Chapter 1035: Asura

The Lun Dao Celestial Instrument stopped rotating.

Purple-black causal force of the fallen, following the evil fetus's palm, infiltrated the interior of the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument, altering the internal causal laws.

The evil force was spreading.

But in the next instant, an ancient power surged from within the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument.

Pure white, jade-like heavenly mechanism sword qi began to strangle the purple-black causal force of the evil fetus.

The Lun Dao Celestial Instrument slowly began to rotate again.

Amidst the chains of poppies, the evil fetus's face was distorted, icy and cruel.

Its blood-dripping palm desperately grasped the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument, preventing the celestial instrument from continuing its operation.

The rotation of the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument quickly slowed down again.

But the power of Lun Dao Mountain's ancient heavenly mechanism core still allowed it to firmly complete its own deduction according to the established causal laws.

The evil fetus extended another palm and pressed it on the celestial instrument.

More powerful causal evil force intertwined with the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument.

The Lun Dao Celestial Instrument seemed to fall into a quagmire of evil paths, operating even slower. But in the next instant, the inherent causal patterns, like mysterious array patterns, suddenly trembled. A majestic, pure white heavenly mechanism force spread outward, continuing to strangle the fallen force of the evil god.

This ancient heavenly mechanism supreme treasure resisted the invasion of all external forces.

Not even the evil god's fetus could bypass it.

The evil fetus's hands, like those of a corrupted infant, were ground until flesh and blood were blurred by the causal force of the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument.

The evil fetus's face became ferocious, angry, and twisted.

It was the evil fetus closest to the origin of the evil god.

But the evil fetus was ultimately just an evil fetus, an initial prototype and embryo of the evil god's descent, not possessing the full power of the prime evil god.

It had to borrow killing, blood, fear, despair, and the various ugly evil desires of human nature to condense into an entity and re-revive.

Before this, it still couldn't break through the heavenly mechanism seal laid down by certain powerful cultivators.

All it could do was delay the operation of the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument, but it couldn't change the established outcome.

The evil fetus's expression was indifferent, and it slowly closed its eyes.

It was calling its "believers".

Humans are greedy.

Human nature is fallen.

The seal laid down by humans could only be broken by "humans".

Soon, its summon received a devout response. The evil fetus opened its eyes, and in its icy gaze, there was still a trace of sarcasm.

The surrounding void quietly cracked open again.

A trace of golden causal force stained with evil qi spread out again, intertwining with the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument.

The golden causal force was an extremely skillful heavenly mechanism method, intertwining with the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument.

This didn't stop there.

Soon, another void cracked open.

A wisp of thick, blue causal force also spread out.

However, this trace of causal force was entwined with extremely complex auras: a human aura, an evil demon aura, and a trace of blood-colored "corpse" aura.

It was fundamentally impossible to distinguish whether it was human or ghost.

One gold and one blue, these two causal forces were the strongest.

Besides, there were several other paths of more mixed, weaker causal calculation forces, borrowing the void broken open by the evil fetus, spreading towards the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument like vines.

The Lun Dao Celestial Instrument was firmly entwined by these dense causal forces of the evil fallen.

Its operating speed slowed down visibly, and then became increasingly slow.

Finally, it completely stopped.

The evil fetus relied on itself and the causal evil forces of its minions to suppress the operation of the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument, the supreme treasure of Lun Dao Mountain.

Next, the evil fetus's purple-black, blood-dripping hands began to push the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument backward.

It wanted to reverse causality and rewrite the laws.

The golden causal force with evil qi, the polluted blue causal force, were like tree roots.

Other various causal forces were like branches and leaves.

All these forces gathered densely together, suppressing the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument and creating an opportunity for the evil fetus.

The Lun Dao Celestial Instrument was indeed suppressed.

But it was the supreme treasure of Lun Dao Mountain's ancestor. Its inherent causal constants could be suppressed, but not reversed or altered.

Even if the evil god's causal force was strong, it couldn't reverse the celestial instrument.

The situation was temporarily in a stalemate.

The mixed evil god force and the pure white, jade-like celestial instrument force wrestled with each other, in mutual stalemate.

For a time, neither could do anything to the other.

The evil fetus was angry. Its purple-black, blood-dripping hands incessantly slapped and tore at the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument, but it was still no help.

The Lun Dao Celestial Instrument didn't budge.

In this subtle balance.

On the side of Suspended Heaven Peak of Lun Dao Mountain.

In the dead of night, a wisp of almost undetectable qi flew out from the Sword Viewing Tower, which towered into the starry sky.

This wisp of qi was like a grain of starlight in the sky, profound and wonderful.

But it was also formless, traceless, and colorless.

It came unnoticed, arrived in an instant, and during the time the evil fetus and the celestial instrument were wrestling, it directly melted into the causal laws and seeped into the interior of the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument.

No one detected it.

The balance was thus broken.

The Lun Dao Celestial Instrument "admitted defeat".

The powerful aura of the evil fetus began to gain the upper hand.

The forces of the evil god's minions began to run rampant.

The causal patterns of the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument began to reverse.

Law after law began to be polluted by the evil force, and causality was also being rewritten little by little...

Amidst the chains of poppies, the evil fetus revealed an ugly and cruel smile...

All these matters occurred in the causal domain and were heavily concealed.

Except for the parties involved, almost no one in the entire Qian Xue State knew about it.

Only Mo Hua suddenly felt a surge of palpitations.

He seemed to see an ugly face smiling at him.

This face was too ugly, purple and black, like a dead fetus, with evil qi, ferocious and terrifying, full of resentment and greed towards the world.

This ugly face also interrupted Mo Hua's concentration.

Mo Hua frowned.

"What happened?"

But he couldn't think of exactly what could have happened...

His causal attainment was still far from skillful enough to touch upon the realm of contention above the Cave Void.

He only had a keen causal intuition.

And that trace of telepathy with the evil fetus, which shared a "same origin".

Mo Hua thought for a moment and shook his head.

"Forget it, it's not related to me. I just need to discuss the sword..."

With so many matters in the Qian Xue State, how could this small Foundation Building cultivator worry about every single one?

When the sky falls, there are naturally tall people to bear the brunt.

He wasn't the tallest one.

It was even highly likely that among these people, he was the shortest.

Mo Hua then calmed his heart and continued to consider the arrangements for the Heaven Character Discuss Sword.

Although from the current perspective, the chance of winning was very, very low, he still had to make full preparations to fight for that one trace of victory.

After all, Master's life and death were right in front of him.

But Mo Hua still couldn't concentrate.

In the dark, there seemed to be an induction.

That ugly and evil smiling face would still occasionally float in Mo Hua's mind, interrupting his thinking.

It seemed to have achieved something and was very complacent.

Mo Hua was a little annoyed.

"Still laughing?"

Mo Hua's face was cold, and he softly muttered, "If you still laugh, I will bring you back..."

It was unclear whether Mo Hua's "threat" was effective and the evil fetus perceived danger.

Or perhaps it was simply time, and the evil fetus hibernated again.

That ugly face also dared not laugh in front of Mo Hua again.

Mo Hua nodded, then undisturbed continued to research the matter of discussing the sword...

Night passed and day dawned, the morning glow was bright. On the surface, all was calm.

At Lun Dao Mountain.

The representative elders of the Four Sects and Eight Gates gathered in front of the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument to check the list deduced by the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument.

This list was for the last field of the Earth Character Discuss Sword.

For some sects, like Tai Xu Gate, the overall situation of the Earth Character Discuss Sword was already decided. The victory or defeat of this last field was irrelevant and had little impact on whom they compared with, so they didn't take it too seriously.

Some sects were still quite nervous.

Their war situation was very tense, and the rankings were very close. The victory or defeat of one field would decide the sect's advancement or retreat.

The elders of these sects were inevitably apprehensive.

But there weren't many such sects. Most of the elders present still held a kind of inexplicable "reassured" mentality.

The last field was to be finished, and the Earth Character Bureau would end.

It was like a sect assessment with only the last subject left to test. Once the test was over, they could have a holiday, that kind of strange relaxed feeling.

Although after the Earth Character Bureau, there was still the Heaven Character Bureau.

But there would be a period of rest in between.

Moreover, for the overwhelming majority of sects, the Heaven Character Bureau was an absolute "high-end bureau", which they fundamentally couldn't play.

Even many sects fundamentally didn't have a team that could fight into the Heaven Character Bureau.

When the Earth Character Bureau ended, their session of discussing the sword was also equivalent to ending.

The stage of the Heaven Character Bureau was for those truly outstanding sects and truly outstanding heaven's proud sons.

It had little to do with them.

So, in a sense, this was indeed the last field of discussing the sword.

Whether the result was good or bad, temporarily put aside, but they were really finishing the comparison and going on "holiday".

No longer needing to worry about victory or defeat, racking their brains to compete with other sects for wins or losses.

Then, with this kind of "neck stretched or not, the result is about to be settled" mentality, the representative elders of each sect opened the list deduced by the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument.

For a moment, everyone's expression changed.

A chill surged through their hearts.

The bright sunlight overhead also became gloomy and cold.

Even the elders of Lun Dao Mountain themselves trembled, their eyes full of incredulity.

In the discussion halls of all sects, in the hands of all elders, in all the discussion sword lists, the deduced discussion sword system for all disciples had the same three words:

Shura War!

"Impossible!"

"How could it be Shura War?!"

In the discussion hall of Lun Dao Mountain.

The elders of Lun Dao Mountain and the representative elders of the Four Sects and Eight Gates were all agitated, discussing fervently:

"This kind of ancient and barbaric discussion sword system, wasn't it abolished long ago? Why is it still being deduced by the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument?"

"Did someone tamper with the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument?"

"Who has such great ability?"

"The Lun Dao Celestial Instrument is a legendary heavenly mechanism supreme treasure left by the ancestor of Lun Dao Mountain. There are probably only a few people in the entire cultivation world who can usurp its causality and reverse its deduction."

"These great powers, how terrifying is their origin? Would they commit to spending such great effort to do this kind of thing?"

"Furthermore, what are they plotting?"

"Changing the discussion sword system to 'Shura War', what is the intention? Deliberate sabotage?"

"Bored and finding fun?"

"Impossible..."

The crowd argued endlessly, then an elder said:

"The matter has already occurred, let's investigate the reason later. The problem now is, what to do after discussing the sword?"

"Do we want to comply with the result launched by the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument?"

"If we comply, that is to follow the ancient system and hold 'Shura War'."

"This way, it will definitely cause great controversy."

"If we don't comply, then what?"

"Abandon the deduction result of the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument, and we arrange a list ourselves? Or say, think of a way to let the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument re-deduce?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the room fell silent for a moment.

Everyone frowned and thought.

After a moment, someone resolutely said:

"Shura War cannot be used. This is an outdated ancient system. It was abolished that year because it was too barbaric, too utilitarian, too focused on killing, and was naked 'might makes right'. It violated the original intention of righteous path cultivators to unite up and down to exterminate demons and guard the dao."

"The original intention of the discussion sword assembly is 'discuss', not 'kill'."

"If we use it again now, it's no different from encouraging disciples to kill. How will others view the atmosphere of our Qian Xue?"

Some people also disagreed.

A sword cultivator elder with a rough face and stern expression said:

"Slaying demons and exterminating evils should be done with thunderous means. Exterminating demons and guarding the dao must have a Shura heart."

"Demons and evils are insidious and vicious."

"If we want to exterminate demons, we must be more insidious and vicious than demons and evils."

"Without a decisive heart for killing, we will be counter-attacked by demons and evils."

"This is the significance of Shura War."

"Without the killing decisiveness tempered by Shura War, and an iron-stone heart, our generation of righteous path cultivators would never have been able to overthrow the demon hall, establish the dao court, spread the righteous path, and support the common people..."

But there were more people who opposed these words.

"This is old news..."

"Times are different. That year, demons and evils ran rampant, so killing decisively was necessary. Now the world is peaceful, just don't talk about 'righteous and demonic' every day..."

"Exactly, this is a discussion sword assembly, with numerous righteous path families and gathered heaven's proud sons. Where are the 'demons'?"

"Every day righteous and demonic, righteous and demonic, it's a bit alarmist..."

"I think this Shura War is not suitable..."

"Right, I also disagree."

"You disagree with Shura War, then what? Do you want to deny the deduction of the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument?"

"This..."

The crowd hesitated again.

The Lun Dao Celestial Instrument was the supreme treasure inherited by Lun Dao Mountain, existing for thousands upon thousands of years. No one truly dared to deny its deduction result.

"Not deny, just temporarily shelve." A smooth elder said.

"Right, it's to shelve. We'll arrange the list for the last field of the Earth Character Discuss Sword separately..."

"Then the problem arises, who will arrange this list?"

"Who can arrange it and guarantee no favoritism or malpractice?"

"Who can arrange it and guarantee no interference?"

Most importantly, "Who can arrange it and convince the crowd?"

The deduction of the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument wasn't completely reasonable either. The lists it often deduced also caused dissatisfaction among a group of sects and resentment in the hearts of many disciples.

But no one dared to truly raise an objection.

Because this was the ancestor of Lun Dao Mountain's thing.

It was a system that had been followed by the discussion sword assembly since ancient times.

It was something that could "convince the crowd".

Once they didn't follow the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument and ranked the list themselves, even if the Four Great Sects and Eight Great Gates jointly arranged it, it would be impossible to truly convince people.

After all, the human heart is too complex.

In this kind of interest struggle, things discussed by cultivators fundamentally cannot withstand scrutiny.

No matter how this list was arranged, it would provoke a pile of people's "doubts".

As for "drawing lots" by luck, it was even more impossible.

These people, all core elders of major forces, major sects, and major families, had extraordinary eyesight and insight. Naturally, they knew that the so-called luck was impossible to be truly luck.

Some geniuses could really rely on heavenly mechanism techniques to reverse causality and change fate against heaven.

Fate could be changed.

Not to mention the luck of "drawing lots".

"Then let the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument re-deduce?"

"Cannot." An elder from Lun Dao Mountain said, "Once the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument is set, it cannot be changed."

"It's not that we don't want to change, it's that we can't change."

"Even if we take a step back and assume that someone did tamper with the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument, if we re-deduce, won't the result still be the same?"

"If it's changed once, it can be changed a second time..."

"This..."

A group of elders frowned tightly, truly at a loss this time.

It didn't work horizontally or vertically, it was truly difficult to decide.

Inside the discussion hall, whispers sounded again. The elders of each sect frowned, discussing this matter in twos and threes.

After an unknown period of time, a virtuous and prestigious old man from Lun Dao Mountain, who had lived for an unknown duration, with white beard and hair, slowly opened his eyes and sighed hoarsely:

"Just like this, Shura War it is. The result of the Lun Dao Celestial Instrument cannot be changed..."

Seeing that the crowd still had objections, this elder continued to speak:

"The Lun Dao Celestial Instrument is the ancestor's thing."

"The principles of this thing are complex, and causality is profound."

"And its most profound place is that whatever it deduces is the best choice under the current circumstances."

"Even if this result is strange or weird, without the ability of Lun Dao Mountain's ancestor, do not arbitrarily overthrow it."

"If you follow its result, the situation may be bad."

"If you don't follow its result, the situation will only be worse..."

"Matters in this world are roughly like this. Everyone is just choosing between 'bad' and 'worse'..."

"Don't think too highly of yourselves. You must hold reverence for the ancestor's thing."

These words were meaningful, and the crowd listened in silence.

The discussion hall was quiet for a while.

"Moreover, this matter, for the overwhelming majority of your sects, is actually not a bad thing..."

This old man from Lun Dao Mountain, with white beard and hair, revealed a trace of insightful sharpness in his eyes:

"This is also your opportunity."

"Shura War carries a lot of weight and is enough to 'reshuffle' once."

"After all, in that year, Shura War had another name...", the old man's gaze was profound, and he said word by word, his voice deep as a drum:

"Heaven Character Promotion War!"

Only those heaven's proud sons who endured Shura-like tempering and stood out were qualified to step onto Suspended Heaven Peak and, at the summit of Lun Dao Mountain, conduct the final Heaven Character Discuss Sword with their peers.

This was once the Heaven Character Promotion War.

These heavy words made the chests of all the elders present suffocate.

At the same time, their gazes flickered, and their thoughts were different.

The discussion of Lun Dao Mountain stopped.

Finally, this matter was decided this way, and in the evening, it was transmitted to each sect.

The last bureau of the Earth Character Discuss Sword would adopt the ancient discussion sword system:

"Shura War".

"All participating Earth level disciples will engage in mixed battle killing, competing in life and death."

"Whoever can live to the end is the victor."

As soon as this result was announced and transmitted to each sect and family, it immediately caused shock in all directions.

Even the cultivators who came to observe the ceremony were in an uproar.

This kind of matter was truly too absurd.

It was also almost out of everyone's expectations.

The Earth Character Discuss Sword, which was already close to being "settled", immediately became like a storm, stirring up huge waves again.

This time, no one really knew how the situation would develop...

At the same time, the high-level elders, and even sect masters, of the Four Great Sects, Eight Great Gates, Twelve Flows, and even some of the Qian Xue Hundred Gates that could advance to the Earth Character Discuss Sword, all held emergency meetings overnight to discuss this sudden change in the discussion sword assembly.

From evening until midnight, the lights in each major sect were bright.

Almost everyone was sleepless all night.

Tai Xu Gate, elders' residence.

Since last night, Old Master Xun had been restless. At this moment, looking at the compass in front of him, his face was even more serious to the extreme.

Finally, the aged Old Master Xun sighed deeply:

"The wind and rain are finally coming..."

This wind and rain that was finally coming descended so suddenly from the sky.

The sky of Qian Xue was also about to change.

And at this moment, at the disciples' residence.

Mo Hua looked at the words "Shura War" and was similarly stunned and lost in thought.

Following that was a sudden surge of palpitations.

That faint trace of causality he had long yearned for finally arrived.

Mo Hua's eyes were blurred, and in a trance, he seemed to see Master revealing a gentle smile to him...