The humanoid figure made of dark red flesh bent its knees slightly and, amid the ground-shaking “boom,” shot toward Asura who stood at the front.

The fire ring behind Asura’s head “popped” open, its flames illuminating the darkness. His back muscles exploded with power, driving his right arm forward as his fist struck directly at the Buddha’s avatar.

His confidence came from sensing that this avatar’s power wasn’t particularly strong—it was merely a fraction of the Buddha’s vast, ocean-like body.

He might not be able to defeat the Buddha, but surely dealing with a single avatar wouldn’t be a problem.

The moment this thought flashed through his mind, Asura saw a massive dharma body appear behind the “Buddha’s avatar,” symbolizing power and slaughter.

The Vajra dharma body!

Li Miaozhen raised an eyebrow, extended her right hand palm-facing the Buddha’s avatar, and made a gentle wiping motion.

As if erasing something.

Twelve pairs of arms layered atop one another, twelve pairs of fists raining down like a storm.

Twenty-four impacts merged into a single sound:

“Clang!”

Asura’s fist, imbued with Demon Slayer power, exploded on impact, bone fragments and flesh flying everywhere.

But driven by the hatred in his heart (with the Buddha’s blessing weakened), he dealt bonus damage, making the Buddha’s avatar stagger backward.

The brilliant aura of the Demon Slayer rank enveloped the Buddha avatar’s chest, corroding its vitality.

Perhaps due to the weakened blessings, the Demon Slayer’s power achieved another gratifying result, dissolving the fleshy substance at the Buddha avatar’s chest, and corroding it into a horrific wound.

At this moment, on the Buddha avatar’s left side, a golden dharma body condensed, holding a white jade purification bottle in its palm, its face benevolent.

Starlike golden light overflowed from the purification bottle. The Buddha’s avatar bathed in it, instantly regenerating the dissolved flesh and neutralizing the Demon Slayer’s power.

Thump thump thump… Asura, as the team’s close-combat main force, charged unflinchingly toward the Buddha’s avatar. As he did so, his Vajra divine skill receded, replaced by a black substance crawling across his skin.

His Asura bloodline had activated.

His battle power rose to another level.

But his charge met empty air—the Buddha’s avatar vanished before his eyes without warning.

Only the Traveler dharma body could achieve such traceless movement; even teleportation techniques couldn’t manage such silence.

The next moment, the Buddha’s avatar appeared behind Deliverance Arhat.

The humanoid figure’s chest suddenly split open into a mouth filled with fangs, stretching from chest to abdomen, horrifically grotesque.

Then it collapsed into a curtain, falling to cover Deliverance Arhat.

The Buddha’s target was crystal clear—to devour Deliverance and reclaim Buddhism’s lost destiny.

This is bad…

Li Miaozhen and Daoist Golden Lotus both reached out simultaneously, one weakening the Buddha’s blessings while the other summoned the “Earth Form” from the Four Great Dharma Bodies to intercept the Buddha’s avatar.

On the Buddha avatar’s left side, a third dharma body appeared—the Great Compassion dharma body, hands pressed together, head bowed in meditation, face full of benevolence.

As soon as it appeared, Buddha light illuminated the sky, accompanied by Sanskrit chanting.

Li Miaozhen and Daoist Golden Lotus inevitably felt compassion rise in their hearts, unable to continue their attack. The Wind Form instantly dispersed into misty dust.

At that moment, a purple-gold hammer shot in from an angle, striking Deliverance Arhat with a “clang” and sending him flying.

The curtain formed by the Buddha’s avatar enveloped the purple-gold hammer, devouring it.

Deliverance Arhat had narrowly escaped the tiger’s mouth.

Phew… Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, still shaken. If Deliverance had been devoured by the Buddha, all their careful planning and countless resources invested in supporting Mahayana Buddhism would have been meaningless.

With such a massive destiny, the Buddha would become even more terrifying.

Too dangerous, we can’t stop the Buddha, we can’t even defeat a single avatar, we must retreat, but… but so many innocent lives, we can’t let Him continue devouring… Li Miaozhen let out a gentle breath, suddenly realizing this breath was incredibly long.

She kept exhaling but couldn’t finish.

She immediately sensed something wrong. At the same time, the scenery before her eyes lost its color, turning purely black and white.

This is… the Colorless Glazed dharma body… the Buddha knows every dharma body… Li Miaozhen’s thoughts became uncontrollably slow, her face gradually showing panic and fear.

Similar expressions appeared on the faces of Daoist Orange Cat, Sun Xuanji, and the others.

Desperate emotions fermented and spread in everyone’s hearts.

The Buddha’s avatar slowly turned, looking at Deliverance Arhat trapped in the colorless domain. Its chest again split open into a gap extending to its abdomen, filled with fangs, saliva dripping like rain.

The next moment, its figure materialized behind Deliverance Arhat, again transforming into a curtain falling to cover him.

At this crucial moment, a large hand descended from the sky, pressing down on the curtain with a ground-shaking “boom.”

With this earth-shaking sound, the Colorless Glazed domain instantly collapsed.

The world regained its color, and Li Miaozhen and the others regained their mobility.

Everyone looked aside at the reinforcement descending from the sky—a young monk with strong facial features, wearing cyan monk’s robes, his bald head bearing six neatly arranged incense scars.

The Buddha’s avatar struggled violently in his hand but couldn’t budge him an inch, like an adult pressing a child to the ground.

“Master Shen Shu?”

Li Miaozhen probed.

Asura’s expression was somewhat complicated.

Shen Shu nodded, making an “mm” sound, then stomped his foot. The avatar formed of fleshy substance exploded into powder with a “bang.”

…

“The Half-Step Martial God lives up to his reputation.”

In the distant night sky, Saren Agu looked down at this scene and sighed.

Not far from the Shaman Religion’s supernatural experts were the Insect Tribe leaders. Chun Yan’s attention wasn’t on the newly appeared Half-Step Martial God, but on the all-encompassing dark red flesh tide devouring everything.

“Grandmother, what is the Buddha doing?”

The two thin snakes on Chun Yan’s earlobes hissed, echoing their master.

Old Lady Sky Insect frowned briefly, then shook her head slightly.

She didn’t know the truth about the great calamity.

Saren Agu smiled:

“He wants to occupy Lei Province and forge it into a River-Mountain Seal.”

The other leaders assumed listening postures.

“Fighting for territory, condensing a River-Mountain Seal is equivalent to taking control of that region. With each province lost, Great Zhou’s destiny will drain away until the nation falls.”

“At that time, the Buddha can devour the Central Plain’s destiny scattered throughout the Nine Provinces, devouring the River-Mountain Seals.”

And then replace the Central Plains land, just as He replaced the Western Regions.

In essence, this was the same as sending armies to attack Great Zhou and destroying the Central Plains dynasty, just done differently.

The Buddha didn’t need armies; He was thousands upon thousands of troops.

Chun Yan keenly asked: “What’s the purpose of doing this?”

Saren Agu didn’t answer, instead looking down to continue observing the battle.

Poison Insect branch leader Ba Ji said gravely:

“Remember the Sky Insect branch prophet’s prediction? When the Insect God revives, the Nine Provinces will become a world of insects.”

“Does this mean that if the Insect God breaks free of his seal, he’ll act like the Buddha?”

Hearing this, the leaders’ expressions grew solemn.

…

“Shen Shu!”

The ocean-like fleshy substance split open mouth after mouth, all speaking the same words.

Then, each mouth spat out a fist-sized ball of light, like miniature suns.

These miniature suns radiated Buddha light that cleansed everything, making elemental energy fall dormant, causing all power not belonging to Buddhism to rapidly weaken.

When the Buddha light shone on the Daoist Orange Cat and the others, their bodies steamed, their cultivation rapidly weakening.

Only Hengyuan, Deliverance, and Asura remained unharmed.

“Retreat!”

Golden Lotus shouted.

This was the Mahavairocana dharma body.

Without any hesitation, everyone promptly retreated.

Meanwhile, Shen Shu in his light cyan monk’s robes stood unmoved in the Buddha-light. He stared directly at the dazzling light, extended his right hand, and suddenly grasped.

Bang bang bang… The miniature suns exploded one by one, dispersing into pure energy halos.

The Mahavairocana dharma body was neutralized before it could fully form, but the Buddha didn’t mind. The dark red fleshy substance continued advancing—He hadn’t reached His limit yet and could cover more area.

Until He was “satiated,” then forged the occupied area into a River-Mountain Seal, separating it from Great Zhou’s territory.

Shen Shu glanced at the flesh substance approaching like ocean tides, pondered briefly, and then actively stepped into it.

The fleshy substance parted automatically as if welcoming his arrival. Shen Shu walked forward step by step. Behind him, the fleshy substance flowed back, covering his retreat path.

The fleshy substance was like thick syrup, surging to engulf Shen Shu.

But within one zhang of him, it was repelled by his overwhelming powerful energy—within that zhang, nothing could enter.

Just as martial artists isolate themselves from heaven and earth, not connecting with the outside world, forming their cycle.

The dark red fleshy substance was like the ocean surface in a storm, raising huge waves. These waves condensed into a figure tens of zhang tall, sitting in the flower-holding mudra, silently gazing at Shen Shu.

…

Huai Qing kept trying to contact Xu Qi An but received no response.

Instead, she got a reply from Li Miaozhen:

[Two: We’re fighting on the front lines while you’re holding us back from the rear—well done indeed.]

Huai Qing found herself speechless. Though she knew Li Miaozhen was likely misdirecting her anger, and at their level of cultivation, the slight heart palpitations from messages wouldn’t cause interference.

But who could blame her when she was fighting on the front lines? Even an emperor wouldn’t dare offend a general who was risking life and limb.

[One: It was My oversight. How is the situation?]

Huai Qing could be flexible when needed.

[Four: Master Shen Shu has arrived, the situation is temporarily stable, and he’s engaging the Buddha.]

They then discussed the Buddha’s ulterior motives in attacking Lei Province, concluding this would likely be the Shaman God’s method of devouring the Central Plains after breaking free.

[Nine: A single Buddha is already so dangerous. If the Shaman God breaks free, with the Central Plains attacked from both sides, what can we do?]

Li Lingsu massaged his brow, replying from the Southern Borders:

[Seven: Daoist, say no more—it only increases anxiety.]

This time, the former Tian Sect’s Phoenix rarely didn’t criticize her senior brother, because he was right.