Dragon Canon

The illusion faded, and the plain-clothed swordsman disappeared. Another two massive swords appeared in the Great Realm, both the true intents of a sword technique, each capable of slaying an Avatar.

Wei Yuan looked up at the lotus pillar. The demon’s charred body no longer looked malevolent; instead, it radiated an indescribable sorrow. The reason she had looked up at the statue atop the lotus pillar was simply because she wished to catch one last glimpse of her daughter.

Suddenly, he understood the woman and the plain-clothed swordsman’s feelings at that moment. The little girl had suffered so much that it would have been better if she had died then and there, yet during those final moments, she discovered that she ultimately wanted her daughter to live, even if only for a brief moment. That inner conflict, that agony, they were all so heavy that it took one’s breath away.

It may as well be gone.

At the base of the lotus platform stood a jade platform that was still glowing faintly to this day. Ji Liuli had been tracking the flow of yin energy all long until she arrived before the platform. She touched it lightly with a finger, and countless specks of starlight floated out and formed an extremely complex pattern.

As Ji Liuli studied it, a flash of anger suddenly crossed her face. “This is the Esoteric Buddhism’s Great Treasure Vase Unending Pure Land Reincarnation Array! The name sounds good, but in reality, it traps souls within an Unending Pure Land to slowly refine them and prevent them from reincarnating. Hmph, no Dharma King of Esoteric Buddhism who practiced this has ever met a good end!”

Zhang Sheng was equally shocked. “To imprison so many souls and prevent them from entering the cycle of reincarnation—isn’t this usurping the authority of Heaven? How did he become an immortal? Doesn’t he fear heavenly retribution?”

Ji Liuli looked confused. “Of course he doesn’t! Doesn’t this layout look familiar to you?”

Everyone looked at him in confusion.

Ji Liuli touched a palm to her forehead. “Excuse me, I was so angry I forgot that none of you are array experts. Simply put, this is a Shaman site to Sacrifice to Heaven, and that statue is the altar.”

Ji Liuli pointed at the eerie statue atop the lotus pillar, its arms raised high as if offering something. In the illusion Wei Yuan had seen, the little girl was lying on the statue’s outstretched hands. Now, he understood it was because she was to be sacrificed.

“The array had been modified, and the one who set it up was extremely skilled. They made it so that the bound souls on the plaza could only see the little girl and believe her to be the culprit behind their inability to enter the cycle of reincarnation. Thus, they all hated her. After using the array to obscure the heavenly mysteries as well, the array setter then shifted the grave sin of usurping Heaven’s authority onto the little girl, and sacrificed her so that the ‘sinner’ was returned to Heaven and Earth. This is how they evaded heavenly retribution. All the sins and punishments will fall upon her, and who knows how many reincarnations it will take for her to atone for them.”

Ji Liuli’s voice was indescribably low and downcast as she explained this. In the end, she let out a sigh and said, “No wonder that monster was so difficult to deal with. Considering her situation... it would have been better if she had just died long ago.”

Sun Yu suddenly erupted in fury: “How unjust the heavens are!”

Ji Liuli replied, “There is no right or wrong under the Heavenly Dao, nor justice or injustice.”

Sun Yu only seethed with impotent rage and cursed the heavens once more. Ever since his master died, his temperament had changed considerably.

Ji Liuli continued, “I’m going to reverse the great array and set these souls free in a moment. However, they have long become detached from the natural cycle of reincarnation. It is as if they no longer have a record in the cosmos, and thus have lost the foundation of their existence; that is why they can no longer reenter the cycle of reincarnation. Oh, speaking of which, can you make use of the yin qi and resentment of this place?”

Ji Liuli was addressing Sun Yu. The healer shook his head immediately and said, “I may have a use for the resentment that had transformed from the intangible into the tangible, but pure resentment is useless to me. I am a healer, not a devil cultivator.”

“Then we have no choice but to let it dissipate naturally. However, there will be natural disasters in the vicinity for many years.”

Wei Yuan frowned slightly when he heard that, but Qingming’s domain should be able to suppress the spilling resentment.

Ji Liuli manifested Devil Suppressing Nine Level Pagoda and placed it on the jade platform. The pagoda once again emitted a faint, clear light, overcoming all the starlight rays on the jade platform and replacing the jade platform as the new hub of the array.

Ji Liuli gripped her pagoda with both hands and slowly rotated it. She was obviously struggling, as if the pagoda suddenly weighed ten thousand jun[1].

The entire underground space suddenly started shaking ominously, and countless crisscrossing chains glowing with a faint, eerie light appeared on the plaza. They seemed to be sealing off the area. As the pagoda rotated, some of the chains visibly tightened before snapping one by one.

As the chains snapped, the souls of the young boys and girls began to materialize. Panic and fear appeared on their pupilless faces as they all looked up at the sky.

They could hear distant, thunderous rumbles even within the grotto-heaven. These souls were no longer tolerated by Heaven and Earth, so a lightning tribulation would soon descend to wipe them all out.

From the moment they were born, these young boys and girls had been stuck in an endless, befuddled limbo, not even knowing how to grow up. Now, having just broken free from their bonds and gained a fleeting moment of sentience, they were about to face a heavenly tribulation. The only memory they would have was their demise in the hands of a thunderous storm—no, they would not even leave behind memories. As their existence was rejected by Heaven and Earth themselves, every speck of them would be erased from this world.

Wei Yuan sighed internally. If reincarnation truly existed, whoever was reborn into the bodies of these young boys and girls must have led a wretched life in their previous incarnation.

As more and more chains snapped, the souls of a dozen or so young boys and girls soared upward. Just as they were about to touch the ceiling, a flash of lightning suddenly dissolved them all into wisps of cyan smoke.

In a palace on the perimeter, a dozen or so young boys and girls suddenly burst through the doors. However, the moment they stepped outside, they immediately collapsed to the ground and decayed rapidly.

The array’s operations sped up. The chains started snapping in droves, and a vast number of souls slowly rose into the air. By now, these souls had all regained their consciousness and overflowed with terror. They darted about in all directions in a desperate attempt to flee, yet there was no escaping the inevitable doom headed their way. They continued to float upward.

Sun Yu let out a sigh, unable to bear watching any longer.

Just then, the Great Realm suddenly stirred. The gate within the jade hill was slowly opening!

All the surrounding souls seemed to sense something. Two of them moved with extraordinary speed; instantly dashing into the Great Realm and plunging through that gate.

Wei Yuan came to his senses and sealed off his sea of consciousness immediately. At the same time, Ji Liuli cast a protective barrier over him.

Meanwhile, ripples spread across the black pool, and two souls rose from the water. They were the very souls that had rushed through the gate earlier, but their forms were now pure and translucent. All traces of their previous befuddlement, decay, and malevolence had vanished, as if they had been reborn.

The two newborn souls looked somewhat dazed at the moment. They stepped out of the Great Realm of their own accord.

Wei Yuan instinctively sensed that he held profound control over them. He could stop them in their tracks or make them do anything he wanted. However, he was more curious to see what these newly reborn souls would do, so he chose not to interfere with their actions.

The two newly reborn souls entered the palaces at the edges of the plaza one after another, and soon two young boys emerged from within. They walked all the way to the base of the high platform at the center of the plaza, knelt before Wei Yuan, and pressed their foreheads to the ground. They stopped moving after that.

Sun Yu scanned them with his perception and was startled by what he discovered. “They’re alive?”

These two boys possessed vitality, sapience, and souls. Although they were a little weakened at the moment, they were, by all appearances, living, breathing human beings.

Seemingly sensing something, the countless souls fluttering and struggling in the air suddenly flew toward Wei Yuan. The Devil Suppressing Nine Level Pagoda immediately burst into brilliant light, enveloping the entire platform and keeping all the souls at bay.

One soul accidentally brushed against the light and instantly let out a piercing scream, burning to ashes.

Ji Liuli’s expression darkened, and she immediately toned down the intensity of the light. Killing that soul was akin to killing a mortal human. It left her burdened with a small amount of karmic debt. Although the Heavenly Mysteries Hall naturally possessed secret techniques capable of suppressing or transferring the karmic debt of killing not just one, but tens of thousands of mortal humans, she couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable about killing a mortal human for no reason.

This time, the souls were merely injured when they came into contact with the light of the Devil Suppressing Nine Level Pagoda. However, this also meant that more and more souls were throwing themselves against the barrier of light. They seemed to realize that if they couldn’t pass through it, they would be sucked into the heavenly thunder.

Ji Liuli looked at Wei Yuan and said harshly, “If you accept them, you’ll have to bear the karma of tens of thousands of souls! That is a burden not even a True Lord dares to bear! Moreover, you would be reversing the flow of karma and usurping Heaven’s authority. If you are cursed, that old ghost will not suffer one whit of backlash. But whatever sin or crime these souls may commit in the future, you will have to bear all of it!”

On one hand, accepting these souls brought nothing but harm and no benefit whatsoever. As if that wasn’t enough, he would also be entangled in karma. This was easily the state most feared by any immortal.

By now, countless souls were completely surrounding the high platform and pressing against the light of the Devil Suppressing Nine Level Pagoda—some struggling, some fearful, and some pleading.

Looking at all those faces, Wei Yuan suddenly said, “Depending on my will, tens of thousands may live or die.”

Ji Liuli snapped, “They are outcasts of Heaven and Earth; they were destined to die anyway! You’re not the one who committed this sin, so why should you bear its consequences?!”

Wei Yuan sighed. “But it is a fact my presence offers them a glimmer of hope. To deny them that hope when it exists—isn’t that the same as killing them?”

“Do you still want to be an immortal or not? Don’t even think about it!” Ji Liuli declared.

Wei Yuan turned to Zhang Sheng for guidance, and his master, standing with his hands behind his back, said calmly, “Just as the paths of our predecessors are not necessarily the right ones for us, we do not necessarily need to heed their warning to the letter either. If you wish to do it, then do it. As your Master, I will simply bear all the karma and debt with you.”

Ji Liuli’s agitation climbed to a new level. “You f—there’s absolutely no way you could possibly bear this!”

Zhang Sheng replied, “Just because no one has done it before doesn’t mean it’s impossible. If there truly is no path ahead, then we’ll simply blaze our own trails.”

Ji Liuli burst out laughing from sheer frustration. “Blaze your own trail? The nerve of you! Pray tell, which Dao path isn’t the result of generations of constant exploration? Both of you have perfectly bright paths to immortality—why on earth would you want to get entangled in this karma and ruin yourselves?”

Zhang Sheng said slowly, “We who have attained great power have a natural responsibility to expand our territory and protect the common folk. If we were to abandon our mortal kin for the sake of our own path to immortality, then one day, even if we were to stand atop the Thirty-Three Heavens, we would likely find ourselves alone, with not a fellow in sight across the myriad realms and cosmos. To live forever alone in this wide, wide world—what would be the point of becoming such an immortal?”

“You! ... I can’t defeat you with words, but I don’t have to! If it comes to it, then I’ll simply burn all these souls to ash!” Ji Liuli was beyond furious at this point.

Zhang Sheng suddenly smirked and said, “Did you know? My immortal Vow is actually quite down-to-earth. All I wanted is to attain the Dao and help my fellow dogs and chickens ascend to heaven.”

Ji Liuli was confused at first. Then, she realized what he was implying and snapped, “Who are you calling dogs and chickens?!”

The tense atmosphere eased slightly, and Wei Yuan spoke up. “I’ve made up my mind, Big Senior Sister. Please put away the Devil Suppressing Pagoda.”

“I’ll say it again: they are outcasts of heaven and earth. Any virtue they enacted will not count, but any sin they committed will count against you. Helping them reincarnate is all downside and no upside. Think this through!”

Wei Yuan replied, “In the future, I will lead them to expand human territory and build a prosperous golden age for humanity. They may not be able to contribute anything to me, but I’m sure the sect and humanity will make up for my loss, am I right?”

Ji Liuli shot Wei Yuan a withering glare and grunted, “You’re so full of it!” However, she ultimately withdrew the Devil Suppressing Nine Level Pagoda.

The souls converged into a vast river and plunged into Wei Yuan, pouring into the Great Realm and passing through the gate within the jade hill. Moments later, one after another, newly reborn souls emerged from the black pool, walked toward the surrounding palaces, and returned to their respective physical bodies.

The young boys and girls began emerging from the wooden shrines. Although their movements were somewhat stiff, and their expressions were wooden, they instinctively walked to the foot of the high platform, knelt before Wei Yuan, and pressed their foreheads against the ground.

The radiance of the Great Realm dimmed slightly, and Wei Yuan felt an inexplicable heaviness settling on his body and spirit, as if he had been tainted by a lot of impurities. But looking at the tens of thousands of boys and girls who had been reborn, he felt that it was worth it.

Suddenly, a semi-transparent immortal sword imbued with the power of oblivion appeared in Zhang Sheng’s hand. He declared, “What happened today must remain a secret. Everyone, please take an oath using my immortal sword!”

Today, it was revealed that Wei Yuan possessed the ability to grant reincarnation; a power that usurped the heavens. It went without saying that, if this were to leak out, the consequences would be unimaginable. For example, if a petty, jealous villain were to secretly report this to Heaven and Earth, Wei Yuan might well face a lightning tribulation. That was why this measure was necessary.

Everyone nodded, then turned their heads in unison to look at one person.

Trueman Chu He immediately flew into a rage. “Why are you all staring at me?! Does this old Daoist look like the type to blab[2]?”

Alas, Ji Liuli’s Devil Suppressing Nine Level Pagoda was floating behind him, and Feng Tingyu’s big ass saber was tweaking behind him. After much commotion, the old Daoist was ultimately forced to sully his dignity as an Avatar Trueman and swear an oath upon his primordial spirit.

It was at that moment the array collapsed, and countless yin spirits returned to their rightful places. With nowhere to go, the ocean of yin qi and resentment in the plaza suddenly began to churn violently. Then, everything flowed toward the back of the lotus pillar as if a vortex had formed.

The group hurried over to investigate and saw that there had been a pool of blood beneath the demon on the lotus pillar. Having witnessed the vision, Wei Yuan knew that the pool of blood was really the tears of blood the woman had shed during her final moments—tears imbued with so much obsession and hatred that even true fire could not consume them.

Now, after absorbing all of the yin qi, the pool of blood transformed into a pool of dark water. From within the water, several lotus leaves slowly emerged and gave rise to a single white lotus. It was pure, white, and flawless. Despite being born in a place of utmost yin, utter desolation, and profound filth, it seemed like the purest thing in the world.

Trueman Chu He’s eyes widened, and his mouth gaped open wide enough to fit two steamed buns. Pointing at the white lotus, he stammered, “T-That’s the White Lotus of Tainted Earth! I never imagined it would grow like this! How could anyone have? Wait—this is an ultimate treasure of heaven and earth! It can be used to break through cultivation bottlenecks, purify the soul, enhance innate talent, and even extend one’s lifespan!”

Wei Yuan suddenly felt a pang of deep irony. Xu Wanghu had plotted for years and orchestrated such a grand scheme, yet he never realized that the treasure elixir of longevity was right before his eyes.

Then again, recalling what he had seen in the vision, perhaps Xu Wangu no longer needed to extend his lifespan.

1. This is a saying, and “jun” is 30 catties. ☜

2. Yes you do, and for a cheap price too, so shut up and take the sword old man. 😀 ☜