During the reign of the empress's father, the Jialuo Holy Land had many Buddhist temples, and most of the ministers at court were monks.
Monks enjoyed a revered status within the holy land.
The previous Holy Lord had seven children.
Jiang Fei was the seventh. As the seven children fought for the throne, she drew on the monks' strength and ultimately seized it!
However...
Several hundred years passed...
Excessive power gradually led the monks to overstep their bounds. Not only were they arrogant, overbearing, and defiant of discipline, they even began plotting to divide up the holy land's power, seeking to create a Buddhist nation ruled by monks!
The empress was furious!
She first endured it for a time, secretly eliminating the powerful monk-ministers. Now, she launched her final offensive, ordering every monk in the Jialuo Holy Land slaughtered and every Buddhist temple burned!
Once the birds were gone, the bow was put away; once the hare was dead, the hunting hound was cooked. Such was the art of emperors!
At a single command from the empress, the common people wept blood.
Xuanji Sect.
Xie Feng had been teaching Sushang these past few days. Although the Radiant Sun Sword Art was an immortal technique, his Xizun Sword Technique was also an immortal technique!
The Xizun Sword Technique consisted of seven forms, each exquisite. Xie Feng had already gained considerable sudden insight into it before, and now that he had entered the Mahayana Realm, he felt even more keenly how vast and boundless the immortal technique was.
Under his supervision, Sushang cultivated quite diligently. With the powerful boost from her primordial White Tiger immortal physique, she progressed even faster. Her strength had even reached the Tribulation Transcendence Realm Sixth Stage!
Xie Feng also planned to teach her pill refining.
Pill refining required a pill cauldron. He went to a wooden hut near the medicinal garden on the rear mountain, where things his master and senior brothers had used back then were piled up: pill cauldrons, weapons, magical artifacts, and other odds and ends. Some had broken through use, some had shapes or colors they disliked, and some had been deemed too low-grade, so they had simply tossed them here.
Xie Feng pushed open the storeroom door, and the smell of long-settled dust drifted out. Miscellaneous objects were piled high inside. He began searching carefully, hoping to find a pill cauldron for Sushang.
At that moment!
Light shifted across the Heavenly Ranking as a new ranking appeared!
[Seventh place] Name: Soundless Disc Grade: Immortal artifact Owner: Ye Yuan Evaluation: With heaven as the warp and earth as the weft, maneuvering across the board-chess was like life!
In the video, the warp and weft of heaven and earth wove into a net, boundless vitality slowly radiating from it. A gigantic dark-red chessboard descended from the sky, stirring the winds and clouds, sending towering waves crashing against the shore, and sweeping up every trace of spiritual potential!
"The Soundless Disc!"
"Ye Yuan again! Ye Yuan, seventh on the Aptitude Ranking!"
"Ranked twice. Truly terrifying!"
"As a holy land, Azure Cloud has always been mysterious and powerful. And Ye Yuan is its Holy Venerable!"
"I heard the Soundless Disc can account for everything in the world. It once belonged to the Azure Cloud Immortal!"
"Heavens, this is an immortal artifact!"
"Before it, things like the Cloud Emperor Crown and the Fleeting Life Umbrella don't even make the cut!"
Everyone was deeply shaken!
But they were also astonished. Even calling the Soundless Disc number one would not be excessive! Yet it was only seventh?!
"There can't possibly be a magical artifact stronger than the Soundless Disc in this world!"
Someone said.
Many remained silent!
Because they agreed wholeheartedly with those words, but...
This was the Heavenly Ranking!
The Heavenly Ranking's calculations could not be wrong!
In other words, magical artifacts stronger than the Soundless Disc were about to emerge!
Then...
Just how earth-shattering would they be?
Jialuo Holy Land.
"An immortal artifact!
"And it actually belongs to the Holy Venerable of the Azure Cloud Holy Land!
"Such a formidable treasure!"
Jiang Fei's long brows drew into a faint frown as she stared fixedly at the Heavenly Ranking, murmuring.
Bitterness filled her heart.
However powerful the Fleeting Life Umbrella was, it was only a lesser immortal artifact!
That word, "lesser," meant it would never truly be of immortal caliber, while the Soundless Disc was a genuine immortal artifact!
Azure Cloud Holy Land.
Beneath a red maple tree, Ye Yuan looked up at the Heavenly Ranking.
Upon seeing the ranking, his eyes remained steady, his expression as calm as drifting clouds in a gentle breeze.
Meng Wuqu said, "The Soundless Disc is seventh!!"
Ye Yuan said, "You're being far too surprised."
Meng Wuqu said, "Did the Aptitude Ranking deal you such a heavy blow that you've gone numb? Nothing stronger than the Soundless Disc could possibly appear in this world!"
"The one at the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion is not inferior in the slightest!"
"Qi Wuyan?"
"The woman known for Numinous Heavenly Calculation. The Fate Cauldron in her hands can even calculate the Great Dao!"
"Even so, that only accounts for one spot."
"Perhaps a dark horse will appear, like that mysterious first place on the Aptitude Ranking, or someone like the primordial White Tiger immortal physique who emerged out of nowhere..."
Ye Yuan spoke slowly.
At that moment, white light poured down over the holy land.
[Seventh-place reward] Seven Stars Robe [Seven Stars Robe: Woven from a strand of power from seven constellations. Nothing can break it, and it can increase the wearer's strength tenfold!]
Ye Yuan smiled and accepted the reward!
Meng Wuqu stared at the robe. "Nothing can break it? Really? I want to test it with Fishing Fire!"
"Hmph, what a sour tone."
"I'm not jealous! I'm just curious!"
"You confessed without even being questioned."
"Do you want to fight me?"
Meng Wuqu's sword intent instantly towered into the heavens as he gave Ye Yuan a sidelong look.
Ye Yuan closed his eyes. "A gentleman uses words, not fists."
Meng Wuqu said, "Hmph!"
At that moment, the Heavenly Ranking updated its ranking information again!
[Sixth place] Name: Blood Tathagata Beads Grade: Immortal artifact Owner: Monk Moren Evaluation: Formed from a wisp of intent from twenty-eight saintly monks of the past. A Buddha's heart with a devil's intent, a devil's heart with a Buddha's intent-become a Tathagata on the spot!
"Another immortal artifact!"
"It actually came from the intent of twenty-eight saints of the past!"
"Damn, I thought the Soundless Disc was already invincible enough. These-these Blood Tathagata Beads are even more terrifying!"
"By the way, who's Monk Moren?"
"Quick, watch the video!"
A clamor rose from the crowd as the video on the Heavenly Ranking began to change!
In ancient times, as seas turned to mulberry fields, a world-shaking war broke out atop Wind Forest Fire Mountain.
To resist the Devil Ancestor, twenty-eight saint-level eminent monks used their last wisps of intent to condense a string of blood-colored prayer beads. The beads destroyed the Devil Ancestor, but were also tainted by a trace of Devil Qi, becoming the Blood Tathagata Beads and passing down to later generations!
The heart-stopping scenes left everyone shaken!
At that moment!
The Heavenly Ranking changed once more-
[Sixth-place reward] Ancestral Buddha Relic
"That's the relic of the ancient Ancestral Buddha! It holds power capable of destroying heaven and earth!"
"The Ancestral Buddha was the strongest immortal in the mortal world!"
"The relic he left behind must also be of immortal caliber!"
The people burst into another uproar.
The reward transformed into white light and fell toward somewhere in the Central Continent!
Central Continent.
Because of the empress's wrath, raging flames rose across the holy land.
Amid the roaring firelight, gray clouds filled the eye: bones turning to ash, Buddhist temples turning to ash, shrines turning to ash!
Hundreds upon thousands of Buddhist temples were destroyed amid mist and rain!
Somewhere.
Holy troops stormed into a temple. Fire spread, arrows fell like rain, and powerful cultivators of the holy land struck as well. Monks and novices fell one after another.
"Stop! Please, stop!"
"Abbot! Master! Master!"
A yellow-robed novice struggled through mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
Bodies lay piled like mountains.
Braving the rain of arrows, he held the dying abbot and wailed, the sound squeezed out as though it were tearing his chest apart.
"Mo Ren..."
The abbot removed a string of black prayer beads from his neck and painstakingly placed it around the young monk's neck. Without leaving any final words, he breathed his last!
The young monk was petrified!
He had taken his vows as a child and studied scripture and martial arts under his master, who had been both teacher and father to him. Now, having watched with his own eyes as a powerful fighter from the holy troops beat his master to death, he was overcome with grief.
Whoosh!
Suddenly!
An arrow shot out from concealment and struck his back with a wet thud, splashing blood across the ground!