Chapter 527: Sky Leak and Ocean Rise

Chapter 527: The Sky Leaks, the Seas Rise

Li Xizhi’s heart swelled with emotion at once; he parted his lips, then simply pulled her into his embrace and spoke in a soft, warm tone:

“Xiao’er, without you, I would have perished in that sea long ago…”

His gentle, soft words made Yang Xiao’er break into a sweet smile at once; she looped her slender hands around his neck, nestled into his bosom, and whispered:

“Don’t say such things… Do not blame my family for failing to send word to warn you… After all, the Purple Mansion has just suffered a death, and several of my brothers have been reassigned…”

Li Xizhi shook his head and hastily admonished her:

“This matter is most likely the doing of the Chi clan; we must not breathe a word of it, as if it never happened. That is why I found an excuse to come to this Forging Mountain…”

He recounted the entire sequence of events in detail, omitting the thing in his dantian. Yang Xiao’er, being inherently quick-witted, understood clearly and nodded:

“Very well, I understand.”

After the two spoke at length, they suddenly felt the mountain beneath their feet tremble; white mist rose in the sky, shrouded the clouds, and twisted into all manner of illusions.

White flower petals drifted down wreathed in smoke, making the clinking sound of jade beads; a cool, calm voice drifted over, as if emerging from the void—neither too loud nor too soft, settling precisely by their ears.

“This seat is Shangyuan. Today, I attain the Dao in the Northern Sea, achieve the ‘Jade True Six-Nine Unified Void Nature,’ and ascend to the rank of True Monarch…”

Though the voice was not forceful, it made the two rise to their feet, their faces drained of color in shock; the couple exchanged a glance and hastily bowed:

“We offer our distant congratulations to True Monarch Shangyuan, True Monarch of the Jade True Six-Nine Unified Void…”

As the two offered their distant felicitations, a scene of bowed congratulations unfolded across the heavens and earth; at this moment, not only did all manner of humans and demons on the entire Forging Mountain bow with solemnity, but also all cultivation-bearing beings in the inner seas and the Four Seas looked up and respectfully offered their congratulations.

“He truly has become a True Monarch…”

Li Xizhi sighed softly, his heart stirring with emotion; radiant light welled up in his hands, and he still felt a touch of disbelief. When he turned to look at Yang Xiao’er, she too wore a look of shock.

In these years, there had been no shortage of True Persons attempting to break through to the Golden Core realm—needless to say, Chi Wei and Duanmu Kui of his own Yue Kingdom, but also humans and demons from the Wu Kingdom and the overseas realms had tried, yet none had succeeded.

Even Dongfang You, a descendant of the Dragon Lord with a terrifyingly profound accumulation of power, still failed in his breakthrough, exploding into a towering black cloud in a grand, tragic display.

Though Shangyuan had long been regarded as the foremost figure of the Purple Mansion, and the number of people who went to witness his ceremony was the largest in these years, over the years, countless others had held the title of the Purple Mansion’s foremost figure. That he actually succeeded in his breakthrough in the end still came as a surprise.

Li Xizhi was a disciple of the Green Pond Immortal Peak and was on the verge of becoming its peak lord; he had some understanding of the Purple Mansion and the Golden Core realm.

The path of the Golden Core forges a golden nature, and even attaining a celestial position makes one an extraordinary existence. To write of it casually would offend the True Monarchs, so the sect has no detailed records of it—most of what is known is hearsay.

Once one attains the Golden Core, one’s golden nature persists in the world; one’s physical body lasts a thousand years, and one’s soul even persists through reincarnations, bordering on immortality and indestructibility. Each Golden Core corresponds to a celestial position in the heavens and earth, and to claim that position is to wield the powers of an immortal.

He mused to himself:

“I’ve heard that the Jade True position is vacant. Does that mean that with this breakthrough, True Monarch Shangyuan can claim that position and become the Lord of the Jade True?”

“True Person Shangyuan has always hated evil as much as he hates his own enemies. How can the Buddhist cultivators of the North tolerate him… Among the Seven Paths, the Path of Wrath has fallen into decline, and at least three of the remaining six paths hate him bitterly…”

Li Xizhi looked northward; a bright, glistening comet fell from the sky, streaking along the vault of heaven all the way north before plunging into the Northern Sea.

No sooner had the comet fallen than the White Star flickered, like an eye opening and closing repeatedly at a rapid pace; turquoise light flowed across the sky, seeming to churn with intense strife.

His eyes blurred, and he felt as if he were half-asleep and half-awake, unable to distinguish the scene before him—until the talisman seed in his dantian flickered faintly, sending a surge of pure qi into his mind, and he gradually came to his senses.

“Golden Core cultivators are fighting!”

Bolstered by this pure qi, he could roughly make out the scenes in the distance; after only a few breaths, the stars in the sky reversed their positions, and another star blazed brightly, emitting a hue of white tinged with red.

Li Xizhi stared intently for a while, but he had never seen this star before; glancing at the celestial divisions, he saw that three auxiliary stars trailed behind it, only one of which was lit.

“One of the three…”

Thanks to the talisman seed in his body, Li Xizhi was not overwhelmed by the distant aura; he raced against time to commit the scene to memory, and caught a glimpse of a massive figure flickering in the distance—seeming to have six arms and wielding a lotus-shaped magical artifact.

“Could that be a Buddhist cultivator…”

But the figure flickered only once before turquoise light flared, the comet plummeted, the red-white star burned hot, and brown light flowed; the six-armed figure deflated at once and exploded into a shower of golden qi that filled the sky.

The comet’s light was extremely intense, as if it were seething with rage; it even scoured away all the golden qi spreading across the sky. The various lights tangled, and the mountain beneath their feet trembled once more.

When Li Xizhi saw this, even with the pure qi preserving his consciousness, his eyes ached so fiercely that tears streamed down his face; fearing that he would damage his eye technique if he looked any longer, he had to lower his gaze.

He wiped away his tears and rested briefly, but the sky darkened; a pitch-black hue emerged in the north, and meteors streaked across the sky, trailing flames as they came from the north.

Yang Xiao’er stood beside him, holding his hand with a touch of worry; suddenly, they heard the sea roar, and the waves split apart to reveal a colossal creature—a pale gray scaled beast.

The scaled beast had four powerful, sturdy legs, each treading on a cloud; its torso was long, and its lengthy tail was covered in dense, table-sized scales. It raced through the clouds at great speed, letting out a long, piercing roar.

Li Xizhi hastily bowed his head and whispered:

“Greetings to the Great Demon…”

The scaled beast circled once in the sky, glanced intently toward the north, then rode the clouds and raced away northward.

Li Xizhi looked northward with worry; beside him, Yang Xiao’er watched the Great Demon of the Purple Mansion depart and whispered:

“Husband, something terrible is going to happen… I fear True Monarch Shangyuan is fighting with the Buddhist cultivators…”

Li Xizhi had already guessed as much from what he had seen, but he could not tell his wife more; he shook his head without a word, only watching as meteors fell like rain into the inner seas and the Four Seas.

He took a step forward, hesitating; the couple rode the wind down from Forging Mountain and approached the water’s surface, where a riot of radiant light was reflected. Li Xizhi’s expression was solemn, and Yang Xiao’er’s face was marked with shock:

“Huh?”

Forging Mountain was a columnar peak rising from the seabed; its cliffs were smooth and delicate, covered in colors, with layers of radiant light stacking upon one another to make it particularly beautiful. She flew all the way to the spot where the mountain met the sea, saw the waterline sliding rapidly down the cliff, and spoke in a grave tone:

“Husband… the sea water of the Eastern Sea is receding…”

Sure enough, the highest mark of the waves on the cliff was already an inch above the current waterline. Li Xizhi examined it carefully, his expression grave, and said:

“No wonder the Great Demon was stirred. The Uniting Water Sea is already the calmest sea in the Eastern Sea, and Forging Mountain is a wonder of the heavens and earth; the sea’s rise and fall never exceeds the width of a finger on ordinary days. If even the Uniting Water Sea is like this, one can imagine the state of the other seas!”

Yang Xiao’er pressed her lips together and asked:

“Then what do we do now…”

“Forging Mountain is the safest place.”

Li Xizhi shook his head, rode the wind back up the mountain with her, and worried to himself:

“I wonder how things are at home…”

Coincidentally, Yang Xiao’er beside him also wore a look of worry:

“Our ancestor just broke through to the Purple Mansion, but he has encountered such a change in the heavens and earth. I wonder if it has affected him!”

……

The Northern Sea.

When Li Xuanfeng woke, the sky was dark; he opened his eyes and looked toward the horizon, where the stars and moon hung unharmed. The turquoise sky of earlier had vanished, and the comet was nowhere to be seen.

All the visions that had appeared had faded into nothingness, leaving only a few large and small black shadows lingering in the distant north, dotting the stars, and dimming the light of the moon and stars.

Li Xuanfeng slowly lifted his arm; more than half of his golden armor had turned a bright white color, glowing fiercely, and the iron hooks that had connected the armor plates had all solidified, rendering most of his body immobile.

He struggled a little and sat up; a faint voice drifted over from beside him:

“The ‘Golden One Great Primordial Upper Green True Monarch’ of the Golden Feather Sect has made a move. Your cultivation and armor have been affected; most of the Black Hook Profound Gold that originally made up your armor has turned into White Lake Primordial Gold, and it needs to be reforged.”

“It’s Yuansu.”

Li Xuanfeng recognized his voice and turned his head to respond; Yuansu was sitting quietly beside him, the scene of him weeping cyan blood seeming like an illusion—now he still had that clean, round face and sat there leisurely.

Yuansu noticed his gaze and smiled:

“When just now the True Lord struck suddenly, I failed to rein in my emotions and harbored a moment of hatred—only to be countered by the metallic nature’s backlash, nearly turning me into the water of a cave spring.”

Though Yuansu spoke such words, Li Xuanfeng, bowing his head in response, noticed the reef beneath Yuansu’s white robes had turned turquoise; it seemed Yuansu, having reached the end of his lifespan, cared little for his own life.

Li Xuanfeng responded respectfully and whispered:

“Dare I ask, True Person—have the various True Lords settled their victory and defeat yet?”

“No.”

Yuansu propped his chin with a hand and spoke softly:

“How could things wrap up so quickly? Only a few True Lords showed a fraction of their prowess and fought a bout in the Northern Sea.”

He pointed to the patch of darkness in the northern sky to draw Li Xuanfeng’s attention; when Li Xuanfeng squinted to look, he saw large and small black holes dotted among the stars—something he had found odd earlier.

Yuansu spoke in a low voice:

“The True Lords have fought for several days, punching holes in the Northern Sea’s sky, which then rose beyond the heavens.”

“I cannot see clearly, but I watched them fight for a little over an hour; a practitioner of the Northern Buddhist Path, perhaps in their Dharma form, took a sword strike from True Lord Taiyue and scurried away in disgrace.”

After hearing this, Li Xuanfeng, seeing Yuansu was in high spirits and looked unhurried, finally asked in a low voice:

“True Lord Taiyue is actually this powerful?”

“Hmm?”

Yuansu let out a hearty laugh and spoke softly:

“It is incomparable. The Immortal and Demon Paths have produced multiple Dao Embodiments; in ancient times, Dao Embodiments led the battles. The Buddhist practitioners only have a few World Honored Ones after all—now they hold the north, hiding in the Buddhist Lands where no one can touch them, but if they come out to provoke, who can say what will happen.”

“What’s more…”

He paused, gazing quietly at the black holes in the distant sky, and replied:

“At its core, this is a private matter of the Green Pine Dao Lineage and the Immortal Manor’s edict. Though they have scattered now, they were all colleagues once; only Dragon Lord Xiyang came by virtue of the Fenkuai bond—how is it the Buddhist practitioners’ place to meddle?”

After he spoke these words, Li Xuanfeng noticed the reef’s sea level had risen two inches in the short time of an incense stick’s burn; Yuansu smiled and said:

“The waters of the Four Seas fall into the abyssal depths and then rise again. With holes in the celestial veil, the seawater falls early; those holes in the sky keep pouring water to fill the Northern Sea.”

“Right now, the Northern Sea’s surface is still rising unceasingly, while the other three seas are slowly falling.”

Li Xuanfeng squinted as he listened; even though he had amplified his Golden Core’s power again and again to observe, he was still terrified by the True Lords’ might and spoke in a hoarse voice:

“This is truly reshaping the heavens and the earth.”

Yuansu seemed to be in high spirits and spoke with a bright smile:

“Do not underestimate this. The several great wars between Immortals and Demons reduced the inland seas to a tenth or two of their former size, and the outer seas lost more than half—how vast the world was back then.”

Yuansu thought for a moment and spoke softly:

“I am about to pass away. Puyu noticed this long ago but dared not speak plainly to my face, so he made up an excuse… counting the time, the hour is nearly upon me.”

“Li Xuanfeng, I brought nothing with me this time except the [Xinyou Lvze Seal], for I intended to slap Situ Huo a few times.”

He unfastened the small pale gold seal from his waist and placed it into Li Xuanfeng’s immobile left hand, then smiled and said:

“This seal was a gift from Li Jiangqun; Chi Wei envied it for a long time. Back then, we were all quite free; Chi Wei dared to say anything, claiming this seal was very eye-catching and had a fine appearance—he liked it the most.”

Li Xuanfeng saw a tear fall from Yuansu’s eyes, dripping onto the reef with a crisp tick-tock; Ning Tiaoxiao continued:

“When all is said and done, Xiao Xianyou, Zhang Qiushui, Chi Wei, Zi Pei… all fell into the scheme. At first, I thought we were kindred spirits, but it was all the Golden Core’s machinations—only then could it be done without a trace.”

“One must not harbor hatred.”

A faint flute sound drifted from Yuansu’s body, lingering melodiously in the air; he drew close to Li Xuanfeng and whispered in his ear:

“One must not harbor hatred, Li Xuanfeng.”

After speaking these words, Yuansu slowly lowered his eyelids and closed them as if overcome by drowsiness.

Li Xuanfeng bowed his head to look at Yuansu’s robe hem; the flute sound in the sky grew louder and louder, and the Yuansu before him turned into a pool of clear water and vanished. The Northern Sea water beneath the reef let out a mournful cry, and a rumbling shake stirred beneath his feet.

The entire reef was climbing rapidly; the spot where Yuansu passed away caved in, pitch-black and unseeable. After more than ten breaths, a gush of cyan spring water burst forth.

This spring water surged high into the sky, then cascaded down like rain; for a moment, mist filled the air, drifting everywhere with the sea wind, and a cyan fog spread over a hundred li around.

Li Xuanfeng unfastened his armor, stored it in his storage pouch, and lifted his head to look—five or six figures, male and female, old and young, were circling in the sky, each treading on colorful light from their magical powers, the hues all different.

He vaguely recognized Xiao Chuting and True Person Puyu, both bowing their heads solemnly; another figure looked aged, with a stern, unreadable face, but wore the uniform of the Green Pond Sect.

Of the remaining two female immortals, one wore golden robes and a veiled hat, with white silk hanging down to hide her face, while the other was a purple-robed female cultivator, tilting her head as if lost in thought.

Clutching the [Xinyou Lvze Seal], he knelt with his head bowed before the spring, silent like the figures in the sky. Li Xuanfeng waited, his thoughts cold as he said to himself:

“More than half of True Person Yuansu’s lifelong fame rested on this small seal—it is by no means ordinary. I wonder if any of the figures in the sky harbor covetous intentions toward it.”

I am sorry for being late today.

(End of Chapter)