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A long while after, they arrived at the center of one of the Earthly Phoenix Palace’s halls. The sky was above, and standing here, looking up at the icy ceiling, weak light rays filtered in from above. Their eyes seemed to be covered by a layer of mist. The things they could see were all very ancient. This sort of feeling was very intriguing.
At the end of the hall was another heavy, frozen over gate, formed by four interlocking pieces of ice-colored tiles. The hinges were patterned with forged luan birds, and the lintel was etched with various scenes of song and dance. The gates themselves were engraved with two guardian youths.
The gate was very heavy, as if a Star Crest was being used as a forbiddance array.
Chen Mo used the power of the White Tiger to easily open the gate.
A wide hall appeared before him. This hall extended several thousand hectares. It was simply inconceivable. The interior contained innumerable enormous obelisks with coiling luan birds.
The corridors and halls they passed through earlier were filled with mechanisms. To Chen Mo, they merely wasted a bit of time but were generally useless. The hall ahead did not seem very ordinary either.
“You sit here.”
Chen Mo swept his gaze over the hall. He took a step forward. Just when he stepped onto the tile, it sunk down, and then a hundred luan pillars’ birds seemed to come to life. They each turned their gazes and contorted their bodies, shooting blue light beams from their mouths.
These blue lights formed a gigantic net that was so tight that not even a gnat could fly through.
“Petty tricks.” This mechanism my have been useful against some Star Generals, but it was no more than a decoration to the current Chen Mo.
The Carefree True Qi flowed in his body. Chen Mo strolled about leisurely, passing the net of light with such extreme ease that he left Xiang Yu astonished.
“Hmph, barely passable to be This King’s attendant.”
Passing through this luan hall, there was another empty hall. This time, the hall’s entire surroundings were covered in murals. They depicted a female general born from nothingness. Then, a string of the woman’s achievements were vividly portrayed. This was more or less trailblazing and settling, benefitting the people, slaying Demon Beasts, and earning everyone’s reverence.
The murals seemed to be a vivid historical scroll, and their most noteworthy aspect was this woman.
In the end, this woman received Heaven’s favor, the Vermilion Bird’s soul, and constructed the spirit palace to inter it.
She brought peace and prosperity to the world.
“The woman depicted here should be Heavenly Phoenix Earthly Emperor Wang Mang.” Chen Mo head about these.
“Except she puts on an act.” Xiang Yu was disdainful.
“My Emperor is a benefit to the common people. It was only because all under Heaven laud her as generous and virtuous that the Purple Rose Star Emperor made her a Star Marquis. Among the Sixteen Star Marquis, it can be said that she received popular support. Your Distinguished Self, do not misunderstand My Emperor.”
A warm voice rebutted Xiang Yu’s contempt.
Chen Mo stopped and looked ahead.
A ripple seemed to spread through space, and a woman in monk garb appeared.
This woman’s complexion was clear, her gaze limpid. She assumed a highbrow temperament, however this was only scratching the surface. The aura on her body was unlike True Phoenix, as if she instead had the protection of the Xuannü of the Nine Heavens. Nine Heavens clear light was vaguely visible, but not very distinct.
Nearing breakthrough to Xuannü Realm??
Chen Mo’s brows rose.
“You address Wang Mang as your emperor. Great Master, Your Servant wonders who you are to her?” Chen Mo acted courteously.
“Your Servant is Fotu Cheng!”1 The woman slightly bowed.
“Fotu Cheng?” Chen Mo cursed under his breath. This was but a very formidable master of Buddhism, for he was able to tell just from the name. To explain, in Chinese history, the All Encompassing National Scholar Shi Dao’an was considered his disciple.
“Great Master Fotu Cheng, why have you become a gravekeeper in the Earthly Phoenix Palace?” Chen Mo asked curiously.
“This King sees from a glance that this person of the Barbarian Star Field has ill intentions. She must have come to steal the Vermilion Bird’s soul. Chen Mo, hurry and kill her!” Xiang Yu impatiently said.
Fotu Cheng looked at Xiang Yu. Even with her superb eyesight, she was unable to discern just what capabilities Xiang Yu had. The man and woman in front of her were truly strange. The man was unfathomable and unfettered. Even some of the best Star Generals could not compare to him. As for the girl on his shoulder…Too weak to stand against the wind, but she had quite the mouth.
Even if Fotu Cheng was capable of Astromancy Arts, she was unable to discern the particulars of these two.
“This is the underground palace that My Emperor constructed. Why have you two intruded, Your Servant asks also that you leave.” Fotu Cheng actually was still calm.
“Great Master, apologies, but we require the Vermilion Bird’s soul to save a life. They say that saving a life is more meritorious than building a seven-story pagoda. We ask that Great Master understand.” Chen Mo was also very polite.
How could he have foreseen that the woman’s expression would immediately darken. Her eyes were also incomparably malicious. Combined with the ice-cold light rays in the spirit palace, she appeared very malevolent.
“Did you not hear Poor Monk’s words clearly? If you insist on not leaving, Poor Monk shall treat you as graverobbers. Your bones will be buried in this place for eternity, never able to leave.”
“Hmph, she changed faces very quickly.” Xiang Yu sneered. “Is Buddhism’s mercy just a deception?”
Chen Mo was also a bit embarrassed.
“The Vermilion Bird’s soul is also a holy relic. How can it be arbitrarily given away to others.” Fotu Cheng sneered. Since she learned they wanted the Vermilion Bird’s soul, there was no need to keep up appearances.
“Are not all creatures equal in Buddhism?” Chen Mo responded with a question.
“More chatter.” Fotu Cheng had no interest at all in preaching about any sermons. The greatest sermon under Heaven was martial force. She cultivated under Wang Mang. Now that she was about to break through Divine Phoenix Realm into Xuannü Realm, she did not want someone else to come ruin things. Even if Buddha was to stop her, she would kill him.
The woman pointed a white finger.
She vanished without a trace in an instant.
A finger-light shot towards Chen Mo’s forehead, its speed inconceivably swift.
But Chen Mo was even faster. A Carefree True Qi evaded this finger as well as the follow-up attack. Her assault completely fruitless, Fotu Cheng was very surprised. The woman’s throat moved, and she returned to her original spot, standing like a red-crowned crane among chickens, high and mighty. The clothes on her body fluttered, extremely graceful.
“You have Carefree True Qi? And the Four Symbols Azure Dragon’s soul?” Fotu Chen wrinkled her brow. She doubted her eyes. How could a cultivator possibly be in possession of these two things.
Carefree True Qi was the supreme ability of Daoism’s Zhuangzi, one that turned misfortune into fortune, capable of averting any disaster. Even top-notch Star Marquis were unable to mount a sneak attack against Carefree True Qi.
And the Four Symbols Azure Dragon?
Impossible, the existence of the Four Symbols Azure Dragon was unheard of in Star World.
“Go kill her, I will go check on the Vermilion Bird’s soul.” Xiang Yu leapt off of Chen Mo’s shoulder, indifferent.
“Azure Dragon, Black Turtle, and White Tiger Three Symbols Swords!”
Chen Mo’s expression changed. Thirty-six swords appeared out of thin air, becoming star mansions that concentrated together and transformed once again into a single three chi long sword.
This longsword showed three faces in one body. Each face contained the Black Turtle, White Tiger, and the Azure Dragon’s aura.
Chen Mo had refined Three Symbols of the Four Symbols Sword. The ancient Holy Beast Four Symbols each presided over a direction, and this three-faced sword also presided over three directions. Its might was outstanding, and unless practiced to a Realm like Su Mian’s, the sword chants of Star World’s cultivators were unable to withstand them.
The woman in front of him was a nearly Xuannü Realm opponent, and there was a Star Marquis behind giving chase. Chen Mo did not want to waste time.
This was the first time in his life that he had used the Three Symbols Swords.
White Tiger, Azure Dragon, and Black Turtle.
The three spirits swirled around him, and twenty-one stars twinkled.
This man was very abnormal.
Fotu Cheng had never seen such a cultivator before, but the woman was worthy of her title of Great Master, appearing extremely cool and collected. “Very well, no wonder you wish to steal the Vermilion Bird. It turns out you actually have the souls of the Three Symbols. By seizing the fourth spirit, perhaps no Star Marquis can handle you. Good, very good. However, Poor Monk will not let you have your way. How can the spirits of the Four Symbols be handed over to a man to defile!!”
The three rhomboid “Three Symbols Swords” released an air-shattering whoosh, instantly blocking her in the front. Sword-light separated, unleashing three aspects. The Black Turtle defended, the Azure Dragon surged forth, and the White Tiger attacked, surprisingly with a sort of pressure that had nowhere to go.
Without even looking Fotu Cheng used her Star Weapon. The airflow, True Qi, mist, spiritual power, and every other kind of “qi” above her gathered into an enormous spinning wheel. The golden wheel was like the moon, a shimmering galaxy. The surrounding seven stars even dimmed.
This was her Star Weapon, “Star Image Treasure Wheel.”
“Buddha spins the treasure wheel. In all worlds, Heaven, and man, there is no obstruction…Encounter Buddha’s treasure wheel, and all evil views, regrets, and disasters will be annihilated!!”
Phoenix Dark Rank: Annihilate Evil!
Fotu Cheng uttered a Buddhist incantation, her every word like she was reciting poetry. This tremendous voice thoroughly filled the hall, truly as if gods and Buddhas had descended into the world, producing golden lotuses.
The Star Image Treasure Wheel imitated the spin of gods and Buddhas, emitting powerful might.
Bang!
The wheel-shadow scattered, and a punch smashed through the air and against the Three Symbols Swords. The two collided. This sword was apparently unable to resist the tremendous might of Fotu Cheng’s treasure wheel. It instantly exploded, dispersing into twenty-one Flying Swords that were yet unable to reassemble again.
At the same time, Fotu Cheng’s body moved. With speed that did not give people the time to think, let alone react, she arrived in front of Chen Mo, once again extending her finger.
This time, her Star Weapon was also spinning. The treasure wheel’s radiance flowed into her finger and became boundless power.
Chen Mo felt his skin seem to disperse into particles inch by inch. Even the strongest Black Turtle defense was unable to thwart the incursion of her Divine Phoenix Realm’s might. This was astonishingly an Earth Rank.
Rebirth!
Fotu Cheng was completely merciless, maybe even callous. She saw that Chen Mo was out of the ordinary, so her actions were all lethal, swift and decisive, leaving absolutely no leeway at all.
If this had been before the Literary Excellence Convention, Chen Mo would surely have already perished here, but he now received the aspiration of the sages and even had Carefree True Qi. He was already entirely different from before; he did not need to fear even a Divine Phoenix Realm’s Earth Rank.
Chen Mo circulated the Carefree True Qi. The power of Earth Rank “Rebirth” nevertheless gripped his body firmly.
Sage aspiration – Zhuang Zhou’s Butterfly Dream.
Their aspirations covered his body, the Carefree True Qi dispersed, and he freely escaped Rebirth’s Earth Rank power. Chen Mo took his staff into hand, transforming it into the Alpha Ursae Majoris Saber.
“Carefree saber draw, No Snow Under Heaven!”
Saber-light scattered, and the thousand stone columns inside the hall crumbled and disintegrated one after another, turning to smithereens under the saber-light.
“Phoenix Earth Rank: Formless!!”
The Star Image Treasure Wheel’s rotation released resplendent starlight. The hall seemed to sink into an endless night. There were no appearances to speak of, and Chen Mo’s No Snow Under Heaven, that snowy saber-light that stunned all Under Heaven, was also devoured by the black night, vanishing without a trace.
Phoenix Earth Rank “Formless” was capable of consuming all abilities. In the end, it could even reverse and then devour the attacker. This ability of the “Divine Monk Of Astromancy,” once used, completely left no room for retreat.
Chen Mo’s expression changed. No Snow Under Heaven’s saber-light became saber-light of the endless black night, reversing course to attack him. In this instant, he was unable to dodge with even the Carefree True Qi.
Black Emperor Devil Eradicating Seal!!
Chen Mo used the Five Emperors Seal.
The Black Emperor brandished her sword. All of the incoming saber-light broke apart under her sword, scattering into fragments. Even the Phoenix Earth Rank Formless surprisingly was unable to stop this. The Star Image Treasure Wheel’s light unexpectedly dimmed under this Black Emperor.
“What is this thing??”
The Divine Monk Of Astromancy was astonished.
Just what kind of monster was this man.
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