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.
ap a wealthy young lady? Or else I'll be eliminated by the system? Ye Feng, who awakened the Kidnapper System, originally wanted to live a peaceful life but never imagined he would become a kidnapper of young women. However, after some time, he discovered that all the girls the system ordered him to kidnap were far from ordinary. "Big brother Ye Feng~ You've kidnapped my heart, and now you're not allowed to leave me ever again~" "Ye Feng~ You kidnapped me back then, now it's my turn to capture you♡" "Little Feng, you're mine! You can only be mine!" "Ye Feng, none of them deserve you. Only I love you the most♡" ... This is madness, they've all gone mad! Wait, what? Why are all the girls I kidnapped yanderes?!
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.
to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”
his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…
