Generate Light

On the mountainside of Mystic Yi Mountain, within the Mountain God Temple, wisps of chilly wind brushed over the bluestone-paved square.

Yet beneath the temple, within the Mountain God's spiritual realm, the faint chill winds of the mortal world became howling gales here, filling the realm from top to bottom as the sounds of ghosts weeping and wolves howling rang without end.

The temple of the mortal world became an enormous, ruined complex within the spiritual realm. Everywhere stood withered, collapsed halls, with broken bricks and shattered tiles scattered across the ground. Only at its core remained wisps of crimson radiance.

"Alas!" A sigh rose from the temple's core. The figure within the crimson glow gazed at the vast square, which had once corresponded to the place where mortal beings offered sacrifices. Washed by the power of wishes year-round, it had been the place where wish-power was densest in the entire spiritual realm.

Even now, with worship cut off, there should have been a layer of lingering spiritual light.

But it was now covered by a pool of scarlet blood. Strands of black qi and bloody qi continually spilled from it, drifting through the surroundings like mist.

Within that mist, armored soldiers wreathed in bloody light marched back and forth.

Whenever these soldiers tried to leave the range of the mist, milky-white spiritual light rose from the ground and washed over them. The bloody light resisted, and amid puffs of white smoke, the soldiers shrieked strangely and hastened back into the blood-colored fog.

And whenever the milky-white spiritual light rose, the crimson glow within the palace's core trembled slightly, while streams of white mist flowed out. After this happened several times, the crimson radiance dimmed somewhat.

Suddenly, a strand of golden light rose from the glow. Unlike the crimson divine light, this golden light lacked much of a sacred, noble, or holy aura. Instead, it bore traces of enlightenment, guidance, and brightness.

Once this strand of golden light appeared, it scattered some of the surrounding gloom. Then it tried to pull the figure from within the radiance away, but the crimson glow surged and pressed the golden light down.

"General, leave!" Seeing this, a man guarding the outer edge of the radiance, clad in armor more splendid than that of ordinary soldiers, could not help pleading with the figure within.

"Leave? You are all here—where could I go? Without soldiers, is a general still a general?" The voice from within the radiance was somewhat strange, like the overlapping voices of two people speaking at once.

"Zhao Ming, try again. See whether you can pull someone out."

"General!" The soldier named Zhao Ming raised his voice, but the general within the radiance paid him no heed. Just as he was about to urge him again in that doubled voice, a golden light suddenly emerged from his brow.

The light transformed into a delicate Golden Ruyi Scepter and trembled gently. Specks of pure, sacred aura surged forth, and the figure in the radiance felt the burden weighing upon his heart lighten considerably.

"Deliverance! So that was it!" The figure beckoned, taking the ruyi scepter into his hand. Through an unseen connection, he understood its purpose.

Most importantly, the ruyi contained the embryonic form of a Daoist divine ability.

Generate Light. Judging from the literal meaning, this Daoist divine ability was the creation of radiance.

But just as talisman water actually referred to talismans, Generate Light among the Earthly Fiend Arts did not simply mean producing light.

According to the inheritance Yu Chen had received, Generate Light was divided into two kinds. One was spell-generated light, which referred to relying on spells to create radiance. Such light could become sunlight, moonlight, firelight, or even divine light. The Golden Light Mantra was a typical example of this kind.

The other was light generated by one's own nature—nature light. The most important trait of nature light was not brightness, but illumination: illuminating all things as sunlight did. This concept was somewhat akin to the Buddhist teaching, "One lamp passes its light to many lamps, until ten thousand lamps all shine."

Thus, the method of cultivating Generate Light among the Earthly Fiend Arts was to kindle one's own nature light, illuminate the nature light of others, and ultimately let the light shine upon countless beings, with boundless dharma power. All methods of protecting the Dao were likewise the many dharma lights extended from nature light.

"If you can save the soldiers beneath my command, then I shall enter your school. Even if I must sever this life, what does it matter?"

As soon as those words fell, the Golden Light Ruyi merged into the radiance. Strands of golden light immediately emanated from the general's body, following the connection between him and the three thousand military souls to emerge upon each one. They rapidly spread, cleansing the turbid yin qi within them and transforming into streams of clear divine light that enveloped their bodies.

This point of golden light came from the general himself. The clear light arising within the many military souls, meanwhile, resulted from their own spiritual light permeating the yin qi that formed their military-soul bodies.

Apart from the human soul left behind after death, a military soul instinctively gathered yin qi around that human soul to form a body in order to survive, much like dressing the human soul in a garment. Its essence was still energy, and could naturally be permeated and altered. That was why yin souls were easily affected by Sha Qi and fell into demonic ways.

For this reason, the soldiers contaminated by blood sacrifices also underwent new changes when stimulated by the golden light.

The clear light stirred by the golden radiance and the externally acquired bloody light used these soldiers' soul-bodies as a battlefield, meeting blade for blade and point for point. In the end, unable to bear seeing his subordinates suffer, the general wrapped the essence of the military souls in golden light, separated them from the bodies condensed from yin qi, and brought them to his side. With his help, they condensed new bodies.

At the same time, far away at the Dong Family residence, Yu Chen sensed the aura fed back by Generate Light and softly recited, "The human path is faint and dim. The immortal path is vast and boundless. The ghostly path is joyful indeed. When humans are born, the gate of life opens. The immortal path prizes life. The ghostly path prizes completion. The immortal path is ever naturally auspicious. The ghostly path is ever naturally ominous..."

"Scripture of Deliverance?" Jin Guang looked at Yu Chen, his expression becoming somewhat complicated.

In this world, most immortal Daoist scriptures came from the Supreme Dao Ancestor and the Primordial Dao Ancestor. The rest had been passed down by various sect masters and Great Dao Lords. This Scripture of Deliverance had been bestowed by the Master of the Cavern Mystery. Its full title was <Supreme Cavern Mystery Numinous Treasure Supreme Scripture of Infinite Deliverance>, and in the newly compiled Daoist Canon, it was listed as the opening scripture—the foremost among all scriptures, the ancestor of all methods, and the source of every dharma realm.

Yet interestingly, not many cultivators had truly learned this scripture. More often, it was ordinary people who did.

Seeing Yu Chen recite this scripture now, Jin Guang could not help feeling deeply moved.

However, Jin Guang also knew that they had reached the most critical moment. Neither the Dong Family boy nor Yu Chen could move. If their enemy intended to launch a sneak attack, this was the best possible time.

Jin Guang's gaze narrowed slightly. Arcs of electricity emerged between his fingers, while the Golden Light Mirror hung high overhead and slowly turned. The White Fox kept retreating, terrified of being struck by the mirror's light. After all, the Heaven-Human Sect's Golden Light Mirror was renowned among crooked paths and heterodox sects such as theirs. Combined with the Heaven-Human Sect's supreme Celestial Thunder Five-Thunder Art, every ray of mirror light was a Five-Thunder Incantation.

Throughout the generations, if not a thousand then eight hundred demons, monsters, ghosts, and fiends that had gained some measure of power had died beneath the Heaven-Human Sect's Golden Light Mirror. How could the White Fox, a household guardian immortal whose demonic aura had yet to fully dissipate, dare appear beneath its light?

P.S.: The Scripture of Deliverance was an exceptionally unusual Daoist text. In its early days, it belonged to the Cavern Mystery division, the Numinous Treasure tradition, but by the Song dynasty it had become part of the Cavern Truth division, the Primordial tradition. Incidentally, when the Scripture of Deliverance belonged to the Cavern Mystery division, the scripture of the Cavern Truth division was the Highest Clarity. It was said that the highest realm of cultivation during the Northern and Southern Dynasties was Highest Clarity, so the Cavern Truth division took the Highest Clarity as its scripture. Ordinary people really could not sort out these relationships. Yi Qi had already given up, so unless you notice something outrageously absurd, just assume Yi Qi had a brain cramp and mixed up the relationships.