Chapter 22: The Immortal Maiden

  When the airship appeared, the beautiful and serene landscape of Youming Lake was suddenly shrouded in an unprecedented, sacred and solemn atmosphere, and the voices of the people discussing it involuntarily lowered.

  "What is that thing?"

  Almost everyone noticed this incredibly huge and strange flying boat, the speed of which was extremely fast. A few breaths ago it was still far away in the sky, but a few breaths later, it came to the upper air of Youming Mountain Lake.

  "Look quickly, there is a pavilion on the flying boat!"

  "It seems like there's still someone!"

  Everyone exclaimed in surprise.

  It was only then that everyone saw clearly, on the flying boat, there were pavilions and towers, flower kiosks and water pavilions, all of which existed. Among the misty white fog, the entire flying boat seemed to have suddenly transformed into a beautiful and magnificent heavenly palace. Between the carved railings and jade piers, clouds rose, and the figure of an immortal appeared, sometimes visible, sometimes hidden.

  After a moment, the flying boat drew closer, and everyone saw that a fairy in crimson attire was standing at the bow of the boat, her feet on a lotus pedestal, floating as if she were standing. The faint sound of chanting, which seemed to be coming from her mouth, was spreading the Buddha's voice throughout the entire space above Youming Lake.

  Gazing afar at the fairy, she seems to be far away in the sky, yet also seems to be near at hand. She wears a hazy veil, her face is not clear, but as soon as you see her eyebrows and eyes, as well as the faint outline under the veil, there's no doubt that she's an absolute beauty.

  Her brow was painted with a lifelike white lotus, looking elegant and refined. The whole person's temperament seemed to be the last unpolluted white lotus in the mundane world, pure, natural, extremely beautiful, extremely noble, and at the same time, there was a mysterious halo surrounding her.

  Her voice is also incomparable pure beauty, like the heavenly music, in the midst of vagueness and obscurity, it touches people's heartstrings, making their hearts follow it with infatuation, unable to extricate themselves. However, amidst this, there isn't any thrilling soul-stirring, only an unwillingness to wake up from the intoxication. It seems that in this wonderful sound, a person's entire soul is elevated.

  This scripture, as recited by the immortal maiden, is like a magnificent and sonorous voice, the ultimate principle of heaven and earth. It's also as if from the depths of the unknown, the Buddha's sound from the Pure Land of White Lotus is expounding the profound wisdom, the great truth, warm and gentle as water, moistening the heart and spleen. Amidst the subtlety, countless fragrant flowers and raindrops are floating down from the sky, all of which are the petals of the white lotus flower, like the heavenly sweet dew, benefiting sentient beings, boundless purity, beauty, and endless sanctity, also falling together.

  The white lotus is born in a place where everything is beautiful and pure. The heavens and the worlds, with their myriad colors, all shine brightly together.

  Lü Yang suddenly felt that all his wisdom was mobilized, and he had an inexplicable epiphany. At the same time, he was filled with longing for the immortal maiden, just like a person groping in the boundless dark night who suddenly saw the bright moonlight, or a drowning person struggling in the boundless sea of suffering who saw the Prajna treasure ship, and the hope of crossing over to the other shore was right before his eyes.

  Great thoroughness, great enlightenment, great liberation! What kind of joy is this? What kind of delight is this?

  The meaning is profound and far-reaching, but for a moment, it's somewhat difficult to put into words.

  Everyone was shocked by this scene, standing still on the spot, stunned like a wooden chicken, as if they had lost their souls.

  The appearance of this flying boat, and the sacred and majestic atmosphere it contains, which is as if the Nine Heavens Xuan Nü descended to the mortal world, deeply shocked their souls, making them unable to recover for a long time.

  But just as everyone was indulging in it, unable to extricate themselves, a majestic and unparalleled cold light suddenly rose into the sky without warning, welcoming the fairy who had floated over.

  Vast, covering the sky, boundless and endless, terrifying beyond description!

  The language of the world has almost become inadequate to describe this cold light, it appears and breaks the intoxicating illusion, cutting down without saying a word.

  Suddenly, heaven and earth were moved!

  "Rumble!"

  The entire sky seemed to be on the verge of collapse, with distant mountains, bright moon, and starlight all shrouded by a massive shadow, giving people the illusion that with just a slight effort, the entire universe would shatter.

  The air seemed to be filled with an endless thunderous sound that reverberated back and forth, continuous and unrelenting, evoking a nameless terror.

  The moment they saw the cold light, everyone's heart was racing violently, as if it were about to explode. The blood in their bodies constricted uncontrollably, like a normal person being thrown into an ice cellar, suddenly catching a chill and almost dying from fright.

  A raise of hand and a turn of palm can stir up heaven and earth, changing the colors of wind and clouds!

  Lü Yang suddenly thought of a phrase that Lü Zhenwei had once used to describe the Xianmen cultivators, and how well it matched the current situation.

  "The Yue Yao fairy of the Lu family from Nanling is indeed famous for a reason."

  The chanting stopped abruptly, a faint sigh came from the flying boat drifting with celestial music, still as distant as before, yet seemingly close to the ear.

  This sudden and severe blow not only shocked Lv Yang and the others, but also deeply shocked the fairy on the flying boat.

  The fairy, who was stepping on a white lotus seat, pinching a white lotus flower, and had a white lotus mark drawn between her eyebrows, seemed to be emitting endless fragrance. She raised her hand and blocked it, and the majestic cold light suddenly stopped. It turned out to be a three-inch flying knife with a unique shape, flashing with lightning.

  This flying dagger contained a faint, fierce gleam of lightning, its sharp edge seemingly able to pierce through the eyes, but was stopped by her casual block.

  Lü Yang's heart skipped a beat, and he vaguely sensed that her every move contained an inexplicable aura, which seemed to be neither worldly nor mystical.

  "This is not a secular technique, nor is it a mysterious skill passed down by the Xianmen cultivators. Could it be that this is a divine technique, a method that only immortals can use?"

  Lyu Yang's passion was thoroughly ignited.

  He had thought that the perfect circle of tomorrow, with its mighty dragon and elephant power, was his ultimate goal. But now he deeply realized that this realm was not the true pinnacle; transcending worldly power was the true pinnacle.

  In an instant, his heart opened up a few points, with a feeling of rebirth.

  Boom! Boom boom!

  At this moment, a sudden change occurred. The three-inch flying knife with a strange shape and flashing lightning suddenly burst out without warning, unleashing a terrifying momentum.

  This sudden explosion was like the ancient times, when an assassin presented a fish sauce, without any warning, a sharp dagger appeared. It emerged just as the flying knife's residual force had stopped, and new energy had not yet been born, in that brief moment of stillness, with unparalleled precision, as if it had been calculated many times over.

  Lightning snakes dance, a vast expanse of white envelops the entire flying boat.

  Dazzling light rain, covering the sky and earth, a momentary change, making the entire sky bright white.

  This burst of white light was ten times more intense and ten times more perilous than the lightning flash just now, almost suffocating with a terrifying aura that permeated the entire sky. It seemed as if a second sun appeared in the air, followed by a third, fourth, fifth... until hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands!

  Everyone's eyes couldn't see anything anymore, they only felt that the sky and earth were a vast expanse of white, all things in the world were shrouded by wave after wave of lightning!

  "Witch, this is the Wan Lei Shen Gang Great Formation that I specially prepared for you, die!"

  A cold and emotionless voice came from the lightning, surprisingly it was the voice of Lü family's fourth young lady, Lü Yuexiao.

  "Ah! It's Fourth Miss using the Supreme Divine Technique! A divine technique worthy of the gods, a true divine technique!"

  Everyone's face changed.

  Many horses on the ground also got up and caused a considerable commotion.

  "Nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine icy divine thunderbolts, ten thousand thunders strike the top! What a ruthless and cruel move! But why did you prepare so thoroughly? Ah, I understand now. It turns out that the county lord's outing was a trap set by you, and there is also a traitor in our Holy Church."

  The fairy in the heavenly palace seemed to suddenly understand something, and with a sigh of unparalleled sorrow, she lightly stroked the white lotus in her hand, and the rain mist turned into petals, transforming into a sky full of radiant light falling down.

  Lightning and cloud light intertwined, Lyu Yu Yao and the fairy in Fei Zhou Tian Gong confronted each other in mid-air with a method that ordinary people could hardly understand. The entire sky was filled with thunder and lightning, and the originally clear and cloudless sky suddenly turned gloomy and dark, as if the end of the world had arrived.