It was as though Zhao Xiaoyu felt Shen Lian’s emotion, “Shen Lian, if you refuse to come along and decided to leave like my Senior Apprentice-Sister, I wouldn’t be able to do anything. However, you are here now. I will not hurt you, but I hope that you can recognize the situation and be my Nine Lotus Protector. If you can go through Huandan, we can even be Daoist partners who look out for each other. Together, we can cruise on top of the masses,” she said.
Shen Lian laughed gently after hearing what Zhao Xiaoyu said, “I’m surprised that you have thoughts like these. I must admit that I’m flustered. However, I’m funny that way, I hate being forced to do something against my will,” he said.
The Empress fell into silence because she was caught by intangible force of the space all around. However, she looked very calm for someone who was in a precarious position.
‘Will not be angered when faced with unreasonable insults, will not panic when met with sudden misfortune’, this was a quality that someone like her must be equipped with.
However, her confidence in her supernatural power was the reason why she was caught in a precarious position now; she failed to take the different spells in the world and its endless mystical items seriously.
“Shen Lian, you can’t be thinking that I’m talking big and would be straining myself if I were to deal with both of you at the same time?” Zhao Xiaoyu sighed purposefully and replied. Her eyes were smiling slightly, but it did not look like she was very happy with herself. Shen Lian knew all too well that this person had no real emotions, but she was not a liar.
Let it be, human or objects, they were all tools in her eyes; the only difference would be whether they were useful or not.
This was not contradictory to her fresh aura; because she did not care, which was why she was not bothered by the worries of the secular world.
Shen Lian sighed in his heart. This person had a steady heart of Dao, and was born to pursue Dao. If she did not choose the path of Shen and had joined an authentic Xuanmen instead, with her moral nature harmonized and without blockage, she would have attained at least the Seven Transformations of Huandan; she had a good chance at breaking through the Absurd State and attain longevity.
All of a sudden, the divine lights shone in the space. The Empress was at the heart of it. She was on fire and shone as bright as the moon and the sun. Zhao Xiaoyu reacted – she knew that the Empress was cultivating some sort of ancient occult technique and had modified her physical body. However, she did not expect her physical body to be so brutal, to the extent that it could resist the bondage of the force of the space.
The ancient humans knew not about the cultivation of Qi but only the cultivation of body. Some cultivators found out that through preserving the body against aging and death, longevity and great supernatural power that allowed for one to shoulder the mountains and to chase after the moon could be obtained. Cultivation of Qi became more popular, and the ultimate Dharma in relation to the cultivation of body was lost. Only traces of it could be observed in the martial arts techniques today. Though most of it had been modified by the cultivator of Qi, and its end result was the amalgamation of two techniques.
After all, if one were to walk on the path of Dao with a body that neither age nor decay, there was still a risk of being murdered by vicious cultivators, or even have one’s body taken by them. More importantly, cultivating both paths at the same time was not only inefficient; it was a waste of both time and effort as well.
As the ancient saying goes, all kind of spells, endless ingenious Dao, one only ask – will that help me attain longevity?
This pointed to the essence of cultivation; despite being at the pinnacle of martial art attainment, it was hard to find a rival. This was not better than living happily for eternity.
This was why most cultivators stopped cultivating their body at a certain point.
The Empress wore her crown high, and her presence peaked. There seemed to be an ancient and strong Daoist look behind her. It was an oddly ancient face that wore a high hat and clothed in loose clothing, akin to that of a scholar, as though it could break through all the restraints.
Even when faced with such strong presence, Zhao Xiaoyu remained calm and collected. “So you have been cultivating the Indestructible Immortal Body,” she said calmly.
The space vibrated and the force of the intangible force of the space got more brutal. Zhao Xiaoyu formed a few marks of lotus. The white lotus blossoms shone brightly and floated next to the Empress; for every white lotus blossom that was eliminated, the divine light shrouding the Empress got thinner by a layer.
This was the “White Lotus Extermination of Life Technique”, it melted away the Qi of the spirit, akin to cutting away one’s flesh with a soft knife.
Shen Lian could feel the increase in Zhao Xiaoyu’s attacks at the Empress, the space surrounding him seemed to be thinner, but the binding force of the force of the space remained. It was as though he was caught in mud that he could never escape from. Shen Lian felt the operation of the mana within him slowed down.
Three Blood Talismans appeared on Shen Lian’s hand. They were lighted without wind. The lightning exploded and twinkled, and the howl of the wind followed. There were dust and smoke all around.
As Zhao Xiaoyu formed marks of lotus with her hand, she glanced towards Shen Lian. She could not help but to exclaim, “What a great Fa An San Cai.”
The three Blood Talismans triggered the force of the heaven and earth, and each of it represented wind, thunder, and earth. The collision of wind and thunder generated a great force; with earth as the cardinal, the foul Qi of the howling wind and the electrifying thunder was isolated, which protected him from being hurt. Zhao Xiaoyu saw Shen Lian’s move, and she did not panic. She looked quite casual and even detached.
The white lotus blossoms kept floating towards the Empress.
However, the moment she glanced at Shen Lian, the pressure exerted by the surrounding force of the space increased tremendously. The force of the wind and the thunder, the weight of the solid earth, all of them were extinguished right at that moment. Shen Lian was caught in an inescapable doom, and it was not because that he could not rival Zhao Xiaoyu. It was just that in this space created by the Divine Soil, Zhao Xiaoyu was akin to a deity. The restriction faced by cultivators such as Shen Lian was even harsher, as they relied on Daoist techniques and Talismans, and there was a limit as to how much external Qi of heaven and earth they could draw on.
Divine Soil was rare, and Zhao Xiaoyu might not even have more of it. It seemed that she understood this herself, and since Shen Lian was here, she might as well conquer him. She could use him as her King of Protectors. She did not fear Shen Lian for the fact that he was the disciples of Qing Xuan, one of the four main Daoist sects. When she defeated the Empress and took over her position, she would be worshipped by the masses, and there was a high chance that she could get a lot closer to the pinnacle of the Nine Lotus Great Spell, and might even be able to attain the inextinguishable divine aura. Besides Changsheng Zhenren and the likes of land immortals, most people would not stand a chance to defeat her.
This was the scary part about the path of Shen; upon the satisfaction of the pre-requisites, with agreeable temperament, one could reach the pinnacle with just one step.
Shen Lian could hear his bones bursting loudly and his blood getting sluggish; even the three Blood Talismans could not get him out of this. As Zhao Xiaoyu increased the pressure on his side of the space, Shen Lian took advantage of the timing to release three of the Blood Talismans. With his absolute spirit, he forcibly operated the mana all over him to rush into his cinnabar fields.
It was as though the mana seeds of the Taixu Strategy had found its oasis in a desert, and grew at a shocking pace. The mana in his body turned into the eight mana of red, orange, yellow, white, green, blue, green, purple, black at an unimaginable speed.
The Taixu mana was like a whale draining the water and was excited by the turn of events. The conflict between the eight Qi got stronger, but the strong external pressure helped him to suppress the Taixu mana within him. Shen Lian’s spirit stayed put at the bier, and did not bother itself with the mana within the body, and the intense pressure exerted by the space continued.
The conflict between the blood, flesh, and mana continued.
Taixu mana was birthed because of Shen Lian, and if Shen Lian were to perish, they would return to the heaven and earth and dispersed into nothingness.
Maybe at some point, the pain faced by Shen Lian was more intense than what he faced back at the River of Spirits. He shouldered all of them nonetheless. He did not know how his Senior Apprentice-Sister Gu Caiwei and the rest of the predecessor of Taixu overcame this conflict; Shen Lian did not ponder upon it.