Chapter 335 — The Peerless Master Who Courts Death

"What kind of cultivation art is this?

" The scroll was the Golden Book Precious Scroll, all but impossible to destroy. It bore few words, and those few were terse — "Magpie Bridge," "Mystic Guidance," "Divine Crossing," and the like — their meaning unclear. Ban Gongcuo's gaze fell upon the illustration on the first page: a radiant heavenly court, resplendent in gold and jade.

The golden light that had just flooded the hall was the very glow emanating from that painted court. Though it was only a painting, it was so vivid it seemed a real heavenly court lay hidden within the book. Before the heavenly court stretched a broken bridge, and at its severed end stood a figure like a god.

Ban Gongcuo was briefly startled; the scene looked familiar.

He scanned the edges of the painting and saw the sun, the moon, and the Five Luminaries, and at last he was certain: "This is the Spirit Bridge Divine Treasury!

That godlike figure must be the primordial spirit! Why would the Golden Book Precious Scroll paint such a picture? Isn't the Spirit Bridge of Wuyou Township complete? Why is the bridge in this painting still broken? " Beyond this one there were other illustrations, each depicting a different circulation path: how vital essence moved through the spirit fetus, how to command the five breaths of the Five Luminaries Divine Treasury, how to fix the Six Harmonies to steady heaven and earth, how to link the Seven Stars, how to fuse soul and vital essence into one and consolidate the primordial spirit, how to pass through life and death and behold the Dark Capital.

By the eighth illustration it was the Spirit Bridge Divine Treasury again, and Ban Gongcuo's heart gave several violent throbs. He saw how the first seven pictures laid the groundwork: by the eighth, the vital essence had undergone a wondrous transformation, drawn in as if by some nameless force, spreading forward along the broken bridge like magpies. "The Magpie Bridge! " Ban Gongcuo's heart pounded.

This was the method for cultivating the Magpie Bridge — the Magpie Bridge Formula recorded in the Golden Book Precious Scroll. Cultivate it, and the broken bridge could be rejoined! He hurriedly turned the page. In the painting the primordial spirit had reached the end of the Magpie Bridge, yet an insurmountable distance still separated it from the heavenly court ahead.

Here the circulation path changed wondrously again: a mysterious resonance arose with the heavenly court, the vital essence was drawn flying toward it, and from the heavenly court a bridge began slowly to take shape.

"The Mystic Guidance Formula! " Ban Gongcuo was so stirred that stars burst before his eyes; he hastily steadied himself and looked to the next page.

This was the last page of the Golden Book Precious Scroll, depicting the Divine Crossing Formula. Activate this art, and the primordial spirit could fly across, leaping from one end of the Spirit Bridge to the other and stepping into a profound new realm!

"How could anyone have created such an intricate art? " Ban Gongcuo suppressed the urge to cheer.

The methods recorded in the Golden Book Precious Scroll were truly too intricate; had it been left to him, he could never have devised such a complex and ingenious art to reconnect the Spirit Bridge — yet the people of Wuyou Township had actually created it.

It was simply inconceivable!

"One Golden Book Precious Scroll surpasses all the wealth I amassed in my past life! So what if that brat surnamed Shen seized part of my past-life fortune? With this scroll I can break through to the Spirit Bridge realm and become a god!

" Ban Gongcuo rose, only to feel dizzy and dazed.

He knew his mind was too agitated, so much so that even his dao heart had been shaken by this tremendous news. Though he was an old monster who had lived ten thousand years, this immense joy had still addled him, and he could not settle his dao heart. "Once I cultivate to the Spirit Bridge realm and open the Spirit Bridge Divine Treasury, becoming a god will be no trouble at all! I must raise my cultivation quickly!

" Just then the Shaman Venerable came to report outside the sacred hall of the Golden Palace: "Great Venerable, the front is hard-pressed. Khan Luandi sends word that the Jingping Imperial Preceptor has reached the front, and these past two days another has arrived, called the Nether Demon Sect Master. His swordsmanship is godlike — he showed his hand, and sword-light like a sea seized control of the battlefield for hundreds of li around.

" Ban Gongcuo was astonished, then laughed despite himself: "Has Luandi gone mad? The Nether Demon Sect Master is that little devil surnamed Shen. How could he have such ability?

Sword-light controlling hundreds of li? Even in my past life I had no such skill!

The Jingping Imperial Preceptor likely doesn't either, and he's still nursing wounds besides. Mad ravings — sheer mad ravings. " The Shaman Venerable said, "Khan Luandi's meaning is that he begs the Great Venerable to dispatch the Golden Palace's experts to reinforce him. " Ban Gongcuo was in excellent spirits and laughed: "That boy Luandi is a bit too timid.

I've already sent orders to the steppe for a hundred khans to aid him. Over a hundred tribes and a hundred khans have all gone to lend him a hand; those khans are hardly weak in cultivation, and the Kingdom of Langjuxu is attacking Cold Iron Pass in the north as well, dividing Jingping's forces — and still he wants to borrow the Golden Palace's strength. " The Shaman Venerable said hastily, "Great Venerable, how should we answer Khan Luandi? His talk of sword-light like a sea does not seem feigned. " Ban Gongcuo rose and paced back and forth: "Sword-light like a sea, sword-light like a sea.

.

. I have seen such swordsmanship before! Heh heh, it seems that one has arrived. The old Human Sovereign is not quite at peace even on the verge of death. " The Shaman Venerable shuddered.

"The old Human Sovereign? " "If the old Human Sovereign has shown himself, then matters are much easier.

" Ban Gongcuo said with a smile, "This is the Golden Palace's chance to shine. Go to the Holy Mountain of the Western Land, burn incense, and invite the people of Heaven Above to come. Tell them the old Human Sovereign has walked out of the Desolate Ruins.

I will take the Golden Palace's experts ahead to reinforce the border.

" The Shaman Venerable's expression changed drastically, and he blurted, "Great Venerable, think thrice!

With the old Human Sovereign here, his swordsmanship is so sublime that I fear our Golden Palace. . .

" Ban Gongcuo said leisurely, "The Golden Palace is a holy land after all — should we fear this old bastard who won't die? The Jingping Imperial Preceptor is finished, Emperor Yanfeng is finished, Dao Lord Rulai is decrepit, and neither the Daoist sect nor the Great Tingming Temple has anyone fit to lead.

The Nether Demon Sect's master, that boy Shen, is barely out of diapers and utterly useless. Jingping deserves to be destroyed. " The Shaman Venerable was briefly taken aback and said hurriedly, "Great Venerable, Jingping is not to be underestimated. " Ban Gongcuo tucked the Golden Book Precious Scroll close to his body and walked out, smiling: "You overestimate them.

The Golden Palace is not to be trifled with either — we have more than ten experts of Sect Master caliber, plus over a hundred steppe khans.

We do not fear Jingping. In truth, the moment the old Human Sovereign appeared, Jingping's fate was sealed. Heaven Above is only too glad to help us destroy Jingping. This time, the old Human Sovereign has poked a hornet's nest! " He laughed heartily, strode out of the sacred hall, and summoned all the Golden Palace's experts of the Heaven-Human realm and above — those of the Life-Death and Spirit Bridge realms — and set out for the border.