The Immortal Seeker: Legend of Bronze Mirror-Chapter 843 - 390: Green Emperor

In Wokuotai Khan's eyes, a fleeting expression of greed and ferocity crossed, as if he already saw himself grasping the Suradin, ruling the world.

…

…

Meanwhile, a thousand miles away, across the sea of sand, Xu Qing had already found his target. Staring into the endless yellow sandstorm, his heart was long prepared, knowing that the ensuing fierce battle was inevitable.

The heat waves struck again, yet could not sway Xu Qing's determination.

He took a deep breath, turning to look into the distance.

In his heart, there was an inexplicable surge of passion.

…

…

The bazaar of Kashgar was bathed in a honey-like dusk, copper lanterns tinting the streets into moving amber.

The Kucha dancing girls walked barefoot over the scorching stone slabs; the bronze bells at their waists clinked in a rhythm of three short and two long, aligning with a mysterious cadence.

Their eyes' kohl flickered in the firelight, hiding the movement tracks of the Mongolian army's supplies and logistics in their verses, every tremor like a secret from the depths of the desert. The white scarves on the Persian traders' heads shook lightly with the distribution of clay tablets, with Xu Qing's portrait carved distinctly on them, the Tai Chi Diagram on the spine of the Time Sword flickered coldly, and the Sogdian script, "The savior has arrived, prepare for uprising" whispered in the wind-swept sand, as if foretelling the coming piercing of the night.

…

…

The turbid waves of the Qie Mo River rushed with millennia-old sand and gravel; Xu Qing stood on the cracked riverbank, feeling the tremor of the earth veins beneath his boots.

The bronze fragments in his sleeve suddenly became scorching like charcoal, leaving a dark red mark through his wrist bone. On the opposite bank, mirages surged, with the ruins of the ancient city of Jingjue emerging from the heat waves, its mottled city walls seeping dark red liquid, winding into a writhing Hexagram Array across the sand.

Where the liquid passed, sand grains solidified into skull shapes, with hollow eye sockets staring straight at him. With a gentle tap of his toe on the river surface, the splashed water froze into crystalline icicles in midair, each pillar reflecting the runes sealed deep within the ancient city, like numerous eyes spying on him.

At the moment the seal broke, an ancient beast's roar of awakening echoed from beneath the earth. A hundred twenty thousand pieces of oracle bones fell like a black rainstorm, each fragment's inscription transforming into a fierce ghostly silhouette.

There, a Yin Shang witch wearing a bronze mask, holding a bleeding tripod vessel, danced a bizarre blood-sacrifice dance; Xuanzang of the Golden Tang, his kasaya soaked in Buddha's blood, staggered in the sandstorm with tattered scrolls on his back; Mongol Yuan iron cavalry trampled piles of Confucian scholars' corpses, and the hooves stirred not dust, but torn pages of classical texts.

Xu Qing trod upon the floating oracle bones, with every brush of his boot a wailing cry of the unjust souls piercing his eardrums, as if to tear his soul apart. The distorted blood script on the tri-legged cauldron's inner wall twisted into serpent-like shapes, while the Great Sun Scripture's text oozed ink, turning the phrase "See Tathagata" into "Fall into Avīci," as if mocking his futility.

Within the cauldron, the Sea of Suffering surged with obsessions as thick as tar, the hallucinations it bore mirrored the most brutal realities.

Wokuotai Khan, clad in a vestment robe sewn of human skin, swung a blade at the Tianshan altar, beheading Confucian scholars, their blood flowing along the Brahma-inscribed grooves of the altar, forming a river leading towards Suradin, the air reeking with a nauseating scent of blood; Chagatai's iron cavalry shattered the flying eaves of the Qufu Confucius Temple, while the Confucian texts beneath their hooves ignited a ghostly blue flame, wherein the weeping visage of Confucius could be vaguely seen; The State Preceptor of the Ilkhanate crucified the Christian monk on a cross, carving out the still-beating heart with a silver dagger, placing it into a Pill Furnace inlaid with Quran texts, the rising smoke morphing into various grotesque faces.

These scenes eventually converged into the ominous visage of the Jade Buddha, its gaping mouth spewing prayer beads strung from children's finger bones, each bone engraved with despairing tear marks.

Xu Qing brandished his sword, the sword light consolidated from time, with azure and crimson flames swirling like a galaxy, tearing open the Sea of Suffering, as countless chains erupted from the cauldron's base.

The Brahma-inscribed chains scorched his skin, with each constricting mark seeping gold-red blood, the intense pain nearly driving him unconscious.

The Jade Buddha laughed maniacally, its twenty-four arms swinging simultaneously, vajra pestles wrapped in thunder, crescent scimitars in wind and sand, crosses dripping with holy water, and abacuses clanking with the sounds of Hell, an oppressive web of clashing civilizations' aura of slaughter intertwined into suffocating snares.

Xu Qing formed seals with both palms, an illusionary twelve-graded Lotus Platform blossomed above his head, petal falls transformed into azure luan and fiery phoenix, crashing fiercely against the demon soldiers of the Jade Buddha. As the sword blade cleaved through the Jade Buddha's arm holding the Buddha beads, what gushed forth was not blood, but a dense black grievance, instantly coagulating into countless demonic figures within the cauldron.

These demonic figures were all souls devoured by obsession: Mongol shamans grew scales all over their bodies from cursing the Han yet still frantically chanting spells; Persian scholars, blinded for defaming other faiths, still adamantly reciting scriptures; Han alchemists, in pursuit of crafting longevity pills, consumed infants' souls, yet still wore satisfied grins.

"See clearly, this is your obsession!" The Jade Buddha's roar shook the pill furnace violently, as the chains around Xu Qing's body suddenly tightened, the pain cutting into flesh making his vision black out.

In an instant, the Time Sword burst forth with infinite brilliance, the azure and crimson auras merging into a rotating Tai Chi Diagram, encompassing all demonic figures within. Under the sword light, the features of the demon figures gradually became clear, the madness fading from their eyes, replaced by tears of regret and relief, as if having finally awakened from a prolonged nightmare.

When the sword tip pierced into the center of the cauldron, the entire tri-legged cauldron let out a dragon-like bellow. The oppressed million souls surged like tides, yet upon touching Xu Qing's Daoist robe, they transformed into twinkling starlight, with the whisper of liberation fading into void.

The true form of the Jade Buddha emerged, a colossal statue assembled from the bones of craftsmen from Mongolia, Han, and Persia, every bone engraved with patterns of fear and hatred. When it collapsed with a thunderous crash, the sound was like history's mournful sigh.

Xu Qing's sword halted three inches above the Shariputra, suddenly reversing its blade edge, shattering the last shackle of obsession with the sword hilt, his movements laced with compassion for these lost souls.

In the radiance emanating from the Shariputra, Xu Qing saw the Suradin at the Tianshan altar awakening, the wolf-tail hairs on the lance quivering and pointing towards him, as if issuing a challenge.

Within the Samarkand Golden Tent, the explosion of Wokuotai Khan's jade pendant echoed the cauldron's roar from afar, his face scorched, showing fear and unwillingness, as if foreseeing his own fate.

Stepping out of the Ghost Cave, Xu Qing glanced at the Jade Pendant in the moonlight, hearing the distant clinking of camel bells, accompanied by visions of the Suradin ghosting in and out of view amidst the clouds over Tianshan, as if issuing a challenge. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

He gently sighed, finally understanding the true face of this world—"The Human World."

Even with his current cultivation, he had yet to witness the full scope of the Human World.

How much of the Human World he could perceive depended entirely on Xu Qing's own level and experiences.

And now, from within the Human World, Xu Qing saw the inexplicable ancient Great Emperor holding up the entire Six Paths of Reincarnation.

Mysterious connections, not only with the Lotus Platform of Buddha but also the Taoist Lotus, seemed bound to this Green Emperor.

"Even the Buddha's Lotus Platform appears inextricably linked to the Green Emperor." Xu Qing thought upon observing these mysteries within the Human World.

Profoundly mysterious, it was a concept beyond summary, far exceeding any simple understanding of the All Heavens and Universe.