Flower of the Other Shore

In an instant, the entire ancient tomb transformed into a crimson world.

The crystals in the ceiling refracted bewitching, dazzling light. Countless scarlet rays rippled outward from the goddess's corpse in layer upon layer. As far as the eye could see, it resembled a Flower of the Other Shore blooming at its fullest—seductive, magnificent, and unspeakably sinister.

The time had come. At the boundary between yin and yang, the Flower of the Other Shore bloomed.

"So beautiful..."

"So much money, hehehe..."

"Immortality... immortality..."

Big Gold Tooth, Wang Pangzi, Shirley Yang, Hu Bayi, and even Ying Caihong all lost themselves involuntarily, one after another falling into an illusion.

Some saw mountains of gold and seas of silver, luxury cars and beautiful women; some saw their families reunited in peaceful, happy days; some saw themselves standing above all others, holding people's lives and deaths in their hands.

The countless visions were impossible to distinguish between real and false, illusion and reality intertwined until one could no longer tell whether what lay before them was a dream or the real world.

Even Huang Bai had unknowingly fallen for it.

Within the illusion, he successfully seized the Flower of the Other Shore. From then on, he traveled through countless worlds, his path of cultivation smooth and unimpeded. His divine abilities advanced daily, calamities could not touch him, and in the end, he attained the fruit of eternal life.

Reclining high above the Ninth Heaven, a meditation cushion completed the true Dao.

Beyond heaven and earth, dark and yellow, I alone would be the revered master.

He stood above the clouds, looking down upon mountains and rivers through the ages. His gaze pierced the river of history as he looked back upon the road he had traveled, feeling that everything had fallen naturally into place.

It was as though fate itself had favored him in secret, paving the way for him at every turn.

It was simply too perfect a dream.

"Something's wrong."

Just as he was brimming with pride, Huang Bai's heart suddenly jolted. He abruptly woke up, the haze in his eyes vanishing in an instant, leaving only clarity behind.

Crash!

The illusions around him were like paintings consumed by raging flames, or porcelain suddenly shattering apart. In an instant, they broke into pieces and vanished into ash.

The scene returned to the ancient tomb.

At some point, ranks of armored Khitan warriors had emerged within the main burial chamber.

Each Khitan warrior stood nine feet tall, clad in heavy bronze armor shaped like beast faces. Their faces were covered by fanged, glaring ghost masks, and they wielded sabers, spears, swords, and halberds as they charged in from all directions, murderous intent soaring.

"Edict!"

Huang Bai shouted sharply and activated his hand seal. The Sharpened Divine Sword suddenly slashed out. A flash of cold light passed, and the two nearest Khitan warriors were cut in half at the waist. Their armor and flesh split apart together as they crashed to the ground.

"Hu Bayi, Wang Pangzi, wake up!"

His shout exploded like thunder, instantly rousing everyone.

Hu Bayi abruptly came to his senses, his forehead already drenched in cold sweat.

"Damn it, what the hell was that thing just now?" Wang Pangzi was still shaken, and even the hand gripping his entrenching shovel trembled.

"Quit talking. Hold them off first!" Hu Bayi barked.

The tomb-raiding trio immediately sprang into action.

Shirley Yang opened the Vajra Umbrella. With several crisp clangs, it forcibly blocked several incoming blades and spears.

Hu Bayi and Wang Pangzi fought on the left and right, working seamlessly together. One attacked low while the other followed with strikes to the neck, cutting down several Khitan warriors in moments.

As for Big Gold Tooth and Ying Caihong, they could only huddle miserably behind the others, unable to help at all.

Huang Bai alone moved across the battlefield, sword in hand as he charged and cut through the enemy without pause.

Yet as time passed, even he gradually began to struggle.

After all, he was merely an ordinary man who had only recently embarked on the path of cultivation.

Earlier, forcibly dragging more than ten people into an illusion had already consumed a great deal of his mental energy. Now he had to fight with his sword while maintaining his spell, and the energy in his body was draining away like running water.

If this dragged on, he definitely would not be able to hold out.

As Huang Bai swung his sword to break through the encirclement, he rapidly considered a solution.

"This isn't an ordinary sensory illusion. It's a higher-level mind-based illusion technique..."

His eyes flickered as thoughts raced through his mind.

Ordinary illusions merely obscured the senses and clouded one's perception. As long as one saw through the falsehood, the illusion would naturally break.

But this illusion technique was clearly a step beyond that. To a certain extent, it reflected the thoughts in one's heart into reality.

If those Khitan soldiers struck them, real wounds would appear on their bodies.

"Ah! It hurts!"

At that moment, Big Gold Tooth let out a miserable scream from nearby.

Huang Bai looked over and saw that Big Gold Tooth had been slashed across his other thigh as well. Blood poured from the wound, and he rolled all over the ground in agony, crying for his parents.

The sight perfectly confirmed Huang Bai's suspicions.

"Just as I thought." Huang Bai's eyes shifted, and he instantly formed a plan.

He suddenly pulled a talisman paper from his sleeve and flicked it through the air.

Whoosh!

The talisman ignited, bursting into a thick cloud of smoke. As the smoke rolled outward, the Five Zhi Pill powder mixed within it was inhaled by everyone.

"Hu Bayi, visualize something!" Huang Bai shouted as he swung his sword to force back his enemies.

"Visualize what?" Hu Bayi froze.

"Think of the most badass thing you can!"

"Got it!"

As soon as he spoke, a faint glow emerged around Hu Bayi.

The next moment, swarms of blue fluorescent insects appeared out of thin air. Their wings buzzed as they fluttered like ghostly flames from the netherworld, rushing in masses toward the Khitan warriors.

Wherever the swarm passed, blue flames erupted, burning the warriors—armor and bones alike—into flying ash.

They were the demon insects Hu Bayi had once seen in the Nine-Story Demon Pagoda on the snowy plains.

"You can do that?" Wang Pangzi's eyes lit up, and his spirits immediately rose.

Shirley Yang closed her eyes and quickly steadied herself as she began to visualize.

Moments later, a squad of fully armed American soldiers appeared out of thin air, formed ranks, and opened fire.

Gunshots thundered as muzzle flashes spat flames, riddling the Khitan warriors ahead with holes.

Wang Pangzi was even more straightforward and brutal. Laughing loudly, he shouted, "Haha, Fatty's here! Demons and monsters, all of you can die!"

Before his voice had faded, dozens of "Wang Pangzis" appeared around them. Every one of them was broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, carrying entrenching shovels and bags of explosives as they charged noisily at the Khitan warriors. The scene instantly became chaotic and ferocious.

At Huang Bai's side, one Yellow-Turban Strongman after another slowly emerged, each standing three zhang tall.

Their faces were red as jujubes, their eyes flashed like lightning, and their bodies were as powerful as cast iron. Divine light flowed around them, blades and spears could not harm them, and as they stood there, they resembled immovable mountains.

"Kill!"

At Huang Bai's command, the Yellow-Turban Strongmen strode forth with thunderous steps. Their arms swept like the wind, and wherever they passed, Khitan warriors exploded and flew apart, utterly unable to resist.

If the illusion was endless, then he would use illusion to break illusion!

This move proved effective.

The situation in the tomb chamber instantly reversed, and the Khitan warriors collapsed in waves. Seizing the opportunity, Huang Bai carved a path toward the stone platform where the Flower of the Other Shore bloomed.

He kicked off the ground and shot forward like an arrow released from its bow, taking only a few strides to leap onto the platform.

Upon the stone platform lay the silent corpse of the Khitan princess, Aogu.

This princess, once revered as a deity by the Khitan people, had achieved near immortality through the Flower of the Other Shore. Yet after hundreds and thousands of years, she had ultimately become nothing more than a cold corpse, without the slightest trace of life remaining.

Huang Bai's gaze fell upon the Flower of the Other Shore.

It was roughly the size of a dinner plate, grayish-brown throughout, yet its surface shone with a piercing scarlet radiance, as though it were a mass of congealed blood and fire.

This was not a flower at all.

It was a meteorite from beyond the heavens containing mysterious power.

The closer he came, the more fiercely the heat surged, as though even the air itself were about to burn.

Huang Bai made a swift decision. He took off his Daoist robe and threw it over the Flower of the Other Shore.

The next instant, the scarlet radiance abruptly vanished.

The entire tomb chamber sank back into darkness.

Those snarling Khitan warriors also dissipated like bubbles at the same time.

"Done."

Huang Bai wrapped the Flower of the Other Shore layer upon layer, only releasing a long breath after confirming that none of its strange red glow could seep through.

After so much hardship, he had finally gotten his hands on it.

He lowered his head toward his left arm and saw the Heavenly Dao Talisman Edict shining brightly. Words slowly appeared upon it:

Heavenly Dao Demon-Extermination Order: Enter The Dragon-Seeking Formula, break the illusion technique of the Khitan ancient tomb; stop the Spirit Cultivation Society's scheme.

The first half glowed with faint golden light, clearly indicating that it had been completed. The second half remained dim and without light.

"Good. I can stay a little longer."

Huang Bai raised his head, his gaze settling on Ying Caihong.

He knew full well that Ying Caihong was the key to the "Spirit Cultivation Society's scheme." As long as he killed her, he would most likely be able to return to reality immediately.

But now was not the time to leave.

Because he still had something even more important to do.

The Five-Prison Human-Spirit Method had two difficulties.

First, the practitioner himself had to suffer from a serious illness.

Second, they had to be able to identify a Human Fiend.

Ying Caihong happened to meet both requirements.

She was already severely ill, and she possessed strange eyes. Perhaps she truly could cultivate the Five-Prison Human-Spirit Method.

"So it's here..."

Elsewhere, amid the ruined wreckage, Hu Bayi finally found the corpses of the Japanese soldiers from back then, along with the bones of his former comrades.

After the ravages of time, the remains were scattered in disorder. It was long impossible to tell who was who, leaving behind only a desolate scene.

"Old Hu..." Wang Pangzi and Shirley Yang silently stepped to his side, neither knowing what to say for a moment.

After a long silence, Hu Bayi said softly, "Let the past go with the wind."

At that moment, he finally found peace.

The boulder that had weighed on his heart for so many years had finally fallen away.

He took out a kerosene lighter and gently flicked it on.

A flame rose. With a casual toss, he sent it arcing through the air in a faint trail of light.

Whoosh!

Blazing flames surged up, swallowing the broken remains and white bones.

The firelight flickered, illuminating Hu Bayi's peaceful face.

Scenes from the past silently passed through his eyes. Those glorious years and blood-soaked memories were all burned away in the fire.

From this day onward, there would be no more Gold-Seeking Commandants in this world.

"I'm tired." Hu Bayi looked at the flames and slowly let out a breath. "It's time to live a peaceful life."

Crack, crack, crack!

At that moment, the crystal dome overhead suddenly began to crack, fractures spreading rapidly like a spiderweb.

The entire tomb chamber began to collapse.

"Go!" Hu Bayi made his decision without hesitation and shouted, "Follow me!"

This was the last time he would use The Dragon-Seeking Formula, and the last time he would lead everyone in search of a way out.

Rumble!

Rocks fell like rain, and the passageways shook. Everyone ran for their lives, narrowly escaping death amid the collapsing tomb and rushing floodwaters.

Splash!

The lake surface exploded as everyone burst from the water clutching driftwood. They gasped for breath, bedraggled and exhausted, but they had ultimately survived.

"Fatty made it out!"

Wang Pangzi threw back his head and shouted, his voice overflowing with the wild joy of surviving disaster.

"My burial treasures..." Big Gold Tooth looked close to tears. "All the treasures I hid got washed away! This trip has ruined me!"

Before everyone could even catch their breath, Ying Caihong lowered her head and respectfully bowed before Huang Bai.

"My lord, the Spirit Cultivation Society is willing to await your commands."

To stay alive, she was willing to pay any price.

Wang Pangzi was about to speak when he suddenly froze. "Hey, wait. Old Hu, what are you doing?"

Everyone looked over together.

On the driftwood, Hu Bayi had dropped to one knee. He took a wet ring from his clothes and looked up at Shirley Yang.

"Shirley," he said quietly but with utter seriousness, "marry me."

Shirley Yang froze for a moment, her eyes reddening before she gently nodded.

The sun set in the west, and the lake surface shimmered with rippling light.

The two figures who had endured life and death together finally embraced tightly.

And so, the story of Ghost Blows Out the Lamp came to a perfect end.