Chapter 322 - 137: Clash of the Powerful, Dao Debate at West Mountain! Gui Chen’s Secret

"In just a few short days, you have undergone such an earth-shattering transformation, Fellow Daoist. It’s truly astonishing..."

It had only been a few days in total.

For an ordinary mortal, this wasn’t a particularly long time, and for a Feathered expert, it was even more insignificant.

Yet, the Su Bai of this moment had changed dramatically from the one he had seen when his avatar went to the Desolate Province just days ago.

The change was so profound that it compelled him to use a term like "earth-shattering" to describe it.

This was no longer something that could be explained away by supreme talent alone.

In his eyes, the Su Bai before him was very likely some ancient monster who had used a special method to be reborn in this era.

While such a situation was exceedingly rare, it wasn’t unheard of.

’Just who could this person be?’

"It’s merely a bit of progress."

A ripple appeared in the depths of Su Bai’s eyes.

"But it can’t compare to you, Your Excellency. Your avatar has already broken through to the Feathered realm."

The moment his words fell, a dead silence descended upon the mountains.

The various True Masters all turned to look at the Leader of the Gui Chen Sect in unison.

An avatar breaking through to the Feathered realm!?

What did it mean to be Feathered?

Upon reaching the Feathered realm, one’s Divine Spirit achieved absolute Perfection. Even if their physical body was destroyed, they could be reborn as long as a single trace of their Divine Spirit remained.

This was the terrifying power of a Feathered expert.

An avatar of a Feathered expert, however, was merely a projection of their Divine Thoughts, possessing at most the power of the Returning Void realm.

Even Guest Minister Gong Yan of the Gui Chen Sect, who cultivated an extremely sinister Dharma Gate, could only imbue his second avatar with power *close* to the Feathered realm after he himself broke through.

And that was only possible by relying on the power of his original body and the might of his Cultivation Technique.

It was a fundamentally different concept from an avatar itself breaking through to the Feathered realm.

If the Leader of the Gui Chen Sect truly had mastered a method for an avatar to break through to the Feathered realm, wouldn’t that mean he could mass-produce Feathered experts?

Wouldn’t that make him invincible?

The expressions of all the True Masters changed. Only the Rebirth Buddha Venerable and the Celestial Secret Sect Master remained calm, as if they had known all along.

The faint smile on the Gui Chen Sect Leader’s face slowly vanished. A chilling light flickered in his eyes as he stared at Su Bai.

"You have sharp eyes, Fellow Daoist."

"I, too, have underestimated you."

Su Bai watched the Leader of the Gui Chen Sect, his gaze profound.

The reason he hadn’t made a move yet was that he could see the Gui Chen Sect Leader’s current state.

This was merely an avatar.

His original body, and even several other avatars, were hidden away somewhere unknown.

The Ten Forms Inquiry Scripture was by no means a simple Cultivation Technique.

Its Feathered practitioner divided himself into ten avatars. Among these ten, there was no longer a true original body, nor were they simple avatars.

One could say that all ten were original bodies; the "main" one was simply determined by who had the highest Cultivation.

When the Gui Chen Sect Leader first began practicing this technique, only one of his avatars had broken through to the Feathered realm.

Therefore, one only needed to kill that single avatar, and the others would lose their balance, turning on each other to kill and devour one another.

This would continue until a new "original body" was decided.

But now, he had at least two avatars—or perhaps even more—that had broken through to the Feathered realm.

The situation was different now.

While killing one of them would certainly disrupt his plans, it wouldn’t damage his foundation.

"That’s right. You’ve all underestimated me."

The Leader of the Gui Chen Sect said, looking at the crowd whose gazes were fixed on him.

He first looked at the Celestial Secret Sect Master, then at the Rebirth Buddha Venerable.

"Celestial Secret Sect Master, Rebirth Buddha Venerable."

"The two of you have underestimated me as well."

"Amitabha Buddha."

The Rebirth Buddha Venerable had a solemn and dignified appearance, his skin glowing with an ivory, perfect radiance.

"Gui Chen," he began, "this humble monk has always been rather curious. The Cultivation Method of the Gui Chen Sect has very little to do with Incense and Candle Power."

"Why, then, have you been continuously collecting Incense all these years?"

After all, the Gui Chen Sect was unlike the Wansheng Institute; they could still cultivate even without Incense and Candle Power.

"Brother Tianji, you should have something to say about this, shouldn’t you?"

The Leader of the Gui Chen Sect didn’t answer the Rebirth Buddha Venerable’s question. Instead, he gave the Celestial Secret Sect Master a deep look.

"Indeed!"

The Celestial Secret Sect Master murmured, his gaze profound.

The Leader of the Gui Chen Sect then listed several more names.

"Taiqing, Tian Hu, Zilei, Zihuang, Long Ya, Bai Shen..."

"You few have something to say as well."

As he finished speaking, the Gui Chen Sect Leader’s gaze turned dark, a hint of sinister evil in his eyes.

"Isn’t that so?"