Chapter 663: A Meal's Grace
The clouds in the night sky had completely scattered at the edges, revealing stars of extraordinary brightness. Countless rivers of water rose from the ground, transforming into a misty veil dozens of miles long that wrapped around the Heavenly Book Mausoleum like a sash. Azure lotus stems and pink blossoms flickered within it, appearing and disappearing, creating a scene of breathtaking beauty.
Compared to this otherworldly splendor, the real world below was utterly tragic. Houses in the southern district of the capital had either collapsed or been swept away by the floodwaters. No one knew how many had died. Cries for help and wails of anguish rose and fell in waves. Though the distance made them indistinct, they still stirred deep unease in every heart.
The cultivation masters who had used the cover of night to approach the Heavenly Book Mausoleum were directly caught in the residual force of the collision between the Azure Leaf World and the Heavenly Book Stele. Those with weaker cultivation realms were shaken to death on the spot. The elders and honored guests of various clans and sects each bore injuries. The young woman named Mu Jiushi had a face as pale as snow, with a trail of blood at the corner of her lips. Her earlier brightness was gone, replaced by a dim expression. Only Mao Qiuyu, Endless Azure, and Unrivaled Crimson remained unaffected, sheltered as they were within the lotus sea by the protective water essence of Ning Rou.
That Azure Leaf slowly drifted back from the peak into the night sky. Without warning, another great gust of wind arose.
People's gazes shifted from the leaf back to the peak, fixing on the figure of the Heavenly Sea Saintess. Fear and reverence mingled within them, leaving them utterly speechless.
The Heavenly Book Stele was massive and square. By all logic, it could not be held in a single hand.
Yet she casually grasped that Heavenly Book Stele in her hand—or rather, lifted it as if it were nothing.
His Holiness the Pope's Azure Leaf was a real world, possessing nearly infinite weight, capable of crushing all things. Even the Frost Remnant Divine Spear and the Severing Blade could not face it head-on. But the Heavenly Book Stele, since its descent in the first year of the Primordial Beginning, had remained unchanged through wind and rain, spatial shifts, and the passage of time. By that measure, the Heavenly Book Stele was nearly eternal, indestructible. It was like the famous fable in the Dao Canon's Tortoise Origin Theory: what happens when a spear that can pierce anything meets a shield that can block anything?
A fable was just a fable, offering no true answer. The first collision between the Azure Leaf and the Heavenly Book Stele had also yielded no conclusion. From this perspective, the Heavenly Book Stele was the most suitable and most powerful weapon against the Azure Leaf World. The question was: aside from the Heavenly Sea Saintess, who possessed such terrifying ability to wield a Heavenly Book Stele as a weapon? Who had such magnificent boldness to even conceive of using the Heavenly Book Stele as a weapon?
This battle, which would shock the world, was far from over. It had only just begun. Starlight refracted again, space twisted once more, and that Azure Leaf once again drifted toward the summit of the Heavenly Book Mausoleum.
The mountains and rivers of the realm were contained within it. Countless sounds erupted in succession—the splitting of earth, the moving of mountains, the severing of rivers—as the world descended once more.
The Heavenly Sea Saintess, holding the stele, smashed it down upon the Azure Leaf again.
Unlike before, this time there was no sound. Not the thunder of ages past, not even the chirping of dying insects in the autumn rain. There was only silence.
That was because all weight, all force, all energy circulated completely and perfectly between the Azure Leaf and the stele, not a single wisp escaping into the world.
The ground at the summit of the Heavenly Book Mausoleum suddenly sank half a foot.
The Heavenly Sea Saintess's face grew somewhat pale. A stream of blood flowed from between her fingers, staining a corner of the stele red.
His Holiness the Pope's face was even paler. The divine crown seemed covered in dust, and the wrinkles on his face were as deep as the Loess Plateau, which had not seen rain for a thousand years.
The dozens-of-miles-wide water belt around the mountainside of the Heavenly Book Mausoleum fell to the ground like a torrential downpour.
The Azure Leaf, like wet paper, stuck to the surface of the Heavenly Book Stele, trembling incessantly as its surface gradually tore apart.
Clearly, in this ultimate clash of forces, the Heavenly Sea Saintess had gained the upper hand!
The two most powerful Dao Venerables in the thousand-year history of the state religion, along with the mysterious monk from a foreign continent—all were saint-level, peerless experts.
The Heavenly Sea Saintess, wielding the Heavenly Book Stele, fought them with her body, soul, and Dao separately, holding her ground and even seeming poised to claim victory in all three battles!
Such dominance, such overwhelming strength—regardless of the final outcome, everyone had to admit that she was the strongest beneath this starry sky!
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The highest point was the summit. When strength reached its peak, it could go no further. The phoenix danced through the heavens, but eventually, it had to descend.
The battle between the Heavenly Sea Saintess and the three saints had reached its most critical moment. She had displayed unimaginable realms of power—her full strength.
This meant she could have no more miraculous tricks left.
Unrivaled Crimson understood this truth well. He knew the moment he had been waiting for had finally arrived.
He glanced at Endless Azure. The thin rope binding his fingers together suddenly snapped into pieces.
Endless Azure's face was pale. Her horsetail whisk whirled at high speed, gathering all the dozens of severed rope fragments into itself.
Into that annihilating aura, like the cold waves of a dead sea, a vibrant life force suddenly infused. These two utterly different energies did not clash or attack each other. Instead, in an extremely short time, they truly merged, generating a hard-to-describe sense of vicissitude.
Life and annihilation—originally, they were two sides of the same coin. Only when they fused could the truth of the world be revealed.
The lotus leaves swayed unceasingly, the blossoms churning within. This aura surged madly up the divine path, overwhelmingly powerful. The space before the Heavenly Book Mausoleum was filled everywhere with the flavor of time's passage.
They were the only married couple among the Eight Winds and Rains, and arguably the strongest couple in the entire world, aside from the White Emperor and his wife.
When they truly joined forces and unleashed their ultimate strike, even someone as strong as the Heavenly Sea Saintess had to treat it with caution.
But at this moment, the Heavenly Sea Saintess's power was entirely within the Heavenly Book Stele, her Dao magic was in Luoyang City, and her soul was tens of thousands of miles away. How could she respond?
Deep within the lotus sea lay a ruin, where a pavilion once stood. Below the divine path, all who wished to ascend the Heavenly Book Mausoleum—whether human or aura—had to pass through there.
When the vicissitude of Unrivaled Crimson and Endless Azure swept in, a sigh echoed from that place.
That sigh was equally filled with the flavor of time's passage, carrying a deep melancholy.
A hand grasped that pitch-black iron spear.
A great wind raged through the Heavenly Book Mausoleum. Countless acres of lotus sea rippled without cause. The lotus leaves swayed, flinging pearl-like droplets everywhere.
That iron spear was not as ordinary as it appeared. It was the strongest iron spear under heaven and earth—arguably the most powerful divine weapon in a thousand years.
Han Qing gripped the iron spear, pointing it into the depths of the night.
The bleak autumn wind had come again.
Between heaven and earth, all things withered.
From deep within the lotus sea came two muffled grunts from Unrivaled Crimson and Endless Azure.
Han Qing stared coldly at that spot, saying nothing, not even looking at his feet.
At his feet lay a lunchbox.
The rice and stir-fried pork with green peppers inside had long been eaten clean. Now, only a bit of water remained, sloshing back and forth.
Where the iron spear pointed, the green leaves in the lotus sea withered, looking like starving ghosts tied to yellowed stems.
Watching this rapidly withering lotus sea, he recalled many years ago, walking from the north, passing countless corpses along the way.
His people looked very different from humans, but after starving to death, they strangely became somewhat similar—perhaps because they were all so dried up.
He had not starved to death, but he had nearly become a ghost. His eyes were greener than a wolf rider's, and he was so thin he was nothing but bones.
Just as he thought he could not make it out of the snowfield, he encountered His Majesty.
His Majesty's expression was gentle, but his brows were spirited, his words concise and forceful.
His Majesty asked Han Qing if he was hungry.
Han Qing nodded.
His Majesty said to Han Qing, "Then follow me from now on. There will be plenty of meat and wine."
After thinking for a long time, Han Qing nodded again.
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A thousand years later.
Looking at the lotus sea, at those lotus leaves and blossoms withering like hanged ghosts, starving ghosts, and drowning ghosts, Han Qing nodded once more.
Then, channeling all his cultivation power, he hurled the iron spear!
The spear's shriek pierced the air. Heaven and earth trembled at the sound; gods and ghosts wept in response.
Before the iron spear, all lotus blossoms scattered. The world withered. Life and death were bound together.
The iron spear, like a boat, cut through the water. Like a pole, it shattered shadows. Like an arrow, it broke through clouds, piercing the heart of the sky.
Where was it headed?
Deep into the lotus sea?
Among the Azure Leaves?
To the ancient capital's old temple, or to that rundown shrine tens of thousands of miles away?
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(This chapter corresponds to the chapter "Can You Still Eat?")