Techniques and Dao

Chapter 47 Heading to the Human World

"Is anyone down there? Wei Yu! Wei Yu, where are you?!"

No matter how hard he shouted down, there was no response.

Seeing Wei Yu being abducted by the giant snake, Hua Sheng was extremely anxious and regretted that he should have taken the Time Bodhi, which had caused this disaster.

Dao Lingxingjun withdrew his magic power, and two golden beams shot out from his eyes as he scanned the mountaintop, but still found no clues.

He then landed on the ground, pointed to the four corners of the mountaintop—east, south, west, and north—and the surrounding semi-transparent walls slowly rose up. He then shoved his palm upwards, and countless tiny points of light instantly rose from the ground.

Hanamori felt that these small specks of light looked very familiar.

Isn't this the magic array that Yu Ran, Jue Guang, and Huo Lei, the three immortal masters, set up to recreate the scene?

The magic array that originally required two guardians and three immortal masters to cast was recreated by Dao Ling Xingjun all by himself!

Dao Ling Xingjun looked around, clenched his fist, and the countless points of light instantly turned into colors, combining to form the scene before the incident. Before the incident, the platform on the lake was packed with people, and then Time Bodhi flew into the air from the Taoist robe at the heart of the flower.

Dao Lingxingjun froze the scene, then turned to Hua Sheng and said, "It's you?"

Hua Sheng nodded nervously. Tai Shang Xiao Jun came to his rescue, saying, "This disciple is guilty. We went to Panxian Cave to retrieve the Time Bodhi, hoping to help him regain his memories."

"You? Are there any others?"

"Wei Yu..." Hua Sheng had just uttered Wei Yu's name when he noticed that Tai Shang Xiao Jun glared at him, as if blaming him for dragging Wei Yu into the mess for no reason.

Dao Ling Xingjun said, "That female registrar who was protecting the Dharma just now? Don't you know that the place where Time Bodhi is located is a forbidden area?"

Hua Sheng immediately knelt down, clasped his hands in a fist and bowed, saying, "It's all my fault! They all went for my sake!"

“The other side came prepared today. I’m afraid you’ve already been targeted.” Dao Ling Xingjun waved his hand.

Then, Dao Ling Xingjun turned around and reconstructed the scene further. The figure shrouded in black smoke appeared in the image. Strangely, the figure seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, remaining completely black in the reconstructed scene. Dao Ling Xingjun zoomed in on the figure and discovered that it wasn't disguised by a mask. No matter how much he magnified the image, it remained a bottomless black mass, as if a piece of the entire scene had been cropped out.

Tai Shang Xiao Jun carefully examined the dark figure and said, "This dark figure doesn't seem to be an illusion, and it's neither human, nor object, nor immortal. What exactly is it?"

"You also think it's neither human, nor object, nor immortal?" Dao Ling Xingjun seemed to agree with Tai Shang Xiaojun's opinion. "Or rather, it might be hidden beneath something."

"Why did he revive the Xuanwu Spirit Serpent?" Hua Sheng asked.

Dao Ling Xingjun fast-forwarded the scene further, and upon seeing the giant snake disappear, he murmured, "This is bad. It seems to be a Lingxiao-level shrinking technique, coupled with two consecutive use of the Shifting Shadow Technique. The first time it jumped into the Hunyuan Path, and the second time it passed directly through the Hunyuan Path."

"Passing through the Hunyuan Path?" Hua Sheng could hardly believe it.

“That’s right. Once we pass through the Hunyuan Path, we will escape to the mortal realm.”

Incredible!

Imagine the hellish scene if such a gigantic Xuanwu spirit serpent suddenly appeared in the city!

"If the giant serpent were to appear in a densely populated city, given its destructive power, the consequences would be unimaginable!" Tai Shang Xiao Jun was very worried about the situation in the human world.

“How could mortals possibly be a match for them?” Hua Sheng said.

Dao Ling Xingjun said, "The human world is bound to suffer greatly."

Hua Sheng thought of the city he had grown up in, which might now be engulfed in flames, and his mind was in turmoil.

"How can we let them commit evil deeds in the world? We must stop them!"

Dao Ling Xingjun looked at the agitated Hua Sheng and said, "Do not act rashly! Saint Pingning has not concerned himself with human affairs for a thousand years."

"But if we stand idly by and let the giant serpent wreak havoc, it could cause millions of casualties on Earth!"

"Throughout the centuries, countless lives have been lost in human warfare, numbering in the tens or hundreds of millions. Saint Pingning has long since severed ties with this. The Daoist acts without action; you need not say more!" Dao Lingxingjun seemed to have made up his mind.

Tai Shang Xiao Jun secretly gave Hua Sheng a look, signaling him to stop asking questions for the time being.

At this moment, Dao Ling Xingjun approached the dark figure in the image and examined it carefully, about to reach out and touch the image. In an instant, a current of electricity passed through the entire three-dimensional image formed by the recombined light points. The light points suddenly combined with each other to form circles and short rod shapes, and then scattered and disappeared as if they had suddenly lost their souls.

"What happened?" Tai Shang Xiao Jun looked at everything that had suddenly happened, his face full of confusion.

Dao Ling Xingjun gazed at the specks of light that had fallen to the ground and pondered for a long time.

"These visitors are actually from outside the three races of humans, spirits, and immortals."

Tai Shang Xiao Jun said with a solemn expression, "The opponent's magical power is so strong! And he's not an immortal?"

"It's not a celestial being. Moreover, it left no clues and couldn't sense any life force, so it's neither a mortal nor a spirit. There are only two words in this dark shadow."

"What word?" Taishang Xiaojun pressed.

“Netherworld”.

Dao Ling Xingjun shook his head, raised his palm, and tried to restore the scene. But all the points of light had disappeared, and the entire scene seemed to have been completely destroyed by a mysterious force, beyond repair.

"Netherworld?" Hua Sheng's face suddenly changed color upon hearing this word.

Dao Ling Xingjun turned around and asked, "Have you ever heard of this?"

Hua Sheng replied, "Previously, the immortal array of the Tianmu Trial was corrupted. During the trial, we saw a monster that looked like a witch, and it seemed to keep repeating the word 'Netherworld'."

Dao Ling Xingjun said, "I have indeed heard Immortal Master Yu Ran and the others mention this matter. I originally intended to take this opportunity to search for clues about the intruder within the Xuanwu Immortal Array, but I did not expect that this person named Ming You would appear here. It seems that the intruder of the Immortal Array is indeed Ming You. But what is his purpose?"

Tai Shang Xiao Jun recalled what he had just witnessed and asked, "Master, why did any spells, weapons, or even the hands of immortal masters disappear into thin air as soon as they touched this thing called Ming You? Does it have some kind of magic that can devour any weapon it encounters?"

Dao Ling Xingjun replied, "I'm afraid Ming You possesses a magical treasure."

"A magic weapon?" All three of them frowned.

“Jupiter gauze!” Dao Ling Xingjun said, “No one has ever seen the actual Jupiter gauze, and its production method is hidden from the world. No one knows whether it even exists.”

Hua Sheng asked, "What exactly are the abilities of this magical artifact called the Year Star Veil?"

"It is said that the Jupiter Veil is a thin veil woven from the essence of time itself. It is extremely thin, colorless, and weightless. When worn, it creates a time vortex between the wearer and the outside world, hiding billions of years of time within it. Any external object that attempts to pierce this veil must pass through the time vortex, undergo billions of years of corrosion, and eventually perish."

Tai Shang Xiao Jun suddenly realized: "No wonder the arm and weapon disappeared when they touched that dark figure. They must have been eroded by endless time."

Time can shape things that seem unbreakable and invincible, but ultimately, time will take them away. Nothing can truly withstand the test of time; everything will eventually return to nothingness. In fact, most people and events are unimaginably fragile in the face of time.

“If the opponent possesses such an extraordinary and unparalleled magical weapon, there is simply no way to counter it,” Hua Sheng said. “Wouldn’t that make them invincible?”

Tai Shang Xiao Jun had his own opinion on this. He pondered the origin of the other party's presence: "Having only the Jupiter Veil makes one unafraid of any attack. But today, the other party came to the Daoist Academy to awaken the Xuanwu Spirit Serpent and kidnap the guardian? This indicates that the other party must have other ulterior motives."

"We have no way of knowing the purpose or identity of these visitors." Dao Lingxingjun looked around the Xuanwu Mountain, a mountain covered in ruins and scorched earth. "It seems that Shengpingning has encountered a new enemy that it has never faced since its establishment."

At this moment, the area at the foot of Xuanwu Divine Mountain was already bustling with noise, with a large crowd gathered there. Tens of thousands of disciples from the academy and immortal masters had gathered to discuss what they had just seen and heard.

Hua Sheng hurried down the mountain, asking Tai Shang Xiao Jun beside him as he walked, "Was the Ming You that appeared just now a monster? As far as I know, where there are gods, there must be monsters."

"There have been no monsters in the world for a very long time."

Tai Shang Xiao Jun's words surprised Hua Sheng, who asked, "What's going on? How can there be immortals without demons?"

"The monsters you're talking about only existed in ancient times. Times have changed. In ancient times, tigers would come down from the mountains to eat people. Aside from zoos, can you still see tigers on the street these days?"

Where have all the monsters gone?

"Most of them were wiped out by the immortals in the last thousand years. In this day and age, demons are not only discovered immediately, but they are also like rats in the street, and they don't live more than half a day. The few demons that survived back then have all turned to good and become spirits. Many generations have passed since then, and they no longer have their old habits."

"Is it equivalent to being domesticated? Like domesticated cats and dogs, completely losing their ancestral wildness?"

"Although the description is not very accurate, neither in Shengpingning nor in the human world can you find the monster you think it is. Therefore, although the Netherworld is extremely powerful, it is not a demon. That is why Dao Ling Xingjun said that it is a new enemy that has never been encountered before."

After quickly descending the mountain, Hua Sheng began tidying up her things as soon as she entered the house.

"What are you going to do?" Taishang Xiaojun asked.

As Hua Sheng packed his clothes, he said, "I have to go to the human world. Wei Yu has been captured by that Netherworld Spirit and the Xuanwu Serpent. I have to go and save her!"

"You think you can fight all by yourself? You don't even have a horse."

"Do you look down on me or something?" Hua Sheng's eyes widened.

"Didn't you see how Dao Ling Xing Jun and Ming You were fighting just now? Now it's not just Ming You, but also the ancient divine beast Xuanwu Spirit Serpent. Even those immortal masters couldn't withstand it. If they were to come to the mortal realm now, it would probably be a sea of ​​fire by now!"

"Then I have to go! I have friends over there!" Hua Sheng conjured a large suitcase from the bed and haphazardly stuffed clothes into it. "Now I know magic, maybe not strong enough, but at least I can help some ordinary people! The lives of mortals have nothing to do with Sheng Pingning, but I can't stand idly by. I have feelings for that place. I can't just watch people die in vain. Besides, Wei Yu is there too!"

"Neither the Netherworld nor the Xuanwu Serpent can easily take your life! You've died once, and if you die again, no one can save you!"

"I've died once, so I have even less to fear!"

Tai Shang Xiao Jun reached out and pressed down on Hua Sheng's suitcase.

Hua Sheng looked up at him and said, "Don't try to stop me!"

"I'll go with you!"

Hua Sheng was stunned.

"I don't want Wei Yu to be in any danger, and I can't just watch you die in vain!"

"I'm just throwing my life away? You have that little faith in me?"

"Someone who trembles even when using a Xuanming-level immortal technique would only be cannon fodder! Besides, without me, you wouldn't even be able to leave Shengpingning, so saving Weiyu is simply a pipe dream."

Hua Sheng had no way to refute this. He suddenly realized that all he had was enthusiasm, and putting it into practice would be extremely difficult. He stopped organizing his luggage.

"What if the Academy of Arts and Sciences blames you if you go?"

"We've already been to the forbidden area of ​​Saint Pingning with you guys, and now that the truth has come out, we have to run away before the Academy of Arts and Sciences issues the punishment notice!"

Even though she knew it was a joke, Hua Sheng couldn't laugh: "Um, thank you..."

"Ah! I was mainly there to play the hero and save the damsel in distress. But really, you're just a mortal, so your death won't hurt the world."

"You're terrible at conversation!" Hua Sheng glanced at him, but a warm feeling still rose in her heart.

"We need to find the Primordial Path that leads to the human world."

"Indeed. Where exactly is that Primordial Chaos Path leading to the mortal realm?"

"Stop talking nonsense, pack your things and let's go immediately!"

(End of this chapter)