The Prodigies War

Eighteen different stone murals decorated the walls. They depicted various things such as scenes from the mortal realm, the subjugation of monsters and demons, a river of stars reversing, and the mass destruction of mountains and rivers...

Every mural seemed filled with unfathomable wonder.

Lin Xun had also studied them but had failed to find any hints of the secrets they held.

Toady's golden pupils glowed as he gushed, "Lin Xun, perfect timing! This king can confidently tell you that these stone murals contain a secret art inheritance."

He pointed to one of the murals and said, "Look at this mural. The mountains and rivers are being destroyed while a river of stars is being reversed. It presents a scene of destruction and the end of the world, However, its true secret isn’t hidden in the picture but in the carvings!"

He began tracing the lines of the mural with a finger to illustrate his point.

Lin Xun’s heart soon began trembling in excitement. The outline traced by Toady seemed to form a line of ancient words.

"If killing is regarded as the Stupa’s heart, why not return to the dust with everything else!"

It sounded like a Buddhist verse that contained a sensation of grandness.

"Do you see it too? But if it were that simple, how could it have taken me and the black birdie more than a year to decipher?"

Toady displayed a smug look as spittle flew from his mouth, "These words are written in the ancient era Mahayana Sanskrit. When their strokes are disassembled one by one, they will form a natural dao pattern.

"A dao pattern that manifests the grand dao and is imprinted with its aura!"

Toady began to draw in the air as he spoke. "Come and observe them again as I spread these dao patterns out."

Lin Xun sent out his spirit sense and compared the mural with the trajectory flowing from Toady's fingertip. A marvelous scene immediately followed.

Divine Saint Buddha light emerged from the mural and transformed into a walking figure. Wherever the figure walked, mountains and rivers were destroyed, a river of stars was reversed, and everything else disintegrated into nothingness.

At the same time, a grand and solemn Sanskrit chant echoed: If killing is regarded as the Stupa’s heart, why not return to the dust with everything else?!

As the voice echoed, the carvings on the mural gathered together to form golden Buddhist texts that flowed with sacred light.

Lin Xun's heart violently shook as he sensed an extremely mystical inheritance aura from the Buddhist texts.

"This is only one part of the inheritance."

Toady withdrew his finger, and the mural instantly returned to its original appearance.

"Now look at this mural. It contains a different secret that requires you to reflect the pattern with your mind and use your spirit to deduce the number of cycles within...

"This mural is also different; its secret needs to be deciphered with one’s grand dao power..."

Toady rambled on, explaining each one to Lin Xun.

In short, the secrets concealed within the eighteen murals were all different and needed to be deciphered using different methods.

It made his head swim as he inwardly gasped in amazement.

This was too complicated!

If he were in Toady’s and the big black bird’s place, he probably wouldn’t have been able to decipher the secrets of all eighteen stone murals in only a year.

"Presently, the big black bird is deciphering the remaining three murals. If no surprises occur, we’ll be able to unravel the heaven-defying blessing within three months!"

Toady was in high spirits and was filled with anticipation.

Lin Xun shifted his gaze and saw the big black bird standing in front of a mural as if it was mesmerized. It was so focused that it was oblivious to everything else.

In fact, it had not even noticed him conversing with Toady.

Toady said, "By the way, the alpha qi has been used up so you’ll have to collect more for us."

Lin Xun tossed a sealed jade bottle to Toady. "I foresaw that this would occur. Here, take it."

Toady chuckled. There were no pleasantries needed, and he kept the bottle.

They had been staying inside the Stupa Tower for the past year and had long used up their king-grade and divine herbs. Hence, they fully relied on Lin Xun to collect alpha qi for them.

This was the plight of longevity stage experts. The higher the cultivation, the more energy they required to cultivate. Without sufficient resources, their cultivation would forever be stuck and be unable to progress.

However, Lin Xun wasn't worried about this issue at present because he could obtain endless alpha qi in Stupa Brahma Land as long as he wished to!

……

Stupa Brahma Land contained numerous danger zones such as the Land of Tragic Death and Stupa Land.

There were also several strange and ominous zones within it.

Over the past year, Lin Xun had traveled all over Stupa Brahma Land to collect cultivation resources and alpha qi.

The Devil Shatter Cave was located under a murky white bone river in Stupa Brahma Land.

The cave was filled with extremely terrifying Magnetic Extreme Yin Qi. Mournful demonic hissing and howling would echo from the cave every night, causing anyone who heard it to shudder in fear.

To other cultivators, it was an evil place that they would not dare easily approach.

To Lin Xun, however, it was an excellent place to collect alpha qi.

Whoosh!

One day, Lin Xun arrived from above as the Broken Blade flew out from him. The murky bone river was parted with a loud boom, revealing a giant, gorge-like hole.

Jet-black Magnetic Extreme Yin Qi rose from the hole like steam, emitting a terrifying aura. Spirits, grudges, and ghosts could be seen within, appearing ferocious and menacing as they hissed and shrieked.

However, these evil things immediately fled in alarm and fear when Lin Xun circulated the Great Treasury Silent Scripture and emitted holy Buddhist light.

"Doh!"

Lin Xun performed the purification art and made a grabbing motion. A pitch-black alms bowl rose into the air and began spinning, causing the evil spirits to be sucked into it without being able to resist.

It looked like a whale swallowing water!

In mere moments, all of the evil spirits were sucked in.

Gurgle~

Lin Xun channeled Buddhist power and purified the evil spirits in the bowl, leaving wisps of pure alpha qi behind.

"The amount is decreasing more and more..."

Lin Xun put away the bowl. He knew that it was time to find a new place to harvest alpha qi.

For the past year, he had visited Demon Shatter Cave every once in a while to collect alpha qi.

However, it now appeared that there weren’t many residual spirits and grudges left in the Demon Shatter Cave.

Whoosh!

Lin Xun didn’t waste any more time and departed.

After leaving Demon Shatter Cave, Lin Xun visited the other ominous zones he had already explored to harvest alpha qi.

Hmm?

Just as Lin Xun was about to return to Stupa Land, he suddenly sensed something and peered into the distance.

A snow-white bird was fast approaching like a streak of light. Before it even landed, it said in a respectful voice, ''Young Master Lin, my master, Miss Lin Xue, has something to tell you."

It was a white-browed dragon sparrow; an extremely rare species that possessed a sliver of dragon blood and possessed extraordinary talent.

Lin Xun asked, "What does Miss Lin Xue want with me?"

"My master said that in half a year, the seal on the Ancient Land of All in the Thunder Jolt Realm will be fully removed. If Young Master Lin is interested in going, please bring this token to the Thunder Jolt Realm at the appointed time and shatter it, then my master will come to guide you."

The white-browed dragon sparrow spread out its wings and handed a pale green jade token to Lin Xun.

Lin Xun kept the jade token and said, "Thanks. Go back and tell your master that I’ll be there at the appointed time."

Swish!

The white-browed dragon sparrow spread its wings and flew away. It soon disappeared into the distance like a lightning bolt.

"Six months? That should be enough..."

After a brief moment of contemplation, Lin Xun returned to Stupa Land.

……

Three months later.

Boom!

Amidst the falling peerless blazing sword qi, the Sword Saint skeleton collapsed to the ground with a loud boom and turned into ashes.

In the distance, Lin Xun's expression was calm while slivers of intimidating divine light rose from his eyes like steam.

His mastery of the sword art left by Battle Emperor Mo Yang had already reached fifty percent!

With it, he could shoot a blast of sword qi that could seize luck itself and shake the heavens and earth.

On the same day, Lin Xun welcomed the sixth longevity tribulation, the karmic obstacles.

……

Tribulation clouds descended like waves of the sea, covering the entire sky above Stupa Land. Heavenly might filled the entire area, creating an oppressive atmosphere.

Thunderbolts soon descended, drawing long, snaking arcs across the sky as they danced between heaven and earth, turning numerous bone mounds to dust.

The karmic obstacles were viewed as fetters and retributions that hindered the path of cultivation.

Every cultivator had karmic obstacles of their own.

Hatred, aversions, addictions...and certain experiences would at times become a sort of karmic obstacle and invisible shackles that took root deep in one’s subconscious.

The sixth longevity tribulation was directed at the karmic obstacles of the cultivator.

These karmic obstacles could be likened to hidden tumors; if they were not destroyed, it would be difficult to achieve true inner peace and ascertain one’s path!

It took seven days and seven nights and overcoming numerous great terrors and dangers before Lin Xun finally triumphed over the tribulation and killed his karmic obstacles!

There wasn’t much to say about the process although it was worth mentioning that it made Lin Xun realize he had accumulated many more karmic obstacles than he had anticipated over the years.

These invisible dangers had remained unseen even by himself.

For example, his hatred toward Yun Qingbai, his guilt toward Zhao Jingxuan, his worries about A’lu...all kinds of things could become karmic obstacles.

Now, Lin Xun had overcome them and the heavenly tribulation, allowing him to attain inner equilibrium and ascertain his path!

It wasn’t abandonment or forgetting them. Instead, he had severed the karmic obstacles such that they would no longer affect his future cultivation.

After passing the tribulation, Lin Xun spent a few more days stabilizing his cultivation before becoming a proper sixth longevity tribulation Supreme King expert!

Just two years ago, he had only been at the fourth longevity tribulation stage...

Although it wasn’t overly shocking for someone to overcome two longevity tribulations over two years, it wasn’t slow either.

The best part was that Lin Xun’s every step was extremely firm and solid. With regards to foundation, almost no one among his peers would be able to match him!

Lin Xun's eyes glimmered as he fell into thought, "I wonder what level my combat power is at in the Upper Nine Realms..."