Inside Golden Light Cave, Taiyi sheathed his sword and then produced another spirit treasure radiating divine light, which he also placed in his sleeve.
Just as he finished, a voice boomed from outside the mountain. "Taiyi, why don't you come out and see me!"
Taiyi Zhenren smiled and walked out of his abode. He saw Shi Ji and said, "Fellow Daoist Shi Ji, why have you come to Mount Qianyuan instead of cultivating in your own cave?"
Shi Ji sneered and unleashed Nezha, saying, "Your wicked disciple killed my disciple. Today, I've come to demand an explanation from you!"
Nezha quickly ran behind Taiyi Zhenren, not daring to speak.
Taiyi chuckled lightly, "Don't be afraid, my disciple. She cannot harm you. Watch as your master protects you completely."
He then turned to Shi Ji and said, "I'm afraid you've misunderstood, fellow Daoist. How could my disciple kill anyone? Are you sure you have the right person?"
Shi Ji raised an eyebrow and said nonchalantly, "I was mistaken. Isn't the real culprit you, old Daoist? That's why I've come to seek your counsel today."
Taiyi Zhenren was taken aback. "Fellow Daoist Shi Ji, do not slander me with such baseless accusations."
Shi Ji glanced at him calmly and said softly, "It is a pity that my disciple died tragically in tribulation. Today, I, as her master, will seek justice for her!"
With that, Shi Ji pointed her finger, and the Eight Treasures Cloud Light Silk ascended into the sky, emitting eight colors of divine light that enveloped Mount Qianyuan. She shouted, "Move Mountains!"
As the words fell, the treasure light illuminated the sky, and clouds for miles gathered towards Mount Qianyuan. Threads of spatial light intertwined like a cocoon, enclosing the entire mountain.
*Boom!*
Within the colossal cocoon of light, the birds on Mount Qianyuan flew in terror, and all the beasts stampeded, yet they could not escape the void cocoon.
Taiyi Zhenren's face turned furious. "You wretch! How dare you destroy my cultivation ground!"
He drew his Tai'a sword and struck down, its sharp庚精 (gēng jīng - a type of metal) heading straight for the Cloud Light Treasure Silk.
Shi Ji flipped her hand, drawing her Hundred Xuan Sword, which met the dazzling edge of the Tai'a sword. The light of a hundred paths suppressed the Tai'a's庚金 (gēng jīn - a type of metal), and the void was thrown into chaos.
Both were Da Luo Immortals with the Three Flowers Gathering on the Apex, one a true disciple of the Jade Void Palace of the Chan Sect, the other a disciple of the Jie Sect, a great loose immortal. The Tai'a sword blazed with golden light, the Hundred Xuan Sword teemed with grand Dao, the Dao of Metal's sharpness surged, and the power of breaking laws occupied the泽兑 (zé duì - one of the Eight Trigrams, representing water and marsh). The hundred paths and hundred laws were one Dao, yet their paths diverged before converging.
Taiyi's sword swept out with flawless grace, unstoppable in any direction. Shi Ji's sword bloomed with a hundred flowers on the Dao, each flower blossoming into a path, suppressing all eternity.
Seeing Shi Ji blocking him, Taiyi quickly reached out and summoned dark clouds from the sky, raining down Jade Pure Divine Lightning onto the Eight Treasures Cloud Light Silk.
Shi Ji coldly laughed, "The Three Pure Ones' Divine Lightning? Do you think you're the only one who can use it?" She too reached out, summoning dark clouds that piled up, and the Upper Pure Divine Lightning thundered down, scattering the Jade Pure Divine Lightning into serpentine dissipations.
The roars of Mount Qianyuan grew louder, the earth veins rose, the landscape shifted, and the birds and beasts, in their terror, were gradually being absorbed by the Eight Treasures Cloud Light Silk.
Taiyi Zhenren's anger surged. "You demoness! How dare you be so presumptuous!"
With that, he flipped his hand and released an object. Instantly, an inferno erupted above and below, filled with the roars of dragons and endless flames. A world of fire trapped Shi Ji and Taiyi.
"Shi Ji! Since you are so aggressive, do not blame me for being ruthless! Today, within this Nine Dragon Divine Fire Hood, you shall meet your end!"
Shi Ji's expression turned cold. "Well done, you old scoundrel! You actually possess such a spirit treasure to flaunt your power!"
"Hmph! After years of grudges, we settle them today. Why did you not remain in seclusion during the great tribulation and foolishly enter the mortal world? You are destined for this tribulation." Taiyi Zhenren roared, "Nine Dragons Burn the Heavens, Ten Thousand Fires Return to Tribulation!"
Infinite divine fire burned fiercely, emitting brilliant light. Nine dragons coiled and swooped towards Shi Ji, frightening her mount, a Blue Luan bird, into trembling.
Seeing this, Shi Ji Niang Niang declared angrily, "Enough! Enough! It is my destiny to face this tribulation today! Since you wish to take my life, Taiyi, I shall offer this Dao body to you! However, when your luck wanes in the future, it will be the day Shi Ji takes your life!"
Taiyi Zhenren, confident of victory, laughed heartily, "Today, you cannot escape this hood. What talk is there of the future?"
Shi Ji sneered, "When you first gained sentience, I had already absorbed the earth veins. As for you, a defeated foe, how could I possibly fall to your hands? Though I face tribulation today, my true self in the Bright Heart Great World will not let you off."
Taiyi's face turned pale, and he exclaimed, "How is that possible? This is but an incarnation?"
Shi Ji scoffed and pointed her finger. The Hundred Xuan Sword shattered, unleashing a hundred curses that forcefully tore open a gap. "Little Blue Luan, return to Skull Mountain immediately. Take the Eight Treasures Cloud Light Silk with you and guard our abode."
"Chirp, chirp!"
The Blue Luan bird cried out anxiously, unwilling to leave.
Shi Ji waved her sleeve, sending off the Blue Luan. The Cloud Light Silk on Mount Qianyuan transformed into a stream of light and flew eastward with the bird.
Inside the Divine Fire Hood, Shi Ji sighed softly and murmured to herself, "Skull attains Dao through a thousand hundred eons, one life, one stone, one skull.
White bones attain Dao and prove the supreme, a solitary stone comes to face tribulation."
As her words fell, the nine dragons swirled, and divine lightning exploded. A plain stone appeared within the divine fire.
Taiyi Zhenren's face was grim. He glanced at the stone, still uneasy, and dared not remove it, leaving it within the Divine Fire Hood.
He stepped out of the hood and saw that the earth veins of Mount Qianyuan were severed, the land split in two. The once auspicious and beautiful blessed land had become a mountain devoid of spiritual source and essence.
Taiyi Zhenren roared, "Good demon! Shi Ji, I will have no peace with you!"
No wonder this incarnation was so easily subdued. It turned out that most of her power had been used to sever the earth veins of Mount Qianyuan. If he wanted to repair it, it would likely take hundreds of eons.
In the realm beyond the heavens, a blood-red Shore Flower bloomed fragrantly. A soul journeyed to the Investiture of the Gods platform on Mount Xiqi and entered the Grand Investiture of the Gods.
In the Great Thousand World, within a small thousand world called the Bright Heart Great World, there was a celestial land within a cave-heaven, where a Daoist sat cross-legged, his spirit soaring beyond the heavens.
Suddenly, the Daoist stood up, his three thousand strands of black hair cascading down his back, his green robe billowing, his expression unreadable.
The Daoist sighed softly, "You have a kind heart. In the future, I will surely resolve this karma for you."
She was Shi Ji Daoist, who attained Dao from a white bone transformed into a stone. She had been dormant for countless eons, her cultivation arduous, her origins obscure, without sect or school, forging her way through hardship to prove the Great Dao.
She divided her primordial spirit and merged it with a plain stone that had accompanied her for countless years, forging an external incarnation to guard her initial Dao land, Skull Mountain.
Shi Ji Daoist, a being of great resolve, comprehended a hundred Daos and their techniques, mastering them all. She comprehended the Dao of Void and, guided by the World Tree, ventured to the center of the Primordial World, where she opened the Bright Heart Great World, civilized a region of beings, and resided there, comprehending the Dao of severing the 'self'.
Her external incarnation bore the tribulation for her, severing this tribulation. Death energy dispersed, life force grew, destiny ascended, karmic tribulation declined, and the dawn of the Great Dao could be seen in the future.
Meanwhile, Nezha, after returning home from Mount Qianyuan, found himself with nothing to do one day. He secretly broke his seclusion and headed to the North Sea to play in the sea.