Chapter 960: An Era of Great Contention (I)

This was the first time Evil Ksitigarbha had ever experienced real fear. In the past, he had always taken delight in the fear of others, savoring it as a pleasurable emotion. But now that he was the one feeling it, he finally understood how intense and overwhelming it truly was.

Over the course of countless years, Evil Ksitigarbha had devoured the spiritual qi of many worlds, leaving them barren and lifeless. Celestial devils from the higher realms[1], like him, took the greatest pleasure in finding a path from the heavens to a lower realm. Once they found a pathway had opened, they would descend into the lower realm, drain it of all spiritual energy, and then move on. These lower realms often belonged to supreme beings and were left behind after their downfall. Devouring such a realm granted celestial devils like him tremendous power, allowing their cultivation to soar to new heights.

A path from the heavens to a lower realm rarely opened. It only opened when a powerful cultivator tried to ascend to a higher realm through the lightning tribulations. There was one other way for a devil like Evil Ksitigarbha to enter a lower realm, and that was if someone there summoned him.

However, the chance of being summoned to the lower realm was even rarer than ascension, as the summoning incantation was very old and a deep secret. Most people in the lower realm had no way to learn it, so almost no one could actually use it.

The summoning spell that showed up on the continent beyond the Far West was probably something that had fallen into the lower realm along with the Divine Ruins. Someone had likely found it by accident. When Evil Ksitigarbha was summoned into this world, he thought he had just gotten incredibly lucky.

But he never expected this realm of mortals to give him so much trouble.

Evil Ksitigarbha had felt something was wrong the moment he arrived. Normally, the strongest individuals in the lower realms could only reach the seventh cultivation realm. That meant he should have been able to defeat anyone easily. But in this world, there were powerful cultivators at the eighth realm all over the place. There were even legendary artifacts in this world.

As a result, Evil Ksitigarbha could no longer do whatever he wanted like before. If it had only been eighth-realm cultivators, he could still handle it. But as he destroyed the westernmost lands, a true ninth-realm existence emerged during the fight!

Evil Ksitigarbha was honestly quite baffled.

Is this really a lower realm?

he wondered.

How could this lower realm have such powerful individuals? Even in the higher realm, a ninth-realm cultivator was someone with a transcendent status.

Fortunately for Evil Ksitigarbha, not even the Ancient Nameless Buddha was able to kill him. The Ancient Nameless Buddha could only separate Evil Ksitigarbha’s soul and body, sealing one in the realm of yin and the other in the realm of yang. This endless imprisonment was likely more painful than death itself.

But Evil Ksitigarbha endured it. He believed the world was vast, and as long as he was still alive, there was always hope. And sure enough, that hope arrived.

The Noble Dharma, driven by his own greed, released Evil Ksitigarbha in hopes of using him to kill the Demon God.

The Noble Dharma wanted to use this world as a stepping stone to become a Hallowed One, while Evil Ksitigarbha sought to devour the entire human realm. Their goals aligned, so they worked together!

But each of them had their own hidden plans. If they really succeeded in killing the Demon God, the first thing Evil Ksitigarbha intended to do was slaughter everyone in the human realm who was close to ascending. He didn’t want the same thing to happen again, because last time, someone became a Hallowed One in the middle of the battle and ruined everything.

The Demon God was known as the weakest Hallowed One in all of human history. The life essence of the Demon God was so badly damaged that it had nearly died. Now, it lived inside the small and undeveloped body of a Heaven-Devouring Bug. It had no fighting skills and barely any willpower left...

Evil Ksitigarbha, a celestial devil, was almost as powerful as a ninth-realm existence. Based on that, he should have easily won.

But no one expected what happened next.

Somehow, this strange little girl became stronger just by drinking wine?

Normal girls would pass out after three bowls.

But instead of collapsing, the Demon God suddenly sprang into action. She showed such fierce, death-defying resolve that Evil Ksitigarbha was completely stunned.

Not even the Ancient Nameless Buddha had shown such fierce determination. This was a fight where only one side could survive. It was kill or be killed!

Evil Ksitigarbha really felt his life being threatened!

The black-gold sun, a chaotic force fused into one, continued to rise above Mount Shu. No one could step in to stop it.

There were only two possible outcomes. Either Tuntun’s life essence would burn out completely, or Evil Ksitigarbha’s primordial spirit would be swallowed by the Demon God. Nothing else could happen.

No one knew how much time had passed. But when people across the nine provinces looked up and saw that blazing sun in the sky, the final outcome finally arrived.

The black-gold sun cracked with a thunderous roar, then exploded. Even though it happened ten thousand zhang in the sky, the shockwave instantly flattened every peak of Mount Shu.

The Mount Shu Sect had only just been rebuilt after the attack from the Penglai Supreme Sect, and now it had been turned into a crater all over again.

The once-mighty Mount Shu was now nothing more than Crater Shu.

The light from the explosion was so blinding that no one within hundreds, or even thousands, of miles could keep their eyes open. Only after a long time did the glow finally begin to fade.

As soon as Chu Liang could see again, he looked up and shouted, "Tuntun!"

...

Evil Ksitigarbha’s primordial spirit and corporeal body had completely disappeared. A glowing white figure fell from the sky, and Chu Liang rushed forward to catch her.

He saw Tuntun’s body begin to fade, turning into a faint apparition. Golden motes of light floated upward, scattering like snow. As the light continued to rise, her body became more and more transparent.

"The Demon God was ultimately defeated," Baize said grimly as she landed nearby and checked on Tuntun. "Her life essence is far too weak. She can’t handle this kind of exhaustion."

In truth, Tuntun had been at a disadvantage throughout the fight. Although her life essence was of higher quality than Evil Ksitigarbha’s, it was far too weak. The Demon God’s life essence had been worn down time and again, yet even now, it remained far from recovery.

The Demon God's death should have been a great blessing for Baize, who stood at the brink of ascension. However, Tuntun had just risked her life to defend the Mount Shu Sect. Therefore, Baize felt no joy in this outcome.

No one could say when the next ninth-realm existence would appear, but Evil Ksitigarbha’s threat was already looming over the world.

The only consolation was that, if Evil Ksitigarbha had survived, he was clearly gravely wounded and would need time to recover. If he still had any strength left, his first target would have been Baize, the only eighth-realm being present who stood at the brink of advancing to the ninth realm.

But how much time did humanity truly have left?

"Tuntun..." Chu Liang could feel her weight in his arms growing lighter and lighter. Her life force was fading fast, and no matter how much spiritual energy he poured into her, it had no effect.

Do I really have to watch you die?

Chu Liang muttered inwardly.

Suddenly, he thought of something. He flipped both hands over, and the image of Tuntun in his palms vanished.

Within the White Pagoda in his divine sense, Tuntun’s fading projection finally stabilized. Threads of white cocoon began to form, wrapping around her sparse life essence and binding it together.

Watching her slowly become wrapped in a large cocoon, Chu Liang finally let out a small sigh of relief.

Tuntun was originally a creature born of the White Pagoda. She possessed her own life essence and could return to the pagoda at any time for a peaceful slumber.

However, after the Demon God’s life essence entered her corporeal body, Tuntun’s life essence gradually merged with it.

When the Demon God’s life essence had burned out moments ago, Tuntun’s own life essence had also been depleted. She had nearly died for good.

Fortunately, Chu Liang had returned her to the White Pagoda just in time. That allowed her to enter hibernation and preserve what little remained of her current state.

During the battle with Evil Ksitigarbha, Tuntun had chosen to stand with humanity. She could have escaped at any moment. The only reason she had ended up like this was because she had tried to save Chu Liang.

Chu Liang could not accept Tuntun dying like this.

The problem now was that although Tuntun was safely sealed within the cocoon, her life essence had already been drained. She appeared to be alive, but she would never awaken again. It was no different from death. His intervention had only delayed the inevitable.

Faced with this grim reality, Chu Liang suddenly thought of someone—the Celestial Talisman Master.

Back then, when the person he loved was on the verge of death, had he stood before her just like this? Was that what drove him to create the Talisman of Life Restoration?

Unfortunately, by the time the talisman was complete, the one that the Celestial Talisman Master wished to save was already beyond reach.

But now, the Talisman of Life Restoration was in Chu Liang’s hands.

...

1. Do take note that we are not sure if this should be plural form since Chinese does not have plural form. However, since there are multiple lower realms and multiple heavens, we suspect that there is more than one higher realm. This is still a mystery for now. We have used singular for higher realm in the past, but since we were previously talking about ascension, I think it doesn't conflict with whether there's one or more than one since a cultivator experiencing the lightning tribulation can technically only ascend to one realm. ☜