The immediate priority, however, was not revenge, but saving lives.
At least, the mortals of the Five Dynasties must be saved; they were the most innocent.
These mortals had lost their chance to cultivate because they had to seal the Five Regions. It would be too unjust for them to die now without cause.
"Save them! Save the mortals!"
Within a radius of 22,000 li, all the cultivators who had been in a panic suddenly heard a majestic voice, as if it were the voice of heaven.
All cultivators instantly calmed down and began to use their divine abilities to save people desperately.
They mistook Yang Hong's transmission via [Sword of Spiritual Sense] as the voice of the Heavenly Dao.
Yang Hong was quite satisfied with this unexpected outcome.
He then stood in the imperial palace, using his powerful divine sense to rescue mortals and low-level cultivators threatened by the incessant earthquakes.
If he happened to see them and was in a good mood, he would even lend a hand to demonic beasts and wild beasts.
However, this earthquake lasted for quite some time.
No, this shouldn't be called an earthquake anymore; it was a monumental upheaval of heaven and earth.
In just one hour, the直线 distance between Qingfeng Mountain Villa and the imperial palace, originally less than 200 li, had stretched to over a thousand li and was still widening.
In that hour, Yang Hong had rescued at least tens of billions of mortals.
In the face of immense, irresistible natural disasters, human power was always fragile. Even though he had worked hard to save tens of billions of mortals, tens of thousands still died due to various accidents.
The number of other living beings that perished was even greater.
"No, if this continues, I'll be exhausted.
All cultivators must be mobilized."
He temporarily set aside the mortals and once again used [Sword of Spiritual Sense] to mimic the voice from an hour ago.
"Saving lives accrues merit."
A vast and majestic voice resounded in the minds of cultivators within 22,000 li.
"Merit?"
"Merit!"
"Wonderful, saving mortals actually grants merit!"
Those cultivators who were not yet fully active, including rogue cultivators and demonic cultivators, were moved.
Merit was the supreme life-saving charm for any cultivator.
With merit to protect them, they would face far fewer dangers.
Thus, the cultivators all became actively engaged.
...
In an ordinary mortal village, a group of ordinary people were holding hands, trembling, and sitting on the threshing ground, watching everything around them shake.
Even their loved ones before their eyes were swaying.
"Ah! Save me!"
"Help me! Hold me tight, I'm falling."
"Immortal, save us! I don't want to die!"
Suddenly, a fissure opened at the edge of the threshing ground, and eight villagers immediately fell in.
Whoosh~
A silver-white sword light flashed, and a handsome sword cultivator descended on his flying sword.
Then, with a spin of the sword, the eight villagers were rescued by the enlarged flying sword.
"Thank you, immortal."
"Thank you, immortal."
"You're welcome. Be careful."
The sword cultivator looked at the eight people on his flying sword, frowned slightly, and thought to himself: that's not many.
He then put them down and flew up, once again searching for new opportunities to save lives.
...
Beneath a small mountain village, the villagers watched a cascade of giant rocks rolling down from the summit of Tong Mountain and fled in panic.
Suddenly, a fire dragon descended from the sky, struck the giant rocks, and shattered them one by one, turning them into countless small pebbles that could no longer harm the mortals.
"Thank you, immortal."
The rescued villagers all knelt and bowed in the direction where the fire dragon had disappeared.
...
A small city of ten thousand people was being held aloft by a bizarre, evil skull and slowly descending to new flat ground.
The mortals in the city, apart from trembling, were unaware.
A large city of one hundred thousand people, protected by a formation jointly operated by multiple cultivators, remained intact amidst the great changes of heaven and earth.
Beneath the large city, spanning a hundred li, only nine massive pillars of earth and stone remained to support it.
Within the Five Regions, all cultivators were saving lives, especially those within the Five Dynasties who had received Yang Hong's second reminder.
All cultivators were working diligently.
At the same time, the demonic races and beasts in the mountains also witnessed the actions of the cultivators. Inspired by this, they joined the rescue efforts.
Of course, their rescue targets were naturally their own kind, such as birds and beasts.
Among all the rescuers, only the bald monks were nowhere to be seen.
Those monks who were usually compassionate and merciful had completely vanished, not a single one in sight.
The great changes of heaven and earth continued. Suddenly, a faint chanting sound entered the ears of all beings in the Five Regions.
"The human path is vast, the immortal path is boundless, the ghost path is joyous, and the Buddhist path is superior!"
Most people would not feel anything upon hearing this, but cultivators who had practiced the original "Supreme Scripture for the Salvation of the Utmost Good" and had an impression of it changed their expressions.
[The Buddhist sect is altering a Heavenly-tier scripture!]
All cultivators who recognized it changed their expressions, and then they all understood that these great changes of heaven and earth were a major event orchestrated by the Buddhist sect.
No wonder the monks were absent from the rescue efforts.
"The path of life is governed by the heavens, the Buddhist path values life; the ghost path values the end;
The Buddhist path is always auspicious, the ghost path is always ominous;
Exalted and pure beauty, singing sadly to the heavens;
Only wishing for the completion of the Heavenly Dao, not for the demise of the human path."
Yang Hong, who was desperately saving lives in the Great Sui imperial palace, also heard this voice. Initially, he was filled with anger and resentment.
But as he listened, he revealed a disdainful smile.
"Idiots, when I transmitted it to Yi Lianshan, it wasn't the complete version of the 'Scripture for Salvation.' It contained some things I didn't know or remember.
When you alter it again, and moreover, hard-change the core of the immortal path into the core of the Buddhist path, aren't you courting death?"
Yang Hong gave a disdainful smile and then paid it no further mind.
For as the scripture was transmitted, the souls of the deceased were being transcended, and the intensity of the great changes of heaven and earth also somewhat eased, making his work considerably lighter.
Concurrently, faint golden light of merit began to appear in the heavens and earth.
His lie had also been helped to be substantiated by these bald monks.
However, Yang Hong somehow felt that this golden light of merit had appeared too early, and it contained some Buddhist aura of conversion.
The entire great change of heaven and earth lasted for nine hours before it ended, which was already noon the next day.
Qingfeng Mountain Villa, originally 200 li away, was now over 3,000 li away.
The Lingnan Song Clan, originally 3,600 li away, was now 18,000 li away.
The original sea had disappeared.
"This is truly a transformation of the seas and mulberry fields. I wonder how those powerful beings of the past managed to seal such a vast world."
"I hope that one day I too can possess such great power. Hmm~"
Just as Yang Hong was sighing softly, he noticed that merit was flowing towards him from all over the world.
"It's best not to absorb these yet."
With a thought, a brown-yellow cave flute appeared in his hand. Under his control, the flute slowly spun above his head, emitting a pleasant "woo woo~" sound.
The surging golden light of merit, guided by Yang Hong, continuously poured into the flute.
At the same time, he did not forget to use his divine sense to inform his women and disciples, including those disciples who cultivated his techniques but had no formal title, as well as those transformed tree demons and flower demons, about the matter of using magical artifacts to carry merit.
During the recent great changes of heaven and earth, they had all been working at full capacity to rescue all living beings that could be saved.
The merit in the heavens and earth seemed boundless, continuously emerging and then pouring into the beings below.
"Haha~~ I am about to ascend."