Chapter 2573 - A Page of Scripture From Heaven’s Will

Deep within the Barren Mountains of Divine Calamity, the territories of Five Lightning Temple.

All manner of old-fashioned buildings dotted the ground. Pine and cypresses grow all over the place. It was tranquil and serene.

When Su Yi walked inside, he felt as if he’d entered an otherworldly pure land. The sound of chanted scriptures filled the air, and flocks of snow-white immortal cranes danced in the sky, letting out sonorous cries. Streams burbled through the mountains, golden monkeys climbed the trees, young deer grazed in the meadows. Everything was beautiful and picturesque.

When Su Yi and the Heaven-Swallowing Toad Ancestor arrived, they saw the sect’s higher-ups waiting to welcome them.

The lady Daoist Su Yi met earlier, Zhi Shui, welcomed the two of them in person in an ancient hall.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Her aside, there were several other Five Lightning Temple higher-ups present, including the old Daoist who Su Yi had defeated.

Zhi Shui took out a brocade pouch and proffered it to Su Yi with both hands. “Felow Daoist, it’s entirely thanks to you that Junior Apprentice Brother Taiyu made it back alive. These are the five tier-two Fragments of Heaven’s Will we’ve gathered. Please accept them.”

But Su Yi shook his head. “Saving him was no additional effort; you needn’t thank me.”

Zhi Shui’s clear, beautiful face looked stunned. “Fellow Daoist, to you, it might have been effortless and trivial, but to us, you’re Junior Apprentice Brother Taiyu’s benefactor. Please, accept our gift.”

Hong Taiyu rose and clasped his fist. “Fellow Daoist Su, please don’t refuse. If you do, I’ll find it hard to bear.”

When Su Yi saw this, he no longer refused. He just put the pouch away.

“Alright then. What’s the important matter you invited me here to discuss?” said Su Yi, getting straight to the point.

He’d always hated pleasantries. When he had something to say, he said it.

Zhi Shui and Hong Taiyu exchanged glances.

“Let me tell him,” said Zhi Shui. “On the first day of the Dark Days of Legend, Five Lightning Temple used a Taboo Treasure to seize an extraordinary Fragment of Heaven’s Will when Heaven’s Will first collapsed.”

Su Yi was instantly intrigued.

Zhi Shui continued, “The fragment took the form of a page of scripture. It looks like jade, but it isn’t. It seems simultaneously real and illusory, and it's permeated in chaos qi. Its surface is covered in numerous strange, mystical markings of the Grand Dao, but we can neither read nor sense them.”

The Heaven-Swallowing Toad Ancestor couldn’t help but exclaim, “Fragments of Heaven’s Will are manifestations of the Laws of the God Domain. All are naturally formed. How could one become a page of scripture? How could one have text?”

It was indeed unbelievable. Fragments of Heaven’s Will had been collected all over the God Domain, and all of them had their wondrous qualities, but the Heaven-Swallowing Toad Ancestor had never heard of one appearing in the form of scripture.

Su Yi, however, asked, “Is it perhaps a supreme fragment?”

Only one confirmed supreme Fragment of Heaven’s Will had appeared in the God Domain thus far. It was a fragment shaped like a

lingzhi,

a shelf mushroom. It was purple throughout, dazzling and resplendent, and it had been spotted in the Ancient Nirvana Divine Continent. Numerous top factions had fought over it like mad.

In the end, the Western Paradise Spirit Mountains seized it.

This incident had caused uproar throughout the God Domain. Everyone paid attention.

It was also then that everyone learned that supreme Fragments of Heaven’s Will were highly unusual. They could take on different shapes, making them starkly different from lesser fragments.

“We believe so.” Zhi Shui inclined her head. “This Fragment of Heaven’s Will is just too unusual. It seems sentient and alive, and it’s incomparably dangerous. We initially used a Taboo Treasure to acquire the fragment, but in doing so, we brought enormous trouble upon ourselves.”

The Heaven-Swallowing Toad Ancestor was stunned. “What do you mean?”

Zhi Shui pondered briefly, then said, “Come with me, Fellow Daoists. Then you’ll see for yourselves.”

She, Hong Taiyu, and the old Daoist promptly led Su Yi and the Heaven-Swallowing Toad Ancestor out of the hall. Soon, they’d arrived at their back mountain.

The whole area was covered in thorough and imposing divine formations with a faint air of Eternity.

Through the mists, they could see a hill shaped like a crouching tiger. The hill was covered in chaos qi and spirit light.

Shockingly, atop the hill, the “tiger’s head,” there were ten figures seated cross-legged. All of them had terrifying auras imbued with hints of Eternal truths.

Even the weakest of them was a Half-Step Eternal, while the two strongest were, as Su Yi would call them, “False Eternals.”

The first was a middle-aged Daoist with his long hair tied up and held in place by a crown. He wore ink-black Daoist robes, and he had a willowy beard.

The other was tall, clean-shaven, and elderly, with a black crown of seven stars on his head.

Their auras were far beyond the others. The energy fluctuations emanating from them had the distinctive air of Eternity!

All of them were seated cross-legged, circulating the full extent of their cultivation bases. Their hands formed seals, and they worked together to suppress the white jade furnace floating in midair between them.

The furnace was only about the size of a fist, and it was snow-white and crystalline. Its opening was perfectly round, and it had three legs. Its surface was carved with five types of Lightning Dao Markings.

This was obviously an incomparably mystical treasure. It hovered there, emanating a five-colored rain of electric light—red, green, black, yellow, and golden. All the while, its rumbling and booming shook the heavens.

Strangely, a terrifying power seemed to be struggling within the furnace, trying to break free. The furnace shook violently trying to contain it.

When Su Yi saw this, he instantly understood.

They’re not keeping the furnace itself under control. Rather, they’re working together to power the furnace to keep the terrifying power inside it in check!

“Fellow Daoist Su, those are the patriarchs of Five Lightning Temple,” explained Hong Taiyu, introducing them all one by one.

The two strongest, the middle-aged Daoist and the tall old man, were the second and fourth generation patriarchs of the sect, and just like Su Yi thought, both were False Eternals!

The white jade furnace, meanwhile, was called the Five Lightning Firmament Furnace. It was Five Lightning Temple’s supreme sect-protecting treasure, and it was forged out of Eternal Divine Jade. It was imbued with an air of Eternity, and although it wasn’t quite a true Eternal treasure, it was far beyond other treasures of the Undying Realm.

Five Lightning Temple had used the furnace to keep the scripture-shaped Fragment of Heaven’s Will under control.

But that was when the trouble began, as they had no means of subduing the fragment. Its aura was far too terrifying, and it resisted bitterly, doing its utmost to break free of Five-Lightning Temple’s control.

“If not for the patriarchs working together to stop it, we couldn’t possibly suppress it,” sighed Hong Taiyu.

An enormous stroke of good fortune had fallen into their hands, but it fought them every step of the way. This forced ten-or-so top experts to join forces just to keep it under control. If word got out, no one would believe it.

“Even working together, they can’t suppress the fragment?” The Heaven-Swallowing Toad Ancestor gasped. “Isn’t that fragment a bit

too

unbelievable...?”

“That’s not even the full extent of it,” whispered Zhi Shui. “Our patriarchs have had no choice but to remain here, constantly circulating their cultivation bases, just to suppress the fragment. Even then, they’re just barely keeping it under control.

“By now, their energy is severely depleted. If things go on like this, they won’t last.”

She’d only just said this when...

Boom!!

A strange Daoist invocation suddenly emanated from inside the white jade furnace, and inscrutable chanting boomed throughout heaven and earth.

The chanting was incomparably strange. It seemed to bore directly into cultivators’ souls and slam into their Dao Hearts.

Zhi Shui, Hong Taiyu and the others looked stricken. “It’s happening again!”

“You two, hurry up and sit down. Seal off your five senses, and use a secret art to protect your soul and Dao Heart!” urged Hong Taiyu.

He and Zhi Shui, meanwhile, were already seated. They both had solemn looks on their faces.

The Heaven-Swallowing Toad Ancestor didn’t dare to be negligent. He immediately did as he was told.

Even so, that strange chanting made his soul quiver, and his Dao Heart was plunged into upheaval. Countless chaotic visions arose in his sea of consciousness, as if he’d been plunged into a world of nightmares, unable to extricate himself.

Boom!

The chanting rose and fell in waves, booming throughout the back mountain. The formations covering the forbidden zone shook violently.

The cross-legged figures on the hill all looked more solemn than ever before. Many of them were visibly exerting themselves. The chanting was obviously putting immense pressure on them.

Only Su Yi stood there, not moving an inch.

The strange chanting seemed like the resonance of the myriad Daos of creation emanating from the distant, ancient chaos. It was dense, grand, and full of primeval power.

It put immense pressure on Su Yi’s Dao heart and soul, too.

However, he had the Sword of the Nine Hells to protect his soul, and his heart had long since given rise to a Heart Soul.

When he circulated his cultivation base, he quickly neutralized that mysterious, terrifying power.

Su Yi nonetheless found the whole situation incomparably astonishing.

Is such power really possible for a Fragment of Heaven’s Will?