Chapter 80: Liansheng Bodhisattva, the Second True Transmission!

By the time You Xuexin heard that soft sigh, everything was already over.

A devastating shockwave and a boiling radiance rose like a second sun, instantly filling the inner space of the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag.

Wherever the shockwave passed, Youren Temple—which had been drawn into the flag's space—vaporized entirely. Like an eraser wiping words from a page, the bricks, tiles, and buildings simply vanished. Nothing remained but a blank expanse of earth surging with fiery heat.

An ultimate slash.

Naturally, even the Azure Dragon phantom surrounding You Xuexin could not block this slash. It was instantly crushed, shattering like seafoam.

But right at that moment.

"Roar!"

With the shattering of the Azure Dragon phantom, the jade-green divine light originally swirling around You Xuexin instantly changed color, taking on a murderous, golden-white brilliance.

"Sever!"

As soon as the golden-white brilliance appeared, it condensed into a solid form, ultimately transforming into a small, exquisite flying knife that locked onto Wang Ping in the blink of an eye.

This was the very source of the fatal crisis Wang Ping had sensed. You Xuexin's defensive method was called the Azure Dragon Form-Concealing Divine Light. It used wood energy on the outside and hid golden light on the inside—wood concealing the form of gold. The wood energy was meant for defense, capable of absorbing an enemy's attack and channeling that power into the inner golden light.

Once the wood energy broke, the golden light would emerge.

All the attacks the wood energy had endured would become the motive force of the golden light, essentially turning the enemy's strength against them.

The fiercer the offense, the stronger the counterattack.

You Xuexin's choice of this spell was highly targeted; she had calculated perfectly that the offensive methods of Wang Ping, Shenhou, and the others would be weak.

After all, she had assumed that Wang Ping, as the artifact spirit of the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag, could only rely on commanding demons to swarm her. Such attacks lacked focused explosive power and would only serve as nourishment for the Azure Dragon Form-Concealing Divine Light. Shenhou and the martial artists were not even worth mentioning.

However, she had never expected... A sub-light speed slash? What the hell was that?

"Boom!"

The moment the golden flying knife appeared, it crashed into the aftershock of Wang Ping's sub-light speed slash. The originally lethal attack instantly had ninety-nine percent of its power shaved away.

A second later, light flared.

The weakened golden flying knife tore through the fiery heatwaves and struck Wang Ping—but it merely left a scratch on his shoulder.

"You've got to be kidding me!"

Daoist Nun You's face was filled with disbelief. A mere artifact spirit had unleashed an attack on par with a Sword Art?

That was right. The power of Wang Ping's slash sat squarely at the standard of a Sword Art. Even if her true body were here casting spells personally, it would only amount to this level. But who was she? A dignified true transmission disciple of the Immortal Gate! How could a lowly artifact spirit stand shoulder to shoulder with her?

Meanwhile, Wang Ping plummeted limply to the ground.

His physical body was severely wounded. The mana inside the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag was reduced to less than a tenth. His evolved Divine Intent had been wrung dry, and every single demon had been annihilated.

Fortunately, because the flag's space had been opened beforehand, the impact of the sub-light speed slash was limited to the interior of the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag. The outside world remained completely unharmed.

'I've already gone this far, don't let me down.'

Wang Ping raised his eyes, his gaze landing on You Xuexin. He might be completely drained, but her Perfected Wandering Spirit puppet was in roughly the same state.

Just one final push.

Right at that moment.

"Bang!"

With a sharp crack, a blood blossom suddenly exploded from Perfected Wandering Spirit's chest. Accompanying it was a refreshing scent of incense.

Following that came a flurry of falling white lotuses, and a holy, barefoot woman in white clothes, walking on lotus leaves. Lotuses bloomed with her every step. All the brilliance in the world seemed to concentrate on her. Her every frown, smile, and movement captured the eye, making it impossible to look away.

Immediately after, three exclamations rang out.

"Liansheng Bodhisattva?"

The first exclamation came from Shenhou and Xugou. As imperial commissioners, they had long been curious about this Liansheng Bodhisattva worshipped by Shouchong.

After all, in the records of the Tribute Hall, such an evil entity had never appeared.

"It's her..."

The second exclamation came from Wang Ping. He had also seen Liansheng Bodhisattva, but the Bodhisattva statue he saw didn't actually have an exact face.

Therefore, what shocked him was not Liansheng Bodhisattva herself, but her face—he had actually seen this holy woman once before! Back when he entered the Immortal Gate for the third time, she was the other true transmission disciple fighting Daoist Nun You high in the sky. She was the sword-carrying woman in white!

'She is also a true transmission disciple of the Immortal Gate!'

In a flash, Wang Ping suddenly understood: the Immortal Gate was not united on repairing the Longevity Rivaling Heaven Gourd. That was why they were fighting!

Finally, there was the third exclamation.

"Lian Shengyue... it's you!?"

This was You Xuexin's furious roar. It also indirectly corroborated Wang Ping's guess; the two really did know each other. Liansheng Bodhisattva was indeed that sword-carrying woman.

In this lightning-fast instant, the newly arrived Liansheng Bodhisattva finally spoke. Her voice was gentle, soft, and richly forgiving.

"Don't shout so loudly. It only highlights your incompetence."

She simply walked up to Perfected Wandering Spirit.

Then, she slowly reached out her hand. Incense surged across her fair, slender palm. Forming a hand seal, she pointed a finger, sending all of that power sinking into Perfected Wandering Spirit's forehead.

Seeing this, You Xuexin grew even more furious.

Because that incense was none other than what had been stolen from her Youren Temple. Because of that loss, she had been forced to directly refine her first attendant boy.

"It was you! You stole my incense!"

In the Immortal Gate, incense was the raw material used to refine dharma currency. If her incense hadn't been stolen, how could she have been reduced to going bankrupt just to craft a magical artifact?

'My money!'

The most infuriating part was that this incense was now being used against her by Liansheng Bodhisattva, becoming the trump card that decided the final victory at this critical moment!

"Lian Shengyue, you are ruining Master's great plan! Aren't you afraid Master will punish you?"

"Senior Sister doesn't need to worry about that."

Liansheng Bodhisattva remained completely unbothered, lightly tapping her finger.

"Farewell. I won't see you out."

A second later, You Xuexin's voice stopped abruptly. The bronze mask on Perfected Wandering Spirit's face fell off, and its body shrank amidst the incense.

Before long, Perfected Wandering Spirit—who had just been displaying immense divine might under You Xuexin's control and had even withstood the sub-light speed slash—turned into a palm-sized wooden puppet carved with scores of curse patterns. It fell to the ground. Liansheng Bodhisattva didn't even bother to glance at it.

Her attention was entirely focused on the Longevity Rivaling Heaven Gourd.

"Not bad, not bad."

Before her voice even faded, Liansheng Bodhisattva pointed a finger without the slightest hesitation, piercing the Longevity Rivaling Heaven Gourd on the spot and shattering it!

"Boom!"

In an instant, explosive brilliance burst out from the shattered Longevity Rivaling Heaven Gourd, but it didn't disperse. Instead, it was drawn in and gathered together.

Not only the Longevity Rivaling Heaven Gourd, but also the thirty-three Longevity-Extending Golden Pills inside—forged from the lifespans of tens of thousands of commoners in Longxing County—and even the providence of the previous dynasty were smelted together. All the brilliance merged into a single sphere, condensed, and drifted lightly into Liansheng Bodhisattva's hand.

"Whoosh!"

The evening breeze blew, carrying the fragrant scent of the pill. Wang Ping felt a gentle gust brush his face, and immediately, the continuous, agonizing pain wracking his body vanished into thin air.

"This is...?"

Wang Ping stood up in astonishment, only to find that his body—which had completely broken down after unleashing the sub-light speed slash—had actually recovered to perfect condition.

It was not just him. Beside him, Shenhou and Xugou also climbed to their feet with bewildered expressions. Given their lively and energetic states, how could anyone tell they had just been severely injured?

"You all managed to pick up a lucky chance."

Liansheng Bodhisattva turned her head upon seeing this. She didn't really mind; with a flip of her hand, she took out a jade box, placing the pill overflowing with boundless brilliance into it.

Once the jade box closed, the pill fragrance vanished instantly.

After finishing all this, Liansheng Bodhisattva sighed. "What a pity. I couldn't take this opportunity to meld the providence of Great Shun into it as well."

"Otherwise, not only would the quality of the refined Anti-Tribulation Longevity Pill reach an even higher level, but I could also use this pill-refining ritual to usurp a portion of the Eight Trigrams Furnace's earth hearth Human Firewood. Sending that into the Divine Farmer Cauldron would have been a massive achievement. Now, however, I can only let it go..."

'The Divine Farmer Cauldron? What is that?'

Hearing these words, Wang Ping's mind raced: 'A pill-refining ritual... If I remember correctly, the Eight Trigrams Furnace is used to refine artifacts, right?'

'The Eight Trigrams Furnace, the Divine Farmer Cauldron.'

'Usurp the former, send into the latter.'

'Earth hearth Human Firewood... does she mean Longxing County?'

'In the Immortal Gate, they use the Eight Trigrams Furnace to refine artifacts, and for pills... could it be they use the Divine Farmer Cauldron? Is this the reason the two true transmission disciples are in conflict?'

At this moment, countless guesses filled Wang Ping's mind.

However, right at that moment, Liansheng Bodhisattva, who had just been sighing in lament, suddenly turned her head and looked in his direction as if she sensed something.

"What are you thinking about?"

'...Oh no!'

The instant Liansheng Bodhisattva cast her gaze over, Wang Ping didn't hesitate in the slightest. He reined in his thoughts and his mind instantly entered the space of the Taiping Sutra.

Immediately after, a majestic spiritual sense barged straight into the sea of consciousness of the Six Desires Heavenly Demon King.

At the Immortal Gate, in front of the Eight Trigrams Furnace.

As her connection with Perfected Wandering Spirit severed and she sensed the shattering of the Longevity Rivaling Heaven Gourd, You Xuexin opened her eyes in towering rage.

"Immortal Prescription Courtyard, you've crossed the line!!"

The rumbling Dharma voice echoed through the starry sky. It wasn't until it reached another corner of the Eight Trigrams Furnace that another flying ship was revealed, as if a curtain had been pulled back.

On that flying ship, a sword-carrying woman in white stepped forward, her beautiful eyes smiling. "I told you, Xuexin, don't shout so loudly... Don't worry, I have already refined the Anti-Tribulation Longevity Pill. Master's great matter of extending his lifespan will not be delayed. I will personally go offer the pill afterward."

"But this has nothing to do with you anymore, Senior Sister. Hurry back and cultivate."

"You...!"

You Xuexin gritted her silver teeth in hatred. She had racked her brains and finally managed to fight for the Eight Trigrams Furnace, preparing to refine a magical treasure to extend their Master's life.

Once the deed was done, she would surely receive Master's full support. At that time, let alone reaching the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer, even stepping into the Dao would have been well within her grasp.

But the result?

She had actually done all the hard work just to hand the prize to someone else!

Thinking of this, You Xuexin could no longer hold back. Vast mana erupted, condensing into sword light, and she directly slashed toward the sword-carrying woman in white.

"Lian Shengyue, you're courting death!!!"