She had complicated feelings. The sacred tablet brought her fortune and glory. At the same time, it became a personal badge of shame.
After all, no one would want to offer their soul and become the tablet’s slave.
As she grew stronger, one particular thought also intensified - a wish to destroy the tablet!
Meanwhile, Feiyun knew how to survive now. He channeled all of his energy into the platform in order to use its mysterious power to suppress his opponent.
“Your luck is extraordinary to be able to obtain this tablet.” The enlightened being calmly said.
“It is called Heaven Ascension Platform.”
“I see.” She stretched her hand forward, creating a five-finger seal spanning for more than one thousand meters - intending on destroying the platform.
This was no ordinary seal. It contained her dao with enough power to destroy a city.
“Boom!” Feiyun gritted his teeth and summoned his Infinite Spirit Ring in order to resist.
Alas, he lost due to the gap in cultivation, resulting in many broken bones. The ring became dimmed as a result. His dantian had cracks, on the brink of collapsing.
However, her seal was also destroyed. She issued a cry of surprise and took three steps backward.
The platform repelled her, not Feiyun. Or rather, she was the one who injured herself just now.
Destroying the platform would also harm the soul. Thus, she had no choice but to pull back.
‘I see.” Feiyun got up with a cold gaze, thinking about destroying that soul. It would grievously damage if not outright kill her.
In theory, Feiyun was the master of the platform and should be able to control the owner of the souls within.
However, the moment he utilized his divine intent, his mind fell into a quagmire and became heavy. He nearly dropped to the ground.
He bit his lips while half kneeling with one hand helping him up. His beast souls roared as he attempted to get up.
“I knew that when I left my name on the sacred tablet, someone else might try to use it against me later. This has plagued my mind and the only thing to do is destroying that tablet and taking back my soul strand. Otherwise, my cultivation speed will slow down.” Enlightened Being looked prideful and opposing just like an emperor.
“That’s why you faked your death, wanting to hide from the master of the platform. Your cultivation soared after becoming emperor but so did your fear, not wanting to be someone else’s slave, isn’t that right? Long Jiangling!” Feiyun’s mouth was bleeding as he spoke.
“The likes of you dare to call me by my real name?” One of her auras turned into a dragon and blew Feiyun away.
He would be dead if he didn’t take out the vessel to block it just now.
The azure flash disappeared as he pulled the vessel back to his dantian. He coughed out a mouthful of blood and laughed: “You then became a wisdom master to train in astronomy to s.h.i.+eld yourself from everyone else, turning into Unrestrained Enlightened Being and creating Mount Potala. This became your new ident.i.ty from then on. Quite impressive but this isn’t enough to cure your issue. You can change and hide everything, just not your soul!”
“I have been searching for a solution in the last two thousand years. I went to that sh.o.r.e many times but couldn’t destroy the tablet. I also thought about severing that soul but… couldn’t bear to.” She didn’t become angry this time and simply stared at the platform. She lost a bit of imposingness, looking more like a reminiscing beauty.
Reaching her current level required years of hards.h.i.+p and luck. To start again from the beginning wasn’t something she wanted. Not even Feiyun could do so.
“But you have come up with something.” Feiyun said.
He tried to use the platform to suppress her earlier but it didn’t work. She had clearly found a way to resist the platform after working so hard for two thousand years.
Her intelligence allowed her to find a way out of this impossible situation.
“That’s right.” She calmly said, perhaps viewing him as a weakling or a dead man. She revealed: “I can’t destroy the tablet nor sever my soul. Thus, the only way left is to separate my souls, not allowing the tablet to affect my main one. That’s why it didn’t work against me just now.”
“I see. This is treating the symptom but not the root cause.” Feiyun shook his head and sneered despite his injuries. He didn’t show any respect to her: “If I were at first-level Nirvana, my divine intents would be strong enough to destroy your soul barrier. Then with the help of the platform, I can easily take your life.”
Feiyun’s divine intents were forty times stronger than a cultivator at the same level. However, the gap between them was too great. Once he reached first-level Nirvana, he should be as strong mentally as her. This would allow him to break the soul barrier.
“You think I’ll let you live that long?” She said.
A murderous intent surged out. She truly wanted to kill him this time because he was too big of a potential threat.
“I’m not the real master of the platform.” He revealed.
Her murder intent paused but still lingered in the air. She said: “Say your last words, you have done enough for the royal clan so I will give you a chance.”
Feiyun got up, bloodied from top to bottom. He said: “You all thought that by leaving your names on the tablet, you would gain providence. In fact, you were only carving onto the heart of an extremely ancient formation.”
“Ridiculous, you think I can’t recognize a formation?” Her ethereal figure looked unreachable while standing next to the spring on top of being unreasonably gorgeous.
As a top wisdom master, she obviously understood the arts of formation. She could recognize and understand even the most complex ones.
“The so-called tablet is only the heart of the formation. The actual one is located at a peak on Mount Banda. Someone purposely separated them in order to avoid people realizing this.”
“The altar on Mount Banda…” Her expression changed. She closed her eyes, clearly calculating. She eventually opened her eyes and said: “It has flown away.”
“When I used the platform to copy your souls, the actual tablet on the lake and the altar on top of Mount Banda have fused together and flew towards the Heaven’s Emergence tomb. How could you not notice this after researching for so many years?” Feiyun criticized.
She believed him. Their so-called providence seemed to be coming from the other side of a portal. It had nothing to do with the sacred tablet itself.
How hilarious. Trading one’s soul for protection and providence. This was no different from selling themselves like prost.i.tutes.
She had an ugly expression and her aura became unstable, on the verge of exploding at any moment.
Feiyun didn’t dare to laugh at her any longer. After all, making fun of a nearly-insane person would drive them to insanity. They would do anything, including cutting him to pieces.
“Really, you’re not the only victim here. Those who have left their names were all geniuses of their respective era.” He consoled her.
“Return the strand of soul and I’ll spare your life.” She quickly composed herself and became calm again thanks to her peerless cultivation.
“I’m afraid I can’t. I have refined the platform into my soulbound artifact but it’s pretty useless, I can only control a part of its power. On the other hand, your souls have been engraved deep in there, I can’t make it go away. That’s why I said I’m not its real master.” Feiyun replied.
He was indeed telling the truth. He could control the soul of the eighteen names but not erase them.
Of course, for Monk Zhi Zang and the girls; their names weren’t carved on it. He could let go of their soul.
To elaborate, if the platform was considered a prison, then the eighteen names have gotten the life sentence. The monk and the women were only temporarily imprisoned. Feiyun would be a guard.
He imprisoned the latter and could also let them go. This wasn’t the case for the eighteen geniuses. The most he could do was torture or even kill them. Releasing them wasn’t an option. Only the real warden, the creator of this prison, had the authority to do so.