Chapter 1415: Great Cultivator

Whether Pure Sea Sect really sprawled across such a vast expanse, or whether it was an illusion wrought by the array, none of them could say.

With the Sky-Eyed Butterfly's help, Qin Sang studied their surroundings closely and gradually turned up a few observations, though nothing sufficient to change their present situation.

Another four hours passed. They had no idea where they had arrived.

The uncanny winds showed not the slightest inclination to abate. If anything they grew fiercer and more relentless.

Whoosh... The howling filled their ears. From outside they might have appeared to stand within a sea of fire.

The winds, fused with crimson flame qi, poured over them like streams of flowing fire, roasting them without pause. At the same time they had to stay alert for the golden liquid that surfaced now and again.

The four kept their focus sharp and dared not relax. They had a premonition that some new development was close at hand!

"Wait..." Qin Sang suddenly called the group to a halt.

Under their puzzled stares he stared ahead, hesitated briefly, then abruptly accelerated, driving forward behind his bronze mirror. The other three hurried after him.

Not long after, the four drew up short, and the sight before them filled their eyes with a mixture of shock and delight.

The space ahead of them was no longer empty. It was flooded with light of crimson and gold, so dazzling it seared the eyes, barring their path with no end visible above, below, or to either side. It stretched on without limit.

The crimson was unmistakably the radiance of the crimson flame qi. It was so concentrated here that it had become an ocean of fire, and even at a distance they felt the heat as almost unbearable. And this was after it had been venting itself for some time.

The golden light issued from swastika runes that flickered in and out of view. They bobbed within the sea of fire, having merged with the crimson flame qi to the point of becoming one with it.

Here their conjecture was confirmed. Across untold ages, the crimson flame qi had indeed fused with the array itself.

The runes had been battered by the qi until their original form was nearly impossible to make out. Only after a long study did Qin Sang and the others realize what those runes had once composed: countless golden images of buddhas and arhats, a Thousand Buddha Wall![1]

Now it had been rendered utterly unrecognizable.

Valley Master Mu turned toward Qin Sang. Before he could ask, Qin Sang volunteered, "The Myriad Spirit Fruit lies beyond the Thousand Buddha Wall."

"So we'll have to pass through it." Valley Master Mu nodded thoughtfully, frowning.

"There!" Daoist Qi gave a soft cry and pointed at a place where the crimson and golden light met. It bore every resemblance to a fissure.

"You two were right earlier, every disadvantage carries its advantage. This is our opening!" he said happily. "Once we pass through this wall, will we be inside Pure Sea Sect?"

"It won't be that easy." Qin Sang doused his enthusiasm. "We've had to stay vigilant the whole way, but we haven't actually faced any threat to our lives. The Myriad Spirit Fruit is still far off, and this wall is certainly not the end. In my view, we're likely still in the outer reaches of the protective array."

"With something like that golden liquid, and this is only the outer reaches?"

The expressions of Daoists Qi and Wang both soured. Had it not been for Qin Sang and Valley Master Mu, the two of them alone would likely not have made it far at all.

Valley Master Mu's expression did not change. "Since we're here, we may as well settle in. Let's find a place to cut through first."

The four flew cautiously up to the wall. The nearer they drew, the tighter their nerves wound.

The crimson flame qi had merged into the wall's runes, yet the fusion was nothing harmonious. The two devoured and collided with each other, holding to a delicate equilibrium.

To pass through the wall would inevitably shatter that balance and bring both forces down upon them together.

Waiting a while longer, until the crimson flame qi had waned to a certain degree, would sharply reduce the danger, but it would also erase every advantage they had gained by entering early.

Trapped inside the array, they could not perceive its full shape, and no one could say whether those who came later would encounter an entirely different configuration.

The four searched along the wall's face and soon settled on three fissures. Qin Sang secretly activated the Sky Eyes to observe the shifting forces around each. After careful analysis, all four agreed on the one that appeared smallest in scale.

That fissure lay between two arhat statues. The crimson flames had devoured both faces. One still bore features distinguishable in their distortion, though nothing about them remained Buddhist. It looked instead like an evil spirit birthed from the fire.[2]

Around the gap, the swastika runes shuddered constantly, deeply unstable.

Qin Sang gazed at it for a long moment, then indicated a point within the fissure. "Daoist Mu, you and I will strike here together. The instant the wall and the crimson flame qi have yet to close the gap, we force our way through."

Valley Master Mu nodded and turned to Daoists Qi and Wang. "You two hold off the winds. Don't let the backwash from elsewhere reach this spot."

"Understood!" The two nodded and summoned their respective astras, scanning their surroundings.

Qin Sang instinctively had the Sky-Eyed Butterfly take a look around as well. In truth, with the winds here never ceasing and no place to take shelter, even a fifth person could not have hidden nearby without being detected. It was habitual caution, nothing more.

Satisfied that nothing was amiss, they proceeded with the plan and closed on the Thousand Buddha Wall.

Yet not one of them noticed the two ethereal figures approaching from the distance. They were the Chaotic Devil Elder and Precept-Keeping Sage.

An invisible shield surrounded them, drawn from the Nine-Precept ring. It looked flimsy, yet it could draw on a portion of the spiritual array's own power for protection, so the winds did not attack it and passed over the two as though they were not there. In this way they moved soundlessly through the gales without stirring a single ripple.

The hand with which the Precept-Keeping Sage gripped the Nine-Precept Ring, however, now stood out with bulging veins, and his expression betrayed tremendous strain.

With the array altered, the old token could scarcely bring its effect to bear. The shield could not be sustained indefinitely, and it worked only in the outer reaches.

Qin Sang and the others could not see them. They, in turn, could see the disturbance in the winds ahead clearly enough to lock onto the position of Qin Sang's group.

Qin Sang and Valley Master Mu knew nothing of it. They arrived before the Thousand Buddha Wall and channeled true essence with everything they had, holding back the forces outside.

Up close, the fissure proved far wider than they had imagined. Crimson flame qi and swastika runes wove together, shifting ceaselessly.

Qin Sang and Valley Master Mu exchanged a glance and summoned their astras as one. The Golden Sinking Sword would be enough.

Whoosh! Whoosh! The Snake Spear and the Golden Sinking Sword drove forward side by side and plunged in hard.

Their timing and placement were exquisitely chosen, provoking no immediate eruption from either force. Because of the division of labor, Qin Sang's position was slightly ahead.

Pop! A narrow cavity opened in the fissure, and at once the crimson and golden light around it began pressing inward. That interval was their best opportunity!

Delight rose in Qin Sang's chest. He shifted, about to call the others to follow him through, when alarm flared in his mind. The Sky-Eyed Butterfly was warning him!

His face transformed, and he roared, "Look out!"

1. The Thousand Buddha Wall refers to ancient cliff carvings, cave murals, or temple walls covered in a grid-like pattern of repeated small Buddha figures. Famous examples include the Mogao Caves (Caves of the Thousand Buddhas) in Dunhuang and the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves in Xinjiang, China. ☜

2. In Buddhism, an Arhat or Arahant is one who has gained insight into the nature of existence, has achieved nirvana, and has been liberated from the endless cycle of rebirth. ☜

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