Journey to the West: Treasure Vase of the Great Dao

The Sand Monk had long since lost his sanity, possessing brute strength yet unable to wield his true power.

As the two exchanged blows, Lu Yu faced an opponent who had lost his reason with ease. Sword light crisscrossed around the Sand Monk, enveloping him in a shrinking net woven from Sword Qi. Wounds appeared on his body one by one, and blood slowly trickled from them.

The pain awakened the Sand Monk's instinctual fear, and he began to retreat, planning to return to the safety of the Flowing Sand River.

Despite Lu Yu's assault and his body covered in countless wounds, he fought his way back to the river's surface and plunged into the waters with determination. Lu Yu wouldn't allow him to escape easily; his sword light followed closely behind, cleaving through the water to reveal the Sand Monk's fleeing figure.

Looking back at Lu Yu, the Sand Monk was both panicked and furious. His mouth emitted an unconscious roar, and above his head, Demonic Qi formed a Demon Lord, baring its teeth and claws, emitting bursts of demonic sounds.

The demonic sounds assaulted the ears, stirring up the seven emotions and six desires in Lu Yu. It seemed as if endless Demon Lords were sprouting in the depths of his heart, hooking on his inner desires, ready to tempt him into corruption.

However, Lu Yu was no longer the Ignorant Youth from before. After so many experiences, especially being schemed against by the Patriarch of the Nether River, his mental cultivation had risen to a new level. The Demon Lord's Divine Skills might be bizarre, but they were helpless against him.

Seeing this, the Demon Lord grew furious and rushed headlong at Lu Yu, attempting to bite and corrupt his Soul and Spirit.
Stay tuned to empire

A Treasure Vase appeared above Lu Yu's head, showering down the Light of Merit. As soon as the Demon Lord touched the Vase, a harrowing scream sounded, leaving everyone dizzy and disoriented.

Provoked by this, the Vase shone brilliantly. An arcane and profound aura gushed from the Vase, inherently noble and full of endless wisdom, immediately enveloping the Demon Lord.

"Is it you?" In an instant, an inexplicable will descended upon the Demon Lord. Lacking intelligence no more, its appearance transformed, and a powerful presence enveloped it. For that moment, it seemed to embody desire itself. Merely standing there made Lu Yu feel his heart waver, as if he were falling into an endless Abyss.

Daring not to be careless, he spurred the Treasure Vase. The Light of Merit blazed forth and that strand from the Ancestral Master also displayed its supreme might, as if the Buddha Lands themselves materialized here, with all beings chanting in meditation.

The Demon Lord, unwilling to show weakness, let out a soft laugh and cast its power into the phantom of Buddha Land. Within that land, individuals succumbed to demonic possession, transforming into Demon Lords, acting as harbingers of world destruction, seeking to turn Buddha Land into a Hellish Abyss.

Buddhas shone with Boundless Light, battling with the Demon Lord. In the blink of an eye, the phantom seemed to undergo millions of years of civilization's evolution, cycles of life and death, leaving Lu Yu dumbstruck.

It was merely the evolution of breaths, yet it appeared as if the heavens and earth were coming to life. Lu Yu couldn't tell whether the phantom of the Buddha Land was real or fake, or if the joys and sorrows, the impermanence of life, were occurring in some unknown corner.

Still, the struggle of the great powers filled him with reverence, "one flower one world, one leaf one Bodhi." Lu Yu seemed to suddenly understand what the Buddha Ancestor had said.

The Flowing Sand River was now a place of strange phenomena, with endless black Demonic Qi and Boundless Buddha Light intertwining, rendering the river even more mystical.

The struggle between the Buddha and the Demon Lord seemed to have consumed a great deal of time, but in reality, it was but a fleeting moment. In the end, the Demon Lord still could not overcome the Buddha. The Demon Lords cast into the Buddha Land were purified one by one, a Boundless Light shone brightly, illuminating the entire Flowing Sand River, as if sanctifying the land.

Under this Buddha Light, the figures of the Demon Lords gradually turned to ash,

leaving only a sentence in the void, "Hmph! You win this time, but when you attain transcendence, I will settle this with you." The voice was laden with demonic intent, seemingly harboring an endless terror.

"Transcendence," Lu Yu muttered to himself. This was not the first time he had heard this term. When he was in the Underworld, Lu Pan had mentioned it to him. The Ancestral Master, who had once widely spread the practice of cultivation throughout the Three Realms, remained to this day the sole transcendent being.

It was after the Ancestral Master's transcendence that the cultivators of the Three Realms finally realized the path of cultivation did not end with Three Flowers Gathering at the Top, but that there was still room for ascension.

A sudden enlightenment dawned upon him; the fact that the top powers of the Three Realms had set aside their differences and cooperated to initiate the Journey to the West was probably not unrelated to the chance of transcendence.

"At this time, whoever would seek to hinder the Journey to the West would surely be met with a fate worse than death by those top powers of the Three Realms, for to block one's path of cultivation is akin to killing one's own parents," Lu Yu thought to himself.

At the same time, he privately rejoiced that he had not been blindly arrogant, for relying on his past life's memories to try to change the Journey to the West would likely have resulted in his vanishing from the Three Realms by now.

"Amitabha Buddha, it seems that was the consciousness projection of that self-manifesting Demon King. No wonder his strength was formidable. It's probably the aura on that Treasure Vase of yours that attracted his scrutiny, turning this place into a battleground for a brief conflict," Golden Cicada, as a disciple of Buddhism, quickly grasped the sequence of events.

"So this is what it looks like when the mighty clash from afar, truly an indescribable power," Lu Yu remarked with a sigh, unsure of when he would possess such strength himself.

Golden Cicada also brought his hands together and fell silent, clearly shaken by the recent spectacle. Compared to such peak powers, the gulf seemed too vast to bridge with any hope of catching up.

Meanwhile, the Sand Monk, affected by the clash of the two great powers, seized the opportunity to regain his clarity. His expression complex, he gazed at Golden Cicada with tear-filled eyes, knelt atop the waves, and pleaded earnestly, "I beseech the Buddhist Disciple's compassion to save me from the sea of suffering."

The voice was mournful, heavy with sorrow and grievance. He and Golden Cicada had once met at the Peaches of Immortality banquet and had even guided the Buddhist Disciple; thus, he clung to this brief moment of lucidity, desperately seeking help.

It did not take long for the black Demonic Qi to creep back onto his face. The brief clarity in his eyes once again succumbed to madness, and he let out a roar of despair, attempting to charge at Lu Yu and the others, yet his remaining sanity starkly suppressed the impulse.

"What on Earth has he provoked, for the Demon King himself to take action? Such stubborn Demonic Qi, how could it possibly be dispelled by Golden Cicada's cultivation?" Lu Yu wondered inwardly.

Golden Cicada, watching Sand Monk's unending struggle between lucidity and madness, was suddenly reminded of the honest and straightforward General he once knew, a man of pride and vigor. He also seemed to recall Bai Xiaoyao, who had left.

He took a deep breath and said, "Amitabha Buddha, Lu Layman, it seems the path of this poor monk in this life has come to an end. Thank you for your protection along the way. Meeting you has been an honor for this young monk."

At that moment, Golden Cicada exuded a peculiar aura. It did not feel overwhelmingly powerful, yet it possessed a power that shook the soul.