Mang Shusheng's Ink Painting Practice

Chapter 343 The Lame Spring
With Mount Ling fallen, the remaining members of the Buddhist community must have all fled to the Pure Land, just as Ajita had previously told Zhao Yifu.

The Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss is the sacred site of the two Western Saints, and at this time it has also been transformed by Buddhism into a precious raft for transcending tribulations.

The future Buddha Maitreya led countless devout men and women to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, awaiting the passing of the great calamity in the Three Realms.

In the mortal realm, the gods strive to ensure the survival and prosperity of their people.

The people offered their faith to the gods, and the gods reciprocated with fertile land; it seemed like a virtuous cycle...

But in reality, most of the gods are actually spending more than they earn!
After all, not every mortal can recognize a god, and a single god can only control a region. Unless it is a relatively comprehensive divine office, it can only result in a loss.

And so a new round of disputes soon began.

Different city-states began to wage war against each other, which was actually a contest and a peace treaty between the gods.

Gradually, regional regimes began to form, composed of various deities in charge of different duties.

During this stage, the eight main gods began to dismantle each other and recombine into different divine races based on their different divine roles.

This is something that can't be helped; it's the inevitable choice for gods and mortals to continue together in this end times.

The only exception might be the Melbourne region.

The Zhao family is now officially in power in Mozhou. And the land under their rule has always been fertile and has never been abandoned.

As it absorbed migrants from all over the world, the population density of Mexico has become the highest in the world.

In fact, the people here don't need to make any religious commitments like people in other sectors.

The economic center of Mexico is undoubtedly Mexico City. However, its cultural center is in Mount Ink, while its military center is Crane Manor behind Mount Ink.

The Zhao family of Shenhe has made a name for themselves, and now more and more people believe that the Northern Expedition of the Great Xu would not have been possible without the Zhao family's strong support.

What's even more unbelievable is the pure and unbelievable friendship between the Zhao family and the Great Xu royal family.

The last emperor of the Great Xu Dynasty appeared on Mount Mo and became a teacher there, known as the 'Master'.

This place has the most comprehensive library in the world today, and people from all over the world are welcome to come here to copy books.

This place can now be considered the cultural center of the human race... or the last beacon of human civilization.

As for Mo City, it generously sold its grains to the whole world via waterways, even though every grain was extremely precious.

In particular, the 'poisonous grain seeds' that were overlooked back then have become especially precious now, and they have spread all over the world, becoming the world's most important source of food.

Some people wanted to conquer this place, but unfortunately they were all stopped by Zhao's "Divine Crane Army".

Especially in this time when people need the help of the gods to survive, the fact that Mozhou can maintain its fertile land even without faith makes many forces believe that it is a 'Promised Land'.

What they didn't expect was that whenever they wanted to organize a coalition to conquer Mozhou, the gods, who never interfered with their decisions, would immediately withdraw all protection from their expeditionary forces. This would cause the army to quickly suffer from plagues and diseases without divine protection, making it difficult to maintain its fighting strength.

Gradually, everyone realized that this land was different, and the Zhao family that ruled this land was also different.

They only worship their ancestors, not Heaven.

As a result, the people of Mozhou also began to worship the Zhao family's ancestors along with the Zhao family. However, they did not know which Zhao family ancestor was so efficacious that he could protect the entire Mozhou for so long.

But at this time, the human race did indeed seem to have returned to the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, with numerous large and small vassal states constantly fighting each other.

The capital region, originally controlled by the Great Xu, had long since changed its rulers. After all, the true and legitimate emperor of the Great Xu was now teaching and educating people in Mozhou, which shook the legitimacy of the capital region regime.

Initially, there were frequent exchanges between merchants between these vassal states, but as time went on, more and more rampant demons and monsters appeared in the wilderness between the vassal states, causing the city-states to gradually sever their ties.

a hundred years……

Each city-state, like an independent kingdom, began to develop its own culture.

Two hundred years...

More and more city-states and regions could not survive, and the glory of the gods gradually faded.

The once bustling land gradually fell silent at this time, and the flame of civilization seemed to be slowly extinguished.

Three hundred years...

Humanity has been reunited.

However, this method of unification was tinged with sadness, because only the region of Mexico in the heart of the earth still shone with the light of human civilization.

However, when the people of Mozhou looked around, they found that there were no other ethnic groups living and multiplying around them.

This is the true Dark Age.

When only one branch of humanity remains, the continuation of the lineage becomes fraught with risk.

Fortunately, this human race was incredibly resilient.

Not long after this darkest hour arrives, the dawn is on its way.

It was a heavy rain that should have fallen during the dry season, a great river that should have dried up in winter that began to flow again, and the chirping of insects that reappeared in the fields in spring...

That was the first bumper harvest in three hundred years...

In fact, on New Year's Day of that year, when the first ray of dawn shone on the earth, Zhao Yifu's benevolent corpse in Pingxin Hall, bearing the burden of the Dream Realm with a bitter expression, Little Zhao in Youquan's body, the incarnation of the seeker of the Dao outside the Three Realms, and Zhao Yifu's true body in Baiyun Mountain all raised their heads to look at that ray of morning light.

What he saw was the birth of a true yang at this moment of yin and yang.

This means that the world has finally emerged from the state of extreme yin and begun to enter a state of yin giving rise to yang!
"Finally, it's over."

Zhao Yifu saw hope, and in fact, all the remaining gods saw hope at this time.

Although this is just the first glimmer of sunlight, it may take thousands of years for the world to return to its peak.

But without a doubt, this great calamity of epochal change, compounded by ancient grievances, has finally come to an end.

Next, we'll enter the stage where things turn around.

Zhao Yifu is looking forward to the world turning for the better.

But at that moment, the news from Xiao Zhao's side shocked him.

Youquan is about to collapse!
Good guy!
Previously, Youquan maintained the fight against the ancient grudge with his enormous spiritual power, which caused most of the ancient grudge that should have flowed to the Three Realms to remain in Youquan's body.

From this perspective, Youquan was definitely a major contributor to the Three Realms' survival.

Otherwise, at the moment of ultimate yin in the world of the eternal grudge, this would be an absolute kill.

Even the Supreme Saint of Taiqing would probably have to consider having Zhao Yifu collect all the true spirits of the Three Realms before recreating the chaos.

But the current situation is not good.

Youquan pulled again.

To be honest, Zhao Yifu felt that this Youquan was really not up to par.

If you think about it carefully, it seems that Youquan has always had the attribute of being more trouble than he's worth.

According to Li Wenqing, this secluded spring has been stirring up trouble in the Three Realms for thousands of years.

But when did there really be any substantial progress? It was only after he met Zhao Yifu!

When the Nether Spring descended, the sages merely offered a token resistance, making it seem like it wouldn't be so easy for it to enter the Three Realms... and what happened? It almost failed to enter! If Zhao Yifu hadn't kicked it from behind, the Nether Spring would still be squatting outside!
Furthermore, after descending to the Three Realms, he actually dared to use his own power to cause trouble... especially targeting Zhao Yifu...

Well, Zhao Yifu directly exposed a lot of 'sacred relics'. As for the matter of taking over the Heavenly Court... if Zhao Yifu hadn't ruthlessly weakened the Heavenly Court's power, would Youquan have been able to succeed by messing around on his own?

And even if it succeeds, it won't be of any use!

It was bad enough that He didn't cultivate the Dao and His heart was wantonly eroded by the ancient resentment, but just when the Three Realms were welcoming the dawn, He suddenly couldn't hold on any longer!

If the ancient resentment within Youquan were to erupt, the already revived world would likely be plunged into another long dark age.

Zhao Yifu tried to calm himself down, and asked in his mind, "Xiao Zhao, what's the situation on your end?"

Xiao Zhao replied, "I was afraid of attracting Youquan's attention, so I didn't dare to do too much. I only swallowed about one percent of Youquan's spiritual body."

"Originally, the ancient grudge had eroded at most one-tenth of the area, but after crossing that one-tenth mark, the erosion speed suddenly accelerated... If this continues at this rate, I think this Nether Spring will be finished in less than two years."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yifu hardened his heart and said, "Then forget about it. Just keep absorbing the spiritual power of that Nether Spring. Absorb as much as you can."

"Instead of betting that the spring can hold out, let's eat as much as possible."

“The Dream Realm is now filled with countless true spirits. If we cannot hold on, these true spirits will surely collapse.”

"Just hold on until the ancient grievances of the Three Realms have nothing left to rely on and naturally dissipate, that's all."

This is Zhao Yifu's ultimate solution.

That is to put all the true spirits of the Three Realms into one's own dream world, and then wait for the ancient grudge to dissipate on its own.

This is achievable.

After all, even the strongest resentment needs life to sustain it.

If there is no life, then what resentment can remain?
So Xiao Zhao stopped holding back and began to frantically tear at Youquan's spiritual power.

Anyway, this spring has an abundance of desire all day long, and he absorbs it very happily.

Of course, this hearty meal quickly caught Youquan's attention.

At this moment, Xiao Zhao had already torn away one-tenth of Youquan's spiritual power.

The percentage is not large, because the long-standing grudge has already eroded more than 30%.

When that resentful spirit turned around, both Xiao Zhao and his original body, Zhao Yifu, were startled and broke out in a cold sweat.

But Zhao Yifu said quite decisively, "Don't stop, smoke as much as you can, it doesn't matter if you die."

Although Xiao Zhao was his evil corpse, he did not pursue any 'quasi-saint' path, use a supreme treasure to contain the evil corpse, nor did he add great magical power to it.

To put it bluntly, Xiao Zhao was just a more powerful avatar of his primordial spirit.

If Xiao Zhao were to die, he could be revived with just one Golden Elixir.

Therefore, at this point, he was already mentally prepared to sacrifice Xiao Zhao.

However, as an evil corpse, Xiao Zhao has a certain degree of independent thinking ability. Even if he inherited part of Zhao Yifu's personality, he will not surrender easily!

Xiao Zhao was indeed frightened when faced with Youquan's enormous and distorted spiritual entity, but he quickly calmed down and even continued to refine Youquan's spiritual power at a rapid pace.

"It's you!"

Youquan's distorted mental entity recognized Xiao Zhao's image, which closely resembled Zhao Yifu.

Youquan was a little stunned. How did this kid manage to sneak into his heart?

Xiao Zhao's heart was pounding, but He was an evil corpse, born with a large heart.

Under the immense mental pressure from Youquan, comparable to that of a saint, Xiao Zhao performed beyond his usual level!
"Of course you know who I am... Don't mistake me for someone else!"

A wicked smile appeared on his face, but his tone was not gentle; he imitated Youquan's hoarse and deep voice.

Even the main consciousness of Youquan was stunned. What was going on?

He wanted to fly into a rage, but then he found Zhao's words quite insightful, which made him think about them a little more...

"You are……"

Xiao Zhao sneered and said, "That's right, I am you!"

Youquan retorted angrily, "Bullshit! How could I possibly look like that?!"

Xiao Zhao sneered, "So what kind of person are you? A good-for-nothing who can't accomplish anything, of course you want to become someone who can easily do anything."

Youquan retorted angrily, "You are insulting me!"

However, at that moment, Xiao Zhao stared at Youquan's distorted image, twisted by ancient resentment, and then suddenly used extremely skillful illusion magic to change himself into that same appearance.

"Or do you think we should look like this, so ugly?"

The use of the word "we" was exquisite, especially when Xiao Zhao, like a mirror, revealed Youquan's ugly appearance now twisted by resentment, which immediately broke Youquan's defenses.

"Damn it! This isn't me!"

Xiao Zhao chuckled strangely and said, "Of course this isn't what I look like."

As he spoke, he turned around and transformed into a boundless and magnificent god of the void.

It was a huge, phantom in the darkness, with a human-like outline, filled with an incomparably deep darkness.

This deep darkness is like a vast abyss, but within this abyss are countless bright points of light.

These points of light were actually world entities like the Three Realms, as well as countless chaotic energy clusters.

Within the chaotic mass of energy, one can witness the process of the world's birth and creation...

What a magnificent scene this is!
To depict this scene, Zhao Yifu himself provided remote support, using all his insights into the void and his understanding of the Nether Spring over the years.

When this magnificent figure appeared before Youquan, Youquan, which had been twisted by ancient resentment, froze instantly.

The gaze that had been filled with resentment instantly regained its clarity, and He said, "Yes, this is how I am."

"Then who am I now?"

Xiao Zhao remained completely still, and this was the best he could do.

He figured he might as well keep deceiving them for as long as he could. At this moment, with the spirit of devouring the Nether Spring using the Heavenly Demon Secret Technique, even a second more was a gain.

That's right, Xiao Zhao and Zhao Yifu did everything they could to stage this whole thing just to buy time.

After all, no matter how outstanding their illusions were, they didn't think they could fool Youquan forever.

They just want to keep lying for a little longer.

but……

Yuquan, who has never disappointed when it comes to underperforming, did not disappoint again.

He was actually intimidated for a long time...

Feeling the continuous spiritual power flowing into them like a river entering the sea and then being transmitted into the dream world, Zhao Yifu and Xiao Zhao were both somewhat bewildered.

Could it be that Youquan really believes that the inner demon Xiao Zhao is the 'real Him'?

(End of this chapter)