novelraw Chapter 1152: Azure Sky
Chapter 1152: Azure Sky
“Bastard—!!”
A furious roar from Divine Land’s True Dragon rang out, but even in her rage, Long Xiruo couldn't break free for now.
Hope’s Spatial Folding could suppress the destructive force of the spiritual energy eruption, but strictly speaking, Wang was still a juvenile dragon god. Facing the explosive power of all twelve ancestral veins of Divine Land gathered together, her spatial folding could be torn apart at any moment.
Dissipation—this was what Long Xiruo urgently needed to do.
“Karma… This is what you call karmic merit? If merit could be earned like this, how many saints would history have produced? Are you kidding me?!”
“More importantly…” Luo Qiu shook his head slightly. “Lady Long, I suggest you don’t stop.”
The violent spiritual energy now showed signs of bursting through Hope's spatial folding… and it was too intense for it to absorb all at once. Overflow was already beginning.
“You damned conman! Are you seriously just standing there watching?!”
“Does Lady Long want me to step in?”
“Even if you kill me, I won’t beg you again!!”Roar—!!
Ring after ring of golden light, like enormous halos, suddenly appeared out of nowhere, tightly sealing the spiritual energy breach beneath Mount Tai.
Their appearance was like the construction of a passageway, forcing the erupting spiritual energy to flow only into Hope’s spatial fold.
Divine Land’s True Dragon, her face red with strain, gritted her teeth and glared at Luo Qiu. “Damn you! If you’re not helping, then stop being an eyesore—I can’t stand the sight of you!!”
“Seems like Lady Long can handle it herself.” Luo Qiu nodded and began to fade away, vanishing completely.
“Hey… hey?!”
Long Xiruo paused, then cursed loudly. “He really left!! Damn bastard… no decency at all!! Damn conman, damn conman, damn conman… ahhh!! I’m so pissed off!!”
...
A gold-silver dragon shadow emerged from beneath Mount Tai, and a silver dragon shadow burst out from Croaching Dragon Estate… the distance between them wasn’t far.
But the shockwave from their eruption was immense.
Near the waterfall, the violent spiritual energy swept in like a storm—Nero, who was hunched over a large rock copying texts, hurriedly pressed down on her scattered manuscripts.
But she was a second too slow. The gale snatched dozens of pages into the air… Nero’s face changed dramatically, her mouth gaping open.
Her reaction was swift though—she turned into a black shadow and darted through the air, swiftly grabbing back all the flying punishment pages. With a perfect landing, Nero wiped her sweat and collapsed on the boulder in despair… the rest of the papers had fallen into the pool.
“I spent so long writing those…”
Miss Nero stretched out a hand, grief-stricken.
“Time’s up.”
Ignoring Nero’s lament, Miss Maid grasped a cross-shaped sword of condensed black flame, leaped atop the pool, and spun through the air. The two black flame swords in her hands were hurled down, stabbing directly into the bottom of the pool and disappearing.
Everything seemed to return to peace… Nero blinked, but suddenly felt a massive danger approaching!
The large rock she sat on exploded with azure light beneath it… shattering in an instant, and a desolate howl echoed from underground!
A blue-green dragon shadow surged out from the depths—and the colorful orb floating above the pool, like a black hole, instantly absorbed the azure dragon shadow.
“The first one…” Miss Maid whispered. “Balance it… Let’s collect four.”
...
Croaching Dragon Estate
When the first silver dragon broke through the earth, Mr. Blind—now without his Heavenly Eye—felt a massive pressure rapidly expand outward… but it also quickly faded.
Or rather, it was suppressed.
Everyone—Firecloud Evil God, Baijie, Mo Mo, and the others—remained frozen in time, completely unaware of the change.
The silver dragon rose into the sky, but it seemed to be bound by something in midair… upon closer look, there were countless threads across its body.
These threads wove a giant net that trapped the raging silver dragon completely. Above, many shimmering figures appeared in the sky!
Each was a silhouette—unclear in appearance—but each one had their hands connected to the threads forming the net.
Mr. Blind couldn’t see, but he could feel… every movement of the spiritual energy was like a brushstroke, sketching the entire scene in his mind.
Ninety-seven figures in total… with Lai Caisheng, that made ninety-eight.
“Senior Brother… your disciple… he’s incredible,” Mr. Blind said bitterly. “He might be the greatest talent Plain-Clothed Dao has seen since our founder… to refine this violent spiritual energy alone…”
“Caisheng still has a more important mission…” came 71st generation of Heavenly Heart’s weak voice.
Mr. Blind shuddered. Already on the edge after the ambush and losing his Heavenly Eye, he was nearly spent.
He crawled over to where 71st generation of Heavenly Heart lay, clutching his hand… The elder lay on the ground, silently watching the ninety-seven silhouettes and Lai Caisheng, watching the silver dragon bound in the net, coughing blood.
“He… he has a more important mission…”
“Senior Brother,” Mr. Blind whispered. “What mission?”
“He… he must leave this place…”
Coughing again, he continued, “He must leave… The Immortal Path is broken. We… this world… we are trapped here… I couldn’t find the way out. This is the only method… You think that stopping the spiritual energy eruption will bring peace to Divine Land? No… it won’t. The Heavenly Dao has already abandoned us… Even if we delay it, one day… it’ll come again… in another form. I… I want him to leave… go outside, find… find the real path, the real hope. Find… a way to defeat the Heavenly Dao…”
“Senior Brother… why… why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Mr. Blind wept. “Why didn’t you tell me…”
“Qingxiaozi… junior brother… from a young age, your talent surpassed mine, you were smarter than me… You were the one who should’ve inherited Heavenly Heart.”
71st generation of Heavenly Heart’s gaze gradually dimmed. “I truly hoped… hoped you hadn’t left back then. I hoped… our master hadn’t died. I thought… if it were you… maybe you could’ve found a better way… But in the end, that wasn’t the case.
Qingxiaozi… foolish junior brother, this time you were wrong… Have you forgotten the fate of those who leak secrets of the heavens? Such truths must not be revealed… must not be revealed. We know them, but we cannot speak them… Once we do, we cannot continue to exist. Heavenly Dao will never let us go. All we can do… is bear the catastrophe ourselves. That’s the only way…”
In a final surge of clarity—
71st generation of Heavenly Heart suddenly grabbed Qingxiaozi’s hand tightly. “Do you understand?! Do you understand now?! We can’t speak. We can’t plead… We can only do it ourselves! That is our fate!”
A powerful surge of life force burst from his hand and poured into Mr. Blind’s body.
“Senior brother, what are you doing!!”
“I want you to live… Caisheng needs to leave and find the true path. You need to stay behind!” 71st generation of Heavenly Heart suddenly opened his eyes wide. “Stay… stay! We don’t know when the next time will be, but I want you to live! Live and face the next catastrophe!”
“Senior brother!!”
As the last of his life force passed, 71st generation of Heavenly Heart’s body turned to ash before Mr. Blind’s eyes, slowly drifting away with the wind.
Foolish junior brother… live well.
“Senior brother—!!!”
...
Bodhi Sanskrit Chant.
The Bodhi Mirror.
Serenity and non-action.
Without dust or stain.
Lai Caisheng sat cross-legged on a lotus platform of seven colors. His cultivation in Bodhi Sanskrit Chant had reached its utmost limit. He should have been without sorrow, without emotion—slowly forgetting…
Yet a single tear slid down his cheek.
The raging spiritual energy was being refined… Above, outside the 97 light figures, a new one was slowly forming… Using Plain-Clothed Dao’s secret technique, one could reincarnate 99 lifetimes. His hair had turned white in a night—reincarnated 97 times, still short two.
Now, drawing on the wild spiritual energy stored in the earth for thousands of years, he finally touched another cycle… the 98th lifetime.
Once the 98th light fully formed, a faint glow began to appear—that was the 99th, the very first lifetime.
Lai Caisheng’s power had already reached the limit of this world. With the completion of the 98th, he stepped forward again—breaking through a certain threshold.
His divine sense expanded infinitely, until it could overlook mountains and rivers… a completely new state of being.
He slowly opened his eyes. On the lotus platform, his eyes turned into fragmented gold. To his left and right floated two glowing orbs, representing Heavenly Heart and Heavenly Eye, constantly flickering.
The 99th light had formed halfway… and then stopped.
The first silver dragon shadow broke through the net, but instead of rampaging, it dissolved into starlight and a gentle current of purified spiritual energy dispersed across the sky.
The second was a dragon glowing with blue light.
Then Lai Caisheng softly said, “You finally appeared.”
Before him, there had been no one. But now, under the night sky, a figure gradually emerged—standing outside the lotus platform.
Luo Qiu examined Lai Caisheng. “You’ve almost done it… I reduced my presence to the limit allowed by this world’s will. Seems that limit needs to be raised again.”
“Transcendent?” Lai Caisheng asked calmly.
Luo Qiu shook his head. “You still have a long road ahead. Transcendent is only your first step.”
“At least… it’s a beginning.” Lai Caisheng remained calm.
Luo Qiu was silent for a moment, then suddenly said,
“Heavenly Heart and Heavenly Eye belong to this world. They’re useless to you out there. And harmful.”
Lai Caisheng hesitated… then waved his hand. The two orbs dropped from the lotus platform and fell into Croaching Dragon Estate.
“Heavenly Heart only helped me conceal my presence and escape karmic cause… Now that I’m leaving, I should leave them behind. Qingxiaozi will make good use of them.”
“One question,” Luo Qiu looked at Lai Caisheng and asked, “In the 99th… your first lifetime—what did you see?”
Lai Caisheng looked at the not-yet-formed 99th light and shook his head.
“I couldn’t see clearly. I just saw a bird.”
“A bird?”
“A blue one, flying inside a cage… trying to escape, crashing into the bars.” Lai Caisheng looked at Luo Qiu. “You… know?”
“Maybe.” Luo Qiu smiled faintly.
“Heavenly Heart isn’t complete. The full version is called the Book of Alaya. What you had was only part of it… So you can’t hide it.”
Lai Caisheng frowned slightly.
Luo Qiu continued, “This merit isn’t easy to obtain. And what’s gained through shortcuts is never stable. But… I’ll make it a little more stable for you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Consider it… a little investment from me.” Boss Luo waved his hand.
Instantly, a massive beam of golden light fell from the night sky, showering over Lai Caisheng… The lotus beneath him bloomed again.
Lai Caisheng began to feel a sense of detachment—disconnected from this world. Constantly monitored by some will, uncomfortable like sitting on pins and needles… utterly rejected.
“But this isn’t good for you either.” Luo Qiu said blandly.
“I don’t want you to realize the flaw in yourself. I don’t want you to retain even a sliver of hesitation… You will forget me. Forget our conversation. Forget all of this.”
Luo Qiu’s voice seemed to drift away… pulled from Lai Caisheng’s consciousness by something.
His appearance, his words, his presence—were being erased, little by little, until nothing remained.
Lai Caisheng’s face twisted slightly in pain, but he quickly recovered. Only a vague impression remained… yet that sliver gave him a flicker of inspiration.
The one who rearranged the stars and rewrote the heavens… was you.
“Go, to a place beyond this world. Let me see… how far you can go.”
Luo Qiu’s voice faded.
“I’ll be watching you… from behind.”
Always watching you.
Good luck, freedom-seeking… Blue Flycatcher.
...
Lai Caisheng suddenly opened his eyes.
At that moment, the second ancestral dragon was nearly fully refined. The lotus platform beneath him bloomed completely. The 99th light had not yet finished forming, but golden karmic merit was already descending.
“Master… I’ve finally lived up to your expectations.” Lai Caisheng exhaled softly. “I’ll find the way.”
The third ancestral dragon—about to emerge!
The fourth ancestral dragon—following after!
...
Vast and gentle spiritual energy, like divine rain, fell from the heavens…
Mr. Blind looked up, watching the shimmering golden light of merit fall.
His eyes glowed faintly gold—and at his heart, a golden light flickered in and out.
Mr. Blind stood silently amidst the clouds, watching everything within Croaching Dragon Estate... Everything had returned to normal. Everyone had regained consciousness and could move freely.
They were all startled by the descending surge of spiritual energy, and at the same time, captivated by the massive golden light of karmic merit... frozen in place for a long time.
“The spiritual energy erupted… but we’re fine now.” Firecloud Evil God looked at everything silently, then let out a breath and muttered, “Old Blind… good thing you didn’t lie to me.”
“They really did it…” Mo Mo looked at Lai Caisheng, shrouded in that enormous light of merit, with a complex expression. “Is this… what you wanted?”
As they felt the thick spiritual energy flowing all around, some frowned, others were overjoyed, and some fell into contemplation… until the light of merit beneath the night sky slowly faded away.
The last golden glow entered Lai Caisheng’s body. In that instant, the petals of the lotus beneath him doubled. The space around him rapidly shattered open as a beam of multicolored light shot forth—clearly meant to guide him away.
At the same time, a massive beam of golden merit shot toward Mount Tai… followed by a deafening dragon’s roar.
A dragon shadow appeared in the sky, swimming toward Lai Caisheng and coiling beside him.
“The spiritual energy has been revived. Today, with the help of this merit, I shall depart… From now on, all living beings are but ants before me.”
Lai Caisheng’s voice rang out, echoing clearly in every direction.
His body slowly ascended. The dragon coiled around him. Man and dragon disappeared together at the end of that rainbow light.
He had ultimately vanished into the multicolored radiance… leaving this world completely, transcending beyond.
On the earth below, countless Daoists and Demons stared blankly at the dark sky… Lai Caisheng had departed, but the path he opened had truly existed—so close, so clear… It was the path they had sought for centuries.
“Plain-Clothed Dao… all that talk about reviving spiritual energy and restoring glory—it was all lies! Lai Caisheng only wanted to transcend himself!!”
“Damn it! We all became pawns in his game of transcendence!! Millions died, and the Divine Land’s Daoists and Demons suffered irreversible losses… All just to fulfill him alone!”
“From today on, the Divine Land will never allow the existence of the Plain-Clothed Dao!”
“Never allow it!!”
“Qingxiaozi escaped… swear to kill Qingxiaozi!! Swear to destroy the Plain-Clothed Dao!!!”
From the clouds, a long sigh echoed. Mr. Blind vanished into the distance.
“Senior brother… I’ll live on for you.”
...
...
Mount Tai.
A figure fell from the sky. Below, Su Zijun stepped up to catch it, landing steadily on the side of the mountain.
“Old hag, you’re done, huh? Just a little exertion and you’re already panting like a dog—tsk tsk!”
“Damn brat… then you do it!” Long Xiruo struggled out of Su Zijun’s arms and landed on the ground.
But her body began to shrink rapidly… In no time, she had the appearance of a ten-year-old child.
Su Zijun blinked, surprised. “Hey, old hag… don’t tell me you’re addicted to being a loli?”
“Drop dead!” Long Xiruo rolled her eyes. “I overexerted myself. Besides, when the twelve ancestral veins erupted, the earth’s spiritual energy dropped sharply… You think this stuff comes out of nowhere? It’s all from the Divine Land’s earth! A True Dragon’s power can’t be wasted—I had to conserve!”
“Good girl~” Su Zijun grinned and patted her on the head.
The real Lord Long was clearly not some powerless dragon restricted by the club—she immediately bit Su Zijun’s hand.
“Damn hag! You wanna die?!”
“Damn brat! I haven’t even settled the score with you yet… You dared to hire someone to attack me?! You itching for a beating?!”
Just as their plastic-sisterhood was about to shatter completely… a voice rushed in.
“Stop, stop!! Lord Long! Princess! Don’t fight—ah, ow…”
Kui Qianyi came running back in a panic—his body covered in bruises, half his beard and eyebrows gone, shivering from cold.
Then, his stomach and face were greeted with a punch from both the True Dragon and the Xuanyuan princess.
“I’ll deal with you later!” Long Xiruo glared fiercely at Su Zijun.
Su Zijun sneered, “Who’s afraid of who? Wanna bet I can make you kneel and beg me?”
“Damn brat…” Long Xiruo took a deep breath, glanced at Kui Qianyi. “Old turtle, if you’re not dead, get up—stop pretending!”
“This old servant… thinks lying here a while longer is safer,” Kui Qianyi muttered.
Long Xiruo waved a hand. “I don’t have time for this nonsense. I’m going to check on Croaching Dragon Estate.”
With that, she shot into the sky… but paused to glance at the spot where Lai Caisheng had vanished.
The golden merit light had appeared simultaneously—one beam for Lai Caisheng, one for Hope. In the end, she could only watch as Hope pierced through the sky, having never said a single word from beginning to end.
“If you walk out… don’t come back.”
...
“Princess, we shouldn’t stay here long.”
Seeing the True Dragon leave, Kui Qianyi quickly said, “You had me stall several National Heroes. I’ve practically got one foot in the grave… they’re almost here.”
“Stop panicking.” Su Zijun said calmly. “They’re the ones who have a headache now that spiritual energy has revived.”
“Princess, what now?”
Su Zijun thought for a moment, then pointed to a fissure beneath Mount Tai.
“That wastrel Gongsun Shiyu is still lying down there. Go check if he’s dead. If he is, bring the body back. If he’s not… stab him again, then bring the body back!”
Kui Qianyi opened his mouth. So either way… she just wants the body?
“What are you standing around for?! Go!”
“Yes ma’am, right away!”
This is madness… the princess just called someone a wastrel…
...
Inside the fissure, a shadow darted down the cliff wall at lightning speed… arriving at a pile of ashes and pulling out Gongsun Shiyu buried underneath.
At this point, Gongsun Shiyu was barely alive, breath shallow, eyes glazed. He barely opened his eyes and saw the shadow dragging him out.
“Zhishui… it’s you…”
“How do you feel?” The shadow was none other than Gongsun Zhishui.
Gongsun Shiyu weakly said, “Take… take me back… use the sacred pool… only the sacred pool can heal me… I won’t last long…”
“No need.” Gongsun Zhishui shook his head. “There’s no point wasting the sacred water.”
“What… what did you say…” Gongsun Shiyu said in disbelief. “I’m… I’m the Gongsun Clan’s most outstanding descendant… carrying the Yellow Emperor’s blood… how can anyone say… it’s a waste?”
“After all, Gongsun Shiyu, you’re not the only one.”
A trace of cold indifference appeared on Gongsun Zhishui’s face. He pressed his palm against Gongsun Shiyu’s heart.
“I originally thought you were just a failure… who would’ve expected, by some twist of fate, you actually evolved the bloodline.
Too bad—you’re no longer useful.”
At that moment, Gongsun Zhishui forcefully extracted a blood-colored glow from Gongsun Shiyu’s body—
Gongsun Shiyu let out a blood-curdling scream.
When the glow was fully drawn out, Gongsun Shiyu’s eyes were wide open, full of resentment… but no breath remained.
Gongsun Zhishui quickly stood up, tore off a jade pendant from himself, and sealed the blood glow into it.
He then conjured a white flame in his palm and wrote a line of glowing text in mid-air:
—Evolution sample recovered. Subject No. 19 confirmed deceased.
The glowing words faded away…
Gongsun Zhishui glanced around once and then vanished into the darkness.
Not long after, Kui Qianyi climbed down and rushed to the ashes.
He saw only Gongsun Shiyu, dead with his eyes open in unwillingness, and frowned.
The old turtle shook his head.
“Looks like I don’t need to finish him off… Gongsun Shiyu, I’ll take care of your corpse.
Dead is dead, at least it’s over. Xuanyuan Palace will probably erupt over this… sigh, what troubled times.”
...
...
Nero hadn’t given up… She was still in the pond, picking up her soaked punishment copies one by one.
Although re-copying them all might be faster, thinking about that demon-like Miss Maid…
Who knows if the exact number of papers she gave was just enough for all 270,000 copies?!
If one page is missing, who knows what kind of torment might come after!
“Nero… what is she picking up?”
Miss Maid, standing outside the waterfall with a blank face as she watched Nero work tirelessly, suddenly heard a voice.
She smiled faintly. “The punishment copy pages.”
Luo Qiu looked at Nero thoughtfully but didn’t ask more. “Is everything ready?”
“It’s ready.”
Miss Maid held out the glowing orb infused with spiritual energy.
Luo Qiu received it—inside, four dragon shadows could be vaguely seen swimming.
Luo Qiu said calmly,
“Where there is light, there must be shadow. Yin and yang must be balanced… Use this too.”
In his palm, a black orb wrapped in dark energy slowly appeared.
Miss Maid’s eyes lit up slightly. She took the black orb, observed it for a moment, then smiled.
“You always think ahead, Master…
With this, the Lord God world should be able to fully manifest—and maybe even update to a whole new expansion pack.
Hmm… with this resentment, it might directly enter a ‘Dark Age.’
Only then can Tai Yinzi’s heroic soul cultivation project truly begin.”
“Don’t be too hard on him,” Luo Qiu chuckled.
“Just keep him in line a bit. Who knows? Tai Yinzi might actually be a lucky charm.”
“I’ll handle it.” You Ye smiled gently.
Luo Qiu nodded and glanced at the sky.
“Dawn’s almost here. Let’s go home… Maybe make breakfast?”
“W-Wait for me! Just one more page and I’m done drying! Boss, save me a portion of breakfast!”
Boss and Miss Maid looked at each other and smiled.
...
...
“Mhm… Time to go. Breakfast…”
Da Zhe yawned, stretched, and then vanished.
Not far from where the dark mist dissipated, inside the hollow of a big tree—
Li Zi, who had been dozing off, was suddenly kicked in the cheek and woke up with a start.
“…Sister Ren, with that sleeping posture and that face, you think you’ll ever find a man?”
Annoyed, Li Zi pushed Ren Ziling’s leg off her and looked at Akiko lying beside her.
Earlier, the snow spirit had sent Akiko to Li Zi’s side, but the girl hadn’t woken up yet.
“Mmm… Luo Qiu, you’re home now… Wow, when did you have this chubby baby… Come on, call me Grandma~~”
Li Zi opened her mouth, looking at Ren Ziling drooling in her sleep.
She figured… maybe it’s time to wake this woman up.
Ren Ziling suddenly felt a chill, and instantly woke up—
Only to bang her head hard on the tree hollow ceiling.
“Ah—dammit, that hurts!!”
Rubbing her forehead, she looked around and grimaced. “Where are we?”
Li Zi replied casually, “No idea. We were following the main group, but then you and Akiko passed out. I got separated and had to hide… Looks like it’s dawn outside.”
“Dawn?” Ren Ziling blinked.
“This ghost weather actually has dawn?”
As she spoke, Ren Ziling crawled out of the hollow… Li Zi followed quickly after.
Outside, the sky was already bright, and the heavy mist was completely gone.
Maybe it was just the fresh morning air, but with just one breath, they felt completely invigorated.
Ren Ziling looked up at the sky, dazed.
“Sister Ren, what’s wrong?”
Ren Ziling shook her head and murmured while gazing upward:
“Li Zi… have you ever seen such a clear blue sky before…?
It’s like someone swept it clean.”
Above them, the clouds were soft and distant, and the pure blue sky looked like a flawless gem—
The blue and white stretching endlessly, so clean it made one feel at peace.
“It feels like… only when we were kids could we see such a beautiful blue sky.
It feels so good!”
Ren Ziling stretched with all her strength.
(End of Chapter)