Chapter 67: Supreme Mana
Xiao Wangsun's carriage flew through the air, Li Jindou trapped helplessly inside. With a thunderous Boom, it slammed against the cliff face. The carriage disintegrated instantly, and the four exotic steeds were ground into fine powder.
The coachman attempted to petrify his flesh moments before impact, but the Evil Bodhisattva's power was absolute. Even as a stone statue, he shattered into a thousand fragments!
Li Jindou forced back the blood rushing to his throat, only to hear the sickening crunch of porcelain from below. He looked down; his legs had been crushed by the Evil Bodhisattva's strike.
Despair clawed at his heart. Legless, his status in the Li family would plummet into the abyss. Could he still protect Li Tianqing and his mother?
“Why am I overthinking? Tianqing and I might both die here on Qianyang Mountain!”
Li Jindou slammed his hands against the ground, vaulting into the air. The Six Yin Jade Wheels whizzed to life, rotating furiously around him, their power climbing. Ahead, the Evil Bodhisattva caught Jin Hongying's sword qi with a single bare hand. Dozens of strands of sword qi exploded with sharp Zing Zing Zing sounds, forcefully merging into one. The power surged, only to be crushed by the Evil Bodhisattva with a crisp Snap!
The Ram Horn Heavenly Spirit Lamp shot forward, illuminating the demonic soul. Madam Sha's Primordial Spirit merged with her Divine Embryo, chanting the Supreme Eight Trigrams Body-Protecting Register. Raising her foot in sync with her Spirit, she stomped down. Black qi surged instantly, and a green stone road unrolled beneath her feet with a heavy crash. The surrounding landscape shifted bizarrely, warping as if intending to drag the Evil Bodhisattva straight into the Underworld!
“Come with this old woman to wreak havoc in the Underworld!”
The stone road paved its way to the Evil Bodhisattva's feet. Madam Sha burst forth with every ounce of her strength, her face twisted and ferocious. Blood spilled from the corners of her mouth and eyes, and warm, scarlet streams flowed from her nostrils.
“Go down to the Underworld together!” She gave a sharp shout, and the Evil Bodhisattva's body sank halfway into the spectral earth.
That Underworld was terrifying and gloomy. Jagged skeletal hands reached out from the surrounding darkness, grabbing at the two figures on the green stone road—a scene completely different from the peaceful River of Forgetfulness!
Even the Evil Bodhisattva recoiled at the sight. It raised its foot and stomped down. The green stone road collapsed under the crushing weight of its demon-god-like power. Madam Sha coughed up mouthfuls of blood, crumbling to her knees, drained of all strength.
“Shing!”
A cold light flashed, piercing the Evil Bodhisattva's heart and exiting its chest. It immediately doubled back, stabbing straight toward the glabella. It was the small sword, Shrike.
The shrike—a butcher bird known for impaling its prey on thorns to peck open their skulls and feast on their brains.
Xiao Wangsun named the blade "Shrike" with this brutality in mind.
This sword was adept at piercing chests and splitting brains. Even great monks and lamas who had cultivated the Diamond Indestructible Body had perished under its edge.
However, just as the Shrike Sword was about to pierce the Evil Bodhisattva's glabella, an invisible force seemed to seize it. It halted, unable to advance an inch!
One of the Evil Bodhisattva's faces stared at the small sword. The Shrike Sword trembled, its blade gradually twisting and deforming!
“You sacrificed your Primordial Spirit into this sword to achieve unity of man and sword?”
Another face of the Evil Bodhisattva stared dead at Xiao Wangsun. At this moment, Xiao Wangsun retained none of his former grace. Instead, his body, like the small sword Shrike, was gradually deforming and twisting, as if an invisible giant gripped him, forcing him into the same contortion as the blade!
“No wonder you could pierce my heart. But since your Primordial Spirit is in the sword, you've given me the chance to kill you.”
At the Evil Bodhisattva's chest, muscle fibers like wriggling leeches and earthworms wove together, knitting the pierced heart whole.
It exerted force abruptly. The blade of the small sword Shrike was twisted a full circle, and Xiao Wangsun's body followed suit. Bones crackled, blood rushed to his head, and his face flushed a violent crimson.
“Clang! Clang! Clang!”
Six jade wheels flew over. Li Jindou exerted all his strength to urge the wheels, slashing at the Evil Bodhisattva to save Xiao Wangsun. However, the Evil Bodhisattva raised six arms and spread six palms. The six jade wheels froze in mid-air, compressed smaller and smaller by its overwhelming mana.
With several booms, the Six Yin Jade Wheels shattered into dust.
“How many can you hold?”
Li Jindou screamed like a madman. The air around him vibrated violently, and Six Yin Jade Wheels emerged desperately, one after another. The quantity was so vast that the Evil Bodhisattva frowned, then swept a gaze over him. Li Jindou, suspended in mid-air, was swept by the gaze and immediately turned to porcelain—becoming a legless porcelain doll plummeting from the sky.
He had drained his mana to create the jade wheels, losing all resistance against the Evil Bodhisattva's power. The transformation was terrifyingly fast.
Just as he was about to land on the rocks and shatter, Jin Hongying rushed in, transforming into a red robe that flew with a whoosh, catching the porcelain figure Li Jindou had become.
The porcelain figure landed without breaking, but Jin Hongying was heavily suppressed. Transforming from the red robe back into human form, she was just about to rise when the Evil Bodhisattva's gaze swept over. Crying "bad luck" inwardly, she tried to transform into a red robe to escape. But just as the large red robe floated up, revealing her bare shoulder in a flying apsara pose, she turned into porcelain, immobilized in mid-air.
Madam Sha held the Ram Horn Heavenly Spirit Lamp, struggling to climb up. Before she could find her footing, the Evil Bodhisattva's gaze swept over, and she too turned into a porcelain little old lady holding a lamp, frozen in time.
“Now, only you are left.”
The Evil Bodhisattva's gaze fell on Xiao Wangsun. It did not turn him into porcelain but twisted the small sword Shrike, watching Xiao Wangsun's body twist and rotate along with it. This brought it particular pleasure.
It relished torturing other lives.
Suddenly, a sense of imminent danger washed over it. This feeling made it feel as if it had returned to the day it was caught by that man—weak, helpless, and small.
It snapped its gaze toward the threat, only to see golden light blocking half its vision. Brilliant radiance, within which seemed to be deities, or perhaps a host of immortals, drifting ethereally. To others, it was a visual feast; to the demon, it was torture, causing black, viscous bloody tears to flow from its eyes.
“Is this a spell?”
Realization struck, and it looked at the figure walking under the golden light. It roared, intending to twist Xiao Wangsun into a knot before killing that tall figure.
But at this moment, it sensed strange power flowing around its body, yet it saw no spell.
It only saw the spell forming around it, encircling it.
Relying on instinct, it could break most spells in the world, but since it was already inside the spell, how could it break it?
It abandoned killing Xiao Wangsun, waving its eight arms and blasting frantically outwards. Its violent power could snap mountains and fill seas, yet the spell around it reformed immediately. First were the simplest fire talismans and water talismans, then the Five Elements Mountain, Eight Trigrams Furnace, Nine Palaces, Twelve Zodiacs, Twenty-Eight Mansions, Thirty-Six Heavenly Spirits, Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends...
In the brilliant golden light, an unknown number of phantom images of immortals and gods pressed down, suppressing its body, shattering its form again and again, grinding away its flesh and blood!
It turned into a ball of demonic qi, a piece of almost indestructible flesh, with new blue-and-white porcelain skin constantly generating, trapping it in a cycle of destruction and regeneration!
Xiao Wangsun seized the moment to retrieve the Shrike Sword and looked at the Evil Bodhisattva. Around the demon, it was like a Cosmic Grand Offering. One thousand two hundred immortals and gods of the Divine Land of Huaxia, all transformed from different Talismans, Registers, and Seals.
Talismans (Fu) are pictorial spells, with patterns as the main component and text as auxiliary.
Registers (Lu) are the names of gods and demons, with text as the main component and patterns as auxiliary.
Seals (Zhuan) are the language of gods and demons.
What he saw was the union of Talismans, Registers, and Seals, forming a scene of one thousand two hundred Divine Land immortals and gods refining the demon together!
“Supreme Mana...”
Xiao Wangsun took out a handkerchief, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and whispered, “The last time I saw this was in Xijing.”
The Evil Bodhisattva could not fight back.
Not that it would not fight back, but it could not. No spell, no means could contend with the phenomenon of the Cosmic Grand Offering. It felt that it would die, ground down to nothing, ceasing to exist completely!
It was uneasy, terrified, just like the living beings it had killed!
“So, I'm an ant too.”
Thinking this, it suddenly detected the opponent's weakness and laughed: “Your name is Chen Yindu? So you're also a fiend, a dead person! You and I are the same kind! What are you guarding so strictly? You've already been affected by the moonlight. Are you bitterly guarding your Dao Heart? Haha, so you're this fragile. The moonlight has worn down your mind to this extent!”
It struggled within the Cosmic Grand Offering. Its demonic qi and flesh were being refined and shrinking constantly, yet it was exceptionally excited: “You're suppressing your own desires, fighting against your own nature! You're wrong, Chen Yindu. You're already dead. You're a living corpse, a fiend! Let me lend you a hand!”
Xiao Wangsun saw that within the golden light of the Cosmic Grand Offering, the immortals and gods seemed covered in dust. Their forms became twisted, their faces ferocious, and their limbs extended like tentacles, becoming indescribable!
“Master Chen's been affected!”
He was startled.
“Yes, just like that!”
The Evil Bodhisattva was incredibly excited, shouting, “Release your desires to your heart's content! Do not restrain yourself! Release them, satisfy them, and you will be like me!”
The gods of the Cosmic Grand Offering became increasingly gloomy and evil. Various negative thoughts infected them into demons, even more evil and crazy than the Evil Bodhisattva!
“Boom!”
Accompanying thunderous vibrations, a golden light shot up from the top of Chen Yindu's head, blasting into the high sky and colliding with the Evil Bodhisattva's original Demonic Domain.
The golden light rapidly darkened, turning into black light, flowing and spreading along the light barrier of the Demonic Domain.
Not only that, it expanded outward, pushing the Demonic Domain—which had stabilized at a radius of fifty kilometers—further out!
Flags arranged around the periphery of the Demonic Domain by order of Xinxiang Province Governor Zhao Tianbao began to sway. Golden dragons prostrating on the Demonic Domain failed to suppress it.
The golden dragons cracked. They involuntarily soared into the air, turning into beams of golden light and flying into the flags!
The Heavenly Dragon Demon-Locking Array was broken!
The soldiers guarding the Heavenly Dragon Demon-Locking Array were terrified. They immediately whipped their horses to speed straight to Xinxiang Province to notify Governor Zhao Tianbao.
By the time Zhao Tianbao received the news and rushed to the location, the Demonic Domain had already expanded outward by about half a kilometer!
“How can this be?”
Zhao Tianbao's face drained of color, at a loss.
“Yes, just like that! Do not use so-called propriety and morality to limit yourself. When humans are first born, there is no propriety, no morality. Desire is the driving force for you and me!”
Within the Cosmic Grand Offering, the Evil Bodhisattva had been refined to a lump only the size of a fist, yet it was still incomparably excited, shouting, “Isn't the cultivation of Daoists just hoping to return to the state of birth? Does an infant know what kinship is, what propriety is, what morality is? Cast aside those things that bind you, release your desires, and you will discover a new world! Chen Yindu, you are like me, both True People, which is what they call Demons!”
A voice like raving came from Chen Yindu's mouth: “You are right. We cultivate Dao seeking an infant's heart, seeking great freedom. We should not be bound by propriety and morality...”
The Cosmic Grand Offering gradually dispersed.
Under the purification of various spells, the Evil Bodhisattva was almost destroyed in body and spirit, yet it still did not die. After the Cosmic Grand Offering dispersed, it recovered again, only its stature became extremely short, only palm-high, still with four faces and eight arms.
The Evil Bodhisattva laughed loudly, standing together with Chen Yindu. One tall and one short, looking very strange.
Xiao Wangsun felt a heavy weight in his chest.
The Evil Bodhisattva stood with arms akimbo, its voice deafening: “The world has been polluted and has become demonic, while we are the True People! Chen Yindu, you must cast aside everything to be considered an Ultimate Person. Now, the first one you must kill is your grandson...”
Just as it said this, the aura of the demonized old man beside it changed.
“Kill my grandson?”
The Evil Bodhisattva was startled. It looked up abruptly, only to see a large foot like a black mountain stepping down on it!
“Kill my grandson!”
The old man was apoplectic, stomping the Evil Bodhisattva into a pile of mud with one foot. The flesh of the mud pile squirmed, and the Evil Bodhisattva began to condense again. But the old man's foot stepped down again. The moment it landed, the surroundings darkened. The Evil Bodhisattva was stomped so hard it fell toward the Underworld!
“Boom!”
The Underworld shook violently. A giant foot descended from the sky, crushing the Evil Bodhisattva, blasting into the Underworld, and stomping it until its body and spirit were utterly destroyed!
“Kill my grandson... I'll send you on your way!”
Demonic qi surged around Chen Yindu, blasting apart the Evil Bodhisattva's crimson Demonic Domain with a boom, leaving only a continuously expanding dark Demonic Domain.
The violent qi within his body became increasingly vigorous. His teeth began to grow wildly, and his desire to eat people grew stronger. He looked abruptly at Xiao Wangsun.
“Master Chen...”
Xiao Wangsun's hand shook uncontrollably. The rolling, expanding dark Demonic Domain had now reached a radius of sixty kilometers, pushing to the front of the arriving Governor Zhao Tianbao and others.
Almost all the experts of Xinxiang Province, following Zhao Tianbao, were present. Forced by the continuously expanding Demonic Domain, they retreated again and again.
Everyone shouted in unison, urging their Primordial Spirits and Nascent Souls to resist the expansion of the Demonic Domain, but they were still crushed and slid backward.
Despair gripped everyone. This new Demonic Domain was simply invincible!
The dark Demonic Domain halted.
“So it is Xiao Wangsun. I thought it was a bad person.”
In Qianyang Mountain, Chen Yindu regained clarity of mind and smiled at Xiao Wangsun.
Xiao Wangsun was still in shock. He saw a black-clothed youth in the distance standing on a rock holding an oil-paper umbrella. It was the spirit of the Great Serpent Xuan Shan. It was Xuan Shan and the oil-paper umbrella that suppressed Chen Yindu's demonic nature.
“Little Du, you cannot stay in the mortal world,” said the black-clothed Xuan Shan.
“Xuan Shan, give me some time. Give me a few more days, allow me to say goodbye.”
(End of this chapter)