Chapter 550

Chapter 550: An Unspeakable New Pattern

“This is bad! Changsheng Tian has cast a hidden hand to destroy me.” Li Hui summoned half of a demonic heart, while behind him, the six beams of light surged wildly, pushing the Small Heavenly Cave to its absolute limit.

“Boom, boom, boom…”

The massive sounds echoed like the sky collapsing, an unbelievable pressure bearing down on him as Li Hui used the Small Heavenly Cave to form a barrier against the force.

After a short while, the undercurrent collapsed like a house of cards, but in that very moment, the cave had already been compressed to a size of about two zhang, nearly killing him completely.

“Pfft…” Li Hui spat out Reverse Blood, his voice cold: “Wutu’s first god? Have you noticed? Hmph, you old coot who has lived for forty thousand years, yet you still won’t face tribulation and die.”

Just then, a figure fell from above and quickly merged with Li Hui, shouting like a lion: “Dream Command! The demonic heart enters the dream, the heart of Dao returns! You’ve actually robbed the Buddha, you outrageous rascal!”

“Boldly, you’re interrupting me…” Li Hui shook his head vigorously, taking a few steps back to breathe deeply, his eyes clearing up. His fiery red hair gradually faded as he finally found his breath, saying, “Thank you, Jieyin!”

“Don’t thank me yet! Where are the treasures I’ve painstakingly collected?”

“Cough, um…” Li Hui smiled wryly: “The demonic heart took advantage of the moment, using every means possible to turn the tide, and ended up consuming everything that was usable. All that’s left is a Yang Gu, and the losses in the Golden Shell Buddhist nation were quite significant.”

“What? Are you joking with me?” Jieyin felt a rush of distress.

“You, being me, should be able to feel it,” Li Hui touched his face, feeling very awkward. After succumbing to the demonic path, he only cared about items that could grant immense power. The Azure Sky Jade Symbol Sword was still there, but it had also suffered significant damage. Only the Cloud-Brush Dragon Claw Technique and the Flower of the Other Shore robe were cultivated, while the other items had been treated as offerings or food. It was already remarkable that the Golden Shell Buddhist nation managed to survive!

“Wah! I can’t go on living! Buddha, where are you? Take me away! The world is too bitter!” Jieyin cried out, wailing pitifully, as if life had lost all meaning.

Li Hui yawned and said, “I was just about to balance the Six Paths of Reincarnation. If you feel life is devoid of meaning, I can send you to the path of hungry ghosts or the path of hell. It fits perfectly with the saying: If you do not enter hell, who will?”

“Oh, I almost forgot! I left a pot of soup simmering at home. You get some rest; I’ll go check on it,” Jieyin said as he prepared to leave.

“Wait! The Golden Shell Buddhist nation and the Yang Gu are still with you, and hasn’t Junior Sister Qianyun awoken yet?” Li Hui asked, suddenly realizing, “You bald donkey! Do you actually think you are the Transcendent Tathagata Buddha? You even let Junior Sister be reborn multiple times in her dreams, washing away the filth of the red dust and cultivating a true Buddhist heart. It’s countless times stronger than your fake Buddhist heart!”

“You can’t slander people, especially not me! Who’s being unorthodox? If I don’t take care of Junior Sister Qianyun with Buddhist methods, her cultivation will be hard to restore.” Jieyin backtracked here: “Dalong is so barren; where am I supposed to scrape for benefits?”

“I have a plan!” Li Hui declared decisively. “Gather our forces and let’s march on the Dalong imperial city first, take out National Master Qiao Tianxing, and then investigate the Buddhist nation ruins overseas.”

“Great! Let’s go together,” Jieyin rejoiced, thinking, “If you fight in front, I can clean up the battlefield behind you.”

“Look at your level of ambition! What about the badge of the Jin Tian Sect?” Li Hui dashed underground, back to the Haotu Sect, without notifying the elders of the resolution to the underground crisis and letting them worry! No crisis means no progress.

“Oh! I almost forgot because you didn’t ask,” Jieyin said, gesturing with his finger to summon a ray of golden light from Mirror Lake into his palm, grinning: “Not bad, it broke into the top ten; this is Zhuzhen of the Jin Tian Sect, which sounds impressive when mentioned. If we push harder, we might make it into the top three, and then we can let that old Daoist rest early and take full control of the Jin Tian Sect ourselves!”

Li Hui shook his head: “Stop dreaming. Perhaps if you give up the lineage of the Heavenly Talisman Sect, it might be possible, but wearing the title of the leader of the Heavenly Talisman Sect, even if you secure the top spot, won’t allow you to become the overall master of the Jin Tian Sect. Honestly, I don’t have much faith in the Jin Tian Sect. Although its structure is simple and it enters battles lightly, it’s still entangled with the outer world. There are too many interests to manage, making it bloated.”

“True, being a sect master must be quite troublesome, no wonder Old Daoist Xuan Zhen has been stuck at the threshold and unable to advance,” Jieyin noted, calling for Guang Jin, Que San, Han Wu, and Lü E to come over. They brought protectors who were lying in ambush nearby, ready for the signal to capture the master who had fallen to the demonic side now that the alert was lifted.

Guang Jin approached and greeted: “Master has finally awakened. You were terrifying after entering the demonic path! Did you gain anything from entering the ancient demons’ great formation?”

“Don’t even mention gains, Jieyin will be heartbroken,” Li Hui laughed, suddenly changing his aura from demonic to Dao, from demon to ghost.

“Uh! Master!” Han Wu and the other protectors came to pay their respects, sensing the fluctuating aura of their master, filled with shock and confusion.

“Where is the nine-colored deer decree?” Li Hui asked Guang Jin.

Guang Jin quickly replied: “Reporting to Master, we lent it to Zhu Chongba and Shen Shancai, who went to borrow troops from Daqi. We’ve cleaned out all the refugees in Dalong; they couldn’t find any soldiers, so they had to resort to the ghosts’ plot!”

“Tell Zhu Chongba to quickly take Daqi, Daliang, and Daqian, merging them into one territory with Dalong, centered in Yunzhou, and then advance towards the coastline to set up defenses. Once I go out to sea to confront Hongmo, if any Demon Cultivators come across from the sea, we will show no mercy!”

Li Hui radiated killing intent; his aura was changing faster, and he suddenly sighed: “What a clever strategy! After entering the demonic path, the division of the Six Paths made all paths of ghosts, demons, and hell participate. The advantage painstakingly crafted previously has vanished! In this way, whoever controls the Six Paths wins, and it has to follow the route charted by the demonic heart. The paths of ghosts, demons, and hell are likely to lean toward the demonic side, while the heavenly path remains neutral and the human path is isolated.”

“Yes, I will notify Zhu Chongba.” Guang Jin accepted the orders; with the current power of the Mirror Lake faction, they had indeed reached a level where they could easily dismantle small nations. In today’s chaotic world filled with ghosts, whoever can turn the tide can swiftly rise. With support, there was no nation that could not be taken down.

The winds of change stirred, and the protectors returned to their positions!

Li Hui took a step and had already left the Haotu Sect. With another step, he exited Yunzhou. The six beams of light brushed behind him, indifferent to the dark energy in the world; with a gentle sweep, he could turn it into the Qi of Taiqing.

This was the terrifying aspect of the Six Paths of Reincarnation, where the powers held by humans, ghosts, demons, and magical beings could be interchangeably transformed, perfectly aligning with the characteristics of the demonic path, reaching a level of radical advancement that righteous cultivators would hardly dare to imagine.

What would hastening the flow of time with the Seize the Day Talisman and using the Heavenly and Earthly Arrays to manipulate clouds mean? All were secondary compared to the supremacy of the Six Paths of Reincarnation.

Li Hui sighed deeply, unable to deny that this state was addictive. His brow furrowed as he suddenly sang grandly: “The crow flies gold, the rabbit runs jade, a grain of millet in the three realms. Mountains and rivers, years of dust, Yin and Yang mixing in the mysterious valley. Life is like a flash of lightning, with guest magpies roosting on branches. The fields and seas change from spring to autumn, yet Heaven and Earth do not let the hexagrams rest. At nine heavens, in the cold wind and moon, the immortals have no idle worries…”