Chapter 112
Translator: penny
Chapter: 112
Chapter Title: Second True Name Dharma Treasure (3)
Saran took a massive step forward with her front paw, stomping the ground firmly as she swung the sealed coffin.
The Netherworld Glass Sealed Coffin was a stone coffin crafted from some unidentified black rock, unmatched in weight and durability among objects of equal mass.
It served as the sturdiest and most unyielding shield, while simultaneously being the heaviest and most destructive blunt weapon.
Boom boom boom!!
In the instant the sealed coffin swept through, the yokai caught in its storm-like path burst like bubbles, spraying blood everywhere.
Yet the purple-robed cultivator paid no mind to his yokai being swept away so easily. Instead, he laughed gleefully and formed hand seals.
The moment he completed the seals, the exploded yokai corpses and scattered blood converged, morphing into the form of a massive yokai.
This composite yokai, blending traits from multiple yokai, caught Saran's swinging sealed coffin with its hand. Then, it fired thorns protruding from its body at her. Saran twisted her body this way and that to dodge the thorns while shortening the red rope gripping the coffin.
As the rope shortened, Saran, who held it taut, was naturally pulled forward like a shooting star, stopping right by the sealed coffin. She promptly kicked the coffin's lid with her foot, making it jolt open.
In that brief moment the lid cracked open, the thick netherworld energy contained within the sealed coffin leaked out, corroding the composite yokai's hand.
The hand struck by the netherworld energy rotted away instantly. Having snatched the coffin back, Saran fixed it in midair and leaped atop it.
Balanced atop the sealed coffin, she formed hand seals while swinging her fist with tremendous force.
'River-Crossing Heart Strike.'
Crossing the river and striking the heart.
The fist Saran unleashed, empowered by a divine ability from the Netherworld Star Seal Formation, ignored distance, flesh, divine sense, and defensive dharma treasures alike. It struck straight at the Dao heart nestled within the purple-robed cultivator's mind.
Craaaaaack!!!
The instant his Dao heart was physically assaulted, the purple-robed cultivator lost his smile for the first time, his face twisting in agony.
"What in the world...!"
A divine ability that physically struck a cultivator's Dao heart?
In the 3,000 years the purple-robed cultivator had lived, he had never encountered such ferocious and absurd power.
With his Dao heart crumbling, his control over the yokai weakened, his dharma treasure's output faltered, and his stance grew unsteady, exposing glaring openings.
But Saran didn't exploit those gaps. Instead, she cast an obfuscation technique that rendered her body semi-transparent.
Her technique was the Netherworld Escape Art.
Here, "netherworld" didn't refer to a literal spring but to the underworld—heavenly netherworld, nine hells, three rivers of hell, and so on.
In other words, the Netherworld Escape Art was an escape technique of the underworld.
Freed from the mortal realm, Saran broke free of all bindings. She shot forward at maximum speed in an instant, burrowing into the purple-robed cultivator's embrace and unleashing dozens of strikes in a flash.
Soul-Tormenting Endless Barrage.
A divine ability that inflicted ceaseless agony upon the enemy's soul.
Having shattered his Dao heart and then ravaged his soul to utterly destroy him, Saran gripped the sealed coffin firmly with both hands and swung it.
Crunch!!
The purple-robed cultivator was crushed beneath the sealed coffin in one blow, his head vanishing entirely.
Yet even headless, the cultivator's body moved as if nothing had happened. He unleashed a divine ability to reshape his flesh, forming bony blades that he swung to shake Saran off.
From the Nascent Soul Realm onward, cultivators transcended ordinary biology.
With the nascent soul becoming the core of existence rather than brain or heart, as long as it remained intact, damage to those organs could be repaired in time. This resilience intensified in the Soul Transformation Realm.
Even if their head was severed or their body exploded into oblivion, they could regenerate as long as they had the means. If not, they could seize another's body. At the pinnacle of Soul Transformation, they could even sacrifice their cultivation to revive once from the brink of death.
Thus, while Soul Transformation cultivators were powerful, they were notoriously hard to kill. Knowing their own tenacity well, they prepared multiple means of recovery and resurrection, clinging to life with stubborn persistence.
"......"
Saran scanned the incoming auras with her divine sense, then smiled in satisfaction.
Ten hours had passed since I began refining the dharma treasure.
The sounds of battle from above grew louder and more chaotic.
Not just Saran and the cultivators—she was facing, but other cultivators had started clashing among themselves.
I ignored the noise and focused on the five flood dragons being refined before my eyes.
The six Enlightenment Six Paths Flood Dragons that So-hu had mauled. With only enough remains for five, I'd sacrificed one to restore the rest.
Then, implanting layer-core crystals of fire, water, wood, metal, and earth into each, and using other materials from the Star Advancement Secret Realm, I'd reforged them. Now, the five dragons were steadily shrinking in size.
I sought nothing else from the Enlightenment Six Paths Flood Dragons.
I wanted them only to be fast, strong, and tough.
Infusing my insights from the Three Lives One Origin Art, I arranged them to cycle and mutually reinforce their five elements' powers. The five dragons bit each other's tails, forming rings that intertwined at one point into a spherical construct.
Once the dragons formed the sphere, they cautiously began circulating in harmony. Soon, stellar and elemental energies from each intertwined within, birthing five tiny stars.
Sensing this was the critical moment, I incessantly chanted the Five Skandhas Enlightenment Art's incantations, pouring my focus into the refinement. Two hours later, the first star completed—a blazing red fire star.
I immediately began crafting the others. Borrowing the fire star's power, I formed the earth star; from the earth star, the metal star.
The first star took two hours, but as more formed and they began mutually reinforcing, the process accelerated.
Once all stars were complete, they whirled chaotically inside the five dragons.
'Need to stabilize the center.'
Seeing this, I gathered remaining materials to forge a straight 'axis.'
Threading it carefully through the dragons and stars stabilized the wild stars, lending regularity to the dragons' movements.
This was the point, one full day after starting the refinement, when the dharma treasure's form took shape.
'Good. The form is set.'
Staring intently in the scorching heat all day left my eyes dry and stinging, but I splashed spirit liquor over myself and into my eyes, forcing my lids open to maintain focus.
'Now comes the crucial part.'
Reviving my concentration with several bottles of spirit liquor, I formed new hand seals and began chanting a fresh incantation. As I did, the array inscriptions on the ground responded.
Crack... craaack...
These ground arrays, inscribed with Saran's advice, omitted the core Enlightenment Six Paths Flood Dragon incantations but incorporated new stellar and elemental principles.
More than mere script, these spiritually empowered incantations were drawn into my dharma treasure, etching themselves within.
Forming the shape is but the first stage of dharma treasure creation.
Next, inscribing appropriate incantations grants permanent spirituality—the most vital process.
Of course, since I was remaking an existing treasure rather than crafting from scratch, my process was greatly simplified.
That's why, mere hours after inscribing, it reached completion. The prior inscriptions made overlaying new ones easier.
'The power's diminished quite a bit.'
Feeling the refining treasure's power, I felt a twinge of regret.
The immense might of a Soul Transformation-grade treasure was gone; now, only a Nascent Soul-grade one remained before me.
Had I secretly hoped it'd retain Soul Transformation power? But I quickly shook off the disappointment.
'Even if it stayed Soul Transformation-grade, I couldn't handle it anyway. Better a Nascent Soul-grade I can wield right now.'
Finding a True Name Dharma Treasure matching my Dragon Metal Pill and conditions wasn't easy.
Better to claim it as my own now than risk losing it later.
Watching the treasure near completion, I voiced the name I'd pondered.
"With five dragons swallowing stars... let's call it the Star-Swallowing Five Dragons Ritual."
The moment I named it, all incantations etched fully, ending the long refinement.
'A bit over two days. Shorter than expected. I braced for months refining a Soul Transformation treasure.'
Thanks to this sun-like flame's power? Stronger and better than Saran anticipated, so I looked forward to the completed Star-Swallowing Five Dragons Ritual's might.
I gazed at the five dragons and five stars hovering and spinning silently above my right hand, then began linking my soul to the treasure.
Even fusing soul and treasure took considerable time.
The Eighty Thousand Pure Lands Pagoda linked instantly thanks to Elder Tu-ho's lingering soul, yet this lower-grade Star-Swallowing Five Dragons Ritual as True Name took longer.
'Ironic.'
I chuckled softly, steadily continuing the connection. Initially forced, the treasure soon began merging willingly on its own.
As the five dragons approached to bond with me, I felt the Anti-Dragon Five Paths coiled around the pagoda stir.
It suddenly lunged, inspecting the Star-Swallowing Five Dragons Ritual before opening its vast maw and devouring it whole.