Chapter 1297: The Udumbara's Illusion

How hateful! All along, Xiao Chen thought that his offensive power was already strong enough and that nothing in this Sky Dome Realm could stop him.

Unexpectedly, at this critical moment, when there was a treasure right in front of him, he could only look at it.

This was something divine that could potentially help him clear his Great Tribulation of wind and fire. It was much more useful than any Magic Skill, Emperor Grade Secret Treasure, or Martial Technique.

What to do?! What to do?! What to do?!

Xiao Chen paced anxiously, walking in circles unawares. His expression twisted until it looked terrifying.

"What's going on? Why does Xiao Chen suddenly look like he is turning into a demon again?" Xiao Chen's appearance scared Ao Jiao.

Her expression changed. Then, she looked at the thousands of snow-colored flower buds on the water. "Is it because of these flower buds?"

"Whoosh!"

Ao Jiao waved her hand and sent a strand of saber qi at the slender golden stalks on the surface of the lake, wanting to chop them all off.

These thousands of stalks swayed and entered the water, avoiding this saber Qi.

Xiao Chen's mind buzzed, and he suddenly startled awake. His expression recovered back to normal as he asked in somewhat of a daze, "What happened to me earlier?"

Ao Jiao's face lit up in joy. "Xiao Chen, you were captivated by those flower buds. Your expression became very scary like you were turning into a demon."

Udumbara!

Xiao Chen felt startled. This flower was not simple. According to legend, only people with great virtue in the Buddhist world could subdue it. It looked like this was true. He nearly ended up falling for its Dao.

The wind blew, and the Udumbara Flowers appeared on the surface of the water once more. Like before, they looked pure and beautiful like falling snowflakes.

Xiao Chen calmed himself and carefully checked his mind. He found that his mental state had changed without him realizing it. A fixation had bubbled up, inspiring a reckless impulse to obtain this flower at all costs.

Something is wrong, Xiao Chen rationally analyzed. Legends were just legends after all. Whether the Udumbara Flower had the effect of rebirth or not remained unproven.

Given my mental state, even if I was tempted, I should not have been that rash. Indeed, there is something weird about this flower. Xiao Chen closed his eyes and guarded his heart. He only managed to suppress that reckless impulse after a long time.

When he opened his eyes again, the flower buds had already disappeared. The huge water plant below must have spread out once more.

"What flower is this? How can it be so scary?" Ao Jiao asked gravely, caution written on her face.

Xiao Chen muttered, "When a fig flower appears, there will be instant youth, a nirvanic rebirth! This is the Udumbara that could tempt even the Buddhas and arhats!"

"In that case, should we still go back down?"

Xiao Chen showed a determined expression. He said calmly, "Yes. We have to obtain this Udumbara Flower seed. Even if there is only a ten percent chance of success, we still have to do our best to obtain it."

When a fig flower appears, there will be a nirvanic rebirth!

With such an attraction, how could one not be tempted? Even though Xiao Chen knew that this flower was not that simple, he still felt tempted.

However, he was now rather open-minded about this. He would just follow his desires and do his best. He would be satisfied with whatever fate brought him and not get infatuated with it to the point of going crazy as he had previously.

Xiao Chen went to the vast patch of water plants at the bottom of the lake again. He immediately saw the Lunar Shadow Saber that he left stuck on the ice with one glance. He pushed off with his feet, performed a few somersaults in the lake water, and arrived before the Lunar Shadow Saber.

With a hard yank, he pulled out the Lunar Shadow Saber and returned it to its sheath. Then he slowly bent over.

Xiao Chen observed the water plants at the sides. They all grew above the ice layer. Only the roots in the center penetrated deep into the ice, growing stubbornly.

Having seen the gargantuan water plant, he knew that this entire patch of water plants was actually one water plant spread out.

The Udumbara Flower should not be the one producing the mysterious ice flame. It was quite possible that the flame seed that Xiao Chen sought was under the Udumbara Flower seed.

As long as he obtained the Udumbara Flower seed, he would be able to obtain the flame seed of the mysterious ice fire along with it, killing two birds with one stone.

Xiao Chen stretched out his hand and grasped the bottom part of the water plant. Then, he pulled gently; it did not move. After that, he slowly increased his strength, but it still did not budge.

He let go and stood up.

With a thought, Xiao Chen drove his Primordial Energy, pushing aside the lake water within one kilometer of him to produce an area that was no different from land.

Then, he took out a formation plate and started to carve the Iron Defense Magic Formation. After a while, an Iron Defense Magic Formation encased the area within one kilometer.

With the activation of the formation, a golden ring of light appeared. Now, Xiao Chen did not need to use his Primordial Energy to push the water away; the small Iron Defense Magic Formation would do it.

After that, he extended his Saber Domain, filling the area within one kilometer of himself with his saber intent.

Then, he drew his Lunar Shadow Saber and hacked out with lightning speed. At the same time, he drove all his one hundred strands of Primordial Energy.

As Xiao Chen chopped with his saber, he unleashed his horrifying aura of kingship. This was already the peak strike that he could use without executing a Martial Technique.

When the saber landed on the ice, its force propagated, shaking the entire Frost Water Lake and kicking up waves.

However, this saber strike broke only one layer of ice. After Xiao Chen brushed the shards aside, he found that only one centimeter of the water plant was revealed.

"I can continuously use this peak strike one hundred times at most. Any more and I will overdraft my energy. If I really continue like this, not only will I not obtain the Udumbara Flower seed, but I will also end up playing myself to death."

It looks like the only option is to comprehend that saber strike!

Xiao Chen thought to himself, To split this ice open, I can only improve my Saber Domain further. Otherwise, obtaining these two treasures will be impossible.

I'll just take it as a cultivation session in a different location.

Without thinking any further, Xiao Chen slowly quieted his heart and felt for everything about his Saber Domain, trying to increase his understanding of it.

All the light within one kilometer of him slowly withdrew as if darkness was spreading towards the center. This darkness was like the darkness of the very beginning.

Soon, his lower body was immersed in darkness. After that, he was enveloped in the darkness, leaving only a very bright Lunar Shadow Saber.

"Whoosh!" Suddenly, everything he had collected surged back like the returning tide.

Failure at the very last step again. It failed when Xiao Chen tried to gather all the energy in this Saber Domain on his saber.

It's fine. One more time!

Covered in sweat, he gritted his teeth and endured his fatigue, persisting in his attempts.

Failed, failed, failed…Xiao Chen failed countless times until he could not see a path to success.

Lan Chaofeng's words seemed to linger in his ears. Saber Domain, Saber Domain. The domain is the focus and the saber is a supplement. This cannot be reversed.

Damn it. Is it really impossible? As a bladesman, if I use the saber as a supplement, losing my faith in the saber, how can I continue wielding a saber?

I do not believe it, I refuse to believe it. As a bladesman, the saber has to be the focus. The concept of the saber being the supplement is just due to the vision of the Kunlun Realm's Martial Emperors being too narrow.

Xiao Chen did not lose faith, persisting with his own Dao. He kept trying again and again.

It was even to the point where he forgot his purpose for this trip, completely immersed in comprehending.

---

Just as Xiao Chen was about to reach complete despair, he tried one more time. Everything within one kilometer of himself became immersed in darkness.

Strong saber intent surged out from his sea of consciousness, quickly gathering at his Heart of an Emperor.

"Ka ca! Ka ca!"

It was as if powerful, sharp weapons were slowly being forged in Xiao Chen's sea of consciousness, giving rise to melodious clanging sounds.

He felt reborn, gaining a completely new understanding of the world, a new understanding of what a saber was.

When the clangor stopped, a small golden dot appeared in his sea of consciousness. This golden dot looked very solid, radiating an everlasting light. It was like a sun shining on the entire sea of consciousness, filled with explosive power.

The golden dot contained strong and horrifying energy. With a thought, this golden spot of light suddenly exploded.

Light shot into the dark world. Xiao Chen's eyes suddenly released a bright light, illuminating the dark space.

Following that, his whole body shone with a similar golden light that contained an unparalleled saber intent. His entire being was like a powerful treasure saber that was just baptized.

Xiao Chen felt the energy in his body and hacked out, striking the center of the water plant.

"Crack!"

With this saber strike, the hard ice finally split in half and sank downwards.

When the light vanished, Xiao Chen was covered in sweat. He felt exultant and was thoroughly excited. Success. Success!

The golden dot no longer existed in his sea of consciousness. However, his entire sea of consciousness bathed in a layer of golden light. Xiao Chen felt that soon, that golden dot would rise from his sea of consciousness like the sun.

However, this was not the time to think about this. There were more important things to do.

Xiao Chen stomped ferociously, and the layer of ice shattered with a tinkling sound. His eyes shone like lanterns as he stared down. Another kilometer down, there was a clump of strange flames that looked like flowing water wrapped around a snow-white seed.

That's it! The Udumbara Flower seed!

Indeed, it was as Xiao Chen expected. The thing growing inside the flame seed of the strange ice flame was the origin of all the mysteries of the entire Frost Water Lake.

The tough ice layer, the strange ice fish, the large patch of water plants, and the dewdrops, all of them sprang from here.

Xiao Chen's eyes revealed joy. "After so much effort, I finally gained a great harvest."

He reached out and prepared to pull over the entire flame seed, bringing this event to perfect completion.

However, just at this moment, something strange happened. The entire ice layer started to shake intensely. Following that, it quickly crumbled into many pieces floating in the water.

The small Iron Defense Magic Formation instantly shattered as well, and Xiao Chen fell.

"Bang!" He landed on the ground. This time, it was real dirt and not a cold ice layer.

Xiao Chen got back up to his feet with a flip. This strange change confused him. He quickly moved back, trying to make out his current situation.

When he looked to the front, he was shocked and stunned by what he saw.

"This...this...how can this be?!"

The thing that appeared in front of Xiao Chen was a one-kilometer-tall Buddha statue wearing a golden kasaya with Buddhist prayer beads hanging from the thumb of its right hand. A clump of flame floated above his left hand.

[TL Note: A kasaya is a Buddhist monk robe. They are normally entirely gray, but the abbot and certain ranks wear a yellow/golden one. The abbot also usually wears another layer of red cloth with certain patterns on it. This red cloth covers about half of the kasaya, slung over one shoulder.]

This flame was precisely the mysterious ice flame seed that he saw earlier. This flame seed encased the snow-white Udumbara Flower seed.

The Buddhist statue did not feel like it was carved. Furthermore, Xiao Chen found it familiar.

Right, that can't be wrong.

Xiao Chen recalled where he had seen this before. The feeling that this Buddha statue gave him was very similar to the feeling he had when he saw the colossal Immortal sculptures in the Kunlun Realm's Heavenly Starry Ocean.

Those Immortal sculptures were controlled by the Treasure Master and turned into sea markets.

However, compared to those Immortal sculptures, this Buddha statue was much smaller, just one kilometer tall.

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