Li Qingshan and Gongyuan arrived at the Myriad Poison cult together. The night was as deep as water, and the main hall was bathed in golden light, making the gloomy hall seem like a holy land of buddhism.
"The Divine Nun of the South Sea?" Gongyuan said. There had never been a single true buddhist disciple in the south. In her memory, only the Divine Nun of the South Sea possessed such a radiance and bearing, and her presence was extremely similar, yet slightly different.
"No?" Li Qingshan rushed back in a hurry, but his footsteps faltered.
"What's wrong?" This was the first time Gongyuan had seen such hesitation on his face.
"Nothing." Li Qingshan shook his head. He took a step and arrived in the hall.
Little Ann sat at the end of the light and smiled as soon as she saw him. She could clearly sense the change in his presence. Clearly, he had undergone nirvanic rebirth. She could not help but show concern. "Are you fine?"
"It was just a small problem. Are you alright?" Li Qingshan smiled. His hesitation vanished, and he recovered his usual decisiveness. Although she was no longer that ignorant child, he had never forgotten to set an example for her.
"Yeah." Little Ann nodded gently.
Whether it was the battle between Li Qingshan and the Martial Chief King or Little Ann resisting the invasion of the light, they were all rather difficult. Although they did not say anything, they understood each other very well.
Ru Xin's gaze moved between them and she sighed inside for some reason. She backed out of the hall and happened to run into Gongyuan at the entrance. She bowed, neither distant nor intimate.
Gongyuan glanced at Ru Xin deeply and only nodded slightly. This was her usual arrogance as the Merfolk Queen.
Ru Xin smiled and felt her heart lighten up. It would be for the best if their grievances were settled and they no longer had anything to do with each other.
In the end, Gongyuan didn't step into the main hall. She waited outside and thought to herself, Although our cultivation methods are compatible and suitable for dual cultivation, our paths are completely different. He won't stay in the South Sea, and I won't leave the South Sea. It'll be difficult for us to become dao companions. Only people like them can be considered as true Taoist companions! "
Li Qingshan took out the corpses of the Martial Chief King and the demonfolk, piling them up into a mountain. The smell of blood filled the hall, and the lingering demon qi radiated with filth.
Under the illumination of the buddhist light, the demon qi dispersed, and the corpses of the demonfolk showed signs of melting away. This originated from the fundamental contradiction between buddhism and the demonic, purifying and polluting one another.
Little Ann clenched his fists and sucked in a deep breath. He spat out an extremely thin strand of Samādhi Flames of White Bone, which slithered to the bottom of the mountain of corpses like a slithering snake. A while later, the pure-white, transparent flames spread out from bottom to top, setting the mountain of corpses alight.
Little Ann made his way to the top of the mountain of corpses. The Samādhi Flames of White Bone burned silently, like a white lotus in full bloom. However, it did not produce any intense reaction with the buddhist light. Instead, it slowly seeped in, devouring the buddhist light like it was spinning silk from a cocoon.
Within the flames, Little Ann's white bones flickered in and out of view. Beneath his great beauty was a set of withered bones. It was clearly a terrifying sight of a mountain of corpses and white bones, but it contained indescribable mysteries of buddhism. It confirmed the cycle of life and death and the supreme wonders of the cycle of appearance and emptiness. It confirmed once again that the Path of White Bone and Great Beauty did indeed originate from orthodox buddhism.
This was also why the Divine Nun of the South Sea was unable to immediately cripple the Path of White Bone and Great Beauty even though her cultivation in vinaya completely surpassed Little Ann's, and she even possessed the wonders of the laws of precepts. This originated from a fundamental difference in cultivation. It was not the difference between her and Little Ann, but the difference between her and the White Bone Bodhisattva.
If the Divine Nun of the South Sea's cultivation were slightly weaker, the śarīra would have been devoured and converted by the Samādhi Flames of White Bone and Great Beauty a long time ago.
Little Ann focused on circulating the cultivation method, and his expression gradually calmed down. Rather than calming down, it was more accurate to say that some of his emotions had been extracted once again.
Li Qingshan stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the mountain of corpses for a very long time before Little Ann. He furrowed his brows and suddenly made his way out of the hall. When he brushed past Gongyuan, he said, "Rest up and prepare for the next battle!"
Little Ann looked at his tall figure and could clearly sense his struggle. There was an indelible sense of gentleness and reliance in his heart.
Qingshan, don't feel sad for me. So what if I'm emotionless? So what if I've sunk into the demonic path? I will always be by your side until destruction arrives!
After recuperating in the Myriad Poison cult for several days, Li Qingshan and Gongyuan set off on their journey again. Although his vitality had already recovered, he could not make up for the Phoenix's Nirvāṇa he had lost in such a short amount of time. In other words, he only had two more chances for rebirth, and he would directly turn into an egg with the final chance, losing all of his battle prowess. In a battle against Demon Kings, that was no different from dying on the spot, so the upcoming journey would become even more dangerous.
When they were about to arrive at the next demon cavern, Gongyuan asked, "Is this all for her?"
"No, it's all for me!" Li Qingshan said. He was stern for once.
"She killed her master for you as well?" Gongyuan's eyes were like ice, giving off a piercing coldness.
"It must've been hard on you to only ask now." Li Qingshan smiled.
"Li Qingshan, I may have agreed to assist you, but the Divine Nun of the South Sea has shown kindness to us Merfolk. I will never risk my life to assist a master-killer!" Gongyuan said firmly.
"It's not as you think …" Li Qingshan gave a rough explanation of what had happened.
"Is that true!?" When Gongyuan heard how the Divine Nun of the South Sea was willing to sacrifice her life and pour all of her cultivation into Little Ann's cultivation method, she could not help but be stunned. She was not a buddhist, so she could not understand what the Path of White Bone and Great Beauty meant to the Divine Nun of the South Sea, much less the Divine Nun of the South Sea's feelings for Little Ann. She only found the story unbelievable.
"If you don't want to help me, I won't force you. Go back to the South sea!" Li Qingshan waved his hand.
"You want to order me around?"
Li Qingshan smiled. "Then please fight me again, your majesty!"
"I'll accept your request!"
At the end of the sea of trees, demon qi surged into the air, connecting the sky and the ground.
The two of them flew over together. Very soon, violent rumbles rang out, startling flocks of birds in the forest.
Time flew by. Working together, they swept through the seven great demon caverns of the south in a short three months, killing three Demon Kings.
Fortunately, they did not encounter another troublesome opponent like the Martial Chief King. Even though he had some strange tricks up his sleeves, it was difficult for him to block their head-on attacks. However, they still let four Demon Kings escape, or more accurately, five. When they were fighting another Demon King in the north, another Demon King suddenly appeared from the Demon Den.
Li Qingshan was tempted to fight to the death, but Gong Yuan stubbornly refused, so all he could do was retreat in the end. Unfortunately, by then, Li Qingshan had already used up his second chance at nirvāṇa rebirth. In the two battles that followed, he let another two Demon Kings escape because of this.
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