Chapter 609 - 49: Spring and Autumn Arrives, Qin and Han Unite, When the High Heavens Beat the Drums

Chapter 609: Chapter 49: Spring and Autumn Arrives, Qin and Han Unite, When the High Heavens Beat the Drums

Enlightenment Great Artifacts are all extraordinary, and extremely precious even to Enlightened Ones.

Seeing how restless Amitabha Buddha was, Lu Xuan offered a compassionate smile.

"Amitabha, there’s no need to worry. The Buddha Mother is presiding over the Human World, so there should be no mishaps. It would be best for you not to interfere, Fellow Daoist, lest you become too deeply entangled with the Great Heaven and Earth..."

"Indeed, indeed."

Amitabha Buddha withdrew the Buddha’s Palm he had been about to unleash and comforted himself, saying,

"It’s just this. Nothing major will come of it. It’s fine, it’s fine..."

「At the same time, during the Late Han Dynasty.」

A Supreme Daluo came crashing down.

The entire Human World fell deathly silent. Countless gazes turned toward the event, filled with horror, terror, and panic.

A Supreme Being appeared in the world once more, her expression utterly grim. The Great Sun Buddha flanked her on the left, and the Jade Pool Immortal Mother followed behind her!

The position of Lord of Buddhism, which she had been plotting to seize, had been snatched away, leaving the Buddha Mother aghast, furious, and aggrieved. Now, to make matters worse, another disaster had struck in the Human World: a Supreme Daluo had been slain!

"A pack of fools!"

The Buddha Mother’s voice was frigid. She descended into the Human World herself, her first step landing in the Shu Region. Above Shu, the Celestial Realm itself seemed to tilt, on the verge of collapse!

Zhuge Kongming’s expression changed. Facing the Dao Fruit directly, he was slammed to the ground. A profound sense of powerlessness washed over him. ’The drum from the high heavens... still hasn’t appeared!’

’Hold on! I must hold on!’

He roared, and the Seven Lamps flared to life in unison. Their light pierced through all of history, stirring a great tide in the River of Time that surged forth from the most ancient of ages.

The roar of the tide seemed to echo in Zhuge Kongming’s determined expression as he defied the Supreme Being’s might. He fought to rise back into the sky, forcing his stooped, oppressed body to straighten. The bones throughout his body groaned and cracked, unable to bear the strain.

But in the next instant, Zhuge Kongming’s expression changed drastically. He realized that the great tide of time he had summoned was being intercepted at some point in the past!

He looked back in horror, discovering it had been stopped several centuries in the past. The one who had intervened was...

’Elder Hongjun??’

Zhuge Kongming was stunned. Aided by the power of the Seven Lamps, he gazed into the past and saw Elder Hongjun intercepting the great tide of time. Many familiar figures were falling out of it, landing in the Shu Region of a bygone era.

Across the great River of Time, his gaze met that of Elder Hongjun from the past.

He saw the elder offer a faint smile, as if whispering to him:

"In three quarters of an hour, the drum will sound in the high heavens."

A great realization washed over Zhuge Kongming.

He looked back up at the heavens and the enraged Dao Fruit, and then he laughed aloud. His aged body raised the Great Banner, and the nine words upon it whipped in the wind: "The Celestial Realm is dead, the Clear Heaven shall rise."

Then, Zhuge Kongming began to shout curses:

"Usurper! Usurper! You sit enthroned in the heavens, stealing celestial treasures, bringing only more suffering and disaster to the Human World! How dare you call yourself a Buddha? This so-called Dao Fruit is nothing more than the mark of a thief!"

With every curse, he took a defiant step upward against the immense pressure. With every step, his skin cracked a little more, his bones fractured a little more.

It took him a quarter of an hour to shout nine curses and take nine steps, but by the end, he had reached the ninth heaven.

By then, nine-tenths of his body was cracked and broken, nine-tenths of his bones were shattered. He was barely recognizable as human.

The Buddha Mother frowned slightly, sensing that something was amiss. Her gaze slid past Zhuge Kongming to fix upon the Profound Bird Platform. The ominous feeling in her heart intensified until she was no longer willing to wait.

A colossal Buddha’s Palm descended, striking toward the Golden Platform, the Langya Platform, the Copper Sparrow Platform, and the Profound Bird Platform in the Shu Region.

Zhuge Kongming coughed up a mouthful of blood. He gripped the Great Banner with both hands and shook it with all his might, roaring:

"THIEF! SCOUNDREL!"

The four auxiliary lamps swayed. The Cyan Lamp, the Gloomy Lamp, and the Azure Lamp also blazed brilliantly in that instant. The Three Lamps merged, their light reaching for the heavens and plumbing the depths of Earth’s Virtue!

A sliver of the Great Will of Heaven and Earth descended upon Zhuge Kongming. He roared another curse, his voice like thunder, and unleashed the might of the Great Heaven and Earth itself, actually managing to block the Dao Fruit’s descending palm!

"Such noise."

The Buddha Mother glanced over indifferently. Her Dao Fruit’s killing intent bore down, accompanied by visions of All Realms collapsing. It manifested as a bolt of heavenly lightning, a gale of furious wind, and a wisp of dark fire.

The lightning, like a spear, pierced through Zhuge Kongming’s skull. The dark fire ignited the Great Banner and the flames raced toward the old Prime Minister’s body.

As for the wind, it blew so fiercely that the Seven Lamps dimmed until they were nearly extinguished!

With every passing instant, Zhuge Kongming endured the agony of lightning piercing his body, fire scorching his flesh, and wind eroding his very bones. He was already teetering on the verge of collapse.

But he still refused to lower the Great Banner. Shaking it with all his might, he made a desperate resolve:

"I offer the lifespans of all the ancestors and descendants of the Zhuge Lineage as fuel! I offer my body and soul as kindling! Fire, come forth!"

The candlelight of the Seven Lamps, which had dimmed under the Dao Fruit’s killing intent, blazed brightly once more.

"It’s not enough... Not enough..."

Zhuge Liang’s eyes were bloodshot. He urged the Seven Lamps on once more, connecting to the great tide of time. Drawing on the wisp of Spiritual Light granted by Elder Hongjun, he pulled a golden age into the present!

The River of Time fell into chaos. The world of the Spring and Autumn Period briefly merged with the present. The historical imprint of Lu Zi, once shackled within the Profound Purity Realm, reappeared.

He was accompanied by Confucius, the Dukes, and the Celestial Son of Zhou. With them came a scroll of the Tao Te Ching, which erupted in a great, brilliant light!

The Five Thousand Words of Dao and De manifested and fell into the Seven Lamps, causing their flames to surge violently.

Next was the era of Qin.

The era of Great Qin also merged briefly with the present. Ying Zheng arrived, driving Nine Dragons, and the historical imprint of Profound Yellow came riding the True Phoenix Chariot, accompanied by the roars of the countless people of Qin!

"The wind! The wind! The great wind!"

And then, a great wind truly did rise. This was not the disastrous gale that extinguished all things, but one that fanned the flames!

The wind of the Qin era blew into the present, causing the flames of the Seven Lamps to surge higher still!

But it wasn’t over.

The final great era to descend was... the Late Han Dynasty.

The Four Emperors strode forth from the past. Zhang Daoling stood upon Dragon Tiger Mountain. And at the very front walked Zhang Jiao, representing the Taiping Dao that had once briefly swept across the Human World.

With him came the rising chant: "The Celestial Realm is dead, the Clear Heaven shall rise!"

The Great Banner in Zhuge Liang’s hands began to transform silently. A wisp of Celestial Intent Dao Rhyme and a hint of Transcendent Traits were added to it, slowly seeping into the Great Heaven and Earth.