1476 Gold Dharmic Lotus, Contaminated Spiritual Mountain, Black Qi's Bane

Hui Zhang forcefully opened the Desire World Sky inside the Lapis Lazuli Land, awakening all the Desire World Sky Demon.

The demons flooded Lapis Lazuli Land and wreaked havoc as they pleased.

Fortunately, due to the Buddha Character Boundary, they were trapped inside Lapis Lazuli Land, so their targets were only limited to those who entered the land.

Only Shi Ying, Jing Hui, and the other Prodigies were left inside the land.

They took refuge inside Guanyin Hall and started chanting mantras to form a smaller version of the Buddha Character Boundary around them, hence isolating the demons.

Then, a large crack appeared in the deepest part of the land and started to crumble inward. Vast amounts of Buddhist Light burst from the crumbling crack and flooded the land with a holistic and pure qi.

Countless demons were horrified by the sudden burst of Buddhist Light and immediately flew back to Desire World Sky, leaving painful wails in their wake.

"What happened?"

"It's the Buddhist Light! The powerful Buddhist Light!"

Shi Ying and Hui Jing exchanged a quick glance before heading out of Guanyin Hall to have a better look.

The Buddhist Light came from the crack, which was now a trench, at the deepest part of the land. Buddhist Light overflowed and filled the land, and it looked like a massive golden lotus was blooming.

The golden lotus with nine petals had Daoist patterns on the surface and basked in holistic Buddhist Light.

On top of each petal was a monk, bathed in golden shimmers and sitting with their legs crossed. Each of them had a solemn look on their face.

"This is the Buddhist world's Ninth Grade Gold Dharmic Lotus!"

"The Buddhist world's holy artifact?! Why is it here? Besides, each of the golden monks has powerful Buddhist Lights emitting from their bodies! They are all eminent monks!"

"What is going on?"

Shi Ying, Jing Hui, and others were shaken by the phenomenon.

The Gold Dharmic Lotus was one of the four Innate Lotuses, which power rivaled that of the Black Annihilation Lotus and White Purification Lotus.

However, legend had it that the Gold Dharmic Lotus had part of its power sucked away by a wild beast in ancient times. Hence, it was downgraded from the twelfth to the ninth grade.

Despite the downgrade, it was still a magnificent holy artifact of the Buddhist world.

"It was said that the White Purification Lotus is located in the Dharmic Pond at Spiritual Mountain, so why is it here in Lapis Lazuli Land?" said one of the Buddhist world Prodigies who was staring at the lotus with a scorching gaze.

The magnificent holy artifact was the dream item of many Buddhist world Prodigies.

"Don't go near it. Something is not right." Shi Ying frowned.

Underneath the Gold Dharmic Lotus was a strange place.

It was a golden mountain buried underground, and the old and holistic mountain was surrounded by countless black mist, which tainted its holiness.

On top of that, the black qi seemed to possess a mind of its own. It was trying to come out but was stopped by the Gold Dharmic Lotus' energy.

Shi Ying instantly understood what happened.

"The Gold Dharmic Lotus and the eminent monks are holding something down there!"

"That's a mountain! Could it be that the mountain underneath is… the Spiritual Mountain?"

Jing Hui's eyes shrank in shock as she voiced her speculation.

Spiritual Mountain was a sacred land to the Buddhist world, and it ranked higher than the Five Ways Pure Land. It was where all Buddhas resided.

To the disciples of the Buddhist world, Spiritual Mountain represented holiness and purity.

However, the Spiritual Mountain that appeared before them was shrouded in miasma and strange black qi, which robbed it of its holiness.

It was as though a wicked and strange place was being held under the lotus.

"What's going on? What happened to the legendary sacred land?"

The Buddhist world Prodigies were shocked, and they felt like their worlds were shaken.

The Spiritual Mountain was the place that every disciple yearned to get to, yet it appeared in such a wicked form.

"It seems like this is why Lapis Lazuli Land fell."

A calm voice sounded.

Chu Kuangren appeared behind the crowd, shocking everyone.

"Did he come back from the Desire World Sky alive?!"

"Not even an Arch Gilded Immortal could escape unscathed from the Desire World Sky! How did he do it? It's unbelievable!"

The Prodigies revered Chu Kuangren even more now.

Chu Kuangren, however, was not bothered. He looked at the Spiritual Mountain and the black qi that the Gold Dharmic Lotus suppressed and reacted with a strange look on his face.

He was familiar with the black qi because he had one inside him. The black qi was actually extracted from Emerald Hill Fox King, which contained power that could counter all the Source Dao in this universe.

He even felt similar energy in the Void Egg.

Hence, spotting the black energy at Spiritual Mountain meant that something horrifying was contained inside, and maybe it was related to the catastrophe that the Nine Heavens Deity told him.

"The eminent monks should be those from Lapis Lazuli Land long ago. They realized the Spiritual Mountain had been contaminated, so to keep the black qi in check, they gilded their bodies, and together with the Gold Dharmic Lotus, they were able to stop the black qi here," Chu Kuangren said with his eyes glued to the lotus.

Buzz!

Just then, the black qi in the mountain sensed something and started attacking the Gold Dhamic Lotus.

"It's the Desire World Sky!"

'The anomaly in Desire World Sky forced the eminent monks to divide their powers and concentrations to fight back, so the black qi got a chance to attack them,' Chu Kuangren thought.

It was just one small push from the black qi, and the Gold Dharmic Lotus started shaking.

The eminent monks shone brightly, attempting to force the black qi back inside using their Buddhist Light.

However, one small push contained massive power. Some of the black qi managed to escape from its cage and went after Chu Kuangren.

The black qi's energy was horrifying.

The Buddhist world Prodigies failed to escape, so they tried defending themselves using Buddhist Light. However, it was useless.

The moment the black qi touched their Buddhist Light, the white Buddhist Light was instantly converted into a surge of pitch-black energy with Daoist patterns. It even grew volatile and violent.

"What is this?!"

Shocked, the Prodigies channeled their Immortal's Core energy to the limit.

However, their expressions started to turn vicious after a while, and they started to attack their fellow Prodigies. It seemed like the black qi corrupted their mind and sanity.

Unlike Desire World Sky's ability which was to lure one's mind using one's deepest desire, the black qi was more violent and offensive as it corrupted one's mind.

As such, it made it even more dangerous!

It went after a cultivator's Source Dao, corrupted it, and overtook the cultivator's mind from there.

"Lil Ai, analyze it."

Chu Kuangren used Lil Ai to analyze the Prodigy that was corrupted.

That was when he realized that the Prodigy was exactly in the same condition as the Emerald Hill Fox King. However, the former's cultivation level was not as high, and that was why he could not hold himself together against the black qi.

"What is the source of the black qi?" he wondered.

That would be a question for another time as more and more black qi started emerging from the Gold Dharmic Lotus.

Chu Kuangren pulled Shang Honghua and the others behind his back.

At that moment, the energy of his Mini Universe expanded.

As though the black qi met its bane, it instantly shrunk back into the Spiritual Mountain and used the seal to protect itself against Chu Kuangren.

The scene shocked the eminent monks on the lotus, and they all turned to Chu Kuangren with a look of surprise on their faces.