The kill was already decided.
However, the Liaoyin Buddha was cautious and suspicious by nature, and would never personally risk entering the fray.
He glanced at the chaotic battlefield outside the hall, especially at the stone puppet rampaging nearby, radiating the mid-stage Saint King fluctuations. A cold, utterly merciless arc curled at the corner of his mouth—devoid of any Buddhist compassion.
"Amitabha. Buddha is merciful. Let this mindless puppet test the mettle of these people and clear the obstacles on the path of subduing demons."
A sinister scheme had already formed in his heart.
The Liaoyin Buddha transmitted his voice, then moved—not away from the Saint King puppet, but deliberately flying toward it as a streak of golden light!
The next moment, the Liaoyin Buddha appeared solemn and majestic, his body radiating Buddha light, his mouth chanting Sanskrit verses, and he engaged the Saint King puppet in fierce combat with exquisite Buddhist divine arts.
For a time, Buddha light and the puppet's destructive energy collided, producing deafening booms and rolling shockwaves.
But any keen observer would notice that the Liaoyin Buddha's moves, while appearing fierce, were mostly defensive and guiding. He fought while retreating, his direction precise and deliberate—straight toward the entrance of the hall where Xiao Ruobai and the others stood!
"Boom!"
The Liaoyin Buddha took a punch from the puppet, stumbling backward as if he could not withstand it. With Fakong in tow, he was forced to retreat into the great hall.
Once inside, he put on a face of anxiety and solemnity, as if driven to desperation by the puppet.
The Saint King puppet roared and chased after him, its massive stone body nearly blocking half the hall's entrance!
At the very moment the puppet surged into the hall, its crimson gaze instinctively sweeping across the area—about to randomly lock onto a target to attack—the Liaoyin Buddha's eyes flashed. Hidden within his sleeve, his finger bent and flicked with extreme secrecy!
A wisp of Buddhist force, subtle to the extreme, formless and traceless, yet saturated with the supreme secret technique of Buddhist karmic vestment, shot out silently like a viper.
It precisely wound around the vital energy of the region where Xiao Ruobai, Fang Hanyu, and Ling Xi stood!
Indeed!
The Saint King puppet's massive frame shuddered violently. The crimson gaze that had been sweeping toward the Liaoyin Buddha or Fakong suddenly froze—like the most precise target-locking artifact—fixed dead upon Xiao Ruobai, Fang Hanyu, and Ling Xi!
"ROAR—!!!"
The puppet let out an earth-shattering howl, completely abandoning the Liaoyin Buddha and Fakong who stood right beside it, and charged with terrifying, world-crushing momentum toward the three who were in the middle of breaking the seal!
Its stone fist rose, destructive energy condensing within it, and the entire hall trembled under the weight of that strike!
And in that instant of lightning and flint, the Liaoyin Buddha barely managed to retreat with Fakong to a safe corner of the hall.
At the same time, his face filled with feigned worry and urgency, he called out in a loud voice:
"Be careful, benefactors! This fiend is ferocious—take cover!"
His cry seemed like a kind warning, but in truth, it was utterly venomous!
He stepped forward as if to help subdue the puppet, but in reality, he was silently blocking the most likely escape routes for Xiao Ruobai and his companions!
Redirecting the disaster, feigning righteousness—killing two birds with one stone!
"Bald donkey! How dare you!"
Xiao Ruobai bellowed in fury. The moment the puppet's gaze locked onto them, he sensed something was wrong, and that hypocritical warning from the Liaoyin Buddha made him instantly see through the entirety of the scheme!
A surge of blazing fury rose within his heart!
Yet the Saint King puppet's devastating strike was already upon them!
There was no dodging!
Crisis erupted in an instant!
Before the stone fist even arrived, the terrible pressure bore down like a solid mountain crashing from above. The void let out an agonized moan, and the hard stone floor cracked inch by inch beneath the strain!
Xiao Ruobai, Fang Hanyu, and Ling Xi—the three at the very forefront—felt as if the blood in their veins was about to freeze, their souls violently shaken, as if the next instant they would be ground to dust!
"Hold the line!"
At this moment of life and death, Xiao Ruobai's eyes blazed crimson. The War God's blood essence erupted without reservation, a blazing red-gold light surging skyward as he tried to withstand the blow head-on!
The ancient sword in Fang Hanyu's arms let out a piercing sword cry, and a condensed, ultra-refined Chaos Sword Qi slashed out fiercely!
Ling Xi's aura expanded to its absolute limit in an instant, madly devouring the destructive energy surging toward her!
The ink-black jade-scaled beast's scales shone like blood, its four hooves wreathed in flames, and the crystal horn on its forehead erupted with radiant divine light!
"Imperial Blood Guardian!"
Yet the gap in cultivation was an insurmountable chasm!
Even with their combined strength, they could only make the stone fist pause for a fraction of a moment—they could not truly stop it!
"Damn it! This fat lord will fight you to the death!"
In that instant of ultimate peril, Fatty Wang let out a screech like a pig being slaughtered. His chubby face trembled, but his eyes flashed with intense pain and resolute determination!
He suddenly pulled out a jade pendant—plain and unadorned at first glance, yet faintly flowing with the ripples of the Great Dao!
"Open for Lord Fatty!"
He crushed the jade pendant with all his strength!
This was a protective jade talisman he had found among the treasures Little Black had casually tossed to him when the Liuli Sect was destroyed—one capable of blocking a single strike from an ordinary Saint King.
"Hum—!"
A gentle yet unyieldingly tough light barrier instantly unfolded, like an inverted glazed bowl, shielding the four of them securely within!
Upon the light barrier, profound Dao patterns flowed, emanating an aura of inviolability against all arts!
"BOOM!!!"
The Saint King puppet's stone fist landed squarely upon the light barrier!
An earsplitting explosion erupted!
The entire great hall shook violently, as if about to collapse!
A violent energy shockwave swept outward like a tsunami, causing even the distant stone platform to hum and tremble!
"Pff! Pff! Pff!"
Within the light barrier, Xiao Ruobai, Fang Hanyu, and Ling Xi were struck as if by a heavy blow. All three coughed out mouthfuls of blood, their faces turning paper-white in an instant, their auras rapidly wilting!
Although the pendant's barrier had blocked the vast majority of the force, the tremors that penetrated their bodies and the impact of the Saint King's laws still dealt them no small internal damage!
Fatty Wang, meanwhile, collapsed directly to the ground on his rear, coughing up several mouthfuls of blood with a "wah," his small face deathly pale—clearly, even activating the pendant had cost him dearly.
Crack!
The tough light barrier formed by that life-saving jade pendant, after enduring the Saint King puppet's full-force blow, had finally reached its limit.
With a brittle sound, it became covered in cracks, then with a "bang," it shattered completely, dissolving into specks of light that scattered into the air.
"ROAR!"
The Saint King puppet seemed enraged. The soul flames in its eye sockets leaped wildly as it raised its stone fist once more, destructive energy gathering anew!
Though the backlash momentarily slowed its movements, its killing intent burned even hotter!
"We have no choice but to fight!"
Xiao Ruobai's eyes were resolute. He knew he could no longer hold anything back!
He slammed his palm against his chest, and a Saint King artifact radiating vast holy might flew out—the Mountain-Sea Seal!
"Suppress!"
Xiao Ruobai activated his full power, carrying the supreme might to suppress mountains and rivers, and slammed it fiercely toward the Saint Puppet!
"Boom——!"
A second, even more violent collision erupted!
Golden light and gray radiance intertwined and annihilated in a frenzy. The entire hall was flooded with blinding light!
When the light finally dispersed, the Saint Puppet was seen staggering backward, much of its stone shell shattered, its soul fire noticeably dimmed—clearly wounded.
As for the Mountain-Sea Seal Xiao Ruobai had unleashed, it whined mournfully after the impact, slipped out of his control, and lost all its spiritual glow.
Xiao Ruobai himself was injured on top of his previous wounds, collapsing to one knee. Only by using his war halberd to brace himself did he keep from falling, his aura weakening to the extreme.
Fang Hanyu and Ling Xi had also nearly lost the strength to continue fighting.
d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
