Guluo's miserable screams tore through the sky. The agony made it impossible for him to maintain his balance in the air. The scroll carried him forward in a wobbling, descending flight.
Xiao Chen stepped from treetop to treetop, his body nothing but a faint shadow. After pursuing for several dozen meters, he threw his second sword!
The radiant longsword blazed like a shooting star, trailing a tail of light as it struck Guluo!
"Pfft!"
Blood sprayed through the air. The second sword struck true!
The blade pierced straight through Guluo's chest and abdomen, nearly pinning him out of the sky. Blood-chilling screams echoed across the heavens as a long stream of crimson splattered downward. Mortally wounded, Guluo mustered all his remaining power to drive the painting scroll, fleeing swiftly into the distance...
Under the bright moonlight, Xiao Chen stood atop the crown of a tree. He threw back his head and let out a long roar. His wild hair danced wildly, and his eyes were as sharp as blades. Tonight, he had finally turned the tide completely, venting the bitterness in his chest. He no longer needed to flee.
Qin Guang Wang, Yan Luo Wang, and Lun Hui Wang climbed onto the treetops and came to Xiao Chen's side. Under the moonlight, the three white skeletons gazed at the bright moon in the sky. Ripples of soul-light within their skulls radiated outward, as if they were recalling something...
...
In the latter half of the night, the roars of beasts in the forest ceased. An extraordinary stillness settled in. Soft moonlight spilled through the woods like large patches of pure white feathers. The mountain forest was harmonious and peaceful.
Xiao Chen sat cross-legged atop a tree canopy. The moonlight essence, drawn by his circulating cultivation art, flowed toward him like gentle waves. A faint, holy radiance swirled above the treetops, making the spot feel especially tranquil and serene.
After the fierce battle, Xiao Chen's body was depleted. The pure lunar energy was continuously absorbed, replenishing his nearly exhausted vital force.
The three skeletons quietly refined the crystals Xiao Chen had given them. A touch of luster returned to their snowy frames. Their skulls in particular, illuminated by the soul-light, appeared crystal-clear and translucent, showing signs of becoming jade-like.
The night was calm and peaceful...
The stars gradually faded. Rosy hues appeared on the eastern horizon. Morning arrived. In the quiet primeval forest, birds were the first to stir. Their melodious chirps were crisp and pleasing, soon followed by the calls of beasts rising one after another.
Xiao Chen's whole body was shrouded in a soft glow. Several small birds hopped and sang beside him. He had become one with nature. Only when he opened his eyes did the forest birds startle into flight. He felt his entire being brimming with surging vitality; brilliant light ceaselessly flowed over his skin.
After washing away the blood and grime in a clear stream and enjoying a sumptuous breakfast of wild game, Xiao Chen set out with the three skeletons.
Herds of stampeding mammoths, winged divine leopards, golden centipedes as thick as water buckets, and three-headed tiger kings the size of small hills... Along the way, enormous and fearsome beast roars constantly echoed through the ancient forest.
Crossing range after range of wooded mountains, Xiao Chen led the three skeletons back to his former dwelling. By the sapphire-like lake, the bamboo hut still stood, releasing the fresh fragrance of plants. Vines coiled around it, and flowers and grasses bloomed all around.
They did not linger. Passing through the lush forest, they arrived at the seaside. Xiao Chen began to sun-dry sea salt, planning to stockpile enough before pursuing Zhao Lin'er and Guluo.
The morning sunlight was golden and brilliant. The three skeletons, who loathed sunlight intensely, took shelter in the coconut grove by the beach, refusing to come out. Xiao Chen used coconut shells to scoop seawater and lay it out to dry. But just then, he spotted a figure in the sea.
A person in white rushed toward him from the depths of the ocean, parting the waves like a divine fish! It was a stunning sight—the white-clad figure was not swimming but standing on the surface of the sea!
As the figure drew near, he could finally see clearly.
A young white-robed monk stood atop a single wooden beam, drifting with the wind. He seemed like an immortal walking on the waves, exuding an indescribable aura of transcendence.
"A reed across the river—the lightness skill of Dharma Master Bodhidharma!" A lightness skill that had been lost in the mortal world for many years!
Xiao Chen was quite startled. This was definitely a master, one he had to be wary of.
A slightly salty sea breeze brushed past. The white-robed monk rode the waves to the shore. He looked at Xiao Chen with some surprise but quickly calmed and stepped onto the beach.
"You are...?" Unlike ordinary monks, he did not recite a Buddhist greeting or call him "benefactor." He asked as a common person would.
Seeing that this young monk was extraordinary, Xiao Chen introduced himself in the briefest words. He would have to get along with the cultivators of this realm to survive in the World of Immortality.
The white-robed monk seemed very surprised. He said, "My Dharma name is Yizhen." He did not refer to himself as "this humble monk" but used the common "I." Though his speech was not that of a monk, he carried an air of otherworldliness. In bearing, he seemed like an enlightened master.
The two chatted simply and soon found themselves in the coconut grove. The three skeletons, sensing the approach of a living being, quietly retreated.
"Dharma Master Yizhen, does this island have any peculiar features?" Xiao Chen's heart was full of questions. Wang Zifeng, Guluo, and others had all come to this island first, clearly for an important purpose. Now Yizhen had also arrived, which made the desolate island's unusual nature even more evident.
"This island is called Dragon Island. In the primordial age, the heavens sent down a divine stele, sealing it forever. All the dragon clans that could contend with the gods were stripped of their power and imprisoned on this desolate island."
Xiao Chen finally understood why the Eight-Armed Malignant Dragon—which could rival the ocean gods—and one branch of the dragon king's lineage—the Violent Dragons—were more brutish than divine. On this island, eternally suppressed by the divine stele, they had lost their great divine abilities of old.
"Why did this happen?" Xiao Chen asked, puzzled.
Monk Yizhen, understanding Xiao Chen's current state of mind, briefly recounted the ancient affairs of the World of Immortality.
"No one knows what happened. After the dragon clans were sealed, Sovereign Suiren, Sovereign Youchao, Sovereign Fuxi, and other ancestral gods, as well as Laozi, the Primordial, Lord Tongtian, the Buddha, and other mighty beings, all disappeared. That era must have witnessed some great upheaval. Those gods vanished without a trace."
"How could this be..." Xiao Chen could not comprehend. He turned to Yizhen and said, "Could it be that there are no gods left in heaven and earth?"
"That's not so. The World of Immortality is vast and boundless, with countless races. The ancestral gods are gone, and Laozi, the Buddha, and other great powers have also vanished. But the legends of the gods of other races still circulate. Many things are hard to explain clearly. You need to go to the vast continent yourself to understand."
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