Daoist Master of Qing Xuan

The pleasure that followed the pain could easily make someone let his guard down. Shen Lian welled-up with happiness; the spiritual force from the Golden Path made him feel as though he was turning into a Celestial.

It was as though the completeness, freedom, and joy that one would feel after attaining Dao was nothing more than this.

Celestial music started playing in the air, and golden flowers bloomed on the trees flanking the Golden Path. Just as the sea, the flowers on the branches danced in waves along with the wind; it was as though countless gorgeous women were waving at Shen Lian.

When everything seemed to be going great, the gold caught on fire. The flowers and the trees were burning, and even the Celestial music became drums that urged the fire on. The flames surrounding Shen Lian burnt with greater intensity.

The flames gnawed away at Shen Lian’s clean Daoist robes, and they even made their way up his hair, his brows, and even his skin and flesh. The strange and pleasant scent turned into the scent of charred flesh. It was nauseating.

Shen Lian’s smile did not fade away from his face; he walked on the path at a steady pace. Amidst the sea of fire, he walked with great confidence.

There did not seem to be an end to the road, and there was no end to the sea of fire as well. However, Shen Lian kept walking forward as though he was not concerned about the possibility of the path having no end to it.

In the end, black True Light was emitted out of Shen Lian and rolled towards the sea of fire. Suddenly, the sky started pouring. The sea of fire was extinguished within moments. There was not even a single hint of flame at all.

The black True Light rolled back into Shen Lian from the ground.

The regulation between water and fire gave him a better complexion than before.

Having restrained the fire with water, Shen Lian had absorbed the endless Fire Qi of Essence to nourish himself.

Up ahead, the mist was still visible. Out of a sudden, the Qi started coagulating, and there seemed to be a flash of lightning in the sky. Eventually, it became sword gleam that contained an unimaginable amount of Yin Qi. The sword gleam was similar to jade; it was as though water flowed through it, and it was very clear. The sword gleam then charged at Shen Lian.

The pierce had a sense of ultimatum, and it was wielded with murderous intent. When it came near Shen Lian, everything else stood still and all other sounds were drowned out. Shen Lian knew that this was real. If he were to be harmed by it, he would not be able to survive his injuries.

Shen Lian stood still. An illusionary shadow of the Milky Way formed above him – this was a manifestation of his spirit. Utilising the Milky Way Swordsmanship with the Deity Vanquishing Sword was his trump card. He did not have the luxury of time to go through his options now.

The sword aura was scary; he could feel the murderous intent with his spiritual sense, and it was stronger than the sword will gifted by the Grandmaster Zhu Yuantu.

The space was nothing more than a thin piece of paper for the sword aura to pierce around; more importantly, time had no meaning in this place.

Despite that it was formed by Yin Qi, it seemed to have an eternal sense of Dao that subjected the deities to their fall.

The illusionary Milky Way clashed with the sword aura. The supposedly eternal and unchanged Milky Way was defenseless against the sword aura.

Shen Lian’s spirit having turned into the illusionary Milky Way was incapable of emotions such as being surprised and shocked. However, right when his spirit was about to shatter into pieces, the sword aura started melting into his spirit. The Milky Way sword will be nothing more than a backdrop for the sword will contained within the sword aura. Grandmaster Yuantu’s sword will restraint itself after the clash against the sword aura. It was hiding at some corner in Shen Lian’s spirit.

The sword aura melted into the depths of his spirit, and it flowed along with the illusionary Milky Way. At that moment, the deity from The Mastery of Senses resurfaced in Shen Lian’s heart. It solidified after the instillation of the sword aura, but it remained slightly illusory still.

Finally, Shen Lian returned to reality. He was shocked by the current state of Da Ming Wang Temple.

The ancient temple was split into two by a sword’s mark. The signage of Da Ming Wang Temple was dull and dim, and it seemed to have lost the power of its Dharma.

Shen Lian could not believe what he saw. What sort of master celestial of sword would it take to be able to break through the restriction place on Da Ming Wang Temple, what more to split the temple into half. This was the sacred site of Buddhism, also one of the oldest sects in the world.

Shen Lian was dumbfounded. The signs of battle that he saw when he was hiking up were clearly not made by the person who split the temple into half. Unlike the sword’s mark, the damage to the mountain was caused by brute force.

At least two Almighties were here before. One had collapsed the mountain rocks, and the other had split the temple into half. Both of them were different people. From the supreme swordcraft discernable from the sword’s mark, Shen Lian could tell that the sword’s mark was made by a powerful cultivator.

At the same time, the supreme brute force was absolute. Both of them were fundamentally different from each other, and could not have been made by the same person.

Though, if they were indeed by the same person, the person would be an extremely terrifying character and had transcended beyond Shen Lian’s recognition.

Moreover, the sword aura that was merely a remnant of the sword’s mark had managed to deal a critical blow at Shen Lian. Despite that it was mainly due to the fact that he had spent most of his cultivation sealing away the Supreme Heart Demon Chant, it still showed what a terrifying character its owner was. In fact, he might be far better than the average land immortals.

From the air of desolation shrouding Da Ming Wang Temple, Shen Lian could imagine the current damaged state of the temple without even going in. In fact, there might even be plenty of dead monks lying around.

Shen Lian had come to seek the Dharma; little did he know that not even the Dharma could protect the monks of Da Ming Wang Temple.

“Are you surprised? Huike the Venerable having obtained the essence of Jiaye Blade Technique could easily break any river into half. Even the notorious Nine-Headed Demon King was not his match, and yet, he was injured by just one slash of the sword and has escaped into the depths of Huang River. How unimaginable indeed,” the voice flowed smoothly into Shen Lian’s ears.

He turned and found a person in white sitting on a scarlet throne. The person was sitting still in mid-air and was unaffected by the wind. His purposeful gaze fell on Shen Lian, and there were ripples in his eyes. The hints of laughter in his eyes were hard to conceal.

He smiled. Shen Lian returned his smile.

As the saying goes, “Meeting an old friend in a foreign land”, Shen Lian wondered if this was applicable to the current situation.

Shen Lian leaped into the air. The Yin breeze wheezed past his ears, but his voice was not blocked at all. “Ye Brother, long time no see,” he spoke calmly.

Ye Liuyun raised his head to meet Shen Lian’s gaze. Just as twenty years ago, Shen Lian looked the same. The way he rode the wind made him seems slightly like a Celestial. Though, he merely nodded.

Shortly after, Ye Liuyun turned his head to look at the sword’s mark, as though he was reminiscing the sword aura within it.

The sword’s mark had lost its essence and the mark that it had left behind served no more than for one to admire the power of its owner. “Brother Shen, you are very mysterious indeed. I’m curious as to how did you manage to absorb the Trapping of Celestial Sword Aura,” Ye Liuyun spoke gently.

Only then did Shen Lian realize that he had actually absorbed the sword aura, and it was not the illusionary Milky Way that had blocked it off. Shen Lian was not sure about the reason behind it as well.

“I don’t understand either, but I do have a clue about what it might be. Though, I could not reveal it to you yet. Pardon me,” Shen Lian replied.

Shen Lian did not have plans to reveal anything about the Mastery of Senses to anyone yet.