Chapter 497: The Golden Bell of Buddhist Treasures! Master Yuanjue! A Growing-Type Evil Spirit! A Haunting!

Li Yanchu’s body and primordial spirit were directly placed into the grinding mill, intended to be crushed and refined. But his vast life essence and masculine blood qi, radiant like a blazing sun with divine light flowing across his body, caused a sudden halt in the Spirit-Refining Formation.

Boom!

It was as if a precision machine had jammed.

For ordinary people or cultivators, this formation might be a deadly soul-extracting mechanism. But trying to refine Li Yanchu with it was a mistake, as his body was virtually indestructible, and his blood qi was overwhelming. No matter how the formation ground, it couldn’t harm him.

Seeing this, the old Daoist’s three hidden eyes emitted a cold, murderous aura.

Next moment, the bloodthirsty and yin qi in the world surged toward him, converging continuously. His skin cracked, muscles bulged grotesquely like tumors, and as the evil energy flowed into him, his body grew increasingly massive.

Suddenly, four powerful arms actually sprouted from both sides of his body. The muscles on those arms were tightly knotted, and the skin had turned a dark, ashen gray. Two heads grew from his neck, hair disheveled, faces horrifying, etched with dark patterns. Their eyes were gray-white and pupil-less, radiating malevolence.

In the blink of an eye, the old, somewhat sinister-looking Daoist became a two-meter-tall, three-headed, six-armed behemoth, with soaring demonic qi radiating from him.

The bloodthirsty aura rose, forming a bloody Eight Trigrams in the sky, hovering over his monstrous form. The previously suffocating, viscous sensation in the air disappeared, perhaps because the demon knew the Spirit-Refining Formation couldn’t harm Li Yanchu and condensed its energy on itself. From this three-headed, six-armed monstrosity, an extremely dangerous aura radiated.

***

Nearby, in a village, a group of people sat under a golden ancient bell. Web-like blood threads wrapped the bell, like countless vampiric tendrils. The bell’s coverage was vast, and inside, the people meditated, resisting the slicing and consuming force of the web.

Suddenly, the strange force outside the web receded like a tide, and the oppressive pressure on everyone eased.

A young man with twin swords opened his eyes and muttered, “Hey, why did this ghostly thing back off?”

Just then, the golden bell rotated, the runes glowing with profound energy. With everyone’s support, they had resisted the invasive force. As it receded, they slowly opened their eyes.

A cold, composed female Daoist priest frowned slightly. “The immense restricting force in the heavens and earth has vanished.”

“Master Yuanjue[1], what’s happening here?” asked the proud twin-sword youth.

The Master Yuanjue in question was a thin old monk, clad in white, with flowing white eyebrows and beard, exuding an ethereal presence. He now sat among the group with his legs crossed, hands forming a five-heart mudra atop a Vajra staff. Bathed in Buddha light, he sensed the withdrawal of the deadly energy.

Master Yuanjue opened his eyes, golden light flickering as he looked toward the youth. “The power of the Ten Directions Spirit-Refining Formation has entirely dissipated. Someone must have broken into the formation!” he said.

“Broken into the formation?”

“This place is filled with ghost walls and illusions; all forms of spiritual energy are blocked. Who could penetrate it?” the twin-sword youth frowned.

“We shouldn’t linger here. That possessed evil spirit has manipulated countless people. By now, it’s likely approaching third-realm strength, far beyond what we can handle,” Master Yuanjue said decisively.

When this venerable old monk spoke, no one thought he was cowardly. The prior evil spirit had been terrifying beyond measure, capable of manipulating minds and possessing people, with the red glow in its eyes able to seize a person’s very soul. These cultivators had nearly all been annihilated by that fiend.

Fortunately, Master Yuanjue’s golden bell, an extremely powerful Buddhist artifact, had protected their bodies and spirits through the combined effort of everyone present.

The malevolent spirit didn’t seem solely focused on attacking them, as it appeared to be busy preparing something. Therefore, their immediate pressure wasn’t too overwhelming.

Of course, it could also be that the spirit didn’t think they could escape the area covered by the Spirit-Refining Formation .

This place easily disorients anyone within it, sending them wandering into ghostly illusions. The formation seemed capable of monitoring the region, and they constantly felt as if someone was secretly observing them.

Boom!

Suddenly, a tremendous explosion came from the horizon. A towering surge of blood qi shot skyward, the vast life essence so powerful that even from such a distance, everyone could sense it.

“Someone really did break into the formation , but this surge of blood qi... it’s terrifying!”

“The strength of this blood qi... it’s like that of a mortal Martial Saint! Does someone like this even exist in the world?”

“That evil spirit has grown to an unmeasurable level. I wonder if this cultivator can even withstand it.”

The group murmured anxiously among themselves.

The proud youth carrying twin swords’ eyes widened in surprise, as if realizing something. He said harshly, “I didn’t expect this spirit to be so cunning. Otherwise, if we had eliminated it at the start, none of this would have happened.”

His words silenced the group.

If Li Yanchu had been present, he would have immediately recognized this speaker as Xiao Ce, the young prodigy whose lightning-fast sword techniques had impressed him at the Mount Jinting Blissful Land. The poised female Daoist was none other than Ding Rou, one of the famed beauties of the Kingdom of Qian Daoist sect.

Most of the cultivators had arrived at the region because they had heard rumors of a mysterious Blissful Land, though some had not entered it for various reasons.

Initially, they had come to Liu Family Village, under Dongyang County, simply because an evil spirit had been causing trouble there. Livestock were restless, and two villagers had hanged themselves in succession.

At first, a wandering Daoist had come to exorcise the spirit. This was no charlatan; he was a Qi Cultivator, knowledgeable in talismans, divination, and feng shui.

Invited to Liu Family Village, he performed rituals to drive away evil. That night, indeed, no one died by hanging.

But the next day, the wandering Daoist was found hanged in his own room. This horrifying scene left the villagers of Liu Family Village utterly terrified.

1. 圆觉 (Yuánjué) literally means “Perfect Enlightenment” or “Complete Awakening,” it refers to a state of fully realized wisdom in Mahayana Buddhism, an understanding free of delusion and beyond partial or limited insight. A monk bearing this name is usually implied to be someone on a high spiritual level, dedicated to pursuing profound clarity of mind and deep comprehension of the Dharma. To me, 圆觉 evokes an image of calm authority, compassion, and mastery of Buddhist teachings, and suggests that the monk embodies or strives toward ultimate enlightenment. ☜