Mu Zhanting still had a strong survival instinct. The Dragon Lord’s words echoed in his mind: “See that bright star in the sky? If Nan Yan doesn’t return home safe and sound, that’ll be your final resting place.”
Truly his master’s disciple.
So, even though his little sister was ready to disown everyone, Mu Zhanting firmly clung to her legs: “This journey will be long. When we meet again, I fear you’ll bring back nieces and nephews. We should go protect you!”
Yin Ya chimed in: “Exactly! We can postpone our matters. What’s more important than our sister, right?”
Qi Yang, observing Nan Yan’s violent outburst through the cage bars, said: “Indeed. I recently fought with my master and got injured. I can’t suppress some fierce evil ghosts for a few days. Since you two brothers each control a river of souls, please protect me for two days.”
Mu Zhanting and Yin Ya fell silent for a moment, then asked: “You can’t suppress fierce ghosts? What do you mean?”
Qi Yang: “Look behind you.”
The three turned around to see that the captured mortals in the cage had been quietly taken away by ghost tribes. Those remaining, though looking like mortals, all wore eerie smiles and cast no shadows.
Yin Ya: “How many evil ghosts are actually around you?”
Qi Yang humbly replied: “Wherever I stand, as far as the eye can see, is the Yellow Springs.”
“…”
Half an hour later, as the whaleship slowly sailed away, Nan Yan stood expressionlessly by the stern railing, feeling the cold wind as she watched Mu Zhanting and Yin Ya bid tearful farewells.
“Even the longest bonds have their end. Let’s smile and forget our grudges. Sister, this journey will test you with demons and ghosts, tempering your Buddha’s heart. Stay strong!”
Such a caring brother.
As night stars began to appear, Nan Yan turned to look at Qi Yang, who was resting with his eyes closed nearby. True to his words, some Yin priests were secretly observing him from afar, their hollow ghost-fire eyes revealing a hint of hungry desire.
Nan Yan suddenly recalled the last time she saw him injured, with Yin priests surrounding him similarly.
Thinking of this, she directly released the Buddha aura from the Seven Buddhas’ Karmic Scripture. Soon, the Yin priests scattered.
“Are you injured?”
“Just a casual remark.”
Nan Yan glanced at the Yin priests still lingering in the dark corners and took his hand. “Come with me.”
As Nascent Soul cultivators held high status on the whale ship, she quickly used the Evil Dao guest token to disguise as a demonic cultivator and was led to a private cave dwelling.
She made Qi Yang sit in a chair, then proceeded to set up layer upon layer of Buddhist barriers around the entire dwelling, much to his amusement.
After finishing, Nan Yan stood before him with a solemn face. “How confident are you in controlling the demon realm under the Demon Sealing Formation?”
Qi Yang leaned back slightly, raising an eyebrow. “If I’m not, how do you plan to… deal with me?”
He seemed composed but was always gambling on a knife’s edge where she couldn’t see.
“How about the Chou Shan Buddhist Sea Nine Tribulation Pagoda Demon Suppression Sanatorium?” Nan Yan said expressionlessly.
“You’re not angry this time?”
“Monastics don’t indulge in anger or delusion.”
“Is it not indulging in anger, or not indulging in delusion?”
After a brief staredown, before Nan Yan could attempt to kill him with her gaze, Qi Yang finally confessed truthfully.
“He’s very angry,” Qi Yang said, with obvious delight in his eyes. “My master is an extremely arrogant person. Once he decides on a course of action, he never backs down. Plotting against the Six Venerable Ones of State Destruction, killing Sovereign Nan Fang, suppressing the Buddhist Repentance Lord, including trying to kill me before and now wanting to kill you – every single thing was within his calculations… But now he’s discovered something.”
“What?”
“He can’t calculate you anymore.” Qi Yang raised his hand, conjuring a Taoist Eight Trigrams seal in mid-air. “He doesn’t prefer direct intervention, basing every move on his divination techniques. But now his divination is gradually failing. I tried confronting him once in the Hall of Righteous Law. If his Dao’s heart hadn’t faltered, the Prohibition Tower couldn’t have been unlocked. This time, his inaction allowed Yin Ya to succeed, which indicates one thing.”
“The Reverse Reincarnation Mirror?” Nan Yan felt her palm grow hot. “Isn’t it a treasure of the Way of Heaven? Why would it help me?”
“It’s not helping you. The Reverse Reincarnation Mirror comes from beyond this world; the Way of Heaven isn’t its master. As for my master, he’s always walked a path that defies heaven. He’s killed many, relying on his powerful cultivation to conceal the karma attached to him, allowing him to compare himself to the Sovereign of the Mysterious Heaven. Now, the Reverse Reincarnation Mirror is using you as a starting point to seek retribution for his past sins. It will assist you repeatedly. As long as he doesn’t give up on usurping the Nine Hells, the mirror will protect you for a day. You can see it as the Heavenly Dao helping you in subtle ways.”
Remembering the 60,000 sacrificed in Wu State, Nan Yan asked, “So, because he defies heaven, he’s hunted by the Heavenly Dao, and my every move is meant to eliminate him?”
“You could understand it that way. However, he’s not the only one being hunted by the Heavenly Dao.”
“Who else?”
“Me.”
Nan Yan was stunned but instinctively avoided this topic. “You mentioned earlier that you’ve tried to confront him?”
“It’s embarrassing. His divine consciousness vessel was destroyed, and I was injured.”
“Let me take a look,” she said.
The ghostly aura surrounding them had intensified imperceptibly as if the most ferocious evil spirits were anticipating the Prison Lord’s weakness, ready to strike at any moment. Unlike Mu Zhanting and Yin Ya, Ji Yang’s method of seizing control of the Yellow Springs Prison must have been unique.
“Oh?” Ji Yang looked at her with surprise, his blood-red pupils gleaming slightly. “It hurts quite a bit. Would you help me?”
“I just want to examine your wound.”
“Your brother fears pain, I’m merely being honest.”
Nan Yan, silently reciting Buddhist scriptures, began to untie his robe in the strange atmosphere. Before she lay the lean, muscular body of a man in his early twenties. His pale skin and blood-red eyes gave him an eerie appearance. As Nan Yan infused Buddhist energy into the wound on his back—inflicted by Ya Quan Chuan—his features gradually took on a suppressed look of desire.
Simultaneously, horror spread across Nan Yan’s face as she realized the extent of the injury. Though only about three inches long, it contained a destructive force equivalent to an attack from ten thousand evil spirits—the Prison Lord’s final, fatal blow.
Fortunately, her Seven Buddhas Karma Scripture could counter demonic forces. Under the flood of her Buddhist power, the wound of ten thousand evil spirits was completely purged.
“Your opponent must have been the Six Imperial Master,” Nan Yan said, her spiritual energy nearly depleted. Her hands stung, and she broke out in a cold sweat. Before she could hide her condition, Ji Yang pulled her onto his lap, grasping her hands.
“I thought you might say you remembered something,” Ji Yang said, his alluring appearance contrasting with his calm tone as he sought her averted gaze. “Buddhists have precepts, but evil spirits don’t.”
“We both have important responsibilities. We shouldn’t…”
“If I could, I’d never discuss business with you,” Ji Yang said earnestly. “I’m different from him. Don’t be afraid of me, alright?”
The warm glow of Buddhist light fell on her lips, which were about to recite a sutra. When tasted, they seemed no different from those of mortals.
This was the first time Nan Yan hadn’t rejected him while fully conscious. Though she silently recited that every action was part of cultivation, she had to admit that this demon was difficult to subdue.
Her second brother had given her many stories, but she could only use fragments to describe Ji Yang. He was the alluring ghost knocking on the door of a ruined temple, a Buddhist defying the mountain gate, an official demoted for his wild words, a pure lotus surviving in muddy waters, and a villain who would drag you to reign in darkness despite knowing it was wrong.
Nan Yan felt she had connected with a tranquil deep sea, unaware of the undercurrents of anxiety and possessiveness beneath the calm surface.
Here, he seemed like a seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy, newly acquainted with desire, determined to pry open her long-neglected defenses, exploring thoroughly until he was satisfied enough to let her catch her breath.
As her mind became clouded but before her emotions were completely entangled, Nan Yan’s hand touched something on his chest. A memory flashed through her mind, and she pushed him away, asking, “What’s this on your chest?”
In the heat of the moment, he had let his guard down, allowing a spell mark to appear briefly on his chest. Nan Yan had felt a corresponding sensation on her back, prompting her question.
Ji Yang’s fingertips still lingered with a soft sensation. He gently clenched his fist, his increasingly bewitching blood-red eyes gazing at her as he said, “I once cultivated the Six Harmonies Heart Method. After it was taken from me, although my three souls returned to my original body, a piece was missing. What you saw was… merely a magical formation.”
Nan Yan instantly sobered up, realizing that her Buddhist nature was a death sentence for the ghost clan, leaving her powerless despite her intentions.
“… Wait for me. I’ll retrieve your heart and return it to you.”
“Alright.” The heart I want isn’t some chaotic Six Harmonies Heart, he thought to himself.
He didn’t say more as the protective talisman outside the cave-dwelling began to fluctuate.
“Nascent Soul cultivator in the cave, something strange has happened at the front of the whale ship. The Dharma Transformation cultivators request the presence of the Nascent Soul cultivators to observe,” came a voice from outside.
As Nan Yan left the cave-dwelling, she deliberately added three more layers of Buddhist restraints from the outside, ensuring the evil spirit inside wouldn’t wander around. After glaring away the Yin Zhu waiting eagerly at the door, she composed herself and followed the others to check on the situation.
It was then that she realized almost all the cultivators on the whale ship had come out to look at the northern sky.
“Is that… is the sky splitting?”
Just as the shocked cultivators had said, a huge crack had appeared in the sky where cyan mist pervaded. From the crack, a waterfall-like cascade poured down, accompanied by an aura that made all cultivators’ eyes turn red with desire.
“What… what is that place? How can there be such dense primordial spiritual energy!”
They had just left the coast of Ji Zhou, and not only were the people on the whale ship restless, but hundreds of streaks of light flew from the coast, converging on the crack and emitting primordial spiritual energy from all directions.
“An opportunity, a great opportunity!”
People frantically rushed towards the crack. However, the fastest Nascent Soul cultivator, who was the first to enter the crevice, let out a sky-shaking scream. In an instant, he turned into a mist of blood, his physical body destroyed. His Nascent Soul fled in panic.
A voice, as clear and elegant as a fairy queen, resonated throughout heaven and earth:
“I am of the Nine-Colored Lineage of the demon race. We wish to enter the human realm to live. Human cultivators, you have ten days to come to the void rift and negotiate with our demons.”
Nan Yan’s heart skipped a beat. She spread her divine sense and discovered that the rift in the sky was not the only one.
The demon race from between mountains and seas had broken through the spatial barrier, ready to descend upon the human realm.