Chapter 107: The Kirin Devours Sand, the Dharmic Ring Breaks the Mermaid
Chapter 107: The Kirin Devours Sand, the Dharmic Ring Breaks the Mermaid
The Longevity Patriarch was originally a spirit born from the Immortal Divine Tree, similar to a Daoist Primordial Spirit. Sensing Mu Yuan’s danger, it rushed directly into Mu Yuan’s Mud Pill Palace and Sea of Consciousness, merging with the giant tree formed by Mu Yuan’s spiritual sense. Immediately, an aura of eternal life spread, and that giant tree gradually transformed into the likeness of the Immortal Tree. Its ancient trunk was gray-green, covered in mottled, overlapping scales like a dragon’s. A halo of light shimmered and surged upon it, directly pushing back the golden light from the bronze mirror!
Mu Yuan felt a soothing comfort throughout his body, a lazy sensation, along with a warm, moist stream of energy flowing down from his Mud Pill Palace and circulating through his entire body. He couldn’t help but shout out. Waves of energy rolled, and a green radiance, like a swimming dragon, shot out from his mouth, drifting and wandering—utterly marvelous!
The Dragon Mermaid roared repeatedly. Another gleam of golden light separated from the bronze mirror and swept toward Mu Yuan once more. This time, however, Mu Yuan was prepared. With a single thought, the Six Harmonies Sword Pills that had fallen on the ground earlier buzzed and flew up again, linking into a ring of light that blocked the golden radiance. At the same time, he let out a long cry, and three great curses danced forth furiously, pouncing on the Dragon Mermaid!
The Purple Lightning Dragon Curse, the Northern Dark Water Curse, and the Longevity Curse had all taken physical form, becoming more condensed and potent. With their release, they became a brilliant streak of flowing light, truly embodying the intent of universal salvation through illumination!
Apart from a few flying swords, these three great curses were Mu Yuan’s most adept methods. Indeed, although the Dragon Mermaid was formidable, it found itself struggling against these three elusive and unpredictable curses. The water pillars could not harm them, so it merely stirred its primordial energy, forming a dense water curtain around itself to keep the three curses at bay!
At this moment, Mu Yuan and his two companions finally caught their breath, temporarily turning the situation around. Still, they could not harm the Dragon Mermaid in the slightest. Seeing the deadlock, Mu Yuan grew anxious but had no solution. Observing the three glowing curses dancing in the air, an idea crossed his mind. He pulled the great curse formed from Refining Furnace True Qi—which still appeared as a hazy, luminous sphere in his Dantian—into the Black Water Gourd.
Inside the Black Water Gourd at that time stood five enormous yellow crystal pillars, reaching from the ground to the sky, towering within the gourd’s internal world. Layers of halos rippled outward like waves, stirring up countless yellow dust and mist, making the Black Water Primordial Energy within the gourd turbid and disturbing the creatures inside into a frenzy. The two unusual beasts, the Mountain Elf and Feng Luan, were already roused, flying back and forth around the five pillars. Agitated by the yellow light, they became enraged—one spewing black fire, the other waving water—vying relentlessly with the yellow radiance of the crystal pillars, locked in a stalemate!
Mu Yuan was momentarily stunned by this unexpected change. Watching the two beasts flitting about angrily, he couldn’t help but find it amusing.
These five great yellow crystal pillars were forged from countless yellow sands, stones, and seabed divine essence, making them supreme magical artifacts. Forty-nine such pillars formed the Desert Divine Sand Formation, capable of unleashing Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water with boundless power. By obtaining five of them, Mu Yuan had effectively broken the formation outside the immortal’s abode!
This was possible because the formation had first been forcibly breached by two old monks. Although they hadn’t destroyed it, they damaged its primordial energy. Moreover, with no one controlling the formation, the Five Directions Five Elements Breaking Restriction Technique, and the two supreme immortal swords in Mu Yuan’s possession, he seized this advantage!
Individually, the five crystal pillars, while remarkable, couldn’t form a formation, significantly reducing their value. Since Mu Yuan didn’t really need these five pillars, he decided to have the great curse formed from Refining Furnace True Qi devour them!
Stopping the two beasts’ attacks, Mu Yuan paced around the crystal pillars, murmuring incantations. The Longevity Sword and Minghe Immortal Sword immediately flew in. Purple rainbows and starlight shone like the sun and moon, swiftly immobilizing one pillar!
Seeing this, Mu Yuan quickly directed the great curse to pounce upon it. A yellowish-brown light enveloped the curse’s glowing sphere, and a faint, cheerful chirp seemed to emanate from within. The massive pillar that reached to the sky was gradually covered by the yellow light and began to disintegrate, turning into grains of sparkling, translucent yellow refined sand, hazy with halos, and was swallowed by the great curse!
Originally, the crystal pillar’s restrictions had already been broken by the Longevity Sword, preventing it from forming a formation and unleashing its many mysteries. Now, trapped by two supreme sword energies, the formation within the refined sand couldn’t operate, and it was helplessly devoured by the great curse!
In a short while, the entire crystal pillar was consumed by the curse. The orange-yellow curse light slowly condensed, forming a Kirin beast with its head raised and hooves poised, its eyes gleaming with divine light. It let out a delicate belch and emitted a happy, soft neigh toward Mu Yuan!
Mu Yuan was overjoyed, not expecting the curse to take form after devouring just one pillar. Before he could ponder further, the yellow Kirin swept like the wind toward the remaining four pillars, swallowing them all without needing Mu Yuan’s sword energy to immobilize them!
This turn of events took Mu Yuan by surprise; he hadn’t anticipated the curse would become so powerful after consuming one crystal pillar.
Since the forty-nine pillars originally influenced one another, the curse, having absorbed one, found it effortless to break down the other four. All that remained was to slowly absorb and digest them.
“Excellent! From now on, you shall be called the Earth Guardian Kirin Curse!”
Mu Yuan watched as the Kirin’s belly swelled and deflated. Turning around, he exited the gourd and casually released the Earth Guardian Kirin Curse. Its undulating halo coordinated with the other three curses as they jointly besieged the Dragon Mermaid!
As soon as the Earth Guardian Kirin Curse emerged, it spewed yellow dust, effectively surrounding the Dragon Mermaid with five crystal pillars. This made Mu Yuan’s thoughts race: “So it has such wonderful uses! If I obtain other magical artifacts in the future, I might as well let the other three curses devour them too!”
Implicitly, earth overcomes water. Although the Earth Guardian Kirin Curse was the last to take form, its power surpassed the other three curses. With the crystal pillars as its magical artifact, it gained the upper hand.
The Dragon Mermaid finally showed signs of retreat. Rolling water pillars transformed into an ironclad water curtain to protect itself as it prepared to withdraw.
Although Mu Yuan and his two companions had gained the upper hand, they still couldn’t effectively stop it. Just as it was about to escape, they suddenly heard a deafening, earth-shaking noise. A wall behind the Dragon Mermaid exploded as if struck by lightning, fragments flying and dust billowing. A surging wave of energy rolled forth, directly ensnaring the Dragon Mermaid!
The powerful blast surged forward; Mu Yuan, Lin Feiyun, and Nie Wushuang felt a strong wind blast their faces, making it hard to breathe. Unaware of what new development had occurred, they hastily withdrew their divine abilities. The Taiji Diagram flew back above Lin Feiyun and Nie Wushuang, its black and white plain light swirling continuously, hanging down like a canopy. Mu Yuan retracted his radiant sword energy, swirling it rapidly around himself. The four great curses also separated into black, cyan, purple, and yellow hues. Only then did they steady their gazes to look!
They saw a monk with a broad face, large ears, sunken eyes, and a flat nose—quite unattractive. A circle of fiercely swirling red zhenqi surrounded the Dragon Mermaid. Behind this monk stood a bald monk—none other than Yuan Jue!
The monk restraining the Dragon Mermaid revealed a smile, though to others it looked rather frightening. Seemingly unconcerned, the monk shook his hand repeatedly, his zhenqi constantly shifting and condensing into sharp, needle-like points that stabbed inward. The Dragon Mermaid let out thunderous roars of pain. The bronze mirror spun rapidly in mid-air but was instantly trapped by a brilliant, circular halo the monk emitted, preventing it from shining!
Seeing Monk Yuan Jue, Mu Yuan and the other two relaxed slightly. They watched quietly as the monk performed his art. His zhenqi condensed into sharp rays, circulating endlessly within the red light, forming some kind of array. Smoke and mist suddenly arose, and from within came the Dragon Mermaid’s alternating loud and soft roars, occasionally accompanied by thunderous explosions. In the end, they couldn’t tell what had happened, but the bronze mirror ended up inside the monk’s sleeve, and the Dragon Mermaid enveloped by the red light also vanished!
Once things calmed down, the group hurried over. After hearing Yuan Jue’s explanation, they learned that this monk was named Fajie and had entered the immortal’s abode with his martial uncle, Zhishan. They had been separated upon entry. Fortunately, Fajie encountered only a few insignificant spirits upon entering the abode, which he disposed of casually. He had been wandering around the immortal’s abode until he met Yuan Jue. The two fought their way through together to reach this place!
Through Yuan Jue, they also learned that he had come to the Southern Barbarian Mountains to find Zhishan. None of them knew that Zhishan had already died. Mu Yuan secretly touched the Great Sun True Fire Art on his person but ultimately didn’t mention it.
After Yuan Jue finished the introductions, Fajie spoke: “This immortal’s abode is filled with formations and restrictions at every step. I’ve been inside for three days now and haven’t been able to figure anything out. Continuing like this isn’t a solution. Fortunately, we now have two distinguished disciples from Kunlun, peerless in the art of breaking restrictions. That will make things much easier going forward. I just wonder where fellow Daoist Zhishan has gone?”
Despite Fajie’s fierce appearance, his words were exceedingly kind. The four of them followed him as they slowly proceeded deeper into the immortal’s abode!
Mu Yuan followed behind the others, his thoughts not particularly fervent, instead quietly pondering his own cultivation issues. The Longevity Patriarch had merged with the spiritual sense tree in his Sea of Consciousness to repel the bronze mirror, then retreated. However, it left behind a trace of its aura, causing Mu Yuan’s spiritual sense tree to undergo many changes, gradually transforming toward the divine nature of the Immortal Tree!
Having obtained the Great Sun True Fire Art, Mu Yuan considered the next step of Refining Righteous Energy. However, he still couldn’t let go of his sect’s Nirvana Art, wondering if he should seek it out.
While he was lost in thought, Fajie and the others continuously reaped benefits along the way. With Fajie’s immense magical power and Lin Feiyun and Nie Wushuang’s Five Directions Five Elements Breaking Restriction Technique, they advanced irresistibly. Finally, they arrived before a stone door carved from marble!
At this stone door, there were no more formation barriers, only a giant stone man holding a broad stone sword, standing imposingly, motionless.
Fajie attempted to send a burst of zhenqi to strike the stone door, but not even a spark appeared. Instead, a line of intricate ancient seal script was revealed!
“I, True Lord Shuiyun, cultivated for five hundred years and finally achieved great Primordial Spirit, merging with the Dao realm. Breaking away from this world holds no worries for me. I leave behind this empty immortal’s abode, hidden within the azure void, awaiting those destined. However, the Great Dao is arduous; cultivation is paramount. All magical treasures and spiritual medicines are external objects and ultimately unreliable. Whoever enters this door may freely choose one item, and one only!”
The five exchanged glances. Then, the stone door rumbled open, revealing a long corridor. Inside the corridor, fierce flames raged, hurricanes howled, and everything was a blazing, fiery red!