The shouts and curses raining down from the heavens rose louder and louder with every breath. From the searing gleam in Minghui’s eyes, Li Zhouwei had already sensed the lurking peril. Flicking his halberd backward, he intercepted the golden weapon descending from Chiluo, clarity striking his mind:
'Mingxiang and Minghui both hail from the Lotus Temple. If this monk can be trusted, their threat drops considerably. Only that Zhao general remains truly troublesome.'
He surged upward in fury, channeling his divine ability. Boundless dharmic power poured into his spirit artifact. Behind him, the Darkstone Parasol of Hundred Ridges, flickering amid the flames, snapped upright at once. It blocked every ray of colored light in succession with creaking groans, its blue-yellow luster dimming for a moment.
This brief respite lasted merely a heartbeat. Already riding the heavenly light, Li Zhouwei charged forth, pointing his long halberd straight at Daixi's insolent horse-face!
Daixi was a man who treasured his own life above all else. Fully aware of the danger, he had been on guard against him from the start. Even from afar, the moment his eyes met that luminous, icy point, his heart sank. Gritting his teeth in fury, he hurriedly recalled the Kongxi Demon-Subduing Bowl, formed hand seals, his lips buzzing as he chanted an incantation:
"Order!"
A radiant burst of color instantly manifested in his hand—a dazzling beam of golden brilliance. Piercing the air with a shrill whistle like a diving eagle, it came screaming down.
Daixi had not been idle through all these years. Although the Buddhist artifact he had meticulously planned to craft had been lost during the turmoil at Zhuoshaling, squandering nearly decades of effort... he had mitigated his losses in time by cultivating this streak of piercing golden brilliance.
Unleashed now, the brilliance transformed midair into hundreds, thousands of prismatic streaks, swarming turbulently toward Li Zhouwei. They struck his dharmic body with sharp, metallic collisions, erupting into sheets of purple flame.
"Halt!"
Yet as Li Zhouwei's heavenly light ascended, a sudden spark of wrath flared in Minghui's gaze from above. Shifting his sight, he redirected the multicolored light that had been battering the Darkstone Parasol of Hundred Ridges to the verge of collapse, turning it straight toward Li Zhouwei without hesitation!
Two heads sprouted from his shoulders, their facial features delicate and eyes glaring wide as they chanted incantations. On one side fell a decadent drizzle of chaos, while on the other shone bewildering, overlapping light. The prismatic radiance layered and poured down in a torrential cascade to suppress the heavenly light!
This suppression filled the skies with blazing multicolored light, yet it only caused an even more intense radiance to rise:
*Jun Daowei*!
When charging into battle, *Jun Daowei* possessed the power to shatter chaos and restore all to order. Every one of Minghui's three arts struck right where the divine ability's subtlety lay, causing the golden patterns across Li Zhouwei's face to blaze brilliantly and his eyes to flare with sudden light!
Being besieged by multiple foes hastened the resonance between his karmic mandate and *Jun Daowei*, sending its power surging upward!
The golden rays that had still been squirming against his dharmic body were brutally shoved aside in an instant. The long blade of Dasheng whistled forward, arriving directly before Daixi's face!
The horse-faced Mohe's pupils reflected rolling fury, a tempest of shock and outrage crashing through his mind:
'Ming... hui...'
He naturally refused to admit his own arts were ineffective, but Minghui triggering *Jun Daowei* to stir the power of restoring order had undeniably elevated the opponent's divine technique to another level... It might look like an accidental blunder, but the intent to stab him in the back was as plain as day!
The Lotus Temple was well-versed in Daoist arts and understood the immortal path far better than the Seven Aspects. To claim he did not know the subtleties of Mingyang was absolute nonsense! Yet Buddhist cultivators were inherently prone to internal strife, and he truly had no way to deal with Minghui—not to mention the halberd was already before his eyes, leaving no time to think!
Daixi did possess some genuine skill after all. Gritting his teeth hard, he spewed an object from his mouth.
It was gleaming white like jadeite—a jade skull. Hollow and deep in its eye sockets, it held thunder and purple lightning in its jaws as it thrust forward, clamping onto the cold blade with a loud clang!
Dasheng blazed with light as [Xiaofu] activated, and a spectral, luminous copy of the halberd leaped forward, crashing into his horse head like a bolt of lightning.
*Boom!*
Heavenly light and purple flame exploded. Daixi's massive golden body stumbled back several steps, crouching and nearly falling. As the halberd whipped back around, rolling crimson flames materialized out of thin air, hooking onto the crescent-shaped blade once more and bringing it to a momentary halt.
*Clang!*
Beside Li Zhouwei, a brilliant light suddenly flared. Unnoticed until now, an emerald vajra pestle carved with Sanskrit characters leaped forth, shrouded beneath layers of precious brilliance as it dropped silently and abruptly!
It was the strike of Mingxiang, the cultivator with the highest cultivation present.
Mingxiang had seen through the friction between his junior brother and Daixi clearly enough. Though he did not know why they had fallen out, blood was thicker than water. Mingxiang could easily have stepped in to parry the halberd, plunging Li Zhouwei into an even more disadvantageous position, yet he had deliberately waited until Daixi took a blow from the weapon before making his move, choosing an offensive, lethal strike instead!
Yet the sudden appearance of this emerald vajra pestle made Minghui's expression shift drastically, silently crying out in alarm.
Li Zhouwei's golden eyes flickered; he saw it with equal clarity. Though the object appeared unremarkable, it filled his expression with gravity. He twisted sideways to dodge while using his halberd to block, then ignited the [Shangyao Fuguang] between his brows.
*Hum!*
Having cultivated [Shangyao Fuguang] for many years, its might was drawing close to the peak this art could achieve, illuminating heaven and earth with trembling brilliance. Yet in the sky above, Mingxiang clapped his hands and sat cross-legged. His left palm faced upward, gathered beneath his chin, while his right palm faced downward, shielding his waist. Turning slightly sideways, he chanted:
"Three feelings and three poisons, the moral bonds bend and yield; burning one's own roots of virtue, even the holy cannot save."
In that instant, the light of the Buddhist Land shone down, scattering droplets of sweet dew. As if meeting myriad hindrances, the brilliance of [Shangyao Fuguang] dimmed, scattering and deflecting in five directions. Bathing in the Mingyang light, the vajra pestle managed to pull free, faltering only slightly before plunging downward clad in illusory hues, crashing down with a resounding clang!
'His attainment is profound indeed—that the Lotus Temple excels in both the immortal and the Buddhist paths is no empty boast! And this golden weapon is likely formidable as well!'
Seeing this move alone, Li Zhouwei was secretly startled. Raising his long halberd high, he had no choice but to take the vajra pestle head-on.
*Clang!*
Sparks erupted from the crescent blade of Dasheng, and the shaft bent sharply under what felt like the weight of a ten-thousand-zhang mountain. Countless scriptures manifested across the vajra pestle, projecting in all directions like phantoms.
'Seal!'
The vajra pestle had clearly been crafted specifically to suppress artifacts. Charged for ages, its power was terrifying. Yet at the same time, the golden patterns across Li Zhouwei's face blazed with blinding brilliance, the hue of his eyes shifting from dark gold to radiant pure gold.
*Jun Daowei* resonated!
As the enemies attacking him multiplied, the White Qilin karmic mandate empowered him, resonating with *Jun Daowei*. The power of this dharmic body divine ability surged at staggering speed, swelling by another fifty percent atop its full might, igniting a brilliant blaze of heavenly light around him!
Li Zhouwei's momentum had been stifled before it could rise, checked by the vajra pestle's impact. But now, holding Dasheng with just one hand, he raised his other hand like lightning and swept it forward, snatching the golden bead hurled by Five Eyes straight out of the air. Its sharp brilliance ground to an abrupt halt, barely an inch from his face, before being shattered by the swat!
*Squeak, squeak...*
Still possessing spirituality, the golden bead ground and creaked inside his grip, struggling desperately to break free. Yet Li Zhouwei showed no triumph, his expression only growing darker.
*Rumble!*
At the same time, dark clouds rolled across the sky, and purple lightning plunged from above, narrowly blasting aside the streak of radiance Daixi had concealed in the shadows. Minghui breathed a silent sigh of relief:
'He prepared for this as well...'
Li Zhouwei had still not deployed his most critical spirit treasure or *Audience at the Heavenly Gate*. He had clearly understood Minghui's hint and was holding back to deal with Gongsun Bei. Yet Li Ximing had still not shown himself, and the Song Court cultivators had not arrived. None of these monks were pushovers!
Sure enough, while Li Zhouwei parried Mingxiang on his left, Chiluo had already materialized with fierce momentum, raising his sword and slashing down viciously. None of these Mohe were easy foes; formidable though Li Zhouwei's dharmic body was, he was momentarily pinned in midair by their golden weapons and arts!
As Chiluo's gold-and-red sword hacked down with fury, the divine ability throughout Li Zhouwei's body continued to churn. His immensely profound dharmic power and extraordinary dao attainment channeled toward a single point. Resonating with *Jun Daowei*, he actually pulled the Darkstone Parasol of Hundred Ridges back through layers of obstructing multicolored light, barely throwing it up before himself to block!
*Clang!*
What rang out was an exceedingly crisp clash of metal, as though something golden had flicked past. The air droned, causing every Buddhist cultivator to stifle a breath, their vision blurring.
*Spurt!*
It was the sound of Chiluo coughing up blood.
Five Eyes felt his scalp tingle with dread, crying out inwardly:
'The Qianyang Bracelet has appeared!'
Facing him directly, Chiluo had never imagined that after being trapped by their combined might and trading only a few blows, Li Zhouwei would erupt so violently. The sheer potency of his divine ability was preposterous. A chill rushed up Chiluo's nose, and the world before his eyes shattered into fragments in an instant—endless chaos, a headache tearing him apart.
Li Zhouwei had already released his grip. Dasheng snapped straight, bursting with fractured heavenly light. Leaving his powerful palm empty and letting the golden bead unleash myriad beams of radiance, he simply permitted his spirit artifact to remain suppressed by Mingxiang. Riding an unstoppable charge, he thrust his massive hand forward recklessly, lunging straight to seize Chiluo by the throat!
In that split second, only Five Eyes' golden bead was close enough to offer any hope of rescue within a breath!
Yet the Lianmin merely lowered his eyes. He made no move to propel the golden bead. Still, not daring to do nothing at all, a greedy light flared in his eyes. Tapping and pushing his thumb against his knuckles, his body dispersed and coalesced as light. Resonating with the golden bead, he used it to manifest beside Li Zhouwei, bringing both palms together and lunging straight for the Darkstone Parasol of Hundred Ridges—which hung bereft of dharmic power and completely isolated in midair—seeking to seize and suppress it amid the chaos!
Yet the light between Li Zhouwei's brows had already turned to darkness. After a brief flash of brightness, countless streams of black-gold light erupted, instantly swallowing every hue around him.
[Diqi Light]!
"Aaargh!"
The first to let out a wretched scream was naturally Chiluo. Struck by the Qianyang Bracelet, he was utterly disoriented, the heavens and earth spinning dark. Beside him, Minghui was quietly slacking off, having let the Darkstone Parasol of Hundred Ridges slip past, while Five Eyes, blinded by greed, dashed after the parasol. Not a single person came to Chiluo's aid!
A powerful hand clamped around Chiluo's throat and face. Black-gold light swept down across his features, mottling the crimson head with countless fractures in an instant. As the hand gripping his face squeezed hard, the sound of shattering glazed crystal rang out.
*Crack!*
Chiluo's glass-like eye was gouged by Li Zhouwei's thumb and burst first into dust. Meanwhile, the hand clasped tightly over his face seemed to expand rapidly—its knuckles grew thick, talons sharpened, and countless ferocious scales sprouted with a rustle, generating thirty percent more brute force out of thin air!
*Boom!*
First struck by the spirit treasure's spirit-shearing blow, followed by the deluge of Diqi Light, and bolstered by *Jun Daowei* operating at one hundred and fifty percent of its peak power—even though Chiluo belonged to the Golden Lotus seat and had tempered his dharmic body for centuries, his head shattered like ordinary glassware!
*Crash...*
Rolling grit and glass shards rained down from the sky. A Buddhist cultivator's dharmic body had no vital weak spots; Chiluo's headless torso continued to burn with bright flames, every limb and bone saturated with the yang-extremity force left by [Diqi Light]. His hands still pushed weakly against Li Zhouwei's arm. The Lianmin was terrified and furious to the extreme, yet he could only feel his dharmic body crumbling to pieces!
Five Eyes was scared out of his wits. Yet having put on an act of greed, he didn't dare drop what he had grabbed, so he could only retreat frantically while pinning the parasol down, shrieking in his heart:
'Heavens above! This is terrifying!'
Scurrying away with his head between his hands, thoroughly shaken by the King of Wei's decisive savagery, he muttered incessantly:
'Lord Buddha pr—ptui! Immortal Lords above... I'm on your side... I'm one of you!'
Li Zhouwei had no interest in paying him any heed. The very instant he crushed Chiluo's dharmic body, he spun around without a shred of hesitation. Saturated with Diqi Light, Chiluo's body was crippled, but Li Zhouwei had not come away without cost. He had let go of Dasheng earlier, and the weapon was now pinned by the vajra pestle. Its butt trembled, leaping continuously under the pull of his divine ability as it struggled to break free, yet the brilliant light pressed down ever tighter. He had no time to catch his breath; relaxing for even a single breath would mean surrendering the initiative he had fought so hard to seize!
*Jun Daowei* circulated, fending off Daixi's arts one by one, finally allowing Li Zhouwei to grasp the butt of the halberd with one hand. But Mingxiang was the strongest Mohe present and his reactions were just as swift. He did not spare so much as a glance for Chiluo, his sights clearly set on Dasheng. How could he let Li Zhouwei reclaim it? The emerald light rapidly closed in, causing Li Zhouwei to be half a step too late. Tainted by jade radiance, the entire halberd was rendered nearly immovable.
Watching all this unfold, Minghui was crying inside, tears virtually streaming down his face:
'Senior Brother... oh, Senior Brother! Do you not understand what holding back means?! You are going to get me and Master killed!'
Yet Mingxiang could hardly be blamed. Master and disciple had not dared tell him the truth about the lake affair. They had done their best to spin a lie, claiming their goal was merely to whittle down the strength of the other Buddhist cultivators and make a handsome profit. Naturally, Mingxiang was doing everything in his power to reap a massive fortune—how could he let Dasheng go!
A flicker of regret crossed Li Zhouwei's eyes, though he was not particularly surprised. Forcing his way through the arts hurled by Five Eyes and Minghui, he exerted sudden force with one hand, his golden eyes blazing as he fixed his gaze on the vajra pestle!
*Pfft!*
No matter how much the two held back, a real hit was still a real hit. Li Zhouwei's face flushed red, but the dharmic power within him completed its cycle in the nick of time. That golden silhouette manifested once more, slamming violently against the vajra pestle.
*Clang!*
No matter how formidable the vajra pestle was, it could not compare to the Qianyang Bracelet. Letting out a wailing cry, as if slapped viciously across the face, it bounced high into the air. Deprived of support, the emerald radiance suppressing the halberd swiftly decayed. Yet just then, a figure manifested from midair holding a purple bowl—having waited for this moment for so long, he finally brought it down, trapping the spirit treasure whose force had just spent itself!
It was Daixi!
This man had originally transitioned from immortal to Buddhist cultivation; he was cunning to the extreme and understood immortal cultivators better than anyone. Timing this precise moment, he poured every drop of his dharmic power into the Kongxi Demon-Subduing Bowl, urgently sending his spiritual sense through the Great Void:
'General Gongsun, now is the opportune moment!'
Witnessing this scene, Minghui's heart sank, terror seizing him as a dreadful suspicion suddenly dawned in his mind:
'Li Ximing still hasn't struck?... Could it be... he isn't even here?!'
Chapter 1031