Song Qingyi felt refreshing the moment Shen Lian stepped ahead and drew his sword. He felt like while the person was still Shen Lian, the feeling he gave had changed from a small flowing stream to a gushing river. There was no transition and it was not something people could get used to.
When the sword aura was let out with a high level of Qi, the breath of the Mirage Demon all in a sudden became a deep valley. All the sword aura, including the Qi of vitality was absorbed into the valley.
Even before Shen Lian’s Qi of Taixu could explode, it was all darkness, as if he was situated in the outer space without the universe.
There was not a sound. He realize he could not breathe as there was no Qi of vitality available to him.
If one was trapped in a small dark room without doing anything for one or two days, the person would go crazy. Regardless of how brave the person was, if one were trapped in pure darkness with no end or exit in sight, it was similar to being trapped in a small dark room.
Fear would arise, and it would then spread until the heart could no longer take it. It would all go down.
Shen Lian flicked his fingers, and a green spell broke out. It kept pushing forward until it disappeared. There was not any response. Subsequently Shen Lian flicked out an electricity ray, with the intention to break out of the darkness, but the ray, too, disappeared in the darkness.
He used each of the eight powers – sky, earth, mountain, swamp, water, fire, wind, lightning and they were banished one by one. There was nothing he could do to change the darkness in the void. He could not even feel the breath of the king of Mirage Demon, or even his own.
He was calm in his thoughts. Given the king of Mirage Demon could set up such a terrifying void, it was not a surprise that Chen Jianmei could not kill it. It had the level of land immortals.
However, it did not seem to be that way. Even if the Nirvana Fire of the phoenix could lead to its reborn with a stronger vitality, it would not lead to a leap in power.
By understanding that, Shen Lian’s meridians became unobstructed.
He could understand the reason why none of his spells worked. Even for an ant placed in something as vast as the sea, it would be able to evoke a ripple.
It would only be possible if everything in front of him was imaginary. Imaginary led to the void, and subsequently emptiness.
Every hallucination stemmed from the heart and hence it was possible to create anything.
Even the king of Mirage Demon could not escape from his heart in order to create such a great illusion.
Shen Lian smiled, and his expressions were calmer. All of a sudden, his Xuande sword had transformed into a Ruyi jade. Nothing seemed out of place.
He began to be illuminated with divine light – he turned into an unknown deity, whose name was not known to any since ancient times.
Divine light spread out like water, but it did not seem to just end there.
Inch by inch the void dissipated, and there was no opposition to it. While it seemed that he was trapped in the void for a long time, but it was a short moment to the outside world.
The Mastery of Senses could help him in keeping thoughts in check, and naturally it could help with hallucination. The deity formed was even more horrifying than he imagined it to be. Enormous power was hidden within the plain and unassuming divine light.
The world regained light again. Shen Lian could see clearly that the Mirage Demon had left the Indus tree. The head which was akin to a lizard was coming towards him in an attempt to bite him.
When the thick and dark matter dissipated, even the king of Mirage Demon appeared to be stunned. It did not expect Shen Lian could escape so soon.
Song Qingyi kept the talisman he was holding in his hand.
One could only see the flash of a golden sword. Shen Lian stood under the Indus tree and the king of Mirage Demon was already cut into half. It struggled for a while on the floor, then turned into smoke and dissipated into heaven and earth.
Shen Lian drew his Xuande sword. The golden glow blended with the Qing Guang. It was the nirvana fire. The sword did not catch fire. Shen Lian could hear the wind whizz through the Nine Heavens.
A smile rose from deep down his heart. It was the first time he felt the joy of rebirth. It was akin to the first bloom of flower after the end of winter.
The Qi within the Xuande sword started to vibrate for unknown reasons. All the remaining fire on the Indus tree was absorbed into the sword.
As the fire disappeared, the Indus tree began to shrink. In the end it was only the height of half a human. It still let out a strong fire and wood spiritual power.
Spiritual power tended to refer to the supernatural power in heaven and earth, for instances, the Qi of vitality, or the power of cultivators, or even the power of the common belief. Spiritual power could be further split into five elements – metal, wood, water, fire and earth. Every power in the world belonged to the five elements.
Song Qingyi walked towards him and said, “I did not know you are carrying an item of Gong De. It is fortunate that there was not much of the Nirvana Fire left, and hence you were able to absorb it.”
Shen Lian replied, “I did not intend to hide anything from you.”
Song Qingyi said in a leisure manner, “Do you think I will be angry about it? You have your own reasons and I am not that petty. I am just a bit confused.”
He laughed when he said the word ‘confused’.
Shen Lian could tell he was being honest, and he felt that Song Qingyi was someone worth befriending. Because of that, he felt even guiltier because he did not present himself with honesty.
The stars remained the same. They met, and they parted. Song Qingyi took the Indus tree with him. It was not because they now had a barrier between them, but as the Indus tree would be useful to Song Qingyi for his cultivation, he would stay there to cultivate for at least a few days.
Shen Lian needed not to worry about Song Qingyi’s safety the moment he saw the formation of three Dao soldiers formed by three soybeans. The spiritual pressure of the soldiers was compatible to those cultivators who had reached the stage of Qiaodong. He could tell that nobody could do anything to him below the stage of Huandan.
He had a few hundred beans in his pocket.
They were made by first applying the spells on the beans. According to rumors, with Lu Jiuyuan’s power, the soldiers formed by such spells could have the level of Powang.
If there were thousands or hundreds of such Dao cultivators, if they all attained longevity, it would be something terrifying.
Shen Lian walked steadily out of the desert, stomping every step firmly into the ground. The cold wind did not settle down. Occasionally there was the howling of the wolf pack, but when Shen Lian walked past the pack, none of the wolves realized his presence.
He further constricted his breath to the extent that not even wolves can detect it.
Furthermore, he had completely eliminated the sound from his movement.