Techniques and Dao

Chapter 220 The Thin Line of Life and Death

Immortal Master Yu Ran and Immortal Master Jue Guang suddenly felt a darkness before their eyes, and just as they were about to be swallowed by the dot, a silver-white divine dragon rushed down from below and charged towards the Yuan Shen shield.

With his last remaining sight, Master Jueguang shouted to the little white dragon rushing towards the gravity nuclear bomb, "Little monk, run!"

The little white dragon seemed not to hear, or perhaps simply didn't care. It stretched out its body, enveloping itself around the primordial spirit shield. It used its dragon body as a barrier to separate the outside world from the gravitational nuclear bomb, bearing hundreds of thousands of times the force of gravity upon itself!

At the same moment, the primordial spirit shield shattered with a crack. Crimson light shot out from the cracks in the dragon's coiled body, and the little white dragon let out a roar, instead tightening its coils even more!
In an instant, a huge explosion occurred in the center. The coiled dragon body suddenly contracted inward. As the white dragon struggled to support itself, a series of crackling sounds rang out, like firecrackers echoing through the sky as the dragon bones shattered!
The crimson light from the gravitational nuclear explosion was so bright that it even penetrated the white dragon's body. Broken dragon bones pierced through its flesh, and in an instant, dragon scales and blood rained down from the sky.

Like a torrential downpour that soaked the surrounding high-rise buildings and dyed Xuanwu Lake blood red!
These were a few seconds that felt like a decade.

After the nuclear explosion stopped, the dragon's form vanished. Amidst the falling dragon scales, the figure of a thin child plummeted from the sky, landing on a platform at the base of the dilapidated tower.

Gazing at the severely injured Buxu on the ground, Master Ruokong, atop the tower, had tears welling in his eyes, yet he was powerless to escape.
Bu Xu coughed up blood, looked up and whispered, "Jin...Ling City, hold on..."

"Jinling City will be fine, you should rest." Ruokong took off his brocade cassock and threw it down from the tower to drape over the trembling Buxu. He took a deep breath and said slowly, "Little White Dragon, you are my pride."

But when he tried to offer a few more words of comfort, he immediately realized that it was not over yet.

A figure appeared on the surface of Xuanwu Lake, which was stained red with dragon blood in the distance.

That was Professor Christine, walking effortlessly across the lake. Each step Chris took landed on a fish slightly larger than his toes.

The fish that were originally at the bottom of the water now seemed to obey him, swimming forward to become the "path" for him to walk on the water's surface.

Professor Christine wasn't alone; he was also holding something in his left hand.

When Bu Xu saw the "thing", he struggled to sit up straight. He knew that Christine had not brought any object. What he was holding was Xuanwen, who had been missing since earlier.

Xuanwen's face was covered in blood, and he looked like he was on the verge of death.

Clothed in a brocade robe, Buxu looked around. Although he had suffered severe internal bleeding and his skin had begun to turn purple from the shock of the gravitational nuclear bomb, he knew that this was a problem that had to be solved.

Master Ruokong looked down at Buxu, who was all alone below the tower.

"Buxu, you should know that your teacher may not be able to help you."

The little white dragon smiled faintly and replied, "Master, we didn't come here for an easy life. Isn't that right?"

Ruokong smiled too, and said nothing more.

Buxus picked up a small pebble from beside him and threw it forward. Professor Christine caught it in her palm with a snap and said, "What's the use of such a little trick?"

Bu Xu said, "This benefactor has cheated more than once before; I was just being cautious."

Christine said, "Then you should know what you're going to face."

"This humble monk only knows that since we have been reduced to using hostages as leverage, we are probably out of options."

Anger immediately surfaced on Christine's face at the disdain revealed in Buxu's words.

“Le sort de la foudre!”

He raised his wand, and a bolt of lightning struck Buxus's left shoulder.

The electric current struck the brocade robe, but most of it was blocked outside the robe. The sparks that flew around also turned the parts of Bu Xu's body that were not covered by the robe black and red, and the pain of being burned was indescribable.

“You’re nothing but a child with only half a life left, at best a sitting duck.” Christine looked up at the mage Ruokong on the tower and shouted, “Close your barrier and hand over the Jupiter Silk immediately!”

"Ridiculous! If you, benefactor, disregard the lives of all living beings, what will become of Jupiter's Thread?"

Master Ruokong looked down at Professor Christine and replied, "Even if I had it, how could I hand it over to someone like that!"

Xuanwen, who had been on the verge of death, suddenly burst into laughter upon hearing this, saying, "Well said! The abbot is absolutely right! Forget about my life, today we'll teach this old bastard a lesson!"

After saying that, he spat at Professor Christine, but because he was too weak, the bloody spittle only got onto Christine's collar.

This stained the professor's once clean white collar with a deep red bloodstain.

Christine stared at Bu Xu in front of her, about to utter a few more threats. But she felt the murderous intent and chill emanating from the young monk's eyes and couldn't help but shiver.

Bu Xu said in an icy tone, "Put him down and get out! Lest your blood taint Jinling City."

“You can’t even protect yourself, you don’t have any weapons! What makes you think you can negotiate!” Christine grabbed Xuanwen’s wand and pressed it against his temple.

Xuanwen, having lost too much blood, was delirious and could only say, "Why waste words with this fellow? Words... are unnecessary when there's no common ground..."

Seeing Xuanwen's miserable state, Buxu remained silent for a moment, then muttered to himself:
“Master once said that all hesitation in the face of the enemy, all self-doubt, will make you cowardly. At that time, what defeats you is not the enemy, but yourself.”

Bu Xu looked at his left ring finger, where blood was flowing from the tip. It was clearly a fresh wound. He looked up and said, "This disciple has never doubted himself."

Professor Christine across from them roared in exasperation, "You! Hurry up..."

"Daqian Temple will not be threatened in any way! Daqian Temple will never back down!" Buxu shouted.

"What can that brat do when he's about to die..."

Just as Christine roared at Buxu and revealed a slight opening, a silver light stained with blood pierced through Professor Christine's right chest. The lightning-fast strike pierced through Christine's body, and he clearly heard the sound of his bones shattering.

He only saw the young monk swing his injured left hand at him, spilling only a few drops of blood. But how could blood be as hard as steel? Absolutely impossible!

Could it be that this little monk mixed some kind of hard weapon into the blood droplet?

No! It wasn't that the little monk mixed anything into the blood droplet; on the contrary, it was precisely because of this substance that the little monk's left ring finger bled!

That's... a fingernail!
This little monk was incredibly ruthless; when he had no weapon in his hand, he actually pulled out his own fingernail and used it as a "bullet"!
It was this white dragon claw's hook that pierced through his chest!
By the time Professor Christine realized what was happening, the force of the blow had sent him flying ten meters into the lake! His blood rushed to his head, and a mouthful of blood splattered onto the lake's surface.

Christine knew he had utterly failed. He had led thousands of Klin Magic Academy students, countless summoned beasts, and even brought the school's prized Gravity Nuclear Bomb, only to lose to a mere child from the East! Buxu coldly said expressionlessly, "Get out of our territory!"

Several magicians, riding magical brooms, rushed forward, pulled the head of the Summoning Department of Klin Magic School out of the lake, and carried him away from Xuanwu Lake.

Christine, who had no strength left, looked at her watch. It was already nine o'clock in the evening. She, who had been almost half-dead, suddenly had her eyes shining as if she had been given a stimulant.

With his mouth full of blood, he shouted at the flashing white light of the Ultimate Hexagram magic circle in the sky, "It's not over! Time's up! Hahaha, it's not over yet!"

As he spoke, the white light in the sky suddenly turned deep red!

A deafening explosion resounded, and countless cracks appeared in the multicolored glow of the sky. The glow abruptly plummeted from mid-air, as if the entire sky had collapsed!

An explosion like thunder erupted behind Buxu, and the Medicine Buddha Pagoda of Jiming Temple burst open from the middle, with fragments flying in all directions of the city!
If Master Ruokong couldn't dodge in time, he groaned and fell from mid-air!

Through Bu Xu's earpiece came Jin Fanyin's almost hysterical scream: "What happened? All the images in our control center are frozen... no, the phones have crashed!"

Jin Fan exclaimed, "How come the six-pointed star magic array suddenly became so powerful! Has the Righteous Dharma Bright Tathagata Dharma Gate Array been broken?! Wait, the phone crashed because the chip was overloaded. The chip was overloaded because... its computing power was being drained!"

Global computing power is being drained!
As everyone already knows, the global computing power that was drained was channeled into the six-pointed star magic circle! The power of the magic circle increased exponentially!

Jin Fanyin cried out in the earpiece, "It's over! The Righteous Dharma Bright Tathagata Dharma Gate Formation is finished! The Jinling Dragon Vein can't be defended! Everyone, run!"

From the ruins of the Medicine Buddha Pagoda came the voice of Master Ruokong: "The cycle of six realms of reincarnation, how can it ever end! End? End what end!"

A beam of golden light shot out from the ruins, and Master Ruokong stood up from the ground, supporting himself with his hands on the Righteous Dharma Bright Tathagata Dharma Gate Formation. However, a steel bar pierced deeply into Master Ruokong's left chest, and blood gushed out from his chest like a spring along the steel bar.

"Master!"

Upon seeing this, Bu Xu rushed forward, crying out, "Master...Master! Please don't die!"

Master Ruokong coughed up blood: "Cough cough... Children speak without thinking, children speak without thinking, you little wicked disciple, what discouraging words are you saying!"

Buxu quickly treated Ruokong, but only managed to slow the bleeding.

Master Ruokong said softly, "Don't rush to treat it. I must have been so focused on protecting the formation that I accidentally injured my heart with a hard object. The bleeding won't stop anytime soon... cough cough... Bu... Buxu, help me withstand this Dharma formation. This injury can be endured for now. Once I return to Daqian Temple and recuperate for a hundred days, I'll be fine. Besides..."

If he coughs up blood, he continues, "Who can't sacrifice for this beautiful world? Anyone can, including this poor monk."

Buxu burst into tears, then turned around and transformed into a white dragon, standing upright with its blood-stained horns holding up the colorful clouds in the sky.

At this moment, the two immortal masters, Yu Ran and Jue Guang, also flew over from both ends, dragging their injured immortal bodies, and said at the same time, "Master, your actions are of immeasurable merit. We, your humble Taoist priests, will certainly do our utmost!"

The two immortal masters chanted incantations, which also helped to hold up the magic array that was on the verge of collapse.

Ruokong chuckled and said, "Very...very good! This is what they call the Buddhist-Taoist alliance, its strength can break metal."

"When faced with life and death, even a high-ranking monk should refrain from joking."

Seeing that Ruokong's face was already pale, Master Yuran quickly supported him to prevent him from falling.

Jin Fan shouted into the headset, "No! This computing power is too strong! We have to eliminate it! How's it going in Paris, Hua Sheng! Hua Sheng, you bastard! What happened to the agreement?!"

He continued shouting, "If we don't reduce global computing power, we'll be wiped out! Once the capital city of Xuancheng is formed, we'll all be buried with them!"

The previously silent earphones finally received a response from Hanamori, but it was a sentence that left everyone bewildered.

"Chang'an! The capital city of Chang'an, Xuancheng, has been completed!!"

Jin Fan replied, "Hua Sheng, were you stunned in Paris? It's Jinling, Nanjing! Chang'an is Xi'an. Besides, Jinling's dragon vein hasn't been attacked yet, how could there be a capital city like Xuancheng?!"

Master Ruokong hurriedly asked, "Could it be that Chang'an has been attacked?"

Hua Sheng said urgently into the earpiece, "We just returned to the ground from Klin Magic Academy and learned that the twelve groups of mages sent by Klin Magic Academy this time were to set up two ultimate six-pointed star magic circles! The person in charge of all this is Madeline, the head of the Dark Arts Department of the Attack Campus!"

Master Ruokong said, "Benefactor, you were unaware that there are actually two dragon veins?"

Hua Sheng lamented, "I only heard about the dragon vein today. When Jane heard Brian say that the plan was to attack Jinling, I naturally assumed that the dragon vein was in Jinling. Who knew that the Demon School was attacking two dragon veins at the same time."

Master Jueguang replied, "All our forces are in Jinling. This place is already in grave danger, let alone defending Chang'an!"

"Therefore, the Ultimate Hexagram must have directly struck the dragon vein of Chang'an! The capital city of Chang'an is forming!"

Master Ruokong asked Immortal Master Jueguang beside him, "With the formation of the Xuan City of Chaodu, all living beings will be destroyed. The only way is to use immortal techniques to break through the Xuan City's protective barrier."

Master Jueguang shook his head and said, "Chang'an City is an ancient capital of many dynasties, and this Illusionary City of the Dynasty Capital has at least twenty layers. It would be impossible to break through it in one blow without a boundless level immortal technique."

Master Yu Ran continued, "Even if we can break through the capital Xuan City, how can we get to Chang'an in a short time? Even with your Xingguang Spell, Master, we won't make it in time."

Master Ruokong frowned, seemingly on the verge of a dead end, when suddenly a young, unfamiliar girl's voice rang out in his earphones:
"Hello! Hello! This is Jiajia, Little Strawberry Zhang Jia!"

The background sounds were Zhang Jia typing rapidly on her keyboard. As she operated the computer, she said, "I'm online! I was so scared! I thought Dad was going to die in Nanjing, but he was saved by all the gods. I was just about to express my gratitude when I heard about what happened in Xi'an."

Little Strawberry speaks at a rapid-fire pace.

"I heard everyone say that we need to send someone to a place with coordinates between 107.40 and 109.49 degrees east longitude and 33.42 and 34.45 degrees north latitude, right? Ordinary people might not be able to do it, but for gods like you who can use fiber optic cables to transmit, I can open a channel to send someone directly to Xi'an from anywhere in the world!"

"Such a thing is true!" Immortal Master Jueguang quickly asked, "What kind of magic did the young lady use? Tell me quickly!"

Zhang Jia on the other end of the earpiece said four words:
"BeiDou Jump!"

Xiaocaomei Zhang Jia quickly explained, "I just hacked into the BeiDou navigation satellite system and connected all the BeiDou satellites to build an information channel. We'll use this satellite channel to send the gods to Xi'an. How about that? Isn't the name 'BeiDou Jump' pretty cool!"

At this moment, the twenty-layered Xuan City of Chang'an, the capital of the Southern Tang Dynasty, had appeared. Only a few minutes remained before everything within the Xuan City's protective barrier was shattered and reset.

three minutes!
(End of this chapter)