Chapter Thirty-One: Equivalent Exchange

Southern Barrens.

Blood meandered like a stream, mixing with rainwater as it flowed from the mountain fissures. The wind wailed like grieving ghosts.

"Heh..."

The middle-aged ascetic monk, known by his dharma name Kong Wen, was covered in blood. He had gouged out his own eyes, and his ruined body—now missing an arm—crawled through the mud amidst scattered limbs.

"Woo!"

Black rain swirled in the air, devouring the wind and rain in its path.

A slender figure emerged from the darkness, her voice cold and crystalline.

"Monk, you are the eleventh..."

Kong Wen’s heart turned to ash. Had so many of his fellow disciples, pure of heart and profound in Buddhist teachings, already perished?

The Heaven of Six Desires—ordinary mortals might resist it, but they, disciples of the Buddha, could not even look upon her. Even after gouging out their own eyes in advance, it was to no avail; they were influenced in an instant.

Only truly great Buddhist masters could witness her true form behind the veil... he could no longer be certain of even that.

Despair filled Kong Wen's heart. In this endless darkness, he felt as if he saw the collapse of the entire Buddhist faith.

His thoughts began to scatter. Like a marionette, he grabbed his own throat, tightening his grip little by little. He mumbled incoherently:

"Detain her in the mountains, refine her for a thousand years, to produce a... Bodhisattva... who shall walk the world..."

Yan Yushu stood in the drizzle, her voice brimming with indignation:

"Monk, keep dreaming your spring-autumn dreams!"

"Snap!"

Kong Wen’s head finally fell to the ground, severed by his own fingers, the flesh and neck bone ripped apart by his own strength.

As the head hit the ground, face turned toward the sky, a serene yet eerie smile hung on his lips, chilling to the bone: "Bo... dhi... sattva..."

Yan Yushu stared coldly at the head on the ground, snatched it up, and smashed it against a distant tree. She trembled with rage: "Sattva your mother’s head!"

"Cough."

Suddenly, her chest heaved violently. She bit her lip: "Damn it, the backlash of the Heaven of Six Desires... I can't suppress it anymore..."

A surge rose within her chest. The black water-virtue energy in her eyes faded, and a streak of blood-red welled up.

The side effects of continuously using the Heaven of Six Desires were erupting!

Yesterday, she had consumed a monk’s cultivation, and she had struggled to suppress the backlash. But today, blocked by dozens of Ascendant-level cultivators, she had been forced to consume another monk on the spot to break through and escape.

"Every gift of destiny is marked with a price in the dark."

Yan Yushu murmured to herself. Every time she used the Heaven of Six Desires, an overwhelming malice would surge like a tidal wave to collect its due.

Now, this malice was multiplying, sweeping through her body like a raging fire, making it impossible for her to maintain control.

"It's over..."

She staggered into the darkness, thinking... misfortune never comes alone. Tonight, there was no escaping it.

In the distance, golden-white rays of Buddhist light continued to ignite. More powerful enemies, having received the news, were closing in from all directions.

***

"Plap!"

A coal-black cat jumped down from a tree, walking across the blood-soaked, corpse-strewn mountainside. A jade pendant hung from its neck, emitting a hazy white glow.

It gazed in the direction Yan Yushu had left, a sense of pity in its eyes: "Elixir..."

"Whoosh..."

Countless pale paper funeral coins fluttered down, prayer flags drifted, and a pair of golden eyes lit up.

The Lesser Underworld had descended!

...

"Hoo..."

Chen Xuan’s consciousness drifted in the darkness like a small boat on the ocean, deep in sleep.

Suddenly, a white point of light ignited in the void, followed by a majestic and ancient domain that expanded instantly, centered on that point.

"Heh..."

His pupils grew hot instantly. The "Heart Chamber" issued a warning, informing Chen Xuan that in the mountains a dozen miles away, the Lesser Underworld had descended!

Chen Xuan woke up instantly. After a moment of hesitation, his consciousness drifted toward the distant white point of light representing Lady Black Cat.

Ever since entering the Yellow Millet Dream, the range of his Heart Chamber had increased to twenty miles!

"What happened?"

Soon, Chen Xuan entered Lady Black Cat’s body and was startled by the gory scene before him.

A dozen ascetic monks lay dead, their bodies shattered, not one of them intact. It was a harrowing sight. A tree in the distance even had skin hanging from it, swaying in the wind like a hanged ghost, making one's skin crawl.

"Yan Yushu did all this?"

Chen Xuan was stunned. He had expected to see the corpses of the middle-aged Taoist and the hulking man, but he hadn't expected to arrive here first!

Images of Yan Yushu flickered in his mind. Though she appeared fragile and pure, evoking a desire to protect her, there was a hidden tenacity in her desperate flight—like a celestial being who had stumbled into the mortal world, untainted by the mire.

To think that when she fought, she was this terrifying. Even he felt a chill in his heart; the contrast was immense.

"This woman is not to be trifled with..."

Chen Xuan grumbled to himself, then followed Lady Black Cat to clear the battlefield and recover the past memories of the monks. Suddenly, his gaze sharpened.

"Eh? New trick-arts?"

Chen Xuan’s face lit up. He discovered that among these monks, some of the more powerful ones possessed two trick-arts.

"The [Lesser Giant Elephant Trick-Art], a heritage from Hanging Temple."

From the light of their memories, Chen Xuan learned the name of the art.

This was a body-tempering trick-art. Once mastered, one’s physique and physical strength would be vastly improved.

Among the arts he already possessed, the Lesser White Ape Trick-Art was a well-rounded, comprehensive enhancement. The Lesser Green Deer Trick-Art focused on agility and swiftness, while the Lesser Firebird Trick-Art enhanced the strength of the soul’s three thoughts.

"Now, I possess four trick-arts and one True Classic."

Chen Xuan calculated his "assets." They were incredibly abundant. Even setting aside the Yellow Millet True Classic, in terms of the number of trick-arts alone, even some qi-refining families in Red Crow City couldn't compare to him.

Not to mention small clans like the Chu or Li families, who struggled for generations, barely holding on with only a single trick-art. If Chu Huogun knew of Chen Xuan’s wealth, he would probably sell Chu Qingling to him on the spot just to trade for a trick-art.

"Haha, Yan Yushu’s fighting nearby has really handed me a windfall."

Chen Xuan chuckled, then sighed helplessly: "But there are too many things happening lately. Even with so many trick-arts, I have no time to practice them."

If anyone else heard this complaint, they would likely be so frustrated they’d want to bang their heads against a wall. How ungrateful! To have so many arts that one couldn't even find the time to learn them—it was enough to make anyone green with envy.

Soon, Lady Black Cat finished the cleanup, yawned, and turned her gaze back toward the direction Yan Yushu had fled.

She smelled the scent of death lingering in the air: "More fighting will happen tonight..."

Chen Xuan suspected the same. He had already noticed countless lights flickering in the night in all directions, with some moving toward this area. They would soon discover the traces of Yan Yushu’s flight.

But seeing that Lady Black Cat wasn't moving, Chen Xuan decided to leave for now. He had no interest in peeping at what Lady Black Cat did during her "off hours." If he had that kind of leisure, he’d rather go back and practice his trick-arts a few more times.

If the subsequent fighting occurred within the range of his Heart Chamber, he would naturally return via Lady Black Cat to pick up the scraps and observe the arts.

But just then.

Chen Xuan’s heart trembled, and his vision blurred.

"The Heart Chamber’s second stress response! It’s issuing a warning!"

He saw that in the far distance, under the night sky, the silhouette of some astonishing phenomenon was rapidly manifesting—an immense image that transcended all imagination and exhausted all majesty.

It was—

"The Heaven of Six Desires..."

...

Wilderness.

Cold rain lashed into the stream, splashing up ripples.

Yan Yushu submerged her entire body in the stream, but the bone-chilling water could not extinguish the raging fire within her.

"Nng..."

The wind and rain were desolate. She tilted her head back, letting out a stifled groan, her body as hot as a furnace in the snow.

"I might as well just die..."

Yan Yushu climbed out of the stream and curled up under an old tree, hugging her knees. Raindrops traced down her peerless face, which was as crystalline as jade. The line of her exquisite chin followed the curve of her snowy-white, slender neck, dripping into the depths below...

"I'll just have to satisfy myself!"

Yan Yushu muttered bitterly. She knew that what she was about to do was something that would make even the most ascetic of men lose their sanity. A surge of indescribable shame rose in her heart.

If anyone caught her, she would immediately jump into the river and drown herself!

"Heaven of Six Desires, if you have the ability, then burn me to death..."

Yan Yushu’s eyes were misty and seductive, her teeth biting into her lip as her fingers began to exert force...

Under the night light, the snowy mountains of her chest rose and fell like waves, glowing as radiantly as the full moon.