[Five: Why be so desperate? If Xu Ningyan can advance to Half-Step Martial God and join forces with Shen Shu, they’d roughly equal one Supreme-level expert. Then there would still be room for negotiation.]

In the Southern Borders, Lina, enjoying roasted meat contributed by demon soldiers, chimed in at the right moment.

… Li Lingsu was momentarily speechless, but thinking about it, this seemed to make sense.

Shen Shu and the Buddha’s experience told them that while a Half-Step Martial God couldn’t match a Supreme-level expert, surely two Half-Step Martial Gods together wouldn’t be completely overwhelmed?

In that case, Great Zhou would indeed have the capital to sit at the negotiating table.

[Two: That damn Xu Ningyan, gone to sea for months, who knows what’s happening with him.]

Li Miaozhen fumed.

Sister, mind your status—you’re Blue Lotus of the Earth Sect, former Holy Maiden of the Heaven Sect, not one of those common flowers in Xu Ningyan’s harem… Li Lingsu mentally defended his junior sister’s dignity.

[One: Have Deliverance Arhat return to the capital quickly. I’m uneasy about him staying in Lei Province—the three Bodhisattvas haven’t made their move yet.]

With such developments, bringing Mahayana Buddhism’s founder back to the capital was the safest approach.

At least the capital had a Rank One Earthly Immortal stationed there, along with several Transcendent realm experts.

[Eight: We can’t return—several Transcendent experts from the Shaman Religion are watching like tigers eyeing their prey.]

Asura answered.

Though Saren Agu and the others were far away, Asura had sensed them. Of course, the Great Shaman wasn’t trying to hide either.

Saren Agu is in Lei Province too… Huai Qing’s scalp tingled.

The Shaman Religion delivered destiny to the Buddha and now coming to “observe” the battle—their intentions were condemnable!

They planned to strike from the shadows at the crucial moment. Deliverance Arhat returning to the capital now would likely be walking into a tiger’s den.

And if they had the Daoist Golden Lotus and the other Transcendent experts return together, what about Shen Shu?

With Daoist Golden Lotus and Asura’s Transcendent experts present, they could at least assist Shen Shu, helping him deal with some troubles.

[Nine: The Insect Tribe leaders are here too.]

Daoist Golden Lotus added.

Though the Insect Tribe leaders were generally only Third Rank, unable to form the main force, their seven great insect techniques were strange and unpredictable, barely able to contain the Shaman Religion… Huai Qing breathed a slight sigh of relief and transmitted:

[One: Report the battle situation whenever possible. If circumstances allow, I’ll have the Imperial Tutor and Academy Director Zhao rush to Lei Province immediately.]

She put down the Earth Book fragment and looked at Wei Yuan and the other two in the hall, quickly explaining the situation.

Zhao Shou pondered:

“I’ll have Yang Gong bring the Confucian Sage’s Carving Knife to Lei Province for support. As for myself, I’ll remain to guard the capital.”

He was guarding against someone taking advantage to seize the capital.

The three Buddhist Bodhisattvas hadn’t appeared yet.

Wang Zhenwen’s face was serious:

“Have Yang Gong take the teleportation jade talisman to Lei Province first. As for the Imperial Tutor… Sect Leader Luo should temporarily remain in the capital. If the Buddhist Bodhisattvas appear, the Imperial Tutor can provide swift support.”

Wei Yuan didn’t interject—Wang Zhenwen’s arrangements were sound.

They needed to guard against the Buddhist Bodhisattvas attacking the capital now. The Shaman Religion wasn’t a concern because Buddhism no longer had the concept of a “home base,” while the Shaman Religion’s god was still sealed.

Buddhism could afford to abandon everything at this stage, but the Shaman Religion wouldn’t dare mutual destruction with them.

Zhao Shou swept his wide sleeve, his voice strong and clear:

“Yang Gong is right by my side.”

A clear light rose from nearby, outlining Purple Yang Scholar Yang Gong’s figure.

He wore a crimson official’s robe, having just been working in the government office.

“…”

Though they had seen many Confucian techniques, this “saying and doing” style still made the three in the hall feel absurd, speechless in their hearts.

“Director?”

Yang Gong looked around, saw everyone’s solemn expressions, and immediately frowned:

“What has happened?”

Zhao Shou briefly explained the situation to him, making Yang Gong’s brows furrow tightly, his mood heavy.

Huai Qing said sincerely:

“We trouble you, sir.”

She had studied at Cloud Deer Academy under Purple Yang Scholar’s tutelage.

Yang Gong nodded, about to accept when suddenly a clear light shot out from his sleeve, striking hard toward Huai Qing’s head.

Huai Qing froze for a moment, then by martial artist’s instinct caught the light—looking closely, it was a ruler.

She looked at Yang Gong somewhat bewildered.

Trying to assassinate the emperor?

Yang Gong sighed:

“Your Majesty, don’t call me ‘sir.’ When addressing me as sir, don’t use words like ‘please teach’ or ‘trouble you.'”

He beckoned, retrieving the ruler from his sleeve.

Then explained:

“I nurture this object with the Three Character Classic. As they say, ‘Failure to teach is the father’s fault, failure to be strict is the teacher’s laziness.'”

So he hits students on sight? Huai Qing pressed her lips together, then said seriously:

“Very responsible!”

… Yang Gong smiled bitterly, “I’ll take Your Majesty’s praise as sincere.”

Knowing time was pressing, he didn’t say more. With a sweep of his wide sleeve, copying Zhao Shou’s earlier action, he declared:

“Confucian Sage’s Carving Knife, come to me quickly.”

To save time, he tried summoning the scholarly cap.

But there was no response.

Everyone stared at the Purple Yang Scholar. Yang Gong’s face reddened as he quickly said:

“I am at Cloud Deer Academy.”

Clear light rose from beneath his feet, and he vanished on the spot.

…

“Bang!”

The ground beneath Shen Shu’s feet exploded, dirt and fleshy substance blasting away, clearing a vacuum zone several zhang in diameter.

He shot like a high-speed cannonball toward the Buddha.

A phantom dharma body flashed briefly on the Buddha’s right rear, and He instantly vanished, leaving Shen Shu’s charge to meet empty air.

Immediately after, the Buddha’s figure appeared behind Shen Shu, the Vajra dharma body symbolizing conquest and power manifesting on the left rear.

Twelve pairs of arms are raised simultaneously.

Clang!

In the sound of striking iron, Shen Shu staggered backward while the fleshy substance beneath the Buddha’s feet rippled like water, neutralizing the Half-Step Martial God’s fist force.

Behind the unmoving Buddha, another figure appeared again—the Great Compassion dharma body.

Sanskrit chanting filled heaven and earth, dissolving all anger and hostility.

Crack crack… The golden wheel spun counterclockwise, the three characters for “Asura” written in golden Buddhist script lighting up.

Shen Shu’s energy visibly declined, his black skin becoming prominent. First, his head became ethereal, then his right arm, before the wheel’s power was finally exhausted.

The Reverse Great Reincarnation dharma body weakened Shen Shu to his past state; if spinning forward, it would advance toward the future.

With Half-Step Martial Gods having endless longevity, forward rotation was meaningless.

But Shen Shu had just recently recovered his peak, so reverse rotation could effectively weaken him.

In the distance, Asura’s energy also showed a slight downward trend. As a fellow Asura, he couldn’t avoid it, though being far away at the edge of the Great Reincarnation dharma body’s power meant the weakening wasn’t severe.

Another dharma body manifested behind the Buddha, holding flowers and looking down, the wheel of wisdom behind its head spinning counterclockwise.

Shen Shu’s eyes suddenly lost their light, becoming dull, as if he’d forgotten he was in a dangerous situation.

During this process, behind the Buddha, the vast ocean of dark red fleshy substance split open into many mouths again, slowly spitting out miniature golden suns.

Buddha’s light covered heaven and earth.

These miniature golden suns gathered toward the phantom behind the Buddha’s head, accumulating more and more, the Buddha’s light illuminating this world until night turned to day.

How terrifying was the Buddha with nine great dharma bodies assembled?

Li Miaozhen and Daoist Golden Lotus darted out, raising their hands in unison toward the distant Shen Shu, turning clockwise.

They sacrificed their blessings to inject deep blessings into Shen Shu.

At the same time, golden light shone from their eyes as they tried to use Yang Spirit’s power to awaken Shen Shu.

But the Yang Spirit’s power dissolved and purified in the Buddha-light, having no effect.

“Techniques won’t work, we need to try another way!”

Chu Yuanzhen said gravely:

“Miaozhen, lend me your flying sword.”

His sword had been destroyed by the Buddha’s corrosion.

As soon as he spoke, over ten extremely high-quality flying swords appeared before Chu Yuanzhen, available for his choosing.

They weren’t Li Miaozhen’s magical weapons, but Sun Xuanji’s.

One is enough… Chu Yuanzhen casually grabbed one, his left hand wiping across the blade.

Instantly, the sword emanated intense emotions—greed, anger, delusion, hatred, love, evil, desire—as if it were the convergence of all human nature.

This was a karmic fire that Chu Yuanzhen had specifically requested from Luo Yuheng before departing, sealed within his body. Used skillfully, this power could briefly raise his sword force to a Transcendent level.

Chu Yuanzhen threw the flying sword, targeting not the Buddha but Shen Shu.

He wanted to use the intense karmic fire to awaken Shen Shu.

And karmic fire belonged neither to techniques nor elemental energy.

The flying sword transformed into flowing light, like a glowing thread, striking toward Shen Shu’s back.

But at this moment, the world lost its color, everything within a hundred zhang of Shen Shu turning black and white.

The Colorless Glazed domain.

The flying sword froze in the domain, then clattered to the ground.

By now, the Mahavairocana behind the Buddha’s head had grown to over ten meters in diameter, and Shen Shu’s skin began dissolving.

Chu Yuanzhen’s expression changed slightly.

“Clang!”

A clear bell sound suddenly rang out, so loud it made people’s divine souls shake and their blood surge.

Li Miaozhen was shocked to find that even she, with her Daoist Yang Spirit, showed signs of leaving her body.

Sun Xuanji was ringing the bell, holding a brass hammer covered in formation patterns, with a bronze bell twice human height floating before him.

Clang clang clang…

Sun Xuanji struck the bronze bell with all his might. With each strike, ripples of clear light accompanied the bell sound, immediately lighting up the formation patterns on the bell body, showing signs of emerging.

Blood flowed from his eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouth corners, but the brass hammer in his hand never stopped.

Hearing the bell, Shen Shu’s pupils moved slightly, showing signs of awakening.

The Great Reincarnation dharma body burst with intense light, the wheel behind the Medicine Master dharma body’s head spun faster in reverse, the Great Compassion dharma body’s lips moved, the Sanskrit chanting in heaven and earth growing louder, gradually overwhelming the bell sound.

The Mahavairocana dharma body behind the Buddha’s head grew more intense, gathering more and more, quickly extinguishing Shen Shu’s vitality.

“Increase the bell sound’s effect tenfold.”

A voice-like chanting suddenly sounded in everyone’s ears.

In the distance, clear light rose and faded—Yang Gong wearing the Vice-Sage scholarly cap had finally arrived at the battlefield.

Clang!

The bell sound filled heaven and earth like thunder from a clear sky.

Chu Yuanzhen and Hengyuan’s divine souls were directly shaken from their bodies. Deliverance and Asura sat cross-legged with pressed palms, using Chan techniques to resist.

Daoist Golden Lotus and Li Miaozhen endured the bell sound with their powerful Yang Spirits, but their heads spun with waves of nausea.

The bronze hammer fell from Sun Xuanji’s hand, his body fell from the air, and his divine soul was also shaken out.

Seeing this, Yang Gong raised both hands, supporting Chu Yuanzhen, Hengyuan, and Sun Xuanji’s physical bodies from afar.

Meanwhile, Shen Shu’s ears moved slightly, the bell sound echoing repeatedly in his mind. He instantly broke free from various control techniques, his consciousness returning as he realized his current predicament.

Before him was the fully formed Mahavairocana.

This great sun slowly rose, moving at a seemingly slow but extremely fast speed toward Shen Shu.

The other great dharma bodies weren’t idle, continuing to exert their power, trying to again “strip away” Shen Shu’s consciousness.

“Keep ringing!”

Yang Gong shouted, then spat out a mouthful of blood.

Technique backlash is not a big problem.

Daoist Golden Lotus grabbed the bronze hammer and struck the bronze bell hard.

Clang clang clang…

The resounding bell sound echoed in every corner, helping Shen Shu stabilize his consciousness and resist the dharma bodies’ influence.

The Half-Step Martial God let out a deep roar, his body suddenly expanding into a thirty-zhang-tall black dharma body, twelve muscular arms spreading out, reaching toward the sky to hold back the Mahavairocana dharma body.

…

At sea.

The Nine-Tailed Fox stood on the sea surface, surrounded by various fish and shrimp corpses, so dense they almost covered the surface.

The corpses rose and fell in the turbid waves, very few of them intact.

This wasn’t all of them. The waves were gradually calming now, but at their most intense, hundred-meter-high waves had risen, washing away wave after wave of marine creature corpses.

It’s over… she breathed a sigh of relief. After waiting nearly a quarter hour without seeing that stinky man fleeing in panic, the fox spirit knew the deed was done.

She immediately twisted her slender waist and dove into the corpse-filled water.

Eight tails moved like tentacles, propelling her rapid descent. The light above gradually weakened until disappeared. The Nine-Tailed Fox snapped her fingers, releasing several white lights that wavered downward like ghost fires.

Illuminating the turbid seawater.

After descending for a long while more, the fox fire lit up a huge monster. Its volume was impossible to estimate—what the fox fire illuminated was just the tip of the iceberg compared to the monster.

The Nine-Tailed Fox swept her divine sense and detected Xu Qi An with the monster’s single eye.

She gathered the fox fire to illuminate Sir Xu’s figure.

He was completely naked, not a stitch of clothing, his granite-like muscles proportioned and beautiful, his limbs intact without any injuries.

This was understandable—for a Rank One martial artist, unless killed and destroyed, any injury could heal instantly.

But his energy had weakened greatly, so much that the Nine-Tailed Fox felt she could easily defeat this crude martial artist.

“Hey, how can you be so vulgar? Quick, turn off the light.”

Sir Xu was a decent person, turning his body slightly to hide his great treasure from her view.

The Nine-Tailed Fox said impatiently:

“Look how pleased with yourself you are.”

“Quickly absorb His essence and see if you can advance to Half-Step Martial God.”

She was incredibly expectant inside, about to witness the birth of a Half-Step Martial God.