Chapter 117: Formless Tribulation
During the collapse, the Xuan Huang Dao Seed, which should have been as solid as a rock, suddenly cracked without warning. This crack was like being split open by an invisible sharp blade, deep and narrow, revealing a terrifying darkness.
Lu Qingyang's body trembled violently, as if struck by a powerful force. His chest felt as if it had been hit by a heavy hammer, and the sharp pain made it almost impossible for him to breathe. He staggered back three steps, each step incredibly difficult, as if the entire world was against him.
He clutched his chest tightly, and strands of starlight actually seeped through his fingers. These starlight rapidly condensed into drops of blood, sliding down his fingertips. These drops of blood were not ordinary blood, but were transformed from starlight, containing endless mysteries and power.
Just now, at the moment the Dun Yi Flower bloomed, Lu Qingyang's consciousness was actually pulled by a powerful force, deep into the Dao Seed. There, he saw a scene that left him dumbfounded—it was a memory from his eighth Reincarnation, a dark past he had buried deep in his heart.
In that life, in order to seize the river diagram fragment from the Drunken Old Man of the South Sea, he had cruelly massacred three Mortal cities. Countless innocent lives withered in his hands, blood stained the earth, and wails echoed through the sky. This Karma, like a demon, Entangled him, making his Dao Heart tremble.
"Why does this rotten flower have to expose my old secrets?" Lu Qingyang used the ancient bronze blade to pry open the Dao Seed's crack, speaking nonsense, but his fingers honestly gathered the overflowing Xuan Huang Qi into his embrace. When Su Meiniang's seven Fox Tails wrapped around his waist, he naturally reached for the vital fox fur at the base of her tail: "Su Jiejie, your tail is getting smoother and smoother. May I borrow it to make my bed someday?"
"Slap!" The Fox Tail whipped out a sonic boom, sending him flying, but it was pinned in mid-air by the crystal coffin woman with a blood butterfly golden needle. When Lu Qingyang fell into the ruins of the Heavenly Punishment Platform, a bronze compass engraved with "Wondrous Hands Empty" rolled out of his embrace—it was the treasure of filthy earth he had pilfered from Yin Jiuyou's Dharma Idol. He kicked away the Xiangliu poisonous mist that rushed to bite him, shouting, "Old Yin, you raise snakes without leashes! If you bite my pant leg, you'll have to buy me a new pair!"
Yin Jiuyou's Filthy Earth Dharma Idol suddenly seemed to be under a stasis spell, completely frozen and unmoving, as if time itself had stopped flowing at that moment. And in the vertical pupil of the seventh snake head, Lu Qingyang's jade pendant on his waist was clearly reflected.
At first glance, this jade pendant seemed ordinary, like a common Kunlun warm jade, emitting a gentle luster. However, in reality, it was a substitute Magical Artifact refined from the Primordial Spirit of the Insect Master Valley's Saintess, its value and power immeasurable.
"What a hypocritical leader of the Righteous Path!" With an angry roar, the snake head suddenly opened its bloody maw, and a black poisonous mist, like a surging torrent, spewed forth from its mouth. This poisonous mist rapidly condensed into talismans and chains, intertwining in the air, as if to tightly bind Lu Qingyang.
"When you massacred the Saintess of my valley, did you ever think that today you would face such karmic retribution?" The snake head's voice was filled with anger and resentment, as if it were the roar of a demon from Hell.
"That's a bit much..." Lu Qingyang rolled to dodge the chains, and suddenly seventy-two Eclipse Pearls shook out from his sleeve. Amidst the clinking of the pearls, he playfully inserted half a broken blade into Xiangliu's inverse scale: "Back then, it was Saintess Jiejie who snuck into my room in the middle of the night, saying she wanted to borrow the Xuan Ming Sword Canon to comprehend for three days—" The chains formed by the poisonous mist suddenly shattered, and he took the opportunity to stuff the Eclipse Pearls into the snake head's wound, "Who knew she wouldn't get out of bed for three days and three nights?"
Deep within the Chaos Sea, a muffled thunder-like roar suddenly resounded, as if the entire world was trembling. This sound was like the roar of an ancient beast, making one's hair stand on end.
At this shocking moment, the First Sword Master's remains actually moved! Its already decayed arm slowly lifted, as if controlled by a mysterious force, and reached straight for Lu Qingyang's glabella.
Lu Qingyang's eyes widened, watching this bizarre scene, completely unable to move. His body seemed to be confined by an invisible heavy pressure, unable to even produce a thought of resistance.
The green jade finger bone, like lightning, instantly pierced through Lu Qingyang's skull. He didn't even have time to let out a scream before he felt a sharp pain from the top of his head, then his vision went black, and he lost consciousness.
However, at the moment the green jade finger bone pierced through his skull, the jade pendant on Lu Qingyang's waist suddenly shattered, turning into a pile of dust. Within this dust, half a yellowed page appeared, densely covered with ancient characters.
This half-page was actually the "Wushan Cloud and Rain Art"! Moreover, this was no ordinary "Wushan Cloud and Rain Art," but the Mind-Cultivation Technique of enlightenment that Lu Qingyang had Cultivated with the Hehuan Sect Saintess by the Rebirth Bridge during his eighth Reincarnation.
"Daoist Lu's habit of stealing hearts and jade hasn't changed in nine lives." The woman in the crystal coffin suddenly chuckled, her voice like a silver bell, clear and pleasant.
Her laughter echoed in the silent Chaos Sea, as if carrying an unspeakable mockery. At the same time, the blood butterflies on her wrist suddenly flapped their wings and flew up, transforming into a red ribbon, like a spiritual snake, tightly coiling around the green jade skeleton.
When the Rebirth Flower petals fell like snowflakes, dropping into the green jade skeleton's eye sockets, a scene was actually reflected in those originally hollow eye sockets.
In the scene, Lu Qingyang, in his third life, in order to save all living beings, resolutely gouged out his own Sword Bone. However, when he was severely injured and on the verge of death, he was squatting on the roof of a brothel, peeking at the courtesan bathing downstairs.
This absurd scene formed a stark contrast with his previous image of sacrificing everything for all living beings, making people sigh that the Karma cycle in this world is truly unpredictable.
Ao Lie's remnant soul, condensed into a red Dragon, suddenly spoke human words: "The Sea-Stabilizing Pearl stolen from the East Sea Dragon Palace back then..." "Ouch!" Lu Qingyang suddenly shattered half a demon-revealing mirror, and the splashing glass shards accurately pierced the red Dragon's inverse scale, "Why bring up old matters? Why not talk about your seventh concubine having an affair with a South Sea clam spirit..." The red Dragon Dharma Idol disintegrated in response, turning into a sky full of starlight that was completely absorbed by the compass in his sleeve.
Yin Jiuyou seized the opportunity, driving the Xiangliu Dharma Idol to pounce. The poisonous mist spewed from the nine snake heads instantly condensed into a giant burial sky coffin. Lu Qingyang, however, unhurriedly pulled out a bellyband embroidered with Hehuan flowers from his embrace, and the Nirvana True Fire igniting on his fingertips instantly burned the bellyband to ashes.
He said with a grin, "Old Yin, do you recognize this thing? Back then, in the underground palace of the Insect Master Valley..." "Shut up!" Yin Jiuyou's face turned green, and the burial sky coffin "whoosh" immediately changed direction, smashing straight towards the crystal coffin. Yin Jiuyou's veins bulged on his forehead, and he roared, "I will definitely refine your soul into a sky lantern today!"
The Rebirth Bridge, which appeared in the Chaos vortex, suddenly trembled, and the bridge surface showed the scene of Lu Qingyang destroying his Dao Seed in his sixth life—at that time, he was pursued by the Queen Mother of the West for secretly drinking the Jade Pond immortal brew, and in his desperation, he crashed into Guanghan Palace, and even stole the Moon Toad kept by Fairy Chang'e. When the bronze guillotine split the Dao Seed's crack, not only did river diagram fragment fall out, but also three strands of green hair entwined with Yin Qi.
"Lu! Qing! Yang!" Su Meiniang's seven-tailed Fox Fire transformed into an immortal binding rope, however, just as it was about to touch his clothes, it was bounced back by a mysterious secret technique. Lu Qingyang, clutching his bulging Storage Pouch, ran and shouted, "Su Jiejie, don't be angry! When I collect nine hundred and ninety-nine strands of Fairy's green hair, I will definitely weave you a super beautiful pillow!"