"Master?" Xinzi's eyes widened at Qingxin, whose sudden appearance didn't delight him. The younger abbot didn't believe in outrageous coincidences. For Qingxin to appear at this precise moment showed that someway, somehow, he must have been observing his disciple's condition. What triggered the probe? When did he start? How did he do it? These were the words stirring Xinzi's mind, and though Qingxin couldn't hear his disciple's thoughts, he could see in his eyes that suspicion was his first reflex.
This discovery stabbed the abbot's heart, making him fear that, the more time Xinzi spent outside the Clear Heart monastery, the more likely he was to revert to the person he used to be when he first landed in Dongli. The image of a six-years-old beggar child quietly wrenching the necks of mortal thugs to keep hold of the coins and bread he'd just gotten, flashed before the abbot's eyes.
"You still know that you have a master? Xinzi, why is it that you feel the need to resolve every challenge you face by yourself? Of what use is your background if you don't milk it for all it's worth? I'm disappointed." Qingxin smiled at his disciple, ignoring the voice within the Inverse Dao Seals.
"What are you doing here?"
"Saving you, obviously. Is it me or does suspicion makes you say the dumbest shit in the world? Don't worry, I wasn't spying on you—just got alarmed by the Life Candle I set up to keep track of your condition."
"Oh. Old man, I have to admit that you do love me the most—almost makes me feel sorry for you."
"As well as it should. Loving you is a self-inflicted disease. I've been seeing various prominent doctors to find a cure to this condition, but have not been successful so far. One day, it will get me killed."
"Interesting. As far as I recall, our healthcare industry is an organization ran by thieves and promoted by scoundrels to drain the rich and impoverish the poor. With fees increasing on a yearly basis, how does a monk get the money to see such prominent doctors? I knew that you were up to no good—must have been squeezing all those mislead donors of all the gold and silver coins they had to offer."
"You!"
"Ha, speechless, just how I like you." Master and disciple went back and forth, but as usual, Xinzi came out on top. In other circumstances, Qingxin would knock his disciple out to get the last word. But right now, he didn't have the heart to. The senior abbot was wrong. Suspicion wasn't what drove Xinzi's wariness. Rather, it was the demon that his Klesha Heart was about to unleash on the Thousand Roads mountain and Yanzhou at large, that kept him on tiptoes. Needless to say, regardless of the reasoning behind Xinzi's move, Qingxin wouldn't allow it to happen.
"Impudence!" The entity speaking through Xinzi's seals fumed. How dare this master-disciple pair ignore its words, its presence, and the authority bestowed upon it by Heaven's Will. Was this not an insult to Heaven itself?
"As Divine Spirits, as the race most blessed by Heaven's Will, how dare you encroach upon its plans and disrespect its authority? Be it in the past, present or future, everything that you own stems from Heaven's blessings! Yet you keep disrespecting your maker and disregard its needs!" The entity rattled off, and while its voice rumbled, the scenery changed. From the Dream Mountain, Qingxin and Xinzi reappeared in a plum-colored void space. Magnetic waves rolled back and forth, threatening to draw and tear both Xinzi and Qingxin into shreds. The portals multiplied, stretching as far as the eyes could see.
Seven dazzling rays shot out of Xinzi's seals, gathering and coiling as they moved up, before congealing into a tall armored entity. Built from light alone, the armor's dazzling rays lit up the void space, and in its right hand, it held a banner embroidered with the same eye marks that formed Xinzi's seals.
"And you, Hengye Wuxin, are the worst of all the divine scum. Heaven granted you all the tools you needed to oppose Yongye, pointed you towards the Golden Lotus, concealed your rebellious deeds, and helped you reach the peak of the your generation. But what did you give it in return? More disloyalty and disappointments! Today, I will enforce justice on behalf of the heavens and erase your treasonous self from the face of this world!" The Dao Emissary's words boomed throughout the void. An unending horde of Dao Beasts rushed out of the portals. All at least the size of a hill, with some spreading so far and wide that they could cover a city's sky.
Dao runes flickered on the beasts' body—the laws of heaven and earth rippling in their eyes. Fire, water, ice, lightning, wind, space, light and darkness…all the elements that made up the Heavenly Dao surrounded the master-disciple pair, making Xinzi confront one of the most nightmarish spectacles of his existence.
Still, Qingxin stayed unfazed. "Rank-six Ordained Beasts to rank-nine Heavenly Beast Kings. As the Emissary of a Mortal World's Heavenly Dao, this is already the best that you can do—unfortunate," Qingxin crossed his arms below his chest and stepped forward. Colossal divine power rolled out of his sleeves, rising alongside tidal waves of golden holy force that, to the beasts' terror, stood in perfect harmony.
"Impossible! Your Holy Path has been destroyed 10,000 years ago! How can you still unleash Holy Force of this level and harmonize it with your Divine Power? This is a a ruse! A ruse! I don't believe it!" The Dao Emissary's screams of disbelief filled the void, and to say nothing of it, even Xinzi couldn't believe what he saw. Divine Power was one thing, but his master's Holy Path had indeed collapsed 10,000 years ago. It was already impressive that he'd manage to return to Eminent Monk status—but from what Xinzi could see now, Qingxin had long eclipsed the Eminent Monk level and returned to his previous peak!
Worse, he showed signed of exceeding the final line…signs of Transcendence!
"The Golden Lotus be praised. You said it yourself. That was 10,000 years ago. I may never be able to regain my wife, child or cultivation base, but as far the Holy and Divine Paths are concerned, no one can strip anything from me. What I lose there, I can always regain, because I am Hengye Wuxin—the undisputed number one in the history of the Eternal Night Dynasty.
So long as the Records of the Eternal Night stay fused with my Divine Soul, under the Immortal Realm, no one can resist me.
Unfilial brat, I don't know how you got these new bones of yours, but they are by far and a mile your biggest accomplishments. I will now demonstrate the strongest skill that I've comprehended in my lifetime. With these bones of yours, even if you can never harmonize Holy and Divine, I believe that you can one day cultivate it to the peak. Let no one say…that I've taught you nothing," Qingxin said and took one leisurely step forward.
"One." Underneath his feet, the illusory images of various states, lands and continents took shape, giving the misconception that, with that one step, the senior abbot could cross all land! Formless waves of united divine and holy powers rolled forth, and Qinxin's form ballooned to 100 meters!
Irresistible suppression force fell, locking down both the Dao Emissary and Beasts that followed its commands.
"Two." Qingxin took another step, and this time it were the seas that manifested under his feet. The suppression force pinning all enemies down intensified. Their cultivation bases vanished, their bodies atrophied, and from Dao Beasts to Emissary, all stood in awe of this tyrannical move.
"Three." Qingxin put down the last step. Though in Xinzi's eyes, he was always the two-meters tall monk, in the others' he'd risen into a planet-sized entity whose presence covered and trampled upon all facets of existence.
"N…" The Dao Emissary regretted making an appearance. But it wouldn't have time to rage or protest, for as Qingxin's third and most insolent of steps fell, a cluster of tyrannical defiant energies followed, eager to pin down Heaven itself.
All the beasts burst instantly. The Dao Emissary burst as well—squashed into nothingness by Qingxin's third step.
"One step to topple the land. Two steps to overturn the seas. Three steps to destroy the Heavens. This is my legacy skill—the finest accomplishment of my cultivation road. If one day I pass away, though the world as rarely seen more unfilial disciple, I do hope that you will let these three steps…shake the seas and heavens.." Qingxin said without looking back, and as his monastic robe fluttered, all portals collapsed—returning to nothingness.