If hell is not empty, I vow not to become Buddha!
The gods and Buddhas of heaven and earth have made their great vow!
The Buddha-light above could touch the very peak of the firmament; the solemn feet below connected to the white temple at the bottom. How tall, how vast was this Buddha statue?
With one palm extended, it covered half the sky!
Amidst the mountain-shaking, sea-roaring sounds, boundless and majestic power gathered from all directions.
It was extremely similar to the Earth Force Yin Essence, yet seemed to be something else entirely.
Pure to the extreme, and terrifying to the extreme!
Layer upon layer, fold upon fold, mysterious and dark, it directly condensed into an enormous palm print following the shape of this Buddha palm!
Dark golden radiance immediately flowed, yet carried a forest-cold killing intent completely different from the compassionate Buddha nature!
Ancient jungles, before it, became a clump of weeds; vast ruins, before it, became a pile of rubble; boundless plains, before it, became a narrow little tile basin!
Destroying heaven, annihilating earth!
Seemingly extremely slow, but actually swift and fierce!
In almost just a flash of thought, this palm crossed through layers of void, passed through vast ruins, swept over crisscrossing ravines, and arrived before the array!
Jian Chou, not far from it, almost immediately felt that overwhelming power.
Even without looking back, she knew that before this palm, she was no different from a grain of sand or dust! As long as this palm’s wind lightly swept, she would turn into a tiny void…
But the Nineteen Continents were right before her eyes!
Submit without resistance?
Stretch out her neck to be slaughtered?
How could that be possible!!!
In that instant, Jian Chou forcibly suppressed that bone-chilling feeling with all her might, her eyes faintly reddening, yet tightly locked onto the stone bead!
Clearer and clearer…
Clearer and clearer!
Until it appeared completely!
It was “her” figure, and also “my” figure!
She was still outside the array, but “she” was within the array, at the true boundary between Yin and Yang!
This was the moment!
With a leap forward, it would be finding life in a desperate situation!
Her figure instantly disappeared from this void. Like a stream of flowing water, a gentle breeze, a bolt of lightning, she transformed into a blurred phantom and completely merged into that physical shell!
Like a gray and dark painting suddenly painted with vivid colors; or like a stiff statue being infused with boundless vitality…
That shell originally floating before the stone bead, floating in the Shitian Creation Array, actually came “alive”!
Moon-white robes with intricate embroidered patterns covering them, yet spotlessly clean;
Raven-black long hair like a waterfall of silk, cascading down, swaying in the fierce wind;
Snow-like skin radiating completely new luster, lustrous and crystal clear;
Exquisite features became dazzling and captivating the moment those clear, cold, and calm eyes opened!
The fusion of body and soul!
Only in a moment’s time!
The feeling at this moment was mysterious to the extreme, as if having endured myriad calamities and being reborn from death. The instant the ethereal soul refilled the empty shell, those long-missed sensations returned one by one…
True temperature.
True taste.
True touch.
True…
Power!
“Crack crack pop pop!”
Mysterious black wind patterns instantly appeared on every bone of hers, tiny lightning coursed and wandered through her flesh and blood!
The soul force and spiritual power condensed in her divine soul instantly rushed toward all the meridians in her body!
If her physical shell had been even slightly weaker, she would probably have faced the fate of exploding from within at this moment!
Because…
At this moment, the strength of her divine soul was almost comparable to her original strength in the Nineteen Continents!
Powerful strength required a powerful body to contain it.
Fortunately, Jian Chou’s physical body had already been tempered through thousands of trials. Her progress in the “Human Vessel” body refinement was extremely rapid, and when breaking through to Golden Core, she had already reached the sixth level of lightning body tempering.
At this moment, even though such enormous power was released from her divine soul, it was still safely contained by her body.
It was an exhilarating feeling that made one want to cry out in joy!
At the Zuo Sanqian small gathering, in the Konghai tribulation clouds, she broke through Foundation Establishment and formed a Golden Core; when entering the hidden realm of Qingfeng Nunnery, she had just stabilized her realm…
Along that journey, she experienced countless strange and bizarre events, and had several fierce battles with Xie Buchen.
After that came a pyrrhic victory and falling into the Extreme Realm!
Calculating carefully, her true strength was roughly at the middle stage of Golden Core.
But at this moment, body and soul merged, cultivation and cultivation combined!
That feeling she had almost forgotten appeared once again in her perception…
At this moment, she stood in the void;
At this moment, she was beyond millions of miles of evil earth;
At this moment, she emptied herself in the endless chaos and turbulent currents of time and space…
Everything before her eyes, everything around her, everything moving, everything happening, all became slow…
Including that stone bead still continuously rotating and growing larger;
Including that Buddha palm rushing toward her face, seemingly about to bring destruction in the blink of an eye!
Jian Chou couldn’t judge—
Whether time moved faster where she was, or if time had stopped for the world except for her.
Only at the ancestral aperture between her brows was there that full and swollen feeling…
“Swoosh!”
In the void beneath her feet, the battle disc that hadn’t been seen for far too long finally lit up again!
Every Kunxian line was so clear;
Every dao piece was so brilliant;
Every dao seal seemed to rotate in the galaxy!
Crowded spiritual power, from the ground, from her body, all surged forth, toward her brow, and in the blink of an eye, transformed into points of starlight-like radiance, scattering across the entire battle disc.
As natural as breathing.
The Kunxian lines absorbed their power, like blood vessels transporting blood, sending it to Tianyuan.
That originally small Golden Core suddenly began to grow larger…
Even the battle disc, which had long ceased expanding outward, also extended its tendrils toward the surroundings!
Two zhang four!
Two zhang five!
Two zhang six!
Two zhang seven!
Two zhang eight!
…
Golden Core middle stage, Golden Core late stage, Golden Core peak perfection!
Everything happened in just an instant!
That feeling of leaping and breaking through layer by layer was so wonderful that even when she had almost reached the limit and touched the dome, Jian Chou was completely unwilling to stop!
The soul cultivation in the Extreme Realm for such a long time had almost endowed her with some characteristics of a Nascent Soul stage cultivator.
And at this moment…
At the moment when she had clearly touched the limit and dome of the Golden Core stage, she vaguely had a feeling that she could still break through, but there was a vague layer separating her, preventing her from touching the most crucial point!
This was an extremely anxious feeling…
Just a little bit, just that little bit!
“Boom!”
Wild wind struck her face!
That Buddha palm of the Great Vow Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva advanced another layer in an instant, the terrifying palm force compressing the space between Jian Chou and itself, actually creating dark spatial cracks!
Nearly suffocating might!
As if all forms and phenomena would vanish without a trace in such a palm strike, leaving not even ashes!
Although her body was filled with power so swollen it nearly exploded, although she was just that close, there simply wasn’t enough time left for her to think, to break through!
She must live to return to the Nineteen Continents, return to Yashan!
Under myriad life-and-death crises, Jian Chou gritted her teeth and forcibly extracted herself from that terrifying realm of continuous breakthrough, raising her hand with a nearly hoarse shout!
“Axe, come—”
In that instant, far above the eighteenth level of hell, in the Eight Directions City!
A towering blood-light actually blazed forth!
A brilliantly vivid deep red dao seal actually rose rapidly from some corner of the Eight Directions Yama Halls, continuously enlarging, illuminating the entire firmament with this seal’s form!
A massive dark black axe shadow shot out from the First Yama Hall floating in the void!
In the blink of an eye, it seemed to burn red, transforming into rich deep red…
Vaguely, it was actually like a red sun!
From above the Eight Directions City, it slashed down!
Rumble!
Piercing through the evil earth of the Extreme Realm’s surface, spanning the entire eighteen levels of hell!
Emerging from the barren evil earth, emerging from the ethereal void, emerging from that oppressive firmament! That dazzling red light, that brilliant red sun, that fierce axe shadow!
Like something falling from beyond the heavens, it slashed horizontally toward that towering Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva statue!
What a divine stroke!
What a heart-shaking scene!
Remember, ten sexagenary cycles ago, that imposing figure also wielded such a giant axe, capable of being enemy to the entire Extreme Realm!
Killing until thousands of souls wept and myriad ghosts wailed!
At this moment, inside and outside the Extreme Realm, all had lost their words.
Only in the eyes of that massive Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva phantom, or rather, in Lord Qin Guang’s eyes, appeared a trace of forest-cold intent and towering killing intent!
“The axe is the same but the master is different—with your abilities, you dare?!”
Without even glancing back at himself!
The massive Great Vow Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva’s right palm, already pushed outward, continued its mighty advance forward, determined to kill Jian Chou beneath his palm; his left palm, still maintaining a half-joined position, seemed to have anticipated this and gripped forcefully straight to the side!
“Bang!”
The massive red sun axe shadow crashed over!
But it only managed to cut into one side of the Buddha statue phantom before it could advance no further!
With this one palm grip, Lord Qin Guang actually firmly grasped the Ghost Axe’s true form from within that terrifying red sun axe shadow!
Upon impact, the enormous impact force spread outward in a circle of deep red ripples, washing over the three hundred li ground centered on the Great Vow Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, all turning to powder and collapsing dozens of zhang downward!
After the radiance completely dispersed, the golden light on the massive golden Buddha shadow’s left arm and left palm only faintly dimmed by one layer!
Jian Chou felt her heart filled with terror, her scalp tingling. Even though she could feel the connection with the Ghost Axe, its body was gripped in the palm of that Buddha statue, or rather, Lord Qin Guang’s incarnation!
Motionless!
She had originally wanted to use the Ghost Axe for this surprise attack, both interrupting Lord Qin Guang’s spell casting to buy herself time to escape, and simultaneously recalling the Ghost Axe that had been separated from her for so long, then taking the opportunity to return to the Nineteen Continents…
But she never expected—
The Eight Directions City of the Extreme Realm, the First Hall Yama Lord…
The power of one grip was so terrifyingly formidable!
The red sun’s slash had indeed left wounds on the Buddha statue and seemed to slow that continuously advancing right palm for a moment, but it completely failed to recall the Ghost Axe!
Jian Chou’s heart filled with extreme hatred!
But this momentary delay presented an excellent opportunity right before her eyes—how could she let it slip by?
A Kunxian line on the battle disc lit up, a dao piece flashed, and spiritual power like a tide rapidly gathered toward her!
The Dijiang Wind and Thunder Wings that had disappeared due to the soul-body fusion appeared again on her back. With just a gentle flutter, they carried her form like lightning to dodge once more!
In a flash, she had already crossed through this boundary between Yin and Yang, reaching the edge of the Shitian Creation Array on the other side!
Here was completely outside the Extreme Realm’s range.
Before her eyes was only the desolate void, around her only the gray chaotic qi stirring up wind and clouds, beneath her feet only the cross-section of the broken evil earth of the Extreme Realm, or perhaps…
Those turbulent currents blurring time and space, giving one a contradictory feeling of danger and safety coexisting…
Although behind her there was still that palm’s mortal danger, as long as she crossed this final small section, she could completely traverse the entire Shitian Creation Array and return to the territory of the Nineteen Continents…
Only this final small section!
In that moment, Jian Chou almost without hesitation was about to transform into a bolt of lightning and escape!
But just at this moment…
Between heaven and earth, between heart and soul, suddenly all was filled with the same sound!
“Rumble…”
“Rumble…”
It was the sound of rotation, the sound of expansion!
Beyond the millions of miles of evil earth spread across the Extreme Realm, positioned in that chaotic qi, it was like being in the wilderness of a universe not yet formed!
It was that stone bead originally only an inch in size!
Since Jian Chou threw it toward the Shitian Creation Array, it seemed to have triggered something, continuously spinning, continuously growing larger!
Its excessive speed actually swept up the endless chaotic qi floating in that void!
Like stirring up a storm!
The endless chaotic qi, with this continuously expanding stone bead as the center, was actually continuously absorbed into it, seeming to become nourishment for this stone bead, making it larger and larger!
Ten zhang!
A hundred zhang!
A thousand zhang!
Ten thousand zhang!
Even a hundred thousand zhang, a million zhang…
Big!
So big it was appalling, so big it was like a gray-white curtain hanging at the edge of the sky!
After infinite magnification, the originally uneven surface of the stone bead actually became hills, valleys, or high mountains; the various light and dark shadows and textures on the original stone bead vaguely became mountain ranges and riverbeds…
“Stone is born within heaven and earth, heaven and earth endow it with form, naturally containing the Dao.”
“The finest ones are not carved but chosen, taking heaven and earth’s beauty as beauty. Supernatural craftsmanship, heaven and earth’s supreme artisan!”
“This is just an ordinary stone…”
In this instant, Immortal Wuzhong’s aged voice suddenly echoed in her ears.
She remembered that room full of stones, remembered her first moment’s feeling when she held this “stone bead” in her palm, and also remembered that wind-candle-remaining-years old man…
An ordinary stone?
At this moment, Jian Chou suddenly forgot about life and death. In her swift movement that could only leave afterimages, she raised her head and gazed at this “stone bead” that had spun to the heavens and grown appallingly large!
How could this still be considered a stone bead?
It was simply like a moon, a sun hanging in the sky!
It was still continuously rotating, continuously absorbing, as if possessed of endless ambition, wanting to become even larger, still larger!
Chaotic force surrounded it, forming激荡ing wind and thunder through violent friction, bringing down frost, snow, rain, and lightning on its rough surface…
In this instant, Jian Chou actually felt this was not a dead thing!
A stone bead with its own life!
A stone with its own consciousness!
A…
Stone that, in its rotation, already resembled a planet!
Yes, a planet!
The moment she realized this, that membrane like window paper in her mind was suddenly pierced by the myriad golden rays emanating from her heart and soul!
So all the sounds blocked by this membrane were no longer unclear!
She finally heard!
She heard the cry of that stone bead, that stubborn stone, heard its unceasing roar of indignation that had never stopped since following the universe’s birth…
I was born in mountains and seas, heaven and earth gave me form!
Why—
Am I just a stone?
The sun and moon share my body, stars and constellations share my essence!
By what right—
Am I only a stone!
The eternal and vicissitudes’ great power, carrying this soul-stirring cry and roar, swept over Jian Chou’s entire being, as if striking morning bells and evening drums beside her ears!
For a moment, there was no other sound in the world!
Only in her heart and soul, those myriad golden rays spiraled down with great spirituality, solidifying into perfectly round golden light, connected by several golden threads, clearly forming…
A golden dao seal!
Nine points of golden light, nine dao pieces!
Among them, a full five dao pieces were positioned exactly the same as the Heaven-Overturning Seal that Jian Chou had accidentally learned from the hidden realm of Qingfeng Nunnery! And she would never forget that what she had learned was only a incomplete seal!
This before her was…
Her mind concentrated on these four additional dao pieces, yet was enveloped by this dao seal’s familiar yet slightly strange aura. Jian Chou suddenly trembled, gaining a trace of enlightenment.
Just this one trace!
Like a thread of dim light cutting through the final darkness, parting clouds to see the sun, breaking through the last layer of obstruction, completely opening the gateway between her body and heart-soul!
The Golden Core sinking in the Tianyuan at the center of the battle disc finally “crack” shattered like an eggshell!
Golden liquid, as if precipitated with starlight, actually splashed up from the battle disc, like a stream of flowing fireflies, all rushing into Jian Chou’s brow.
Above the spiritual platform at the crown of her head, it twisted and wound, merging with her heart-soul into one, actually transforming into a small figure an inch tall!
This figure was surrounded by starlight, its entire body displaying the purple jade color from the Jade Nirvana realm; its features were exquisite, exactly the same as Jian Chou’s true form; it sat cross-legged with hands forming seals before its chest—one hand pointing to heaven, one hand pointing to earth!
With the formation of this small figure, all of Jian Chou’s perceptive abilities rose dramatically by a large margin!
Even…
She could already sense the spatial force densely distributed around her!
Nascent Soul!
Actually one step to Nascent Soul!
This realm that so many Golden Core cultivators could never reach in their entire lives!
Yet from her enlightenment to breakthrough took merely this instant of raising her head in contemplation.
Foundation Establishment controls artifacts, Golden Core controls the sky…
Reaching Nascent Soul brought the mysteriously unpredictable—teleportation!
How far her perceived spatial force could reach, that was how far her teleportation range could extend!
At this moment, Lord Qin Guang’s palm that reached heaven and earth and could destroy heaven and annihilate earth had already crossed most of the Shitian Creation Array, arriving behind Jian Chou, bringing tearing pain;
At this moment, the edge of the Shitian Creation Array was only such a short distance from her;
At this moment, she only needed one teleportation to jump out of this array, making Lord Qin Guang’s strike miss, safely stepping onto the return journey to the Nineteen Continents…
Her perception had already spread out like silk threads, connecting the spatial force around her.
She only needed one thought…
She could escape this life-and-death crisis before her!
But at this moment, in Jian Chou’s heart arose a strong unwillingness, indignation, and defiance!
She actually didn’t want to just flee like this!
Great life and death often accompanied great enlightenment.
For cultivators, one thread of insight was one thread of unfathomable heavenly opportunity. From that stone, she had gained true great fortune and great enlightenment.
Now she had even stepped into Nascent Soul in one move and obtained the complete Heaven-Overturning Seal!
A crazy idea suddenly occupied her entire mind.
In that flash of lightning and spark, she actually forcibly suppressed that instantaneous thought in her heart, spread her wind and thunder wings, and suddenly turned around!
Facing the eighteen levels of hell!
Facing that towering Great Vow Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva!
Facing that sky-covering, earth-blocking fatal palm!
She—
Also raised her right palm high!
“Coming without reciprocating is impolite!”
Testing her abilities before leaving wouldn’t be too late!
In this instant, everyone in the Extreme Realm who witnessed this scene thought she had gone mad!
But only Jian Chou herself knew she was still very clear-headed!
Clear-headed to the point of excitement!
At this moment, the battle disc that had suddenly expanded to a full three zhang rotated magnificently beneath her feet;
At this moment, the enormous stone bead that had grown nearly as large as a planet finally stopped its rotation in the cosmic void;
At this moment, the entire universe seemed to resonate with her!
The universe is vast, all beings are one, all categories equal!
What of stones?
What of sun, moon, and stars?
Originally from the same source, regardless of noble or base!
Who says I’m just a stone?
Heaven doesn’t answer me, earth doesn’t respond to me!
But I insist on asking, insist on seeking, insist on demanding!
I want to ask this heaven, ask this earth!
I want to pursue this boundless universe and primordial vastness!
I want—
To become the most brilliant one among those billions and billions of stars!
Whether human or ghost; whether stone or mayfly…
Who dares obstruct me—
With a heart full of heroic spirit, I dare overturn this heaven and earth!
“Boom!”
The moment Jian Chou struck out with her palm, from that enormous stone bead behind her, an immense stone-carved palm also extended!
No matter how large the Great Vow Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva’s phantom, how large his palm, how could it compare to this stone bead that had now almost become a planet, how could it compare to this heaven-overturning, earth-covering palm?!
From outside the Shitian Creation Array, from the turbulent currents of time and space, from the void universe!
It—
Majestically descended!
In this instant, the entire Extreme Realm seemed to shake under its influence!
The eighteen levels of hell, on layer upon layer of evil earth, split open terrifying fissures one after another;
The seventy-two cities, on street after street, collapsed tall building after tall building;
Even the eight Yama Halls floating above the Eight Directions City seemed suppressed by a terrifying shadow, almost sinking to the ground!
Countless people within, unable to stand steady.
Whether they were ordinary cultivators, clan managing elders, or some reclusive masters, almost all were terrified by this palm’s might, their faces white as paper!
Only that deep old alley in the City of Wrongful Deaths remained completely motionless.
The wind-candle-remaining-years elder sat on the wooden stump that had long been worn with an indentation, using the severely worn carving knife in his hand, stroke by stroke, carving the stubborn stone in his palm.
From beginning to end, he never once raised his head to look at those激荡ing winds and clouds!
At the edge of the eighteen levels of hell, that endlessly churning chaotic qi rapidly merged into the palm as it struck, making the originally deep gray stone-quality palm instantly turn gray-white.
The immense palm…
A completely new spiritual power circulation pattern, carrying a strange power that could whip mountains and drive seas, pressed down and smashed!
The dark golden palm instantly collided with the incomparably massive Heaven-Overturning Seal, immediately exploding with countless magnificent ripples and destructive power!
“Rumble!”
Jian Chou, already so close, was almost instantly sent flying!
On the towering Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva phantom’s face, in those clearly open eyes of Lord Qin Guang, appeared for the first time a wave of shocked emotion!
Who could have imagined this Yashan female cultivator could achieve consecutive breakthroughs in an instant?
Who could have imagined she truly had some connection with Immortal Wuzhong?
Who could have imagined that in this life-and-death crisis, she could still achieve great enlightenment of heaven and earth!
Myriad shock and rage swept through his heart, but everything was already too late…
“Crack!”
From that Heaven-Overturning Seal palm came an ancient, eternal force that, after only a moment’s resistance, seemed like the Milky Way from nine heavens, rolling back down with the momentum of rushing stars and flowing rivers!
The dark golden giant palm struck through the Buddha shadow actually couldn’t withstand it, instantly shattered to pieces!
Even that towering Great Vow Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva phantom, like clay and wood puppets, collapsed with a thunderous crash!
The golden Buddha-light immediately extinguished!
The entire eighteen levels of hell could no longer find half an inch of light, as if falling back into that eternal long night from the universe’s birth. Only a terrifying palpitation and darkness remained.
And…
That extremely penetrating “rumbling” muffled sound…
Heaven collapsed, earth caved in!
The remaining palm force actually pierced through the entire eighteen levels of hell, leaving a terrifyingly large palm print on it!
What a Heaven-Overturning Seal palm!
From heaven above, covering down to earth below!
In six hundred years of the Extreme Realm, who had ever done such an audaciously bold thing!
Lord Qin Guang’s ethereal consciousness, after losing the Buddha shadow to inhabit, like a mass of dark clouds, carried towering murderous qi, filling the entire eighteen levels of hell!
Not missing a single crack!
But at the end of the void, that moon-white figure, after delivering a beautiful returning strike, had already used the counter-force from that palm to flee into that endless darkness…
Vanishing without trace!
Throughout heaven and earth, only her clear laughter remained, accompanied by that rebellious voice, echoing endlessly!
“These months in the Extreme Realm, thank you for your hospitality.”
“The Ghost Axe is temporarily stored in the Extreme Realm. Some day, Jian Chou of Yashan sect will come to retrieve it!”
“Lord Qin Guang, until we meet again!”
*Returning home, the Heavenly Tablet appears once