Chapter 782: The Shell-Shocked Golden Cicada Master
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Lin Feng’s Original Ancient Skyrider flew out of the great hall and stood in front of the Golden Cicada Master. Suddenly, he started to laugh as he said, "This is the second time we’re meeting each other, is it not?"
The Golden Cicada Master returned the smile and said, "The last time we met, it was my avatar the Vairocana Monk and your original body. Today, it’s my original body with your spell body. Our fates are clearly intertwined together – perhaps we may have a proper meeting in the future."
Lin Feng nodded his head in agreement. "If my estimations are correct, besides the Vairocana Sutra, you have collected the other mantras of the Five Tathagata Dharmas of the compass. You have an avatar for every one of the Dharmas, am I right?"
"This is just a cheap trick in order to further my understanding of the Buddhist teachings," the Golden Cicada Master shook his head and sighed.
Lin Feng chuckled and said, "Nonsense. A demon adept at the Buddhist mantras – you have discovered and achieved what nobody in history even thought of."
The Golden Cicada Master was unblinking as he smiled again. "Before the grace of the Buddha, I was but a ignorant cicada chirping away in the fall of autumn. The teachings of the Buddha made me into everything that I am today – from the very first step I took in the practice of demonic powers, all the way from the demonic commander stage to the undying demonic soul stage, and till now."
"My heart has always been with the Buddha. I am very glad that I managed to realize my dreams those few thousand years ago."
Lin Feng was wearing a straight face but thoughts were already racing in his head. "It is actually him. The Golden Cicada Grand Sage was infamous during the Antiquity Age, and managed to survive into the Middle Ages. However, he suddenly vanished and disappeared without a trace during the end of the Middle Ages. Not many people could even fathom the possibility that the Golden Cicada Grand Sage of old has turned into the Golden Cicada Master of today."
"The Golden Cicada Grand Sage had quite a reputation in the Grand Celestial World all those years ago. Besides the fact that he was extremely powerful, his identity and background was a mystery to all. Is it possible that he was just a tiny insect, and anointed by the Buddha?"
As he was thinking, Lin Feng surveyed his surroundings and chuckled. "Good move."
The Golden Cicada Master laughed together with him as the chirps of cicadas rang out from between Heaven and Earth. It was a crescendo – the chirps started off softly and gently but quickly grew into a ear-splitting cacophony.
The Original Ancient Skyrider Spell Body started to decay with immediate effect.
The Golden Cicada Master could tell that even though the Original Ancient Skyrider was just Lin Feng’s Spell Body, it possessed great battle prowess. During the battle of Xiling City, Lin Feng unleashed the power of the Holy Light of Creation, and even though a spell body was different from an avatar, spell bodies were still able to channel the power of the Holy Light of Creation.
In that case, the power of the Original Ancient Skyrider would be stronger than before. Under such circumstances and in order to end the battle as quickly as possible, he resorted to using his own demonic mantras instead of Buddhist ones.
Even though he had yet to trigger the Power-Destroying Catastrophe, he was already in the Cardinal Tribulations Final Stage – the Vipralopa Stage – and the incredible powers of his abhijnas were frightening forces to be reckoned with.
In an instant, Lin Feng started to feel the same aura similar to that of the Imperial Palace, the Saintly Celestial Sword and the Immortal Dragon City.
Two rays of divine light surged out of the Original Ancient Skyrider’s body. One was white and the other was black as the two rays of light trail-blazed across the void to create an independent world that barricaded the chirping symphony of the cicadas outside.
However, the incessant chirping of the cicadas continued to erode the barrier powers of Lin Feng’s Holy Light of Creation.
"If you continue with the use of the Holy Light of Creation, I’m afraid this spell body of yours will be expended in no time," the Golden Cicada Master grinned, "However, that’s still too long for me. Time waits for no man."
As he spoke, the chirping of the cicadas grew even louder as the void trembled above them. A giant light shadow of a cicada shimmered into vision above the Penglai Celestial Mountain and eclipsed the Sun as it covered the entire mountain like a dome.
Lin Feng’s brows furrowed a little as he began to cast the Original Heaven and Earth Splitting Mantra. The incredible force that could separate the grounds beneath their feet continued to support the Holy Light Of Creation to isolate the cicada chirps.
However, the space and void around him twisted and rippled out of proportion and it seemed like Lin Feng was at a huge disadvantage.
Due to the unique effects of the Original Heaven and Earth Splitting Mantra, the Original Ancient Skyrider was made differently from other spell bodies and was unafraid of being grinded down by others.
The Golden Cicada Master increased the strength of his spell and was close to breaking the upper limit of the Original Ancient Skyrider.
Even though the spell body could channel the Holy Light of Creation, it was far inferior to the power of his original body.
A thought flickered in Lin Feng’s head as the Original Ancient Skyrider placed his palms together and rows of black and white runes and characters glimmered in the void above him and transformed into tiny specks of dust.
There were a total of eighteen specks of dust, and they all exploded outwards with crackling booms as enormous volumes of energy were released. They disintegrated into boundless rays of light and every spot of dust seemed like an independent world.
In that moment, it felt as if heaven and earth had lost all color and liveliness.
This was the same for the people that were still travelling towards the Penglai Celestial Mountain. Liang Pan, Zhu Hongwu and the Golden Roc Grand Sage immediately felt the world change around them as if only their senses of hearing and of sight were still working.
One could only hear the continuous chirping of the cicadas, and one could only see the blinding brilliance of light.
In the next moment, the light rays started to dim and the cicada chirping softened – however, the chirping sounds returned with a vengeance and became ever stronger!
The Golden Cicada Master chuckled with a mocking sigh and said, "What a powerful abhijna. How many spells does your spell body actually carry? If it’s not an infinite number, it’s still not enough."
Lin Feng clasped his palms together and laughed. "You are indeed a force to be reckoned with, Golden Cicada Grand Sage. It will be such a glorious thing to do if we ever get to sit down and share our knowledge of the world with one another."
The Golden Cicada Master grinned and replied, "Anytime – I will be waiting for you on top of the Penglai Celestial Mountain for your grand arrival."
Lin Feng stared into his eyes with a roguish smile. "You’ve gotten it upside down."
"Eh?" The Golden Cicada Master felt his heart skip a beat as something seemed off. In the next moment, a tiny and unimpressive jade stone appeared in the void in front of the Original Ancient Skyrider.
The Golden Cicada Master reacted as quickly as he could and raised the power of his cicada chirps to the highest possible level. The light shadow of the giant cicada above his head flapped its tremendous wings and came crashing down upon the Penglai Celestial Mountain!
However, at this very moment, the crystal-like jade began to emanate a formless stream of mana – there was no light, no air of energy, and it made no sound at all.
This stream of mana enveloped the Golden Cicada Master and the Original Ancient Skyrider in an instant and both of them vanished into thin air.
The Penglai Celestial Mountain fell back into its original tranquility once again. The cicada chirps could no longer be heard as the giant cicada, along with the Golden Cicada Master and the Original Ancient Skyrider, were nowhere to be seen. It felt as if they had never been here in the first place.
It even felt as if the battle that just occurred never took place, as if the space above the Penglai Celestial Mountain had never been tainted by the Original Ancient Skyrider or the Golden Cicada Master.
"This place is…" the Golden Cicada Master suddenly found himself in a patch of plains and forests under a dusky sky that seemed familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time. "…I’ve been here before. This is one of the plains inside the Barren Expanses!"
The Golden Cicada had been through rain and shine over thousands and thousands of years, ever since the Antiquity Age all the way till now. He was already in the Vipralopa Stage and had studied the teachings of the Buddha for a long time and his mind was in a kind of unassailable state. Despite all this, he was rendered speechless at this very moment.
Even when he was faced with Liang Pan and Zhu Hongwu of the Great Zhou Empire, the entity that led the charge against the Great Thunderclap Temple and eventually laid it to ruin, the Golden Cicada Master had been calm throughout it all and never once showed a trace of anger or fury.
However, he started to feel his blood boil in his veins and there was no way he could calm himself down.
Even if someone had beaten or defeated him, injured him or even hurt him to the point where he died on the spot, or if someone had captured him alive, he would not have been so shaken.
Just one of Lin Feng’s physical spell body, whose spell-power and whatnot were clearly far inferior to his own, could teleport him from the Ying Sea, a place where there were no inter-world tunnels, directly into the Barren Expanses!
Throughout the entire process, he was unhurt and felt no forceful streams of mana whatsoever. Nobody was holding down his masteries, and neither were his powers being drained away. However, there was nothing he could do and he did not even have a chance to react!
This feeling was akin to a wolf lunging at a helpless rabbit, and becoming blinded in the next moment before the wolf found itself in a place a million miles away from where it was just a second ago. Even though the wolf was uninjured, how could he not feel intense trepidation at what just transpired?
Lin Feng grinned and said, "The Fangzhang Celestial Mountain cannot leave the Ying Sea, so there is no way I can use the same trick on them. Zhu Hongwu should thank you, the Golden Cicada Master as I originally intended to use this trick on him and the Great Heavenly Wheels."
As he spoke, the Original Ancient Skyrider appeared to be slowing down, but it was simply minimizing on the spot and instantaneously vanished into thin air as it returned to the Penglai Celestial Mountain in the blink of an eye.
All this happened in a second’s time. The Golden Cicada Master wanted to suppress the Original Ancient Skyrider but immediately realized that the Original Ancient Skyrider had a mystical and inexplicable connection with that strange and simple-looking jade stone and he was obstructed for just that tiny moment.
And it was in that tiny moment that the Original Ancient Skyrider was back inside the Ying Sea.
"Travelling between worlds without any inter-world passages?!" The Golden Cicada Master was truly speechless and shell-shocked as he watched Lin Feng disappear. He recovered after a long while as he shook his head continuously and forced out a faint laugh.
"Leader of the Celestial Sect of Wonders, what a fantastic move."
After his initial astonishment, the Golden Cicada Master finally realized what had happened. The Original Ancient Skyrider was back in the exact same spot on the Penglai Celestial Mountain, so a teleportation spell was probably used. They departed from the Penglai Mountain and he returned to the mountain at the exact same spot; this was not the same as free movement between the two worlds.
Even so, the Golden Cicada Master was still unable to fathom the real principle behind what just happened.
There was one point he was confident of, however. If he were to head back towards the inter-world passage and back into the Divine Lands, and then towards the Ying Sea and then to the Penglai Celestial Mountain, there was no way he could reach his destination in time even though he was a Vipralopa Stage cultivator.
The situation inside the Penglai Celestial Mountain would have concluded long before he even returned to the mountain and there would be nothing left for him to do.
The Golden Cicada Master heaved a defeated sigh and muttered under his breath, "Leader of the Celestial Sect of Wonders… Truly mysterious and unpredictable."
Once he returned to the Penglai Celestial Mountain, Lin Feng glanced at the Barrier-Breaking Stone and heaved a similar sigh as well. The Golden Cicada Master did just take a bullet for Zhu Hongwu and the Great Heavenly Wheels after all. The Barrier-Breaking Stone could not be used again in such a short period of time after teleporting away such a powerful Vipralopa Stage individual, and would only be functional again after a period of recuperation.
The destination of the teleportation spell was completely down to chance. If he the Barrier-Breaking Stone had teleported the Golden Cicada Master somewhere close to the East Sea of the Divine Lands, then he could come back in no time at all.
Products from the System was unreliable after all. Still, if they were used appropriately at the right time and with the right opportunity, they could achieve unimaginable effects.
The act of teleporting himself back to the same place also required preparation and meticulousness. If he used the stone properly, like he just did, then all would be fine and dandy. However, if he mde a mistake, he would have found himself somewhere far away as well.
Lin Feng returned the Barrier-Breaking Stone into his pockets and raised his head towards the horizon. The shadowy outline of the gargantuan Fangzhang Celestial Mountain had already emerged from the equator.