Eternal Life as False Emperor-Chapter 155 - 123: Celestial Spirit Root, Xuankong Temple, Beiji Palace
Cloud Dream Platform.
Tuoba Qingying sat leaning against the edge of the carved railing, staring absentmindedly at the distant sea of clouds.
"Aunt, what are you thinking about~"
Tuoba Lingyun approached and asked curiously, tilting her head.
Tuoba Qingying shook her head, tapped Tuoba Lingyun's little head, and said, "Whatever Aunt is thinking, I'm not telling you."
"Hmph! Don't think I don't know."
Tuoba Lingyun raised her head and said, "You must want to go out and take a look, just like I do!"
"Yunmeng Island is really too small, and the ancestors won't let us out. It's so boring, always cultivating or cultivating!"
Tuoba Qingying didn't speak, knowing that even if she didn't say anything, this little one at home would babble on by herself.
"The ancestor said something about Spiritual Qi suddenly reviving, urging us to cultivate quickly to break through bottlenecks, but I've been in seclusion for more than a month without any breakthrough!"
"And you Aunt, you're a Celestial Spirit Root, why haven't you broken through either?"
"Who says I haven't broken through?"
Tuoba Qingying retorted, only to be met with Tuoba Lingyun's naive expression.
"Aunt, you really broke through."
"Mm."
Tuoba Qingying nodded, but still shook her head and said, "Still far too lacking..."
"I heard Grandfather say that over three thousand years ago in the Cultivation Realm, Celestial Spirit Roots were the darlings of heaven, entering the path in three months, reaching mid-stage in a year, late-stage in three years, and stepping into the Foundation Establishment Realm in five years."
"Within ten years, hoping for a Golden Core."
"Sadly, I've been arduously cultivating techniques since young, but now with the Immortal path cut off and Spiritual Qi tides, I've only reached the seventh layer of Qi Cultivation in ten years!"
"This..." Tuoba Qingying laughed bitterly, "Can I still be called a Celestial Spirit Root?"
"You're already amazing!"
Tuoba Lingyun shook Tuoba Qingying's arm excitedly, "Uncle Qingtong and Uncle Qingshang, they've been cultivating for almost thirty years, and aren't they only middle-stage Qi Cultivation?"
"Aunt, you're already late-stage Qi Cultivation, just like several elders and Grand Grandpa. Those are late-stage great cultivators!"
Tuoba Qingying rolled her eyes, "Just late-stage Qi Cultivation, calling it great cultivator, not afraid of laughing off people's teeth."
"It's not the same!"
Tuoba Lingyun continued, "More than three thousand years ago, late-stage Qi Cultivation was nothing, but now it's Spiritual Qi tides and Spiritless Land!"
"In the entire Spiritless Land, late-stage Qi Cultivators can be counted on two hands, and there's not a single one at Foundation Establishment."
"Late-stage Qi Cultivators are not called great cultivators, what are they called!"
Tuoba Qingying replied helplessly, "Oh alright, alright, you're right, late-stage... great cultivator, hehehe..."
The two girls immediately giggled, flowers shaking wildly, but soon Tuoba Qingying reverted and, looking towards the distant sea of clouds, said:
"In this life, no matter what, I, Tuoba Qingying, must step into the Nascent Soul Stage, to witness that great change of heaven and earth, the revival of Spiritual Qi, and the arrival of a flourishing cultivation age!"
"Nascent Soul Stage!"
Tuoba Lingyun was startled by Tuoba Qingying's vow and hurriedly said, "Aunt, you're crazy, that's a Nascent Soul great cultivator, something no one even dares to dream of now."
"In the overseas cultivation realm, there's not even a single Golden Core, yet you've vowed to step into the Nascent Soul Stage, this..."
Tuoba Qingying's eyes shone bright, filled with determination, "I am a Celestial Spirit Root Cultivator. Over three thousand years ago, the Nascent Soul bottleneck was nothing for Celestial Spirit Root Cultivators."
"Since they could do it, I, Tuoba Qingying, can absolutely do it too!"
"In this lifetime, no matter what the cost, I, Tuoba Qingying, will step into the Nascent Soul Stage!"
"Morning at the North Sea, dusk at Cangwu, this vow, heaven and earth shall bear witness!"
With that said, Tuoba Qingying suddenly stood up and walked towards the Cloud Dream Platform.
"Aunt, where are you going!"
"I've already broken through to late-stage Qi Cultivation, fulfilling the agreement with Grandfather."
As she walked, Tuoba Qingying said, "Once I've stabilized my realm and refined my Lifebound Magical Artifact, I will apply to Grandfather to travel outside."
"I don't believe that Yunmeng Marsh is the only place with Spiritual Qi in this world."
"Since last month Spiritual Qi has slightly revived, it proves that somewhere exists a place rich in Spiritual Qi, and I must find it."
"First target... Great Yu Imperial City!!!"
...
"Om!"
"Ma!"
"Ni!"
"Pad!"
"Me!"
"Hum!"
Wusi Country.
Ancient Buddhism.
A low and hoarse, yet richly authoritative Buddhist chant rang from the Xuankong Temple, unwavering for thousands of years.
Golden light coalesced into Buddhist runes, descending slowly to the ground.
Below the Xuankong Temple, ragged, emaciated slaves knelt in fervor.
They knelt on the ground, hands continuously clasped, murmuring feverishly.
"My Buddha..."
"ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་བསོད་ནམས་འོད་ཟེར་"
"དབུས་པ་བློ་གསལ་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཡེ་ཤེས"
"འགོས་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་གཞོན་ནུ་དཔལ་འཇང་ས་ཐམ་"
The low chanting continued, pale golden runes descending, their eyes gazing upward in fervor.
The golden runes drifted, landing on the brows of countless fervent devotees.
In the next moment, these golden runes transformed into blood-red, fearsome Evil Ghosts, viciously pouncing upon the devotees' brows, quickly assimilating and disappearing.
"ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་བསོད་ནམས་འོད་ཟེར་!"
"དབུས་པ་བློ་གསལ་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཡེ་ཤེས!"
"..."
Inside Xuankong Temple, the chanting became more urgent, the tone changing to another voice.
As if a mother were softly speaking, or raindrops falling from the sky, telling some tale.
In a haze, from the direction unseen by the fervent devotees, a mysterious blood aura slowly emanated from their bodies, forming a faint blood mist, drifting above the Xuankong Temple.
As if... watering a luscious lotus flower.
Xuankong Temple, Ancient Buddha Hall.
Here, a peculiar Buddha statue stood, facing with radiant golden light, resplendent Buddha aura, the statue solemn, cross-legged, holding a lotus flower, exceedingly majestic.
Behind the Buddha statue lurked a ferocious Yaksha, its body covered in scales, with a blue face and tusks. It stood on an Evil Flood Dragon, gripping a yaksha in one hand and clutching a baby in the other, exuding extreme malevolence.
"My Buddha!"
"The ritual for the ascension of all beings has concluded, and a total of 3,656 followers have ascended. This is enough to cast a layer of golden light upon my Buddha, enveloping the Snowfield Plateau for a decade!"
"Om Mani Padme Hum!"
A few monks draped in blood-red kasaya whispered softly to an elderly monk beneath them.
The aged monk was extraordinarily old and emaciated, resembling a sack of bones, with deep-set eyes. His eyeballs were almost like two stones, extremely withered.
He wore a large, crimson kasaya adorned with numerous golden tassels. On him, it looked as if a quilt had enveloped his entire body.
A hoarse voice emanated from his mouth, akin to the grating of two rusty iron plates.
The monks kneeling before him lowered their heads even further to the ground.
"My Lord, deliver the decree..."
The old monk spoke word by word, as if each utterance drained his energy.
"Spiritual Qi, temporarily, recovers, located in, the eastern, countries."
"Spiritual Particle, descends, great contention, of the era..."
"Inform, the secular lord, the Buddha Army, eastward march, search for, the Spiritual Particle..."
"My Lord, observing."
"Om Mani Padme Hum!"
"We faithfully abide by my Lord's decree!"
Several monks knelt once more, bowing their heads with utmost reverence.
Days later, dozens of monks emerged from the Xuankong Temple, swiftly departing in all directions.
Their mission was to gather all the armies devoted to the ancient religion, set off towards the east, and seek the Spiritual Particle, the reincarnated and re-cultivated soul of my Buddha!
Thereby continuing to protect the ancient religion!
Upon receiving the ancient master's missive from Xuankong Temple, countries such as Wusi Country, Zuba Country, and Puzong Country immediately mobilized their national forces, launching attacks on the neighboring countries.
Great Yue Country, Ghost Country, High Mountain Country, and other nations were all within their invasion range.
As the invasion wars occurred, monks from the ancient Buddhism of Xuankong Temple emerged within the army.
With their assistance, the coalition army of the Buddha Country achieved victory after victory, advancing with unstoppable momentum.
Meanwhile,
high above the snow-capped mountains in the Land of the Far North, an entirely snow-white Hai Dongqing swooped across the sky, leaving a piercing cry.
The blizzard raged, yet it did not hinder Hai Dongqing's agile form and wings in the slightest, quickly landing on the shoulder of a figure cloaked entirely in white.
"Caw~!"
Hai Dongqing emitted a series of sharp cries, as if conveying some message.
The figure nodded slightly, swiftly turning around and entering a palace behind him.
Amidst the raging winds and snow, the palace's plaque was barely visible, bearing the three characters "Beiji Palace."
"Palace Master!"
The figure hurriedly made his way into the palace, traversing a corridor entirely crafted of ice crystals, making one feel as if they were within a Crystal Palace.
The cape on his back fluttered, revealing the figure—a stunning, youthful girl of about twenty—beneath it.
Soon, she arrived before a massive ice crystal.
The ice crystal resembled a pagoda, with layer upon layer resting within it.
Before the pagoda sat an elderly woman, her hair wholly white and skin slack, yet exuding an immensely intense evil qi.
"Palace Master!"
The girl kneeled before the old woman, speaking excitedly: "The spiritual bird reports that three of the Profound Ice Snow Lotuses have already withered, with seven remaining..."
"Crack!"
Before she finished her sentence, the armrest of the old woman's throne was crushed directly by her.
"Hehehe, cough cough...cough cough..."
"So, this is the Spiritual Qi Revival of flourishing immortal cultivation epochs?"
"Damn it!"
"Why awaken me prematurely? I was to continue slumbering for five thousand more years! Cursed fate...!"
"Boom!"
With her furious roar, a ferocious blizzard suddenly surged, nearly enveloping the entire corridor.
On the ground and walls, layers of ice crystals spread at an observable speed, swiftly covering the entire passage.
"Palace Master..."
The girl kneeling on the ground spoke tremulously, but the old woman showed no intention of pausing.
"Now that I am awakened, I can no longer utilize the Ten Thousand Years Profound Ice for slumber. I can only await death during this Spiritual Qi Tide!"
"Who dared to awaken me?!"
"Pa-Palace Master, the Profound Ice Snow Lotus blossoms ten times, automatically waking up the elders of Beiji Palace, Pa-Palace Master..."
"Boom!"
After a period of a cup of tea, the girl was on the verge of becoming an ice sculpture when the old woman finally eased up.
"The ten blossoms of the Profound Ice Snow Lotus, hehehe...why did three wither?"
"This is no Spiritual Qi Revival! It indicates other occurrences!"
"An Ancient Immortal Mansion appears? A Sumeru Mini World collapses? Or a Secret Realm crumbles?"
"Regardless, find them! Only at that location can I continue surviving."
"Three years! You have three years! Deploy the disciples, find that secret place for me!"
"Otherwise, all shall accompany me to the grave!"
"Yes! Yes, yes, Palace Master, I will attend to it immediately!"
The young girl stumbled and staggered to her feet, clumsily fleeing the palace.
The entire corridor was left with only the heavy-breathing old woman.
She slowly turned her gaze back towards the crystal tower behind her.
"Seniors and fellow disciples, master and uncle, why was I the one to awaken?"
Following her gaze, one could spot numerous stunning beauties, eyes closed and clad in palace attire, frozen within the ice crystal tower.
At a glance, there seemed to be at least twenty figures!
These individuals were the surviving cultivators from Beiji Palace after the successive upheavals brought by the arrival of the Spiritual Qi Tide.
Through extraordinary means, they froze themselves beneath Ten Thousand Years of Profound Ice, awaiting the Spiritual Qi Revival and flourishing era of immortal cultivation.
Regrettably, one among them woke prematurely!
