The instant the second Five-Sun Blood Flower Bead shot into the air, every hair on Li Yundong’s body instantly stood on end, all thirty-six thousand pores exploding outward as his internal True Essence surged forth in a violent torrent!
This was the absolute peak potential an individual could unleash in a moment between life and death!
Li Yundong’s True Essence poured out like a flood, rushing toward the imminent explosion of the Five-Sun Blood Flower Bead like a colossal wave.
The moment this True Essence enveloped the bead, there was a deafening boom, and the Five-Sun Blood Flower Bead violently burst open. The shockwave shuddered through Li Yundong’s frame, instantly scattering the True Essence he had released. Rolling, dark-red flames billowed outward, instantly lunging toward him.
Li Yundong had expended all his True Essence; his defenses were utterly stripped bare. He couldn't even lift the Seven-Treasures Spirit-Awakening Fan. He watched helplessly as these flames, teeming with vengeful ghosts and tormented souls, lunged at him with murderous intent. A single thought flashed through his mind: I’m finished!
But as the thought struck him, the Seven-Treasures Spirit-Awakening Fan suddenly leaped from his grasp, soaring into the air. All its leaves snapped open, each one ringing with a sharp metallic sound, rapidly separating from the spine to array themselves in a line, like an impromptu steel rampart materializing from thin air!
The screaming wall of fire slammed into the metallic barrier formed by the fan leaves. Its momentum was immediately checked. Behind the leaves, Li Yundong felt a scorching, intense heat wash over his face, enough to curl the tips of his hair.
Seeing the flames momentarily stalled by the fan, Li Yundong realized they were rapidly spreading outwards, threatening to engulf the entire room in a sea of fire. He instinctively thought: Not good, this house is going to be destroyed!
As the thought crossed his mind, the section of the fan-leaf wall directly in front of him resonated with a sharp clang, swiftly pulling apart to form a circular barricade, effectively trapping the mass of fire within.
Though the limited number of leaves inherently left gaps, the fan leaves’ incredible rotational velocity compensated for this. Furthermore, as they spun at high speed, golden Sanskrit characters floated off the leaves, forming a thick, cohesive golden stupa inside and out.
Li Yundong looked upon the scene, seeing nothing but dazzling golden light radiating with imposing spiritual authority!
He started, unable to help but wonder: Could this Seven-Treasures Spirit-Awakening Fan know my intentions? Ah, right, the 'Spirit-Awakening' part implies it is sentient; not only can it protect its master, but it can also perceive the owner’s mind!
With this realization, Li Yundong nodded slightly and began consciously directing the treasured fan, thinking internally: Can you refine these flames and ghosts from the Five-Sun Blood Flower Bead?
Sure enough, the rapidly spinning leaves of the Seven-Treasures Spirit-Awakening Fan suddenly halted. All the golden Sanskrit characters hovering in the air froze instantly, fixed as if carved from stone. A moment later, the spine of the fan leaped into the center of the flames, resembling a Buddha offering his body to be devoured by an eagle. It stood immobile amidst the fire, enduring the scorching heat and the gnawing attacks of the vengeful spirits.
Then, the surrounding fan leaves began to spin again, accelerating so fast that the air in the room visibly warped. A constant, deep hum filled the space. The golden Sanskrit characters slowly blurred, eventually dispersing from text into countless Arhats and Vajras, each adopting a different posture.
Li Yundong’s eyes widened. These Arhats and Vajras were depicted in various forms: some in cross-legged meditation, others with the fierce glare of a protector, some in stances of vanquishing demons, and some with hands pressed together in reverence. Accompanying the whirring sound of the spinning leaves, Li Yundong could faintly hear solemn, profound chanting emanating from within the flames.
This chanting sounded as if it were traveling from an impossibly distant place—vast and deep. Li Yundong couldn’t discern the words, but he could sense an immensely powerful force woven into the scripture.
The very instant the chanting began, the vengeful ghosts and tormented souls within the flames let out agonizing screeches. The dark-red fire flickered, shifting through shades of cyan and blue, twisting and churning. The terrifying, distorted faces of the wronged spirits rolled within the blaze, presenting a horrifying spectacle reminiscent of an inferno.
After a while, the rapidly rotating outer leaves began to slowly close, compressing the fire and the souls bit by bit. As they shrank down to the size of a single fist, the golden Vajras and Arhats surrounding the core suddenly moved. Their forms converged above the fan spine, coalescing into a single Vajra figure the size of a real man.
This Vajra had a seven-colored halo behind its back, fringed with five-colored plumes resembling peacock feathers—vivid and dazzling. It possessed three heads and six arms, its torso bare, every muscle corded and bulging, radiating a sense of unstoppable, magnificent power. Its lower body was draped in a golden Arhat’s kasaya, and its bare feet rested upon seven-colored auspicious clouds!
The moment Li Yundong saw this Vajra, his body jolted. He immediately recalled the three-headed, six-armed deity he had previously visualized. He thought: Could this three-headed, six-armed Vajra have some connection to the King I envisioned? Or is this merely a coincidence?
As the thought flickered, he heard the Vajra roar, reciting scripture. The voice was loud and clear, but it was in a foreign tongue that Li Yundong couldn't understand a single word of. He managed a wry smile internally: Damn it, no wonder they say foreign monks chant scriptures—the chants are in a foreign language! What is he saying?
After the Vajra finished chanting, a figure flashed across Li Yundong’s balcony—it was Ziyuan, who had hurried over upon sensing the disturbance. She stood gracefully on the balcony, and upon seeing the three-headed, six-armed Vajra, she gasped aloud in shock: “Acala Vidya-raja (Fudo Myō-ō)?”
As her voice fell, the Acala Vidya-raja instantly turned its wrathful gaze toward her and glared down from the air. With that single glare, Ziyuan felt as if she had been struck mid-air by a hammer; her body trembled, her heart pounded violently, and her Dao heart became completely unsettled!
Ziyuan thought with alarm: How powerful! Is this the true spiritual manifestation of the Seven-Treasures Spirit-Awakening Fan?
While she was still bewildered, the three-headed, six-armed Acala Vidya-raja vanished instantly. The fan leaves surrounding the last clump of fire suddenly closed, snapping shut with a resounding clang, forcefully crushing the remaining flames into a single point, utterly extinguishing them. The compacted, circular mass of vengeful souls within the fire was instantly squeezed into a wisp of greenish smoke.
Immediately following this, the fan leaves separated with a sharp crack, and all the leaves flew back into the spine of the Seven-Treasures Spirit-Awakening Fan. The sound was sharp and decisive, like a treasured sword sheathing itself.
Once returned to normal, the Seven-Treasures Spirit-Awakening Fan snapped shut in the air and fell to the floor with a heavy thud. It did not fall over but remained upright, like an imposing stele.
Li Yundong stepped closer to examine it. He saw that the spine of the Seven-Treasures Spirit-Awakening Fan was faintly shrouded in a layer of black mist, within which the distorted, terrifying faces of vengeful spirits vaguely surfaced.
“What is going on?” Li Yundong asked, startled.
Ziyuan also leaned in for a closer look, then suddenly looked up, exclaiming in shock, “You refined the essence of the Five-Sun Blood Flower Bead into the Seven-Treasures Spirit-Awakening Fan?”
Li Yundong looked bewildered. “I don’t know, but it seems so.”
Ziyuan drew a sharp breath. She looked at Li Yundong with a bizarre expression. “Do you have any idea how lucky you are?”
Li Yundong managed a dry chuckle. “It seems my luck has always been quite good!”
Ziyuan shook her head, disbelief coloring her voice. “You’ve only been practicing esoteric arts for a few days, yet you dared to refine one magical artifact into another! You have incredible nerve! If the Seven-Treasures Spirit-Awakening Fan hadn’t automatically protected you, and if its inherent Vajra Yang energy hadn't perfectly countered the ghostly Yin energy of the Five-Sun Blood Flower Bead, not only would the artifact be destroyed, but you’d be done for!”
Li Yundong looked genuinely wronged. “Didn’t you tell me to refine it?”
Ziyuan snapped back, slightly annoyed. “I told you to refine it in the future, not right now!”
Li Yundong offered a sheepish grin. “I misunderstood!” Seeing Ziyuan’s displeasure, he quickly changed the subject. “What exactly did that Acala Vidya-raja say just now? What language was he speaking?”
Ziyuan glanced at him, clearly finding this scoundrel exasperating. She sighed faintly and said, “He was speaking Sanskrit.”
Li Yundong inquired, “What did he say? How come after he finished speaking, all that ghostly energy from the flames transferred to the Seven-Treasures Spirit-Awakening Fan?”
Ziyuan replied, “He said: ‘Those who see my form attain Bodhi-mind; those who hear my name cease from evil and practice good; those who hear my Dharma gain great wisdom; those who know my heart achieve Buddhahood in this very body!’”
Li Yundong recalled the Buddhist texts he had studied and suddenly understood with an ah: “I know! That’s the vow of the Acala Vidya-raja!”
Ziyuan nodded. “It is also the incantation used by Acala Vidya-raja to subdue demons and monsters! Your fortuitous convergence, refining the ghostly aura of the Five-Sun Blood Flower Bead into the Seven-Treasures Spirit-Awakening Fan, is an extreme rarity. No one would ever suspect that your imposing and dignified Seven-Treasures Spirit-Awakening Fan possesses such venomous and cruel Yin-cold magical power. If someone tries to snatch your artifact now, they will suffer a terrible loss!”
Li Yundong laughed heartily. “This is called good people receiving good rewards, and virtuous people enjoying virtuous blessings!”
Seeing his frivolous and arrogant laughter, Ziyuan couldn't help but chide him with a playful pout: “I think you’re just a small-time villain who got lucky!”
Li Yundong grinned slyly, winking at Ziyuan. “Are you envious and jealous of me?”
Ziyuan scoffed. “You are number one in the world for rapid cultivation speed, and you are also number one for having the thickest skin!”
Li Yundong bowed shamelessly with a smile. “Thank you for the compliment!”
Ziyuan shook her head with a smile. “I won’t waste any more time with you. I flew over here because I sensed an anomaly near you. Before you reach the Nascent Soul realm, never rashly refine one artifact into another, or the consequences could be unpredictable! This kind of thing might happen once, perhaps twice, but never a third time! Remember that!”
After giving these two warnings, she flew back to her own residence.
Alone in his home, Li Yundong reflected on the recent events, calculating the gains and losses. Thinking about the sheer danger, a sudden realization struck him: If I hadn't had the Seven-Treasures Spirit-Awakening Fan just now, I would surely have died?
As Li Yundong calmed down, he felt cold sweat break out across his entire body, overcome by a wave of lingering terror.
He showed fear on his face, taking several deep breaths to regulate his breathing, slowly driving the fright away.
Li Yundong looked around the living room, noting the unavoidable scorch marks. He couldn't help but offer a bitter smile. “Cultivation truly is an endeavor that consumes wealth. Just the sand here, ruined by fire, must cost several thousand. Now I’m going to suffer a financial loss again! I need to figure out a way to earn money quickly! But where do I even begin?” (45278941954)F