Wet viviparity

Chapter 833 Earth Swimming, Road Soldiers
At the center of the cave, beneath the bright red furnace, the round mound covered with honeycomb-like holes no longer spewed out wisps of yang energy like pale golden smoke, but instead gurgled out sweet spring water.

The gushing spring water flows out on the round hill like a spider stretching its claws, spreading to the low-lying areas in all directions. It is quite strange that it is not evaporated by the scorching heat of the evil cave, and it gives everyone a cool feeling.

"On the day when the sun shines brightly and the fire veins gush forth sweet springs, in the Poisonous Yang Sha Cave, the Yangzhi Treasure Light Pendant is melted into the top of the Lingzhi, and the Zanxin Yin Pearl is melted into the bottom of the Ling Pearl. After that, a precious item, the Merit Golden Flower, is added to the swirling cloud neck of the Ruyi to achieve the true meaning of 'water and fire not yet in harmony'."

Now, the two treasures, Yin and Yang, have been refined one by one in the furnace and combined into one on the handle of the Yin-Yang Ruyi Curved Cloud. The next step, the Golden Flower of Merit, will require the grace of the Qingnang Patriarch.

"Right now, the Qingnang Ancestor and all the patriarchs are on the Jade Platform in the Heavenly Palace, together with the guardian deities and immortals of the Cloud and Rain Temple from the upper realm, jointly governing the three borders and maintaining the laws of calamity. I wonder how this Golden Flower of Merit will descend?"

Above the lotus, within the misty, clear light, Ji Ming thought to himself.

He wasn't worried about things going wrong in this matter. The fact that the Qingnang Ancestor hadn't given any instructions meant there was no problem. The fact that this thought was currently arising in his primordial spirit was a sign of the inner obstacles he was facing before achieving his goal, which was essentially an inner demon.

During the battle at Daci Village, he experienced a life-or-death crisis under the shadow of Yin Thunder, and was in a brief state of no thought arising and no delusional thoughts arising.

But when faced with such a momentous occasion in life, his thoughts were still racing, as if his mind was still untamed and his will unbridled, which shows how turbulent the inner demons within him were.

If there were any disturbance outside, or if a powerful enemy were to attack, the inner demons within him would likely surge several times over, causing him to lose his mind and make foolish decisions.

Ji Ming knew that only by letting go of his obsession with the Ruyi Treasure and adopting the mindfulness of "if I gain it, it's my fortune; if I lose it, it's my fate" could he keep his emotions in a state of calm. But even knowing this, he could never do it.

This wish-fulfilling jewel has been entrusted to him with too much ambition; its weight is almost equal to his life.

Ji Ming silently recited Taoist and Buddhist scriptures, carefully savoring the obstacles to enlightenment that his own desire for gain and loss had created—the great enemy of the Taoist—the inner demon.

"coming!"

The inner demon surged violently, sensing the invasion of the external enemy several times more sensitively than the warnings from his own primordial spirit, and even earlier.

Upon hearing Ji Ming's voice, everyone fled and set up defenses around the Poison Yang Sha Cave.

At the edge of the cave, beneath a few withered pine trees, You Rongzi knelt and rose, wearing a purple-gold crown. Over his narrow-sleeved, diagonally-buttoned Taoist robe, he wore a suit of armor with precious scales, exuding a murderous aura.

You Rongzi scattered his hand, and bean-sized spiritual objects fell down, rolling on the ground and transforming into nine boys and girls dressed in hemp robes with a red dot on their foreheads.

Nine boys and girls stood naturally according to the nine palaces, with silk sashes around their waists, barefoot and barefoot on the ground. Each of them held a nine-section dew-collecting staff, with the hollow blue stone buds at the top of the staffs looking as if they were about to bloom. The tassels on the staffs moved without wind, drawing out the subtle Taoist power.

"These nine Taiping Qinglu Dao soldiers are the culmination of many years of hard work by Tiger Elder of Jiafeng Town. They have been taught Dao soldier cultivation methods since childhood. They are all virgins with pure hearts. As long as they stand here, they will have already laid out an invisible and intangible energy that can transform turbidity into purity and evil into righteousness."

No matter what kind of evil magic, malevolent spirits, or even malevolent treasures they are, once they enter this place, they are like fish out of water or fire without fuel; their power diminishes drastically and they cannot last long.

Ji Ming nodded slightly. Since ancient times, there have been soldiers and troops at the upper and lower altars within the gate.

The soldiers on the lower altar were the rampant Yin army, which Ji Ming had personally commanded during World War II. As for the Taoist soldiers on the upper altar, he had also seen them before. They were Taoist soldiers known as the Taiping Warriors, who were under the command of the Fishing Dragon Elder, and were very different from the Taiping Qinglu Taoist soldiers in front of him.

Just as he thought of this, Xu Yanzi carefully took out a talisman from his sleeve.

That was a military tally. He blew on the tally, and a golden light was blown out, surrounding the cave. Within the golden light, figures were indistinct, and the sound of clashing weapons rang out.

"These three hundred Taiping warriors were secretly given to me by my master before I left, and I was instructed to protect my senior brother's important task of refining treasures. Now that all the evil spirits and demons are attacking, I will have these three hundred warriors guard this place for me."

"Taihe is so thoughtful!"

Ji Ming nodded and said.

"You should also be careful. Since the Cloud and Rain Temple has studied me, it must have studied you as well. Don't let them find a way to restrain you."

Especially you, You Rongzi, you're as famous as me and even Xiao Yuan on the mountain, your prominence is already too great. There must be people specifically there at Yunyu Temple to deal with you, so you must be very careful.”

Yu Rongzi's expression was slightly unnatural. Being given such well-intentioned guidance by someone he regarded as a rival made him a little annoyed. Fortunately, he quickly adjusted his mindset and realized that in order to bring the two of them back to equal footing, all he needed to do was gain merit in battle.

"It's time to prove myself," he thought to himself.

Yu Rongzi was never worried about whether he could prove his abilities; he was only worried about whether he was strong enough this time to be a worthy opponent.

Under the withered pine tree, Luo Ji's figure had already left. She was always happy to hear of battle, but she didn't have time to wait here any longer.

"Are we just going to swagger over like this?"

Outside Juyang Gorge, Xia Yu confirmed with Hei Xiao once again.

"The battle strategy was personally decided by the Venerable One. Fellow Daoist, you don't have the courage to discuss this matter with the Venerable One. Even if you push me in front of the Venerable One, it won't help." "It's too crude. Although the strategy of battle is to prioritize stability and righteousness, it also needs to be supplemented by unconventional tactics. If we openly charge in like this, directly entering the array of Juyang Gorge, even if we have ten parts of strength, two parts will be suppressed." Xia Yu said with an ugly expression.

The black owl's internal organs were already rumbling faintly, indicating that it was adjusting its physical condition.

He said to the fish, “I don’t think it matters. Both Venerable Hong Gu and I have a fighting style of overcoming all odds with sheer force. Therefore, using feints will only dampen our spirits, like tying our own hands and feet.”

Moreover, our task is merely to clear the way for the Venerable One and draw away everyone except the Dharma Masters, so that the Venerable One's magical duel can proceed without interference. This is not an extremely dangerous task, so keeping it simple and direct is more effective.

"you're right."

The fish seemed to be persuaded and took out a clay seal the size of a palm, resembling a bull's head.

"This is a water-suppressing artifact we prepared long ago, specifically designed to counter the Three-Bend Intricate Spirit River that You Rongzi has created after practicing the 'Nine-Bend Heavenly River True Method.' It can serve as your trump card in combat."

Black Owl took the water-suppressing artifact, exerted a little force, and crushed the mud seal into loose soil in his palm. He then tossed it into the air and said, "No need. This is an obstacle for me, an external demon that hinders enlightenment. I don't need this."

The fish gathered the scattered soil and reformed it into a mud seal. It caught up with the black owl ahead and said with heartache, "This was personally refined by Man Shenying, one of the Four Fiends. It contains the essence of Kan water. You don't want it, so don't destroy it."

At Juyang Gorge, high on the cliffs on both sides of the gorge entrance, two high altars can be seen in the dim light, with bright flames lit on them. On each altar, a figure sits suspended, which are the Linshui Jiehuo Erjun (the two lords who maintain the array diagram here).

As the Black Owl approached, the two men on the altar immediately opened their eyes.

"Such a fierce and imposing presence."

Lin Shuijun asked in surprise.

The next moment, two generals, Bixi and Huohe, appeared on the two altars, several feet tall, and merged together at the top of the gorge.

The flamingo stood on the back of the tortoise, exuding the wonder of longevity. The formation within the surrounding mountains behind the Juyang Gorge gained even more power under this wonderful meaning. The Five Elements had already manifested in reality, becoming a dazzling aurora that filled the sky.

Seeing this, Xia Yu was also very surprised. "The temple has paid attention to these two masters who are operating in the South China Sea, but obviously it has paid too little attention. This formation has grasped the essence of Qimen Dunjia and can resist the fifth level of the fetal spirit."

"A formation diagram is just a formation diagram. It requires formation banners or fixed stakes and other magical objects to be placed on mountains and rivers to connect the forces of Heaven and Earth, combine the formation of the Five Elements and the Eight Trigrams, and arrange the mechanism of the Nine Palaces. If these two gentlemen can refine the formation into a method and set it up without relying on external objects, then it is truly worth seeing."

After speaking, Black Owl stepped forward, removed the cult leader's robe from his body, revealing a round-necked black robe, and tightened the tiger-skin waistband around his waist.

"Mysterious!"

Seeing that the person in front of the gorge was calm and composed, Jie Huojun immediately activated the formation mechanism, using the method of reversing the five elements in the formation diagram to deal with this person.

The ground beneath Black Owl's feet turned into a swamp, engulfing him.

Inside Juyang Gorge, a fierce wind suddenly intensified.

After swallowing the black owl, the swamp seemed to churn with a giant creature, its ferocious aura rising. The fish felt a chill run down its spine and was about to make a move when it heard a deep, muffled roar from the ground. At first, the sound was like the groan of an old rock, but in an instant, it was like rolling thunder, rumbling and grinding from the depths.

At the mouth of Juyang Gorge, a giant shadow bursts forth from the earth, bringing with it a cloud of rock debris and dust, like turbid waves surging into the sky.

Upon closer inspection, it was indeed the demonic form of the Black Owl—the Three-Headed Creator Beast.

This demonic form was several meters tall, like a giant tiger, with its body covered in mottled fur and its muscles bulging and undulating beneath the thick skin. It also had a long, steel-whip-like tail. When it swept across, a fierce wind howled, and rubble fell from the canyon walls.

Its three heads share a forked neck, making it incredibly strange and eerie. As soon as it appears, it does not leap into the air to attack its enemies, but instead lowers its massive body slightly and digs its four claws deep into the ground.

But then the enormous demonic body suddenly lunged forward, not leaping up, but plunging down to the earth like a giant whale entering the sea, and boldly "swimming" towards Juyang Gorge.

This scene was beyond imagination, causing the little fish to rub its eyes several times. The rocks and soil at the bottom of the canyon, which were harder than refined iron, were as fragile as sand and rotten wood under the attack of its demonic body.

Where the giant arm cuts, the rock layers crumble, waves of earth surge into the air, and a huge ravine is plowed open. The rubble and dust are swept up by the violent energy and turned into a turbid torrent, surging and rushing with its body. The magnificent back covered with colorful patterns appears and disappears in the "earth waves".

Black Owl thus paved the way with his own body, forcefully "cleaving through the waves" on this solid ground, swimming forward with his arms outstretched in a domineering manner.

"My two lords!"

After a roar, Black Owl opened its bloody maw, and its three heads shouted in unison, "Let me see what you're made of now!"

"It's all settled, it's all settled. I should have summoned this Master Jiang long ago," Xia Yu said happily.

(End of this chapter)