Donghuang Ziji

Chapter 196 White Bamboo Evil

Chu Tai walked behind Taoist Mu Jing, the light of the sun and the moon appeared in his pupils, and the shadows of mountains and rivers under his feet changed.

The Dharma of [Mountain and River] manifested, although it was weak, it overlapped with the Dharma of [Cloud Forest] of Taoist Mu Jing.

Mountains, rivers, forests, clouds, mist and blue sky, numerous strange phenomena emerged, firmly suppressing the magical power of [Burial Bones of Yin Bamboo] and even wrapping it up in reverse.

Taoist Mu Jing was shocked. When he heard Chu Tai say that Taoist Bai Zhu should give up himself and tolerate Bai Zhu's legal principles, he thought that Chu Tai was deliberately trying to anger Taoist Bai Zhu. Now it seems that he really has similar ideas.

Taoist Master Baizhu, who also discovered this, suddenly changed his expression. He felt angry but also uncontrollably jealous.

'Although the [Mountain and River] Dharma is not perfect yet, it has taken shape!'

Taoist Bai Zhu looked at Chu Tai with eyes filled with envy, jealousy, resentment and a hint of desire. He couldn't help but think, if he himself possessed this kind of Dharma power, would he have a chance of reaching the fourth level?
Taoist Baizhu is well aware that his own Dharma intent has great limitations. Although it is not to the point of falling into the lower-level level, compared with those inferior Dharma intents that barely reach the fifth level, the Dharma intent of [Burying Bones in Yin Bamboo] that he possesses cannot even be considered good among the third-rate Dharma intents.

Over the years, Taoist Baizhu has also been trying to expand the principles of the [Burial Bones of Yin Bamboo] method, trying to incorporate some concepts of life and death into it, or to go a step further based on the white bamboo he cultivated in the past and sublimate this kind of spiritual bamboo he created into a real spiritual root, so as to push his own Dharma ideas further with actual changes.

However, cultivating a brand new, true spiritual root requires too many resources. Even the lowest-end spiritual root must have complete legal principles, and the corresponding status is no less than that of a fifth-grade cultivator.

The consumption during this period is difficult to sustain even for a long-time immortal like Taoist Baizhu, who is also the elder of a major branch of the Bamboo Mountain Sect.

This is also the reason why he chose to unite with the Zhushan Sect here. He needed more resources.

But no matter what the final result is, Bai Zhu's original purpose of seeking resources is to make further progress in his cultivation.

That's why he doesn't get along with Taoist Mu Jing, who practices the same wood element as him. He is jealous that Taoist Mu Jing's understanding of the Dharma is more profound than his own. He also wants to kill Chu Tai, a prodigy who has understood the first-class Dharma of "Mountains and Rivers" at such a young age.

Even though he couldn't possibly defeat Chu Tai now, he definitely didn't want to let him have an easy time.

As the anger in his heart rose, Bai Zhu's attacks became more vicious, and his profound skills were running at their peak.

The sticky blue-black evil white bamboo energy continued to surge out, and the white bamboo swords crisscrossed, stirring the black air, with bits of green fire mixed in it. As soon as the sword light was stirred, the wind howled, and ghosts cried and gods roared.

The Dharma power, which had been shrunk by half, also manifested into large hands with bamboo skin and white bones, which made strange howls and grabbed Chu Tai and others.

At the same time, dozens of bamboo needles and more than ten bamboo leaves flew out, and the sky was filled with green light along with the sharp blades of the bamboo leaves. Inadvertently, some green fire was brought down, and the cold and vicious aura surrounded Chu Tai and others with the flames.

Taoist Baizhu himself hid among the bamboo leaves and the green fire, and it was difficult to find any trace of him.

Faced with this kind of attack, Taoist Mu Jing could not help but clench the Green Emperor's Royal Flag in his hand. The patterns of flowers and fragrance on the flag lit up one by one, and flowers gradually grew in the surrounding blue clouds. Vines stretched out from the green clouds, with lush branches and leaves. The flowers and green leaves clustered together, forming an umbrella to stop the ghost hand.

He asked Chu Tai in a low voice: "Can you still hold on, fellow Daoist?"

Upon hearing this, Chu Tai immediately understood the other party's idea. After nodding, he saw Taoist Mu Jing give part of the control of the Qingdi Rongyu Flag to Chu Tai, and then threw out the Taicang Dongyuan Mirror, reflecting the surrounding void.

Under the mirror light, Taoist Bai Zhu revealed his figure, holding a small linen banner with blood-red runes painted on its surface.

When he saw that Taoist Mu Jing had discovered him, he didn't care and waved the small linen banner in the air.

A chilly wind arose, and in an instant the sky and the earth became dark. Many resentful souls and evil ghosts appeared among the evil spirits. Under the burning of the green fire, they stretched out their arms with strange cries, merging into the white bone claws, shaking the blue cloud flowers.

Seeing this scene, Taoist Baizhu laughed loudly and waved the small flag in his hand continuously. More than a dozen bloody skulls filled with thick blood-colored liquid fell to the ground from his sleeves.

In an instant, cracks appeared on the ground, and more than a dozen skeletons appeared like a dozen springs, continuously emitting strong evil spirits.

Chu Tai [Mountain and River] Fa Yi and Mu Jing Taoist [Cloud Forest] Fa Yi immediately felt the pressure. The filth and bloody aura were not the power they liked. With a thought, Chu Tai and Mu Jing acted at the same time. The two Fa Yi intertwined, and vegetation covered the mountains and rivers, blocking the spread of filth, and even gradually forced the filth and evil spirit back to Taoist Bai Zhu, causing spots of corpses to appear on his body.

However, neither Chu Tai nor Taoist Mu Jing had expected that this was also part of Taoist Bai Zhu's plan. The moment corruption began to appear on his body, he threw off his crown, let his hair fall, and shook his head while chanting magic spells. The dense blood-red lines on the small banner in his hand also twisted one by one, like little snakes crawling on the banner.

The white bamboo growing out of the gaps between the bones all around immediately began to mutate. Some distorted human faces gradually emerged on the surface of the pale trunk. The leaves and branches also somewhat resembled human hands, and the roots exposed to the air took on a slightly bloody color.

Seeing this, Acorus frowned and asked, "Is he refining his own Dharma?"

"should be."

There was the light of the sun and the moon flashing in Chu Tai's eyes, and the ability of the [Alchemist] was at work every moment, which allowed him to successfully analyze part of the [Burial Bones of Yin Bamboo]'s magic and see that the magic of Taoist Master Bai Zhu was shifting towards the direction of the underworld evil way.

"His original intention was to cultivate white bamboo with bones. Now he should be using some kind of witchcraft to add the power of ghosts, trying to transfer it into the attributes of the underworld. This process would be troublesome. He is not proficient in witchcraft. If he is not careful, he will lose control and the witchcraft will backfire on himself, allowing the breath of death from the underworld to pollute the originally weak [White Bamboo] or [Yin Bamboo] intentions, causing them to completely lose the characteristics of [Bamboo]."

When Taoist Mu Jing heard this, he immediately understood the importance of the matter. The Zhushan Sect's method must contain the meaning of "bamboo". If the meaning of the method is promoted but the meaning of "bamboo" is lost, it will be harmful rather than beneficial to the future of Taoist Baizhu.

In order to maintain the spirit of [Bamboo], some external assistance is needed. He stared at the alienated white bamboos.

"It's different now. He borrowed my [Yunlin] Dharma Will and Fellow Daoist Taining's [Shanhe] Dharma Will to squeeze the inside with external force, forcing Baizhu to transform on its own. Now, if we don't let him go, he can continue to purify his own Dharma Will, but if we let him go..."

"With so many of us, he was able to escape unscathed. This shows how incompetent we are!"

Changpu filled in the blanks and Taoist Mu Jing said nothing, but he was also gritting his teeth.

As he spoke, the true Qi of Shaoyin, Taibai, Gengxin rose into the air and fell down wrapped in the Golden Axe of the White Emperor. The sharp edge broke through the mutated white bamboo, but was wrapped by the ghost of the green fire. As the old Taoist Baizhu laughed strangely, large patches of rust appeared on the magic weapon.

"Don't be anxious, fellow Taoist."

Chu Tai raised his hand and released the true energy up and down, then took back the golden axe and handed it to Changpu. He also took this opportunity to sense the methods of Taoist Baizhu.

He had seen a lot of similar methods in the inheritance of Yin Jing Sect, and the solution was very clear to him.

After a moment's hesitation, Chu Tai looked at the white bamboos that were becoming more and more twisted. Blood and water gradually appeared around the roots.
He looked up at the Taicang Dongyuan Mirror that was gradually covered with dust in the air, the Qingdi Rongyu Flag with dim floral patterns that seemed to be withered, and finally looked at Taoist Mu Jing.

"Can you temporarily defend with all your strength?"

Taoist Mu Jing guessed what Chu Tai was thinking when he heard it. He cast a spell to stabilize the defense line and said, "Daoyou, if you have a method, just cast it directly. Leave the defense to me."

As he spoke, Taoist Mu Jing's true qi rushed up, and the [Yunlin] Dharma power fell on the Green Emperor's flag. Blue clouds and azure clouds rose again, and the branches and leaves of flowers grew densely, with stamens leaning against each other, petals sticking to each other, twigs intertwining with each other, and green leaves leaning against each other.

Taoist Master Baizhu sensed something was wrong and increased the spread of his magic power, trying to make all the flowers wither.

But no matter whether it was sword light or green fire, falling on the branches only made the leaves tremble and the petals fall down. The breath of vitality spread, firmly suppressing the movements of Taoist Bai Zhu.

Seeing this, Chu Tai gradually withdrew the [Mountain and River] magic power, and then first glanced at the outside world, starting from their battle with Taoist Baizhu.

Cuizhu, Taoist Cangxuan and others sensed something and gathered outside to restrain each other. In the current situation, if Chu Tai could not kill Baizhu with one blow, Baizhu would most likely be rescued by the outside world.

"In this case, the Yin Jing Sect's method is useless."

After thinking for a while, he muttered in a low voice: "Difficult! There is no Guanyin Bodhisattva!"

(End of this chapter)