Hearing the voice, the three of them were puzzled and looked around. They saw a towering giant, nine meters tall, rushing through the sky of this world, murderous aura billowing.
"Da Xing!
You old bald donkey!
Your Lord Fire the Second has arrived!
Why aren't you rolling out here to pay homage!"
The giant wore a monk's robe, had a burly build with broad shoulders and a thick waist, a bald head with a full beard, and wielded a crimson great blade. His entire body was ablaze with fiercely burning flames.
The flames looked exceptionally ferocious, scorching the turbid qi of this world, causing it to blur, twist, and crackle incessantly.
"Hahaha!
Da Xing, your Grandpa Thunder God has arrived!"
"Hehehe!
And your Lady Lightning Mother has come too..."
Boom! Crackle!
Rolling dark clouds gathered, followed by deafening thunderclaps mixed with lightning. A man and a woman came riding the clouds and mist. The man held a violet-gold thunder hammer, the woman a violet-gold lightning sword.
Whoosh!
Immediately after, a violent gale suddenly swept through this world. The gale swept in like a monster from the primordial chaos, devouring everything. The turbid qi within the world was scattered like dust, swirling wildly in the wind. Within this gale, there seemed to be a faint, blurry figure, like a woman in blue-green garments.
"How could we leave out your Lady Wind the Fourth?"
Inside the pavilion, Gu Qingfeng watched the four bizarre figures who had abruptly appeared, his expression quite astonished. He could see that these four were not human, nor were they Immortals or Buddhas, nor even demons or monsters. They were a kind of anomaly—anomalies that had become spirits.
Above were Sages, Immortals, Buddhas, and humans; below were demons, monsters, ghosts, and anomalies.
Immortals had the Immortal Dao, Buddhas had the Buddhist Dao, demons had the Monster Dao, monsters had the Monster Dao, and similarly, anomalies had the Anomaly Dao.
However, like the Human Dao, the Anomaly Dao had always held a very low presence and a very humble status throughout the myriad realms since ancient times.
If the Human Dao was the foundation for Sages, Immortals, and Buddhas, then the Anomaly Dao was similarly the foundation for demons, monsters, and ghosts.
For example, Sages, Immortals, and Buddha-humans all originated from humans, while demons, monster-ghosts, and ghost-anomalies originated from anomalies.
In the myriad realms, the Human Dao and the Anomaly Dao had always existed like ants.
In comparison, the Human Dao was slightly better off. After all, since the Primordial Era, to develop and expand, and to dominate heaven and earth, the Immortal Dao had been establishing immortal dynasties throughout the myriad realms, promoting immortal techniques, and teaching humans the methods of cultivating immortality. Humans who embarked on the path of cultivation grew increasingly powerful day by day, their status and standing rising accordingly.
However, the Anomaly Dao had not been so fortunate.
Anomalies, under normal circumstances, possessed no consciousness, no mind, not even life. Most were nurtured by the spiritual energy of the Great Natural Order over countless eons, or by the sun's great yang, the moon's profound yin, or even demonic aura, Immortal aura, Buddhist aura, and so on, gradually developing self-awareness.
For instance, a spirit stone, a weed, a flower, and so on could potentially give rise to self-awareness. After their minds opened, they became spirit-anomalies.
After becoming spirit-anomalies, if they were lucky enough to encounter a benevolent powerhouse who offered some guidance, they might be able to grow.
However, most spirit-anomalies did not have such good fortune, because beings that could become spirits were considered great supplements for both Immortals/Buddhas and demons/monsters—either for refining miraculous elixirs or forging divine weapons. This was the fate of many spirit-anomalies.
Even if the occasional spirit-anomaly escaped the fate of being refined and slowly grew, their abilities would not amount to much.
What astonished Gu Qingfeng was that the abilities of these four spirit-anomalies that had abruptly appeared were not ordinary.
They could not only summon wind and rain but also seemed capable of commanding the Great Natural Order itself, which was quite bizarre.
Could they be spirit-anomalies who had received a mandate from the Great Natural Order?
Or spirit-anomalies who had received a heavenly mandate from the Great Natural Order?
No!
Neither.
Gu Qingfeng observed carefully and found that these four spirit-anomalies had neither received a mandate nor a heavenly mandate. They seemed more like beings born with the innate ability to summon wind and rain.
Actually, it wasn't exactly summoning wind and rain; rather, the four of them themselves were like the fire, wind, thunder, and lightning within the Great Natural Order. In fact, Gu Qingfeng felt that the existence of these four spirit-anomalies probably surpassed even those who had received heavenly mandates from the Great Natural Order.
What struck him as most peculiar was that these four spirit-anomalies seemed to have some connection with the Buddhist sect; each carried a very rich Buddhist aura.
Buddhist-cultivating spirit-anomalies?
Was such a rare thing possible?
Gu Qingfeng mused inwardly, truly, the longer you live, the more rare things you encounter.
"Buddha above, these gentlemen...
How did they get here!"
Da Xing the Mad Monk's expression looked rather shocked. Then, as if realizing something, he exclaimed angrily, "This old monk knows! It must be Shui Yue!
It must be my little junior sister who brought these gentlemen here. This is a huge problem now. Once these gentlemen get involved, our Chan Sect won't be able to avoid chaos this time."
"Da Xing," Gu Qingfeng asked, "you know these spirit-anomalies?"
"Know them?
I know them all too well! These gentlemen are the Five Monsters of Heishan!"
"Five Monsters of Heishan?"
Gu Qingfeng thought for a moment but had no recollection of the Five Monsters of Heishan in his mind. He didn't seem to have heard of them either. As for the place Heishan, he had some impression. It was an extremely famous ancient spiritual mountain in the myriad realms since ancient times, also a primordial treasure land born from the Great Natural Order. It had produced many renowned Great Dao Patriarchs.
For example, the Buddhist and Daoist ancestor Old Mother of Heishan hailed from Heishan.
The Immortal Dao's Old Lord of Heishan also came from Heishan.
The Monster Dao's Old Master of Heishan, the Ghost Dao's Old Matron of Heishan, and the Monster Dao's Old Monster of Heishan all achieved the Dao and attained success in Heishan.
As for the Five Monsters of Heishan, Gu Qingfeng truly hadn't heard of them.
"Old Brother Gu, your cultivation time is relatively short; it's normal you haven't heard of the Five Monsters of Heishan," Mo Wentian said with a solemn expression. "They haven't appeared for a very, very long time. It seems they vanished around the middle of the Ancient Era."
"What is the origin of these five spirit-anomalies? They don't look simple."
"What origin?" Da Xing the Mad Monk said. "Kid Gu, you might not believe it, but even this old monk has to address these gentlemen as Seniors. According to the seniority in our Western Heaven Buddhist Dao, this old monk should call them Ancestors."
Gu Qingfeng was inwardly startled. "Is it that exaggerated?"
"Exaggerated?
Let me tell you, it's not exaggerated at all. You haven't heard of the Five Monsters of Heishan, but you must have heard of our Buddhist Dao ancestor, the Old Mother of Heishan, right?"
"I have indeed heard of the Old Mother of Heishan," Gu Qingfeng said doubtfully. "You're not going to tell me these spirit-anomalies are disciples of the Old Mother of Heishan, are you?"
"Although they are not disciples of the Old Mother of Heishan, it's almost the same."
Da Xing the Mad Monk explained, "As far as this old monk knows, the Five Monsters of Heishan were originally five types of innate essence—wind, thunder, fire, lightning, and earth—that the Old Mother of Heishan gathered from the Great Natural Order. They were already extraordinary existences to begin with. Furthermore, Heishan is a primordial treasure land born from the Great Natural Order, so its spiritual energy naturally goes without saying. Otherwise, it wouldn't have produced so many Great Dao Patriarchs."
"That's not the important part. What's important is that when the Old Mother of Heishan was cultivating in Heishan, these spirit-anomalies were influenced over many years. Additionally, the Old Mother of Heishan once enlightened them and expounded Buddhist principles to them several times. After attaining enlightenment, they became spirits..."