“Dark Gu, are you from the Southern Gu Tribe?”

Under Asura’s protruding brow ridge, his naturally sharp eyes fell upon the cloaked figure.

He gave off a strange feeling—when looking down, he appeared both contemptuous and arrogant, yet also detached and gentle. These two opposing qualities found the perfect balance in him.

Xu Qi An ignored the question, sweeping his gaze across the brightly lit Buddhist pagoda. Its doors were sealed shut, making it impossible to see inside.

But he knew that within the tower, sixty-eight Chan masters had formed a meditation formation, using the fortune of the Southern Ten Thousand Mountains to suppress Shen Shu’s remnants.

Buddhist meditation skills were the foundation of their entire system. Buddhists sought enlightenment, and to achieve enlightenment, one must meditate.

This showed the importance of meditation skills.

Masters with profound meditation abilities could sit for years, decades, or even sixty years, neither eating nor drinking, completely isolated from the outside world.

The sixty-eight Chan masters inside the tower were now in this state, like sculptures, neither eating nor drinking.

Completely unaware of external movements.

According to Fu Xiang, every sixty years, the tower’s meditation masters would be replaced with a new batch, taking turns maintaining the formation.

Moreover, Xu Qi An could sense powerful formation energy protecting this pagoda that sealed Shen Shu.

He withdrew his gaze, and a hoarse voice emerged from beneath the hood:

“I’m not from the Gu Tribe.”

After a pause, he continued slowly:

“I am a Buddhist renegade, Wu Tian!”

As he spoke these words, the cloaked figure lifted his hood, raising his face to reveal young, handsome features. Golden lacquer lit up at his brow, quickly covering his entire body before turning dark gold.

Hiss…

Flames erupted behind his head, forming a scorching ring of fire that dispelled darkness!

This was a Vajra, a Buddhist guardian Vajra.

Finally, surprise appeared in Asura’s sharp yet detached gaze. “Wu Tian?”

His voice was young yet mellow.

“Much has happened in five hundred years. I discovered Buddha’s secret and discovered the truth about the demon extermination war back then. So, the Buddhist sect could no longer tolerate me.”

The cloaked figure sneered, saying mockingly: “None of the Bodhisattvas and Arhats of Alanda told you of my existence?”

He was bluffing Asura, trying to extract intelligence from this son of the Asura King. Asura had only recently returned to his position and, even if he knew of the “Buddhist Child’s” existence, he couldn’t possibly discern that Xu Qi An’s Diamond Spirit Technique had reached grand perfection.

Outwardly, he appeared to be a genuine Vajra.

By fabricating the identity of a Buddhist renegade, he hoped to trick this powerful figure who had participated in the demon extermination war into revealing some classified information.

Facing the statements of this self-proclaimed renegade “Wu Tian,” Asura’s expression remained calm, showing almost no emotional fluctuation.

Xu Qi An wasn’t discouraged. He called out loudly:

“Buddha is a faithless villain, unworthy of leading the Buddhist sect. Back then, he used Shen Shu to destroy the Demon Empire…”

Before he could finish, a golden light suddenly burst from Asura’s eyes. An ear-splitting sonic boom rang out in midair as he vanished from the tower top, pouncing like an eagle striking a rabbit.

So fast… Xu Qi An’s danger sense immediately warned him, urging him to dodge.

But his legs seemed rooted to the ground, unable to move.

This wasn’t because he was unwilling to move, but because the power of Buddhist precepts had restrained him.

Without chanting Buddha’s name, the power of precepts descended instantly. When Chan masters reached the Arhat realm, a mere thought could “regulate” an enemy’s speech and actions, forcing them to observe various Buddhist precepts.

Such a strong reaction—he must know the inside story of the demon extermination war, and my words just now must have been close to the truth… Suddenly, a golden light shot up from Xu Qi An’s head, transforming into a delicate miniature pagoda.

The second layer of suppression force spread out.

With a “boom,” a circular crater collapsed around him within a hundred-meter radius.

Asura’s figure was forcibly “knocked” down as if subjected to hundreds or thousands of times normal gravity.

The Floating Pagoda’s interference disrupted Asura’s rhythm, and the precepts binding Xu Qi An only lasted about a second.

“The Floating Pagoda?”

There was a clear surprise in Asura’s tone.

Since opposing the Vajra’s dharma body in Jian Province, the pagoda spirit old monk had never mentioned his promise of “not acting against Buddhist disciples,” as if forgetting his own rule.

Of course, the last time was completely out of necessity, with the pagoda spirit compromising with the situation.

As for this time, Xu Qi An had personally entered the pagoda to request the old monk’s help. The reason the pagoda spirit was willing to break the rules again was because Xu Qi An had shared his recent discoveries of secrets with him.

Buddha was sealed by the Sage of Confucianism, Shen Shu’s relationship with the Demon Emperor, the possible deal between Shen Shu and Buddha, and so on.

Starting from these clues, Xu Qi An had “professionally” speculated that Bodhisattva Fa Ji’s disappearance might be related to Buddha’s secret.

Then he promised to help the pagoda spirit find Bodhisattva Fa Ji, who had been missing for over three hundred years.

The price was that from now on, the Floating Pagoda would grant his every request.

Xu Qi An darted out silently. His perfect mastery of internally focused martial arts allowed him to move without making any sound—the stones beneath his feet didn’t even crack.

Whoosh!

Using his left leg as an axis, he powered through his waist and back, causing his right leg to whip out like a steel whip, making the air shriek.

Asura opened his right hand and caught the fierce whip kick. With a bang, his arm muscles trembled violently, frantically dissipating the terrifying force.

Xu Qi An’s other foot rose into the air, launching attacks without pause—first, a knee strike to Asura’s face, then both fists fired left and right like cannons and hammers, each punch heavier than the last, causing waves of force to explode continuously.

A series of “firecracker sounds” rang out above the silent Southern Dharma Temple.

Throughout this process, the suppression force from the Floating Pagoda’s second level remained active, firmly restraining Asura.

For a martial artist, once they seized the initiative and struck first, they could deal tons of damage.

If it were other third-rank masters of different systems, their physical bodies would have been pulverized by now.

But Asura merely staggered backward repeatedly. Each time he tensed his muscles, trying to pounce forward strongly, Xu Qi An would violently interrupt him.

Crack, crack, crack… Each step Asura took backward left deep footprints in the ground.

After having his stance forcibly broken open once again, the muscles in Asura’s neck suddenly swelled, his entire body’s muscles condensing into one mass as if preparing to counterattack forcefully.

Ding!

At this moment, a blade light shot up from Xu Qi An’s chest, striking sparks from Asura’s throat. Though it didn’t break through his defense, it made his skin sting and sent a chill down his spine.

The muscle groups tensing for attack faltered when stimulated.

Chain kills him, chain kills him, combo chain kills him… Xu Qi An grew more vigorous as he fought, holding the Taiping Blade in his mouth, using its sharp qi to break Asura’s power gathering whenever he tried to interrupt the rhythm.

The battle in the western courtyard drew the attention of the temple’s warrior monks and Chan masters. Figures rushed out from the meditation halls, either riding magical artifacts through the air or observing from nearby tower tops.

When they saw two golden Vajras with burning rings of fire behind their heads fighting to the death outside the tower sealing the demon monk, they were all bewildered.

Their first reaction was: What happened?

Why were the guardian Vajras fighting within the temple?

Their second thought was: Who was that Vajra?

Their third thought was: How could Vajra force Asura to repeatedly retreat?

“He’s not a guardian Vajra, he’s an outside enemy!”

A white-browed old monk said in a deep voice.

The other monks quickly recognized that the Vajra fighting Asura was not one of their own.

The current Buddhist sect had only two Vajras, Du Fan and Du Nan. If a new Vajra emerged, the Buddhist sect would announce it to all followers worldwide.

Moreover, that person hadn’t even eliminated the three thousand troubled thoughts.

“Gather the Southern Dharma Temple brothers, form a formation to deal with him.”

Senior monks began organizing people to confront the enemy.

As an ancient sect with thousands of years of heritage, they naturally possessed formations that could concentrate “modest power” to deal with or restrain transcendent experts.

The cost would be many deaths.

However, with their transcendent expert present, such restraint was worth any number of deaths.

“Boom!”

Suddenly, a cannonball tore through the night sky, striking the Southern Dharma Temple. The shock wave leveled walls and courtyards, tearing off roofs.

More explosions echoed from afar as smoke rose from various parts of the “Southern” city, flames reaching to the sky.

Miao You Fang, Ye Ji, and the demon clan members infiltrating the Southern city had begun their operation, detonating gunpowder hidden throughout the city to create chaos.

Boom, boom, boom… More and more artillery shells rained down from above, creating balls of fire throughout the Southern Dharma Temple.

An unmanned artillery platform swept past overhead, dozens of cannons spitting flames, and raining down shells.

The gathering monks were disrupted by the artillery barrage, falling into a momentary panic. However, they quickly organized effective counterattacks.

Warrior monks drew their bows in fury, shooting arrows wrapped in powerful qi whistling through the air.

Chan masters rode magical artifacts to chase the airborne artillery platform.

At this moment, when most people’s attention had left the sealing tower, a clear light rose from the tower’s peak as Sun Xuanji, wearing white clothes and a veiled hat, arrived at the top via transmission formation.

Hum…

Amid the slightly harsh energy waves, a circular formation lit up beneath Sun Xuanji’s feet.

Immediately after, circular formations appeared one after another, layering downward. There were twelve in total, dividing the sealing tower into twelve even sections.

The entire sealing tower began shaking violently. The tower body emanated soft golden light, manifesting distorted Buddhist text to resist the “strangling” of the twelve formations.

The Buddhist text gradually wore away as the golden light slowly dimmed.

Indeed, as Sun Xuanji had said, before a third-rank artificer like him, the Buddhist formations appeared crude and inferior.

At this point, Asura was trapped in Xu Qi An’s combo, powerless to turn the tide.

If even Asura was in such a state, the pale-faced monks stood even less chance.

“Not good, the Demon Sealing Tower is about to be destroyed…”

Someone cried out in alarm.

At that moment, intense flames suddenly erupted behind Sun Xuanji.

A fire ring blazed up, illuminating its master—a nine-foot-tall Vajra wearing a kasaya with half his chest exposed.

Asura!

Asura… Xu Qi An’s pupils contracted slightly.

Then who was I fighting with?

Asura joined his palms like a blade, swinging fiercely.

Puff… A head flew up, falling from the tower top as the twelve circular formations collapsed with a boom.

With this action, he showed everyone the price that masters of various systems paid when transcendent warriors got close to them.