Chapter Five Hundred and Thirty Four – Lantern Fire Buddhist Boundary
Everyone travelled quickly through the ice mist. The mist people were born living in the ice mist and had methods to freely move within it.
Zuo Mo could see some hints as to what method they used. The mist people beside him formed thin ice mist shield. These rhombus ice mist shields allowed them to skate through the ice mist.
Zuo Mo’s mind shifted. He consciously started to mimic the mist people. He was unable to manipulate the ice mist but he had other methods. At the beginning, he failed completely, but as the number of failures increased, Zuo Mo slowly found the method.
At the beginning, he used ling power, but he quickly found that ling power was expended quickly. Then he switched to spiritual consciousness, it was also expended quickly. In the end, he found that shen power was the most effective and its expenditure was almost negligible. However, it was much harder to control shen power than ling power and spiritual consciousness. Zuo Mo could only barely maintain it.
Wei Sheng quickly noticed what Zuo Mo was doing. With a glance, he understood. Wei Sheng was extremely intelligent and his skill in sword essence very high. He was not a jack of all trades like Zuo Mo and quickly grasped the trick. He used the sword essence to form a rhombus shield around him and his speed suddenly increased!
Wei Sheng’s display stunned Bing Yao and the others.
Bing Yao suddenly snorted coldly. “In the front, I’ve found him!”
———
Ding Zhen suddenly had a feeling of danger. He stopped in his steps, his expression changed abruptly, as he shouted at the trio of disciples, “Quick, run!”
The trio stilled and their faces paled. They were not slow in their reaction, turning and then running in three different directions!
There were sounds of rustling.
Three blue lights flew out of the ice mist and accurately struck the three disciples. Blue ice mist spread at a visible rate. Their terrified expressions froze on their faces as they turned into ice statues.
Pia pia pia!
The three ice statues smashed to the ground and instantly shattered.
Ding Zhen glared angrily, his eyes bloodshot. However, he did not counter-attack and shot towards the ice mist!
His heart was full of shock. He had to pass this news back to the sect! There was a mist people tribe of such scale!
“Want to run?” Bing Yao’s face was full of murderousness. With a cold snort, he pointed at the ice mist.
Hiss hiss!
Two light sounds hissed like poisonous snakes as the the mist shifted.
Two thin strands of ice mist shot towards Ding Zhen. Two burning rays of blue light penetrated Ding Zhen’s body in an instant.
Yet Bing Yao’s expression suddenly changed slightly.
Ding Zhen’s figure slowly faded within the ice mist until it disappeared. What had been penetrated was just his after-image!
“Everyone, step back!” Bing Yao suddenly said.
The mist people retreated like the tide leaving Bing Yao to stand at the front. Zuo Mo and the others also retreated to one side but Zuo Mo was more thoughtful. Zuo Mo and his group retreated to the flanks to prevent the other from running away.
Ding Zhen’s figure slowly appeared. He stared tightly at Bing Yao and slowly spoke, “I had not expected to encounter ancient descendants. Ding Zhen is very fortunate!”
Bing Yao was unaffected and said coldly, “Why have you trespassed into our restricted lands?”
“Restricted lands?” Ding Zhen’s eyelids jumped, “So that object is on your hands!”
“That object?” Bing Yao’s gaze focused.
“Haha,” Ding Zhen smiled faintly, “Do not waste words. I see that all the people here only you are close to me in strength. It will depend solely on Sir’s strength if you can keep me here.”
Bing Yao did not speak. He spread his arms, his fingers spread wide. Ten blue rays of light dangled from his fingertips like ten blue threads of light.
Ding Zhen’s talisman was extremely unique. It was the wooden fish [1] he usually used when chanting. The wooden fish was completely black and covered in miniscule vermillion sutra characters. The wooden mallet was also filled with squiggly sutra characters.
The moment Ding Zhen took out the wooden fish, Zuo Mo and the others changed expression!
Seventh-grade talisman!
This was definitely a seventh-grade talisman!
It was not surprising that Ding Zhen had a seventh-grade talisman. No one would believe that a yuanying xiuzhe from Xuan Kong Temple would not have a seventh-grade talismans. Zuo Mo and the others knew the power of a seventh grade talisman. Zong Ru’s prayer wheel was a seventh-grade talisman.
Both were seventh-grade talismans but the power they had in the hands of jindan and yuanying was drastically different. Seventh-grade talismans were the top talismans jindan could use and due to limitations in cultivation, jindan xiuzhe usually could only express twenty percent of a seventh-grade talisman’s potential, the great majority could only use one-tenth. Yuanying xiuzhe could use all the potential of a seventh-grade talisman.
The strength of a xiuzhe depended on many factors. Ling power, the quality of the spell cultivated, the depth of personal understanding, talismans etc, but the chasm in power between yuanying and jindan was one that was uncrossable. No matter in what skill, yuanying xiuzhe had an absolute advantage.
So when he saw the wooden fish that Ding Zhen took out was a seventh-grade talisman, Zuo Mo instantly had a bad feeling.
The destruction that a yuanying xiuzhe pushed to the edge could release … …
Looking at Ding Zhen that was holding the wooden fish and mallet with a grave expression, Zuo Mo could only hope that Bing Yao would be able to withstand the attack.
Yuanying was still something that made him feel unconfident … …
Zuo Mo tried to keep his expression calm but Wei Sheng and Zong Ru were full of fighting spirit.
Ding Zhen sat down on the ground as though he was not surrounded. He put the wooden fish next to him, his head bent low and his eyes looked down as he started to drum against the fish and chant.
Bom bom bom!
The sounds from the wooden fish seemed to come from the ancient temples in deep valleys and were just faintly discernable.
The light in the surroundings slowly dimmed. The blueness of the ice mist in their view was consumed by a darkness. Figures seemed to walk out of the darkness and solidify. Those were dhyana xiu half-dressed in monk robes with exposed shoulders. These figures did not seem to see Zuo Mo’s group, and bent at their waists. A dot of candle light lit up in empty space.
The dhyana xiu continued to bend down, and ignite candle fires.
The dots of candle fire lit up one after another, swaying like the stars in the sky.
Waves of Buddhist song came from the figures candle lights.
Zuo Mo’s face was full of astonishment. Wei Sheng tightly gripped the black sword as excitement pulsed furiously in his eyes. He murmured to himself, “Is this the true [Boundary]?”
“Boundary?” Zuo Mo recovered from his shock. Hearing this, he was stunned. “He’s a sword xiu?”
Zuo Mo only knew that Boundary was a high level of sword essence. Eldest Shixiong had reached the edge of comprehending it.
“Not a sword xiu,” Wei Sheng’s burning gaze did not move as he said gravely, “No matter if it is sword xiu, seal xiu, dhyana xiu, when they cultivate to a certain stage, the paths all merge together with the comprehension of [Boundary]!”
Zong Ru explained at this time, “The dhyana xiu call this the [Great Freedom].” His tone exposed his longing. His comprehension ability was not as high as Wei Sheng. Even though he possessed the rare wish power, his level was not high and he had not reached the stage of [Boundary] yet.
Zuo Mo did not blush at his own ignorance of cultivation. He rubbed his chin and asked, “Is this an illusion? This thieving baldy is skilled in illusory spells, we almost got tricked on the way here!”
“It is not an illusory art.” Wei Sheng shook his head and struggled, “I do not know how to explain but he is very powerful. We need to be careful.”
“A yuanying thieving baldy is still a yuanying!” Zuo Mo agreed.
“No, that is not what I mean.” Wei Sheng shook his head again. “[Boundary] is a dividing line. There is a world of a difference between those who have and have not comprehended it. [Boundary] is related to comprehension but not cultivation. Not all yuanying can comprehend [Boundary]!”
Zuo Mo instantly became nervous. “Eldest Shixiong is saying this thieving baldy is a high level thieving baldy among the yuanying thieving baldies?”
Wei Sheng had a conflicted expression. “No and yes… the implications to our situation are about the same.”
“How many rounds can we survive against him?” Zuo Mo decided to ask a very pragmatic question.
“I don’t know.” Wei Sheng shook his head. “We may not even be able to stand up against one move. Shidi, your … …” When he said this, Wei Sheng had a wary expression. He instantly halted and then said indistinctly, “That strange … … I don’t understand much of it.”
Hearing this, Zuo Mo instantly understood. Even though Wei Sheng did not state it clearly, what he meant was that the possibility they wouldn’t last one move was very high. He instantly said weakly, “Why don’t we hide behind Big Brother Bing Yao? It seems that Big Brother Bing Yao is very powerful.”
Bing Yao was standing in a patch of figures and candlelights without any trace of panic on his face. The ten hair-thin blue rays of light floated in the air. They continuously grew. The other ends of the rays reached deep into the darkness and the end could not be seen.
It was clear this was a battle of a higher level, one that surpassed the abilities of Zuo Mo and the others.
Ding Zhen’s light sigh came from the sea of candlelight, “A branch of the ancients is as wondrous as expected! This one’s Lantern Light Buddhist Boundary is not completely successful. Powerful!”
The ground under Bing Yao’s feet was covered with faint blue ice mist in a radius of one zhang. The blue light that it released was abnormally eye-catching against this black sea of candlelight.
Bing Yao’s expression was cold but a hint of admiration flashed through his eyes. “If we were not in the ice mist, I am not a match for you.”
His expression suddenly turned stern as the blue light flashed through his eyes. “But right now, die!”
His hands spread, the ten blue strands of light suddenly brightened and flying into the air!
Innumerable blue threads of light swept through the candlelight sea and the dhyana xiu that were igniting candles.
Everywhere the lights passed an extremely cold frost spread in all directions.
The candle lights that were swept by the blue light did not extinguish. They seemed to stop as though they were frozen. The white frost that came after the lights spread onto the surfaces of the flames. The frost then thickened and encased and sealed the candle lights.
The glowing ice crystals were regular cubes. At the center of each cube was a frozen candle light. The light it released refracted within the cube, becoming bright and eerie.
The ice crystals that sealed the candle lights floated in the air like stars.
Ding Zhen’s brows moved, his expression becoming even more dignified and authoritative.
The red squiggly sutra characters on the wooden fish and mallet seemed to come alive and slowly move.
Suddenly, a golden sutra character flew out of the mouth of the wooden fish. Then a stream of golden sutra characters flew out of the wooden fish into the air.
In a flash, the sky was filled with gold and glimmering sutra characters!
A sutra character floated past Zong Ru, Eyes closed, Zong Ru’s body shuddered violently, and a shocked expression rose on his face!
[1]A wooden fish, Muyu or Mokugyo, is a wooden percussion instrument used by monks during rituals involving the recitation of sutras, mantras, or other Buddhist texts.
Translator Ramblings: Thank you guys for picking out typos. I’ve been busy the two weeks and I’m going to be super busy in the next two to three.
We get an introduction to a new level of understanding. The footnote came courtesy of your wonderful editor.