Chapter 119 The Celestial Demon’s Return (3)
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In the dark night, a white-robed monk approached, leaning on a staff. He had an aura of Buddha’s light surrounding him, making the rain of that night seem misty.
The heavy red-clad monster stood still, every face filled with painful screams. Its fingers tugged at its hair, emitting terrifying and mournful cries.
Tianya Daoren turned around and saw Wu Sheng slowly coming closer.
The young monk reached out his hand, and his fingertips emitted a golden-white light, dispelling the twisted evil thoughts in the air.
He had now taken off the white silk that covered his eyes, revealing golden eyes that shone like bright lamps in the dark night.
Tianya Daoren opened his mouth, wanting to say something.
However, Wu Sheng spoke first, “Elder, please step back.”
After coming out of the Hall of Rebirth, his face showed a mixture of joy and sorrow. He gazed at Qin Qianhuan with a silent and composed expression. “This is the karmic retribution of my Buddhist sect, and it should be severed by my Buddhist sect.”
Each word weighed lightly, passing through the endless rain as if they were sacred melodies.
Tianya Daorenwas taken aback for a moment, but he nodded and stepped back.
Not far away, Qin Qianhuan’s gaze became frozen, but she smiled softly. “Karmic retribution of the Buddhist sect? That’s really interesting. Who said that once I embraced Buddhism, I had to be a Buddhist for the rest of my life? Whether I become a demon or a Buddha, do you have the right to interfere with my choices?”
She leapt into the air and settled on the shoulder of the red-clad monster. Her apricot-yellow dress became the brightest color in the dim world, while her chilling intent surpassed that of the monster.
“You’ve just inherited the Zen consciousness, and you think you can challenge me? How ridiculous.”
Standing barefoot in the rain, she pressed her fingers against the mask resting in her hair. She took it off, and the mask returned to its original appearance.
Qin Qianhuan’s lips straightened, her expression turning cold as she placed it back on her face.
From the moment she sat on it, the red-clad monster seemed to have acquired a soul.
No longer distorted and afraid, it growled low and lifted its head. Its thick, black hair trailed on the ground, and the layers of faces on the monster’s face had bloodshot eyes, resembling a dense array of red dots from a distance.
Wu Sheng looked up.
The girl with the mask displayed a cold and indifferent demeanor.
In countless years, they were fellow cultivators in the same sect.
After countless years, the paths of Buddhism and demons diverged.
Wu Sheng closed hid eyes and said, “Perhaps I should have awakened long ago to guide you.”
Qin Qianhuan reached out and snapped the relic bracelet on her wrist.
A mocking voice resounded.
“You can’t guide me. Because I, too, was once a Buddhist.”
Wu Sheng closed and reopened his eyes, devoid of the previous compassion in his expression. “Taking countless lives, even hell, your burden of guilt becomes increasingly difficult to cleanse.”
Qin Qianhuan sneered. “Why bother with so much talk? Today, it’s either me shattering your Buddha’s heart or you annihilating my soul. The outcome is that simple, so why complicate the karma?”
The broken relic bracelet on her wrist clattered and rolled to the ground.
The red-clad monster took a step forward, its heavy footsteps shaking the mountains. The shattered relics burst into radiant red lights, illuminating her desolate and pale mask. It resembled the peeling of the Thousand-Faced Buddha inside the Hall of Rebirth, after a century of existence.
Wu Sheng sighed, and a faint blue-green light surged from the tip of his Zen staff, gathering the power of the Primordial Lamp-lighting Buddha, forming a mirror.
It had no frame, no boundaries.
Centered around Wu Sheng, it isolated the space.
The mirror’s surface was cleansed by the rain.
The red-clad monster took a step forward but suddenly froze in place.
Then, his movements became almost synchronized with the monster’s.
Qin Qianhuan clutched her head and let out a scream!
“Ahhhh—!”
She was in extreme pain, trembling fingers covering her face. She tore her own mask in agony, and it fell to the ground with a snap.
The mirror.
The mirror.
It had once been a mirror, condemning her to hell.
In a secluded mountain village, there was a narrow and foul-smelling dungeon.
Day and night, the ᴇxᴄʀᴜᴄɪᴀᴛɪɴɢ ᴘᴀɪɴ ᴏꜰ ʜᴀᴠɪɴɢ ʜᴇʀ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ ʀɪᴘᴘᴇᴅ ᴏᴜᴛ, ᴛʜᴇ ᴛᴏʀᴍᴇɴᴛ ᴏꜰ ᴛᴇᴀʀɪɴɢ ᴏꜰꜰ ʜᴇʀ ᴏᴡɴ ꜰᴀᴄᴇ.
She transformed into countless beings, but the ignorant villagers mistook her for a demon. They insisted on forcing her to reveal her true form, stripping her skin layer by layer. The Buddha’s immortality became an eternal nightmare.
She looked at the shattered mask on the ground.
It felt as if her own flesh was being torn apart once again.
All emotions vanished from her face completely.
Qin Qianhuan wiped her face with her sleeve, the three flames on her forehead burning red like dripping blood. Standing up, the red-clad monster beside her grew increasingly agitated.
Gale winds roared, breaking every blade of grass and snapping tree branches.
In an instant, the weather changed dramatically, plunging the world into darkness.
Amidst the storm, only the colossal red monster stood like a beast from the abyss.
Qin Qianhuan whispered, “I am the Buddha.”
The voice echoed from the mouths of thousands. Men, women, old and young, creating a deafening roar.
She laughed mockingly. “I no longer seek life, nor do I seek death. Everything I do is according to my own will. Without excess or deficiency, does that count as true freedom?”
Wu Sheng knew she had turned into a demon. From the very beginning, he harbored the intention to kill.
With his eyes of pale gold, clear and serene like a mirror, he calmly stated, “You have always been seeking death.”
In the face of the power of the Primordial Buddha, all things were as insignificant as ants.
Ji Wuyou lay in the muddy ground, unable to move his fingers due to pain and soreness. Rainwater trickled across his brow. He could only stare blankly at the yellow soil in his palm.
This scene was all too familiar, etched deeply into his memory.
However, he had never felt so wretched before.
On a rainy night like this, in this posture, in this state of weakness, it felt as if they had met in a previous life, as if they were destined to cross paths.
From the moment Wu Sheng appeared, Ji Wuyou felt as if he had fallen into an icy abyss.
The appearance of the white-robed monk was too familiar. He remembered the journey to Zhonglian Village, Pei Yuzhi as Zhang Yiming, and even Wu Sheng had not changed his name. And that Fushang, was it Yu Qinglian?
The renowned Five Champions of the world, and yet he was foolish enough not to see through their deception. They had been deceiving him all along.
Ji Wuyou clutched his chest, gasping for breath. His mind was a chaotic mess as fragments of memories, memories that didn’t belong to him, resurfaced one by one.
It was such a night, a white-clad youth with rain-soaked flowers in hand ascended the mountain. It was such a night when he stumbled out of Tianqian Peak, his clothes stained with blood.
Ignoring the exploding thoughts in his mind, Ji Wuyou crawled backward, desperate to escape from this chaos.
However, Tianya Daoren, standing by the side, immediately noticed his actions.
Filled with immense disappointment and disgust towards Ji Wuyou, he roared, “Do you still think you can run?” He approached and forcefully struck Ji Wuyou’s back with a palm.
“Ah—” Ji Wuyou fell heavily to the ground, coughing up a mouthful of blood. Tianya Daoren’s palm carried the formidable power of a Nascent Soul stage cultivator, shattering his dantian without mercy. With his dantian destroyed, his courage and vitality shattered. In that moment, Ji Wuyou’s bloodshot, bewildered, and pained eyes froze in place as he gazed blankly at the endless night sky.
The desolate downpour drenched everything, but he seemed to see a pure white light.
Buzz.
A string in his mind trembled.
That light was so pure, so white, capable of embracing all impurities and filth.
He remembered.
……He remembered.
Every critical moment in his childhood, she was there. At the brink of suffocation in the depths of the lake, a white light shimmered among the swaying water plants. When he was entwined by venomous snakes in bed, a white light appeared outside the window on a summer night.
But the memories kept on.
Flowing relentlessly forward.
His birth. Amidst thunder and a stormy night, when all creatures lay dormant.
Even—his death!
Ji Wuyou’s eyes widened abruptly.
What is this?!
His death—
He died at Tianqian Peak! During the Ascension Ceremony!
A bridge severed by wind and snow brought an old acquaintance, that figure in the white robes, whose once green attire had turned as white as snow. With each step, he slaughtered the mountains, severing Ji Wuyou’s limbs, gouging out his eyes, leaving him on the verge of death sinking into the Sea of Afterlife.
That old acquaintance…
It was Pei Yuzhi!
Ji Wuyou’s pupils shrank to a point, his breath halted, and the wind and rain around him ceased as if time itself had stopped.
Time reversed, memories rewound.
He saw Wentian Peak, amidst the pale wind and snow, and witnessed Pei Yuzhi, whom he had killed under the gaze of the world, lying beneath his feet.
He saw the Four Champions meeting tragic ends, and Yunxiao in ruins.
He saw himself wandering the world, only to return once again.
He saw himself slaying his master and escaping from Tianqian Peak.
His fingers trembled and curled up slowly.
He saw himself becoming Pei Yuzhi’s disciple, living amidst rumors and gossip for a hundred years.
He saw the beginning, the very beginning. He stumbled and ran into Yunxiao, rolling in the mud, while the splendid figure of the white-clad youth stepped on the moon, extending a hand towards him with a smile.
“Aaahhh—!”
What is this?!
What is this?!!
Ji Wuyou’s body stiffened. After the initial confusion, he suddenly realized with a cold clarity.
Was that the past life?
It turned out that regardless of the place or time of their first encounter, his feelings upon seeing Pei Yuzhi for the first time remained unchanged.
It wasn’t gratitude, admiration, or even affection.
His feelings had always been the same.
I want to become someone like him, to replace him.
“Aaahhh—!”
His dantian erupted, giving birth to a vast purplish-black demonic aura that spread and grew!
Suddenly, Ji Wuyou felt a power capable of destroying the heavens and earth awakening inside him!
Ji Wuyou’s body began to elongate, transforming from a youth into a young man.
Amidst the rain, in that pure white light, it seemed an old woman appeared, hunching her back and looking at him with gentle eyes, dispelling his confusion and alleviating his pain.
Ji Wuyou fell into a deep state of bewilderment!
The memories of the past life kept cycling and repeating.
He forcefully coughed up another mouthful of blood.
The power of the Celestial Demon circulated in his blood.
He felt his body on the verge of exploding.
The Execution Sword nurtured for millennia, bearing the power of heaven.
His appearance grew thinner, and his bones turned increasingly pitch-black.
Ji Wuyou propped himself up with his fingers and unsteadily stood up.
The memories continued to flow in reverse.
It was thousands of years ago when the Sword Sovereign barged into Nine Hidden Demon Realm, forcibly pulling out the sword embedded in his chest.
It was on the crumbling Heavenly Ladder, within the Institute of Celestial Ascension, where countless deities and buddhas clashed with him, resulting in mutual defeat.
After a prolonged struggle, silence engulfed everything.
Ji Wuyou murmured, “I am the Lord of Celestial Demons, destined to sever the Heavenly Ladder. I am the Lord of Celestial Demons, the Chosen One.”
He clutched his head with both hands and laughed uproariously towards the sky. “Hahaha, I am the Lord of Celestial Demons!”
Ji Wuyou was enveloped in a shroud of black mist, his features now pitch-black.
He had gone insane.
He muttered like a madman, “I am the Lord of Celestial Demons! I am the Lord of Celestial Demons!”
He was the one nurtured by the Heavenly Dao, the supreme powerhouse of this world.
So they—were they also worthy?
Were they also worthy of looking down on him? Were they also worthy of making him so miserable?
As the black mist transformed into a cloak, Ji Wuyou’s facial features became rugged and fierce. His eyes emitted a bloodthirsty gleam. His hair grew long, and his eyes turned a deep shade of purplish-black.
Ji Wuyou looked back at Tianya Daoren.
He couldn’t help but find it ironic.
In the previous life, he killed this old immortal to embark on his path of awakening. And in this life? He had already awakened, yet he still had to kill him.
While Wu Sheng continued to battle Qin Qianhuan, he remained completely unaware of the changes happening on this side.
Even though his spiritual energy was still in a volatile state and Ji Wuyou couldn’t fully control it, it was effortless for him to kill a Nascent Soul cultivator.
His voice sounded hoarse and unpleasant, “By killing you, Pei Yuzhi will surely be devastated, just like in the previous life.”
The hatred in his dying moments made Ji Wuyou’s blood boil.
He whispered softly, “I’ll be happy to see him suffer. How foolish I was, being confined by something before. How foolish I was, trying to come up with excuses to kill you. You’re nothing but ants. I can kill you whenever I want.”
Ji Wuyou reached out his hand, his nails elongated like claws, the demonic energy surging like a sharp blade. He intended to dig into Tianya Daoren’s chest and extract his heart.
In an instant, he made his move. The ancient profound power was beyond anything Tianya Daoren could resist.
In the blink of an eye, the threat of death loomed over him.
Meanwhile, Qin Qianhuan let out a furious roar as the red-clad monster shattered into pieces within a golden radiance, its face contorted and scattered.
As Wu Sheng turned around, his eyes momentarily froze in place.
Tianya Daoren’s heart turned cold, realizing that he must have met his demise.
A twisted smile formed on Ji Wuyou’s face.
The situation hung by a thread.
Suddenly, a sound of bells echoed through the air.
Ding-ling-ling, ding-ling-ling, the sound resonated in the rainy night, across this desolate expanse.
Seemingly gentle but irresistibly overwhelming, a pale greenish-white radiance enveloped Tianya Daoren.
Ji Wuyou felt an intense, piercing coldness and pain that made him instantly withdraw his hand.
With eyes of deep purple and a thirst for blood, he gazed at the woman approaching from a distance.
Wu Sheng closed his eyes and let out a long breath, feeling relieved.
Dressed in red, Yu Qinglian’s expression was icy. She walked barefoot across the ruins, with each step seemingly making lotus flowers bloom beneath her feet.
Ji Wuyou stared for a long time and laughed coldly. “Transient… Lamp-lighting… Hahaha! So what if gods and buddhas awaken? You were never my match thousands of years ago, and now, with your descendants and reincarnations, what qualifications do you have to oppose me?”
Yu Qinglian stood before him.
Wu Sheng also approached.
The three sides stood in opposition, casting a tranquil spell over the entire land.
Mountains and rivers trembled, and the night sky took on a sinister blood-red hue.
Yu Qinglian’s beautiful face was filled with solemnity as she spoke, “I never imagined that you would be the Celestial Demon Lord. If I had known earlier, I would have personally drowned you in that jar.”
Ji Wuyou also remembered and smirked playfully. “I should thank you for the incident in Zhonglian Village. It was you who taught an ignorant version of me a lesson, opening a gateway that allowed my awakening to proceed so smoothly.”
Unaffected by his words, Yu Qinglian stated firmly, “You were born wicked.”
Ji Wuyou’s demonic energy erupted within him now, but with his demonic bones yet to fully form, he was naturally no match for Yu Qinglian and Wu Sheng.
Moreover, the person he most wanted to kill this time wasn’t them.
The image of his mentor, the one with the cold expression and snowy hair, who had tormented him cruelly, flashed through Ji Wuyou’s mind. In an instant, he knew exactly who it was.
“Pei Yuzhi, Chu Junyu, hahaha,” he laughed.
The awakened Celestial Demon Lord took a step back.
His body dispersed into the black mist.
He now had to go back, return to the Demon Realm, and undergo bone transformation.
Ji Wuyou said ominously, “I’ll spare your lives for now. But when I return, you won’t even have the qualification for reincarnation!”
Yu Qinglian sneered, drew her whip, and slashed through the air, shattering it.
Ji Wuyou’s figure split in two but couldn’t halt the dissipation. He vanished on the spot.
Yu Qinglian clenched her silver teeth.
Wu Sheng hesitated for a moment and softly remarked, “There’s no need to pursue. We won’t catch up.”
Yu Qinglian calmed down and once again looked towards the direction of the Institute of Celestial Ascension. “He intends to sever the Heavenly Ladder. It seems we must return to the Institute of Celestial Ascension once more.”
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