Eternal Life by Dual Cultivation

Chapter 377 - 227: Fortuitous Encounter in a Dream (Part 2)

In a flash, thousands upon thousands of islands in all shapes and sizes streaked past below, receding countless millions of miles in an instant.

Ling Changqing frowned slightly, contemplating his current predicament. He had rarely dreamed since he’d become a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

This strange predicament was truly abnormal, yet he felt no sense of danger to his Divine Soul.

Before he knew it, the dark, bluish-green coastline of the Yuzhou Continent appeared on the horizon, rapidly drawing closer.

At this point, Ling Changqing finally spotted several streaks of multicolored light flashing by at high speed from the far distance, seemingly heading in the same direction as him.

Ling Changqing pursed his lips, deciding to wait and see what would happen.

As time passed, the coastline grew ever closer. Soon, Ling Changqing passed over it unimpeded, continuing his flight toward the continent’s interior.

The number of surrounding streaks of light gradually increased. They were Cultivators riding their Escape Lights, their cultivation levels ranging from Foundation Establishment to Core Formation and even Nascent Soul.

These Cultivators were frantically channeling all their Magical Power, riding on colorful Spiritual Artifacts and Magical Treasures to speed along. At the same time, they used their Divine Thought to call out to companions and form alliances.

Eventually, short, fierce skirmishes began to erupt between some of the closer Escape Lights. Every so often, a Cultivator would plummet from the sky with a tragic scream.

Ling Changqing merely watched with cold detachment as he was pulled by a mysterious, immense power, swiftly nearing a certain region.

Strangely, none of the growing number of Cultivators seemed to notice his presence. They traveled and fought in their groups, often passing right by him, yet they had no effect on him whatsoever.

As he drew closer, Ling Changqing gradually accelerated, leaving wave after wave of Cultivators behind—even some Nascent Soul True Monarchs were no exception.

After an unknown amount of time, Ling Changqing’s speed finally began to slow.

On the horizon, a majestic and towering mountain range came into view, its many steep and treacherous peaks clearly visible as it drew nearer.

’This should be... the Songhe Mountain Range?’

After a moment of thought, Ling Changqing pulled information about the maps of Yuzhou’s coastal regions from the depths of his memory. This place was the very foundation of the Songhe Sword Sect.

As the main territory of a Nascent Soul power, the concentration of Spiritual Qi and the feng shui of the environment were quite impressive—at least, they were far beyond anything the current Changqing Continent could offer.

The unknown, mysterious, and immense power propelled Ling Changqing forward, and he soon crossed the mountain range, entering the heartland of the Songhe Sword Sect.

The Cultivators rushing in from every direction were heading the same way as Ling Changqing, all apparently aiming for the same target.

’Let’s see just what kind of tricks you’re all planning to pull...’

Ling Changqing mused to himself as he effortlessly swept past a group of blood-soaked Nascent Soul True Monarchs locked in an earth-shattering battle, heading toward a luminous, giant peak on the horizon.

As he drew closer, he discovered that it was a stone Buddha statue over ten thousand zhang tall. It seemed to have been carved from an entire mountain peak, the work of some unknown ancient Great Power.

At this very moment, the giant Buddha statue was completely enveloped in a Sandalwood Golden Buddha Light so dense it was almost tangible. The blazing golden radiance stretched from heaven to earth like a magnificent, majestic pillar, illuminating the dark night sky as if it were day.

Countless Cultivators surrounded the Buddha statue, attacking it with all their might from atop their various Spiritual Treasures. They were trying to break through the screen of sandalwood golden light, and as multicolored radiances flashed, the earth-shaking explosions of numerous powerful Divine Techniques echoed.

But the Sandalwood Golden Buddha Light was incredibly resilient and dense. Despite the full-force attacks from numerous Nascent Soul True Monarchs, the light screen merely rippled, showing no signs of breaking any time soon.

By now, Ling Changqing’s speed had finally slackened.

He focused his gaze, examining it closely. The Buddha statue was that of a woman, with full, rounded features and a lifelike expression. She wore a golden robe, her palms pressed together. Her face was gentle and serene, with a mysterious, timeless smile playing on her lips.

Soon, Ling Changqing discovered a cave shimmering with golden light between her eyebrows. An aura of Dao Rhyme—ancient, immense, majestic, and vast—emanated from within.

Clearly, the Cultivators’ destination was that very cave. They wanted to charge inside and seek their own fortuitous opportunity.

But to break through the Sandalwood Golden Buddha Light and clear their path, they still had a long fight ahead of them.

More Cultivators continuously arrived from all directions in the distance, among them even the figures of Divinity Transformation Peak experts. Clearly, the opportunity hidden within this ancient Buddha statue was so extraordinary that even they could not resist making an appearance.

Before Ling Changqing could decide what to do, he suddenly glimpsed a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye.

’Liu Ying Meng Luan? She’s here too?’

Watching from afar as that peerlessly elegant figure flew past on her Escape Light, her robes fluttering, Ling Changqing felt a complex emotion he couldn’t quite name.

Just then, accompanied by a low, rumbling BOOM, the giant Buddha statue’s eyes slowly opened, revealing a pair of golden pupils that spun like enormous whirlpools.

"Get back!"

It was unclear who roared, but the Cultivators desperately attacking the statue immediately stopped and scattered in all directions.

The statue, its eyes now open, seemed to have come alive. It tilted its head slightly, looking in Ling Changqing’s direction.

For an instant, Ling Changqing could have sworn it smiled at him.

Before he could react, thousands of brilliant rays of starlight shot out from the cave between the Buddha’s eyebrows without warning, vanishing into the vast night sky.

Of the surrounding Cultivators, only a small few managed to react in time, unleashing powerful Divine Techniques to intercept the lights.

But one ray of brilliant starlight—the most dazzling and profound of them all—shot straight toward Ling Changqing.

He had no time to react before the ray of starlight plunged into the depths of his sea of consciousness, merging unimpeded with his Divine Soul.

"There! After him!"

Many of the distant Cultivators roared, lunging wildly in Ling Changqing’s direction.

Watching the ferocious, crazed expressions on the Cultivators’ faces from a distance, Ling Changqing felt his scalp tingle. ’Even if I were a Divinity Transformation Peak Great Power, I’d have trouble fending them all off, wouldn’t I?’

In the nick of time, the unknown and mysterious immense power reappeared, propelling Ling Changqing away at high speed along the path he had come.

"There he is—!"

The crowd of Cultivators behind him let out cries of shock and fury, giving chase with desperate fervor on their Escape Lights.

But Ling Changqing’s speed was clearly greater. He soon opened up a gap, flying out toward the open sea beyond Yuzhou with a horde of maddened Cultivators in relentless pursuit.

The Foundation Establishment Cultivators were the first to be shaken off and disappear from sight, followed by the Core Formation Cultivators, and then the weaker Nascent Soul True Monarchs.

By the time Ling Changqing was back over the vast ocean, thousands of islands once again streaking past below, only a handful of Divinity Transformation Cultivators remained in pursuit.

Leading the chase were, surprisingly, two peerless beauties. The first, a mature woman who appeared noble, radiant, and majestic, wore a grand, deep-cyan palace dress embroidered with patterns of phoenixes, thunder, and clouds, her jade-green hair piled high like a cloud. She was the Patriarch of the Liu Ying Clan, Liu Ying Ziyi.

The other was Qin Mengxuan, the Grand Palace Master of Lu Hua Palace. She had the face of a girl no older than eleven or twelve, yet her figure was graceful, enchanting, and sinfully alluring. The towering, snowy peaks on her chest looked down on all others with a strange dominance, so much so that even her elaborate, gorgeous, and unusually wide, bright-yellow palace gown failed to conceal them.

"...Friend ahead, how about stopping for a chat? I’ll make it worth your while!"

Liu Ying Ziyi called out from a distance.

Ling Changqing shook his head. ’If I’m foolish enough to believe them in a situation like this, they’ll devour me until not even a scrap of bone is left, won’t they?’

The two anxious women used every trick they knew to pursue him relentlessly, but the handsome youth in purple—with his jet-black eyes and a bearing as noble as a dragon or phoenix—only grew more distant.

A few dozen breaths later, the unknown and mysterious immense power suddenly accelerated, and Ling Changqing’s figure vanished completely into the depths of the night sky, as if he had never been there at all.

"It’s over..."

Qin Mengxuan sighed in frustration. She and Liu Ying Ziyi both slowed down, coming to a reluctant stop.

"Sister, for such an important opportunity to fall into the hands of an outsider... doesn’t this mean..."

Liu Ying Ziyi began, but Qin Mengxuan silenced her with a look.

"If I’m not mistaken, didn’t that youth look just like the Child of Destiny, Ling Changqing?"

Qin Mengxuan transmitted to her via Divine Thought.

Liu Ying Ziyi froze for a moment, then her expression shifted to one of disbelief. "You’re right... It really did look like him! In that case, are we..."