Chapter Nineteen: Dragon Crystal

Three white serpents, mouths open wide like whales drawing water, swallowed countless cultivators to death.
A Buddhist chant resounded: “Immeasurable Buddha.”
The golden form of the great monk appeared, spanning east to west, imposing its might upon north and south, yet wounds still marred his body.
Ignoring his own injuries, the monk grasped his staff.
A tremendous sound echoed.
He struck a serpent skin, sending it flying.
The other two serpent skins pursued it, transforming into garments and draping themselves over the original serpent skin.
Within that serpent skin, profound spiritual light moved, coalescing into a human figure.
Clad in robes fashioned from serpent sloughs, a man emerged.
He was strikingly handsome, murmuring mysterious mantras.
From the abyss came a deafening roar, followed by countless crystalline lights, winding and undulating in the shape of a dragon—a great dragon indeed.
“It’s the Dragon Vein!” A familiar voice sounded in Xu Zhong’s ear; the middle-aged man from before stood behind him: “The Dragon Vein of the ancient Yue Kingdom, long suppressed here.”
Xu Zhong turned to look.
He saw the man’s brow open into a third eye, shining like a mirror, reflecting myriad streams of light.
The great dragon soared through the sky, finally seized in the man’s hand.
He smoothed the dragon’s ridges, shaping it from tail to head into a red-tasseled spear; the shaft became the dragon’s body, the tassel its whiskers, the head its tip, with two gems set within, yin and yang swirling inside.
The man wielded the spear, twirling it, producing bursts of spear-flowers.
Each flower held a sun, lingering traces of the spear’s brilliance.
Spear and staff collided.
The great monk remained composed—immovable as a Vajra King, fierce-eyed, his blood surged, enveloping his golden body.
He flung his staff into the air where it transformed into a bodhi tree.
Yet the bodhi was not a tree, but an embodiment of obsession.
The monk declared, “All conditioned phenomena should be thus observed!”
The bodhi tree expanded boundlessly, each leaf a world.
One gigantic leaf floated down, intent on enveloping the man.
The man sneered, “Monk, you wish to convert me? Never.”
He summoned the power of heaven and earth; as the leaf grew, so did his manifestation, and his spear enlarged as well.
“You snake demon, your Buddha nature is insufficient. If I look up, I’ll see you already trapped within the tree.”
The man was startled, lifting his gaze foolishly.
Above, the monk sat enthroned, surrounded by countless Sanskrit characters swirling like mirrors, reflecting the obsessions within his heart.
Bai Zhaoju had been sealed for three thousand years.
Throughout those years, she maintained a clear mind because, with every shedding of her serpent skin, she cut away her negative emotions along with it—each shedding a rebirth.
But those severed emotions remained.
While Bai Zhaoju lived, she suppressed them.
Once she departed, they rapidly fused and devoured one another, eventually giving birth to him.
He was born from obsession, deep and persistent.
Within the bodhi world, only by relinquishing obsession and taking refuge in the Three Jewels could one escape.
“All conditioned phenomena should be thus observed…” A young monk appeared behind the great monk, chanting scripture alongside him; the Buddha between his brows stepped forth, joining the recitation.
In an instant, the entire bodhi world was filled with Sanskrit characters.
Those characters leapt into tiny figures, carving away his obsessions.
The snake demon was subdued.
Xu Zhong felt a weight lift from his heart.
He had feared the monk might fail to suppress the demon; now, he was safe.
Relaxed, he sensed a surge of spiritual energy flowing in the abyss. Looking around, he glimpsed streaks of spiritual light piercing the darkness, flashing before his eyes.

“It’s Dragon Crystal!” The middle-aged man habitually reached for his chin, only to remember he wore a new face.
“Here lies the ancient Yue Kingdom’s Dragon Vein, sealed with the White Emperor for three thousand years. Its aura condensed into crystals.”
“Such crystals, worn by ordinary people, extend life; swallowed and refined by cultivators, they enhance fortune, improve physique, and increase cultivation—a peerless medicine.”
Some heard his words and halted, turning back toward the abyss.
With the snake demon suppressed, no other monsters likely lurked below.
Xu Zhong noticed the man kept staring at him, puzzled.
The middle-aged man found it strange as well.
Dragon Crystal was a rare treasure; few could resist its allure.
Yet this youth remained calm—an oddity.
Soft persuasion failed, so he tried force.
He pointed a finger; the ground collapsed, countless green vines emerged, wrapping around Xu Zhong and dragging him into the abyss. The man even conjured an illusion of himself to deceive Xu Zhong.
Once free from interference, the middle-aged man cast his spell.
His body shrank, becoming as small as a mustard seed.
He concealed himself, drifting toward the bodhi tree.
His power was immense, surpassing even the great monk’s.
Yet his actions were furtive, fearing discovery.
He floated into the bodhi tree.
Inside, he encountered the snake demon, flailing like a headless fly.
The man gripped the spear formed from the Dragon Vein, battling the air in a contest of wits.
Outside, the monks noticed nothing.
“It’s often said that Monk Zhenyan of the Bodhi Temple is a monk who can’t abide the words ‘Buddha’ or ‘Tathagata’—he vomits at hearing ‘Buddha,’ retches at ‘Tathagata.’ Yet his Buddhist teachings are profound.”
Thousands of Sanskrit characters bloomed in the void, each a lotus flower.
“I came for the Dragon Vein, but this snake demon is far more intriguing.”
His divine eye illuminated every corner of the Bodhi Temple.
“Zhenyan is wounded; his golden body is imperfect, his Dharma flawed. Were he at his peak, I might be converted. Now, however, there’s a great loophole.”
The man transformed into a Sanskrit character, a lotus flower, drifting until he appeared beside the snake demon.
There, his form shifted again, light and shadow, tangible yet formless.
“Go east, life is in the east!”
His voice whispered in the snake demon’s ear.
The demon was alert, searching, but found nothing.
“Do you want to become a Buddhist dragon, or be free?”
Buddhist dragons and serpents are often converted, kept in sacred sites—pets and food alike.
The snake demon sought freedom; only one path remained.
He began walking east.
…
Beside Xu Zhong, the middle-aged man collapsed into a heap of flesh, while Xu Zhong hung from a tree.
He climbed down, gathered the man’s remains, and erected a cenotaph.
Beneath the abyss, light shone.
Overhead hung a jade disc—sun on one side, moon on the other.
The sky was studded with Dragon Crystals, a simplified version of the stars.
This was not a paradise, but fragments of garments.
In the three thousand years of sealing, Bai Zhaoju perhaps built and erased countless skies…
Few people were here, only a few vague shadows.
They scavenged Dragon Crystals from the ground, stuffing them into mouths or storage bags.
Xu Zhong picked several crystals from the mountainside.
Each crystal, called Dragon Crystal, was as long as a finger, as large as a palm, with mysterious liquid inside, nurturing tiny dragons.
These dragons swam comfortably within the crystal.
Xu Zhong followed the cultivators’ example, chewing a crystal.

It tasted much like sugarcane.
He bit out the juice and spat the remnants—the method identical.
The juice nourished his energy; the dragon shape bolstered his fortune.
Xu Zhong gathered some crystals for You Sujue.
Unfortunately, he had no storage bag, or he could have collected far more.
He moved slowly, eating slowly.
As he chewed, he digested; spiritual energy suffused his throat, flowing into every limb.
Xu Zhong was trying to refine the Golden Sun Secret Storage.
He attempted to channel spiritual energy there.
His lungs felt like two mountains suspended within him.
The mountains overlapped, forming a vast millstone.
This millstone could crush inhaled air, separating pure energy from impurity.
Spiritual energy settled in his body, nourishing him; impurity was expelled, merging back into the air.
Xu Zhong’s task was to use spiritual energy to turn the millstone.
The energy he swallowed was quickly exhausted; opening the Golden Sun Secret Storage drew all energy to his lungs, with only a portion retained, most expelled with his breath.
He could not lock spiritual energy within; if he had already opened the Water Sun Secret Storage, he could have retained more, avoiding waste.
Luckily, there was plenty of Dragon Crystal here.
Xu Zhong picked several more.
Dragon Crystals beneath the abyss grew in clusters, like wheat in a field.
The cultivators were like farmers wielding sickles, harvesting swathes of stalks at each sweep.
Xu Zhong’s surroundings emptied out.
Others had already collected the crystals.
He knew he must hurry.
More and more energy flowed to his lungs; gradually, the twin mountains began to move, slowly rotating.
As the millstone turned, his breathing changed.
Inhaling, endless spiritual energy filled his lungs; exhaling, only a small portion was expelled, mostly impurity.
His body drew enough water and nourishment from the air to keep him strangely full.
The millstone spun faster, and his breath grew smoother.
Xu Zhong knew he had opened the Golden Sun Secret Storage; now he must nurture and strengthen his energy, awaiting the chance to break through.
He stopped consuming Dragon Crystals, took off his coat, and began gathering crystals for You Sujue.
Gradually, he noticed something wrong below the abyss.
There seemed to be fewer people.
And in the air, a strange impurity appeared, along with a familiar scent.
Demonic energy!
He had smelled this scent on You Sujue before.
And the unfamiliar impurity—could it be demon essence?
Perhaps the abyss was not calm after all.
“This place is not safe for lingering.”
After collecting dozens of crystals, Xu Zhong decided to leave.
As he retraced his steps, a cultivator suddenly appeared before him—human, yet with horns atop his head and a long tail trailing behind.
They had eaten too much Dragon Crystal and become little dragon men.
Xu Zhong instinctively touched his own forehead—nothing there.
At that moment, the dragon man’s gaze locked onto him.