On top of the snowy region, the ruins of the temple.
This war, which was destined to attract the attention of the entire 19th Continent, finally welcomed a new participant. This woman who suddenly appeared in front of everyone, turned the Holy Lake into silk and draped it over her shoulders, and the bunch of blue phlox hanging by her ear was still bright in color, just like her beauty, shocking people's hearts.
No one knew who she was, and no one had ever seen her.
Everyone was guessing her identity, including Hui Nian who had just saved Luo Kong, including Dakini Yangjin who had just dealt a heavy blow to Dharma King Baoyin, and Dharma King Baoyin and Dharma King Baoping who had just arrived...
No one can predict the outcome of this battle, or guess his own life or death.
No one cares about the whereabouts of the mysterious banshee anymore. The Zen sect members are determined to chase her and do not dare to leave at this moment.
The long, silent night was already halfway over.
The cold and melting moon was hanging obliquely in the sky, but was covered by the dark clouds. When the dark clouds dispersed, the moon-white figure above the vast snowy area had already disappeared.
Jianchou’s head hurts.
After three or five breaths, she opened her eyes but could see nothing.
It was not until she fumbled to sit up and let the feeling of dizziness and severe pain leave her mind that her vision became slightly clearer.
The first thing that caught my eye was a wall.
A wall with Buddha statues carved on it.
A three-meter-high statue of Sakyamuni with a solemn appearance is carved in the middle of the wall. His eyes are slightly closed, and there is a look of compassion between his brows.
Not a Tantric Buddha.
Just from the lines carved on the Buddha statue and the overall feeling, Jianchou could easily judge it and immediately had a guess in his mind.
Then when he moved his eyes around, this guess was confirmed.
The place where she was at the moment was actually a pagoda.
There is a huge Buddha statue in the middle. But the strange thing is that the pagoda is not divided into layers. There are only two stairs spiraling upward from the inside of the pagoda. The higher you go, the smaller the space inside the pagoda becomes. The two spiral stairs are also connected there.
The eight walls are covered with countless large and small Buddha statues of various shapes.
There seems to be something hanging at the top of the pagoda.
There was a golden light hanging down like tassels. It was not particularly bright, but it shone softly on the huge Buddha statue in the tower, covering it with golden light.
When Jianchou just woke up, there were countless wounds all over his body caused by the shadow of the ruler, but under the illumination of the golden light, he had recovered in a short while.
She clearly remembered that the moment she was hit by the strange mustard seed, her heart meridian was severely damaged. Even under the repeated attacks of the ruler shadow, the ancestral orifice between her eyebrows was in great pain. Her soul was crushed by the strange force and she was almost collapsed.
At that moment, she had already determined that she would surely die under Xie Buchen's ruler.
Even if by chance he was hit by Lekong's mysterious magic weapon and escaped the disaster, he should have been in a dying state.
The golden light above my head...
It's really mysterious.
Jianchou guessed that he must have been unconscious for a while, so after waking up he found that except for the lack of spiritual power in his body, he seemed to have never experienced the previous fierce battle.
Although I wanted to explore the thing above my head, this was not the right time to do so.
She frowned slightly, bent down to pick up the Burning Sword that fell on the ground, and looked at the figure who was sitting cross-legged and motionless three meters away from her.
It was not until she looked over that the figure moved and raised his head.
His green robe was stained with blood, but his handsome eyebrows were frosted with a layer of frost.
The Human Emperor Sword had disappeared, and in its place was an ink ruler that was neither gold nor stone. He placed it flat on his knees and pressed it lightly with his slender fingers. As his aura flowed, shadows of golden symbols flashed one after another.
Xie Buchen looked at her but didn't stand up.
Something is wrong.
In a sense, she and Xie Buchen are of the same kind. They are eager to send each other to meet the King of Hell, so why would they care about propriety, morality, and integrity
When it's time to kill you, I will never show mercy.
But her consciousness only returned at this time, and she was still safe and sound
Jianchou's gaze swept behind him, and then he thought of something. He turned his gaze again and looked at the pagoda he was in.
Then some details that she had previously overlooked suddenly became obvious.
There was actually a thin barrier between her and Xie Buchen.
The whole thing is transparent, but because there is golden light shining from above, the light will be slightly distorted when passing through the barrier. If you don't look carefully, it is indeed difficult to detect.
She stretched out her hand and probed it lightly with her spiritual power, and she knew that the barrier was indestructible and could not be broken by her alone.
"It seems that I escaped a disaster and you also saved your life..."
Jianchou withdrew his hand, looked at Xie Buchen who was sitting cross-legged on the ground opposite him, and laughed. However, there was no murderous intent in this laugh, it was as kind and friendly as if old friends were meeting.
If there hadn't been this barrier, Xie Buchen would have taken advantage of her weakness and killed her when she first fell here; but with this barrier, he could only watch her recover bit by bit.
If there was no such barrier, at this moment when she had already awakened, Xie Buchen's cultivation was still inferior to hers, and she could try to kill Xie Buchen again; but with this barrier, she could only watch.
It was clear that they were killing each other fiercely not long ago, but now that they have fallen into this situation, they can instantly become friendly and cheerful. It can be said that they change their expressions faster than turning the pages of a book.
Xie Buchen certainly knew what she meant.
Because when he first fell into this place, his condition was much better than Jianchou's, and he was fully capable of taking Jianchou's life. But because of this barrier, such a good opportunity was missed!
God gave him a chance to resolve his inner demons, but then ruthlessly destroyed it.
That feeling...
It's really not a good feeling.
In the past, Jianchou failed to kill him, and now he failed to kill Jianchou. All in all, it was an endless entanglement.
Hearing her talking to him, Xie Buchen could hear the sarcasm hidden in it without having to listen carefully. He just made a seal again and slightly closed his eyes and said, "It is indeed a pity that I cannot marry Daoist Fellow Jianchou. But compared to missing the opportunity at the critical moment and letting Xie escape with his life, Daoist Fellow Jianchou should be more regrettable."
"… "
Hearing his words, Jianchou's eyes twitched.
Missed opportunity at a critical moment...
Who says it’s not
If she had been a little stronger, or if the female cultivator who looked exactly like her had appeared a moment later, Xie Buchen on the opposite side would have been dead.
It would be fine if he didn't think about it, but as soon as he thought about its existence, he felt a gloom immediately covering his heart.
Before being hit by Mustard Seed, she saw the female cultivator going towards Mustard Seed.
So, are they now in the mustard seed? And who holds the mustard seed
They are unaware of what is happening in the outside world.
For a moment, Jianchou looked at Xie Buchen with murderous intent, and she almost raised her sword to chop at him! But there was a barrier in front of her, so she held back.
She sneered as she turned the Lantern Sword: "It seems that Brother Xie is really unhappy."
Who doesn't know that Xie Buchen rarely has mood swings
Others knew that he could remain calm even if they cursed him. But now, because of a sarcastic remark from her, she couldn't help but say something back at her, almost like a retort.
If this isn't because the heart is not as calm as it appears on the surface, then what is it
Jianchou knew him very well. With just a few short sentences, he was able to see through his current state.
The fingers pressing on the ink ruler were tense, and Xie Buchen finally closed his eyes and suppressed all the inappropriate emotions.
"Instead of talking to me, Brother Jianchou might as well check out the situation here."
"Fellow Daoist Xie has already checked everything, but he is still sitting here. This place must be impregnable and it is not easy to get out."
In this regard, Jianchou still has confidence in Xie Buchen.
When the spiritual consciousness spreads out, it can easily be discovered that the material of the pagoda looks ordinary, but is actually very special. It is a mixture of gold and wood, and the spiritual consciousness cannot penetrate it at all.
And all the walls give people an extremely strange feeling.
It was as if the space at the wall was folded up, and even the light was accumulated there.
Jianchou walked over and just stepped into the wall, the next moment, he opened his eyes and saw the two spiral stairs of the pagoda again, and Xie Buchen sitting cross-legged on the ground.
Without changing direction, she went from facing the wall to having her back to the wall.
"Space rules..."
The cultivators from the Nineteen Continents, after reaching the level of Return to Void, can be called “Great Powers”.
Because once they enter this realm, it proves that they have understood their true heart and truly let their heart reach the "empty" state. At this time, they begin to comprehend the rules of the universe, the most important of which is "space".
A strong person can create a small world by his own strength, and this state is called "bounded".
Among the people Jianchou had come into contact with, the master of the hidden world of Qingfeng Temple, Master Buyu, naturally reached this realm. In addition, the head of Kunwu, Zhenren Hengxu, was also in this realm.
A situation like the one she is experiencing now should be the means used by a powerful person of this level.
I just don’t know which powerful person built this pagoda, and who controls it now.
"If I'm not mistaken, you and I should be inside the Mount Sumeru mustard seed. This object is one of the three great treasures of Zen Buddhism, and it can contain the size of Mount Sumeru in the size of a mustard seed. This pagoda may be the mustard seed itself, or it may just be a part of the Mount Sumeru hidden in the mustard seed."
Xie Buchen guessed that she had already felt the strange spatial force around her and did not explain further.
"I calculated when you were unconscious, and about three hours had passed."
Three hours...
Jianchou walked along the wall and stood in front of a staircase on her side. Looking up, the staircase led directly to the top.
"You mean, since we haven't been released yet, this Sumeru mustard seed must have fallen into someone else's hands?"
"And Zen has not been able to recover this item for a while."
What Xie Buchen wanted to say was that the Sumeru mustard seed might be on the female cultivator who looked exactly like Jianchou, but he did not say it out loud because he did not know how to call this female cultivator, and he did not know what the relationship between this female cultivator and Jianchou was.
That feeling is really hard to describe.
Jianchou listened and raised his eyebrows.
Even if Xie Buchen didn't say it, she could guess what he didn't say. He must be afraid of that female cultivator, but how could she not be afraid of her too
As soon as she raised her foot, she was already on the stairs: "Has Brother Xie also explored this staircase?"
"After going through this, I found something strange..." Xie Buchen looked at Jianchou's movements, paused, and then continued, "Daoyou Jianchou, if you walk up a little further, you should be able to feel it."
Go up a little
This answer is not very general.
Jianchou felt a little strange and stopped for a moment. He even suspected that there was a trap waiting for him above. But he thought that Xie Buchen was sitting there safely and it couldn't be dangerous at all, so he put aside his worries and walked up.
Level one, level two, level three...
On each step, there was a serial number engraved in seal script corresponding to its position, from one, to two, to three. She saw them at a glance, and a strange feeling immediately came over her.
It was just as Xie Buchen said, the higher you went, the stronger that indescribable strange feeling became.
When it reached the tenth step, it was already suspended on the inner wall of the pagoda, right behind the big Buddha in the middle.
When Jianchou looked up, he saw a sentence engraved on the lotus platform where the Buddha was sitting cross-legged.
"A day in the cave is a thousand years in the world."
At that moment, she couldn't help but shiver!
A possibility that had never been thought of suddenly appeared in Jianchou's heart.
Standing on the tenth step, she looked towards the nine steps she had passed, thought for a moment, and then took out two sticks of red sandalwood from her Qiankun bag.
With just a light breath, they are ignited at the same time.
His two thin eyebrows wrinkled slightly, and Jianchou inserted them on the ninth and tenth steps respectively, then took a step back and watched quietly.
Xie Buchen below did not say anything, just watched her every move.
Time slowly passes by amidst the flickering sparks of incense sticks...
However, the more Jianchou looked, the more frightened she became. She didn't even need to watch the two incense sticks burn to the end, the real answer was already in her mind.
When the incense on the tenth step burned out, the incense on the ninth step was still more than an inch high!
A day in the cave is a thousand years in the world!
When Jianchou stood on the stairs, he felt his steps stiffen. After realizing the secret of the stairs, he could not help but look up.
The steps were laid out one by one, and when you counted carefully, there were exactly one hundred and eight steps!
"I believe that Daoist Jianchou has already sensed that the speed of time on this staircase is different from that in the outside world. One staircase is twice as fast as that in the outside world, and one hundred and eight staircases are one hundred and eight times as fast."
Xie Buchen only saw Chou's expression as she looked upward, and he guessed that she already understood.
"One day in the outside world is one day for one step, two steps are two days, and one hundred and eight steps are one hundred and eight days."
In other words, if one could stand on the 108th step and practice there for 108 years, only one year would have passed in the outside world.
In addition to the rules of space, there are also changes in time within this Sumeru mustard seed!
The four directions and the up and down are called the universe, which is space; the past and the present are called the universe, which is time.
What level of attainment must the person who made the Sumeru mustard seed have reached to be able to build such a mysterious, magical and breathtaking pagoda
Seeing that his heart was surging like the tide, he couldn't calm down for a while.
After a long while, she sighed with some complexity, "For Fellow Daoist Xie, this should be a rare opportunity. Take the opportunity to sit in seclusion for a thousand years before going out. Only ten years have passed in the outside world. Wouldn't it be twice the result with half the effort?"
"This world is not connected to the outside world. Even if you break through your realm, the world cannot sense it." Xie Buchen was not so stunned by this sudden opportunity. "Although cultivators are strong, their life span is determined by heaven. Even if it is an opportunity to enter this world, the time spent in the world exceeds the life span. I am afraid that by the time I get out, I will have become a pile of dry bones. What's more, Daoist Jianchou will know if he goes up again that the 108th floor is not so easy to reach."
oh
This was a little beyond Jianchou's expectation. She stood on the ninth step and felt it for a while before continuing to walk up. She didn't feel anything on the first eighteen steps, but when she reached the nineteenth step, she could vaguely feel the resistance that became obvious.
The higher you go, the stronger the resistance becomes, as if a thousand-million-pound stone is pressing down on you!
Even with her strong body that has been refined to the sixth level of "Human Instrument", she can only barely last to the thirty-sixth level!
From this we can see how much pressure we will have to endure if we continue to move forward!
Seeing that Chou was already struggling, he stepped back from the stairs. He didn't let out a long sigh of relief until he reached the 30th step. He felt like he was alive again.
Undoubtedly, this pagoda is definitely a good place for cultivation!
No wonder this Sumeru mustard seed became one of the three great treasures of Zen Buddhism. Just these 108 steps are thousands of times higher than the countless other hidden realms and small worlds!
Just imagine if all the disciples of the sect were sent here to practice, how powerful the entire sect would be
For a moment, she really didn't want to think about anything and just wanted to sit down and practice.
But thousands of thoughts flashed through his mind, and he finally walked slowly down the spiral steps. With Xie Buchen's hand, he sat down at the bottom of the pagoda and calmed his mind.
At this time, the most important thing is to get out.
The battle between the New Secret and the Old Secret in the Snow Region, with the involvement of the Zen Sect, was still unknown what the final outcome would be. Moreover, they were suddenly in such a situation that they could not even pass on the news they had originally learned.
God knows when the war between the Snow Region and the Polar Region will break out!
Now that they were in this place, fighting was out of the question. The two people had similar thoughts in their hearts. So she didn't speak, and neither did Xie Buchen. They both adjusted their breathing and meditated, secretly calculating the time that had passed...
Although I don’t know the origin of that female cultivator, she looks like she is only in the Jindan stage.
Normal people would think that even if she had taken the Sumeru mustard seed, she couldn't hide for too long. As long as Zen found this treasure again, they would be close to getting out.
But no one expected that this wait would last for two full months.
Even though Jianchou and Xie Buchen, who were trapped here, were both strong-willed people, they could not stand wasting time like this and gradually became impatient.
On the sixty-second day, Jianchou finally couldn't help but open his eyes and said directly: "Waiting like this is not a solution."
Xie Buchen raised his eyes, and the faint aura that had been emitted during his previous training disappeared instantly. He just looked at her and asked calmly, "Do you have any ideas, Daoist Jianchou?"
"have."
Although they were mortal enemies before, they could pretend to cooperate with each other in the face of this dilemma. Jianchou thought that Xie Buchen would not mind at all.
"This tower contains spatial rules. If you want to get out, you must destroy it. You and I are not at a high enough level, so we don't know how to break it. But there may be ways to break it in other places."
Somewhere else
If someone else heard this, they would definitely ask what place Jianchou was referring to.
But Xie Buchen's two cold eyebrows slightly frowned, and he understood what she was referring to in an instant, and stared at her with a strange look: "Nine Bends River Map, Forty-eight Records of Qingfeng Temple?"
"good."
Jianchou did not keep the secret and directly confirmed Xie Buchen's guess.
In the past, they had explored the hidden world of Qingfeng Temple together, and before the final battle on the Buddha's head, each of them snatched half of the "Forty-eight Records of Qingfeng Temple", which recorded some of the insights and even magic of Master Buyu after he comprehended the "Nine-Curved River Map".
But when they were fighting over it that day, they tore it off horizontally.
The half in everyone's hand is incomplete. They can only see half of each technique and every experience. Even the words are not coherent. How can they practice
She had originally wanted to snatch the remaining half directly from Xie Buchen and not leave any for the other party, but given the current situation, she really couldn't just sit there and wait for death.
That female cultivator who looked exactly like herself must have used some special method to avoid the Zen sect's detection.
In this case, it would take a long time to get out. It would be unfair if I died here.
Jianchou is not a person who is inflexible. On the contrary, she always knows when to act when considering the overall situation.
If the two parts are put together and there is a way to get out, everyone will be happy, and there will still be a chance to kill Xie Buchen in the future; if there is nothing inside, then there will not be much loss.
So at this moment, she simply pulled out her half of the scroll and spread it flat in front of the barrier between the two of them.
Then he asked Xie Buchen: "If we work together, we will both benefit. If we fight, we will both lose. Which side do you want to choose?"