A sliver of humanity finally revealed itself in Enihilus’s eyes, and he glanced at Rocjourney. Eventually, he seemed to laugh, “Rocjourney… I lied to you for centuries. Today, I will tell you the truth.”

“As a bodhi seed of the twin sal-trees, your origin is not ordinary, even if the trees are an avatar. In Greater Thousand Realms, the Buddhist Monastery is still of some reputation. Your mind in itself contains a majority of myth from the Buddhist Monastery, and a few unimportant secrets. I raise you this… Which style of Buddha statue is that of Realism?”

Rocjourney shot an imperceptible glance at Xu Yangyi, and the demon slayer’s eyes narrowed. He tacitly understood, immersing himself in his thoughts.

The time they stalled for couldn’t be too long… and it couldn’t be too fast, either. It had to be just right… No one could see, but Rocjourney, who appeared to be lowering his head in contemplation, already had fat beads of cold sweat dotting his forehead.

In his mind, thought after thought flew by, without any consideration to Enihilus’s question. On the contrary, he was thinking about how much longer Xu Yangyi still needed. Are we really about to face-off against a Great Circle cultivator and a late Foundation Establishment demon said to be the strongest in Foundation Establishment?

His train of thought was a mess, but his eyes suddenly brightened.

Afterwards, he raised his head and looked at Enihilus. Eyes wide and mouth ajar, he then looked underneath his feet as if he was a robot. His body began to tremble.

An unintentionally planted willow growing in shade, success in an unexpected place… Not even he himself had expected that in an urgent situation he couldn’t imagine… that he would actually manage to come up with the answer to Enihilus’s question. [1]

And this answer… caused his hair to stand on edge!

“This…” His voice trembled as he looked below his feet, and he shivered again. “This is…”

“Gandhara?!”

Xu Yangyi was also dazed, inwardly gnashing his teeth!

Rocjourney wasn’t playing according to the rules!

He took a deep breath and raised his qi, threads of it pervading the air. The Qi Explosion Pill’s effect was receding, and his qi was gradually strengthening. He still needed around twenty minutes!

Faster… a little faster…

At this moment, no one paid attention to him. Surprisingly, Moonless suddenly followed up, “Gandhara? This name… I feel like I’ve heard it before?”

As if he hadn’t heard Moonless, Rocjourney looked at Enihilus with reddened eyes. “This place is really Gandhara?! Only the lost, ancient kingdom of Gandhara has the sole lifelike statue of Buddha!”

“This place is Gandhara’s imperial palace,” Enihilus cackled, “To be able to die here is your good fortune.”

“What you just said!” Rocjourney rushed forward a step and said hoarsely, “That item out there that Wukong used!

“You are not mistaken.” Enihilus’s eyes narrowed. “It is that Wukong, the Gandhara Kingdom of Journey to the West, but this route does not go from China to India… but rather through Lesser Thousand Realms!”

“But he was not called Wukong… but rather… Fajie! And in this name’s meaning, he was bestowed with the Buddhist ideal of Dharmadhatu!”

Enihilus took a deep breath and gazed darkly at Rocjourney. “I sincerely told you my answer, so why… are you hiding the truth from me!?!?!?!”

Just as his voice fell, his head strangely twisted around by 180 degrees, and he snapped his mouth open at Xu Yangyi and shot out a pillar of black light. “Dreg! Who permitted you to gather spiritual force? Courting death!”

Rocjourney looked on in a daze, but soon became very anxious!

Their plan had been seen through!

Xu Yangyi tightly clenched his jaw. Without a second word, the Animus Armament was already in his hand, and all the qi he’d just gathered immediately surged out with vigor, but… this feeble qi still wasn’t even enough to shape a divine ability!

“Tortoise Burdens!” With no other choice, he used a Heavens Law divine ability, one that he hadn’t used in a very long time. Brilliant golden light appeared in front of him, and in the next moment a great, majestic force slammed into him with a boom! So great was Enihilus’s strength that he felt as if he slammed into a mountain! His throat was sweet, and he sprayed out blood as he flew back a hundred meters!

“I was having a nice conversation with you, but you’re not listening. Truly, you were gathering qi in your dantian?” Enihilus spun around and looked towards the direction Xu Yangyi flew away to, his gaze fiery. His voice was ice-cold, absent of the slightest trace of mercy. “If you peacefully waited for death, I could’ve taken pity on you and let you live a while longer… You dog-thing, unable to recognize good and bad, since you want to die, I will now help you accomplish your goal.”

“And all of you…” Thirsty for blood, he looked at everyone else. “No one… shall survive this!”

“I will wring your heads off, crush and flatten your skulls, and drain you to your last drop of blood, all to truly walk towards Core Formation!” He stowed his gaze and looked at Xu Yangyi. “I’ll start… with this wretched bug!!!”

Swoosh! His body arched back where he stood. Afterwards, his two legs bent, and he vanished at superhuman speed!

“No good!!!” Rocjourney and Moonless both shouted. Without pause, the duo cast spells. Evidently, these were secret arts, and their speeds unexpectedly surpassed Enihilus’s in a flash. In the blink of an eye, they were already several hundred meters away!

“GET LOST!!!” Enihilus watched the two in front of him and roared angrily, “Rocjourney, if you do as you’re told, like you have in these past several hundred years, then I’ll kill you last! Otherwise… he is your example!!!”

Two streaks of golden light and black light suddenly fired out from his eyes. Both Buddhist and demonic rays razed through the world, traveling to all sides. Strangely though, they flowed together and pounced straight at Xu Yangyi, the beam resembling a mottled sword! Even the neighboring space cracked apart inch after inch in the wake of these qi streaks!

“A sliver’s omen of Core Formation…” Moonless blanked out for a tenth of a second, but a great mane of white hair rapidly sprouted all over his body. From man he transformed into wolf, and lunged towards Enihilus’s throat with bared teeth.

“Unreasonable brute!” The murderous aura in Enihilus’s eyes burst forth, and he slapped down on Moonless’s maw, keeping it shut. However, in barely half a second, bloody lines, similar to pinholes, flowed out from his hand.

Somewhat lost in thought, he took back his hand and looked at his palm in shock. On the surface, countless little holes that appeared as if he’d pricked himself with a needle made his hand look like a sesame biscuit.

“You dare to injure me?” Enihilus raised his head, an unfathomable look in his eyes. Afterwards, a black flame suddenly raged to life in his hand. Quick to respond, Moonless’s gaze became pointed, yet he couldn’t struggle free.

“You shall learn to revere a Core Formation Dao Master.” Enihilus gnashed his teeth as he looked at Moonless, as if he had received the greatest insult. “Core Formation cannot be disgraced… Today, I will teach this lesson, the cost… being your life!”

BOOM! The black flame loudly exploded! Revolving around his hand, the flame turned into a giant black skull. Enihilus stared blankly, a vacant expression on his face for half a second, but he soon locked his teeth together. The skull of black flame began to circle and burn Moonless.

“Hmph!” Black flame descending upon him, Moonless clenched his teeth, and all of his qi erupted around him. A shining blue saber flew out from the crown of his head and quickly flourished through the area, forcibly cutting down all the surrounding flames.

“Cough cough!” Moonless retreated at lightning speed, a part of his snout scorched black. Nonetheless, Enihilus was even faster, shockingly giving up on Xu Yangyi to throw himself straight at the half-demon. Unexpectedly, Enihilus wasn’t flying, but using a physique art! The demon monk’s arched-back joints allowed him a terrible flexibility that was similar to demons. In midair, his foot tapped down, and several pattering noises surprisingly echoed. In less than three seconds, he was already hot on Moonless’s tail!

“How is this possible?!” Moonless shouted, and all of his fur flashed with blue light and sharply stood up by a meter! He was like a giant blowfish.

“Nothing is impossible. Demonkind’s strongest point is the demon body. Even if the Dream Walker’s characteristics are strangely the same as well… aren’t you surprised why my fleshly body hasn’t swelled and ripped apart from such strange flesh as the Dream Walker’s?” Enihilus’s voice was icy as he appeared in front of Moonless. His five fingers raked through the air to leave behind traces of spatial cracks. “Because I… am also a demon!”

“I, Horseplague, bestow death upon you!”

“Bright Moon, Tide Birth!” Enihilus’s fingers were gentle, but they gave Moonless a feeling of deathly pressure. Moonless’s skin was prickling, and he roared without the slightest hesitation. In an instant, bright moons flashed in both of his eyes.

Following the appearance of these moons, all of Moonless’s joints cracked. Surprisingly, before Enihilus’s five fingers arrived, he demonized into a white wolf that was over fifty meters in size! Unwavering, he rushed Enihilus’s fingers, which carried the flavor of extermination!

“A half-demon body?” Enihilus did no more than slightly raise a brow. “A senseless struggle…”

“In that case, does this move make sense?” Before his voice even fell, eight figures rippled around him like waves. On the brink of crisis, Rocjourney’s figure had appeared, and the eight figures weaved seals at great speed. “Four Witherings, Four Thrivings!”

Swoosh… From young men, four of Rocjourney’s spirit bodies turned into youths, their qi becoming more vigorous! They unexpectedly gave off a feeling of approaching late Foundation Establishment! But as for the other four bodies, they went from middle age to old age, until they finally turned into four rays of withered-yellow qi and flowed into the four youth’s spirit bodies. At the same time though, the four youths stepped into the late stage!

“KILL!!!” With matters come to a head, only one of them was going to leave with their life. Rocjourney no longer had the least bit apprehension. Amidst his furious roar, the four late-stage youths became four dots of azure light, and threw themselves in front of Enihilus!

“Four Witherings, Four Thrivings?” Enihilus still didn’t express anything. “Despite power, it is a pity. This is a divine ability that I taught you. You actually dare to use something that your great teacher bequeathed to you? Who gave you such dog courage?”

Xu Yangyi flew back, gritting his teeth as he took in all of this before him.

Enihilus was different from Floatingcloud. He… was truly terrible!

Xu Yangyi had sensed Floatingcloud’s worry, sensing that shred of a chance for victory. But despite this, he couldn’t sense anything from Enihilus! There was only the black solitary of death!

Enihilus was cool, he was calm. To the extent that he didn’t have emotions. After the short reveal of all events, the demon monk had promptly realized Xu Yangyi’s own objective. However, Enihilus didn’t need to stall because he and the Dream Walker had compromised. He had a great deal of time for himself, and with the power of his Great Circle cultivation and the late Foundation Establishment Dream Walker, he could pulverize Xu Yangyi’s group little by little!

Xu Yangyi looked on helplessly. The black mist of Enihilus’s seven apertures saturated the air, and the demon monk instantly turned into mist, making quick work of Rocjourney’s divine ability by swallowing it. In the next second, Rocjourney flew back in the air. Xu Yangyi grinded his teeth, and tightly balled his left hand into a fist. An expanse of white light quietly faded away.

Splitting Air!

Yes, the qi in his body wasn’t enough to support spirit arts, but he could use physique arts! He was simply thinking of taking advantage of Enihilus’s pursuit. As Enihilus believed he was injured, he would strike back!

Still, he hadn’t expected that Moonless and Rocjourney would block Enihilus off for him and buy him time.

“Damn…” He looked at his dantian with deep worry. “How… did you wake up now?”

Since he’d entered the Clearcloud Realm, the Azurecloud Seed had absorbed that black qi from the beginning. After decades, a crack had finally ruptured on it!

But it was this crack, this leaking qi, that allowed him to shift and reveal his plan for stalling time earlier!

1. “An unintentionally planted willow growing in shade” is half of a Chinese idiom that comes from Guan Hanqing (1235-1300 CE), a dramatist who lived during the Yuan dynasty.