Under the blue sky, a pair of eyes devoid of any emotion appeared in the high heavens, gazing down upon the earth.
Like the manifestation of Heaven’s will.
Or as if an ancient giant had awakened, opening its eyes.
These eyes were initially as faint as light ink on rice paper, unclear, then gradually solidified.
After manifesting the eyes, facial features began to form, as if an invisible brush was painting—its strokes outlining a stern yet distinguished countenance.
The “brush” turned, and the body emerged next.
This figure stood a hundred zhang tall, wearing a Pingtian Crown, draped in dragon robes, feet clad in golden boots, holding a bronze sword shadow.
In heaven and earth, the Five Elements’ power suddenly churned—hard winds became his robes, earth spirits forged his body, mystic water became his blood, wood spirits awakened his vitality, and metal spirits forged his sword.
Two lightning bolts struck, entering his eyes.
The Founding Emperor of Great Feng!
Xu Qi’an had summoned the heroic soul of the Founding Emperor.
Aboard the wind-riding ship, Xu Pingfeng’s expression suddenly stiffened.
Ji Xuan mumbled, “The Founding Emperor…”
His face suddenly twisted, whether from anger or jealousy unclear, as he ground out through clenched teeth:
“By what right does he summon the Founding Emperor? What right? What right!
“This is the ancestor of my Ji clan.”
Xu Yuanshuang and Xu Yuanhuai gaped in astonishment. They dared not speak, for they saw their father’s hands behind his back clenched into fists.
At this moment, a strange feeling suddenly welled up in their hearts—Father was regretting.
Not necessarily regret opposing his eldest son, but he was indeed regretting something.
…
At the Forever Guarding Mountains and Rivers Temple.
The entire Sangbo suddenly fell into violent tremors, waves rippling across the lake’s surface.
“Ping ping pang pang…”
On the great altar enshrining the royal ancestral tablets, tablet after tablet toppled and fell to the ground.
The statue of Great Feng’s Founding Emperor cracked with a “crack,” the fissure spreading from between his brows to his chest.
…
At the Bureau of Astronomy and Geography, the Eight Trigrams Platform.
The Supervisor, still in spiritual wandering with closed eyes, raised his wine cup toward the southeast in a distant toast.
“Bang!”
The wine cup in his hand exploded, followed by his chest bursting, blood staining his white clothes red.
“Inviting spirits is easy, sending them away is hard…” the Supervisor said softly.
The blood from his chest stopped, his wounds slowly healing.
But his face remained as pale as if drained of blood.
…
In the Imperial Study.
Emperor Yongxing, buried in state affairs, heard hurried footsteps.
A eunuch, without announcement, outrageously burst into the Imperial Study, face pale as he kowtowed, crying out:
“Your Majesty, the ancestral tablets have fallen!”
Emperor Yongxing pushed away his desk, suddenly rising, his expression dramatically changing.
…
On Clear Cloud Mountain.
Zhao Shou stood at the cliff top, silently gazing southeast.
“Summoning a human emperor’s descent incurs Heaven’s backlash, no less costly than Wei Yuan summoning the Sage of Confucianism.”
As he spoke, Zhao Shou looked toward the capital, saying softly:
“Supervisor, you’re willing to bear Heaven’s backlash for him. You’ve indeed chosen him.”
…
The Founding Emperor?!
Gazes fixed on that imperial Dharma Body in amazement, after a brief shock, all minds echoed with Xu Qi’an’s earlier call.
Wearing the Pingtian Crown, draped in dragon robes, feet in golden boots, wreathed in Five Elements power—such a Dharma Body, even without Xu Qi’an’s words, would instantly give the impression of an “emperor.”
On the southern cliff top, Cao Qingyang and others stood like wooden chickens, in a daze from the information too momentous to process.
“This, this is the Founding Emperor?”
“Silver Gong Xu, he summoned the Founding Emperor?”
“Is Silver Gong Xu the Founding Emperor’s reincarnation?”
These three questions filled their minds, each equally incredible, impossible to digest.
Similarly unable to accept or process the scene before them were Qi Huan Danxiang and the others, unable to accept because the situation had seemed so favorable, finally able to capture or kill Xu Qi’an as desired.
Who could have imagined the situation would change so drastically, with Xu Qi’an summoning the Dharma Body of Great Feng’s Founding Emperor?
“The Founding Emperor? The one who conquered the realm with our ancestor?” Liu Hongmian’s delicate frame trembled slightly, her words coming out haltingly.
The Heart Gu Master Qi Huan Danxiang screamed, “Wasn’t Great Feng’s Founding Emperor dead? How can he summon the Founding Emperor? He’s just a crude martial artist!”
No one answered him.
Everyone had witnessed Xu Qi’an’s actions, and being experienced, how could they not understand how he had summoned the Founding Emperor?
Qi Huan Danxiang was merely venting his frustration and anger.
Gulping, the White Tiger softly said:
“Let’s go!
“Retreat first, everything else can wait.”
He had gained considerable experience—in situations like this, retreating first was the best choice.
If their side won, they could make contact later; if they lost, retreating now would preserve their lives. They had truly been frightened by Xu Qi’an.
…
Xu Qi’an, channeling the Founding Emperor’s Dharma Body, was not faring well, his face showing an eerie flush, his whole body red like a cooked shrimp.
No, more accurately, the Dharma Body was channeling Xu Qi’an.
He suddenly found his limbs beyond his control, his blade-holding stance changing to standing with sword planted.
“Buddhist vermin, you dare violate my Great Feng’s territory?”
From his mouth came an involuntary voice of authority, as if containing heaven’s mandate.
Dark clouds gathered over Dog Rong Mountain, as if heaven and earth trembled in anger.
The Vajra Dharma Body maintained its dignified Buddhist countenance, silently regarding the Emperor’s Dharma Body, twelve pairs of arms spread like a peacock’s display, assuming attack positions.
The Emperor’s Dharma Body continued standing with a planted sword, emanating domineering pride.
Clear light rose beneath the Vajra Dharma Body’s feet, its hundred-zhang golden form suddenly vanishing, leaving only a bell and pagoda suppressing the old codger.
The next moment, the golden Dharma Body appeared silently behind the Emperor’s Dharma Body.
Twelve pairs of arms fell simultaneously—the lightning-wreathed vajra, the ritual blade covered in metal-element power, the divine sword flowing with black water spirits, the demon-subduing staff seeming to collapse space itself…
These divine implements resonated with each other, powers interacting, creating thick rifts of light.
Hum!
A massive shock wave transmitted through the air, an invisible force blocking the twelve pairs of arms’ attack, like an unseen barrier.
Twenty-four ripples collided and resonated with each other.
Imperial dignity could not be violated!
The entire heaven and earth rejected the Vajra Dharma Body, resisting this thief who had offended the emperor.
Only then did the “Founding Emperor” slowly turn, raising the bronze sword shadow in his hand.
Xu Qi’an made an identical motion.
Boom!
From the churning clouds, a pillar of lightning struck the sword tip.
Within several hundred li of Dog Rong Mountain, unprecedented chaos erupted—rivers reversed flow, frozen earth cracked, and mountains trembled.
Aboard the wind-riding ship, Xu Pingfeng suddenly looked up at the sky.
Xu Yuanshuang, like her father, looked heavenward.
In the Artificers’ vision, streams of fate thick and thin streaked across the sky like flowing light, converging into the raised bronze sword.
Power of all beings!
Since ancient times, emperors received Heaven’s mandate to rule over all living things.
“Slash!”
A voice of majestic depth issued from Xu Qi’an’s mouth.
He involuntarily slashed with the Nation Stabilizing Sword, in unison with the Emperor’s Dharma Body behind him.
Never had there been such resplendent sword light.
In the eyes of all observers, every worldly scene faded, leaving only this comet-like flash of sword light.
The Vajra Dharma Body’s head collapsed first, then its neck, and chest, disintegrating inch by inch, dispersing into the purest light fragments.
The Vajra Dharma Body, renowned for its defense, lost its capital for looking down upon all.
Even the heavy earth-element power couldn’t resist the Nation Stabilizing Sword’s sharpness, formation after formation collapsing and crumbling.
Boom!
The Dharma Body completely collapsed, transforming into all-engulfing energy raging in all directions.
Rocks tumbled down Dog Rong Mountain’s ranges, countless trees were uprooted, and Cao Qingyang and others either fled in panic or threw themselves to the ground, avoiding this all-encompassing aftershock.
The distant military garrison inevitably suffered as well, roofs flying off, and buildings collapsing in swathes.
Like a natural disaster.
Along with the Vajra Dharma Body’s annihilation went Dunan Vajra.
In his final moment, he pressed his palms together in prayer, meeting his end.
In the early Yongxing era, Buddhist Dunan Vajra fell at Dog Rong Mountain in Sword Province.
Both Great Feng and the Buddhist sect would add this entry to their respective histories or chronicles.
After everything settled, under blue skies and white clouds, only the Emperor’s Dharma Body stood proudly.
After destroying the powerful enemy, the Emperor’s Dharma Body didn’t stop, standing with a planted sword, giving it a light tap.
Pfft!
A dozen li away, Asura Vajra, who had been quietly escaping, was directly pinned to the ground, dark golden blood spreading beneath him.
“This monk… remains unwilling…”
Asura Vajra Dufan’s light in his eyes irreversibly dimmed.
Soul and vitality extinguished together.
Soul scattered to the winds.
At this moment, Xu Pingfeng reached out his hand, making two grasping motions in the air, as if gathering wool.
“Go!”
Xu Pingfeng’s voice was like a winter wind in the last month of the year. He stamped his foot, a transmission formation spreading to cover the wind-riding ship.
The wind-riding ship vanished.
By this time, Nalan Tianlu had long since disappeared.
The old codger’s headless body stood up, bending to retrieve his head and pressing it to his neck.
As flesh writhed, the head reattached. Apart from slightly weakened qi, there was no major damage.
Another light breath cycling and his qi returned to the peak.
The old codger looked up at the Emperor’s Dharma Body, gaze distant.
The box of memories opened, that period he had long forgotten surging endlessly in this moment.
Kou Yangzhou first met that fellow at a gathering of twenty-six righteous armies. At that time, he had only a troop of old, weak, and injured soldiers with poor equipment.
He attended this gathering to borrow silver to recruit soldiers and buy horses.
Thick-skinned, toasting everyone, calling them elder brother.
Kou Yangzhou had lent him two hundred taels of silver, truly because that fellow was too thick-skinned. Having just left Sword Province, he prided himself on leading a righteous army, not engaging in robbery.
So his purse was quite empty, of course, he wouldn’t lend. Thus Kou Yangzhou said:
“Get lost, you good-for-nothing!”
As a result, that fellow immediately called out “Father.”
That “Father” cost Kou Yangzhou two hundred taels. Later he learned that fellow used his two hundred taels to buy eighteen beautiful courtesans, offering them to a beauty-loving righteous army leader of the time.
From that leader, he borrowed even more silver and two hundred elite infantry.
Kou Yangzhou heard this from his mouth, many years later, when he had risen from an unremarkable minor leader to a great rebel commander with two hundred thousand strong troops under his command.
By his side was also a constantly present handsome youth.
That youth later became the first generation Supervisor.
Six hundred years passed in a flash, old friends had become yellow earth, and their primordial spirits transformed into war souls between heaven and earth.
…
The Founding Emperor’s heroic soul seemed unwilling to leave… Xu Qi’an had now become a “blood man,” capillaries beneath his skin ruptured, making him look redder than a cooked shrimp.
He was now like an overloaded machine on the verge of breakdown, but the power button had been removed, making it impossible to stop.
How to send the Founding Emperor away?!
He frowned, having never encountered such a situation.
Just then, the Emperor’s Dharma Body made a toasting gesture, as if holding a wine cup.
Xu Qi’an similarly made a toasting gesture and then drank the invisible wine in one gulp.
As one “cup” of wine entered his stomach, the Emperor’s Dharma Body slowly dispersed.
It’s over… Xu Qi’an exhaled, calmly surveying his surroundings.
Nalan Tianlu had long vanished; Xu Qi’an didn’t even know when he had withdrawn, having been fully occupied fighting the Vajra Dharma Body earlier.
Perhaps he slipped away when the Founding Emperor’s heroic soul was summoned.
Or perhaps he withdrew when Xu Pingfeng appeared, to prevent betrayal.
What a pity…
He had also witnessed the wind-riding ship’s disappearance. Xu Pingfeng had fled very quickly, and the Founding Emperor’s heroic soul had its own will, beyond his control.
So he couldn’t pursue and kill.
On the southern peak’s edge, Martial Arts Alliance warriors gradually appeared, like startled birds, also observing the situation.
Xu Qi’an swept his gaze around but didn’t find Li Lingsu and Miao Youfang.
Fighting exhaustion and weakness, he rode the treasure pagoda toward Asura Vajra’s corpse.
He wanted to use this opportunity to advance his Vajra Divine Technique to a higher level.