Faced with the assault of two superpowers, Agaruka Bodhisattva surprisingly didn’t choose to defend. Instead, he summoned the Vajra Dharma Aspect, which symbolised strength and majesty, with twelve pairs of arms growing from its back.
There was a flame mark at the centre of the Vajra Dharma Aspect’s brow, and a blazing ring of fire burned behind its head. The moment it appeared, an overwhelming pressure descended, faintly carrying the bearing of standing in equal opposition to Shenshu behind it and Xu Qi’an before it.
The collision of the three forces twisted the surrounding space.
After summoning the Vajra Dharma Aspect, Agaruka suddenly turned around and drove it forward to meet Shenshu head-on.
Bang bang bang… Amid metallic clashes, the two Vajra Dharma Aspects pressed their twenty-four palms against one another, fingers interlocked, and began a contest of strength.
“Boom!”
Beneath the feet of the two Dharma Aspects, the mountain rocks split apart. Cracks spread inward through the mountain with sharp snaps, tearing through the stone mass.
The contest between the two Dharma Aspects was silent. There was no clash of qi between them. All of their power was transmitted through their legs into the mountain, and the cracks rapidly widened as earth and stones tumbled down.
At this moment, the Warrior Monks were carrying the Zen Masters and fleeing madly deeper into Ananda. Any who were a little slower were immediately swallowed by the splitting chasms.
Xu Qi’an leapt high into the air, gripped the hilt with both hands, raised the Sovereign Sword over his head, and viciously drove it down towards the back of the Vajra Dharma Aspect’s head.
With the explosive force he now possessed, a single strike would’ve been enough to break the Vajra Dharma Aspect, the Buddhist Sect’s second strongest defence.
Just then, above Samantabhadra Bodhisattva’s head emerged a golden Dharma Aspect thirty feet tall. This Dharma Aspect pressed its palms together, lowered its head, and wore a face full of compassion.
“Great mercy and great compassion, never weary nor lax, ever seeking good deeds, bringing benefit to all.”
As the words fell, Sanskrit chants echoed between heaven and earth. A beam of golden light shone down from the sky onto the Great Mercy and Compassion Dharma Aspect, causing the three-zhang figure to burst forth with ten thousand zhang of golden radiance.
That golden light entered Xu Qi’an’s eyes and, for no reason at all, stirred in him a sense of pity for heaven and compassion for mankind. The Sovereign Sword in his hands could no longer come down.
The Great Mercy and Compassion Dharma Aspect was Samantabhadra Bodhisattva’s most powerful technique.
Seeing this, Daoist Jinlian didn’t hesitate. His Yang Spirit left his body, golden light trembling in his eyes as he shone it towards Xu Qi’an.
The Yang Spirit was condensed after the Golden Core reached completion. The Golden Core could break ten thousand magicks, and so could the Yang Spirit. He meant to help that crude martial artist break free of the effects of “Great Mercy and Compassion”.
At that moment, dark clouds suddenly covered the clear sky, and a wildly exaggerated lightning pillar as thick as a water vat crashed down towards Daoist Jinlian’s physical body.
The Master of Rain had made a move.
Nalan Tianlu, who had been lurking in the distance, seized the opportunity and struck decisively.
A second rank Master of Rain could summon wind and rain, and was best at controlling weather and making use of heavenly punishment.
If Nalan Tianlu fully unleashed the authority of a Master of Rain, then by accumulating enough power he could even summon heavenly punishment and force Daoist Jinlian to undergo the Earthly Immortal tribulation early.
And if Jinlian died to the heavenly tribulation, Nalan Tianlu wouldn’t even suffer backlash, because the one killing him would’ve been the heavenly tribulation. What would that have to do with Nalan Tianlu?
At second rank, a Master of Rain directly countered the Daoist system.
At his side, Sun Xuanji reacted with incredible speed. A teleportation array spread out beneath his feet and enveloped Daoist Jinlian’s body. In the very next instant before the lightning pillar landed, it carried him hundreds of feet away.
Boom!
The lightning pillar struck the ground below, blasting up hundreds of kilograms of earth and leaving behind a deep pit with a diameter of ten feet.
With a hiss, the ring of fire behind al-Asura’s head flared into life. Then, like a fighter aircraft, he plunged towards Nalan Tianlu amid rolling sonic booms.
During the charge, Sun Xuanji unfolded his artillery platform and poured firepower at Nalan Tianlu to buy time for al-Asura. But shell after shell veered off course, some turning left or right, others shooting furiously into the sky. Every one of them missed.
This was the power of a Master of Wisdom.
First, they learnt the rules, then they influenced some simple ones, such as changing the range of artillery, altering the flight distance of spells, changing the length of a stride, and so on.
Upon reaching the Master of Rain realm, one could begin to control the rules of heaven and earth.
Of course, Confucianists simply and brusquely altered the rules. The two were fundamentally different.
Nalan Tianlu retreated quickly. By altering the rules, he caused his flying speed to surge, while at the same time extending a hand and casting a curse of death across the distance.
Visible dents appeared on al-Asura’s body, as though sheet metal had been viciously hammered.
The curse of death kept landing on him. Each dent made his body shudder violently. Although these injuries were basically no more than scratches to the son of the Asura King, they effectively hindered his flight speed.
“Turn back and see the shore!”
Al-Asura let out a cold laugh and chanted aloud.
The power of precepts descended upon Nalan Tianlu through the air, interrupting his retreat and forcing him to turn around against his will.
But in the next second, the power of the precepts vanished, and Nalan Tianlu continued fleeing.
Against a powerhouse of the same realm, the amount of time precepts could affect them was extremely limited.
One pursued and the other fled, using curse of deaths and precepts to affect each other, falling into a bizarre stalemate.
On the other side, the female Bodhisattva, clothed in white as pure as snow, black hair flying, appeared before Li Miaozhen and the others.
She appeared abruptly, without the slightest warning.
There wasn’t the tiniest fluctuation of energy, and she didn’t even stir a single strand of wind. One moment she was still at the direction of Ananda’s main hall, and the next she had crossed several thousand feet.
And at this very moment, at Ananda’s main hall, there was still a peerlessly beautiful white-robed figure standing there.
This wasn’t teleportation, but speed taken to its extreme.
Li Miaozhen and the others felt their brows jump fiercely and each reacted in their own way, but in the next second every expression froze on their faces, and all their movements jammed. Zhao Shou’s hand, which had been flicking his Confucian cap, stopped at chest level.
Li Miaozhen formed a hand seal with both hands, but had only completed half of it.
Only three inches of the Nine-tailed Fox’s nine tails had emerged before they froze behind her.
The Bear King… the Bear King peacefully fell asleep.
Within a radius of six hundred feet, all things lost their colour and became pure black and white.
People and objects were like a black-and-white photograph.
Not… good… ah… even… my… brain… is… slowing… down…
Li Miaozhen’s thoughts were like an ox trapped in a swamp.
This… is… the colourless lapis lazuli domain…
Zhao Shou’s mind moved a little faster than Li Miaozhen’s.
From within Vaidurya Bodhisattva’s fluttering sleeves, a small curved jade sabre slid out. Then she looked at Zhao Shou, who wore the Confucian cap and held the carving knife.
Within the domain shrouded by colourless glaze, only the Confucian Sage’s carving knife remained an ancient black, unaffected in the slightest.
She judged that among the beyond-mortals present, Zhao Shou was the person who posed the greatest threat.
Fortunately, with his current realm, it was difficult for him to unleash the carving knife’s true power.
At this moment, just as Vaidurya Bodhisattva was about to throw the small curved jade sabre at Zhao Shou, she suddenly felt a wave of drowsiness wash over her like the tide. It made her close her eyes involuntarily, her consciousness turning hazy as she slipped into a half-asleep state.
That slumber lasted for less than a breath. As a first rank Bodhisattva, Vaidurya quickly broke free of the drowsiness.
She was just about to complete the action she hadn’t finished, thrusting the jade sabre towards Zhao Shou.
Suddenly, a terrifying killing intent surged from behind her like a raging tide. Immediately afterwards, the colourless lapis lazuli domain she had spread out shattered like a broken mirror, collapsing apart with a crashing sound.
Vaidurya Bodhisattva didn’t hesitate at all. At once, she used the power of the Walker Dharma Aspect to evade the attack behind her.
She returned to Ananda, returning to Samantabhadra’s side, and only then looked back.
Just in time to see the colourless lapis lazuli domain disintegrating and collapsing, and Xu Qi’an’s dashing figure as he swung his blade.
“His combat strength has already surpassed that of the Jianzheng back then.”
Vaidurya Bodhisattva’s rosy little lips moved, and her tone was no longer cold and emotionless. It carried a trace of wariness.
“A first rank martial artist, and with secret arts as well. It’s no surprise he could break your domain.” Samantabhadra Bodhisattva shook his head regretfully.
What a pity they hadn’t managed to kill one of the Great Feng’s beyond-mortal experts.
“That’s far too terrifying, isn’t it? We had absolutely no power to fight back,” Li Miaozhen muttered softly.
Zhao Shou let out a breath.
“A first rank killing a third rank is effortless.”
Xu Qi’an said in a deep voice,
“Fly as low as you can, spread your robes, and create opportunities for me to use shadow jump.”
The beyond-mortals all gave slight nods.
One of the Nine-tailed Fox’s tails wrapped around the Bear King and hurled him viciously towards Ananda as she cried sharply,
“Kill all the bald donkeys!”
Like a meteorite, the Bear King smashed towards the depths of Ananda.
Li Miaozhen, Zhao Shou, Sun Xuanji and the others rode the wind towards the direction of the main hall.
The great battle erupted in an instant. The fighting was split into two clearly distinct parts. The two Vajra Dharma Aspects formed one battlefield, while Xu Qi’an as the core, with the other beyond-mortals in support, fought Vaidurya Bodhisattva and Samantabhadra Bodhisattva on the other battlefield.
The beyond-mortals fought with both wits and courage, their methods emerging one after another without end.
Just then, at the mountain summit, the two Vajra Dharma Aspects that had smashed down Ananda’s main peak didn’t take long to decide victory and defeat. The golden Dharma Aspect first had its twelve pairs of arms torn apart by the pitch-black Dharma Aspect, then twenty-four fists pounded into its chest like pile drivers.
Bang!
The golden Dharma Aspect collapsed on the spot, turning into a raging storm and golden light that swept in all directions.
Xu Qi’an and the others’ eyes lit up at once. In their plan, destroying Agaruka’s Vajra Dharma Aspect was a crucial step.
That meant directly destroying Agaruka’s strongest offensive technique.
Next, amidst the entanglement of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, Vaidurya Bodhisattva and Nalan Tianlu, they had to break the Immovable Lord Dharma Aspect and kill the strongest Bodhisattva of the Buddhist Sect.
…
Outside the capital.
In the southern outskirts, Sarun Agu led Uda Batu and Irbu, the two Master of Wisdoms, standing on auspicious clouds as they gazed towards the capital.
Not long after, a streak of golden light rose from the majestic city in the distance, tracing an arc like a shooting star before stopping opposite the three of them.
She wore feathered robes and a lotus crown. On her cold, exquisite face there wasn’t the slightest trace of emotion.
A horsetail whisk rested in the crook of her left arm, while her right hand held a treasure sword shining with a chilling light.
Earthly Immortal, Luo Yuheng!
Soon after, two more people arrived riding the wind.
The person on the left wore a bright yellow dragon robe, a jade crown on her head, dressed as an Emperor, and held in her hand a dark golden long sabre that was not quite a sword, faintly curved.
She too was a cold-tempered beauty of the highest quality, and the yellow robe upon her gave her a charm no man could resist.
The Female Emperor.
The person on the right wore a meticulous Confucian robe and cap. His expression was stern, like that of a rigorous schoolmaster, while clear light swirled around him.
Cloud Deer Academy’s newly advanced beyond-mortal, Yang Gong.
Sarun Agu sighed.
“The Great Feng’s fortune is flourishing. Two more third ranks have appeared. I wonder when the Church of the Warlock God will enjoy fortune as brilliant as a rainbow, blazing like oil in a fierce fire.”
He was very envious.
The Emperor said coolly,
“The Church of the Warlock God hides away in some remote corner, yet you dare compare yourselves with our Central Plains?”
She was an extremely forceful woman. She didn’t lose any presence just because the other party was a first rank Great Warlock.
Nor did she allow Luo Yuheng to take control of the conversation.
“If we can kill the Great Feng’s Emperor today, this trip won’t have been wasted.”
Sarun Agu pressed his right hand to his waist and gave a violent yank.
Crack!
The God-beating Whip lashed fiercely towards Huaiqing.
Luo Yuheng’s snow-white lotus arm shot out and accurately caught the God-beating Whip.
Yang Gong stirred his righteous qi and spoke in a tone like chanting,
“The distance between you is eight hundred feet. The distance between Your Majesty and Irbu is fifty feet.”
The rules were altered. The Great Warlock remained standing unmoved, but Irbu and Uda Batu were each forced four hundred feet to the left and right, while fifty feet behind Irbu stood Huaiqing.
With one exquisite move, he split the enemy apart, then sent Huaiqing, the only martial artist, directly behind the frail Irbu.
Why me… Irbu felt it was deeply unfair. He had always done the most work, yet he was also the one who got beaten up the most.
Back in Chuzhou City, Xu Qi’an had beaten him up.
During the Battle of Mount Jing City, Wei Yuan had beaten him up.
And now he was being targeted again.
…
The western outskirts of the capital.
Kou Yangzhou drove the carriage along the official road.
After half a stick of incense’s time, an old monk in kasaya robes appeared ahead. He was gaunt and withered in appearance, with a compassionate face.
Kou Yangzhou immediately pulled on the reins and stopped the carriage.
The carriage door opened, and a figure in azure robes leaned out. He lightly leapt down from the carriage and looked at the old monk in the distance.
“Arhat Du’e, long time no see.”
Du’e frowned.
“Wei Yuan, were you waiting for me?”
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