chsdbacks Chapter 377 Lunar Sun
Chapter 377 Lunar Sun
As soon as Xu finished speaking, Su Fan's Pangu Axe blade touched the water's surface.
The three beams of light passed through the water and condensed into an extremely thin beam of light directly in front of Rahu's head, with the tip of the beam aligned with the handle of the Wedge of Creation.
The runes on the wedge handle, which had been engraved with the Jade Tablet of Creation for 30,000 years, were covered with a very thin layer of dark law deposits after being soaked in the water essence. The runes themselves were still faintly flowing beneath the deposit layer.
"Nezha, keep your eyes on the water. When the wedge of creation is driven in, Rahu won't just sit idly by. His fragments of law are still hanging on those magma stalactites in the dome. Once the wedge moves, the fragments will definitely fall down."
Su Fan gripped the axe with both hands, and the triple light on the axe blade began to converge towards the tip of the axe.
The white and blue light retreated to the sides of the axe face, while the golden-patterned Dao of All Beings stood alone at the very front, its brightness reflecting pale golden law patterns onto the entire underground cavern's dome.
Nezha thrust his Fire-Tipped Spear into the edge of the Water Essence, the spear's tail sinking three feet into the ground, the spear tip pointing skyward.
The Wind and Fire Wheels were reignited, and the Fire Law could only barely maintain two very faint flames inside the extremely dense void, just enough for him to launch himself at any time.
He looked up and glanced at the lava stalactites hanging upside down on the dome.
Within the crystallized water crystals wrapped around the tips of each stalactite, fragments of Rahu were still wriggling, and the rhythm of the wriggling was accelerating.
Xu squatted at the edge of the water essence, his right hand pressed above the water surface.
The scorch mark left by the flint flame on its finger was the only thing that could be touched directly on the surface of the Water Essence without being frozen. The residual heat of the flame's laws was conducted through the water surface into the Water Essence, maintaining a stable resonance frequency with the Hongjun Dao Law deep within Luo Hou's spiritual platform.
With its eyes closed, each beat of its intact heart in its chest caused a ripple of pale gold to spread across the water's surface, mirroring the rhythm of its heartbeat.
"The wedge-shaped rune has nine layers in total. The outermost layer, a gray shell of laws accumulated over 30,000 years, has been mostly broken. The second to eighth layers are the seals of the Creation Jade Tablet personally carved by Hongjun. The ninth layer is the interlocking surface of laws between the wedge core and Rahu's spiritual platform."
"When you activate the rune, you infuse it with the will of all living beings from the first layer. With each layer you penetrate, the wedge shank will light up. When all nine layers are lit, the wedge tip will be driven in three inches further than it was driven in 30,000 years ago."
As Xu spoke, he opened his eyes, his pale golden pupils reflecting the dark eye sockets of the enormous head at the bottom of the water.
"But when it reaches the fifth level, Rahu will definitely retaliate. His fragments of law hang on the dome, and at least 30% of the fragments are still wrapped with Gonggong's water essence crystals. The water essence clashes with the flint flames, and the flames can only stabilize the water surface, but cannot stop the water essence crystals from falling."
"I can hold them off. I came here to fight. Give me those pieces."
Nezha flicked the spear shaft upwards, turning the spear tip from pointing upwards to pointing forwards, aiming at the densest cluster of stalactites on the dome.
Su Fan stopped talking.
He lifted the Pangu Axe three inches from the water's surface, reversed the blade, and turned the axe back outwards. He forced the will of all living beings out of the human-shaped scar on his left palm and poured it into the axe back. Then, using the axe back as a transmission medium, he pressed it down onto the first rune on the outermost layer of the wedge handle of the Creation Wedge.
The will of all beings silently enveloped the wedge handle through the water essence, and the outermost layer of dark laws shattered the moment it came into contact with the will of all beings, turning into powder and dissolving into the water.
The first layer of runes lit up.
The first light that appeared on the wedge was extremely dim, so dim that it was almost invisible through the deep water.
But Rahu sensed it.
His head trembled violently underwater, and the Wedge of Creation in the center of his brow was activated from the outside. The fragments of the Jade Tablet of Creation inside the wedge began to operate again, and the friction between the fragments generated an extremely high-frequency hum of laws.
A buzzing sound came from the bottom of the water, causing the rocks of Buzhou Mountain, which had hollow walls, to fall down and break off pieces of rock. The pieces of rock hit the surface of the water essence, splashing up circles of dark purple ripples.
The second layer of runes lit up after ten breaths.
This time, the light from the wedge pierced through the depths of the water essence, reaching directly from the bottom of the water to the dome.
As the magma stalactites suspended in the dome were illuminated by the light, fine cracks began to appear on the surface of the water crystals wrapped around the tips of the stalactites. The cracks spread along the natural cleavage planes of the crystals, and with each inch they spread, the fragments of Rahu sealed inside the crystals twisted more violently.
Third floor. Fourth floor.
Su Fan infused the will of the Dao of All Beings into the body at an increasingly faster pace. The human-shaped scar on his left palm changed from light gold to dark gold, and beads of blood began to seep from the new skin at the edge of the scar.
He clenched his teeth, loosened his right hand from the axe handle, pressed his bare hand against the back of his left hand, and used his right fist to press down on the thickened conduction channel of the scar on his left hand.
The will of all beings continuously flowed into his body from the network of wills of ten thousand people, then poured into the Pangu Axe from his body, then poured into the water essence from the Pangu Axe, and finally wrapped around the wedge handle of the Creation Wedge.
With each additional layer poured, the runes on the wedge handle light up.
When the fourth layer lit up, the cracks on at least one-third of the magma stalactite surface on the dome had already formed a network.
The fifth level. Rahu retaliated.
All the magma stalactites on the dome, covered with water crystals, broke off at the base at the same instant.
The cracking sounds merged into a deep, muffled roar, shaking the entire underground cavity.
Countless stalactites, some tens of feet long, detached from the dome, their tips pointing downwards, and crashed down upon the original water essence, carrying fragments of Rahu's Law and water crystals.
The fragments of Rahu's laws were activated the instant they detached from the stalactite. Each fragment transformed into a dark purple, semi-transparent tentacle, its surface covered with patterns of the Demon Ancestor's laws. The black law slurry gushing from the depths of these patterns left countless thin trails as it fell.
Nezha moved.
The Wind and Fire Wheels were launched at the same instant the stalactite broke. Although the Fire Law was compressed by the density of the laws inside the cavity, leaving only two extremely faint rings of flame, the initial velocity of the launch was sufficient.
His first thrust landed on the side of the stalactite closest to the water's surface. The spear tip pierced the crystal shell and embedded itself in the center of the Rahu fragment sealed inside. The tentacle formed from the fragment was pinned to the stalactite by the spear tip, twitched twice, and then crumbled into powder.
With the second shot, he used the recoil from the first shot to flip in the air, sweeping the gun barrel horizontally and simultaneously breaking three stalactites that were falling side by side.
The stalactite fragments and water crystal fragments exploded together, and the edges of the fragments were burned to a dark green by the residual heat of the Fire Law.
Nezha rode his Wind Fire Wheels into the area with the densest rain of fragments, his spear tip striking repeatedly, each strike shattering a fragment, the spear tip covered in grayish-white powder of law.
But there were too many stalactites that had fallen from the dome, and he couldn't plug all the gaps by himself. At least seven stalactites pierced through his netting and crashed straight down into the water.
Xu opened his eyes.
Its right hand remained pressed against the water's surface without moving, while its left hand moved away from the pale gold line on its chest, its five fingers spread, aiming at the seven stalactites that were falling.
The residual heat of the flint flame surged from the scorch mark on its right hand, spreading along the water's surface into a ring of pale red ripples. When the ripples reached the very center of the water essence, they surged upwards, condensing into an extremely thin, pale red membrane three feet above the water's surface.
Seven stalactites struck the membrane wall, and the water crystals at the tips of the stalactites made direct contact with the flint flames on the membrane wall, causing a large burst of vaporous energy due to the clash of water and fire.
After the steam dissipated, all seven stalactites shattered, but the scorch mark on Xu's right finger also cracked, splitting from the fingertip to the first knuckle. What gushed out of the crack was not blood, but extremely dark embers of flint.
"The sixth floor," Su Fan growled.
Blood began to gush from the 'human' character scar on his left palm, and the golden blood flowed down the back of the axe into the water essence, mixing with the sixth layer of runes that were being activated.
The sixth ray of light from the wedge pierced through the churning dark purple ripples at the bottom of the water and shone on the black eye sockets of Rahu's head.
In Luo Hou's pure black eye sockets, the golden light remaining from Hongjun's Dao principles began to actively expand instead of passively contracting.
The Dao principle that had been trapped deep within the Rahu Spirit Platform for 30,000 years began to push outward from the inside, its wedge slowly advancing against the bone walls of the laws within the Rahu Spirit Platform.
Nezha fell back to the edge of the water.
A piece of stalactite cut his left shoulder. The cut wasn't deep, but the piece was covered with remnants of Rahu's Law fluid, which made a very faint sizzling sound as it clung to the edge of the wound.
He glanced down at the wound, handed the gun to his left hand, tore off a piece of cloth from his sleeve with his right hand, crumpled it into a ball, pressed it against the wound, rubbed it back and forth a couple of times to remove the remnants of the law, and then threw the cloth into the water.
The fabric sank immediately upon entering the water, and was frozen into an extremely thin sheet of ice by the water essence, which sank into the depths and disappeared.
"The seventh floor." Su Fan's voice was already hoarse.
Blood from his left palm flowed down the back of the axe to the blade, the golden blood mixing with the triple light on the blade, making it impossible to distinguish which layer was light and which was blood.
The moment the seventh layer of runes lit up, all the engravings on the wedge handle of the Creation Wedge were activated, and the fragments of the Creation Jade Tablet inside the wedge rotated at high speed, emitting a continuous tremor of law.
The tremor penetrated the primordial water essence and entered the interior of the Buzhou Mountain rock body, which was hollowed out. The ancient law patterns on the rock walls were triggered by the tremor, and the innate magma crystals embedded in the patterns began to shine again.
The entire hollow dome and walls simultaneously emitted an extremely dark red light, which was the residual warmth of Pangu's spine sealed inside the mountain when Buzhou Mountain had not yet broken 30,000 years ago.
Rahu made a sound for the first time when the seventh layer of runes lit up.
The sound was no longer a bone-transmitted vibration, but a real sound emitted by the core of the Demon Ancestor's Law inside the skull resonating under the pressure of the Creation Wedge. The sound waves crashed through the ten-thousand-foot-deep water of the Water Essence and exploded directly in the cavity.
"Mortal. What you have driven in is not the wedge of creation, but the last shackle that Hongjun left in my body. This shackle has bound me for 30,000 years. If you drive it in three inches more today, my Demon Ancestor Law and Hongjun's Dao Law will collide inside my spiritual platform. The resulting shockwave will blast the remains of Buzhou Mountain out of the foundation of Guixu, and you will all die."
Su Fan did not answer.
He lifted the Pangu Axe from the water, reversed the axe blade to his right hand, and aimed the axe tip at the last two layers of runes on the wedge handle that had not yet been lit.
The structure of the eighth layer of runes is completely different from the first seven layers. The first seven layers are sealing runes personally carved by Hongjun, while the eighth layer is the original Dao law carried by the fragment of the Jade Tablet itself. That Dao law is not carved on, but is the material structure of the Jade Tablet fragment itself, and it can only be activated by a law of the same origin as the Jade Tablet.
Su Fan did not possess fragments of the Jade Tablet of Creation, but he possessed the Dao of All Beings.
The Dao of All Beings is extracted from the bones of mortals. It is not entirely of the same origin as the Dao of Hongjun, but they share a common point of intersection—the will to protect the primordial world.
He placed the Pangu Axe above the water's surface, loosened the handle, and simultaneously plunged both hands into the water essence. His left hand, bearing a V-shaped scar, pressed against the water's surface, while his right fist pressed down on the back of his left hand, pushing the transmission law of the will of all living beings to its limit.
Then, deep within his own spiritual realm, he extracted all the guardian wills from the network of wills of ten thousand people and poured them separately into the eighth layer of runes.
The eighth layer of runes lit up.
It was not activated by external forces, but awakened from within by the will to protect.
The fragments of the Jade Tablet of Creation emitted a low hum inside the wedge-shaped body, perfectly synchronized with the beating rhythm of the Eastern Emperor's heart in the Xu's chest cavity.
The eighth layer of light shone from the bottom of the water onto the dome. The remaining magma stalactites on the dome stopped cracking after being illuminated by the light, and the fragments of Rahu sealed inside the stalactites all stopped wriggling under the light.
Under the shroud of the guardian's will, the fragments of Rahu began to fade from dark purple to grayish-white, and the activity of the laws was forcibly extracted.
Luo Hou sensed that fragments of his laws were being stripped away.
He neither roared nor struggled, but instead poured the last bit of Demonic Ancestor Law he could muster into the tip of the Wedge of Creation at the very center of his brow.
Every inch the wedge tip penetrates deeper into the spiritual platform, Rahu's spiritual platform bone wall contracts once. The old holes in the bone wall, which have been created by the wedge of creation over the past 30,000 years, continuously squeeze the wedge body during the contraction, trying to use the density of the spiritual platform's own laws to hold the wedge tip in place and prevent it from going any further.
The Lingtai Bone Wall is the last physical barrier to the core of the Demon Ancestor's laws. The density of the laws in the bone wall is second only to the Creation Jade Tablet itself. He wanted to use this bone wall to jam the wedge tip.
But as the eighth layer of runes lit up, Xu removed his left hand from the pale gold line on his chest.
It also placed its left hand above the water, side by side with its right hand.
The scorch mark on his right hand emitted the residual warmth of the Law of the Flint Flame, while the palm of his left hand emitted a golden network of the Eastern Emperor's Mother Liquid. The two hands came together above the water's surface, and the flame and the Mother Liquid briefly merged on the surface of the Water Essence, forming a tiny two-colored Law sphere.
Xu pressed the Law Ball into the Water Essence Essence, and it sank to the side of the wedge handle along the channel of the will of all living beings that Su Fan poured in. The Law Ball exploded between the wedge handle and the bone wall of Rahu's spiritual platform.
The flames burned through the law-deposited layer on the surface of the bone wall, and the mother fluid filled the gaps between the wedge tip and the old hole, which had accumulated law debris over 30,000 years. The wedge tip lost the frictional resistance of the bone wall and directly passed through the last physical barrier of Rahu's spiritual platform.
"The ninth floor!"
Su Fan pressed his entire body against the water surface, immersing both palms in the water, with the V-shaped scar directly pressed against the water surface above the wedge handle.
The pressure of the transmission law of the will of all beings exceeded the limit that the scar on the palm could withstand. The new skin at the edge of the scar cracked open, and golden blood gushed out from the three old wounds, flowing into the water essence and into the wedge body along the wedge handle.
The ninth layer of runes is the interlocking surface of the laws between the wedge core and the Rahu spiritual platform. That layer of runes is not engraved on, but is the wedge tip itself—allowing the wedge core to be completely enveloped by the will of all living beings, and allowing the Hongjun Dao Law deep within the Rahu spiritual platform to push the wedge tip outward from the inside, with the combined forces of the inside and outside acting on the same point at the same time.
The Hongjun Dao Principle deep within Luo Hou's spiritual platform actively collided with the wedge tip the moment the ninth layer of runes was activated.
Thirty thousand years ago, when Hongjun personally drove this wedge of creation into place, he left a very simple will on the tip of the wedge—to seal Rahu. But if one day the descendants of the primordial world can reactivate the wedge handle with their will to protect it, the tip of the wedge will advance three inches further.
Hongjun had foreseen these three inches, but he hadn't anticipated that the activation of the wedge would be the Dao of All Beings. The will he left behind back then only recognized the will of protection, not the form of laws.
The wedge tip of the Creation Wedge, under the combined force of internal and external forces, suddenly drove three inches deep into Rahu's spiritual platform.
After the three-inch nail was firmly planted, all the runes on the wedge simultaneously turned from dark gold to pure white. The white light penetrated the water essence and struck the dome of the Buzhou Mountain ruins, shattering all the remaining fragments of Rahu on the dome into powder.
The pure black eye sockets of Rahu's head suddenly closed the moment the wedge tip was firmly driven in. The lingering aura of the Creation Jade Tablet in the eye sockets changed from a very faint golden light to a stable white light. The white light continued to shine inside the closed eye sockets, illuminating the blind spot of the laws within Rahu's spiritual platform that had never been illuminated for 30,000 years.
The water essence has returned to calm.
The dark purple ripples on the water's surface ceased, and it returned to its original state of perfectly still, deep blue, almost black water.
The remaining magma stalactites on the dome stabilized, and the fragments of Rahu wrapped in the water crystal at the tip of the stalactites had all shattered into grayish-white powder, which was sealed inside the crystal and no longer moved.
The entire underground cavern suddenly fell silent from the extremely violent vibrations of the laws, so silent that one could hear the faint hissing sound of the embers from the scorched crack on Xu's finger falling onto the water.
Su Fan pulled his hands out of the water essence.
His hands and wrists were covered with water essence that had been frozen into ice crystals. The ice crystals melted quickly upon contact with the air, leaving countless extremely fine frostbite cracks on the back of his hands. The skin at the edges of the cracks was dark purple, the same color as the water essence.
He looked down at his hands. The chevron scar on his left palm had completely split open, and the scabs from the three old cuts had all fallen off, revealing the newly grown pale golden flesh underneath.
Blood was still seeping from the surface of the skin and flesh. The amount of blood was not large, but it could not be stopped. Every drop of blood that fell on the white rock foundation at the edge of the water essence slurry exploded into a tiny cloud of golden mist.
Nezha walked over, tore off a large piece of fabric from his right shoulder, and handed it to Su Fan.
Su Fan took it and wrapped it around his left palm. The cloth strip was wrapped around three times, and when he tied the knot, he pulled hard, making Su Fan grimace.
He loosened the cloth strip and moved his left hand fingers. His grip strength was still there. The transmission channel of the path of all beings was temporarily blocked, but the scar on his palm needed time to heal.
He bent down and picked up the Pangu Axe from the ground. Two of the three layers of light on the axe blade remained—the blue light and the golden patterns were still there, but the white light had been completely exhausted when the ninth layer of runes was activated.
"The white light is gone. The power of creation that Pangu's remnant consciousness sealed on the axe blade was used once to cut down the Lord at the bottom of the well, a second time to shatter Rahu's right arm, and a third time to drive the Wedge of Creation. After using it three times, the white light dissipated."
Su Fan hoisted the Pangu Axe onto his shoulder and looked down at the resealed head deep within the Water Essence.
Rahu's head and eyes were tightly closed. The nine layers of runes on the wedge handle of the Creation Wedge, located in the center of his brow, were all shining with a stable white light. After the wedge tip was driven three inches deep into the spiritual platform, the law structure of the entire wedge had completely separated from the time fracture inside the Buzhou Mountain ruins.
From this moment on, even if the remains of Buzhou Mountain are shattered by external forces, this wedge will not loosen, and the three-thousand-year seal will not be weakened for even a day.
Xu stood up from the edge of the water essence.
The scorch mark on its right index finger stretched from the fingertip to the first knuckle, with a piece of flint still embedded deep in the crack.
Xu glanced down at the ember, but instead of flicking it away, he pressed his finger on the pale gold line on his chest. The ember slid along the pale gold line into the network of veins on the surface of the core. After being absorbed by the core, Xu's heartbeat returned to normal.
It turned and looked at Su Fan.
"Below the Water Essence lies not only Rahu's head, but also Gonggong's Water Essence body. The impact of the laws generated when the Wedge of Creation was driven in shook the Water Essence body out of the silt at the bottom of the pool. Look at the very center of the water, that dark blue ball of light rising upwards is Gonggong's innate Water Essence body. It has something to tell you."
Su Fan looked in the direction the Void pointed.
In the very center of the water essence, a fist-sized ball of deep blue light slowly rose from the bottom of the pool. The ball of light stopped three feet above the water surface and hovered in mid-air, slowly rotating.
Inside the ball of light, countless extremely fine water-elemental patterns flowed, and the arrangement of these patterns was completely identical to the ancient patterns on the rock walls of the Buzhou Mountain stone corridor.
A very thin water thread extended from the surface of the light orb, its end reaching towards Su Fan. It paused in mid-air for a moment, then stopped two inches in front of the scar on Su Fan's left palm that had just been wrapped with a strip of cloth.
Five finer water lines branched out from the tip of the water thread. The five water lines touched the surface of the cloth strip on Su Fan's left palm at the same time, and the golden blood on the cloth strip was absorbed into the light cluster through the water lines.
After receiving the blood sample from the will of all beings, the ball of light suddenly accelerated its rotation. The water essence law patterns inside rapidly reorganized, forming an extremely ancient humanoid outline. The outline was blurry, but it could be seen that it was a humanoid with a head, shoulders, and arms.
The humanoid figure spoke, but the voice did not come from the ball of light; rather, it was a resonance of laws generated by the simultaneous vibration of the entire surface of the water essence.
"I am Gonggong. Not the complete Gonggong, but the remnant consciousness formed from the primordial water essence after Gonggong smashed Buzhou Mountain. Thirty thousand years ago, I smashed Buzhou Mountain, not out of anger. Pangu's spine had been supporting the sky for too long, and the pressure of the laws within the spine had reached its limit."
"If the pressure hadn't been released by breaking it, Buzhou Mountain would have exploded from the inside, and the fragments would have shattered the newly formed sky. I used primordial water essence to envelop the cross-section of Buzhou Mountain's spine, guiding the explosion towards the Guixu interlayer. The mountain broke, but the sky didn't collapse."
"But I was also exhausted as a result, and the water essence was dissipated, leaving only this body sealed at the bottom of the ruins of Buzhou Mountain."
Gonggong paused for a moment, then gently pressed the end of the water thread against the cloth strip in Su Fan's palm before retracting it and merging back into the ball of light.
The humanoid silhouette inside the ball of light turned around, facing the resealed head of Rahu deep within the water essence.
"For 30,000 years, Rahu's head has been sealed at the bottom of the Water Essence. It has been my Water Essence body that has maintained the sealing temperature of the Creation Wedge. Water Essence is extremely cold, while the laws of the Demon Ancestor are extremely hot. The cold and heat counteract each other, which is why the wedge has not been burned away by the law fluid inside Rahu's body."
"However, the water spirit's main body has already lost most of its Law-based power during these 30,000 years of continuous consumption. Just now, the Creation Wedge was driven in three inches more, doubling the seal's strength, and the water spirit's main body's consumption rate will also double. At the current rate of consumption, I can only last for a maximum of another 1,000 years."
"A thousand years from now, the water essence will be exhausted, and the sealing temperature of the Creation Wedge will lose its cold regulation. The wedge will be eroded again by the Rahu Law slurry. At that time, the seal will still be effective, but the wedge will begin to melt from the inside. Before the three-thousand-year sealing period is over, the wedge may break first."
Su Fan took the Pangu Axe off his shoulder, touched the ground with the axe blade, and looked at the deep blue ball of light hanging above the water, asking, "Is there any way to make the water spirit last for three thousand years?"
"Something is needed to replace the water essence to maintain the cold nature of the seal. That thing must be colder than the water essence, and its laws must be stable enough to last for three thousand years without decaying. In the primordial world, there is only one thing that meets these conditions—the Guanghan Crystal from the roots of the laurel tree on the Taiyin Star."
"The laurel tree was formed from Pangu's eyelashes, and the Guanghan Crystal is a crystallization of laws formed by the absorption of the Taiyin star's cold energy from the roots of the laurel tree. It is extremely cold and stable. If we can obtain the Guanghan Crystal to replace my water essence body, the Wedge of Creation can completely seal Rahu for three thousand years."
Nezha walked over carrying the Fire-Tipped Spear, the tip of which was still covered with the grayish-white powder of the Law that hadn't completely dried.
He looked down at the sealed head of Rahu beneath the water's surface, then looked up at the remnant consciousness of Gonggong suspended above the water, and spoke bluntly.
"Taiyin Star is the moon. The Moon Palace is in Guanghan, and Chang'e lives in Guanghan Palace. I am not familiar with Chang'e, but when the Great Sage made a ruckus in the Heavenly Palace, he stole the laurel leaves from the Moon Palace to make wine, so he must know where Guanghan Crystal is. But now the Great Sage has gone to Zixiao Palace alone and is no longer in the prehistoric world."
"No need for the Great Sage. I'll go to the Moon Star. Senior Gonggong, how much longer can the Water Essence last?"
Su Fan tucked the Pangu Axe into his waistband.
"The Water Spirit's original body still retains 30% of its Law power. Based on the current sealing strength of the Creation Wedge, it can last for another three months. If the Guanghan Crystal arrives within three months, the Water Spirit can transfer all the sealed Cold Laws, at which point this wisp of my consciousness can also dissipate and return to nothingness."
After Gonggong finished speaking, the humanoid silhouette inside the water essence orb nodded slightly to Su Fan, and then the entire orb slowly descended back into the depths of the water essence primordial liquid, sinking back to the bottom of the pool.
Xu lowered his hand from the pale gold thread on his chest and walked up to Su Fan.
The scorch mark on its right index finger had been sealed again by the embers absorbed by the core, and the newly sealed scar had a very faint dark gold color.
"The Taiyin Star is located at the outermost layer of the primordial sky, and it is a pair of stars opposite the Sun Star. The environment of the Taiyin Star is completely different from that of the Water Essence. It is extremely cold there, and the density of the laws is lower than that of the Guixu. However, the Taiyin cold air has a stronger penetrating power on the living body than the Water Essence."
"You must go to Taiyin Star to retrieve Guanghan Crystal. You cannot go alone; you need the blessing of a law that can resist the cold energy of Taiyin. My flint flame can only be used in the Water Essence. Once you go to Taiyin Star, it will be suppressed by the cold energy of Guanghan."
"But Nezha's Wind Fire Wheels and the Li Fire Law can maintain the temperature on the surface of the Taiyin Star. The Wind Fire Wheels were forged in Laozi's Eight Trigrams Furnace, and the Li Fire has a natural resistance to the cold air of Taiyin."
"I'd go even without you telling me. Taiyin Star is on the moon, and I've never been to the moon in my life, so this is a good opportunity to go and see it. Great Sage is in Zixiao Palace, we're on Taiyin Star, and Xu will stay here to keep an eye on Rahu's head. Three routes, still three routes, none of them have been idle."
Nezha slung the Fire-Tipped Spear over his shoulder, glanced down at the wound on his left shoulder inflicted by the fragment of Rahu, and saw that the new flesh was slowly healing. He clenched his left fist, his grip strength having fully recovered.
Su Fan unwrapped the bandage on his left hand and glanced at the scar on his palm. A very thin scab had formed on the edge of the third cut, and the blood had changed from bright gold to dark gold.
He re-wound the cloth strip tightly, bit one end with his teeth, and pulled the other end with his right hand to form a knot. Then he picked up the Pangu Axe and walked towards the stone corridor.
Nezha and Xu followed behind him, the three of them squeezing through the narrow passage and standing again in front of the law rift sealed by water crystal at the entrance to the ruins of Buzhou Mountain.
Xu raised his hand and pressed the scorch mark on the crack with his fingertip. The water crystal automatically contracted to both sides to make way, and Su Fan and Nezha passed through the crack and stepped into the white rock plain at the bottom of Guixu.
"Xu, you stay here. Although Rahu's head has been resealed, the stalactite fragments on the dome haven't been completely cleaned up yet. If there are any abnormal fluctuations in the laws within the Water Essence, send me a message using the roots of the flintwood."
Su Fan glanced back at the ruins.
Xu nodded, turned around and stepped back into the crevice. He stood barefoot on the edge of the water essence, placed his right hand above the water surface, and reconnected his intact heart with the flint root system. The law fluctuations of the water essence were transmitted to the Suiming Ruins in real time through the root system.
Su Fan and Nezha turned and hurried toward the exit of Guixu.
The Moon Star is located at the outermost layer of the primordial sky. It travels upwards from the bottom of the Ruins of Return, passes through the Ruins of Return to the Southern Heavenly Gate, and then flies from the Southern Heavenly Gate to the outermost layer of the sky.
The Moon was positioned opposite the Sun, and the pale golden light of Mars shone on the White Rock Plain, casting long shadows of the two people.
Nezha walked to Su Fan's right, looked up at the faintly visible silver-white star on the outermost layer of the sky, and suddenly spoke. His tone was not as impetuous as usual, but rather somewhat serious.
"Su Fan, who else do you think lives in the Moon Palace besides Chang'e? Wu Gang has been chopping down the laurel tree for tens of thousands of years. That laurel tree has been chopped down and grown back again and again. Is the Moon Crystal still there at the base of the tree? What if we travel thousands of miles to the moon only to find a pile of sawdust at the base of the tree? Then Rahu can only be sealed for another thousand years, and after a thousand years we'll have to find another way."
"The laurel tree on the Taiyin Star was formed from Pangu's eyelashes. The Guanghan Crystal is a crystallization of the laws formed by the absorption of Taiyin's cold energy at the roots of the laurel tree. As long as the laurel tree is alive, there must be Guanghan Crystal at the base of its roots. Wu Gang's inability to cut down the tree does not mean that the roots will be damaged. The laurel tree's self-healing law is at the Pangu level, and the Guanghan Crystal is embedded in the deepest part of the roots, which Wu Gang's axe cannot reach."
As Su Fan walked, he calculated the distance from the ruins of Buzhou Mountain to the South Heavenly Gate, the distance from the South Heavenly Gate to the Taiyin Star, the penetrating power of the Taiyin cold air on the surface of the Taiyin Star, and the upper limit of the cold resistance of Nezha's Fire Wheels' Fire Law.
After finishing his calculations, he took the Pangu Axe off his waist and held it in his hand. The blue and golden light on the axe blade had returned to a stable state. The Pangu Axe's power to create the world was exhausted, but its protective power and the will of the Dao of All Beings were still there. It should be enough to deal with the law environment on Taiyin Star.
The two crossed the White Rock Plain and entered the ascending passage of the Ruins of Return.
The rubble from the remains of the Five Elements Mountain was still embedded in the law membrane on the inner wall of the passage. The golden light of Mars shone down from the top of the crack, illuminating the newly healed wound on Nezha's shoulder.
The new skin at the edge of the wound shimmered with a very faint pink hue in the golden light, overlapping with the old scar left after the Tai Sui crack was burned by the flint flame, forming a crooked law mark on his left shoulder.
Nezha himself didn't notice the mark, but Su Fan saw it when he turned around to look at him.
The pattern of this mark and the pale gold line on Xu's chest belong to the same law structure. It was left when Nezha forced the will of the Dao of All Beings out of his chest to show Yinglong his rebellious scales, and the will of the Dao of All Beings flowed back into Yinglong's body.
Nezha is no longer a pure lotus incarnation; his body has begun to grow his own mark of the path of all living beings.
The Moon was on the outermost layer of the sky. When the two of them rushed out of the Ruins of Return and stood on the ruins of the South Heavenly Gate again, the silvery star was clear enough to make out the outline of the lunar maria on the surface of the star.
The golden light of Mars and the silver light of the Moon overlapped in the sky above the South Heavenly Gate, illuminating the entire city wall, which was being rebuilt, in a two-tone golden and silver hue.
Yuanshi Tianzun was still sitting cross-legged on the spine, his whisk resting on his knees. He saw the strip of cloth wrapped around Su Fan's left hand and the dark gold bloodstains seeping from it, as well as the newly formed law mark on Nezha's left shoulder.
He took the whisk off his lap and spoke in a soft but clear voice.
"Rahu's head has been resealed. The wedge of creation has been driven three inches deeper. Gonggong's remaining consciousness tells you that the Guanghan Crystal can sustain the Water Spirit for three thousand years. The path to Taiyin Star is on the outermost layer of the sky, and the Taiyin cold air has the power to penetrate the flesh of the living."
"Nezha, your Wind and Fire Wheels and the Fire-Separating Law can protect you and Su Fan, but only up to the entrance of the Moon Palace. Once inside the Moon Palace, the Yin cold energy spreads outward from the root of the laurel tree, and the Fire-Separating Law will be compressed to its limit. At that time, you will need a law that can maintain your body temperature in extreme cold."
"Laojun, what kind of blessing?" Nezha looked up at him.
Yuanshi Tianzun flicked his whisk towards Nezha, and a strand of whisk detached from the whisk and floated in front of Nezha. The surface of the whisk strand shimmered with a faint, clear light, and inside the light was sealed a rune written by Laozi himself.
"This talisman is a pure yang talisman refined nine times in Laozi's Eight Trigrams Furnace. When placed on the Tanzhong acupoint on the chest, it can maintain the body temperature for one day and one night in the Taiyin cold air. You must come out of the Moon Palace within one day and one night, otherwise the talisman will burn out and the Taiyin cold air will freeze through your spiritual platform."
"This talisman was originally pasted on the door of the Eight Trigrams Furnace when the Great Sage was imprisoned by Laozi. After forty-nine days of refining, he developed his Fiery Eyes of Truth, and it was this talisman that kept his stone embryo alive. The talisman has only one last wisp of pure yang fire left, enough to last for another day and night."
Nezha caught the whisk and placed it on his chest at the Tanzhong acupoint. The whisk melted upon entering his body, and a very faint warm current spread from his chest to his limbs. The law mark on his left shoulder glowed slightly in the warm current.
He slung the Fire-Tipped Spear over his shoulder, rekindled the Wind-Fire Wheel, and with the blessing of the Pure Yang Talisman, the flames of the Fire Law burned even brighter than usual.
Su Fan stuck the Pangu Axe into his back, and the two of them leaped into the sky above the South Heavenly Gate.
Nezha's Wind Fire Wheels trailed out two extremely long tongues of fire, which enveloped Su Fan and protected him within the cold-resistant range of the Fire Law.
The silvery-white light of the Moon Star drew ever closer to the outermost layer of the sky, the outline of the lunar maria became increasingly clear, and the dome of the Guanghan Palace, the main hall of the Moon Palace, reflected a faint silvery light in the very center of the lunar maria.
Behind the Moon Palace, a colossal laurel tree with a canopy that blocks out the sky stands quietly at the North Pole of the Moon Star.
The Guanghan Crystal they were looking for was located under the tree roots.