The space here was remarkably intact, and Wei Yuan's divine sense blanketed the entire hall. Though the viruses were minuscule, they could not escape its reach. The flame of the Blue Lamp Before the Buddha burned through karma, exerting what felt like a gravitational pull; the polymeric viruses infected by the strain Wei Yuan had designed were entirely helpless, turning to ash one after another.
The flames swept into the support columns of the central server. In an instant, the flesh clinging to them disintegrated into dust, leaving behind countless pits and hollows of every size.
With a deafening crash, the server collapsed into a heap of useless rubble.
Wei Yuan swept the surrounding space with his divine sense again and again, obliterating microscopic biological particles through sheer spiritual force.
Only after repeating the purge several times and confirming not a single polymeric virus remained in the entire hall did Wei Yuan finally desist.
Pitting the arts of immortals and buddhas against mortal peak technology had yielded nothing short of an overwhelming, one-sided slaughter.
At that moment, the young boy was busy feeding bread to the old man on the bed, though his method was utterly bizarre. He picked up pieces that had fallen to the floor, caring nothing for whether they were clean or dirty, and crammed them into the old man's mouth, chunk after chunk.
In no time, the old man's mouth was stuffed to bursting, but the boy didn't stop. He continued ramming more inside with force, chanting as he pushed, "I worked so hard to bring this bread back. You can't waste it; you have to eat every bit. You love food so much, you must be thrilled, right?"
The old man's entire body convulsed, his eyes bulging as if ready to split from their sockets. His mouth was packed tight, and his throat bulged outward. Faint, muffled whimpers emanated from deep within his windpipe, every syllable dripping with despair and agony.
Wang Bing and Ji Liuli were both frozen in place, utterly unable to move.
Ji Liuli's eyeballs darted rapidly, as though she were having a nightmare with her eyes wide open, showing signs that she was on the verge of waking. Wang Bing, on the other hand, remained motionless, as if time had frozen around her, or as if her shell contained nothing more.
The boy bent down to pick up a crushed slice of bread from the floor, about to shove it into the old man's mouth, when an eye suddenly shifted to the back of his head, staring ominously at Wei Yuan and the hollow-riddled pillars.
"You won?" he asked, looking exceedingly surprised.
"I told you, what's so hard about it? Now, it's your turn."
The boy flashed a sinister, cunning smile and slowly raised his hand. His arm abruptly stretched dozens of meters, extending past the pillar of light, and thrust the crushed piece of bread right in front of Wei Yuan's face. "Here, eat."
Wei Yuan knocked the bread straight to the ground. "I only eat steamed buns."
As if triggered, the boy's small face instantly twisted in fury. He shrieked, "If you won't eat, then die!"
The piercing screech echoed through the space, manifesting as razor-sharp blades that tore through the surrounding scenery. Countless monsters and distorted human figures materialized out of thin air, charging toward Wei Yuan from all directions!
The monsters came in every grotesque shape imaginable, while the humans wielded diverse supernatural abilities or brandished customized high-powered firearms.
This was the vengeful spirit converting the rancor of the entire illusory realm into warriors, intent on crushing him beneath sheer numbers!
Wei Yuan remained unfazed in the face of peril. Flicking his finger, he unleashed a streak of azure qi and tapped the empty air. The azure qi ignited with azure-gold Buddhist fire, transforming into a bronze-skinned Dharma-protecting mighty warrior that surged forward against the tide of beasts.
The warrior possessed boundless strength; a single downward slam of his fists reduced two monsters to flying ash. Yet he was alone, and in the blink of an eye, swarms of creatures crawled all over him.
Just then, another mighty warrior charged into the fray, sweeping his arms horizontally to clear the monsters from his companion.
Silently chanting scripture, Wei Yuan flicked his fingers repeatedly, sending out streams of azure qi that morphed into mighty warriors who charged out in every direction. This was an innate divine power inherent to the Indestructible Dharma of Emptiness and Form: Soldiers Formed from Karmic Luck. It was akin to the Daoist Five Elements Dao Soldiers, yet distinctly more formidable. Wei Yuan had cast aside the Five Elements Dao Soldiers, choosing instead to directly manifest Dharma-protecting mighty warriors using the azure qi of human fortune to slaughter the vengeful spirits.
Wei Yuan moved faster and faster. Within moments, hundreds of Dharma-protecting mighty warriors stood in formation, barely holding the line against the encroaching sea of beasts from every quarter.
With every cast, Wei Yuan grew increasingly adept. Suddenly, a state of pristine clarity opened in his mind. His fingers blurred like the wind as azure karmic luck gushed forth; a hundred streaks of azure qi shot straight ahead, manifesting a Wrathful Vajra over ten feet tall!
Empowered by the Blue Lamp Before the Buddha, this Vajra burned with faint azure flames. Its power surged astronomically as it let out an earth-shattering roar, plunging into the monster horde and carving its way upstream against the tide!
The Wrathful Vajra pushed dozens of yards forward, obliterating uncounted monsters before finally collapsing and dissolving into nothingness.
Though a Vajra consumed immense reserves, its destructive power was colossal, fully justifying the cost. Wei Yuan instantly ran through a mental calculation. After a rough estimate, he settled into a rhythm: one Vajra for every seventy mighty warriors, forming wave after wave of guardian battle arrays that pushed back against the monsters.
When the Vajra appeared, the boy flew into an even greater frenzy, smashing everything within reach and screaming incessantly, "More baldies! More baldies! Won't you people ever let me go?!"
As his madness peaked, even more monsters and superhumans appeared, joined by terrifying giants over ten meters tall. A single all-out strike from one of these behemoths toppled a Vajra through sheer brute force alone; the giant then spewed torrents of black flame, incinerating the Vajra into ash.
The giants moved slowly, yet they were nigh indestructible. Neither the Vajra nor the legions of mighty warriors could stem their advance.
The boy's shrieks turned euphoric. "Do you see? Do you see it?! This is my World-Destroying Archdemon! How much karmic luck do you have left—ten thousand, a hundred thousand, or hundreds of thousands? You're doomed to die here and become my nourishment! Then I can set out again, find a world where I can reincarnate, and live once more!"
Wei Yuan fell into deep thought. Verses from the Indestructible Dharma of Emptiness and Form and the Red Lotus Universal Deliverance True Words flowed quietly through his heart, and in an instant, he grasped a profound layer of their true meaning.
This world before him was not in the midst of a Dharma-ending age; it was a scene of what came *after* the Dharma-ending age. Had he not witnessed it with his own eyes, Wei Yuan could never have imagined that existence could be so tragic—to find no release even in death, bound forever to a ruined world, endlessly enduring torment in a warped, broken realm.
These monsters and people before him still bore the radiance of spirituality when viewed through his spiritual vision, yet that glow was blanketed beneath a thick layer of black-red dust. When spirituality was smothered in dust, there was no path to deliverance. They were like marionettes playing out assigned roles in a world forged of rancor. And the one who assigned their roles—had he not been arranged by someone else as well?
Having witnessed the aftermath of the Dharma-ending age firsthand, Wei Yuan's comprehension of the scriptures advanced by leaps and bounds, reaching in an instant a height that many eminent monks failed to touch in an entire lifetime.
Stirred by this revelation, five-colored glazed radiance lit up between Wei Yuan's brows. He pressed his palms together, then paused in silence for three seconds. Through immense willpower, profound wisdom, and sheer determination, he forcefully choked back that habitual Buddhist invocation.
Then, pinching his fingers in the gesture of picking a flower, Wei Yuan gently pointed forward. Ten thousand streaks of azure qi vanished in an instant, and a Golden-Bodied Arhat rose from the earth. Brandishing a monk's staff, it advanced toward the World-Destroying Archdemon.
A few breaths later, another Golden-Bodied Arhat appeared, this one holding a vajra club, and likewise charged the archdemon.
Pitted against two foes, the World-Destroying Archdemon remarkably prevailed in the end—its demonic might truly reached terrifying heights! Yet it was heavily wounded, and under the combined siege of the Vajras and mighty warriors, it finally collapsed.
The boy sneered coldly, shouting, "How will you handle this?!"
Far off at the edge of chaos, another archdemon materialized, bounding forward in earth-trembling strides.
Wei Yuan remained seated with a calm smile. With a casual wave of his hand, four Golden-Bodied Arhats appeared before him.
Enraged, the boy trembled all over, his form turning slightly translucent. At the border of chaos, two more World-Destroying Archdemons emerged!
"Hahaha! Die! Killing a Child of Buddha today will count as avenging this world! I—I'll @#￥%!"
Wei Yuan sat with solemn, majestic grace. A light wave of his wide sleeve brought five-colored light raining from the heavens, giving birth to eight more Arhats!
A full twelve Arhats, leading numerous Vajras and a dense, dark expanse of mighty warriors, swept in a reverse surge toward the edge of chaos. Wherever the azure-gold Buddhist light shone, evil and foulness dissolved into dust.
After an indeterminate time, peace finally returned to the world. Seven Arhats stood about with nothing left to do, to say nothing of the Vajras and mighty warriors strewn across the landscape.
Surveying the scene, Wei Yuan felt a pang of regret; he had pushed just a bit too hard. Less than two million units of human azure qi remained in his reserve. In that fierce battle, Wei Yuan had lavishly squandered a million units of karmic luck to conjure Buddhist legions, sweeping away the rancor of this realm in one fell swoop. Without that rancor to sustain it, the collapse of the illusory realm was merely a matter of time. Once the world completely fell apart, Wei Yuan would be able to harvest its world origin qi.
By now, the young boy's body had turned nearly transparent. He glared at Wei Yuan with eyes full of venom, spewing soundless curses. A mote of light surfaced from deep within his body, swiftly expanding into a young man. The moment the young man appeared, the boy let out a final whimper and vanished completely.
The young man looked around, then glanced at the old man on the bed, seemingly understanding everything. He took a chip from his hand and placed it into Wei Yuan's palm. "I never imagined I would wake up again. This world is on the verge of destruction, and I will vanish from the universe forever. But what happened here—including the mistakes we made—should not be forgotten. It's all stored in here. I leave it to you."
Wei Yuan took the chip, which instantly dissolved into a stream of light and sank into his body.
The young man suddenly asked, "You're human, right?"
Wei Yuan pondered for a moment. "Judging by appearance, I should be."
The young man smiled, drew a pistol from his breast, and fired several rounds into the old man on the bed until the magazine was empty.
The sky light gradually faded, until all that remained was the bed and the vacant, grinning old man lying upon it, his mouth crammed full of bread.
Wei Yuan turned around and saw Ji Liuli and Wang Bing stirring as if waking from a dream, their mobility finally restored. Wei Yuan looked at Wang Bing, feeling more and more that she was Peacock. He asked, "Who are you, really?"
The woman in the qipao with short hair smiled faintly, speaking with profound meaning: "...Buddha Mother."
She transformed into a beam of glazed light, pierced the void, and vanished. Only after her departure did Ji Liuli's gaze regain a touch of clarity.
"You're awake?"
"Half-awake. I still remember a lot from the dream."
Wei Yuan was curious about one thing and asked, "Do you remember planning to release a virus to wipe out an entire nation? Why did this body of yours hate that place so much?"
Ji Liuli said, "Years ago, I was in charge of a project there. Simply put, I was looking for a site to build a super-scale gene pharmaceutical plant. I had already picked the location—tens of thousands of mu of land, entirely forested, with no human settlements."
Wei Yuan remarked, "The area isn't that large. To level it, a hundred Dao Foundation cultivators could do it in three days."
Ji Liuli said, "I thought the same initially. But some local environmental organization claimed that a nameless species of snake lived there, and they refused to let me break ground!"
Wei Yuan grew somewhat intrigued. "What kind of snake was so precious? Did it possess spirituality? What was its cultivation? If it had reached the dharma idol stage, it might have been worth befriending."
Ji Liuli glared at him. "Where would you find spiritual creatures in this world? It was an ordinary grass snake—harmless and non-venomous."
Without even venom, Wei Yuan instantly lost interest. "Then couldn't you just relocate them? Gather a few thousand mortals, and it'd be done in three days."
"They wouldn't allow it! They said the snakes were hibernating, and disturbing their sleep was inhumane. If we wanted to relocate them, we had to wait until spring."
Wei Yuan was astounded. "Were those fellows just looking for an excuse to cause trouble?"
"No, they were just idle busybodies with too much food in their bellies. The welfare in that country was so generous that working was worse than sitting at home doing nothing, so it bred a whole class of loafers."
"Welfare..." Wei Yuan turned the word over in his mouth, then said, "With such generous welfare, where did the money come from? I'd love to offer welfare too, but no matter how I calculate the expenses, the funds are never enough."
Ji Liuli rolled her eyes at him. "Their original wealth was plundered, so of course their welfare was good."
Wei Yuan's spirits lifted. "Plundered? I knew it! Now *that's* something I'm good at! What happened next?"
"What else could happen? A full year passed without being able to break ground. Aside from the snakes, the area was home to squirrels, frogs, and butterflies—they stopped just short of protecting the viruses."
"Viruses don't really count as living things, do they?" Wei Yuan pointed out.
"The polymeric ones are alive. But do you think those people understood that? They just wanted to express themselves; they never listened to a word you said. What does global warming have to do with me? I didn't enjoy a single benefit, yet I was expected to shoulder the blame? Do I look like an idiot to you?" Ji Liuli vented.
Wei Yuan grew thoughtful. "In this world, didn't one of your houses measure ten thousand square meters? The air conditioning was never turned off, and the pool was kept at the same temperature all year round..."
"Shut up! When we get back, renovate that immortal city of yours properly! Look at other people, then look at yourself!"
"I'll see to it the moment we return!" Wei Yuan yielded gracefully.
Ji Liuli grumbled, "Speaking of people coming to cause trouble, they really did. One day, a few animal rights activists barged into my house, claiming that my eating meat hurt their feelings."
"Wait a minute..." Wei Yuan struggled to follow. "You were eating meat in your own home, and they barged into your house to tell you that you couldn't?"
"Yes."
Wei Yuan looked at Ji Liuli's current stature—over two meters tall—and said, "Were they that brave? Did they have a death wish?"
"I was only one meter seventy back then. But naturally, I didn't let them off easily. I used the exact same excuse and beat them to a pulp. Care to guess what excuse I used?"
"You're a plant lover?" Wei Yuan guessed.
"I told them I'm an air lover."
Chapter 792