Night had fallen as Nan Yan wandered alone through the stone forest. Initially anxious about encountering Butterfly Coil and her group, she grew increasingly frustrated as time passed with only rocks and withered grass surrounding her, unable to find her way out.
“How big is this stone forest?” she muttered.
Suddenly, a sharp pain gripped her heart. Nan Yan clutched her chest, her face paling. Why this sudden panic?
The pain subsided quickly. She stood still, confused for a moment, and released her Yan Armor Butterfly. However, it flew about aimlessly, unable to find direction. Sighing, she recalled it.
If only she knew which way was north, south, east, or west, she wouldn’t be so lost.
As Nan Yan pondered her predicament, a phoenix cry pierced the sky behind her. Startled, she turned to see a fiery light soaring through the mist above the stone forest.
Before she could identify it, the sacred energy from the flame dispersed the fog shrouding the forest, revealing a star-filled night sky and moonlight. Simultaneously, the peak of the Edge of Oblivion Cliff appeared before her, just around the corner ahead.
It was so close!
Recalling the faint image of her mother she’d sensed at the cliff top earlier, Nan Yan hesitated briefly before making her way out of the stone forest maze towards the summit.
She approached cautiously, circling a few dead trees and using the Silver Shark Pearl to conceal her aura. Pushing aside some withered branches, she spotted a white-robed figure crouching before a stone wall, deep in thought.
“Strange, shouldn’t it be written like this?” It was Yin Ya, pondering as he wrote two lines on the wall with his fingertips:
“I am the Buddha who takes life and creates karma,
Having awakened to Chan, I offer it to the demon.”
However, the words quickly faded, leaving the wall unmarked.
Nan Yan silently criticized the fox spirit’s ugly handwriting, thinking Shao Cang would likely tear up his calligraphy practice. Her gaze then shifted to some small, ancient text on the wall. After squinting for a moment, she realized someone had deliberately left instructions: whoever inscribed the opening lines of their cultivation method on the wall would gain access to the technique preserved there.
It was the Sin Cleansing Chapter of the Seven Buddhas’ Karma Scripture.
The scripture comprised three chapters: Sin Creation, Sin Cleansing, and Sin Destruction. Nan Yan’s Sin Creation Chapter could only take her to the peak of Core Formation. To form a Nascent Soul and achieve Spirit Severing mastery, she needed the Sin Cleansing Chapter. The legendary Sin Destruction Chapter was said to allow one to break through the void.
Yin Ya repeatedly tried and failed to inscribe the opening line. Frustrated, he kicked the wall twice before suddenly tensing, looking warily behind him.
“Who’s there?”
For a moment, Nan Yan thought she’d been discovered, but then a giggle came from elsewhere.
“Fellow Daoist Yin, demonic cultivation methods only suit human demons. No matter how hard a beast tries, it’s just a monkey in a hat.” Butterfly Coil emerged from the stone forest with her coffin, smiling darkly. “But that’s not important. I’m curious – I only sensed you when I was within thirty zhang. Are you truly a Foundation Establishment cultivator?”
A cold wind swept the cliff top. Yin Ya remained motionless, his lips curving slightly. “I only tell the truth in two situations: with a woman in bed, or after killing someone. Which would you prefer?”
Butterfly Coil clicked her tongue, setting down her coffin. Demonic butterflies swarmed around her as the corpse puppet tensed. She approached Yin Ya slowly. “They say Yin State was once the capital of beast clans in ancient times. Beasts ran rampant until Emperor Chidi Nanming descended upon You State, slaughtering ten thousand beasts and setting the laws of heaven and earth. This forced the beast clan’s royal bloodlines to seal themselves in the Northern Sea’s Beast Vortex. Among them, a line of celestial foxes possessed illusory arts so profound they could transcend realms, achieving virtual reality. For instance, a Qi Condensation beast cultivator could briefly wield Foundation Establishment power through illusions.”
His background exposed, Yin Ya remained unperturbed. “You want to fight me? Just you?”
“I saw that mediocre disciple you brought along the way. I’ve sent my sect members to deal with him. They’ll join us shortly. Fellow Daoist Yin, let’s cherish our time alone.”
With those words, Butterfly Coil’s eyes flashed dangerously. She and her corpse puppet attacked simultaneously, unleashing a chaotic barrage of spells atop the Edge of Oblivion Cliff.
Hearing that other demonic cultivators were pursuing Shao Cang, Nan Yan panicked briefly. Realizing she couldn’t help, she noticed the familiar stone quality of the rock wall. Recalling the Exotic Shi Diagrams, she formulated a plan.
Meanwhile, Yin Ya frowned inwardly. Although his talent allowed him to skip realms, his spiritual energy couldn’t sustain Foundation Establishment illusions for long. In a dozen breaths, his illusion would break, forcing him back to Qi Condensation Grand Perfection.
Moreover, Butterfly Coil had a Foundation Establishment corpse puppet.
However, after years of traversing secret realms, Yin Ya had many tricks up his sleeve. Butterfly Coil would need luck to kill him!
With a thought, Yin Ya shook his storage bag, producing three items: an ancient mirror, a folding fan, and a strange fruit.
Butterfly Coil’s eyes lit up with greed. “The Demon-Subduing Mirror, the Azure Phoenix Fan, and a 900-year Spirit Returning Fruit… What a wealthy fox!”
Despite her avarice, she remained cautious. She retreated, using her demonic butterflies to harass while her corpse puppet attacked fiercely. As the puppet lunged at Yin Ya, the ancient mirror trembled, emitting a clear light. The puppet’s invincible claws suddenly showed burn marks, and the normally unfeeling puppet let out an agonized shriek.
Simultaneously, Yin Ya consumed the Spirit Returning Fruit, instantly replenishing his spiritual energy. He gripped the fan and swept it towards Butterfly Coil. An azure phoenix emerged from the fan, charging straight at her.
“An azure phoenix remnant soul—”
Butterfly Coil dared not confront it directly. She retreated another ten zhang, releasing hundreds of demonic butterflies to surround the phoenix. But the divine bird trilled, breaking through the butterfly swarm wreathed in azure flames, and crashed into Butterfly Coil’s protective demonic energy.
Butterfly Coil endured the hit, her sleeves sang and her appearance disheveled. Noticing Yin Ya’s depleted spiritual energy, she sneered, “Fellow Daoist Yin, it’s my turn now.”
As she prepared to unleash a secret technique for her corpse puppet to counterattack, a voice suddenly called out from the side of the stone wall—
“If you two keep fighting, I’ll smash this wall!”
Both turned to look. A chubby figure straddled the rock face, golden light flickering in their palm. As they watched, the figure slammed their palm down, causing spider-web cracks to spread across the magical rock wall.
“You dare!”
“Ball, don’t!”
Yin Ya and Butterfly Coil exclaimed simultaneously, startled. Each had their mission centered on the demonic cultivation method inscribed on this wall. Neither dared to act rashly.
Butterfly Coil, most angered, desperately wanted Nan Yan’s Silver Shark Pearl. Constrained by Yin Ya’s presence, she softened her voice. “Young friend, don’t be rash. You must have a reason for appearing now. We can discuss anything.”
“Contact your fellow sect member. Tell him not to harm my brother. Once he’s safe, I’ll come down.”
“Fine, fine. I would have done so even without your prompting,” Diewan said. She immediately cast a spell to inform her fellow disciples, then added, “Young friend, you can come down from this stone wall now.”
Seeing her send the message, Nanyan felt slightly relieved. He continued, “You must want the cultivation technique on this wall. I can break its seal, but you need to swear a heart demon oath. Let me and my two companions leave Cliff of No Return and safely exit Filthy Valley. If you break this oath, your cultivation will never advance, and you’ll die when your lifespan ends.”
The heart demon oath was the most common and effective vow in the cultivation world. A cultivator’s most important goal was to advance their realm and attain immortality. Breaking such an oath would invite heart demons during breakthrough attempts, leading to regression at best or death at worst.
Yin Ya frowned. “How did you approach so quietly? Nevermind. I have no ill intentions towards you three. I can swear the heart demon oath, but can you break the wall’s seal? Aren’t you boasting, little girl?”
Diewan added, “Young friend, he can’t break it because he’s a demon. If you let me carve the opening words, the wall will surely open.”
“It’s not about being a demon,” Nanyan replied. “At first, I thought it was because his handwriting was ugly…”
“Whose handwriting are you calling ugly?!” Yin Ya shouted angrily.
Ignoring him, Nanyan continued, “Maybe it is because of his ugly writing. However, you can try standing ten feet away and carving the words with your energy. If that doesn’t work, my method is the only option left.”
Half-skeptical, Diewan instructed her corpse puppet to watch Yin Ya. She stepped forward, saying, “I’ll give it a try. If it doesn’t work, I’ll swear the heart demon oath.”
She gathered energy into a sword and slowly wrote the same opening words Yin Ya had written earlier. After writing “Moluohan,” the characters disappeared from the wall’s surface after two breaths.
Perplexed, Diewan’s expression turned serious. “It seems only cultivators with demon-subduing techniques can leave writing on it. But if you do it, won’t you destroy the wall?”
Nanyan flipped down from the wall. “I’ll write using ordinary spiritual energy. You can swear the heart demon oath now, especially you. If that old man surnamed Deng tries to attack us, you must protect us.”
Diewan and Yin Ya exchanged glances. Yin Ya shrugged, “Fine. Heaven and Earth witness: if you solve this wall’s puzzle and reveal its technique, I won’t harm you three. I’ll even help if necessary.”
Diewan’s eyes flickered as she also swore the oath.
After confirming, Nanyan rolled up his sleeves and gathered spiritual energy in his fingers.
Though the Seven Buddhas’ Karma Scripture appeared demonic, its essence was Buddhist. The true writing method should be like this:
“I am the life-taking, karma-creating demon, who attained enlightenment and offered it to Buddha!”
As the last character fell, the stone wall rumbled. The characters on the demon-subduing rock swirled into a vortex, and bloody light burst forth.
“What is this?!” Diewan and Yin Ya felt an unparalleled killing intent pressing down on them. They instinctively retreated, their vision and spiritual sense overwhelmed by the bloody light.
Nanyan, closest to the wall, faced the full brunt of the light. Unable to escape, he saw a figure emerging from the wall—a black-robed Buddhist form with flowing white hair, surrounded by demonic energy. Though Nanyan couldn’t see the figure’s face clearly, he sensed no malice. The figure seemed to pat Nanyan’s head compassionately before dissolving into countless Sanskrit characters that poured into Nanyan’s crown.
Nanyan thought he saw the figure mouth a name, but before he could discern it, his vision was overtaken by the Sanskrit characters.
Moments later, the bloody light dissipated. The stone wall cracked layer by layer. Through the dust, Nanyan slowly descended, staggered a few steps forward, and collapsed, his vision blurring.
Diewan shrieked in anger, “It’s… a legacy transmission?!”
Legacy transmission was a method only available to cultivators above the Nascent Soul realm. Instead of inscribing techniques for all to read, it directly imparted the technique into a cultivator’s primordial spirit. Unless the recipient spoke of it, no one could know its contents—not even through soul searching.
From this moment on, the technique truly belonged to this cultivator alone.
Yin Ya, even more agitated, was about to step forward when suddenly, a presence appeared nearby. A late Foundation Establishment cultivator who had been lying in wait seized Nanyan, enhanced by several wind-riding spells.
It was Zhan Xian, who had been sent away by Deng Ba earlier and should have left the inner area of Filthy Valley.
“Thank you for the silver shark silk, Senior Diewan,” Zhan Xian said with a fawning smile as he swiftly bound Nanyan with restrictive spells. “Your brilliant strategy to have me secretly follow was perfect. If I had listened to Senior Deng, this mission would have been impossible to complete.”
“Where’s your Foundation Establishment cultivator’s dignity?!” Yin Ya shouted angrily.
“My nephew has always been obedient. He didn’t swear a heart demon oath,” Diewan giggled. She walked to Nanyan’s side, intending to lift his chin with her fingertip. However, her finger sank into the soft flesh of his chin. Embarrassed, she withdrew her hand and said, “Daoist Yin is right. As a Foundation Establishment cultivator, I’ve been outwitted by a child. I should take something back.”
As she finished speaking, Zhan Xian’s expression suddenly changed. “Senior, our fellow disciples in the stone forest… they’re all dead!”
“What did you say?”
Zhan Xian turned towards the stone forest. Suddenly, several screams rang out, and the corpses of Divine Coffin Sect disciples, along with their corpse puppets, flew out and landed on the Cliff of No Return.
“Brothers!” Zhan Xian rushed forward. As he approached, a snake-like mechanical construct suddenly flashed out from under the corpses, coiling tightly around Zhan Xian’s neck. Its mouth opened to reveal a blade pressed against his throat.
“Senior, save me…” Zhan Xian dared not move. He looked fearfully at the young man slowly approaching from the right.
Ji Yang’s clothes were stained with blood. He casually tossed aside a broken magic sword and surveyed the scene on the Cliff of No Return. “Senior, why bother with a child like my younger sister?”
Though he was only a Foundation Establishment cultivator, Diewan felt an inexplicable chill when she met his gaze. Unable to maintain eye contact, she gripped Nanyan’s shoulder and stepped back slightly. “We’ve suffered a small setback today, but are you sure you want to make an enemy of my Divine Coffin Sect? If I send out a signal, once Old Deng joins me, you’ll all surely die.”
Yin Ya interjected, “Don’t believe this woman. She swore a heart demon oath and can’t harm the girl.”
“Thank you for the reminder,” Ji Yang said, his gaze sweeping over the still-unconscious Nanyan. “After that strange occurrence, the stone forest is now shrouded in mysterious mist. Are you certain that if you send out a signal, your sect members will reach you before the small cloud vehicle that just entered the core of Filthy Valley?”
Diewan’s expression darkened. Ji Yang’s implication was clear—he could also send out a signal to attract the small cloud vehicle’s attention. She sneered, “This girl is crucial to my sect. I advise you to find a more presentable sister. She’s so ugly, I don’t believe you’d interfere with my Divine Coffin Sect’s affairs for her sake.”
“Her affairs, her person—as her brother, I must intervene.”
“Oh?” Diewan’s face showed a hint of malicious interest. “I’ve had two Dao companions, both fed to my corpse puppets due to their fickleness. I never trust men’s words. How about this? My corpse puppet loves to eat human fingers. It becomes uncontrollable if not fed daily. I won’t take her life, just cut off one of her fingers to feed my puppet. If you truly care so deeply, would you be willing to—”
Yin Ya was about to say the woman had gone too far when a flash of light caught his eye. A severed finger flew towards the corpse puppet, which eagerly caught and chewed it with satisfaction.
“You and that Mu fellow are truly… one more foolish than the other,” Yin Ya said in disbelief.
Ji Yang lightly clenched his right hand, blood dripping between his fingers. His expression remained calm as if it wasn’t his finger that had been cut off. “Is that enough?”