Chapter 1070: Chapter 601: Ninth Under Heaven (Four-in-One Part 3)

In the void within the void, clusters of perfectly round halos slowly "grow," flawless and eerily white, hanging dozens to hundreds like cocoons in the sky. With a sudden sound, shadowy white figures emerge from the halos.

Their forms are wrapped like delicate silk, with no distinct facial features or only vague, halo-formed hollow faces, radiating gentle yet icy and otherworldly light. Once they land, they join together in a chorus, singing hymns of the cave’s Chapters.

The hymn’s sound is extremely distant, yet sharply piercing, tangling and tightening one’s mind.

Chen Yi furrowed his brow, uncertain of the origin of these bizarre objects. After a brief contemplation, he unveiled the prohibition on Square Land. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The voice of the Old Saintess came to his ear: "...Unlocked it? Kid, why did you seal me for so long?"

"Don’t ask about that now. Look at what’s up there?"

Upon hearing this, the Old Saintess realized the urgency and extended her Divine Sense, exclaiming in astonishment moments later, "The Empress’s children?!"

"The Empress’s children?"

"Where are you, kid? Is this still Dragon and Tiger Mountain?!"

"Vacuum Home."

The Old Saintess was dumbfounded: "Huh? You joined the White Lotus Sect? You sleep with my Divine Sect’s Saintess and join the White Lotus Sect?"

Chen Yi twitched his lips, lacking time to explain the ins and outs to the old woman, straightforwardly saying, "Now the Mother of Non-Birth wants to kill me, look carefully!"

As the words fell, the Old Saintess also calmed down. Chen Yi had sealed her prohibition for many days, causing her confusion. However, everyone knew this was no time for entanglements. She suppressed her emotions, quickly articulating:

"The White Lotus Sect devotees believe in the Mother of Non-Birth, considering themselves her biological children. To them, returning to the Vacuum Home equates to returning to the maternal womb, thus the Empress’s children. All within the Vacuum Home are called the Empress’s children. Once an old witch from the White Lotus Sect argued with me, claiming that the Empress’s children enjoy bliss there. I replied: ’Nonsense! Who doesn’t know your Empress’s children are bizarre creatures?’"

Her Divine Sense tightly locked onto those emerging from cocoons, bizarre figures emitting cold white light, speaking rapidly like firing bullets:

"See that? Their wrapped ’silk’? That’s the skin of Vacuum Home! It looks like light, but it’s truly the shell of ’nothingness’! No face, no heart, merely containing the will of the Mother as its core! What children? Nonsense! They’re knives! They’re plows! Living corpses dedicated to cleaning and sweeping the world!"

The Old Saintess’s words, snapping into his mind like bullets, exuding intense disgust and dread. Throughout her journey, despite deriding the three schools of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism mainly, occasionally she acknowledged them, yet had not a single commendation for the more similar to her Divine Sect, the White Lotus Sect.

Chen Yi had no intention of delving into the reasons behind this. Meanwhile, the Empress’s children had already swarmed like a sky-shadowing multitude of moths.

"Mother of Non-Birth, source of Vacuum. Chaos unformed, sacred slumber eternal. Spiritual essence, transform progeny, myriad dust, compassion bestowed..."

The high-pitched chanting approached along with them. Chen Yi heard the content of the chant as they closed in, his mind twisting tighter, while eerie silvery laughter echoed around.

The sword stirred in the sky, the wild Sword Qi instantly swept into the Empress’s children. He met them head-on, drawing with the long sword, like thunder on the flat ground, abruptly slicing through the Empress’s children, creating a gap.

The might of this sword could not be described as anything but grand, yet its effect greatly mismatched its grandeur. When struck, the Empress’s children slid from the sides of the Sword Qi like greasy lard.

With a furrowed brow, Chen Yi plunged into this white tsunami with knives and swords.

Slash, slice, pick, raise, stab... The knife-light and sword-shadow whirled like a spin.

As yet another of the Empress’s children slid past the piercing sword edge, Chen Yi finally asked in frustration from his Heart Lake:

"What are these ghostly things?"

As the words fell, he sent a straight sword forth, passing directly through. The Empress’s child’s face, mirroring a silvery bell-like smile, finally froze, and all surrounding laughter ceased, as did the chanting.

With those annoying sounds stopped, Chen Yi’s mind instantly felt refreshed, softly asking, "Stopped singing? Hmm?"

The sinister sound swiftly resumed.

Chen Yi dove back into the fray with the Empress’s children, one sword and one knife wielding destructive blows. Although their number was vast, their attack lacked the fierceness of Zhou Yitang’s obsession, only proving incredibly tough. Most vexing was that despite delivering dozens of strikes, he often could only land one blow among these Empress’s children.

At this moment, the Old Saintess finally discerned the pattern: "I have long heard these Empress’s children resemble Heavenly Persons of the Buddhist Sect yet differ. Now I see the difference — Heavenly Persons are serene yet emotional, while these people are serene yet emotionless. They are refined zombies, intolerant to even the slightest mundane impurity! Joys and sorrows, desires and sufferings, all are worldly impurities. Defile them with worldly impurities; they can’t stand it!"

Chen Yi instantly understood what the Old Saintess meant. When he struck with his sword, the calmer he was, the less successful he was in the kill, conversely, as his strikes grew furious, with mounting anxiety, he managed a fatal blow.

Nevertheless, those Empress’s children were so numerous, nearly covering the sky. Even consumed with rage, it was impossible to vanquish them all.

Glancing at the tsunami-like Empress’s children, Chen Yi’s thoughts turned. He gestured and recited,

what he uttered wasn’t spells, but names one after another,

"Yin Weiyin, Yin Tingxue, Lin Wanxiao, Min Ning, Zhu E, Dong Zhiji, Qin Qingluo..."

Desire’s flame began to burn, engulfing him in restless fury.