With the Evil Qi and Soul Force well stored and the digestion complete, Xinzi rose from his seat—leaping towards the Soaring Crane mountain ruins. Not targeted by the legions' assaults, two buildings avoided any bit of damage: the Treasury and Dao Transmitting pavilion—in the latter lay the Soaring Crane mountain's secret techniques.
The Beast Illumination skill was of no interest to Xinzi. But throughout Dongli, the Soaring Crane mountain just so happened to be the only other place where the Nine Paths of Yin and Yang hid. Xinzi wanted the Yin-Yang Sword Array, but just like Chun Xu, he needed the Nine Paths of Yin and Yang more. And if he could take it here, why wait for the White Immortal sect to award it? His steps carried him to the Dao Transmitting pavilion. The building's ancient architecture didn't interest him, and with great strides, our monk walked past the tall shelves and towards the deepest recesses of this house of literary wealth.
Down a corridor he went, and sheltered by multiple glowing arrays, a spotless wooden box awaited. Xinzi smiled at the box, sat crossed-legged, and taking his sweet time, cracked the array nodes—one complex set of runes at a time. Meanwhile, Lord Soaring Crane gave the White Immortal sect the battle of his life.
Forcefully powered up by the Spirit Extinguishing Bead, the old patriarch stepped past the last barrier, making his official breakthrough into Divine Transformation. The torrents of ghastly energies inhabiting the bead filled Soaring Crane's nascent soul, making it balloon into a supersized version of himself: the nascent divinity. But instead of the usual golden sheen, the nascent divinity took a light-gray shade. Sinister marks of corruption scarred it from head to toe, and eerie soul fire leaked from its empty eye sockets.
The lack of tribulation clouds showed that Soaring Crane's breakthrough didn't receive Heaven's approval. That being the case, his strength shouldn't have improved massively. However, through the sacrifice of all these Sacrificial Knives and Huo Jin's demise, the bead had accumulated so much that, even an incomplete breakthrough had pushed Soaring Crane's battle-power to terrifying heights.
A multitude of virtual images took shape in the sky. Some depicted Soaring Crane under various circumstances. Others, people, places and events that he once confronted: the shriveled patriarch's Obsessions. As he'd never have the time and energy to destroy them all, all these obsessions guaranteed that Soaring Crane couldn't make further progress on the cultivation road. At the same time, they were like time-ticking bombs—no. At least time-ticking bombs had a clear timeline. But these unstable forces could explode at any time, and unleash devastation on those unfortunate enough to stand in their way.
Soaring Crane's Spiritual Sense rose alongside the breakthrough, stretching so far and wide that it could now cover the entirety of Dongli. His senses took in the Soaring Crane mountain's state, the devastation, the ruin, the blood, gore and sea of corpses that filled the streets that he used to call home. The cranes and the Li…all dead!
What little rationality and willpower Soaring Crane had left broke here. Separated from his body, his three meters tall nascent divinity glanced at the sky. The empty eye sockets told no tale, but from the limp limbs and distorting face, one could sense a depth of grief that in each generation, only one in a million would ever have the misfortune to endure.
"Hahahaha! HAHAHAHAHA! So be it! SO BE IT! All of you…SHOULD FOLLOW US TO THE GRAVE!" Soaring Crane's frenzied roar boomed throughout Dongli, and at the heart of his nascent divinity, a sparkling orb of wild unstable energies took shape—threatening to detonate the shriveled patriarch alongside all the lives that called the state home. The Obsessions grew more unstable as well, adding to the crisis.
'Purple Veils, suppress him!' Zi Yao reacted first. 360 lavender shadow arms shot out of the purple sand vortex and latched on Soaring Crane—restraining his cultivation, his detonation, all while eating at his soul. In this self-detonation state, while Soaring Crane had never looked more dangerous, he'd also never been more vulnerable. Zi Yao and Hanxing understood that well enough, but while the former only aimed to use the vulnerability to save the sect, the latter…saw a god-given opportunity.
'Reinforce the suppression and clear the way for Lady Ziyun to make her move.' Lord Hanxing told the 18 Nascent Soul elders, who obeyed without delay—unleashing a barrage of nets and swords on Soaring Crane who, trapped by the purple veils and his own move, could neither escape nor retreat.
Still, that wasn't enough. The combined pressure of the veils and elders barely put a dent in Soaring Crane's Nascent Divinity. The explosion slowed down, yet approached all the same. Not neglecting the details of Hanxing's orders, the Nascent Soul elders left one tiny gap open, creating enough room for Lady Ziyun to rush in and make her move.
'Ziyun, after meeting Qingxin, you devoted decades to Lianism for the vain hope of attracting him. At first, due to obvious reasons, you failed to become Enlightened. But the psychological ruin you suffered at the Fen Spirit clan's hands enabled you to repurpose your prayers and seek inner peace instead. Only then could you succeed and achieve Enlightenment. This is the day you have been practicing all these years of Lianism for. Use your status as an Enlightened Monk to activate the Mantra of Sacrifice. Offer yourself to the Golden Lotus…in exchange for a helpless Soaring Crane.' Hanxing ordered.
At first, the great elder wanted to steal Soaring Crane's Spirit Extinguishing Bead. Not for himself, but just to make Ziyun a better war puppet. Hanxing believed that he still had the time to seize a Divine Transformation opportunity, and wouldn't ruin his potential for a forced breakthrough. However, having refined the bead, Soaring Crane's newly formed nascent divinity was by itself a tonic that could push Hanxing cultivation past the Divine Transformation bottleneck—with little to no drawbacks, and some extra perks to boost.
If to have it Hanxing had to sacrifice Ziyun, then sacrifice her he would. However, throughout all these schemes and plots, the great elder had failed to take note of one tiny detail, thereby making an egregious mistake.
That Lady Ziyun practiced Lianism was a fact known only by a handful of White Immortal sect elders. Thus, as she stepped towards Soaring Crane, no one expected her to say:
"From the Earth I came, to the Earth I return. If I don't face the Bitter Sea, who will?"
Though spoken with deadpan eyes, these words echoed with a mystical rhythm that no amount of foul enchantment could tarnish. Lady Ziyun stretched her arms out. One golden lotus took form and bloomed underneath her feet, unleashing dazzling rays that bathed both Soaring Crane and Ziyun in holy splendor.
In that instant, before that lotus, Soaring Crane himself forgot the rage and hatred that fueled him—if only for an instant.
Usually, when Enlightened Lianist monks activated the Mantra of Sacrifice, they made a mental selection of what they wanted to give up, and what they wanted in return. If the sacrifice wasn't a match for the reward, a mystical sensation would prompt them to either up the ante or give up the sacrifice. Never once would they spark an actual conversion with the Golden Lotus. Never once…unless they didn't chant the mantra of their own free will.
