"You lot truly have a death wish," the young monk's voice suddenly echoed angrily from the sky.
In the next second, a massive golden Buddhist palm came cascading down toward the gossiping cultivators at the foot of the mountain. It was large enough to envelop and crush them all in a single strike.
"We've kicked the hornet's nest," one of them rasped as the echo washed over them. None of them could move or even attempt to flee. The sheer area, speed, and width of the descending palm was simply too massive for them to outrun in a matter of seconds.
"Dao You, what do you mean? Did they lie?" Tu Xin asked.
The sword sheathed by his side swiftly flew down, slicing the descending Buddhist palm into floating particles of energy in a fraction of a second.
The young monk looked down at the terrified cultivators as they slumped on the ground, shaking at the thought of what would have happened if that Buddhist strike had landed. Then, he turned back to face Tu Xin, locking eyes with his intense gaze.
"Do you think they'll fight?" the four Dao elders muttered to themselves as they watched the two men stare menacingly at each other. They had long retreated from the confrontation, not wanting to bear the casualties of a conflict they never started.
"You are no match for me. Stand down," Tu Xin said, before turning his back on the young monk and slowly drifting through the air toward his cave.
"Senior, I know I am no match for you. I was a massive admirer of your tales before I even started taking up outside missions," the young monk replied, drifting slowly through the air to follow Tu Xin. "I am just looking for a cultivator. He kills with a needle technique, leaving a single puncture wound in the vital pressure points of his victims."
"It is good you know," Tu Xin replied as his sword flew back into the sheath by his side. "If the person you are talking about is the same person I am thinking of, he is probably the one that fell into the death zone."
"The death zone?" the young monk muttered to himself. "Senior, could you..."
"I have a patient to check up on. Ask them. They know about him more than I do," Tu Xin interrupted, gesturing toward the elders before disappearing into his cave.
"Could you please tell me more about this person?" the young monk asked, turning toward the four Dao practitioners as he flew closer to them.
The four Dao Realm elders gasped. They immediately remembered the fresh corpses of the fallen Dao Realm elders along the trail.
"Dao You, the person you are looking for is very cunning. Although he is just in the vessel cleansing stage, he managed to kill more than a dozen of the Dao Realm practitioners who ambushed him," one of the elders said, shaking his head.
"A weak man shouldn't seek treasures. They brought their death by their own hands," the young monk replied coldly. "But how exactly did they die?" he asked, his curiosity peaking as he drifted closer.
"Nobody saw how he did it. He suddenly blazed past dozens of cultivators, and that was it. They didn't even react until several seconds after he fell into the death zone," another replied.
"Every dead practitioner had a fatal hole right between their eyes. We all thought it was a contact-based poison from the boy one of them was strangling. But after listening to you and Senior Tu Xin's explanation, that lad must have done something to them," a third elder added.
"Are you sure he is just in the vessel cleansing stage?" the young monk asked. He remembered how his captain had admitted that whoever did the slaughtering at the ocean was no weaker than himself and his captain was an Immortal.
"Yes, but the density of his energy, his combat power, speed, and thinking seemed far beyond the vessel cleansing stage," they confirmed.
"Where did you say he entered?" the young monk asked.
"He is the one," one of the elders stuttered, pointing a trembling finger toward the death zone just as a massive, thick, tunnel-like gateway filled with gray fog suddenly tore open at its entrance.
– Inside the Death Zone –
Mo Lingtian hovered gently above the ground. The geometric geoid dome of golden and crimson lines pulsed rhythmically, enacting the fundamental law of life out of death.
He channeled the geometric lines into the tattered clothes and charred dragon scales. The lines cleaved tightly to the surfaces, glowing blindingly.
Slowly, the cracked dragon scales began to multiply and mend. Bones manifested from the ash, followed by thick muscles, veins, and dark, lustrous scales. A deafening dragon roar echoed through the death domain as the massive beast fully reconstructed itself.
Beside the dragon, flesh and blood rebuilt themselves from the remaining fragments of essence. The fresh skin knitted together perfectly, leaving not a single scar behind from the devastating wounds previously suffered during the ambush.
Within seconds, Wang Ping's junior, together with the Dao Realm elder who had joined forces with him at the ocean slaughter, fell to the ground. They gasped heavily for air, healthy heartbeats echoing in their chests.
They were alive. The impossible feat of reversing the natural order of life and death had just been accomplished.
Mo Lingtian exhaled, retracting his hands. The dragon immediately nudged his shoulder affectionately.
"You did it," the chief commander said, her eyes staring at the breathing junior in disbelief. The rest of the phantom vanguard and the death army stood in stunned silence.
"I did," Mo Lingtian replied, stroking the dragon's scales as it writhed and grunted happily.
He then walked over to help the elder stand on his feet. "Senior, although I brought you back to life, I couldn't regenerate your severed arms. They were not severed by the death energy, so I couldn't use its law to reconstruct them."
"It is alright," the elder replied, leaning heavily on Mo Lingtian to steady himself. "The energy you used to bring my body back reconstructed my entire meridian and vein network. If I were to have an opportunity to find a miraculous cure that can reconstruct my core, I would be able to cultivate again."
"That is good. We've spent an entire month in this place. It's time for us to leave. We still have to find Wang Ping," Mo Lingtian stated.
"Hao!" the dragon roared in agreement, slowly plunging its massive body into the sky.
Mo Lingtian tapped into his dual-attribute core, directly opening a massive spatial gateway to his sea of consciousness. The dense death energy instantly began to swirl, funneling into the gateway like a dark river.
"Senior," Mo Lingtian said, bowing slightly toward the chief commander. "You can walk into the gateway. My sea of consciousness is now adapted to the death energy. But you will have to leave your physical bodies behind to be able to access my consciousness. I don't know if you trust me enough to do it."
"If you can trust us enough to allow us into your sea of consciousness, there is no reason for us not to trust you enough to leave our bodies behind," the chief commander said in reply.
"Senior, there is no need to threaten me indirectly. I already know the dangers of allowing an external entity inside my sea of consciousness. Don't worry, I don't have any ulterior motives," Mo Lingtian answered, standing completely straight.
"It is good you know," one of the commanders by her side said softly.
"You will remain suspended inside until I can find a suitable place in the outside world to release you," Mo Lingtian instructed.
Without hesitation, the chief commander gave a signal. The commanders, sixty-seven vanguard generals, and thousands of shadow-clad soldiers marched in perfect unison into the gateway, leaving their phantom shells behind. The chief commander nodded and stepped in last.
"What is your name?" Mo Lingtian suddenly asked the very first commanding vanguard who had spoken with him when he first entered the death zone.
"I can't seem to remember," the vanguard replied.
"Good. From now on, your name will be 'Sì'."