Chapter 143 You've Stepped in It Now

The Island beneath his feet!

Measuring some dozen miles across and situated in the very center of the swamp, this island was Qingxu's final hope. The fact that it could stand eternally and indestructibly within the Flesh-Ground-to-Dust Swamp suggested there might be some profound mystery hidden within. If he could only comprehend this mystery and make it his own, there was a high probability he could traverse the swamp.

After giving Little Kunlun some brief instructions, Qingxu began to wander and investigate the island. His divine sense left his body, infiltrating and analyzing it inch by inch and fraction by fraction—from the sparse vegetation to the earth beneath, right down to individual particles of dust.

Half a yard beneath the earth—nothing found!
One yard beneath the earth—nothing found!
Three yards beneath the earth—nothing found!
...

After spending a full day having his divine sense repeatedly probe dozens of yards beneath the island without discovering the slightest abnormality, the faint spark of hope in his heart was all but extinguished. Just as he was about to give up, his divine sense suddenly shivered, as if it had made contact with something. Qingxu hurriedly focused his attention, only to see a ball of pitch-black light and shadow resting some dozens of yards beneath the center of the island. Without a single moment of cessation, it absorbed and inhaled the nether qi of heaven and earth. Whenever the stored, highly purified nether qi reached a certain threshold, it would instantly disperse without a trace, bizarre to the extreme.

"Could it be that this island is able to stand eternally and indestructibly within the Flesh-Ground-to-Dust Swamp entirely because of this ball of pitch-black light and shadow?" The moment this thought arose, Qingxu could no longer restrain himself. He immediately executed the technique of shrinking the earth to an inch, arriving at the center of the island in a single step. With a wave of his hand, a surge of magical power blasted downward, stirring up a chaotic flurry of flying mud and shattered rocks of varying sizes. An unfathomable, irregular passage appeared in the ground, just wide enough for a single person to pass through. Dimly, at the very bottom, the floating pitch-black light and shadow could be vaguely discerned.

Given Qingxu's level of cultivation, clearing out a subterranean passage dozens of yards deep was far too simple—it was merely a matter of a wave of his hand.

The moment the passage formed, Qingxu descended without a moment's hesitation, dropping entirely by gravitational momentum. The roaring sound of the wind rushed past his ears incessantly, and within the blink of a few eyes, he reached the bottom. He immediately circulated his magical power to steady his form, suspended in mid-air. Reaching down and scooping with his hand, a ball of pitch-black light and shadow roughly the size of a fist immediately entered his palm.

Rumble! ...

Deprived of the pitch-black light and shadow, the island began to vibrate. Cracks spread across the earth, vegetation withered away, and under the shroud of a mysterious and grandiose power, it collapsed, disintegrated, and dissolved into nothingness bit by bit...

"It is truly as I guessed! This ball of pitch-black light and shadow is the crucial key—the treasure that suppressed the island. Now that it is in my hands, crossing this tens of thousands of miles wide Flesh-Ground-to-Dust Swamp will be no trouble at all!" Baring his teeth, Qingxu was so excited he felt a fierce urge to burst into hearty laughter.

"Daoist Brother, it's bad! The island is collapsing and dissolving! We should hurry back to the Primordial World!" The moment she saw Qingxu emerge from the underground passage, Little Kunlun anxiously stepped forward, tugging at the lower hem of his Daoist robe and pleading.

"Hahaha, rest easy! Brother has a way now, and I will take you across this swamp right this instant!" During this brief interval, Qingxu had already discovered the wondrous properties of the pitch-black light and shadow in his palm, and the lingering trace of trepidation in his heart completely vanished.

Almost suspecting that she was suffering from auditory hallucinations, Little Kunlun stared at Qingxu in sheer disbelief.

Gently patting the top of Little Kunlun's head, Qingxu told her about the pitch-black light and shadow.

"Wow! There's such a treasure? Quick, let Kunlun play with it!" Upon hearing about the pitch-black light and shadow, Little Kunlun was struck by immense curiosity. This was the first time she had ever heard of such an item.

"Not right now. Once we've left this swamp, Brother will let you play with it to your heart's content, and I'll treat you to delicious food then too."

"Yay! Yay! Brother is the best! Hurry, let's leave this swamp quickly!" With both fun things and tasty treats awaiting her, Little Kunlun was practically beside herself with excitement and eagerly urged Qingxu on.

With a smiling expression, Qingxu nodded as well. He manipulated the Black and White Ghosts to form the momentum of the Yin-Yang Taiji, placing the pitch-black light and shadow right at the center of the Taiji. He then commanded the Black and White Ghosts to step down into the swamp. Astonishingly, even when stepping directly onto the swamp, they did not sink at all; within a radius of several miles, not a single massive bubble rose, and the mysterious energy was entirely absent.

Even though they had been mentally prepared, seeing the condition of the Black and White Ghosts left both Qingxu and Little Kunlun somewhat startled, and their curiosity toward the pitch-black light and shadow increased by another notch. A fiery gleam shone intensely in Little Kunlun's eyes; had the timing not been entirely inappropriate, she would likely have snatched that ball of pitch-black light and shadow right into her hands to toy with and marvel over.

Whoosh!

Scooping up Little Kunlun, Qingxu's figure flashed as he left the collapsing and disintegrating island, landing firmly upon the Yin-Yang Taiji diagram formed by the Black and White Ghosts, where he trod as if upon level ground.

With a single thought, the Black and White Ghosts carried Qingxu and Little Kunlun, stepping forward step by step toward the edge of the swamp directly ahead. Along the way, the boiling swamp immediately grew as calm as a sheet of dead water the moment the pitch-black light and shadow drew near, turning into a pitch-black, crystal-clear mirror. Yet the moment the pitch-black light and shadow moved away, it churned once more like boiling water—how marvelous it was.

"This is somewhat akin to the Primordial Supreme Treasure, the Taiji Diagram," Qingxu thought to himself inwardly.

The Taiji Diagram was evolved from the Chaos Creation Divine Artifact, the Pangu Axe. When the Primordial True King originally cleaved open the Primordial World, though he himself perished, the Pangu Axe could not endure it either. In the final latter stages of opening heaven and earth, it split into three, which were subsequently enlightened by the Primordial True King into three Primordial Supreme Treasures: the Taiji Diagram, the Pangu Banner, and the Chaos Bell. The wondrous uses of these three treasures were boundless, each possessing forty-nine primordial restrictions (while the Pangu Axe contained fifty-five chaos restrictions). They stood as the cream of the crop among Primordial Supreme Treasures, having contributed greatly during the creation of the Primordial World, and thus each held a share of primordial merit, while their ability to suppress karmic luck was miraculous indeed.

Compared to the three Primordial Supreme Treasures of creation, the Kunlun Mirror was still a tier lower. Perhaps only the incomplete Creation Jade Disk artifact in the possession of Daoist Hongjun could rival or slightly surpass it!

Each of the three treasures possessed its own profound mysteries. Among them, based on Qingxu's understanding, the Taiji Diagram encompassed all things in creation, its might capable of cleaving heaven and earth, and fixing earth, fire, water, and wind. When driven to its absolute limit, it could even freeze time and space—truly terrifying. By comparison, the functions of the Pangu Banner were somewhat singular; it possessed only the formless Pangu sword qi of primordial chaos, yet it could be said to be the supreme treasure of offensive power in the Primordial World. Meanwhile, the Chaos Bell could suppress the Great Thousand Worlds, coordinate the myriad realms of the heavens, and possessed both offensive and defensive integration. Planted above one's head, one remained invincible beneath the primordial level.

The boiling swamp was like "earth, fire, water, and wind," while the pitch-black light and shadow resembled the Taiji Diagram: wherever it went, tranquility followed.

A distance of tens of thousands of miles was not considered too distant under the feet of the two Taiyi True Immortals of the middle stage—the Black and White Ghosts. In less than the time it took to burn a stick of incense, they reached the edge.

The four of them left the swamp and stood upon the hard, nether earth. Qingxu sighed endlessly in his heart: one step was heaven, and the next step was hell!

Casually tossing the pitch-black light and shadow to the pestering and frolicking Little Kunlun to play with, Qingxu held her in his arms and prepared to move forward with the Black and White Ghosts to search for the entrance to the Iron Tree Hell. But before they had taken even a few steps, a drastic change occurred. The Flesh-Ground-to-Dust Swamp roared violently, rolling up hundreds of streams of muddy waves—the lowest of which were dozens of yards high, while the highest approached nearly a hundred yards.

"What in the world is this situation?" Both Qingxu and Little Kunlun, who was toying with the pitch-black light and shadow, were dumbfounded.

"Daoist Brother, it's bad! The sleeping entity within this swamp is beginning to awaken, and it seems furious! Could it be because of this ball of pitch-black light and shadow?" Little Kunlun said timidly, the terror in her eyes and across her face utterly unmasked as she spoke of the awakening entity.

"I've poked a hornet's nest, a gigantic hornet's nest! I've really stepped into it this time. Why didn't I think of this possibility? Since this pitch-black light and shadow possesses such miraculous effects upon the swamp, how could it possibly have no connection to the sleeping entity within? We're doomed now; we've awakened that mysterious entity!"

Thinking of returning the pitch-black light and shadow now was already too late; the mysterious entity had already begun to awaken.

Terrified by the Flesh-Ground-to-Dust Swamp, Qingxu lacked the slightest shred of courage to face that mysterious entity head-on. After all, one only lived once, and he dared not take risks lightly. Should he die, who knew if the Primeval Lord of Heaven would resurrect him through the River of Fate?

Taking advantage of the fact that the mysterious entity was still in the midst of waking up, Qingxu immediately initiated a frantic escape with Little Kunlun. He and the Black and White Ghosts pooled their strength, flying away with all their might, while Little Kunlun cast spatial teleportation from time to time. Under life-or-death circumstances, the four of them held nothing back, fleeing with their absolute maximum power.

Within a short moment, the four desperate fugitives had fled hundreds of thousands of miles away from the Flesh-Ground-to-Dust Swamp. By this time, Qingxu and Little Kunlun had basically cast aside their worries; at such a distance, even if the mysterious entity had awakened, it might not necessarily be able to track them down. However, they failed to notice the faint flash of black radiance that flickered and vanished from the pitch-black light and shadow clutched tightly in Little Kunlun's hand.

Taking a few heavy breaths, Qingxu calmed the turbulence within his heart: "Let's go! Let's find a Mysterious Immortal Ghost King-level entity, investigate where the entrance to the Iron Tree Hell is, retrieve my Profound Yellow Avatar early, and return to the Primordial World. This Nether World is far too perilous; I'll come back to explore and sightsee only after my cultivation has improved in the future!" To say that Qingxu had no curiosity would be a lie. To him, the nineteen layers of hell in this Nether World still belonged to a "hidden map within a game." The Primordial World had not yet undergone its comprehensive public beta, but after all, his current cultivation was far too lacking. Adhering to the principle of safety first, he had no choice but to abandon his curiosity—only by acting according to one's capability could one endure long.

"Once I retrieve my avatar this time, I'll go back and properly cultivate the Primordial Merit Three-Light Precious Wheel, and I must also establish my Divine Kingdom Plane World. Didn't the Western Śākya Buddhism have the mustard-seed-like Palm-Sized Buddhist Kingdom? This Daoist priest shall pioneer a precedent for the Xuanmen Daoism, seizing the lead to invent the Palm-Sized Immortal Kingdom! In the future, I'll also be a great figure of a Patriarch level. When future immortal cultivators practice the Palm-Sized Immortal Kingdom, won't they have to bow and thank me?"

Plagiarism taken to this degree could certainly be considered utterly shameless. Having usurped the genuine patent of the Palm-Sized Buddhist Kingdom, turning things upside down, bootlegging them, and confusing black and white, even if Buddhism were to cast aside its pride in the future to practice the Palm-Sized Immortal Kingdom, it would inevitably be held in contempt by others. Didn't they see that in later generations, the Immortal Path, Demonic Path, Monstrous Path, Ghost Path... none of them plagiarized Buddhism's Palm-Sized Buddhist Kingdom? Was it because no one knew this divine ability? Far from it. Those Quasi-Sages and Supreme Experts could have plagiarized it with absolute ease. Yet from the Hunyuan Saints down to uncertified loose immortals, universally, none of them practiced it. This touched upon a matter of face and dignity. Qingxu even chuckled craftily to himself, wondering if the two leaders of Śākya Buddhism, Daoist Jieyin and Daoist Zhunti, would ever pioneer this great divine ability again. Between the development of their sect and their face, that must surely be a difficult dilemma to weigh!