Chapter 151 — The Six-Eyed Toad
Sea of Primordial Tribulation · Page 1 of 7
"Be on your guard, fellow Daoists! This is the great divine power of shifting mountains and turning peaks—strike at once with the Purple Mansion Immortal Thunder, or if it is pressed down upon us, we shall all be crushed to powder and never rise again!" The old nun Wuzhen cried out in alarm as she saw the toad, ten li across, bearing straight down upon them, its vast bulk leaving no room to dodge.
Though her mouth called out in seeming panic, her hands were not slow; seal after seal and talisman after talisman flashed through her fingers—though the gestures came heavily, as if she were hauling something of a thousand catties. The mouth of the Two Poles Mystic Magnet Bottle suddenly turned upward, aimed square at the enormous toad of crystalline body, and shot forth a white light three zhang wide. The white light spread out and shone upon the toad, and at once its true form was revealed.
The old Daoists of Kunlun looked—and what a toad it was! It was plainly a gigantic mountain peak, blue-green and emerald, likewise ten li across, only jagged with grotesque rocks and sharp stone spires, its whole body coursed with countless green talismanic scripts, while its base was a flat expanse glittering with gold, as though many gold tadpole characters, each the size of a bushel, drifted and swam upon it. An unmatched pressure enveloped the Kunlun Daoists below, bearing with it a majesty ten thousand zhang high. This host of old Daoists, all late-stage Huashen cultivators, felt their breath come short beneath that crushing majesty, their true essence circulating with a faint sluggishness, so that their spells could muster only eight-tenths of their usual might.
"What manner of treasure is this!" Old Daoist Qianji saw the toad revealed in its true form by the demon-subduing white light, and his heart turned from foolishness to dread. Hearing Wuzhen speak of the great power of shifting mountains and turning peaks, a thought rose faintly in his mind: beyond the seas there truly are countless men of ability; by comparison, the Daoist sects of the Central Plains have fallen into decline. To come raiding this immortal estate may have been a mistake. All the elite of his Kunlun Sect were here; should they suffer grievous loss, the thousand-year foundation of Kunlun would be ruined in a single morning. The will to retreat had already taken root in Old Daoist Qianji's heart.
The great power of shifting mountains and turning peaks—that was the art of immortals on the very verge of ascension. With such a formidable figure intervening, Old Daoist Qianji knew that even with numbers on his side and a master like Wuzhen beside him, he had no assurance of seizing the immortal estate—especially with a pack of exceedingly vicious demons waiting below.
The white light from the Two Poles Mystic Magnet Bottle met the descending mountain and held its downward course dead in check. As Wuzhen's hand seals grew slower and slower, the white light from the bottle mouth, several bushels wide, grew thicker and denser, forming a heavy barrier thirty zhang overhead that steadily propped the mountain up.
"Oh! The old thief-nun has grown in skill!" That voice rang out again, leisurely and at ease. "It seems if I don't give this thief-nun a taste of hardship, you'll go on blowing your dharma-horn and spouting all sorts of ugly words!" The tone was even more mocking, steeped in ridicule. Wuzhen, pouring her whole strength into her art, heard this and went crimson with rage, yet she dared not divide her attention to speak, only working her seals and talismans with greater difficulty still.