Chapter 127 – Great Dark Heaven—Those Outside Want In, Those Inside Want…

“Azure Lotus Daoist, this is the entrance from the Imperial Mausoleum to the surface.”

“Currently, there are five Buddha Mother Statues in the Great Yan Imperial City: one main statue and four subsidiary statues.”

“The main statue is located in the Old Capital Palace of our dynasty, which is also the most heavily guarded location by the Black Lotus Sect’s Immortal Fiends. The Black Lotus Protector has been stationed there all along.”

“Given your current condition, Azure Lotus Daoist, it’s nearly impossible for you to destroy the main statue in the Imperial Palace. We don’t require you to take such risks to destroy the main statue either.”

“You only need to locate the other four subsidiary statues within the city and find a way to destroy them.”

“This way, the Black Lotus Altar Lords will lose their ability to communicate with the Buddha Mother, not only suffering a significant loss in strength but also losing any chance of resurrection in this world.”

“However, as long as one of these four statues remains intact, any surviving Black Lotus Altar Lord can escape to it and still borrow the Buddha Mother’s power through the remaining subsidiary statue.”

“Therefore, you must either eliminate the Black Lotus Altar Lords guarding the statues after destroying them, or find a way to destroy all four subsidiary statues in a short period.”

“Once those four subsidiary statues are gone, the remaining Black Lotus Protector won’t be a concern. Leave them to us.”

Hearing this, Lu Chen asked, “How should I destroy these Buddha Mother Statues?”

Lan Yan immediately produced a pre-prepared bottle and handed it to Lu Chen.

“It’s simple, Daoist. You just need to sprinkle His Majesty’s blood on them.”

[Name: Longevity Physique Blood Essence]

[Effect: Can be used to break Ancient Fiend Power, or restore large amounts of Qi and blood, Spiritual Power, and increase Lifespan by 20 years.]

Looking at the effects of the Longevity Physique Blood Essence, Lu Chen was quite astonished.

Because he could sense that even for a Cultivator like himself with a First-Grade Great Dao Immortal Foundation, directly consuming this Longevity Physique Blood Essence could completely restore his entire state.

In a certain sense, this small bottle of Longevity Physique Blood Essence was equivalent to an extra life for Lu Chen!

No wonder Lan Yan and the others could rely on Ji Ling’er for unlimited resurrections.

Although Ji Ling’er was just a Mortal, if she could properly utilize her power, she might not be an Immortal in terms of cultivation, but in other aspects she was comparable to one!

After all, some forbidden techniques could be performed without cultivation, at the cost of consuming the user’s Lifespan.

But this cost meant nothing to Ji Ling’er, who possessed unlimited Lifespan!

What Lu Chen could figure out, Ji Ling’er must have understood clearly herself.

Yet she didn’t choose that path, instead opting to become the core of the Eternal Light Formation. There must have been her own considerations behind this decision.

“Azure Lotus Daoist, Lan Yan wishes you… smooth progress in everything.”

Lu Chen nodded, then headed toward the passage leading from the Imperial Mausoleum to the surface.

After passing through a relatively narrow corridor, Lu Chen soon reached the opening between the Imperial Mausoleum and the Imperial City.

The Great Yan Dynasty’s Imperial Mausoleum was built in the eastern suburbs of the Imperial City.

If Lu Chen wanted to destroy the Buddha Mother Statues within the city, his first challenge was figuring out how to enter the city.

After all, the Immortal Fiends in the Imperial City weren’t fools.As long as Lu Chen destroyed any one of the Buddha Mother statues within the city,

the Black Lotus Cultists from the remaining directions would arrive immediately.

If the commotion grew too large, there was even a chance the Black Lotus Protector within the Imperial Palace might be alerted.

Given his current strength, if he were to face the Black Lotus Protector at the fifth revolution of the Golden Core Stage,

he would stand absolutely no chance of victory—he wouldn’t even be able to escape.

As for the four Black Lotus Altar Lords, Lu Chen was fairly confident he could deal with them.

Although the Buddha Mother statues granted them formidable power,

borrowed strength could never truly be one’s own.

If Lu Chen found an opportunity to destroy these statues, the four Black Lotus Altar Lords would pose far less of a threat to him.

After all, they were merely beings who had barely reached the Golden Core Stage by relying on external forces.

Once deprived of that external aid,

their Realms would at most regress to the Pseudo-core Stage.

The Pseudo-core Stage was hardly an insurmountable challenge for Lu Chen in his current state—it would just require a bit more effort.

“First, I need to locate the four Buddha Mother statues, then figure out how to destroy them.”

Having sorted out his thoughts, Lu Chen strode directly out of the Imperial Mausoleum.

The moment he stepped outside, he was greeted by a murky, gray sky.

Moreover, in the air above the ground, he sensed a familiar yet eerie power—

the same power he had felt within the Ancient Fiend Sword Tomb instance,

specifically the strange black mist surrounding the Hidden Sword Pavilion.

[You have entered the Earthly Buddha Kingdom of the Ancient Fiend·Greatly Merciful and Compassionate Buddha Mother. You have been infected by the Ancient Fiend Power…]

[Your talent·Fairy Lotus Womb activates. You have become immune to the Ancient Fiend Power infection…]

Observing the faint gray mist in the surrounding air, Lu Chen quickly understood why Lan Yan and the others had claimed they couldn’t move freely on the surface.

The so-called black mist was essentially a manifestation of the Ancient Fiend Power.

The insidious nature of this power lay in the fact that unless one was a follower of the Buddha Mother, they couldn’t utilize the special Spiritual Power tainted by her.

Not only that, prolonged exposure to such an environment would lead to contamination by the Buddha Mother’s power, resulting in peculiar mutations.

Only someone like Lu Chen, possessing the Fairy Lotus Womb, could disregard this influence.

For others, even vengeful spirits like Lan Yan and her companions, staying in such an environment for extended periods was impossible.

The terror of the Ancient Fiends was evident.

Besides sensing the faint traces of Ancient Fiend Power in the air,

Lu Chen also noticed that the surface situation differed from what he had initially imagined.

He had assumed that the Great Yan Imperial City, now occupied by Ancient Fiends, would be devoid of any living beings aside from Immortal Fiends and monsters.

In reality, however, Lu Chen found that the Imperial City seemed to have retained its original state.

The common people were still the same common people, and the Imperial City remained the Imperial City.

The only difference was that those governing the populace had shifted from the Great Yan Imperial Clan to the current Black Lotus Cultists.

Moreover, the closer one got to certain locations, the denser the Ancient Fiend Power, resembling mist, became.

From his current position, Lu Chen could clearly identify five areas where the Ancient Fiend Power was particularly concentrated.

The most intense concentration was at the Imperial Palace.

Without a doubt, these five locations were likely where the Buddha Mother statues were placed.

With this in mind, Lu Chen immediately headed toward a village at the foot of the mountain range where the Imperial Mausoleum was located.Rather than entering the city now, he was more interested in learning about the current situation in the Great Yan Imperial City.

If he could obtain some useful information,

it might help him locate the exact positions of the four Buddha Mother statues more quickly, without wasting too much time.

Even with unlimited revivals in the Instance, Lu Chen still preferred to plan before acting.

Rash behavior had never been his style.

Three kilometers outside the Great Yan Imperial City lay Chen Family Village.

Chen Family Village was a small settlement near the Great Yan Imperial City.

Legend had it that there was originally no village here, but five thousand years ago, when the Great Yan Imperial Family began constructing the Imperial Mausoleum, tens of thousands of people gathered in the area.

With so many people concentrated in one place, some naturally chose to settle nearby after the mausoleum was completed,

forming the various villages that now surrounded the Imperial Mausoleum.

Normally, five thousand years would be an exceedingly long history for Mortals—

long enough for them to have forgotten about the Imperial Mausoleum.

However, over the years, the Black Lotus Sect—the current state religion of the Great Yan Imperial Dynasty—had repeatedly organized large-scale attacks on the Great Yan Imperial Mausoleum.

As a result, not only the Imperial City but also many commoners in its vicinity had become aware of the mausoleum’s existence.

Some even pinned their hopes of escaping the Black Lotus Sect’s influence on the Imperial Mausoleum,

wondering if one day an Immortal might emerge from it to end their unbearable suffering.

But this hope had persisted for over a thousand years without coming to fruition, causing most to abandon the notion and passively accept the Black Lotus Sect’s rule.

In Chen Family Village, it was spring plowing season, and the village’s able-bodied men were busy sowing seeds.

Some women sat by the river, washing clothes.

If one ignored the hazy, gray mist enveloping the area, their lives might not seem particularly unusual.

But a closer look would reveal that every villager was not only sallow and emaciated but also had bloodshot eyes,

clearly burdened with worries and years of sleepless nights.

An indescribable sense of oppression hung over everyone in Chen Family Village.

At the village entrance, several children were encircling a dull-faced, limping middle-aged man, laughing and teasing him relentlessly.

Some of the children poked at him with branches, while others tried to steal the flatbread he clutched to his chest.

To these children, tormenting such a fool seemed like great fun.

Despite their harassment, the middle-aged man showed no anger, instead fiercely protecting the flatbread in his arms.

His foolish demeanor only encouraged the children to tease him more vigorously.

Eventually, a boy of about twelve, struck by an idea, ran to the roadside, picked up a stone, and hurled it hard at the man.

Thud!

The small stone struck the man’s forehead, quickly raising a large bump.

Though the man winced and touched his forehead in pain, he still did not get angry or even scold the children around him,

as if he had grown accustomed to such treatment.

Seeing that the man refused to let go of his flatbread even after being hit by the stone,

the mischievous boy bent down to pick up another rock to throw at him.Such behavior had long crossed the line from mere mischief into outright malice.

Just as the older boy picked up a stone from the ground, an enraged roar suddenly echoed from the path ahead.

“What are you doing!”

The thunderous shout instantly startled the group of unruly children.

Following the sound, they soon spotted a youth of about fifteen or sixteen holding a black Buddhist scripture, his face contorted with anger.

Seeing the fury on the young man’s face, the children scattered like frightened sparrows.

However, the boy who had picked up the stone to throw at the middle-aged man paused halfway through his escape, deliberately provoking.

Not only did he make faces at the two of them,

but he also taunted, “Nyah nyah! The son of a fool can only be a fool too!”

Hearing this, the youth who had reached the middle-aged man’s side burned with rage.

He immediately rolled up his sleeves, ready to teach these insolent brats a lesson.

But before he could act, the middle-aged man beside him stopped him first.

Utterly oblivious to the situation, the man kept trying to hand the flatbread from his arms to the youth.

“Eat… eat the bread…”

“It’s cold… not tasty…”

Furious from the children’s provocation, the youth was in no mood to eat any bread.

He shoved the middle-aged man away, glaring at him with wide, angry eyes.

He paid no mind as the man fell, the flatbread scattering onto the muddy ground.

“Eat, eat, eat! How can you think about food when a bunch of kids are bullying you right to your face? Do I look like I’m in the mood to eat?!”

“I, Chen An, must have had the worst luck in my past life to end up with a fool like you for a father. You’re a disgrace!”

With that, the youth Chen An didn’t even glance at his father and strode directly toward the village.

As he passed his father, Chen An declared with unwavering resolve, “I’m going to the city. Once I pass the Black Lotus Sect’s exam, I will enter the city and leave this place behind. I’ll become a Black Lotus Cultist whom no one dares to bully.”

“Not like you, stuck here your whole life as a useless fool everyone picks on.”

“That’s right—to the city. I, Chen An, will definitely go to the city and become someone important…”

His words fading, Chen An quickly disappeared into the village, vanishing from the man’s sight.

Though Chen Shan had been pushed down by his son, not a trace of anger showed on his face.

Instead, he kept his eyes fixed on the spot where Chen An had disappeared, only looking away when he was sure the youth was gone.

Then, kneeling on the ground, heedless of the mud left by the light rain, he carefully gathered the fallen flatbread.

After collecting all the mud-stained bread, Chen Shan wiped his hands on his clothes, placing the cleaner pieces into a bag hung around his neck.

The rest he tucked inside his clothing.

Once this was done, Chen Shan crawled on hands and knees to the roadside.

There, he retrieved the crutch the unruly children had deliberately thrown aside.

Using the crutch for support, he limped unsteadily back toward the village.

Along the way, villagers pointed and laughed openly at his clumsy gait, mocking him without restraint.

As if by doing so, they could console themselves that their own lives weren’t so bad.

To all this, Chen Shan offered no response, silently enduring.

Only when Chen Shan had hobbled all the way home…Chen An and his wife, Madam Wu, had already started eating lunch, showing no intention of waiting for him at all.

When Madam Wu saw Chen Shan’s mud-stained clothes in the yard, she spoke impatiently between bites of food, “Wash yourself clean, then go wait in the kitchen.”

Hearing this, Chen Shan foolishly rubbed his head and walked to the well in the yard. He carefully took the flatbreads from his bag and inside his clothes, placing them on the relatively clean table by the well. Then he directly drew well water to wash off the mud from his body.

The spring weather was already cold, let alone using well water buried deep underground. After washing, Chen Shan’s teeth chattered incessantly from the cold.

Yet even in this state of cold and hunger, he did not disobey Madam Wu’s words, not daring to step into the main room even once. Picking up the flatbreads beside him, he dragged his wet body and limped alone into the kitchen.

After simply lighting a fire in the stove, Chen Shan warmed himself by the hearth while taking out the soiled flatbreads to eat as his dinner. As for the clean ones, he saved them for his wife and son—though they likely didn’t need them.

Though Chen Shan had intellectual limitations, it didn’t mean he was completely unaware. What he was doing now was what his parents had done for him when he was young. Chen Shan felt that since he had become a father, he should do the same.

Although everyone in the village knew that Chen An wasn’t actually Chen Shan’s child—Madam Wu had already been heavily pregnant when she married him—Chen Shan didn’t mind this, or rather, he had no concept of it. He believed that since he and Madam Wu were married, Chen An was his child.

After finishing his simple dinner, Chen Shan went directly to the corner of the kitchen piled with firewood. There, a relatively clean small bed was placed. Living in the dirty kitchen didn’t seem inappropriate to Chen Shan, as he had been sleeping there ever since his parents passed away years ago.

In the kitchen, Chen Shan went to the head of the bed and pulled out a nearly completed pair of cloth shoes from under his pillow. The shoes were quite ugly, patchworked with colorful but rough craftsmanship, clearly made from various scraps of discarded fabric.

Nevertheless, Chen Shan was very satisfied with this half-finished product, grinning foolishly as he looked at it. These were intended as a gift for his son, Chen An—something he had painstakingly woven over a full year using many pieces of cloth others had thrown away.

The reason he was making these cloth shoes was that when he was young, his parents would always patiently put on new shoes whenever they were going to the Imperial City. Thus, in Chen Shan’s view, one couldn’t leave the village for the Imperial City without wearing new shoes.

Ever since he heard his son say he wanted to go to the Imperial City a year ago, Chen Shan had been preparing new shoes for him. Though the shoes were mostly finished now, they still lacked one crucial step: thick cloth for the insoles.

Chen Shan looked around and finally fixed his gaze on his own clothes.He then tore open his clothes with force and, under the dim lamplight, began weaving the new shoes that symbolized “departure.”

After what felt like an eternity, a brand-new pair of cloth shoes finally appeared in Chen Shan’s hands.

Under the dim lamplight, Chen Shan raised the new shoes, his smile growing even brighter.

Because with these shoes, his son could finally enter the city.

Thinking of this, Chen Shan immediately placed the shoes under his pillow, carefully storing them away.

He planned to give them to his son the next day.

Though he was a fool, he remembered every word his son had ever said clearly.

Since his son wanted to leave, he would do everything in his power… to make it happen.

This was Chen Shan’s way of expressing his emotions.

Fools may be slow, but that doesn’t mean they don’t understand love…

Meanwhile, in a Black Lotus Branch Altar within the Imperial City.

“The Altar Lord has ordered us to quickly capture some ‘Blood Food’ to restore his injuries.”

“Start with the livestock in the city. If it’s not enough, capture more from outside the city.”

“Yes.”

In the darkness, hordes of Black Lotus Cultists, like soul-reaping ghosts, began sweeping through every corner of the city.

In an instant, countless families were awakened from their sleep, forced to watch as their husbands, wives, and children were seized by the Black Lotus Sect.

All they could do was weep and scream, utterly powerless to stop it.

Some seemed numb to it all, merely staring blankly as the Black Lotus Cultists rampaged through the streets.

Amid this oppressive atmosphere, the once-quiet Imperial City erupted into chaos.

Screams, cries, and maniacal laughter intertwined.

Under the pitch-black night sky, thick black mist enveloped every part of the Imperial City.

Like an impenetrable iron curtain, it trapped everyone inside.

Countless people tried to escape this vast cage, but no matter how hard they struggled, they could not break free.

Those inside the city wanted to leave, yet those outside… still yearned to enter.

(End of Chapter)