Chapter 561 - The ‘Me’ In the Past
If no one put a stop to the Golden Crows, a majority of the living beings would eventually extinct.
But as the ten Golden Crows joined forces, very few people in the world had the ability to put up a fight. Even if there were any, they could just protect their territory and it was unnecessary for them to pick a fight.
Besides, as long as Xuanqi was defeated, the Golden Crows would stop. If they continued terrorizing, then the resentment of the living beings would bring bad karma to them.
Xuanqi did not dare to escape to the ground. The Golden Grows had brought such catastrophe to the heavens. If they chose to terrorize the ground, it would be disastrous and Xuanqi"s fate in Dao would be affected.
Da Yi was sad when he said everything on earth was dying. Furthermore, Xuanqi who was being hunted by the Golden Crows, was his wife"s brother. Thus, he decided to break his promise to his wife and take action.
Although Da Yi was unrivaled in heaven and earth, his old arrows were not capable of inflicting much harm on the Golden Crows.
Thus, Da Yi went down the mountains and told the people of his tribe that he needed help and wanted to cut down a part of the World Tree of the east to make his G.o.dly arrows.
Back then when the Emperor built the Heavenly Courtyard, he planted a tree known as "Jianmu", the World Tree. Jianmu was deeply rooted in the Nine Underworlds and had access to the Nine Heavens. If there were ordinary beings who could climb the World Tree to its peak, he would reach the Heaven Courtyard to become a celestial and attain immortality. This was a shortcut to heaven provided by the Emperor.
Ever since the Emperor succ.u.mbed to the unfortunate trials, the Heavenly Courtyard collapsed and the only thing left behind was the tree. The tree had spirituality and as it was deeply rooted to the ground and it absorbed the Qi of vitality from the ground. It was extremely st.u.r.dy and only very few weapons could cut through it. Xingtian"s battle ax was one of the weapons that could do so.
When Da Yi left the mountains, Shen Lian thought to himself that this was it. He actually had the opportunity to witness this legend. This was different from meeting Tianyi, Wen Zhong, and Wuding at Xia Kingdom. He was about to witness a historical moment of a legend, the legend of Da Yi shooting the suns.
Suddenly, there was a wonderful feeling of the "me" who existed in the past and the "me" who would exist in the future. The Daoist master and Buddha too was a combination of the past, present, and future. Without separating each other, they would leap into the Three Realms of past, present, and future. Even someone as strong as the Earth Treasury was seeking for such experience and Shen Lian was having a taste of it at that very moment. If it was any other cultivators who were beyond the level of Taiyi, they would pay any price to be in Shen Lian"s position.
Even if this was a dream, it felt extremely realistic. To any Daoist who wanted to detach, this was indeed hard to refuse the temptation.
Da Yi did not waste any time and returned quickly. He had a log on his shoulder, an ax-shaped weapon around his waist and his mystic bow behind his back. He looked extremely lethargic.
Shen Lian was slightly taken aback by it. Over the years, he found out that Da Yi had infinite energy stored deeply in his body. Who knew that he would have moments of fatigue. He must have encountered something unusual down the mountain.
Da Yi did not take any breaks. Instead, he took that ax and started working on the arrows. Da Yi had superlative craftsmans.h.i.+p as that log of wood made exactly ten mystic bows. When the mystic bow was produced, the ghost and G.o.ds were crying and the wind and rain were weeping. This was the first time the weather turned chilly since the leaping of the ten suns.
Shen Lian had an indescribable feeling when he saw one of the mystic bows. It was exactly this bow that shot him and put him in this current situation.
When he was done with the Sun Vanquis.h.i.+ng Arrows, Da Yi went to the peak of the mountain. At that very moment, the rain and cloud had dispersed. The ten suns were still hanging in the sky and they formed a circle with Xuanqi trapped in the middle.
Da Yi did not start firing immediately. Instead, he looked towards the west side, it was the direction his wife Heng"e took off to. He knew that once he released the first arrow, there would be no turning back. Before he pulled the bow strings, he wanted to first look at his wife.
However, Heng"e did not show up.
Da Yi waited but Xuanqi"s breath was getting weaker and weaker. Da Yi had no choice but to muster up his determination and place the Sun Vanquis.h.i.+ng Arrow on his bow.
He gently released it and Shen Lian could feel the powers of the Sun Vanquis.h.i.+ng Arrow. Everything between Da Yi and the Golden Crows was engulfed by the arrow. The Sun Vanquis.h.i.+ng Arrow was unstoppable.
The once omnipotent Golden Crows lost one of their members. To the living beings on the ground, all they saw was one less sun.
The remaining Golden Crows noticed Da Yi and were raging. They flew in at unbelievable speeds towards Da Yi but Da Yi"s arrow outflew them. One by one, they fell.
Throughout the process, Da Yi was extremely calm. One by one, he released the arrows as if he was hunting for birds and not the sun.
Soon enough, there were only two Golden Crows left.
In the meantime, Shen Lian noticed that Da Yi"s hair was turning grey and he had aged a lot. Shen Lian was familiar with the Dao of Yi and knew that although the ten leaping sun terrorized the sky, they have acc.u.mulated a good amount of merits from their many years of orbiting around the universe. When they fall, their raging grudge and resentment were reflected on Da Yi. More importantly, Da Yi had used up all his energy to kill the Golden Crows. He could only fight against the backlash with his supreme G.o.dly body.
It was beyond imagination that he could fire his arrows calmly despite the situation.
This was finally the chance for Shen Lian to escape. After Da Yi fired the ninth arrow, Shen Lian threw himself to the tenth arrow and it felt like he blended into the water.
Considering that his arrival to this time-s.p.a.ce was related to the Sun Vanquis.h.i.+ng Arrow, it would make sense to solve it from what triggered it. Thus, Shen Lian took this as an opportunity and he felt that his chance was coming.
The Sun Vanquis.h.i.+ng Arrow had blocked out his instincts but as it was calling out for him in the loudest voice.
Technically, Shen Lian should be skeptical of his instincts as he had failed once.
But he did not think too much about it and threw himself to the arrow without any hesitation. Suddenly, a lotus flower-shaped light s.h.i.+ned on the arrow.
That shocked Da Yi. He sighed and said, "I need to leave one sun behind."
Because of Shen Lian"s actions, Da Yi stopped firing his arrows and the last Golden Crow became the "bird that was startled by the bow" and disappeared without a trace.
Earth finally had a taste of night after days of constant sunlight. Xuanqi came down from the sky shamefully and bowed down to thank Da Yi.
Meanwhile, Shen Lian could not sense everything that was happening externally. But he saw the lamp that was in the shape of a lotus flower and the lights shone on him. He could feel something was pulling him and he also heard the words "Qing Xuan".
The pulling force was not strong enough to pull him physically. Subtly, a strong dash of fate came to him and Shen Lian left this time-s.p.a.ce like a sailing boat on a windy day.
When he regained his consciousness, he found himself in a temple.