Chapter 5120 - 5120: Breaking Through the Cage
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The Bodhi Heartwood and the axe merged seamlessly, and the patterns on the axe erupted with bursts of light.
Images flooded into his mind one after another: a majestic Buddha with kind eyes and benevolent expression, a rugged Monk standing resolutely, a fair-skinned Monk holding his own severed head, a young samanera with lowered brows and closed eyes, clutching a string of prayer beads.
These scenes played out in his mind until he saw his own figure standing on an ancient battlefield.
As he absorbed these images, the stone axe suddenly flew out of his hand, heading towards the giant.
“Hey! ”
The giant grinned as he saw the intact axe, reaching out to catch it effortlessly as it floated in front of him.
In that moment, the axe seemed to become one with the giant, unleas.h.i.+ng its full power in his hands.
The patterns on the axe transformed into mysterious symbols, and with each swing, he learned to harness their power.
It wasn’t until the murky Qi once again surpa.s.sed the giant that he finally stopped.
As the obscurity dissipated, the world regained its brightness, and the giant noticed Jian Wushuang in the distance. This time, he didn’t charge forward but instead touched the axe in his hand and roared at Jian Wushuang before departing.
Through the myriad of forest creatures, Jian Wushuang saw the giant sitting cross-legged in a tree hollow, his eyes closed in contemplation of the patterns on the axe.
“Hmm…”
Losing the Bodhi Heartwood wasn’t a big deal, but why did it willingly merge with the axe and then fly to the giant?
There were too many mysteries contained within all of this. Jian Wushuang pondered, deciding to closely observe the giant’s every move.
The giant remained seated in the tree hollow, and after an unknown amount of time, the murky Qi descended once again.
This time, with just one swing of the axe, the giant caused the murky Qi to rise by a great degree. In a matter of a few breaths, he had swung over ten thousand times, exhausted and drained. The murky Qi had risen to an astonis.h.i.+ng height.
Despite the simplicity of the patterns on the axe for Jian Wushuang, they were nothing more than faint traces left by his extreme Dao power when it erupted. However, even these faint traces were comparable to the great Dao of an ordinary Ascendant Immortal.
Though no one guided the giant, his comprehension of the patterns on the axe advanced astonis.h.i.+ngly quickly.
As the murky Qi descended several times, the giant continued to wield the axe until he was utterly spent.
From the beginning, with ten thousand strikes, to the final million strikes. But the faster he cleaved, the faster the murky Qi sank.
Observing the giant’s actions, Jian Wushuang secretly found an answer! As for the patterns on the axe, they were left by him, so he naturally understood them better than anyone else.
At the beginning, the patterns contained the essence of speed.
So, with each strike, the giant increased the amount of murky Qi several times over.
The path to simplicity!
It’s easy to acc.u.mulate quant.i.ty, but the challenge lies in reducing quant.i.ty and pursuing qualitative change.
Indeed, after reaching the realm of a million strikes, the giant began to stagnate. Fortunately, though he was simple-minded, he wasn’t stubborn and began trying to comprehend the essence of the million strikes.
The murky Qi sank once again.
Hoo!
The giant’s axe struck for the first time, and a heavy aura surged forth, directly elevating the murky Qi by a hundred feet.
Standing in the distance, Jian Wushuang’s eyes flickered. As the top-tier Transcendent Swordmaster, his memory was incredibly strong. He could tell that this strike from the giant was the 3,600th strike out of the previous million strikes. At that time, he had been somewhat surprised by this strike!
Hoo! Ha! He!
With each strike, the giant caused the murky Qi to rise by a hundred feet. This time, he had only struck a hundred times, yet the murky Qi had risen to a height of ten thousand feet. If he were to strike a million times and raise the murky Qi to a million feet, he didn’t do so.
He put away the axe and returned to his tree hollow, continuing to ponder the patterns on the axe.
Jian Wushuang’s figure flashed as he entered the murky Qi.
Hoo!
Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath of the murky Qi.
“This murky Qi is similar to prenatal energy, left behind after nurturing life.
But why does it linger after life is fully nurtured?”
Emperor True Martial Yang, after taking that step, expanded the Great Domain, extending it into the Great Wilderness, effectively pus.h.i.+ng it to its limits.
Could this murky Qi be similar to the situation in the Great Domain?
Jian Wushuang’s eyes flickered, and he made a bold guess!
The height to which the murky Qi could rise was also limited, probably reaching around a hundred million feet. Beyond that point, it wouldn’t sink anymore, and the heavens and the earth would forever remain clear and visible.
Jian Wushuang was baffled by the immense power of the giant. It seemed that the giant’s strength could now cause the murky Qi to rise tens of thousands of feet, but the goal was still far from reach.
With no clear understanding of this vast starry sky, Jian Wushuang once again landed in the towering forest and observed the giant.
When the murky Qi descended once more, the giant did not rise this time. With a casual swing of his axe, the murky Qi soared to a height of ten thousand feet.
This sight left Jian Wushuang somewhat astonished.
In his heart, he couldn’t help but marvel, “Could this giant be an exceptionally rare genius of the Dao?”
He was tempted to take the giant as his disciple, but he quickly realized that their situations were no different. Both were trapped in cages, only of varying sizes.
After the murky Qi ascended to ten thousand feet, the giant within the tree hollow made no further moves, continuing his contemplation.
“This guy has changed his demeanor quite a bit; he can actually restrain from using his full strength.”
In the past, the giant would exhaust himself to the point of collapse before stopping, but now, with just a single swing of his axe, even the tree hollow remained intact.
The principles of simplicity in the Dao had become clear to the giant to some extent. At this moment, he was not only comprehending the patterns on the axe but also using it to create his own techniques.
The giant himself didn’t know when this transformation had begun. Perhaps it was because of the axe, or perhaps it was a reflection of his true self.
From the verv beginning of his existence. his original DurDose might have been to combat the murky Qi.
This insight wasn’t exclusive to him; even Jian Wushuang, through spatial manipulation, had examined the workings of the entire star and discovered its secrets.
However, the giant paid no heed to these distractions. He confronted his true purpose: to be born to resist the murky Qi and to continue the battle.
In the following years, whenever the murky Qi descended, the giant within the tree hollow effortlessly shattered it with a single swing of his axe. What had started with ten thousand feet soon escalated to a million feet.
One day, as the murky Qi descended once again, the giant emerged from the tree hollow, his unkempt hair flowing in the breeze.
Facing the murky Qi, his expression remained calm.
His lips moved slightly, not to shout, but to softly utter, “One.”
It was surprising to Jian Wushuang that the giant had learned to speak at some point!
In the instant he spoke, he swung his axe lightly, tearing through the fabric of s.p.a.ce. Although it was the s.p.a.ce of this star, the sheer power of it left Jian Wushuang utterly astounded.
The axe that tore through s.p.a.ce streaked across the sky, causing the murky Qi to disintegrate with a resounding crash. With a single swing, it soared to three million feet.
Then came the second swing, and the murky Qi rose to nine million feet.
“Eleven!”
With each swing of his axe, his voice grew louder. By the time he swung the eleventh time, the murky Qi had risen to a billion feet.
Jian Wushuang knew he was capable of achieving this, but he never expected it to happen so quickly.
Once the murky Qi reached a billion feet, it gradually stabilized and ceased to descend, just as he had calculated.
However, the giant below frowned as he gazed at the murky Qi. While he understood that the cessation of the murky Qi’s descent would result in eternal brightness in the world, this was not what he desired.
He craved freedom and boundlessness.
He yearned to completely disperse the murky Qi, to break free from his prison!