Longevity, starting from being a chicken raising servant Chapter 2373 - 93: Soul Search
Previously on Longevity, starting from being a chicken raising servant...
Inside the domain.
Crimson sparks ignited in Wang Ba's gaze. The monk facing him looked bewildered, a subtle red gleam dancing in his eyes too.
But a subtle sign of resistance lingered on his features.
It was as if he'd detected Wang Ba's probe into his mind and was fighting back fiercely...
Across from him, Wang Ba's stare sharpened a bit, filled with mild astonishment:
"An Arhat... How is he holding out like this?"
Even with the Great Realm's laws aiding his soul force, he couldn't fully dominate the opponent, which genuinely caught him off guard.
A notion struck him suddenly; his Primordial Spirit materialized and darted straight into the monk's forehead.
Initially, it resembled plunging into a quagmire, brimming with opposition, yet with minimal force, he pierced through into the monk's Sea of Consciousness.
The Sea of Consciousness stretched endlessly, without limits.
Right then, inside the Sea, one side churned red like a sea of blood, while the other shimmered gold like rays from Buddhist illumination.
Where the two met, a bare monk perched in solitude, his face split down the middle by his nose—half red, half gold, shifting back and forth.
Faintly on the monk's form, intricate golden motifs sprawled over him, writhing ceaselessly, as if embedding deep into his skin and skeleton.
Those intricate golden motifs were exactly what shielded him from the Yin God Power's erosion.
"Could this be what's messing with his thoughts?"
Wang Ba couldn't shake the memory of those cultivators from the Reincarnation Six Paths, who transformed wildly after bathing in the Six Paths Pond Water.
He knit his brows lightly.
Similar golden motifs appeared on those cultivators and inside the black beast bestowed by Wisdom Truth Bodhisattva.
If his hunch held true, these enigmatic golden motifs served as the Supreme True Buddha's tool to command his followers.
Though his power now dwarfed the monk's by far, bolstered by Little Cang World's Yin God Power, he still failed to fully sway the foe.
He lingered in stillness, no second thoughts, as he lifted his hand and smashed it onto the monk's skull, unleashing the 'Soul Search Technique'.
In a flash, the whole Sea of Consciousness quivered without a sound!
Abruptly, fissures raced across it, beyond which a mighty, unrelenting power appeared to surge inward.
Through the fissures, slim golden chains peeked out, fragile-looking yet fully halting that immense power.
This result seemed to provoke the power, and instantly, the entire Sea of Consciousness realm shuddered fiercely, riddled with endless fissures, on the verge of crumbling...
Agony twisted the monk's countenance, his body melting into sludge swiftly, but the enigmatic golden motifs sharpened in view, slithering like alive over the pale bones.
Wang Ba's look grew a touch grave.
None of what unfolded was physical reality, just illusions born from probing the monk's soul, displayed in the Sea of Consciousness.
Even this monk was no more than a projection of his awareness within the Sea of Consciousness.
That detail mattered little.
What counted was sensing those enigmatic golden motifs in the monk's frame, thwarting his dive into the monk's mind.
Sure, he could amp up the soul search's strength, but that would shatter the whole Sea of Consciousness realm, meaning total annihilation of the other's mind, leaving a mindless shell.
Far from his goal.
So, though his expression stayed serene as a pond, he gradually pulled back his hand.
With his hand retreating.
The torment eased from the monk's face bit by bit, his body reforming without noise.
The fissures in the Sea of Consciousness realm mended swiftly, the golden chains vanishing once more.
Still, the enigmatic golden motifs stayed etched on the monk's body, shifting about.
Golden radiance and crimson divided sharply, cleaving the monk and the full Sea of Consciousness realm in two.
"I refuse to accept this!"
A icy glint shot through Wang Ba's eyes.
The instant after, his hand shot forward anew, clamping down on the monk's crown!
Suffering etched the monk's face again.
The freshly mended body sloughed off once more, the Sea of Consciousness realm fracturing into myriad splits...
Amid those splits, intertwined golden chains loomed vaguely, repelling every bit of force from beyond the Sea of Consciousness.
At the same time, as the golden chains battled the soul search's might.
Wang Ba fixed his gaze on the tormented monk ahead, his eyes erupting in crimson brilliance!
The crimson on the monk's face at last breached past his nose, inching slightly into the golden sheen that had dominated it...
Yin God Power paired with Soul Searching Technique, surging together now!
Even if the golden chains sealed every gap without fail, a tiny imperfection emerged right then.
Crimson flared in the monk's eyes at once!
Though it flickered for just a heartbeat, soon reverting to conflict, how could Wang Ba, ever vigilant, let the chance slip? Their gazes locked.
Right away, a small fragment of the monk's mind spilled forth.
"The most important thing in Qi Refining is perseverance..."
"Father, rest assured, one day, I will revive my Ling Dynasty!"
"...Is there anyone in this world who is my match?"
"The people of Supreme True Buddha have come? No! I would rather die than submit to those evil monks..."
"If one desires to know all the Buddhas of the three times, one should observe the nature of the Dharma Realm; everything is created by mind alone... There’s neither beauty nor ugliness in the Dharma Realm... All things are born from conditions, all things perish due to conditions. The Buddha said all these conditioned phenomena are empty..."
"Both Buddhas and mortals are created by the six great elements: earth, water, fire, wind, void, consciousness... There’s no difference between all beings and Buddhas..."
"Supreme True Buddha, the layman has become attached to appearances..."