Chapter Eighty-Four: Back to Houtu

  The six paths of reincarnation, connecting the vast wilderness above and the nine serenely bloody seas below, as the mysterious light of the underworld flickers, the six paths seem to appear and disappear.

  "The Six Paths of Reincarnation, combined..."

  After Hou Tu finished reciting the mantra, the six paths gradually became clear. The upper part hid into the vast wilderness and disappeared, while the lower part hid into the Nine Nether Blood Sea and disappeared. The orifices of the six paths flashed with mysterious light, about to suck Hou Tu in.

  "Senior brother, farewell..." The suction force of the six holes grew stronger and stronger, Hou Tu's body shape drew closer and closer to the hole mouth, looking at Zhou Cheng who was getting farther and farther away. Hou Tu said in a low voice, with more sighs in his words: sighing at the intangibility of the Great Way, the helplessness of Heaven's Way; sighing at the non-action of the Sage, the powerlessness of senior brother.

  Zhou Cheng saw Hou Tu about to be sucked into the Six Paths of Reincarnation, completing the final step - merging the six paths, thereby perfecting the Six Paths of Reincarnation and suppressing the Hell Realm. Without taking a single step forward, he arrived at the Six Paths' aperture.

  Looking at the figure that was about to disappear into the distance, Zhou Cheng felt as if he had returned to his previous life. He was just a person who struggled to make a living, working hard for his family, parents and sister, but still retained his humanity. Yes, he was no longer a saint. Taking a deep breath, he clenched his fists, his face more serious than ever before, and after a moment, he pointed to the sky like a sword, letting out a loud roar:

  "The six paths of reincarnation reveal their karma, the mysterious yellow treasure blocks great disasters."

  "Zhou Cheng, you dare to!" A loud roar echoed through the Nine You boundary, even the Blood Sea Town's Soul Temple was shaken, and the River Styx was terrified. He grasped the two swords of Yuan Tu and Ah Bi with both hands, trembling non-stop, just hoping that no one outside would come looking for trouble.

  Pffft!! Zhou Cheng didn't even have time to respond, and a mouthful of blood suddenly sprayed out. His body fell from afar. The Houtu at the sixth turning point slowly stopped moving, the Xuan Huang Pagoda flashed and transformed into a large hall, protecting Houtu, temporarily stopping at the mouth of the hole.

  In an instant, three people appeared. One was the Goddess Nüwa, and the other two were the Primordial Lord of Heaven and the Jade Pure One. The furious roar just now was emitted by Laozi himself.

  "You, a mere mortal, dare to plot against the saints once again and commit such an act of defying heaven. Under the Great Way, Hou Tu's demise and reincarnation in the six paths is a grand cause-and-effect inherited from the creation of heaven and earth, it is a fixed number that even saints cannot change. You... you old scoundrel, actually used the treasure of opening heaven's merit that should belong to me to replace Hou Tu in suffering calamity, and also oppressed me, oppressed me!" The Old Master stomped his foot in the void, about to rush forward to fight against the saint.

  Zhou Cheng didn't even have time to respond, and a mouthful of blood sprayed out wildly. The power of the secret technique was great, able to reverse even such cause and effect, but it also injured himself, and even saints couldn't avoid this.

  "Senior brother, why did you keep deceiving me until the very end? You're not worthy of this. Hou Tu is not worthy of your actions..." With Hou Tu's greatly increased strength, he personally witnessed Zhou Cheng's deeds and couldn't help but understand what was about to come. He knelt down in front of the Xuanyuan Treasure Hall, crying bitterly and repeatedly accusing Zhou Cheng of deceiving him.

  "Fourth Brother, you, for the sake of Hou Tu, actually dare to do such a thing, I, I..." Nu Wa was also extremely indignant, her delicate face as white as jade now flushed red like pig liver.

  "Haha... Nüwa, you can spare that effort, Zhou Cheng's treatment of you is well-known to all the masters in the Purple Mist Palace. Haha... how ridiculous that Zhou Cheng, a mere mortal, relies on his emotions and the Great Dao, yet remains unaware that the Great Dao's calamity is imminent, and he cannot escape...". The old man finished scolding Zhou Cheng, but then began to gloat over his misfortune. He had originally intended to take advantage of the situation to retrieve the Heavenly Earth Xuan Huang Pagoda, but this time it was blocked by Zhou Cheng using a secret method to activate the spiritual treasure's disaster prevention, and he feared that he would never be able to obtain it again. In the midst of his great anger, he thought of Zhou Cheng's impending calamity, and suddenly felt great joy.

  All the saints originally calculated that Hou Tu would reincarnate, and Laozi also made up his mind to appear with Yuanshi at the last moment, taking advantage of the fact that the Xuan Huang Pagoda was once again ownerless. With the identity of Pan Gu's primordial spirit transformed into a head, relying on the merits of opening up heaven and earth, he would take away the Xuan Huang Pagoda. Even if Zhou Cheng blocked him, without the Pan Gu sword, the two were confident and had nothing to fear from him. Unexpectedly, they were thwarted again by this fearless Zhou Cheng.

  Zhou Cheng's body was like a saint's, and despite his severe injuries, he exerted his strength to look towards the back of the earth and said:

  "Hmph... Hmph... How can you deceive others if you can't even deceive me? Disciple sister, are you disappointed again? *cough*..." Before she could finish speaking, another mouthful of blood spewed out. Her injuries were too severe, and even with the power of a saint, her body couldn't recover instantly due to the damage caused by the secret technique.

  "Haha... Zhou Cheng is a mediocre man, his great calamity is imminent, the good show is yet to come."

  "Big brother, don't say anything else, take a rest. I'm very happy, very sad, you... *sobs*..." Later, the ground was covered with water, and Zhou Cheng looked at it with a miserable smile.

  "Fourth Brother, you have repeatedly embarrassed me, but I don't blame you for it. However, for the sake of that accursed Hou Tu, you actually went so far as to scheme against me, even using the matter of the Xuan Huang Tower to calculate me. From now on, we will no longer have any dealings with each other, and you should be careful yourself." After finishing speaking, Nüwa didn't bother with the rest of them, turned around and stepped out of the Huan Huang Palace. Although the matter of the Xuan Huang Tower had been covered up by Hong Jun's intervention earlier, at this moment, under the influence of the heavenly mechanism, how could Nüwa not understand what was going on? She couldn't help but become furious, her womanly heart stirring up trouble from then on.

  "Hahaha... Since I've already done this, I'm fully prepared." Zhou Cheng half-knelt in mid-air, laughing disdainfully at Laozi and Yuanshi.

  "Sister, brother is about to be kidnapped, but you are taking care of yourself."

  After finishing speaking, Zhou Cheng closed his eyes and waited quietly.

  "No..." Hou Tu cried out weakly, "Don't...don't, I'd rather go through reincarnation..."

  Zhou Cheng defied the great law and turned the great calamity onto the body of the Lingbao in the Xuanyuan Tower, all within a split second. Everyone could feel the tremors on top of their heads as the vast earth shook, knowing that the heavenly calamity was imminent. In the previous battle at Wuzhuangguan, if Laozi had made even the slightest mistake, this great calamity would have occurred, but Hongjun appeared and stopped everyone, maintaining the balance of the heavens, so the heavenly calamity did not descend. This time, Zhou Cheng once again defied the heavens on a large scale, but he didn't have such good luck.

  Everyone looked up at the Jiuyou boundary above their heads, where a gap seemed to have opened. A purple mist emerged from the gap, and in an instant, a purple lightning bolt containing destructive power shot towards Zhou Cheng's body. In an instant, a burst of light erupted, causing even Laozi and Yuanshi to retreat and dare not look directly at it. The power of the lightning was absolutely beyond the attacks of any of the saints from the Hongyuan Gate.

  In secret, the two Western Religion cultivators and the leader of the Tongtian Sect were shocked, their minds reeling with dizziness and confusion. They thought to themselves, this time Zhou Cheng would not die but would be severely injured.

  "Ah......" a miserable cry, the only one since Zhou Cheng's rebirth, and also the most painful cry.

  "Big Brother..." Later, Tu suddenly got up and weakly flapped against the Xuan Huang Treasure Hall, wanting to rush out. However, although Lingbao had blocked the disaster, in order to protect her from being sucked into the Six Paths of Reincarnation, it transformed into a large hall, trapping Tu inside. The Xuan Huang Pagoda was also on the verge of collapse, and it seemed that it would fall into the Six Paths at any moment.

  After the miserable cry, the light dissipated. When everyone on the scene, including Tongtian, looked again, they only saw that the void where Zhou Cheng was originally located had already cracked open. Where was Zhou Cheng? A flash of lightning power actually struck the saint and tore through the void, and it was unknown where he fell in the vast wilderness. Even calculations couldn't find any result.

  Everyone couldn't help but take a cold breath, the Heavenly Punishment was too terrifying! With Zhou Cheng's strength, although he was injured, it shouldn't have been so miserable! In an instant, after hearing Zhou Cheng's unfeigned pained roar, it was likely that even if he didn't die, his skin would be stripped off. Then, who knows where he was beaten to? From now on, one must be careful not to easily defy the heavens.

  "Senior brother... Hou Tu has ruined you..."

  Laozi saw the Xuanyuan Pagoda transform into the Xuanyuan Treasure Hall standing at the mouth of the Six Paths Reincarnation. He gritted his teeth, wanting to take it back, thinking that after merging with the earth and the Six Paths Reincarnation, he would return the treasure hall to its original form and refine it back into the Xuanyuan Pagoda. Suddenly, a flash appeared in the void, and his heart moved involuntarily, but he couldn't help but sigh, trouble had come.

  Hongjun emerged from the void with a physical form, Laozi and Yuanshi bowed in mid-air and called out "Master".

  Houtu saw Hongyuan and knelt down to kowtow: "Master, have mercy, I beg of you to use your great powers to save Zhou Cheng, my senior brother... Houtu is begging you..."

  Hong Jun's expression didn't change at all, he swept his sleeve and opened his mouth:

  "The six paths of reincarnation, Hou Tu should have died and merged with the earth. Zhou Cheng's use of magic against heaven disrupted the great cause and effect of the universe, leading to future events that will be punished by heaven to demonstrate the fairness of the heavenly way. Ancestor Wu Hou Tu, although having used the Lingbao to ward off disaster, still had to spend a million years in the Xuan Huang Treasure Hall, not leaving the underworld, guarding the hell. The Xuan Huang Treasure Hall has since been forever stationed in the underworld, making up for Hou Tu's lack of karma!"

  Laozi and Yuanshi listened, half joyful and half worried. The joy was that Hou Tu would still be punished, the worry was that the Xuanyuan Tower could not be recovered even after countless kalpas.

  "Excuse me, teacher, is Zhou Cheng really dead?" Laozi asked as he stood up.

  "The old man is a match for me, this question is not suitable for a human son." After hearing this, Hou Tu's good temper also burst into anger, but she couldn't leave the Xuan Huang treasure hall and could only open her mouth to scold.

  "Hong Jun said: 'The void is not broken, the heavenly way is not destroyed, the saint has no boundless kalpas that are not annihilated. Disaster! Fortune!'"

  After finishing, he raised his hand and pointed to the six reincarnations. A green light flashed by, and the six reincarnations were gone. The Yellow Springs Temple and Hou Tu had disappeared. The six reincarnations and the nine hells had formed a new boundary - the underworld. The Blood Sea had also shrunk by half, with one side of the Blood Sea transforming into an endless great river, known as the Nai River. A bridge appeared on the river, which was the Naihe Bridge. Ghosts slowly floated between heaven and earth, crossed the Naihe Bridge, and entered the underworld.

  Between the underworld and the sea of blood stands a great mountain, known as Mount Yin. On top of Mount Yin, a faint yellow glow appears, which is the Mysterious Yellow Treasure Hall.

  The matter is settled, the six paths are established, and the underworld is formed.

  Days, days... Although I've been working hard, the recommended list position keeps dropping...

  A friend recommended a new book, not bad:

  Thousand Drunkenness Forget Sorrow