Chapter 70: The Vermilion Bird Appears
When the groaning sound that appeared out of nowhere exploded in her ears, Hua Changxi sensed a terrifying, invisible force rising from beneath the stone cave.
It instantly scattered the clouds beneath her feet, causing her to lose her balance and fall directly from a great height, crashing heavily onto the ground.
“Ah~”
Hua Changxi ignored the pain, her eyes wide open, staring in shock and horror as golden spiritual light floated out from under the ground within the stone cave at a visible speed.
The spiritual light grew more and more abundant and dense, rapidly converging towards the cave entrance at the top, carrying a terrifying power that shook the stone cave.
“Rumble~”
The density of the spiritual light reached its peak. The stone cave finally couldn’t withstand the powerful force carried by the spiritual light and began to shake. “Clatter,” countless gravel began to fall.
The stone cave was collapsing, disintegrating!
Suddenly, the surging spiritual light blasted open the cave entrance. Hua Changxi saw the Buddha’s Hand that had been suppressing the Monkey King fall down, landing on the ground with a “thud.” It didn’t shatter, but cracks appeared on it.
At the same time, outside the stone cave, seeing the stone cave suddenly begin to shake violently, Jiang Guanyun and Jiang Gaoheng both showed solemn and wary expressions.
The Mountain Spirit was so scared it didn’t dare to struggle anymore: “We’re going to die, we’re going to die. The Fairy moved the Buddha’s Hand, the Monkey King is going to come out.”
Hearing the Mountain Spirit’s words, Jiang Guanyun’s brows furrowed. He hadn’t taken the wild girl’s shouting seriously just now, not believing there was any Monkey King at all; even if there was, it would have long since turned to dust.
However, at this moment, feeling the ground beneath his feet begin to shake, Jiang Guanyun hesitated and stopped refining the Mountain Spirit.
“Second brother, let’s leave this place first.”
Jiang Guanyun didn’t dare to linger. Grabbing the Mountain Spirit, he turned to leave when, with a loud “crack,” the spiritual light that had been accumulating in the stone cave finally burst through and leaked out.
Centered on the stone cave, the dense golden spiritual light swept out like a mushroom cloud explosion, engulfing everything in its path.
“Escape~”
The terrifying blast wave hit him head-on. Jiang Guanyun had no power to resist and was directly blown away by the wave.
If he, a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator, was like this, let alone Jiang Gaoheng, who was only at the Qi Sea Realm. Before he could react, he was directly killed by the blast wave.
Jiang Guanyun was propelled by the force of the blast wave, rapidly flying away towards the outer reaches of Five Finger Mountain. Sensing the disappearance of his second son’s aura, his blood and qi churned, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.
At this moment, the Mountain Spirit, taking advantage of his unstable aura, desperately broke free from his grasp and, without looking back, fled towards Third Peak.
Seeing the Mountain Spirit escape, Jiang Guanyun was furious, his eyes splitting. Unwilling to lose the Mountain Spirit just like that, he wanted to pursue, but he saw the spiritual light gathering at the stone cave, shooting straight into the sky, making the entire Five Finger Mountain seem unstable.
Seeing this, Jiang Guanyun no longer dared to hesitate. Gritting his teeth, he decisively turned and flew outwards.
The moment the spiritual light spread out of the stone cave, all living beings on Five Finger Mountain felt that chilling aura. All the cultivators on the outer perimeter of Five Finger Mountain simultaneously flew out of its boundaries.
“What exactly happened in the mountain?”
Outside Five Finger Mountain, cultivators of various factions, some riding flying swords, some on clouds, and some in flying magic tools, hovered in mid-air, looking solemnly at Third Peak of Five Finger Mountain.
“What is that surging, condensing golden spiritual light?”
At this moment, Third Peak of Five Finger Mountain was filled with spiritual light, and it showed signs of spreading outwards.
Soon, the spiritual light covered Third Peak and began to spread towards Second Peak and Fourth Peak.
“Fairy.”
The stone cave had collapsed, but the original space of the stone cave remained intact. Hua Changxi lay on the ground, staring blankly at the scene unfolding before her.
She hadn’t expected her actions to cause such a huge commotion.
It was so big it exceeded her imagination and her control.
She just wanted to save herself and the Mountain Spirit, and kill that old Daoist. But looking at the current situation, it felt like the entire Five Finger Mountain was going to be in trouble.
“Fairy, run quickly~”
Hua Changxi turned to look at the Mountain Spirit not far away, a bitter expression on her face.
Did she not want to run?
She did, desperately.
But she was locked by an invisible force and couldn’t move at all.
“Fatty, you run quickly, don’t mind me.”
Seeing the Mountain Spirit looking like it wanted to come over, Hua Changxi quickly stopped it: “I seem to be locked by the Monkey King’s Domain, don’t come in.”
Hearing this, the Mountain Spirit was terrified. It was truly anxious at this moment. If the Monkey King’s Domain continued to spread, Five Finger Mountain would be destroyed.
“Fairy, where is the Buddha’s Hand?”
Hua Changxi paused for a moment, then quickly looked around: “It’s in the northeast direction, see it? A palm-sized golden handprint.”
The Mountain Spirit looked in the direction Hua Changxi indicated and saw the Buddha’s Hand. Its expression turned somewhat desolate, its eyes red: “I just cultivated a Spirit Body, just transformed into human form, *sob*~”
Seeing it crying at this moment, Hua Changxi yelled in exasperation: “Stop crying, run quickly.”
The Mountain Spirit looked at Hua Changxi with tear-filled eyes: “Fairy, you must come to Five Finger Mountain again in the future! I’ll let you be sealed again.”
Hua Changxi heard something amiss in its words and quickly asked: “What are you going to do?”
“I am the Mountain Spirit, I cannot let Five Finger Mountain be destroyed.”
After saying this, before Hua Changxi could react, the Mountain Spirit “whooshed” and rushed towards the Buddha’s Hand, transforming into a stream of five-colored spiritual light and merging into it.
Then, the Buddha’s Hand began to glow brightly and slowly floated into the air.
Hua Changxi stared at this scene, her mind going blank.
The next moment, she saw five-colored spiritual light emerge from the ground, surging upwards at a speed even faster than the golden spiritual light had gathered.
At this moment, the cultivators outside Five Finger Mountain were stunned by the sight before them.
The entire Five Finger Mountain, countless five-colored spiritual lights continuously emerged from the ground, filling the air, surging, and spreading.
In a short while, they enveloped the golden spiritual light that was still spreading outwards.
“Roar~”
A roar filled with intense anger emanated from the golden spiritual light. Then, the golden spiritual light began to twist, and in the blink of an eye, a towering figure formed.
Looking at the towering figure, everyone lost their voices.
Hua Changxi, at the center of the spiritual light, felt the most intense shock. It was a phantom giant ape, larger than a mountain, condensed from spiritual energy.
Monkey King
She had actually released the Monkey King!
“Dong~”
An ancient and melodious bell sound echoed above the clouds. Then, the sea of clouds churned, five-colored spiritual light converged in the sky, and in the next moment, a giant hand, capable of covering mountains and formed from the Five Elements spiritual energy, took shape in the sky.
Seeing the giant hand appear, Hua Changxi breathed a sigh of relief. However, she glanced at the Buddha’s Hand floating in the air not far away, slowly rising, and seeing the cracks on it, a strong sense of unease surged in her heart.
With cracks on the Buddha’s Hand, could it still suppress the Monkey King?
The giant ape crossed the sea of clouds, the giant hand blotted out the sun.
This scene was reflected so far that not only people near Five Finger Mountain saw it, but people in other prefectures and counties of Qingzhou Prefecture also saw it.
From this moment on, the affairs of cultivators and the Spiritual Energy Revival could no longer be hidden.
“Roar~”
The moment the giant hand condensed, the giant ape let out an angry roar that could split clouds and shatter rocks, then attacked the giant hand with a fierce punch.
The giant hand also moved to cover the giant ape at the same time. The terrifying power that seemed to annihilate everything made everyone tremble with fear.
The cultivators watching from Five Finger Mountain once again, as if by agreement, flew further away to avoid being affected.
“Bang~”
The giant ape and the giant hand collided violently. Intense spiritual energy waves swept out, and the terrifying aura forced everyone to retreat further.
Just as various factions stabilized themselves, a figure rushed out of Five Finger Mountain.
Everyone looked closely and found it was the Jiang Family Old Ancestor, Jiang Guanyun.
As soon as Jiang Guanyun escaped the range of Five Finger Mountain, he could no longer suppress the surging spiritual energy within his body. He spat out several mouthfuls of blood and fell directly from the sky.
Seeing this, the eyes of all the factions flickered. Some were wary of the situation within Five Finger Mountain, while others secretly coveted the Jiang family’s industry.
“Bang~”
“Bang~”
The giant ape and the giant hand clashed again, one trying to shatter the giant hand, the other trying to suppress the giant ape.
Perhaps because she was directly beneath the giant ape, at the center of the storm, Hua Changxi was not affected.
It was at this moment that Hua Changxi discovered the force locking her had disappeared. Without a word, she quickly got up and tried to escape.
Far from the stone cave, Hua Changxi dared not run around in the surging spiritual energy of Five Finger Mountain. She found a small pile of rocks and hid.
Watching the giant ape and the giant hand, each strike made them appear more illusory. Hua Changxi prayed inwardly, hoping the giant hand would disperse the giant ape first, so that Five Finger Mountain could return to its previous tranquility.
But if the giant ape shattered the giant hand, she dared not imagine the consequences.
However, things did not go as hoped. After the fifth collision between the giant ape and the giant hand, cracks appeared on the giant hand.
Cracks opened, spiritual energy dispersed.
The giant hand became unstable and was further weakened by the giant ape’s attacks.
“What should I do?”
Hua Changxi was a little anxious. If the giant hand was dispersed, there would be nothing to suppress the spread of the Monkey King’s Domain. Although she didn’t know the exact consequences, she felt it wouldn’t be good.
Also, if the Monkey King’s Domain only remained within the Five Finger Mountain, it would be fine, but if it continued to spread outwards, beyond Five Finger Mountain, and affected the common people, she truly couldn’t imagine what would happen.
“Mountain Spirit, why didn’t you tell me clearly that moving the Buddha’s Hand would cause such a huge commotion?”
“What should I do now?”
Hua Changxi’s gaze suddenly fell on the location of the stone cave. There, the Buddha’s Hand, which had fallen and cracked, was still slowly rising. The Buddha’s Hand seemed to be under pressure, its ascent speed very slow.
“Is the Buddha’s Hand trying to return to its original position?”
But the stone cave was gone.
Hua Changxi was both scared and anxious. She feared she had committed an irreparable disaster, as the Buddha’s Hand was, after all, moved by her.
“Boom~”
Under the giant ape’s attack, the giant hand became even more illusory, and the cracks on its surface grew larger and more unstable.
“No matter what, while the giant hand can still hold back the giant ape, I’ll help send the Buddha’s Hand up first.”
Hua Changxi gritted her teeth and flew back into the stone cave. She picked up the Buddha’s Hand and tried to rush upwards. Unfortunately, she underestimated the Monkey King’s oppressive aura within the stone cave; her ascent speed was not much faster than the Buddha’s Hand.
“Roar~”
The giant ape sensed what was happening in the stone cave and was extremely angry. While attacking the giant hand, it raised its foot and stomped heavily towards Hua Changxi.
The moment the ape’s foot descended, Hua Changxi could no longer ascend by riding the clouds and fell directly to the ground. With no chance to escape, she watched helplessly as the ape’s foot descended and instinctively unleashed a Fire Lotus, trying to block it.
One Fire Lotus after another was unleashed. Although they were all easily scattered by the ape’s foot, they did manage to slow down its descent.
Seeing that the Fire Lotuses were effective, Hua Changxi could only continue to unleash them.
Fire Lotuses consumed a lot of spiritual energy. Feeling her spiritual energy rapidly depleting, Hua Changxi gritted her teeth and persevered, unleashing Fire Lotuses with one hand while absorbing spiritual energy with the other.
Fortunately, she had set up a Spirit Gathering Array in the stone cave earlier, and she was a spiritual energy black hole, capable of absorbing any amount of spiritual energy. This truly helped her greatly at this moment.
Outside Five Finger Mountain, all the cultivators watched the battle within Five Finger Mountain with trepidation.
Initially, it was just a battle between the giant ape and the giant hand. But at some point, a large amount of Fire Spiritual Energy began to condense beneath the giant ape’s feet, and one Fire Lotus after another attacked the giant ape.
“Fire Lotus… the culprit who killed my Cui Family disciples and Jiang Family cultivators used this kind of Fire Lotus.”
“That person is truly a despicable ant, only knowing how to sneak attack. The giant ape is being held back by the giant hand, and she’s going to attack from the shadows. Why doesn’t the giant ape kill her quickly?”
Ignoring Cui Cheng’s curses, the other factions remained solemn.
The people from Asura Gate disdained the Cui family members and snorted, “Shut up. You’d better pray the giant ape is suppressed, otherwise… Qingzhou will definitely be finished.”
Cui Cheng choked and looked towards his family patriarch.
The Cui Family Patriarch hesitated for a moment, then flew to the Taisu Palace group: “Daoist Qingyun, what did Asura Gate mean just now?”
Daoist Qingyun’s expression was extremely solemn: “That giant ape is likely a Demonic Beast suppressed in Five Finger Mountain. Regardless of its status in life, after being suppressed for endless years, it is absolutely filled with malice towards the outside world. Once it breaks free, it will definitely become a scourge to all directions.”
As soon as he finished speaking, with a loud “boom,” the giant hand was scattered by the giant ape.
Seeing this, everyone’s faces changed drastically.
Hua Changxi was also horrified. Seeing the giant ape looking down at her, she felt her heart stop beating.
“Am I going to die?”
Seeing the giant ape’s fist smash towards her, Hua Changxi felt the aura of death. With all her might, she poured all her spiritual energy into one Fire Lotus and then forcefully swung it out.
After the Fire Lotus rushed towards the giant ape, Hua Changxi continued to absorb spiritual energy and inject it into the Fire Lotus.
Knowing she was no match for the giant ape, Hua Changxi closed her eyes unwillingly, completely turning herself into a conduit connecting the Fire Lotus and the Fire Spiritual Energy, maximizing the absorption and transmission of spiritual energy.
Outside Five Finger Mountain, everyone only saw the giant ape smash down between its own feet, and then a magnificent Fire Lotus soared up, blocking the giant ape’s fist.
The giant ape quickly dispersed the Fire Lotus, and as it continued to smash downwards, Third Peak was filled with a sky full of red Fire Spiritual Energy.
The Fire Spiritual Energy rapidly condensed and churned, as if something was about to form.
“Li~”
A melodious and resonant bird cry echoed through the clouds.
The moment the bird cry sounded, for a brief instant, Hua Changxi felt as if she had transformed into Fire Spiritual Energy and rushed towards the giant ape.
To everyone’s stunned amazement, a Fire Bird of radiant colors flew out of the churning Fire Spiritual Energy and charged towards the giant ape.
“Roar~”
The giant ape let out a roar of unwillingness. Seeing the Fire Bird disperse its body, it despaired and turned into light spots, vanishing into the air.
The Fire Bird easily dispersed the giant ape, flashed across the sky, and then plunged back into Third Peak of Five Finger Mountain, disappearing from sight.
The appearance of the Fire Bird alerted countless people.
In the Capital City, at the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, on the Star Observation Platform, Director Yuan watched the southern direction with shock as the Emperor Star appeared.
“How can this be?”
“The Spiritual Energy has only just begun to revive, and the Emperor Star has already appeared?”
In the Hanlin Academy, the Historical Archives, Historian Shi Yishi looked excitedly at the pure white scroll condensed from spiritual light on his desk, and the white jade brush.
The history books of the Four Spirit Realm have reappeared!
Shi Yishi carefully and cautiously flipped through the paper and brush, tears of excitement shining in his eyes: “How many years has it been? The Shi family has finally waited for the day to record the history of the Four Spirit Realm again.”
Shi Yishi composed himself, quickly walked out of the room, and looked up towards the south.
“The Realm is unsealed, opening from the south?”
At the Medical Affairs Department, Second Street, Number One Clinic, Pharmacist Tong was explaining alchemy techniques. As everyone was concentrating on the lecture, Gu Jin Fan suddenly stood up and rushed out of the room.
“What’s going on?”
Looking towards Qingzhou, Gu Jin Fan’s face was filled with disbelief. She thought she had just heard the cry of a Vermilion Bird.
What happened in Qingzhou?
Gu Jin Fan quickly recalled what had happened in Qingzhou at this time in her previous life: “Besides the various factions vying for Five Finger Mountain, nothing else happened in Qingzhou.”
In her previous life, Five Finger Mountain was taken by the Jiang family of Jizhou. Since the Jiang Family Old Ancestor was a Nascent Soul Realm expert, his appearance made the transfer of Five Finger Mountain to the Jiang family proceed smoothly, and even the Imperial Court did not obstruct it much.
In her previous life, Five Finger Mountain quietly became the property of the Jiang family.
This time, why was there the cry of a Vermilion Bird?
What exactly happened over there?
At the southernmost tip of Great Jin, deep in the South Sea, several cargo ships had been lost in the sea fog for nearly three months. Just as all the crew and merchants were despairing, a sailor spotted land.
“Look quickly, there’s land, we can dock.”
When the crew and merchants landed, they were surrounded by a group of burly men dressed in animal skins, exuding a strong aura of savagery.
