Blegh!

From the moment Ji Jue stepped into the Chopra family estate, the Prosperity had slipped silently beneath the ocean waves, clearing the harbor without a sound. By the time Badanta appeared, the ship had already pulled dozens of kilometers away, breached the surface, and soared into the sky. During their brief clash and struggle, the colossal vessel—larger than any city building—had effortlessly crossed fifty kilometers above sea level into the stratosphere. It hung suspended high in the heavens, looking down coldly at the airships passing beside it in sheer terror. Its pitch-black shadow was already locked onto Xiangzhou below, blanketing the entire Chopra family domain. Now, at Ji Jue's single command, the Prosperity—weighing over two thousand seven hundred tons on its own—plunged downward, dragging a nightmarish fury of gravitational potential energy in its wake. A tempest raged; shockwaves ripped through the air. The moment the first Mach diamond burst from its glowing-red prow, the vessel brutally slammed into Badanta's sensory range. By the time Badanta's vision went dark with shock, it was already too late. Scorching crimson glare erupted from the sky like sweeping wildfire. The immense freighter had grown red-hot, turning into a man-made asteroid, hurtling down toward the island, toward the domain, toward Badanta... A thunderous, catastrophic plunge! All that remained for him was a simple math problem. Given that Ep = mgh, the Prosperity's total mass exceeded three thousand tons, gravitational acceleration was g = 9.780 m/s², and the stratosphere's altitude above sea level was forty-seven kilometers... The question was: to what staggering astronomical figure would that gravitational potential energy swell? A shriek like shattering colored glaze was drowned out by the colossal boom. Rooted in the paths of Ascension and the Abyssal Depths, the Seven Treasures Domain burst like a fragile bubble upon impact. The heavens fractured, pierced clean through. Just as Wen Wen's dragon lance had once manifested, pure power from the Desolate Ruins broke through the domain's blockade and crashed down from above! It plunged the entire island of Xiangzhou into the shadow of annihilation. This was Ji Jue's contingency plan for the worst-case scenario: if all preparations failed and the entire game was lost, then flipping the chessboard didn't matter in the least. Once Juque completed its descent, the entire Chopra family would literally be vaporized from reality! This had originally been his trump card to deter enemies and counter the House God. Now, he threw it right into Badanta's face without a shred of hesitation, making the old man's vision blur with rage. *Aren't you supposed to be from a righteous, prestigious sect?* *How the hell are you even more ruthless than an underling of a Great Sin like me?!* *Don't the lives of the Thousand Islands people matter to you at all?!* Was he bluffing? Or was he utterly deranged? In a split second, Badanta stared fixedly at Ji Jue's expression, unable to discern the truth. Yet he dared not gamble. Whether Xiangzhou survived or not was beyond his knowing, but if this strike landed, not a single bone of his would remain intact. There was too little time. He didn't even have time to flee. All he could do was raise his hand. He pointed toward the sky. In the empowered state granted by his guru, Badanta unleashed the most powerful mantra at his disposal, his voice booming across heaven and earth: "—The cause with outflow, though apparent, is unreal!" Nothing in this world lasted forever. Luxury and extravagance were fleeting; tyranny and dominance passed in the snap of a finger. Amidst these ever-shifting phenomena, all worldly possessions, loves, hates, grudges, emperors, and generals were nothing more than dream bubbles. Finite things could not compare with the infinite. Tainted causes could not rival the True Dharma! Therefore, strike the tainted with the taintless; overwhelm the finite with the infinite! Within the domain, everything seemed to dissolve into phantom bubbles in an instant. Across the entire vault of heaven, only the towering, majestic Golden Body remained real, steadfast against ten thousand tribulations, immutable for eternity. Subvert reality, revise everything. With the mantra's support, his own observation and existence expanded without limit, while the enemy's strength grew infinitesimally small in comparison. It was as if they had never existed at all. Beginning with his own observation, he reshaped reality, inverted existence and nothingness, and blended the essences of the Abyssal Depths and the Rainbow. Affirm his own existence, and then—deny the opponent's! Erase! Erase! Erase! Beneath the heavens where the Golden Body pointed, the plummeting Prosperity suddenly turned illusory, fading into translucency and flickering violently. Hull and armor peeled away layer by layer, vanishing into thin air like an onion being stripped bare. And throughout the process, the falling potential energy continually slowed, slowed, and slowed further... dropping at a rate visible to the naked eye! Until it struck a terrifying mass that could not be erased! A roaring blast abruptly erupted as the Juque keel manifested from within the hull, blazing with fierce radiance. Badanta's vision went black once more. His Golden Body trembled, the halo behind him cracked, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. It felt as though his erasure had crashed headlong into an endless mountain range, plunging into a boundless ocean. *Fucking Desolate Ruins—dammit! AAAAGH!* The opponent's sheer magnitude was far too absurd. In this rush, he couldn't erase it at all. If he recklessly forced the technique and failed to negate his foe, he might very well negate himself instead. If it came down to only one of them remaining, he had no confidence whatsoever that he would be the one left standing. Of course, he could voluntarily erase himself to dodge it... Yet the entanglements were far too deep. Right now, through the domain, he was fused with all of Xiangzhou, bound to the House God through thousands of threads of faith and consciousness. The ties ran too deep! He was cornered from both sides! In that final fraction of a second, Badanta could only scream at the top of his lungs: "Guru, help me!" And so, terror vanished. Harmony and serenity returned. Joy and stillness resurfaced in those compassionate, narrow eyes, while the jewel atop his head blazed with myriad beams of light. Behind Badanta, within the halo, the shadowy, cross-legged figure sitting in the darkness simply raised a hand and made a subtle gesture. As gentle as plucking a flower. A remote override! "Om tathagato bhavaya svaha..." Badanta formed a seal before his chest with both hands, his mantra resounding through heaven and earth. The House God, which had been spasming moments ago, violently jolted. Not just the centipede-like limb, but the boundless shadows resting beneath Xiangzhou erupted like a geyser! Rising like a writhing black tide, they surged straight toward the heavens. Faces that had been wailing and contorted with fury suddenly took on an indescribable calm and joy. All of them transformed into Badanta's likeness, chanting mantras and offering pious praise. Under Dharma King Shanzhu's single thought, countless chaotic consciousnesses were wholly converted, perceiving themselves as Badanta. Countless Badantas overlapped, chanting in unison in praise of the True Dharma. They lifted upward toward the heavens! As though holding aloft the sun and moon. No roar, no storm, not even the slightest tremor. The moment they collided, the terrifying momentum plummeting from the sky was neutralized into nothingness. Immediately afterward, fracturing sounds echoed from within Badanta's body. Cracks spiderwebbed across the flawless Golden Body. Vaporized bloody mist sprayed outward, his soul hovered on the brink of collapse, and his entire being was reduced to an empty husk. Yet Badanta felt no fear at all—only an even greater ecstasy. Having truly experienced the Guru's power with his very being, he was one step closer to the supreme deity in his heart. If the setting had not been so inappropriate, he would have danced with joy. The fleeting display of the Guru's divine might had nearly consumed all of Badanta's soul and life force, but it had thoroughly seized control of the House God. Amidst the silence, Badanta grinned viciously and looked down at Ji Jue below—only to see Ji Jue's raised palm. His right hand was held up, fingers splayed. Then, right before Badanta's eyes, he curled one finger in. "Four." Then, "Three"... *Playing tricks!* Badanta sneered. Giving vent to his rage, he commanded the House God to rise like a surging tide and spew a deluge of annihilation at Ji Jue. Regrettably, no deluge came. Though it certainly spewed something. The House God's massive form convulsed violently as if struck by lightning. Across its body, countless identical faces of Badanta rapidly warped. In unison, every single one of them opened its mouth—and alongside the dumbfounded Badanta himself... They all blegh-ed their guts out... Only now did Ji Jue's finger pull back to "Two." "You're not cooperating at all, Old Lou." Ji Jue shook his head and sighed. His flex had failed. * "Blegh!" Minkler had already vomited. He had no choice. After fleeing and stumbling all the way, Hippolyta had cornered him like a cat toying with a mouse, leaving him nowhere left to run. Right before Minkler, Hippolyta's spiritual body suddenly unraveled and swelled like a bloated, rotting corpse. From the decaying flesh, sticky, foul-smelling serpents writhed outward, flicking their tongues and lunging at him with gaping jaws! Amidst sheer panic and terror, the dizziness and nausea he had forcefully suppressed throughout his flight erupted in a violent surge. Before he could even scream, he threw up. And then, he heard an unexpected wail... Coming from right in front of him! *Huh?* Still retching, Minkler opened his eyes in dazed confusion. Before he could even see what lay ahead, he saw an arm... an arm extending straight out from his own wide-open mouth. The arm gripped a spiritus sword as clear as crystal. Its blade suddenly shot forward, lengthening by dozens of meters to impale the serpent swarm before piercing straight through Hippolyta's stunned skull, bursting out from the back of her head! Hippolyta froze as if turned to ice, completely immobilized. Every serpent convulsed violently, their mouths opening to let out shrieks identical to hers. Transparent blades burst outward from inside her body, turning her into a pincushion in an instant. Meanwhile, Minkler's mouth... was forcibly pried open from the inside by another hand. Stretched to an exaggerated degree, a scowling Lou Feng crawled out from Minkler's mouth. Even though saliva didn't exist in the Netherworld, Lou Feng kept wiping his face, glaring at Minkler in utter disgust. "I told you to open your mouth! Are you deaf?!" "Huh? Ah!" Minkler remained petrified, completely overwhelmed by the shock of having an entire full-grown man crawl out of his mouth. "I—I didn't notice." He swallowed dryly, looked at Lou Feng, and then looked at the shrieking Hippolyta, utterly lost. "What... what is going on?" "It is what it is. You wouldn't get the technicalities even if I explained it. Just assume I split off a fragment of my soul, attached it to the sword, and smuggled myself in. "That bastard Ji Jue only ever dumps this troublesome crap on me..." Lou Feng looked down, glancing disdainfully at Hippolyta's miserable state. "The Serpent Hair Curse of the Corpse Marsh? People these days actually treat cannon-fodder techniques like precious treasures? Serves her right to die." By contrast, he was far more interested in the sword in his hand. He lowered his eyes and examined it. Muttering terminology that sounded like gibberish to Minkler, he analyzed and inspected it over and over. "So this is Chunjun? No, just a replica. Cheap bastard couldn't spare the real thing, and he even set up wards. Who's he trying to keep out?!" With that, he casually swiped his hand across the blade, brushing away the invisible seal. Immediately, several large characters appeared along the ridge of the blade: *What are you looking at? Think you can actually understand it?*