Chapter 1994: As the Law

Clatter.

The Xidao Profound Ruler dropped onto the surface of the North Sea.

Before it could sink, a small girl, about twelve or thirteen years old and clad in purple, appeared. She bent down and picked up the ruler.

That peerless Profound Ruler, which required considerable time and energy for even Grand Ancestor Han to activate, and which was one of the few items to remain completely unscathed after directly confronting the power of Shen Yi of the Three Realms, lay perfectly still in the small girl's hands.

It was as if it was born to be her weapon, its aura harmonizing with hers in perfect sync.

“Long time no see…”

Despite her young age, the purple-clad girl’s delicate, doll-like face held an air of aged wisdom. As she meticulously examined the treasured ruler in her hands, her eyes revealed a hint of weariness and melancholy.

She also wore other adornments: exquisite jade drop earrings, a black glazed bell around her neck, and a red thread with a golden serpent on her fair wrist. These were clearly no ordinary ornaments; at minimum, they were divine artifacts of the Relic Stele level, all emanating an ancient aura. However, compared to the Xidao Profound Ruler, they paled in comparison.

Yet, if one looked at the cloud-like ribbon wrapped around her shoulders, waist, arms, and back—a ribbon seemingly formed from condensed mist, faintly shimmering with seven-colored iridescence—it was clear that this was a divine object of another caliber, hardly inferior to the Xidao Profound Ruler.

Clutching the Profound Ruler, with the cloud ribbon fluttering around her shoulders, the small girl raised her eyes to the north, her gaze flickering slightly as she murmured:

“The Hunluo Cloud Ribbon has been re-forged, and the Xidao Profound Ruler has also returned to its place. As for the Embryo Mother Coffin, it’s going to be damaged again…”

After a pause, as if weighing her options, she shook her head slightly again:

“It’s not too much of a pity. At least Shen Yi has been completely depleted of his power…”

One moment she was still above the North Sea. The next, as she turned, her form disintegrated.

She reappeared atop the head of the White Dragon statue in the Sacred Palace Plaza of Four Tombs Mountain, extending her small hand to tap the Origin Crystal in front of her.

“Sizzle!”

The Origin Crystal, taller than herself, was completely drained of power, weathering into wisps of gray smoke that dissipated into nothingness. The entire Four Tombs Mountain was enveloped by the re-forged Holy Spirit Grand Formation. Demonic energy overflowed in all directions, swirling around every individual, yet remaining imperceptible to the outside world.

The purple-clad girl surveyed Four Tombs Mountain, a faint smile playing on her lips, conveying a sense of relief and nonchalance. With a gentle flick of her sleeve, she said:

“Awaken, all of you.”

With that single thought, the demonic energy throughout Four Tombs Mountain instantly converged into the small girl’s body. Everyone’s spirits jolted, as if waking from a profound dream, yet they had forgotten what had just transpired and continued their actions from before the memory lapse.

However, no one noticed the significant changes that had occurred to the Holy Emperor White Dragon and the Holy Emperor Zi Chong in the Sacred Palace Plaza.

“Lord Zi Chong.”

White Dragon cautiously spoke, his voice filled with deference: “Next, we are to…”

Although both were Holy Emperors, and the White Dragon lineage was inherently slightly inferior to the Divine Spirit lineage, the Holy Emperor White Dragon had never needed to address Holy Emperor Zi Chong with such caution. Yet at this moment, the Holy Emperor White Dragon was treading on thin ice, while Zi Chong, seemingly accustomed to such deference, replied with utter calm:

“Wait.”

“Wait for what?” White Dragon carefully inquired.

“Wait for Shennong’s Hundred Herbs Dao to complete,” Zi Chong smiled. “If He still refuses to awaken, then I… I, the Emperor, will ensure He never awakens!”

“Myriad Transformations of the Art Seed!”

Within the Life Seed, in the Ghost Buddha Realm.

Sui Yin squeezed out his last shred of power, completely discarding his past and future selves. As he cast himself into the unknown, amidst the myriad transformations of the Art Dao, he finally, like Ba Zun’an, saw his true self.

Non-action?

Sui Yin intended to create "action" where there was "non-action," surpassing even Ba Zun’an! In an instant, Sui Yin broke free from the roots and stems of the Life Seed. The infinite transformations of the Art Dao spontaneously proliferated in his mind. His aura grew stronger bit by bit, pushing towards an extreme. At the final moment, his form underwent countless transformations.

He took on human forms, animal shapes, transformed into clouds and mists, converged into trickling streams. At their most powerful, they could condense into towering peaks; at their most minute, they could assimilate anything and influence any path.

“Hiss, cackle, cackle…”

A tiny Life Seed, claiming to be a world, had actually evolved a comprehensive Art Dao within it, reaching a height comparable to the Heavenly Realm. Sui Yin was like a madman, his thoughts utterly frenzied. In the end, he even sacrificed the only object within his self-perception that could possibly define his true self: the Art Ancestor’s artifact.

“Art Ruin, sacrifice!”

This Art Ancestor’s Divine Court was originally one of the few things that could rival Sui Yin’s power after his corruption. Previously, constrained by the Art Ancestor’s lingering consciousness, or perhaps influenced by safety considerations, Sui Yin couldn’t fully let go. But now, with his myriad transformed self as his true self, the Art Ancestor’s remnants were an obstacle, a lingering evil. Without uprooting them, he could neither attain true knowledge nor the Grand Dao.

So, what use was it to keep them?

“Boom!”

When the Art Ruin exploded, its immense power should have swept across the entire Ghost Buddha Realm. However, Sui Yin, with a decisive gesture, perfectly controlled the explosive power of the Art Ruin by adapting to the myriad transformations of the Art Dao, containing it within the tiny Life Seed.

Consequently, there was no anomaly visible outside the Life Seed. Within the Life Seed, space collapsed and Dao principles transformed, as if a chaotic world was being created, giving birth to rosy glows and shimmering purple mists.

“Devour, devour, devour!”

Sui Yin ravenously devoured, unable to wait. No destruction, no construction. At this desperate, all-or-nothing moment, could a dignified Ancestral God truly be affected by energy depletion or a weakened state?

“Sui Ruin, complete!”

As his state warmed, he made another decisive gesture with his fingers joined. Amidst Sui Yin’s wild laughter, he gazed at the inner world of the Life Seed, slowly structuring a brand-new Divine Court according to the most perfect evolutionary direction of the Art Dao.

This completely discarded the influence of the Art Ancestor. The entire world was filled with the eerie, corrupting energy of Sui Yin. With the most extreme, unbridled, and unparalleled power of the Myriad Transformations of the Art Dao, it even began to aspire to the transformations of the Dao of Life and Reincarnation, and to infringe upon the authority of the Sacred Dao’s purity and the Demonic Dao’s frenzy.

“Hiss, cackle, cackle…”

Power surged around him. Sui Yin didn’t even release the new Divine Court to form a separate world. Instead, he merged it with himself. From then on, his self was the Divine Court, Sui Yin was the Grand Dao, representing the 'Art' manifested from all Dao principles across the Heavenly Realm and the Three Thousand Planes.

Sui Yin was the Art, the One!

“Isn’t it just a new Heavenly Realm?”

“Such things are effortlessly created by Sui Yin; why would he need to borrow others’ power?”

Feeling the changes in his new power, a sense of invincibility spontaneously arose within him. Unlocking the Reverse Forbidden Cycle of Life was no longer a fantasy. At this moment, Sui Yin even gained a thirty percent increase in confidence, daring to seize the Dao of Life and Reincarnation from the Medicine Ancestor when he returned to null. He wanted to subsume all of it into the 'Art' Dao, transforming it into one of the Art's many variations.

“Faster, even faster!”

“Tremble, Xu Xiaoshou, Dao Qiongcang…”

“If I can seize some power from the Life Medicine Pool, how could my myriad transformed self be defeated by a null-state Medicine Ancestor? You chose the wrong person, Xu Xiaoshou!”

Sui Yin was utterly consumed by madness. As power flowed back from the Divine Court, gradually climbing to thirty to forty percent of his full strength, he suddenly clenched his hand, conceiving a mad idea.

His gaze swept. Leveraging the transformations and connections of the Life Seed and Art Seed, Sui Yin peered into the Mourning Emperor Realm, seeing the Great World Sophora tree and the white sun.

“For Dao Qiongcang, the Dao of Life and Reincarnation only reaches perfection when it returns to null, so he must seize the Dao after that happens.”

“But for the Art Dao, it’s merely one of its aspects. Given this, why should I, the Ancestor, wait for Shennong’s Hundred Herbs to return to null and achieve a perfect state before acting?”

“Hiss, cackle, cackle—”

Boom, boom, boom, boom!

The Sword Tower Dao Chain was completely broken by Shen Yi’s several strikes. The final blow heavily struck the Sword Tower’s structure, smashing it through fragments of space-time and out of the Saint God Continent plane.

“Rumble…”

Just before space rapidly closed, the people of the Five Domains could distinctly feel the final side of the Sword Tower’s structure suddenly bulge outwards. Inside, a terrifying explosive sound seemed to erupt, faintly accompanied by a heart-rending roar whose content was no longer discernible.

Undoubtedly, the nine-colored fire lotus had exploded within the Sword Tower! All direct damage must have been absorbed by the gluttonous Demon Ancestor alone, and only the aftershocks rippled out… Even with the enclosed protection of the Sword Tower’s structure, the blast nearly shattered half of the Northern Domain.

Here, there was no protection from the Ancient War God Platform, nor any power of restoration. For a time, it was like a natural disaster. Those displaced nearby, under the aftershocks of this explosion, couldn’t even utter a cry of agony before instantly perishing.

“Amitabha.”

Shen Yi placed the Hegemon firmly, then sat cross-legged. A voice of repentance echoed in his mind. Gold covered the entire world. He entered a spiritual space, shaking his head slightly as he looked at the Resentful Buddha on the golden lotus platform opposite him:

“I have tried my best to confine the battlefield to the Ghost Buddha Realm. Fighting the Demon Ancestor, it’s impossible to avoid harming the innocent entirely.”

Resentful Buddha pressed his palms together, bowed his head, and silently chanted sutras to guide the innocent to transcendence. The stronger Shen Yi’s burst of power, the faster his own strength was depleted. By this moment, he was like a candle in the wind, with only faint glimmers of light remaining on his body, clearly at the end of his tether.

After a brief moment, Resentful Buddha raised his head, his form flickering and dissolving.

“My strength is fully lent; it is time for me to bid farewell.”

“Understood.”

“The nine-colored fire lotus might gravely injure the Demon Ancestor’s physical, spiritual, and mental essence, but the Embryo Mother Coffin is also within the Sword Tower, ensuring his immortality… My strength, after all, is no match for the Demon Ancestor.”

“You did your best.”

“The Xidao Profound Ruler is one of the Holy Ancestor’s three weapons, primarily for combat, though its actual combat power is far below the Hegemon. Remember to retrieve it and hand it over to Dao Qiongcang or Xu Xiaoshou; they might have a way to deal with it.”

“I will remember.”

“The Medicine Ancestor, upon returning to null, intends to use Sui Yin as a seed to cultivate a new Heavenly Realm, which will inevitably lead to another round of bloodshed. If possible… first guide Sui Yin to transcendence. All his myriad transformations are ominous, and those in desperation are bound to harbor many malevolent thoughts.”

“Alright.”

“The Inverted Buddha Pagoda suppressed the Demon Ancestor’s body. For thirty years, I have been assimilating with his demonic thoughts, roughly learning that his intention is to revive the Holy Ancestor and subsume the null-state. There are two variables: one is the Origin Crystal of Guizhe Sacred Mountain, which is now lost. You might consider investigating the Sacred Palace at Four Tombs Mountain; the Demon Ancestor might use Zi Chong of the Divine Spirit lineage as a sacrifice to hasten the Holy Ancestor’s revival.”

“If I can make it in time, I will go up the mountain and see for myself.”

Resentful Buddha opened his mouth, then closed it again. It seemed as though he had many more words to say, but then he considered that all matters of this world, even if he were gone, could not all be shouldered by Shen Yi alone.

After a pause, he spoke again:

“The Inverted Buddha Pagoda is a world unto itself and has already connected you to Xu Xiaoshou’s consciousness. This person is intelligent, selfish but deeply values relationships, and is trustworthy.”

“Within the pagoda, the two of you can converse without hindrance. If you have any doubts, you can ask him everything later.”

After another pause, Resentful Buddha changed his tone:

“If the Holy Slave’s ultimate goal is not achieved, if he loses to the Demon and Medicine Ancestors, and Xu Xiaoshou dies for his reputation, then you may seek counsel from Dao Qiongcang.”

“Dao Qiongcang’s heart is set on the Grand Dao. He is worldly-wise and has countless avatars cultivating sentiment in the mortal world, but in essence, he is a person who values loyalty and righteousness. I once gifted him the Wrathful Immortal; he will assist you.”

Shen Yi shook his head this time: “That fellow and I are ultimately not on the same path. Let’s not mention this.”

Resentful Buddha fell silent. After a long silence, the faint glow on his body almost completely faded. Even his entire humanoid form became completely transparent, as if a gust of wind would shatter him.

Shen Yi couldn’t help but frown and ask: “All this is for the people of the world, but do you have any last wishes for yourself? It’s just the two of us here; feel free to speak.”

Resentful Buddha looked slightly startled, as if only then considering himself. However, after a moment’s thought, he merely let out a long sigh and continued to speak:

“I was born with the destiny of an Ancestral God, unconstrained by the Demon Ancestor’s control. After I pass away, I will leave behind golden sarira, which the world will surely covet.”

“At that time, if the four seas are peaceful, I believe benefactor will have the ability to attain ancestral status yourself. I humbly request that you return my sarira to the Buddhist Sect of the Western Regions, delivering it to my senior brother You Xi, or his successor, who will know how to handle it properly.”

“If at that time conflicts still persist, please do not refuse, benefactor. My sarira can still lend you a hand. Amitabha.”

After saying his final words, Resentful Buddha sat upright on the golden lotus platform, hands clasped before his chest, and slowly closed his eyes.

Shen Yi paused for a long time this time. Only after carefully engraving the figure before him, whose face was now indiscernible, into his memory, did he utter a resolute declaration:

“Good.”

Resentful Buddha disintegrated into golden specks, fading from sight. Shen Yi opened his eyes and clearly saw the power that wasn’t his own, woven from Buddhist nature and vows, turn into golden threads of light and scatter away with the wind. He spread his hand, revealing a golden sarira, perfectly formed, in his palm.

“Whoosh, whoosh…”

The wind still whistled. The wind in the Northern Domain often carried snow, rustling desolate. Upon the desolate, post-battle land, now only the Hegemon staff, planted in the ground, remained as his companion, making everything appear even more barren.

Shen Yi tightly clutched the sarira in his palm, raising his eyes to gaze into the distance. In a daze, he seemed to glimpse scenes from over thirty years ago, when they first met.

“Benefactors, let it go…”

That handsome young monk, with a string of Buddhist beads in one hand, firmly held him down, while with the other hand, he clutched a sutra and forcibly separated Cao Yihan. He was squeezed between the two burly men, yet he held his head high, looking left and right at both of them without flinching, stubbornly preaching Buddhist principles that were utterly ignored at the time.

“What did he say back then?”

Shen Yi pondered, but to no avail. As he thought, a faint smile touched the corner of his lips, but then a gust of wind and snow swept in, leaving only a sense of wistfulness. He gave up thinking, lowered his head, and stared at the golden sarira.

Though he cultivated the 'War' Dao of the Ancient Martial Ancestor, at this moment, with his mind relaxed, he seemed to touch upon another character:

“Ru (Suchness)…”

Shen Yi was slightly startled, unsure where this realization came from. He subconsciously scratched his head with a large hand, but his movement paused. The power brought by Resentful Buddha should have left with his passing, yet as he scratched his head, he could still feel a few rough points beneath his fingers.

“Whoosh, whoosh!”

The wind and snow were as before. It was as if nothing had changed, yet also as if everything had already transformed.

Shen Yi conjured the Inverted Buddha Pagoda with his left hand, held the sarira in his right, stood still, and then suddenly turned his head. He looked at the Hegemon. But at this moment, he clearly saw golden power of vows flowing over the Hegemon. In the void behind it, a faint, illusory figure materialized.

He sat high upon a golden lotus platform, one hand supporting a pagoda, the other forming a hand seal. His brow was vermilion, his demeanor solemn and dignified. He chanted ancient sutras, addressing all persistent seekers of the Dao from ancient times to the present:

“All conditioned phenomena are like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow, like dew, like lightning. Thus should they be contemplated.”