Chapter 438: Smoothly Shifted the Blame
Translator: StackThatCoin Editor: Hitesh_
Arhat Wrath was sitting cross-legged high up in the sky. Every now and then, flesh on a part of his body was collapsing, causing his pale bones to be exposed. But in a blink of an eye, the same spot would be shrouded by a Buddhist light, which made the flesh regrow and return everything back to normal. It happened again and again on different parts of his body, where flesh collapsed and rotted, then regenerated amidst the Buddhist light. A grand and stately chanting coupled with shrill and forlorn evil howls kept echoing out from within his body. It made anyone who heard that feel as if there was a saw blade spinning in their brain. It was a nasty and unbearable feeling.
Apart from the five Heaven Immortals and cultivators who were killed by Arhat Wrath and Patriarch Muji, more people from various immortal sects in An He City and the surrounding regions had arrived after receiving the news. However, when they saw Arhat Wrath's bizarre condition from a far distance, these cultivators who came later adapted the same strategy as Wu Qi and some other cultivators, finding themselves some places several tens of miles away from the battlefield and watching as the battle developed. No one dared to get too close.
Some cultivators with broad knowledge were explaining the situation to their disciples and apprentices in low voices.
It was true that the weird situation Arhat Wrath was experiencing did not look as grand as the battle between ordinary Immortals and cultivators, where the battlefield would be filled with tens of thousands of thunderbolts and numerous sword beams, swirling clouds, and dazzling lights. However, a battle like that was not life-threatening.
Unless an Immortal was aided by a formidable immortal item, such as Wu Qi's Jadebones Soul-Searching Flag, which allowed the Immortal to kill the enemy with one single blow without allowing any chance for a counterattack, the battle between Immortals would usually bring only injuries to fleshly bodies. And, as long as the Immortal was not at the bottom of his luck, he could still survive the battle and flee. Once the Immortal managed to return to his cave abode and spent several tens of thousands of years in recuperation, he would be alive and kicking again.
After all, no matter they were fighting with magical powers, flying swords, or magical treasures, both parties were attacking each other across a distance of several tens or hundreds of miles. And, as all of them were protected by immortal items of similar strength, it was not that easy to give their opponents a deadly strike. On top of that, with the exception of someone like Lord Jade and Mister Gold, who were just some prodigal sons, any Heaven Immortals who were wounded would have chosen to run for their lives like a scared rabbit. Therefore, the livelier was a battle between Heaven Immortals, the lesser risks there would be.
On the contrary, although the battle between Patriarch Muji and Arhat Wrath looked peaceful, if not boring, they were truly fighting with their lives.
Patriarch Muji had turned himself entirely into a devil, transforming into a beam of devil light and entering Arhat Wrath's body. Meanwhile, Arhat Wrath simply opened his mouth widely and let Patriarch Muji fuse into his body. Both men had risked everything on a single strike, giving up fighting each other with magical spells and magical treasures that would never really hurt their opponents. They were fighting against each other with their Prime energy, which was directly tied to their lives.
Using a Buddhist mystic technique, Arhat Wrath transformed his body into a small Chiliocosm 1 [1], amidst which, he manifested the endless transformations from the times of great antiquity. He wanted to use this technique to trap and kill Patriarch Muji. Meanwhile, Patriarch Muji alone was destroying the various principles found in the small Chiliocosm, using the divine abilities of Devil Dao to materialize boundless sins and murderous aura, trying his best to destroy the entire world and drag Arhat Wrath into an everlasting perdition.
A few old monks from Golden Pavilion Temple sat cross-legged around Arhat Wrath, reciting a scripture that could calm his mind and bring him a greater power to fight against Patriarch Muji. However, as Patriarch Muji was inside Arhat Wrath body, and the technique of Evil Dao was famous for its brutal and cruel nature, he had a slight advantage over Arhat Wrath. They had locked each other in a neck and neck battle.
Gradually, a few more Heaven Immortals arrived from different directions. These newly arrived Heaven Immortals were not from the powers who resided in the regions around An He City, but the Immortals called upon by those immortal sects who had shops opened there. They did not know the mighty reputation of Patriarch Muji and Arhat Wrath, and were eager to take action with the intention of taking advantage of the current situation.
Right at this moment, a white cloud drifted over from afar, on top of which came flying a burly old monk clad in a golden kasaya and hand holding a Vajra Gada. He was accompanied by tens of little monks. From afar, the old monk cried out, "Fellow Immortals, there is a fate between this item and Buddha. I hope fellow Daoists can stand aside and not get yourselves involved. Golden Pavilion Temple will definitely repay your favor in the future!"
'He must be the Golden Pavilion Temple's Abbot.' Wu Qi thought for a moment. As Arhat Wrath dwelt in the Minor Serene Buddhist Land year in and year out, the Abbot of Golden Pavilion Temple, commonly known as Grandmaster Tiger roar, was the representative of Buddhists in An He City and the surrounding regions. He was a fierce monk who had attained a cultivation base equal to a Thirtieth Tier Heaven Immortal, an expert in various evil subduing techniques, and had devoted himself wholeheartedly to cleanse the world by killing.
A few cold laughs echoed out as three Heaven Immortals who had just arrived greeted upon Grandmaster Tigeroar. "We are getting bored of hearing you monks saying 'there is a fate between who and who'. To tell if it really has fate with you, let's fight and see who is stronger!"
Among the three Heaven Immortals, two of them were Thirty-First Tier Heaven Immortals, and one was a Thirty-Second Tier. Although there was a gap between their cultivation base, it was not a huge gap. They believed they could defeat him if they teamed up. Of course, they were not familiar with each other, and there was no friendship between them. The reason they worked together now was to defeat the strongest opponent first, before the three of them fought again to decide who was the strongest.
Grandmaster Tiger roar gave Arhat Wrath a worried look, who had his lower body turned into nothing but greenly glowing bones, and upper body shrouded in a Buddhist light. Then, he quickly gazed at the huge Ganoderma on the slanting peak. When he saw the silhouette of the white Ganoderma Horse at the dept of the Ganoderma, his eyes shone with a bright light. It was so strong that it made him look like a hungry wild wolf who had just seen a bloody fresh meat.
"Sādhu! Sādhu! Since fellow Immortals refuse to listen to reason obstinately, let me guide you to a shortcut where you can extricate yourself from a predicament!" From afar, Grandmaster Tiger roar threw out the Gada in his hand, transforming it into a three-headed Dharmapala 2 [2] who sat cross-legged above his head. There was a red lotus throne under the Dharmapala, from which came bursting out an over one thousand feet long stream of Red Lotus Fire of Evil Karma, wheeling around Grandmaster Tiger roar. Then, he gave a deafening roar, pulling off the kasaya and revealing a tattoo on his chest: a lifelike tiger who was descending a mountain.
Following Grandmaster Tiger roar's roar, beams after beams of golden light began to radiate from the tattoo. Before long, a bulky tiger with a body measuring seventy to eighty feet long rushed out of his chest, roaring wildly and savagely as it ran rapidly around him. Its several tens of feet long tail kept whipping in the air, producing very loud and ear-splitting noises.
The three Heaven Immortals' faces flickered, and they struck at the same time. One of them thrust out a sword, which turned into an about one-mile long tricolored beam of light as it shot straight towards Grandmaster Tigeroar's chest. Another Heaven Immortal raised an umbrella high up, from which, a large sheet of bright light sprinkled down and protected all three of them within. Finally, the last one simply clenched his palms into fists, in the middle of which lightning could be seen darting back and forth while producing crispy sounds of thunderclaps. Although this was the first time they worked as a team, relying on the subtle connection between Heaven Immortals, they had learned the techniques and styles which each of them was most expert with, and hence made them come out with an exceptionally ingenious teamwork.
A beam of white light shot out from the umbrella held by the second Heaven Immortal, amidst which, a beautiful teenage girl with a sexy, fully naked body was dancing and singing. As her graceful singing echoed out, a vast stream of water vapor kept rushing into the umbrella from the surroundings, then forming into countless crystal clear snowflakes. These hexagonal snowflakes stacked on top of one another, quickly forming into a thick ice shield that exuded a very strong coldness around the three Heaven Immortals.
Grandmaster Tiger roar snorted coldly and shook his head in disdain. The Dharmapala who sat cross-legged above him waved its hand casually, swinging the evil subduing sword held in its hand and hacking onto the approaching sword beam. Without too much of an effort, it knocked the sword beam several tens of miles away. Meanwhile, the tiger who ran rapidly around him issued a loud roar, and in a blink, it leaped towards the three Heaven Immortals, thrusting its claw and smashing fiercely onto the ice shield.
It looked like only one claw attack, but in Wu Qi's eyes, the tiger had wielded its claw for at least several tens of thousands of times in that briefest moment. The power of several tens of thousands of claw attacks stacked up and merged together, becoming a single claw strike with an awe-inspiring power. Wu Qi was greatly terrified when he saw such a magical technique of using one's strength. He reckoned that even his celestial fiend puppets would not be able to withstand this strike.
In fact, this savage tiger was also an excellent Buddhist item which had been edified by the power of Buddha for days and nights in Golden Pavilion Temple, and was later fused with a soul of an extraordinary white tiger, eventually giving birth to this magical Buddhist item. Just as Wu Qi had predicted, the claw strike shattered the ice shield instantly. The teenage girl dancing and singing in the white light groaned and exhaled a few wisps of cold air from her little mouth. Obviously, the attack had damaged her root.
Three Heaven Immortals tried to dodge the attack in a hurry, but it was too late. The claw smashed onto their bodies, breaking their bones and tendons while knocking them back. They cried out in pain, losing their courage to attack Grandmaster Tiger roar again. Without the slightest hesitation, they spun and fled.
However, before they could escape, Wu Qi had already triggered the formation which he had laid underground in advance.
With the help from the spirit tea given to him by the blind old man, over ninety percent of Wu Qi's injuries had been healed, and his overall strength had also scaled to a new height. He pressed both palms against the ground, unleashing all his innate earth element energy to communicate with the underground vicious formation, which allowed only natural energy to enter but not leave, and had accumulated an enormous amount of energy. Fearing the power of the formation was not strong enough, Wu Qi even extracted the power of the acquired earth spirit pearl, fusing its vast earth element energy into his own energy and unleashing them altogether.
"Magnetic Grand Magic!"
Wu Qi gave a muffled snort. All of a sudden, the mountains within a radius of one hundred miles trembled, then collapsed and flattened at the same time. The vast earth element energy under the ground quickly transformed into magnetic forces, blanketing the ground with a layer of dark light. Instantly, the gravity in the surrounding area skyrocketed, becoming at least one thousand times stronger than normal.
No matter it was Arhat Wrath or Grandmaster Tiger roar, the three Heaven Immortals who were fleeing in hot haste or cultivators who were watching the battle within a radius of several tens of miles, none of them expected this sudden change. Everybody felt their bodies become extremely heavy, then were sucked to the ground in a sorry state. Amidst loud cracking noises, the ground kept sinking deeper and deeper. In just a blink of an eye, it sunk more than several tens of miles deep.
Then, a loud boom rang out as the underground formation exploded abruptly. A vast underground flame rushed to the surface, sweeping across the land and filling the atmosphere with poisonous gas, blanketing every single person who was sucked into the ground. Apart from Heaven Immortals, all cultivators were burned to ashes in a twinkle.
Wu Qi waved his hand and made the corpses of the few young men fly out of the spirit breeding ring. Then, he cast a few runes of Ghost and Deity Dao, smearing these corpses with a faint layer of ghost aura. Finally, he charred them with a few thunderbolts.
Next, Wu Qi pulled up the unconscious Liu Yi and threw him next to the few corpses, then kicked his forehead and shattered his brain. After that, he sent a stream of earth element energy into Liu Yi's palm, leaving behind a very strong aura of earth element energy.
"Let's go!" Wu Qi shouted in a low voice, dragging Lao Ai and the rest of the people as he spun and fled using earth element escape art, disappearing without a trace in just a blink of an eye.
After a full hour, two crazy roars were heard coming from the depth of the mountains.
"Damn it, Left Minister of Zhong Province, Yu Miao! Good, very good!"
When Wu Qi heard the roars, he lightly flicked his fingers and activated the restrictive spell on the little jade slip. A thunderclap rang out as the jade slip exploded to shreds in an instant.
'Supposedly, this Arhat Wrath and Patriarch Muji are backed by some powerful existences, eh?' thought Wu Qi silently as a cold grin emerged on his face.
'Yu Miao, oh Yu Miao, I really wish to see what kind of an expression you have right now.'
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[1] Small Chiliocosm - A collection of one thousand solar systems are called a "thousandfold minor world-system" (culanika lokhadhatu). Or small chiliocosm. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_cosmology)
[2] Dharmapala - A Dharmapala is a type of wrathful god in Buddhism. The name means "Dharma protector or defender" in Sanskrit, and the Dharmapalas are also known as the Defenders of the Law (Dharma), or the Protectors of the Law. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharmapala)