A Bountiful Harvest

Chapter 48: A Bountiful Harvest

"You brat, you're courting death!" Hong Yi quickly packed everything away. Since the other party wanted to burn him to death, Hong Yi steeled his heart; he had to seek survival within the jaws of death. "This Daoist's realm might not be very high; he certainly hasn't reached the level of a Ghost Immortal. Otherwise, the sheer pressure of his soul would have scattered my spirit instantly, and I wouldn't have even had the chance to visualize."

The Rakshasa King represented the deep-seated, bloodthirsty evil thoughts within his own heart. If he were to be overcome by these evil thoughts, he would turn into a completely bloodthirsty, murderous demon devoid of humanity. Facing the Sun God Visualization Method unleashed by his opponent, Hong Yi's soul was weakened to the extreme. He immediately visualized the Amitabha Buddha, guarding his mind tightly to maintain a sliver of clarity, yet he could not extinguish the surrounding flames, let alone counterattack.

Boom! The fire surrounding Hong Yi grew even more violent. Within the flames, iridescent light swirled, and with a final turn, it actually took on a pure, transparent white color.

"Zi Yu, wake up and go feed the horses for me." Hong Yi and the Daoist were both fully focused, suppressing and controlling the inner demons and divine generals they had summoned to battle in the void.

"Hm? What is this?" If this Daoist had reached the level of Manifestation today, using the Explosive Flame Talisman Sword to melt lead and mercury into a Golden Core, and then using the energy of the lead and mercury to manifest a golden body, it would have been an overwhelming advantage. Even if Hong Yi could recover through visualization, it would have been useless. Daoists refine lead and mercury into a Golden Core not to be ingested by the physical body, but for the Yin Spirit to manifest a physical form.

"Why isn't this brat dead yet?" A demon god and a divine general were locked in combat in the void. Hong Yi opened his eyes, feeling utterly exhausted. At this moment, the Dingjia Divine General visualized by the Daoist appeared in Hong Yi's eyes with dim golden light, far lacking its original imposing power. The Daoist was also astonished in his heart. He clearly saw that after he unleashed the "Sun God Visualization Method," the overwhelming flames completely surrounded Hong Yi. However, the boy sat quietly in the fire, unmoving. Although trapped and unable to move, the Daoist could not burn him to death for the time being.

The Daoist's soul twisted and struggled, but under the repeated strikes of the Rakshasa demon, it gradually dissipated. Hong Yi then discovered a small wooden box. When he opened it, he found a needle as long as a finger, resembling an acupuncture needle. However, this needle was not made of gold or silver; its entire body was covered in blood-colored patterns. It felt heavy in his hand, twice as heavy as ordinary refined steel.

Hong Yi finally understood more deeply why the Past Amitabha Sutra was a supreme soul-cultivation technique. He quickly slipped into the alleyway of the courtyard from earlier and, sure enough, saw a small dagger on the ground, covered in dense purple runes.

However, just as the Yaksha King raised its fork to strike, a scorching red sun suddenly rose from the Daoist's head. Instantly, the world was filled with fire and searing heat, and the Yaksha King was burned to ashes in an instant. When this Rakshasa demon struck the Daoist, causing his soul to scatter, it looked up and cackled, then suddenly turned its two blood-red, eerie eyes toward Hong Yi.

If this scripture is cultivated to the highest realm, the soul hangs above the void, and one becomes the Buddha of the Past; even the various tribulations of a thousand lifetimes cannot shake one's true, original nature. Because it had scattered Hong Yi's soul in an instant, he hadn't even had time to turn a thought. This was a clash of formless thoughts, not physical entities, but it was exceptionally dangerous. Whichever side failed would suffer direct damage to their soul.

Hong Yi searched the Daoist's body and found he carried nothing but a money pouch containing a few small gold cakes. Hong Yi was shocked. During the few rounds of mental combat, Hong Yi felt that although the Daoist's soul was powerful, it was not outrageously so. It was at most one realm higher than his own—only at the level of Object Manipulation, not yet reaching Manifestation.

Guarding his original heart, Hong Yi visualized the Rakshasa King, which was even more formidable than the Yaksha King! Seeing Hong Yi, the Rakshasa demon lunged forward, but as it did, its body tightened, and the surrounding flames caused it to sizzle. However, this type of visualization requires the soul to completely transcend the Day Wanderer realm to be unleashed, and using it causes damage to one's own soul.

Hong Yi knew this was because the Daoist's soul had just been damaged, which was why the power of the Dingjia Divine General he visualized had weakened. Whether it was the Yaksha King or the Dingjia Divine General, they were both manifestations of one's own thoughts; if the soul is strong, they are strong, and if the soul is weak, they are weak.

Once the scorching sun appeared above the Daoist's head, the world turned red. Hong Yi's vision blurred, and he could see nothing. His entire body felt a stinging pain, as if he were being burned by fire. It was as if he had left his body in the middle of the day and was being completely melted and erased by the intense sunlight.

Hong Yi struggled to get up, wanting to walk out, but remembered that he was not in his soul form but in his physical body, and there were four maidservants watching outside. Now that the Daoist was entangled by Hong Yi with no other choice, he made a desperate gamble, unleashing his full power to try and grind Hong Yi's soul to nothing.

If a Daoist's soul leaves the shell and dies, the body becomes a complete idiot—only breathing and heartbeat remain, with no consciousness, like a vegetable. If the soul reaches the level of Manifestation, it can rely on the energy of the lead-mercury Golden Core to directly manifest a form visible to the naked eye, and even harm a real physical body.

"Right, when that Daoist's soul scattered, that Explosive Flame Talisman Sword dropped. I have to go take a look." In other words, once the Amitabha Sutra is cultivated, even if one undergoes "corpse-shedding" reincarnation a thousand times, it will not cause the slightest damage to the soul until one achieves the Yang God.

Sure enough, as the Rakshasa demon lunged, the massive blade-wheel in its hand hacked toward Hong Yi. "If this continues, it won't work. Sooner or later, my soul will wither and be burned to death by the inner fire. I must find a way to counterattack."

The divine general initially summoned by the Daoist had intense golden light; with one swing of its axe, it could split the Yaksha King in two and turn it to ash. But now, they were locked in a stalemate. "Rakshasa King!" Hong Yi knew that his soul power had only just reached the Day Wanderer level, far inferior to this Daoist, which was why he was trapped by the flames and unable to move. If his soul were stronger, he would have broken out directly.

"Sun God Visualization Method?" "This needle is made of Blood Patterned Steel?" "Oh no!" Surrounded by flames, he felt a searing heat and could not move his body. Once his soul returned to his body, Hong Yi felt much more comfortable and significantly stronger. He suddenly leaped into the void, transforming into the great Amitabha Buddha, remaining unmoved despite the Rakshasa King's fierce attacks and biting.

Although Hong Yi had not cultivated his soul to the realm where it could remain unmoved through a thousand lifetimes of tribulations with its true nature unchanged, he could recover from minor damage in an instant through visualization. This was something he had discussed occasionally with Bai Ziyue.

The Daoist gritted his teeth. As he unleashed the Sun God Visualization Method, his own soul suffered the agony of the strikes, his entire body stinging. But in order to refine Hong Yi and then deal with Hong Xuanji, he suddenly concentrated all his thoughts. At the same time, the Rakshasa King followed him in, entering deep into Hong Yi's mind.

The flames of the Daoist's Sun God Visualization Method were not true sunlight, but "inner fire" from his thoughts. However, the effect was the same as sunlight: it scattered one's thoughts and caused the soul to dissipate.

He didn't know how long they fought—perhaps a thousand rounds—but Hong Yi finally steadied his soul. With a shift of his thoughts, golden light flared, suppressing the Rakshasa King deep into his consciousness until it vanished.

"Ah!" The Daoist let out a miserable shriek, and the flames vanished completely. Hong Yi saw the blood-red serrated blade-wheel in the Rakshasa demon's hand flash, slicing the Daoist in two.

He walked to the wall, used the dagger to pry out a brick, climbed over, and walked quietly to the corner of the street, where he saw the Daoist's corpse. This was a Daoist supernatural ability: storing the scorching sun within one's thoughts. When used in a soul battle, it could burn an opponent's inner demons to ashes.

"This murderous, fierce intent is too powerful." Seeing the sounds of metal clashing coming from the government office in the distance, the Daoist grew very impatient. Suddenly, he let out a sharp cry and waved his hand; the Dingjia Divine General vanished without a trace. Of course, no one could see this with the naked eye; soul battles take place within one's thoughts, and all sorts of illusions occur in a single thought.

The Rakshasa demon was originally a manifestation of Hong Yi's thoughts. As it appeared, the Daoist's flames naturally burned it as well. "Even if it means damaging my soul, I must burn him to death." But now, he could only rely on the Amitabha Visualization Method to keep his nature unmoved and continuously repair his soul.

Just as he began to visualize, he smelled a rich, bloody scent in his nose and mouth. Following that, a sea of blood surged around him, and a red-haired Rakshasa demon appeared, stepping on a vast ocean of blood. Upon being burned, the Rakshasa demon roared, its blood-red light flared, and a wave of blood surged from the void, instantly extinguishing all the surrounding flames.

Although the Daoist's Six Ding and Six Jia gods were powerful—no less than the Yaksha King and capable of scattering the souls of ordinary demons and ghosts—Hong Yi smiled secretly and strode out, with no one following behind him. Among the common folk, this was also known as "losing one's soul."

At the same time, the Rakshasa demon roared again and lunged fiercely at the Daoist. Bang! What Buddhists call the "true, original nature" is what Daoists call the soul's thoughts. Hong Yi hurriedly turned his soul around and flew back to his room. Only by returning to his body could his soul find a vessel to finally settle the score with his inner demons; otherwise, he would die without even knowing how.

Hong Yi was startled. The Yaksha King's steel fork collided with the Dingjia Divine General's great axe. Hong Yi called out a few times, but the four maidservants outside made no sound, as if they were in a deep sleep. Hong Yi knew that the Rakshasa demon was a powerful inner demon he could not control; now that it had killed the Daoist, it was coming to cause him trouble.

The courtyard was not far away. Hong Yi drifted into his room, saw his physical body on the bed, and his soul immediately dove inside, returning to its place. The Yaksha King, having lost its opponent, lunged forward again, rushing toward the Daoist. Even if it couldn't scatter him, it was enough to cause irreparable damage, though to Hong Yi, it was only a very minor injury.