Chapter 482 - 479 Void Shifting Endless Crisis
Golden Light descended, and Qin Feng felt a chill over his body. He then sensed the streak of Golden Light merge into his heart, transforming into a concealed mark, which even he himself could only vaguely feel after searching thoroughly several times.
In fact, the Guiding Treasure Banner was originally used by Buddhists to guide back the lost Primordial Spirits of Buddha Disciples who had perished outside. Even though Mituom Buddha had refined it over many years, making the Guiding Treasure Banner far more powerful than before, and had paid some price to guide the Physical Bodies of Cultivators with low Dao Cultivation, it was still common to plant the Guiding Golden Light mark within the Cultivator’s Primordial Spirit.
However, Cultivators from various Sects were different from Buddhist Disciples.
Buddhist Disciples were all direct descendants of Mituom Buddha and naturally would not resist their own Buddha’s mark.
But which disciple from the Sects didn’t have secrets, with the vast majority Cultivating their own Sect’s True Inheritance Skill? Those Grandmasters of old didn’t trust Mituom Buddha to implant the Guiding Golden Light mark in their Disciples’ Sea of Consciousness, for if the Buddha harbored other intentions, the consequences would be unpredictable.
Therefore, after multiple consultations, the Great Powers of each Sect were willing to pay some price, asking Mituom Buddha to expend extra effort to plant the mark on the Disciples’ bodies. Although this made guiding them back much less convenient than with the Buddhist Disciples, it gave the Great Powers of the Sects much more peace of mind.
After Mituom Buddha had imprinted the Guiding Golden Light, Grandmaster Ancestor Taixuan slightly raised his head and sent his Divine Thought into the Void, “Please, Daoist Fellow, make yourself known!”
At the fall of his words, the Void’s winds and clouds surged, and then a vast face faintly formed.
That face was as large as mountains, eyes like lakes—though immensely grand, it exuded great compassion, which did not instill fear in others.
“Greetings to Daoist Fellow Spring and Autumn!”
Grandmaster Ancestor Taixuan bowed in salutation.
“Greetings to Spring and Autumn Ancestor!”
The Great Powers of each Sect also paid their respects in turn.
“Disciples pay homage to the Grandmaster!”
“Disciples pay homage to the Ancestor!”
All powerful figures from the Spring and Autumn Academy followed Mountain Master Gongsun Cuo’s lead and bowed deeply.
From afar, Fang Chengqian, Tang Sanyuan, and other disciples of the Spring and Autumn Academy also hurried to perform the ritual, paying homage to the Ancestor!
Disciples from various Sects participating in the trial also did not dare to be negligent—this was Spring and Autumn Ancestor, who merged with the Heavenly Union Dao, who would dare show disrespect?
From the highest skies, Spring and Autumn Ancestor’s vast face gazed down, and his mouth slightly moved, immediately a voice filled with the authority of the Heavenly Dao rang out, “My Daoist friends, no need for excessive formalities, have you come to me regarding the trial?”
“Indeed!”
Grandmaster Ancestor Taixuan nodded slightly, “We have already chosen the Disciples to venture into Otherworld trials. However, that is ultimately a High Rank World, fraught with danger. We ask you, Daoist Fellow, to help suppress the unique aura of Biluo on these Disciples’ bodies, making it convenient for me to send them into these worlds. It will also help them act in the Otherworld without being detected for their different Life aura by existences with special Divine Power Principles.”
“Agreed!”
Spring and Autumn Ancestor consented.
With his consent, all Disciples set for the trial trembled abruptly, as if an unfathomable energy coursed into their bodies, yet no matter how they tried to feel it, they detected no trace.
Clearly, their Cultivation Realms were simply too low to comprehend just how formidable an existence Spring and Autumn Ancestor, who had merged with the Heavenly Union Dao, was.
The Heavenly Dao is omnipresent and ever-existing. After merging with the Heavenly Union Dao, Spring and Autumn Ancestor truly achieved a state where his words manifested as Law; he didn’t even need to speak, a mere thought would suffice to achieve what many Great Powers could not.
“Well done!”
Grandmaster Ancestor Taixuan, seeing this, nodded in approval, and then said, “I ask you, Daoist Fellow, to open the Heavenly Dao Barrier. I need to make a journey into the Void!”
Spring and Autumn Ancestor said nothing more, but high above, the Boundary Barrier guarding the Biluo Great World suddenly opened a rift. Everyone could clearly see that outside the world, a ferocious Void Storm was raging with astonishing power.
However, with Spring and Autumn Ancestor present, even though a rift had opened in the world’s Boundary Barrier, the Void Storm could not blow in even a fraction, thus the world within was unaffected.
“My Daoist friends, wait but a moment; I shall return shortly!”
With that, Grandmaster Ancestor Taixuan suddenly flared his wide sleeves, gathering all Disciples ready for the trial from each Sect within, and with one stride, stepped out of the world’s interior to the Void. The raging Void Storms subsided in an instant with his arrival.
Grandmaster Ancestor Taixuan then took another step, and space seemed to fold; with just a single step, he had traversed billions of miles. From afar, the Biluo Great World appeared as an endlessly vibrant azure disk suspended in the Void.
Within a few steps, the silhouette of the Biluo Great World vanished behind Grandmaster Ancestor Taixuan.
As the foremost being of Biluo and highest in Dao Cultivation, Grandmaster Ancestor Taixuan had reached a state where he could traverse the Cosmic Void and journey to myriad worlds at will.
Such an existence was not too far from the realm where one survives countless calamities, and even the collapse of the universe could not bring about their demise.
Of course, at such a level, further progress was tremendously difficult. Without sufficient fortune, even waiting until the universe’s great collapse might not assure reaching a higher realm.
Qin Feng and the others felt as if they were in a vast Cave Heaven World, lying in a soft place, completely oblivious to the passage of Time and undetectable to the shifts in Space.
Indeed, it was because Grandmaster Ancestor Taixuan’s speed was too fast; with a single step, he could cover billions of miles. Although he did his utmost to protect these minor Cultivators with low Dao Cultivation, they inevitably suffered some adverse reactions, resulting in their grogginess, unaware of their whereabouts.
“Go!”
A voice, impossible to resist, echoed from above, and immediately, some of the people vanished into thin air.
Although Qin Feng and the others were in a state of mental fuzziness, they knew that those individuals had been surreptitiously transported into a higher realm by the Grandmaster Ancestor Taixuan.
Following that, there was a period of silence, and after that, groups of cultivators were sent away batch by batch.
Grandmaster Ancestor Taixuan was equitable in sending people away, roughly dividing the disciples of each sect so that the disciples of every sect could be as evenly distributed across the various worlds as possible.
For example, there were nine disciples from Taiyi Mountain participating in the trial. Grandmaster Ancestor Taixuan would send two into each world, and as for the last remaining one, they would enter a world on their own.
After all, whether they could seize opportunity or uncover enough secret intelligence completely depended on themselves. If they collaborated with peers from the same sect, how to divide the achievement would become a problem; therefore, the number of sect-members in the same world didn’t make much difference.
Although a great force like the Spring and Autumn Academy would send twenty to thirty disciples into each world, they might not necessarily choose to work together, as dividing the merits at the end would be tricky, unless they had made an agreement beforehand to place all the achievements on one person, thereby seizing a trial spot!
However, this situation was basically unlikely to occur, because any high-rank world was boundless, and with the disciples’ cultivation level, it was improbable they could traverse all places within ten years, so whether they had the chance to meet at all was hard to tell, not to mention working together.
As for long-distance communication, if they were too far apart, it would also be very troublesome.
Furthermore, to avoid the possibility of one disciple’s accident implicating others, many sects wouldn’t prepare such a Spirit Treasure Jade Talisman that could sense each other over millions of miles, otherwise, once someone used the talisman to trace them down, they would only become prisoners.
There was even a chance that those great world powers might learn of the Biluo Great World’s intentions beforehand, not only putting the sect disciples in danger, but also possibly causing Biluo’s entire plan to fail!
“Awaken!”
In his dazed state, Qin Feng heard Grandmaster Ancestor Taixuan’s voice.
The voice of Grandmaster Ancestor Taixuan reached directly into the deepest part of his Sea of Consciousness, and even though his mind was groggy, he immediately became alert.
However, the moment he opened his eyes, he quickly closed them again.
The scene in front of him was changing so rapidly that it made him feel dizzy.
He didn’t know how much time had passed before he suddenly felt weightless, and his entire body began to rapidly fall downwards.
At the same time, he sensed the sound of the wind, feeling the fluctuations of Spiritual Energy in the air.
He knew he must have been sent inside a high-rank world by Grandmaster Ancestor Taixuan.
Before he could even open his eyes to take a glance at the world, there was a loud thud, as if he had broken several tree branches, followed by his whole body plummeting straight into the water.
Startled by the cool lake water, Qin Feng instantly became much clearer in mind.
He opened his eyes, intending to survey his surroundings, but suddenly a huge figure appeared in front of him, with a gaping mouth full of sharp teeth rapidly charging towards him, clearly mistaking him for a meal, intent on enjoying a delicious feast of flesh and blood.
Qin Feng felt that he wasn’t in very good condition, and adding to the fact that he didn’t know what the situation was like here, if he happened to be in a water world and carelessly killed a monster that shouldn’t be killed, causing untold monsters to attack, it would be troublesome.
So, his figure flickered, and while enduring a headache, he engaged the Water Escape Divine Power and instantly transformed into a stream of water, disappearing without a trace.
Although the Azure Dragon Daoist Body belonged to the wood attribute, it was a Technique that could transform into a True Dragon, and the Dragon Clan was innately endowed with the Water Manipulation Divine Power, so when his Azure Dragon Daoist Body was cultivated, he had grasped this Water Escape Divine Power.
Qin Feng had escaped, and the monster with the fierce teeth naturally bit into empty water, appearing puzzled as it shook its head, turned in circles on the spot, seriously doubting if it had just seen things. After a long while, it swam away with curious thoughts toward the distance.
Qin Feng, having used Water Escape, surged upward with the current.
With a splash, he shot out from the water, soaring two or three hundred zhang high before halting to survey the surroundings.
It wasn’t that he needed to fly so high, but rather the trees around the lake were too tall, and without going that high, it was difficult for him to see beyond the treetops.
He found himself within an endless forest, and even with Qin Feng’s vision, he could not see the end of it.
However, looking at the giant trees around the lake, Qin Feng couldn’t help but wonder.
These trees were peculiarly tall; if there were only a few, that would be one thing, but from what he could see, even the most ordinary trees were dozens of zhang tall, with some so large they blotted out the sun, resembling hills.
Even many of the wild grasses grew taller than any he had seen before, and there were thick vines as bulky as pythons, which were daunting to behold.
“What kind of place is this?” Qin Feng pondered in confusion, where even weeds grew taller than houses?
Moreover, the place gave him an incredibly dangerous feeling, as if endless peril lurked within the forest that surrounded him.
Before he could settle his nerves, he suddenly heard a strange noise from afar.
The sound of plants being trampled, large trees being toppled; it seemed as though some massive beast was charging recklessly, emerging from the forest.
Just as Qin Feng shifted his gaze in that direction, his expression changed drastically, and he saw a massive Stone Spear flying towards him from the distance.
The Spear was ten zhang long and as thick as a python. Despite its rugged appearance, the Spear was wielding an incomparable force as it pierced through the void, heading straight for him with fierce momentum!