Stranger Danger

“Run! This place will escape at any moment!” Yi Pin let out an odd-pitched scream.

Ye Qing summoned the Earthly Sovereign Bell to block the shockwaves generated by the two celestials’ clash and ran with all his might.

“Are you really planning to destroy the Kunlun Ruins, Xuanyuan Xin?”

It was at this moment Xuanyuan Kun’s angry yet terrified voice boomed throughout the land.

“Hahaha… you’re scared, Xuanyuan Kun. You’re scared!”

Xuanyuan Xin’s crazed laughter followed next. “So what if I am? Any price is acceptable as long as I can kill you.”

“The Kunlun Ruins, the human world. Anything!”

“Hahahahaha!”

“You’ve gone mad. You’ve truly gone mad!” Xuanyuan Kun roared, but it was futile. Xuanyuan Xin was already attacking him once more.

“That woman has been corrupted by the Nine Nethers. She won’t stop until her goal is fulfilled! We need to leave now, or we’re all going to die!” A pale-faced Yi Pin urged.

“I don’t need you to tell me that!”

Ye Qing complained before channeling his energies into the Earthly Sovereign Bell and triggering a bell chime. It shattered large patches of darkness and revealed what looked like a space of ripples filled with clear, blending light.

“This is the place!”

Overjoyed, Ye Qing hurriedly made his way toward the ripple of clear light.

“Amitabha! You’re finally here.”

Right before he would reach the ripple, Uncertain suddenly stepped out from the darkness. “This poor monk has been waiting anxiously for you!”

“You’re still alive, monk? How did you know to find us here?” Yi Pin climbed off Ye Qing’s back and snarked as soon as he saw Uncertain.

“This poor monk cannot possibly pass to the afterlife before you, old Taoist,” Uncertain replied calmly. “As for why I’m here, that’s because my divination revealed that this is the place where I might live to see another day.”

Ye Qing’s eyes glinted. If he wasn’t sure before, he now knew that Uncertain Monk was definitely no slouch. The threads of fate in the Kunlun Ruins were completely muddied, and yet he still managed to divine a way out of this place. No wonder he was able to find the Kunlun Ruins via alternative means in the first place.

“This is the place? I don’t see anything though?” Yi Pin asked.

“Amitabha. If you will, benefactor?” Uncertain looked at Ye Qing while examining the dark yellow light he was exuding thoughtfully.

“You truly are impressive, Zen Master,” replied Ye Qing.

Uncertain didn’t see the Earthly Sovereign Bell because Ye Qing had put it away beforehand. Not too long ago, Feng Qingyou’s friend had been taught a lesson regarding the crime of jade ring. He wasn’t about to make that mistake himself.

“Oh! You know how to leave the Kunlun Ruins, brother?” Yi Pin finally realized what Uncertain was talking about.

“Duh! Why would I come here otherwise?” Ye Qing replied and walked up to the clear light. Then, he performed a number of hand seals and struck the sheen of clear light.

The next moment, big ripples appeared from the sheen of clear light. At the same time, a tall, massive gate tower slowly emerged from the center.

The gate tower was none other than the one Ye Qing had passed through to enter the Kunlun Ruins at the beginning.

The gate tower was both an entrance and an exit. Normally, the gate tower was hidden to prevent residents from leaving the Kunlun Ruins without permission. Only those who knew the hand seals and the appropriate celestial incantations could manifest it to leave the place.

The hand seals and the celestial incantations were only known to a handful of people. Eastern Radiance Lord was one of them.

Naturally, Ye Qing had learned it from him.

Eastern Radiance Lord was not a good person. The celestial had also tried to kill him just now. However, Ye Qing must admit that he had done him a huge favor.

As soon as the gate tower appeared, the Stamp of Profound Sovereign Chongming on the sign board suddenly unleashed infinite rays of light and melted the surrounding Nine Nethers Demonic Qi like snow.

“You cannot escape! You are mine!”

Unfortunately, the sudden dispelling of the Nine Nethers Demonic Qi also exposed Ye Qing, Uncertain and Yi Pin completely. Xuanyuan Kun immediately swung his head in his direction and made a grab for him.

“Run!”

Alarm bells immediately blared in Ye Qing’s head. Blanching a little, he became the first to run toward the gate tower.

Uncertain and Yi Pin’s skins were crawling as well. Even before Ye Qing yelled the warning, they were already running toward the gate tower.

As if on cue, as soon as the trio passed through the gate tower, a jade white hand plummeted from the sky and struck it.

The gate tower immediately shattered to smithereens like wet tissue.

“We should be safe now, right?”

The trio found themselves standing on a sea of white clouds after exiting the gate tower. They all let out a sigh of relief.

It was too soon. The jade white hand of Xuanyuan Kun abruptly manifested behind them and made a grabbing motion.

“Shit!”

Ye Qing let out a cry of desperation as the Earthly Sovereign Bell appeared above their heads in a flash. Profound Yellow Mother Qi immediately descended and wrapped the three of them in a protective cocoon.

THUMP!

As soon as the jade white hand grabbed the Earthly Sovereign Bell, it immediately started squeezing. It was trying to crush the Strange Artifact to bits.

Buzz…

Wisps of profound light leaked out from between the jade white hand’s fingers, washing away the sea of white clouds below.

And yet, as scary as the jade white hand was, the Earthly Sovereign Bell was stronger. No matter how much strength it exerted, it could not harm the Earthly Sovereign Bell.

Inside the Earthly Sovereign Bell, Ye Qing sucked in a deep breath and grew a few inches taller. His eyes shone golden, and his body profound yellow. For a moment, he seemed as tall as the blue sky and as thick as the earth.

Beside Ye Qing, Yi Pin and Uncertain subconsciously backed a few steps away from him. From their perspective, it was as if Ye Qing had suddenly transformed into a giant as tall as the heavens, and as vast and bottomless as the earth. Naturally, they were astonished.

Then, Ye Qing clenched his fist and punched the interior wall of the Earthly Sovereign Bell.

The Earthly Sovereign Bell shook a little. Then, the engravings on its surface took form—the sun, moon and stars; the river, mountains, humans and smoke—and the jade white hand soundlessly crumbled into nothing inch by inch.

“Argh!”

As soon as the jade white hand began disintegrating, a bloodcurdling, furious scream resounded throughout the space.

The next moment, the disintegrating hand lifted high into the air before slapping down on the Earthly Sovereign Bell, hard.

THUUUUMPPPPPP!!!

The bell rang louder than ever before, deafening all ears and scattering all clouds within five thousands kilometers of it. Unable to maintain its form any longer, the jade white hand abruptly exploded to smithereens. The Earthly Sovereign Bell itself was smacked down the clouds and toward the earth like a meteor. When it collided with the land, the land broke into pieces like a mirror.

Speaking of mirror, countless cracks were forming in the sky like it was a mirror. Nine Nethers Demonic Qi was leaking through the cracks.

The white clouds and the nine heavens immediately grew contaminated.

“Chirp chirp chirp!”

The dozens of Crimson Luan perched on the Radiant Tree immediately flew into the sky as if they sensed danger. They flapped their wings and burned the Nine Nethers Demonic Qi into nothing.

However, the Nine Nethers Demonic Qi was endless. The more they burned, the more they spilled out from the heavens.

The cracks were growing bigger and more numerous by the second. Then, as if a dam had broken, a titanic waterfall of Nine Nethers Demonic Qi spilled through the heavens and poured toward the earth like a waterfall.

It seemed inevitable that this corner of the world would become contaminated by the Nine Nethers Demonic Qi. It was at this moment a saber flashed.

The saber beam was domineering, ruthless, and invasive. It consumed like a voracious destroyer intending to destroy the sun and the moon and annihilate time itself.

For a moment, the world turned completely black. It was darker than even when one was trapped within a cluster of Nine Nethers Demonic Qi.

The darkness was a kind of pure and flawless black though. Not a speck of corruption or filth could be seen anywhere.

An unknown amount of time later, when light finally returned to the world, the outburst of Nine Nethers Demonic Qi had completely disappeared.

The saber beam had annihilated all of it.

Even the Nine Nethers Demonic Qi still leaking through the cracks were annihilated by the lingering saber intent.

“My Buddha is merciful. Your ‘Nine Blades That Melt The Sun’ saber intent has become even greater, benefactor Xiahou.”

The saber intent was still persisting when a merciful voice spoke up.

The voice resounded throughout the world like thousands and thousands of senior monks were chanting a sutra together. The Buddhist voice was grand and loud, pure and mellifluous.

The next moment, a golden lotus appeared out of nowhere and bloomed soundlessly.

Waves of golden light washed out again and again as the petals unfurled. A Buddha was sitting on top of each petal while holding a Buddhist mudra.

A golden lotus, a Kingdom of Buddha.