chaos Bead's inexhaustible power of Chaos Origin!
More importantly, the grade of Chaos Qi seemed to surpass even Heavenly Dao Saint power!
Within mere seconds, the defiant point of Jade Pure Immortal Light was completely ground down and devoured by the Chaos Qi!
The crisis was over! Tongtian didn't dare delay. He immediately hastened the final steps. Biting the tip of his tongue, he spat out a mouthful of Life Blood Essence containing his own Primordial Dao Rhyme, sprinkling it across the immortal body.
Hum! The body erupted with dazzling Chaos Divine Light and solidified completely! Her eyes and brows came alive; she looked exactly as Yun Xiao had, and was even more beautiful than before!
The next moment, her tightly closed eyes fluttered, and slowly opened.
At first, her gaze was confused and vacant. But as her origin fully merged with the immortal body, her eyes quickly regained their light, filled with disbelief and the shock and bewilderment of someone returned from another life.
"What... what happened to me?" She looked down at her newly formed hands, which radiated tremendous power and an unfamiliar Dao Rhyme. Her voice was ethereal and lovely, yet carried a trace of weakness.
"Senior Sister Yun Xiao!" Saint Mother Wudang could hold back no longer. She rushed forward, tears streaming down her face.
"Junior Sister Wudang?" Yun Xiao looked at her as memories surged back like a tide: the endless pain and darkness of being imprisoned beneath Kirin Cliff, her master's familiar aura, and her rescue... She abruptly turned and saw Tongtian sitting cross-legged in front of her, his face pale but his smile full of relief.
"Master?!" Yun Xiao understood everything in an instant. She struggled to rise and pay her respects, but a gentle force held her in place.
"No need for formalities. Your origin has only just healed; you need to rest." Tongtian spoke gently. Seeing his disciple reborn eased some of the murderous fury and rage in his heart, leaving him filled with relief.
"Master, your injuries, your cultivation..." Yun Xiao keenly sensed Tongtian's weakness and the difference in his aura. It was no longer the aura of a Heavenly Dao Saint, but a far more ancient and profound power—one that seemed far from restored.
"It's nothing. I lost my Saint Position and gained freedom in return. Your master is walking a different path now." Tongtian gave a brief explanation, then his expression turned solemn. "Yun Xiao, tell me: where are Qiongxiao and Bixiao now? Gongming didn't finish explaining when he communicated through the Investiture of the Gods. What happened to them?"
At the mention of her two younger sisters, the color that had begun to return to Yun Xiao's cheeks drained away, leaving her as pale as paper. Grief and despair cut deep into her eyes, and tears streamed down her face.
"Master! My sisters, they..." Yun Xiao wept uncontrollably, her voice full of boundless hatred. "That villain Yuanshi Tianzun! He didn't even give them the chance to ascend to the Investiture of the Gods!"
"After the Myriad Immortals Formation was broken, Junior Sister Qiongxiao was taken by Cihang Daoren—Guanyin—with the Pure Glazed Bottle and sealed in the Nine Nether Weak Water at the bottom of the bottle, where she suffers Weak Water Soul Erosion day and night!"
"Junior Sister Bixiao had it even worse! Manjushri Guangfa Tianzun—Manjushri Bodhisattva—captured her and refined her into the Dragon Subduing Stake, turning her into its spirit! She'll be enslaved and used by him for all eternity!"
"That old scoundrel Yuanshi even had the nerve to pretend that they'd committed too many sins, that their true spirits were defiled and they weren't worthy of the list! He clearly meant to deny them any chance of rebirth, Master!"
Every word Yun Xiao spoke was soaked in blood and every syllable in tears as she revealed the horrific truth.
BOOM!!! A terrifying killing intent erupted from Tongtian, as tangible as a physical force, crushing the surrounding rocks to dust! The sky darkened in response!
Saint Mother Wudang and Kui Niu stood frozen as if struck by lightning. Then boundless fury and dread welled up in their hearts!
Refining someone into a spirit! Sealing them inside a magical treasure! It was more cruel than destroying their body and spirit! It meant they could never be reborn!
"Good! What a fine Jade Pure Saint! What a fine orthodox Mystic Gate!" Tongtian's voice was as cold as the winds of the Nine Hells. Chaos Qi churned violently around him, as though it would destroy everything. "This hatred, this grudge—we'll never share the same sky!"
He sprang to his feet. Not a trace of warmth remained in his eyes, only overwhelming killing intent.
But just as his murderous intent reached its peak—
[Warning! Powerful Buddhist aura detected approaching the Eastern Sea! Target: Golden Ao Island direction! Identified as: Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva! Power: peak Grand Unity Golden Immortal! Carrying supreme treasures: Nine-Ringed Monk's Staff, Buddha Kingdom in Palm.]
The system's alert came like a bucket of cold water.
Tongtian forcibly suppressed the destructive urge about to erupt within him. His gaze instantly cleared, turning cold.
Ksitigarbha? The Western Teachings had sent someone after all! And a formidable expert at that!
"Master?" Wudang and Yun Xiao both sensed the change in Tongtian's aura.
"The hounds of the Western Teachings have caught our scent." Tongtian's voice was cold. "We can't stay here. Wudang, help Yun Xiao get used to her new body and conceal her aura. Kui Niu, we're leaving!"
He swept his hand, and Chaos Qi enveloped them all. In an instant, they vanished from the valley.
Not long after they had left, a serene yet unmistakably majestic Buddha Light descended upon the valley.
As the Buddha Light faded, it revealed a young monk in robes, holding a Nine-Ringed Monk's Staff, his face compassionate and peaceful. A golden lotus floated beneath his feet, and pure, powerful Buddhist magic power radiated from him. He was Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, sent by the Two Saints of the West.
Ksitigarbha surveyed the valley, his brow furrowing slightly. He raised a fair hand, and an illusory Buddha Kingdom appeared in his palm as he carefully sensed the area.
"There was indeed a powerful surge of energy here just now. It carried a peculiar Dao Rhyme, neither Daoist nor Buddhist—ancient and vast, with a faint trace of something familiar?" Confusion showed in Ksitigarbha's eyes. "It seems connected to Fellow Daoist Tongtian, yet it's completely different."
He performed a divination, but the secrets of heaven remained shrouded in chaos.
"It seems the waters of the Eastern Sea run deeper than I imagined." Ksitigarbha gazed toward Golden Ao Island, his eyes growing profound. "I'll stay here by the Eastern Sea, reciting sutras to deliver departed souls and observing how things unfold."
He didn't head straight for Golden Ao Island. Instead, he descended and found a secluded spot along the Eastern Sea, where he sat cross-legged, struck a wooden fish, and chanted scriptures. Golden Swastika Buddha Seals melted silently into the void as he began to investigate the entire Eastern Sea.
The Western Teachings had already extended their reach.
By now, Tongtian had taken everyone hundreds of thousands of miles away and found a new, concealed cave dwelling.
His face was as dark as water. Ksitigarbha's arrival meant the peaceful days were over.
Saving Yun Xiao had alerted the enemy. The Western Teachings would intensify their search, and Yuanshi Tianzun surely wouldn't let this go.
From now on, they would have to be more careful—and more ruthless...
His gaze shifted west, toward Manjushri's Dao Field at Yunxiao Cave on Five Dragon Mountain, and Cihang's Dao Field at Luojia Cave on Putuo Mountain.
Qiongxiao, Bixiao, your master will get you out!
Manjushri, Cihang, it's time your treasures had a new owner!
Before you continue