The Jade Lotus and the Sage of Guidance

For three thousand li, ink-black lotuses bloomed across the sky and sea, stirring up a hurricane of primal force that tore at the void like heavenly blades. The boundless ocean roiled and thrashed.

The Sage of Guidance, his hair unbound, stood high above the waves. The roar of the sea around him was like thunder that split the clouds apart. Yet within the torrent, he was as unmoving as a mountain, as steadfast as a divine rock.

'In single combat, no one can defeat me,' the Green Lotus Celestial Maiden declared. Cold light shot from her eyes like twin lightning bolts. Her lotus-white robes fluttered as she stepped onto her Twelve-Grade Lotus Platform and ascended into the sky.

Four ancient War Swords—austere, their divine radiance concealed—exuded a killing intent that pierced the heavens. They flew like four silver dragons, sweeping toward the Sage of Guidance's body.

'There is no one who can defeat me,' the Sage of Guidance replied, his voice calm but his eyes blazing with ferocious light. His hair bristled as he raised his left hand; the Dharma Wheel glowed with a dusky light, emitting a low hum as it struck the sky.

Four percussive notes rang out almost simultaneously.

The Sage of Guidance traced mysterious arcs across the heavens with his Dharma Wheel, deflecting the four War Swords one after another.

A surge of energy exploded between the two experts. Each was hurled back a hundred zhang, leaving cracks in the fabric of space—great fissures dozens of zhang wide that stretched hundreds of li in every direction. The raging sea below split into massive chasms, and waves crashed up into the sky.

Such cataclysmic power caused every cultivator on the immortal islands around them to tremble—a dread that came from the very depths of the soul.

'You are no match for me. Send someone else,' the Green Lotus Celestial Maiden said coldly. Her phoenix eyes blazed with murderous intent.

'You are far too arrogant,' the Sage of Guidance replied, his face calm but his eyes growing ever brighter. He stepped forward, sweeping his Fly Whisk at the Celestial Maiden's waist while the Dharma Wheel left his hand, spinning with a hazy glow as it curved toward her neck.

The Green Lotus Celestial Maiden stood motionless in the sky, commanding with her will. One War Sword rose to meet the Fly Whisk; another swept upward to strike the dark Dharma Wheel.

Two swords were enough to block both of the Sage's treasures. Yet the Sage remained composed, even confident. He did not retreat. Instead, he strode forward through the void, each step vanishing into nothingness as he traversed space, closing in on the Celestial Maiden.

The Green Lotus Celestial Maiden laughed coldly. She too would not retreat. The Twelve-Grade Lotus Platform shimmered with a faint, milky radiance that wrapped around her like a halo of protective light. She shot forward. The other two War Swords lunged—one pierced toward the Sage's chest, the other toward his abdomen. They were swift and merciless. As they closed in, the sword-light erupted, reaching three thousand li away, carving a three-thousand-li-long rift in space.

The Sage of Guidance's footwork was as elusive as a dream, like duckweed adrift on a raging sea—indestructible, flowing with the current. He wove effortlessly between the two terrifying War Swords, his body like an illusion that the swords could not touch, could not harm.

Sword energy surged and rolled for three thousand li, its cold light illuminating ten thousand li of ocean.

'Even if you possess ten thousand divine treasures, in the face of the Guidance World, all things are an illusion.' With a thunderous voice, the Sage of Guidance extended a giant hand. The earth-yellow palm, the color of sickly skin, was nevertheless overwhelmingly powerful as it grabbed at the Celestial Maiden.

The War Swords soared up, slashing at the giant hand. At the same time, the Green Lotus Celestial Maiden shot two beams of cold light from her eyes. The Twelve-Grade Lotus Platform left her feet, slowly beginning to spin.

'Then I will destroy this space and re-establish order!' Her voice was like ice.

In that instant, heaven and earth spun, the raging sea reversed its flow, and a hazy chaos erupted as the entire space was torn apart—then re-fixed anew.

The Sage of Guidance's form reappeared. Two War Swords had sent his Dharma Wheel and Fly Whisk flying; the other two swept toward his body.

'Can you destroy it once? Can you destroy it a thousand times?' the Sage of Guidance roared. A faint light radiated from his body, and his form gradually grew indistinct, once again sinking nearly into nothingness.

'Within the great worlds, the number of dimensional spaces is boundless—three thousand Buddha-lands, ten thousand demon-realms—let us see if you can destroy them all!' His voice grew cold. He dissolved into the void, merging with heaven and earth. But his killing intent surged stronger than ever, as if ten thousand great mountains had been transported into the sky, an ocean of power that threatened to crush the countless cultivators across ten thousand li of sea.

Even the half-ancestors watching from behind showed shock. The Sage of Guidance was a great power of the ancient era—aside from Laozi and a few others, even ordinary half-ancestors could hardly match him.

The Green Lotus Celestial Maiden swept her gaze across the surroundings, lightning blazing from her eyes.

Suddenly, a fierce gale howled. The stars in the heavens emerged, and meteors streaked across the sky. The Sage of Guidance's killing intent reached its zenith, disrupting the very stars. He struck out with a palm from the void, shattering eight hundred li of ocean in an instant. The sea below evaporated completely, the ocean floor exposed and collapsing into the earth's core.

The Green Lotus Celestial Maiden stood like a green bamboo in a storm. The Twelve-Grade Lotus Platform spun out countless rays of light, and the four War Swords crushed layer upon layer of space, guarding her against the destructive force.

Even so, she was grazed on the forehead by an illusory hand. A lock of her hair turned to ash, and a few drops of blood fell on her brow—a vivid red that gave her face a strange, striking beauty. But when the murderous intent in her eyes condensed into two beams of light that swept outward, the whole world seemed to lose its color. That strange beauty had become an absolute, murderous aura.

'Sage of Guidance—three drops of my blood shall be repaid with thirty thousand of your souls. I will sever your head!' Her voice was so cold it seemed to freeze the world, drowning all other sound.

In the next moment, the Green Lotus Celestial Maiden vanished. Only the constant collapse of dimensional spaces and the fierce sounds of battle from the void remained. She used the four War Swords to cut a path, destroying countless spaces, and with the Twelve-Grade Lotus Platform she re-established new order. In her bare hands, a green jade lotus leaf swept across the Sage of Guidance's ten thousand incarnations.

The Million Incarnations was one of the Sage of Guidance's great divine powers. But in this moment, hundreds of his incarnations were severed consecutively. Where the Green Lotus Celestial Maiden's war sword pointed, all was annihilated.

'Three Thousand Buddha-Lands!' the Sage bellowed. Three thousand layers of Pure Land manifested, stacked one upon another. In each layer sat a copy of the Sage, surrounding and trapping the Celestial Maiden.

The disheveled demon-sage had been pushed to true fury. His Fly Whisk and Dharma Wheel charged and swept, and his heaven-destroying giant hands struck out again and again, trying to grind the Celestial Maiden to dust within this chaotic space.

'When the Green Lotus appears, who dares to contend?' The few drops of blood on the Celestial Maiden's forehead and cheek were glaringly vivid, giving her an almost ferocious strength. She seemed possessed by an ancient War Ancestor—phoenix eyes blazing with power, her sword irresistible wherever it pointed. Nothing could stop her.

The three thousand Buddha-lands collapsed one after another. The Sage of Guidance truly had the souls of three thousand of his incarnations slain!

As she had vowed, the Celestial Maiden sent her green jade lotus leaf sweeping toward the Sage's head, trying to take his skull.

The Sage of Guidance, who in ancient times had rarely met his match even among half-ancestors, was now enraged by the continuous destruction of his incarnations. He roared, 'Ten Thousand Demon Realms!'

Countless demon realms appeared. Dark clouds roiled across the sky, and blood-red lightning split the heavens. These were real—tens of thousands of supreme demon realms that folded and interlaced, swallowing toward the Celestial Maiden.

The Sage, still disheveled, strode into them himself, determined to fight to the death.

This was a fierce battle. Both sides were consumed by fury. But no outsider could see the struggle within; only the heart-stopping waves of terrifying energy could be felt. If not for the ten half-ancestors sealing the region, thousands of li of sea and countless immortal islands would have been utterly destroyed.

The battle was brutal. It lasted half a day.

When a fierce roar rang out, it all ended. The tens of thousands of demon realms collapsed. The disheveled Sage of Guidance stood with a War Sword piercing his chest, blood streaming down and staining his tattered robe. His thirty-six-foot true form trembled.

The War Sword withdrew. The Sage roared, and his body exploded—a testament to the War Sword's power.

'Hmph...' The Green Lotus Celestial Maiden sneered. She knew the Sage would not die so easily, but she had undoubtedly gravely wounded a supreme expert. Indeed, half-ancestors of the Sage's level were rare even in the cultivation world.

Contrary to expectations, the Sage of Guidance re-formed his body on the spot after the explosion. His new flesh did not seem weak; instead, his energy and spirit were abnormally abundant.

Lord Tongtian's eyes flickered. He murmured, 'The Fate Twins...'

Other half-ancestors were also astonished. If the Buddha and the Sage of Guidance were to merge... how powerful would that be? Even Laozi, who stood among the top three below the Ancestral Gods, might be displaced.

'What is so frightening about the Fate Twins? You and the bald monk can come at me together,' the Green Lotus Celestial Maiden said, her sloping brows holding a cold, fierce light, her gaze filled with absolute confidence.

'He is he, and I am I. Today I have lost—that is all.' The Sage of Guidance strode away into the distance.

At that moment, a beam of white light shot across the sky. The little white beast—Keke—pierced through space and landed on Xiao Chen's shoulder.

'Didn't I tell you to stay with Niu Ren and the others? This place is dangerous,' Xiao Chen said, tapping her lightly.

'Ya-ya...' Keke murmured softly, then fixed her gaze on the Green Lotus Celestial Maiden.

Xiao Chen felt a stir in his heart and stopped scolding her.

'I will fight you,' Lord Tongtian said, stepping forward.

This time, the Buddha did not step out with him. Since the Sage of Guidance had already lost, it counted as his loss. If they did not merge, his chances of defeating the Green Lotus Celestial Maiden were... uncertain.

Lord Tongtian was infamous across the lands. Even among the Otherworld, they knew he dared to challenge the Ancestral Gods. The Immortal-Slaying Formation Diagram above his head swirled with chaotic light. The four swords—Zhuxian, Luxian, Xianxian, Juexian—vibrated slightly, their sword-light throbbing with killing intent.

A bronze shield revolved around him, ancient and austere. Even his own chaotic sword-qi could not approach the ancient shield—a testament to its terrifying defensive power.

'I have heard of your infamous name. But you are still no match for me,' the Green Lotus Celestial Maiden said. She spread out her four War Swords with her divine will. 'Even with an extra formation diagram, it cannot hide the fact that the Four Immortal-Slaying Swords are inferior copies. The power of the War Swords cannot be supplemented by external objects.'

Lord Tongtian did not lose his temper. Calm as an ancient well, he said, 'The War Swords do not decide everything. When the will to fight reaches its peak, even the supreme treasure can be defied.'

'Ha ha...' The Celestial Maiden laughed. 'In this world, who understands the War Sword better than I? With a supreme treasure in your possession, how can you hope to match me?'

'Enough talk. I will sever your head to prove it,' Lord Tongtian said, twin beams of light shooting from his eyes as he prepared to set up his world-destroying killing formation.