The Jade Crane had a profound epiphany, as if he had truly grasped some ultimate truth: "I have understood."
The moon smiled and nodded, "This Qilin is too innocent. The Buddhist scriptures are as vast as the sea, with monks laboring to copy them and infuse them with Buddha's power. Is this all free? How can it be given to you directly? After all, you are not an important disciple. You should gain self-realization first!"
She pointed at the Azure Phoenix and said, "This is your quarrel between the two of you. It's time to settle this karmic debt."
The Jade Crane looked flustered, "I can't beat her. If I could, I would just rush in. What's the point of joining Buddhism?"
The Moonlight was worried about how to eliminate the Azure Phoenix without breaking the precept of killing, and the Jade Crane had done a great favor.
She advised, "Madness is the source of fear, and fear is the source of madness. Cleanse the dirt in your heart and welcome new life."
As long as it's not her own life at stake, she seems especially relaxed.
The Jade Crane looked perplexed and asked, "The 'new life' you speak of is the 'reincarnation' that I understand?"
Just as he was about to decline, a force so potent and profound emanated from the depths of the earth, as if it could shake the entire primordial chaos.
It was not divine power, not supernatural abilities, but simply the power of blood and Qi that had integrated with the earth's vein. It appeared so pure and powerful.
What is this? He didn't need to discern, knowing the origin of this power. The power came from the ancestral Qilin - the first Qilin!
The Jade Crane did not refuse, directly bearing the bloodline power, and his figure instantly shot up to over five meters tall. On his white jade scales, a series of profound and ancient characters appeared. He looked like a Heavenly Qilin, with his four hooves tramping on various forms of energy. That was the most basic and primal material in the Primordial Chaos - earth, fire, water, and wind - much older than the five elements.
The Jade Crane roared at the sky, his cry resembling the drumming of a gong, heavy and resounding. The mere sound contained boundless power. On the other side of the Moonlight, a blessing was granted, primarily serving as a psychological effect; however, the outcome largely depended on whether it could gain favor from the Ancestral Qilin.
The young Jade Qilin did not understand these things, but felt that he had received the blessing of his bloodline ancestor and the Buddha. What could be more powerful than that? This wasn't what it was like to be invincible throughout the world?
After howling, his four hooves generated wind, first running at a small speed, then increasingly faster. Eventually, his body was surrounded by crystal clear and golden lotus flowers, and he transformed into a beam of white light, meeting the flaming red Phoenix that had descended like a fire god.
The Phoenix raised an eyebrow and pondered, "A descendant of the Qilin dare challenge me? How many Qilins of this level have I killed? A million?"
"Ancestral Qilin! Old thing, haven't you breathed your last yet?" In the ancient era, she had also fought against the Ancestral Qilin. Now, she could tell at a glance that the power on the Jade Qilin was not his own, but borrowed from a distant place through their shared bloodline.
The Moonlight watched her with a composed expression, "Haha, quite an impressive show, aren't you? With enlightenment comes help, and without it, one is alone!"
Dragon race is populous, emphasizing great love without bound, and quantity can overwhelm quality.
The Phoenix tribe can undergo rebirth, so even if they die in battle, they are not afraid, for in eighteen years, they can be a fine phoenix once more.
By transmitting power through the Primordial Chaos, this is an important racial talent of the Qilin tribe. Despite not being superior in numbers, quality, endurance, or mobility compared to the Dragon and Phoenix tribes, they can still compete with them.
Normally, the Ancestral Qilin cannot borrow its own power to the Jade Qilin through the earth's vein. Zhenyuanzi, the ancestral earth spirit, has a task to oversee the Ancestral Qilin and prevent them from engaging in "collusion" within the Primordial Chaos. He is the patriarch of earth spirits and also has a responsibility to monitor all activities in this world. The Primordial Chaos does not tolerate idleness or unnecessary activities.
This time, it was Dun Chang Yu who visited the Five-Storey Paradise to persuade Zhenyuanzi to temporarily lift the restriction on the earth vein, allowing the Ancestral Qilin to help the Jade Qilin defeat a powerful enemy.
The Qilin tribe can utilize the Primordial Chaos to transmit energy, unlike the Dragon and Phoenix tribes who do not possess this capability. Now facing the Jade Qilin, who is actually the Ancestral Qilin, she is at a loss. What should she do? Seek help from Yuan Feng?
The Azure Phoenix personally shattered the red smoke column prepared to counter the six-foot-tall golden body, and her figure flickered as she leaped into the air, revealing her true form.
Her wings unfurled, stretching a thousand and eight hundred zhang in length, blocking the sky and the sun. With barely a flutter, an endless downpour of fire descended from above, painting a scene of apocalyptic destruction.
Compared to her true form, the Jade Qilin, who is five meters tall and can run as fast as a tank, looks like a small animal. The difference in size between the two is too great.
The Jade Qilin paid no heed to this disparity, while the Azure Phoenix was extremely cautious.
Strength and size are not directly related. On the contrary, the Ancestral Qilin's power is extremely pure and will not cause the Jade Qilin to swell in size. The smaller one has great strength, while the larger one cannot concentrate its power into a single point. In this aspect, the Azure Phoenix has already lost three points.
The Jade Qilin was rapidly running, and his body was continuously sedimenting in color, his scales resembling jade and a little like crystal. Each step he took seemed to trample on star dust, with starlight gathering inside him. His body turned into light, becoming both tangible and intangible, then reverting back to tangible form again. This process repeated seven times, causing his eyes to flow with blood tears. Clearly, he had reached the limit of his body.
The Azure Phoenix was also gathering strength, but the power of time kept eroding her. Every time she increased her strength by three percent, one percent of her power would be automatically consumed by time, causing significant damage.
Realizing her own fate, she looked one last time at the Moonlight.
A divine thought was transmitted.
"What is the Buddha you speak of?"
The Moonlight also replied through a divine thought, "When you knock on the door of your home and see a person coming out wearing a blanket and shoes worn backwards, hurrying to greet you, that person is the Buddha."
The Azure Phoenix initially stunned, then began to laugh uncontrollably, laughing to the point of madness: "That person wouldn't welcome me! She would only find me bothersome and think I haven't lived up to my reputation."
The Moonlight smiled slightly: "How can you know it won't work unless you try?"
While they were conversing, the Azure Phoenix, outside of their divine thoughts, spat out the Southern Bright Emission Fire that had gathered all her magical power. The Jade Qilin charged forward through the fiery sea, with endless flames burning his scales. The originally jade-like and crystalline scales gradually became dirty, his face turned dark, the power within his body rapidly dissipating, and the speed of his flying hooves slowing by a tenth. The only thing that remained unchanged was his eyes—filled with an intense focus and belief.
"Alas"
"Boom!"
The sigh of the Azure Phoenix and the collision sound of the Jade Qilin echoed simultaneously. The Jade Qilin, like a meteor of celestial fire, pierced through a mass of white, skeletal remains straight ahead and flew tens of thousands of miles away before he noticed the problem. He whirled around swiftly and saw the fiery clouds covering Mei Mountain quickly dissipate, with the bones belonging to the Azure Phoenix falling from the sky.
The Azure Phoenix was still defeated, not by the Jade Qilin, but by Time Force. She had recovered some of her lifespan from the edge of death, but all of it was used up, and she returned to the realm of the dead once again.
Whether she saw the Buddha in her heart at the last moment of her life, the Moonlight does not know. The Buddha resides in the hearts of all living beings, never departing.
