Techniques and Dao

Chapter 71 Divine Treasure Appears in the World
"Is this the answer we've been searching for?"

When you've been searching relentlessly and finally confront the truth, you might suddenly regret it and wish you'd never even started.

If this is the answer, should we continue?
Hua Sheng stared at the glass incense burner before him, and he suddenly realized how cruel time is.

Sometimes, time forces you to accept things you never wanted to face.

Time gives you many things you once longed for but could not obtain, but it also takes away much more. And even if you don't ask for it, it will continuously take away your most precious things.

Ultimately, even you yourself will be carried away by time.

The red light on the incense stick flickered, each flash representing the relentless passage of time. Now, it had burned to its last flame.

Hua Sheng suddenly realized that the stick of incense was the Victorious Fighting Buddha's last chance for him to decide whether to face it or run away.

Those endowed with divine power must be carrying a heavy responsibility bestowed by Heaven. If one is unwilling to suffer hardship and torment, one can simply walk away from it.

You may also choose to give up.

Therefore, the incense sticks stand atop the porcelain cup. This represents the final strand of compassion from the Ruyi Jingu Bang (the magic staff).

"Don't run away! Don't run away! Don't run away!" Hua Sheng repeated these three words over and over.

"I will never run away!" He suddenly stood up straight.

The wind and clouds surged again in the sky, and the heavy Buddhist light made it hard for Hua Sheng to breathe.

The Victorious Fighting Buddha, Sun Wukong, once again appeared in the thick clouds.

"Young Taoist priest of the Taoist Academy, are you determined?" Sun Wukong asked.

"Disciple Hua Sheng has already gained some understanding." Hua Sheng gritted his teeth.

"What have you realized?" Sun Wukong asked.

Before Hua Sheng's eyes, the white jade bridge of the past, the pear garden lantern festival of the past, and the cranes dancing in the sky of the past appeared.

"This disciple has comprehended the Buddha's teachings!"

Hua Sheng looked down at the world beneath his feet and spoke, word by word.

"This disciple understands the loneliness of this Ruyi Jingu Bang, why it tramples the heavens, why it is unrestrained, why it is stubborn and unyielding, why it abandons itself. This disciple is just as lonely, this disciple is willing to be as lonely as it! Even if I am all alone, even if I am shattered to pieces, even if I am doomed to eternal damnation, I am still willing to give my all for this mortal world!"

Every word I uttered became a wound etched into my heart like a knife.

"The world is vast, but no matter where one goes, people are always bound by one word." A loud voice came from the sky, "Little Taoist, do you regret coming here?"

"I was only momentarily confused and distressed, but I have no regrets!" Hua Sheng gritted his teeth, clasped his hands together, and knelt in worship.

"Only those who understand the great love of all beings, do what ordinary people find difficult, and endure what ordinary people cannot bear," said the Victorious Fighting Buddha. "can then be qualified to borrow this eternal divine weapon from me, Old Sun!"

The clouds and mist dispersed in the sky, and the giant shadow of the Victorious Fighting Buddha, draped in a golden kasaya, appeared in the sky!
Before the Victorious Fighting Buddha, a glittering magical artifact, radiating golden light, slowly descended from the sky. Hua Sheng raised his hands, trying to catch it. But as the light drew closer, the artifact grew smaller and smaller.

Only when it came into view did Hua Sheng gradually see clearly. It turned out that what was falling from the sky was a jet-black necklace, and the pendant of the necklace was a three-dimensional inverted triangle, in which a red flame rolled back and forth.

The jet-black necklace was slowly slipped around Hua Sheng's neck. He picked up the pendant, which was engraved with the words "Iron Hoop Chain" in gold on the front and "Great Sage Equal to Heaven" in small characters on the back.

The four characters "Great Sage Equal to Heaven" were nothing more than a drop in the ocean to Sun Wukong, fleeting and insignificant. Yet now they are engraved on the pendant of this necklace.

"Little Taoist, this iron chain is where the Golden Cudgel will reside."

The magical artifact that is the Golden Cudgel? Hua Sheng immediately realized that he did not have the supernatural powers of Sun Wukong and could not hide the Golden Cudgel in his ear like Sun Wukong.

If this is a container that can hold the Ruyi Jingu Bang (the magic staff), then where would the staff be?
Hua Sheng continued to bow and ask, "This disciple humbly requests the Buddha's guidance to enlighten me. Please grant me the method to retrieve the divine treasure of the Sea."

The Victorious Fighting Buddha, Sun Wukong, replied, “You can obtain it by wearing this chain. You must preserve the Sea-Stabilizing Treasure well; when your connection with the divine weapon ends, I will demand its return. Only by wearing the Iron Golden Hoop Chain can you use the Sea-Stabilizing Treasure. If you dare to use the divine weapon for evil, this Golden Hoop Chain will surely take your life!” Having said this, the Victorious Fighting Buddha's figure vanished into thin air.

The flowers, full of vigor, knelt and bowed towards the sky.

He then realized that the iron chain was not only a magical artifact for storing the Golden Cudgel, but also a constraint on its user. Only by wearing this chain could he possess the magical power to wield the Golden Cudgel freely.

After placing the iron chain around his neck, Hua Sheng immediately felt golden light radiating from his eyes, his blood flowing smoothly through his veins, and his body as light as a swallow. It was as if a martial arts master had opened up all his meridians, and the immortal power within him was like a surging sea, continuously flowing out from between his fingers. He felt an inexhaustible supply of immortal energy, and was amazed, thinking to himself, "What boundless power!"

At the same time, a violent tremor suddenly occurred beneath Hua Sheng's feet, and the entire skyscraper began to shake back and forth.

Is the Golden Cudgel about to reappear in the world? Where exactly is it hidden?
A loud bang was heard!
Hua Sheng saw the reinforced concrete beneath her feet crack open, revealing a fissure a full meter wide. It was as if the ground had tremored violently, but these kinds of high-rise buildings were designed from the outset to withstand even a magnitude 9 earthquake without collapsing like this.

The entire building shook violently, and the surrounding tempered glass curtain wall could no longer withstand the shaking and began to twist and crack. The shattered tempered glass continued to fall from a height of hundreds of meters.

"This is bad! If this continues, everyone in the building and on the nearby ground will be in danger!"

Despite being high in the air, Hua Sheng could hear the screams coming from the entire building below.

The building shook more and more violently, and the crack under Hua Sheng's feet widened from one meter to two meters. Then, a loud cracking sound came, and one crack turned into two two-meter-wide cross-shaped cracks.

What's going on? Could it be...? Hua Sheng suddenly had a premonition. The Ruyi Jingu Bang (the magic staff) wasn't hidden somewhere inside the building at all!
Rather, this colossal skyscraper itself is a treasure that stabilizes the sea!
Hua Sheng couldn't contain his wildly pounding heart. If the Shanghai Tower were to revert to its original form, wouldn't all the people inside, spanning over a hundred floors, be scattered and falling from hundreds of meters in the air? Thinking this, he immediately recited a spell to freeze people in place, pressed his palm against the rooftop, and shouted, "Hurry, hurry, as the law commands! Freeze! Freeze! Freeze!"

The shaking immediately stopped on all four sides of the building. Although the outer curtain wall was secured by Hanamori, the inner ring continued to vibrate. Cracks were appearing more and more on the rooftop, as if something gigantic was about to burst forth from the ground!

There's no mistake! It's the Divine Treasure of Dinghai breaking free from the shackles of reinforced concrete!

Hua Sheng continued to channel his magical power into the building beneath his feet. As long as the building remained stable, the Golden Cudgel could be separated from its core from the steel and concrete structure.

Then, a rumble echoed from the top floor, and Hua Sheng saw a gigantic golden pillar shooting into the sky. He continued chanting incantations, pressing down on the building's ground with all his might. The massive pillar, adorned with gleaming golden dragon carvings, rose nearly a hundred meters before revealing a jet-black, translucent red shaft! The entire pillar, the "Sea-Stabilizing Divine Treasure," rubbed against the reinforced concrete with a series of cracking sounds, whipping up intense dust and gravel that made visibility extremely low.

At this moment, the Huangpu River beside the building also became turbulent and churning. A huge dragon-shaped column of water rose from the river, encircling the entire towering building, transforming it into a giant dragon weaving through the sea!

The Dinghai Divine Iron was surrounded by purple aura in the sky, and dozens of purple auras also transformed into dragon shapes and tightly wrapped around the staff!

As Hua Sheng braced himself against the building, he watched the colossal structure rise like a rocket.

After the entire coiled iron pillar rose from the rooftop, it continued its ascent, slowly leveling off from its vertical position. Then, accompanied by a deafening thunderclap, the Ruyi Jingu Bang (the magical staff) spun 360 degrees, instantly scattering the surrounding clouds as if drilling a giant hole more than ten kilometers wide in the sky!

This breathtaking, unparalleled spectacle leaves everyone speechless!
Seeing that the building had stopped shaking, Hua Sheng recited the immobilization spell again, securing the building firmly. Then, he leaped into the air on a cloud, flying towards the giant golden cudgel.

The Ruyi Jingu Bang (Golden Cudgel) hung silently high in the sky. As he drew closer, Hua Sheng could almost hear its intense low-frequency resonance, making his eardrums rumble. He thought to himself, "Back when Sun Wukong was still the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, he used this divine weapon to strike Yama, the King of Hell, and sweep away the demons of the Heavenly Palace, making all the immortals and gods suffer greatly. If it weren't for the Victorious Fighting Buddha bestowing upon me a magical necklace to protect me, my mortal body would probably have been shaken to the point of bleeding from all seven orifices."

Hua Sheng continued to ascend until he was almost within reach. He slowly raised his right hand, but felt an invisible resistance approaching, as if the air density around the divine artifact was gradually increasing. When he could no longer get closer, the iron cudgel chain on his chest began to flash alternately in gold and red, and Hua Sheng felt as if he had broken through the magical barrier surrounding the golden cudgel. As he drew nearer, the air around him accelerated, quickly forming a dragon-shaped hurricane around him.

In an instant, Hua Sheng's right fingertips touched the shaft of the Golden Cudgel. This magical staff was icy cold; one finger, two fingers, three fingers, until he pressed his palm against the shaft, he shouted, "Hurry, hurry, as the law commands! Little one!"

As if obeying, the golden cudgel instantly shrank, and Hua Sheng shouted again, "Shrink! Shrink! Shrink!"

The golden cudgel began to shrink and shrink until it became as thin as it could be held in one's hand.

Hua Sheng grabbed it forcefully, then twirled it in his hand. With a sudden, earth-shattering tremor, the surrounding tornado was instantly shattered, scattering and disappearing without a trace. In an instant, a nine-colored glow appeared behind Hua Sheng, illuminating the surrounding night sky, which had already turned to sunset, as if it were daytime!
At the same time, Hua Sheng discovered that the scriptures embroidered by the Nine Heavens Mystic Maiden on the Xiyuan Taoist robe had turned into a bright red like flames, and the red patterns flowed and leaped slowly like flames.

"Is this the legendary Ruyi Jingu Bang (the magic cudgel) that has been passed down through the ages?"

Hua Sheng stared intently at the legendary weapon in his hand, as if it were all a dream. He had never imagined that one day he would be able to hold the Ruyi Jingu Bang in his own palm!

At that moment, he looked down and noticed the huge crowd below the building. The commotion had caused almost the entire city to take to the streets.

Hua Sheng bowed to the crowd below. Then, gripping the golden cudgel tightly, he performed a backflip and, like an arrow released from a bow, shot through the clouds and flew rapidly towards the southern sea where Qiankun Weizhan was located, accompanied by a nine-colored glow.

(End of this chapter)