Volume 4: The Revelation Unveiled Chapter 466: Flying Sword Mastery

The Tathagata pretended to engage in polite conversation with the Primordial Being on the surface, but in his heart, he wondered why the Three Pure Ones, who had always advocated “following the way of nature,” now emphasized “staying true to one’s original heart.” After all, the essence of learning any doctrine lies in persistence. If one’s mindset becomes unstable, what’s the point of practicing the Dao?

Who else in this world could be qualified to impart the Dao to the Three Pure Ones? The Primordial Being spoke those words “stay true to one’s original heart” without the slightest hesitation, clearly convinced of their truth—this was truly remarkable.

Preoccupied with this thought, the Tathagata didn’t realize that the Queen Mother’s mood had drastically changed. Just as he was about to probe the origin of the Primordial Being’s words, he heard the Queen Mother shout loudly, “Sheng yue! Bade ma, ji fa la, Bula fa er da ya, Hong—”

Upon hearing the Queen Mother recite this extremely strange incantation, the Tathagata’s face turned pale. He immediately turned and struck her with a palm. After finishing the incantation, the Queen Mother smiled brightly and soon turned into a handful of bubbles. At that exact moment, the Tathagata’s palm strike sent those bubbles scattering and disappearing without a trace.

The Tathagata naturally knew that the incantation the Queen Mother had recited was the one used to control the life forces of the Eight or Nine Golden Immortals.

The Tathagata was highly strategic. The restrictions he had hidden on the Queen Mother and the Jade Emperor were also controlled through this incantation. However, since only half of the incantation needed to be recited for the spell to activate, no one could finish it, ensuring the safety of the Eight or Nine Golden Immortals.

But what he didn’t expect was that the Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother had long developed a tacit understanding—everything was jointly controlled by them. Among the seventy-two Hunyuan Golden Immortals, each of them governed thirty-six, and among the thirty-six sages, each controlled eighteen. Even the incantation for controlling the Eight or Nine Golden Immortals was divided between them.

After the Jade Emperor recited the first half of the incantation, he died instantly. As for the Queen Mother, she said “Sheng yue” before reciting the incantation, which held great significance.

There are countless incantations in the world, as numerous as the sands of the Ganges River. It’s absolutely impossible to learn them all, but some people have categorized them into various types: one-character incantations, five-character incantations, instant incantations, separation incantations, combination incantations…

Without going into further details, separation incantations are typically used for very long incantations. Often, several people work together—after one person finishes reciting a section, another continues with “Sheng yue” before proceeding, without affecting the incantation’s effectiveness.

Thus, “Sheng yue” acts like a rope, combining two sections of the incantation into one.

Although the incantation for controlling the Eight or Nine Golden Immortals was originally quite short, the Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother added “Sheng yue” in the middle for fairness, ensuring equal control over it.

I remember during those discussions, the Queen Mother of the West joked, “I’m afraid this spell will never be needed. Once it’s spoken, neither of us will be safe.” That joke turned out to be a prophecy—the last words spoken by the Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother were indeed that spell!
The last smile the Queen Mother gave Buddha filled him with rage; that smile clearly hid the message, “I’ve finally beaten you once!”
The Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother died without even leaving a body, otherwise Buddha would have indeed thought of flogging their corpses. The eight or nine Golden Immortals simply disappeared, leaving only an empty Creation Furnace—a loss that was truly immeasurable.
At that moment, the Yellow-Horned Immortal moved. It seemed as if it had woken from a dream, looking around in confusion. It asked the Medicine Buddha, who was closest to it, “Where is this place?”
Before the Medicine Buddha could answer, the Yellow-Horned Immortal had already left the South Heavenly Gate. It walked more and more lightly, with no one knowing where it went.
Seeing Buddha’s furious state, the Primordial Lord said calmly, “All your plans have come to nothing!”
Buddha took a deep breath to calm himself. Since arriving in this world, he had failed only a few times. That was because he knew this world very well and planned ahead, planting many pawns even at the beginning of creation.
What had previously frustrated him was the failure during the Journey to Obtain Scriptures—the mortal monk Tang Sanzang refused to yield even to death, Wukong developed his second form, and the Phoenix and the Lamp-Bearing Buddha risked their lives to stop him… Today, even the Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother, those two “kids,” dared to fight to the death? Were these people crazy?
No matter how hard Buddha tried, he couldn’t figure out what these people really wanted. What exactly was righteousness, that could be more important than life?
With the Queen Mother dead and the Yellow-Horned Immortal gone, the eighteen saints immediately understood what was happening. One by one, they left through the South Heavenly Gate, and from then on, the power of the Jade Pool vanished completely. The Heavenly Court became a target, with the Three Pure Ones on one side and Buddha’s faction on the other.
Although the Yellow-Horned Immortal and the eighteen saints had left, Buddha still had over a hundred Buddhas led by the Medicine Buddha, giving him a significant numerical advantage. Buddha forced himself to calm down, pushed aside thoughts of the eight or nine Golden Immortals, and returned to his position among the Eight Medicine Buddhas.
The Medicine Buddha understood Buddha’s intentions and said to the Primordial Lord, “Great Primordial Lord, those who know when to act wisely are truly remarkable.”
Faced with over a hundred experts, the Primordial Lord remained unperturbed and said, “A bunch of fake Buddhas—their true nature has been revealed.”
The Medicine Buddha said nothing more. He lifted the lid of the medicine pot in his hand, and a stream of green energy surged forth, attacking the Primordial Lord. Combined with the power of the Eight Medicine Buddhas, this energy was incredibly formidable. The green mist filled the South Heavenly Gate, covering everyone completely.

Laojun summoned his Vajra Axe, which grew to the size of a wheel, and struck at the medicine pot in the hands of the Medicine Buddha. The eight Medicine Buddhas simultaneously raised their left palms to strike at the Vajra Axe. The force of their palms caused the axe to deviate by several feet, landing among the Buddhas and hitting the shoulder of one Buddha at the level of a Hunyuan Golden Immortal.

Although the Vajra Axe was a blunt weapon, it severed this Buddha’s left arm, causing blood to flow profusely. A few nearby Buddhas saw the axe’s momentum slowing down and reached out to grab it. Laojun sneered, “Dare you seize my magical weapon?” He recited a spell, and the Vajra Axe began spinning rapidly, its edges becoming razor-sharp, deterring anyone from approaching further.

The Lingbao Daoist Lord waved his sleeves, dispersing the green mist beside the chariot. Yet the mist kept returning, carrying a strange odor. Though it wasn’t highly lethal at the moment, it was extremely annoying.

Laojun shouted, “There’s ghostly phosphorus fire poison inside!” Ghostly phosphorus fire poison was a kind of evil fire derived from the True Triple Flame but infused with the resentment of ghosts. If one was burned by this flame, it would cause chronic pain as if poisoned.

The Buddhas were unafraid of this fire poison, but the Daoist apprentices around them might not withstand it. The Yuanshi Daoist Lord waved his sleeves, and a small yellow flag appeared. After fluttering twice in the air, most of the green mist dissipated. Laojun took out a purple-gold red gourd, opened its lid, and recited a few spells. The remaining mist, as if finding its way home, rushed inside.

The heavens regained clarity. Dozens of Buddhas surrounded the Three Pure Ones. The Purple Micro Emperor and the Holy Mother of Lishan stepped forward, gathering the Daoist apprentices together and protecting them.

The Yuanshi Tianzun waved his hand backward, and the Nine Dragon Incense Chariot rose into the air, creating a field of multicolored clouds beneath the feet of the hundreds of apprentices. These nine dragons were the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas and the five dragons of the three realms—the Ao clan’s nine dragons, which had long served as the Yuanshi Tianzun’s chariot.

Zhenwu had recently conceived the idea of helping the Yuanshi Tianzun regain his former glory. He persuaded the Ao clan to serve as his chariots again. The other eight dragons had no such attachments, but only the Ao clan members were stubborn. Yet Zhenwu didn’t use force but reasoned with them. In terms of seniority, the Ao clan members were junior to Zhenwu, and in terms of gratitude, Wukong was their savior.

Both Zhenwu and Wukong held the Three Pure Ones in high regard. What was a mere Ao clan Dragon King compared to them? As for the incident of being trapped beneath the three realms back then, it wasn’t the work of the Yuanshi Tianzun but rather the doing of the Kunpeng. If they weren’t convinced, they could go after Kunpeng. With the nine dragons of the Ao clan and the other eight working together, would it not disrupt harmony if only one of them harbored resentment?

After much thought, Ao Sheng realized that Zhenwu’s words were not unfounded. It was not Yuanshi Tianzun who had trapped him, but the Kunpeng. Yet he lacked the courage to confront the Kunpeng. After some deliberation, he agreed to pull the cart for Yuanshi. But he also vowed to master this skill well, so that in the future, if there were any more matters related to creating worlds, he wouldn’t be involved again.

Zhenwu’s actions carried deep significance. By convincing the Nine Dragons to submit to Yuanshi Tianzun, he was signaling in advance that the dragon clan, though physically in the Heavenly Court, truly belonged to the Three Pure Ones. Coupled with his friendship with Qi Tianling, he took this action before the Heavenly Court and the Three Pure Ones fell out, demonstrating his sincerity.

Yuanshi had originally come to put on a show, to avoid appearing as if his Taoist sect had no one. But things took a bad turn when he failed to reach an agreement with Buddha, and coupled with the sudden death of the Queen Mother, the Yellow-Horned Immortal and the Eighteen Saints left, while eight or nine Golden Immortals were destroyed in the Creation Furnace. Buddha became furious.

There was no point in further discussion—it was clear that a major battle was imminent. These Taoist apprentices had low cultivation levels and could not be relied upon, so it was better to send them back to the Jade Pure Palace.

Those dozen or so Buddhas all possessed the cultivation level of saints, and their magical weapons seemed to be made in the same mold. These weapons were flying swords over a foot long, without handles, only with sharp tips, as if bent from more than a dozen long swords.

Lingbao Daozun said, “These flying swords are remarkable.”

Laojun nodded, picked up the Vajra Chisel, and asked, “I wonder if we can capture them.”

More than a dozen flying swords were conjured simultaneously, hovering in the air and aimed at Yuanshi alone.

Yuanshi didn’t dare neglect them. He waved his Dunhuang Flag again to cover himself and asked Buddha, “You destroyed the Immortal Trapping Sword and the Immortal Severing Sword!” Buddha sneered, “The Immortal Exterminating Sword was also destroyed. Can’t I destroy these too?”

Hearing about the Immortal Trapping Sword and the Immortal Severing Sword, Lingbao and Laojun’s expressions changed, and they stood beside Yuanshi. The Four Immortal Exterminating Swords became more powerful the higher the cultivator who wielded them. With these dozen or so Buddhas all at the saint level, if they attacked together, they were indeed formidable.

Buddha shouted, “Go!”

The flying swords halted in midair, as if responding to their master’s command, then shot toward Yuanshi Tianzun. Yuanshi knew that the art of flying swords was no trivial matter. He couldn’t dodge them. Once those swords locked onto his spiritual essence, they would follow him like shadows, so the only real solution was to find a way to counter them.

Lingbao Daozun spread his sleeves like a curtain, blocking two flying swords with his true power as they pierced his robes. The rest circled around and continued to shoot at Yuanshi.

Laojun wielded the Vajra Axe, ready to collect those over a dozen flying swords. Yet the swords became disordered in the air, colliding with clanging sounds and flying in all directions. Only three swords made it into the Vajra Axe, while the rest changed direction, circled, and continued to shoot at Yuanshi.