“It is indeed you, Fly Daoist!” the Mosquito Daoist said coldly while glaring.
The Fly Daoist stared at the distant Bodhisattva Lian Sheng. “The Nalanda Temple’s Past Tracing Conception? Humph!”
The angered Fly Daoist threw a palm strike at the Mosquito Daoist.
Boom!
Two manifested palms clashed in the air, and another powerful shock wave spread out.
“Fly Daoist, you have grown significantly stronger?” the Mosquito Daoist said in shock.
The two were very familiar with each other. Back then, the Mosquito Daoist imprisoned the Fly Daoist, showing how powerful the Mosquito Daoist was. Now, they pulled a draw in their clash.
“Little fellow Chang Ming, I taught you your cultivation technique, helped you neutralize the poison, and even gave you the Primal Essence Pearl. Are you just going to stand there and watch, not helping me?” The Fly Daoist glared at the distant Chang Ming.
Chang Ming’s expression congealed as he looked at Gu Hai.
Although the Mosquito Daoist said that the Fly Daoist had used Chang Ming, the Fly Daoist had indeed saved Chang Ming’s life then. This put Chang Ming in a bad spot.
Boom!
The Mosquito Daoist resumed his fight with the Fly Daoist. Now, a layer of sinister black energy appeared around the Fly Daoist’s body.
“That is?” The Unborn Man’s face sank.
“Corpse worm energy? I was wondering how you suddenly grew stronger. Fly Daoist, you finally joined the Corpse Mound Peak?” the Mosquito Daoist said, glaring furiously.
“Humph! So what if I joined the Corpse Mound Peak? Mosquito Daoist, aren’t you even more embarrassing? An imperial dynasty? My fly clone heard it clearly earlier. You addressed that man as your reverence. You joined an imperial dynasty and became its subject? Hahaha!” the Fly Daoist sneered.
“What do you know about my matters?” the Mosquito Daoist said coldly.
Boom!
The two continued fighting.
“Fly babies, go!” the Fly Daoist shouted coldly.
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
A surging cloud of flies rushed in Gu Hai’s direction.
Screech! Screech! Screech!
Chang Ming flung out his sleeves, and countless bats appeared, blocking the many flies.
“Little fellow Chang Ming, do you know what you are doing?” The Fly Daoist felt incredibly furious at the Mosquito Daoist’s delaying him.
Although Chang Ming did not want to fight the Fly Daoist, he was a Han Nation official and needed to protect his emperor.
Awoo! Awoo!
Wolf howls suddenly rang out in the distance.
The many avian resentful spirits had drawn over other resentful spirits.
“Your Reverence, if this continues, we might alert the Corpse Mound Peak,” the Unborn Man said worriedly.
Gu Hai frowned slightly as he watched Kong Xuan’s fight. The Avian King Resentful Spirit had the six-colored divine light. Although it was just a resentful spirit now, it forced Kong Xuan back.
“Kong Xuan!” Gu Hai shouted. “Stop blocking the Avian King. Let it come down!”
Blargh! Kong Xuan spewed a mouthful of blood as it looked at Gu Hai in bewilderment.
Let the Avian King come down? But the Primal Essence Pearl cannot stop it.
However, since Gu Hai ordered this, it transformed back into human form and returned to Gu Hai’s side in an instant.
Whoosh!
“Your Reverence, why?” Kong Xuan asked, feeling confused.
Indeed, the Avian King in the sky charged down.
“The Avian King Resentful Spirit does not have much intelligence, relying purely on instinct. The Fly Daoist could not have convinced the Avian King. He must have taken or destroyed something of the Avian King’s. The Avian King came chasing the Fly Daoist. Otherwise, the Fly Daoist would not have hidden in the rubble earlier,” Gu Hai explained.
Coo!
Indeed, the Avian King uttered a furious cry before suddenly changing directions, rushing towards the Mosquito Daoist and the Fly Daoist.
“Oh no?!” The Fly Daoist’s expression changed.
“Mosquito Daoist, quickly come back. Let them fight it out!” Gu Hai yelled.
The Mosquito Daoist’s figure flashed.
Buzz!
The Mosquito Daoist immediately avoided the Fly Daoist and flew in Gu Hai’s direction.
Coo! With a ferocious expression, the Avian King swooped down on the Fly Daoist.
The avian resentful spirits surrounding Gu Hai’s group suddenly turned around and charged the Fly Daoist.
The Fly Daoist became all the resentful spirits’ target as the avian resentful spirits shot at him like thousands of arrows.
“Mosquito Daoist, just you wait!” the Fly Daoist roared, feeling depressed.
Whoosh!
The Fly Daoist instantly fled into the distance.
Coo! The Avian King gave relentless chase with a ferocious expression.
The Fly Daoist was powerful, but the Avian King was even more powerful. A surging cloud of avian resentful spirits rushed off, stirring up countless other resentful spirits in the Corpse Mound World. Now, the Fly Daoist was like a beaten dog, fleeing miserably.
“Your Reverence, let’s leave immediately! Such a large commotion will startle countless resentful spirits!” The Mosquito Daoist frowned.
Gu Hai nodded. Then everyone left this place.
The group stopped at a forest only after no more resentful spirits pursued them.
“This is bad. The Fly Daoist has joined the Corpse Mound Peak. He is relentless; there will be trouble coming for us,” the Mosquito Daoist said worriedly.
“Furthermore, I have a bad feeling,” Bodhisattva Lian Sheng said with a frown.
“Huh?” Everyone looked at Bodhisattva Lian Sheng.
“Do you recall the method I used to find the Fly Daoist?” Bodhisattva Lian Sheng asked with a frown.
“Many thanks to Bodhisattva Lian Sheng for earlier. Otherwise, we would not have figured out it was the Fly Daoist behind this. We would have fought the Avian King and gotten embroiled in a lot of trouble.” Gu Hai nodded.
“That was the Past Tracing Conception, a secret technique of Nalanda Temple. Only a few people in the world know about it. However, the Fly Daoist managed to identify it,” Bodhisattva Lian Sheng said worriedly.
“Oh?” Everyone said, feeling misgivings.
“You should know that the Spirit Mountain Holy Land was only a branch of the Nalanda Temple back then. When the Present Buddha established the Spirit Mountain Holy Land, he was the first senior brother of Nalanda Temple. Previously, I was just a common disciple of the Nalanda Temple. He was the first senior brother. Then, my master, the Dried Lamp Buddha, died. Although First Senior Brother possessed exceptional talent, the strongest in the Buddhist Dao, Master instructed us never to pass on the sect master position to First Senior Brother, so First Senior Brother established his own sect, the Spirit Mountain Sect,” Bodhisattva Lian Sheng said in retrospect.
[TL Note: The Dried Lamp Buddha’s Earth counterpart is likely the Dīpaṃkara Buddha, which means lamp bearer or burning lamp. He is one of the buddhas that came before the Gautama Buddha. Chinese Buddhism honors him as the Past Buddha. Here is the Wikipedia entry on the Dīpaṃkara Buddha: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dipankara.]
“The Present Buddha’s master is called the Dried Lamp Buddha? Why not pass on the leadership to him?” Gu Hai asked.
“I’m not sure. However, the most powerful secret technique of the Nalanda Temple is called the Three Lives Buddhist Conception. You know about the Three Lives Buddhas: the Past Buddha, the Present Buddha, and the Future Buddha. Jiang Gautama modeled the Spirit Mountain Holy Land on the Three Lives Buddhist Conception. The Three Lives Buddhas each have secret techniques; the Past Buddha knows the Past Conception. I also cultivate the Past Conception, which contains the Past Tracing Conception. That is one of the secret techniques of the Past Conception, using the current effect to trace the cause in the past. There should only be three people alive who know this secret technique: Jiang Gautama, the Spirit Mountain Holy Land’s Past Buddha, and myself,” Bodhisattva Lian Sheng said.
“If only you three know it, why could the Fly Daoist recognize it and even know its name?” the Mosquito Daoist said in surprise.
Bodhisattva Lian Sheng shook his head, appearing slightly worried.
“Perhaps Jiang Gautama told him. Alright, let’s not worry. We should continue on our way. We need to be more careful after this,” Gu Hai consoled.
“Yes!” everyone answered.
Two hours later, a large peak in the Corpse Mound World:
A large hall called the Corpse Mound Hall stood on the summit of this peak.
Corpse Mound Hall:
“Cough! Cough! Cough!” The Fly Daoist endured a fit of coughing, covered in injuries. Clearly, he had suffered at the hands of the Avian King.
Buzz!
Black energy came from the throne in the hall.
Black fog covered that throne, obscuring the person there. The black energy rushed into the Fly Daoist’s body.
Then the Fly Daoist’s injuries healed at a visible rate. Soon, the black energy stopped flowing, and his injuries were gone.
“Peak Master, many thanks for healing me,” the Fly Daoist said gratefully.
Before the peak master, the Corpse Worm Heavenly Demon shrouded in a black fog on the throne, could say anything, a sneer came from the other side of the hall.
“Hah! Fly Daoist, I never realized you were so capable. Going to challenge the Avian King?” The Fly Daoist’s face twitched at the sinister voice.
“Lifespan Chunshen, what do you know? I was doing it for my Corpse Mound World!” The Fly Daoist glared.
If the Unborn Man were here, he would recognize this person. This was the lifespan cultivator who set up the Burial Mound Lifespan Ritual Array at Three Mountains City with Lifespan Beiming, the black-robed lifespan cultivator Lifespan Chunshen.
Besides Lifespan Chunshen, there were other experts in the hall, standing in two columns. However, these people did not move at all, looking like statues.
“Fly Daoist, why did you challenge the Avian King?” A stern voice came from the black fog.
“Reporting to Peak Master, the Mosquito Daoist returned with a group of experts. I didn’t know what they wanted, so I tried to stop them. After all, this is Peak Master’s territory,” the Fly Daoist said.
“Oh? What group of people?” the peak master asked coldly.
After all, the Fly Daoist was among the top experts of the world. For the Fly Daoist to resort to using the Avian King, these people had to be extraordinary. Furthermore, the Fly Daoist ended up suffering a defeat.
The Fly Daoist waved.
Buzz!
The Fly Daoist used a technique to manifest the appearance of Gu Hai’s group.
“Oh? It’s Gu Hai?” Lifespan Chunshen exclaimed in surprise.
“You know him?” the Fly Daoist said, amazed.
“What nonsense! Of course, you wouldn’t know since you don’t go out. We just faced Gu Hai in the land of the living recently. I would recognize them even if they turned to ash. Gu Hai, Kong Xuan, the Unborn Man, the Mosquito Daoist, and Bodhisattva Lian Sheng? This is…,” Lifespan Chunshen said in shock.
“This is Chang Ming. This means you recognize them?” the Fly Daoist said with surprise.
Lifespan Chunshen nodded, then explained what happened in the land of the living.
“Peak Master, these people are difficult to deal with. Although I don’t know their purpose here, we cannot let them proceed. We have to capture them,” Lifespan Chunshen said.
“Right, right! Capture them!” the Fly Daoist immediately chimed in.
“Right. As you said, they are extraordinary, and they simply entered without announcing themselves, showing no regard for this peak master!” the peak master said in a frosty tone.
“Peak Master, there’s no need for personal action. We will suffice. Rest assured. If everyone works together, we can take them down,” the Fly Daoist called out.
The Fly Daoist had his own plans and did not want the peak master to get involved. After all, there was still the Primal Essence Pearl. If the peak master took action, it would end up with the peak master.
“Alright. Since that’s the case, Fly Daoist, you take charge. Who do you need?” the peak master asked indifferently.
“Erm…they have a lifespan cultivator, so send Lifespan Chunshen with me,” the Fly Daoist replied.
“Alright,” the peak master said indifferently.
“There’s Kong Xuan, Gu Hai, and Bodhisattva Lian Sheng. I need two more people. I want the two standing at the heads of the two columns,” the Fly Daoist said with some anticipation.
“Fly Daoist, you truly dare to ask for them? They are the peak master’s two most powerful subordinates. To think you are bold enough to ask?” Lifespan Chunshen sneered.
However, the Fly Daoist looked at the black fog in anticipation.
“Permitted!” the peak master said.
“Many thanks, Peak Master. Lifespan Chunshen claimed they were very powerful, so I asked for the strongest two lest something go wrong,” the Fly Daoist said.
The peak master sent out two streams of black energy to the frontmost two.
These two had been standing there like statues, unmoving. When the black energy entered, they trembled.
“Yes, Peak Master!” the two said respectfully.
Then they turned and paced over to the Fly Daoist.
“Sword Deity Six Paths, Dried Lamp Buddha, I’ll have to trouble you two after this.” The Fly Daoist smiled.
