In the corner of the great hall, Liaoyin Buddha took in all of this, and his withered face finally revealed a barely suppressed glee and greed.
"A Saint-King grade life-saving jade pendant! And that Saint-King seal containing the momentum of mountains and rivers! Excellent! Excellent! Truly a man of vast wealth!"
Watching as the group, under the puppet's assault, staggered on the verge of collapse, grievously wounded, with no life-saving measures left, he laughed wildly in his heart.
"Having spent all their trump cards in succession, they are spent arrows at the end of their flight!
That mysterious guardian has yet to appear, so either he truly is not here, or he simply cannot enter this core imperial tomb!"
He carefully sensed the wilted, chaotic aura of Xiao Ruobai and his three companions—an aura that could not be faked—and the last shred of doubt in his mind dissolved like smoke.
"Amitabha. You benefactors are steeped in blood and karma, stubbornly lost in delusion. Your repeated use of forbidden artifacts has already brought backlash upon yourselves.
It seems that only this old monk, acting personally with supreme Buddhist doctrine, can ferry you to the Western Paradise of Ultimate Bliss—only thus can this karmic debt be settled."
Liaoyin Buddha slowly stepped out from the corner, his face wearing a hypocritical smile of compassion for all sentient beings, as the terrifying oppressive might of his Saint-King realm spread forth like a tidal wave, locking firmly onto the spent and exhausted Xiao Ruobai and his companions!
He no longer concealed his intent—his killing lust was stark and bare!
The mantis stalking the cicada was about to strike!
"Wicked monk! Shameless!"
Xiao Ruobai forced himself to rally, glaring with fury, struggling to rise—only to spew another mouthful of blood.
Fang Hanyu steadied himself with his sword, his gaze as cold as ten-thousand-year-old ice, fixed unyieldingly on Liaoyin.
Fatty Wang, meanwhile, was ashen-faced, despair swelling in his eyes.
Liaoyin Buddha regarded all of this as though it were nothing. His eyes held only the three sacred treasures within arm's reach, and the vast, intoxicating fortune of fate that radiated from Xiao Ruobai and the others.
He slowly raised his right hand, and Buddhist light coalesced in his palm, forming a giant "Swastika" seal that emanated a terrifying pressure of purification and suppression.
"The sea of suffering has no shore; turn back and reach the other side. Allow this old monk to see you off!"
The moment his words fell, the enormous swastika seal expanded, carrying the force of thunder and lightning, pressing down inexorably upon the seemingly helpless Xiao Ruobai and his three companions!
He intended to suppress and refine them all in one strike!
Yet, in that hair-trigger instant, when all seemed determined to be over—
Ling Xi, who had kept her head bowed, her aura the faintest of them all, as if she might slip into unconsciousness at any moment—suddenly snapped her head up!
Her eyes, once clear and calm, had now become deep as an ancient starry sky—within them there was no despair, no fear, only an absolute coldness that looked down upon all living things and held dominion over life and death.
"Now."
A thought colder than ice flashed through her mind.
Facing the swastika seal that could slay an ordinary Saint Lord, Ling Xi did not retreat—she advanced. Against the immense Buddhist might, she slowly raised the slender, jade-white index finger of her right hand.
Her motion seemed unhurried, yet it carried the profound truth of heaven and earth; wherever her fingertip passed, even space itself seemed to freeze!
In the next instant, she pointed gently toward the descending swastika seal—and at Liaoyin Buddha, who stood behind it, certain of his victory.
The Finger of Severing the Dao!
There was no earth-shattering spectacle, no dazzling brilliance.
Only an invisible, intangible force—one that seemed capable of cutting through karma and annihilating the very foundations of the laws—silently burst forth from Ling Xi's fingertip!
"What?!"
The compassionate smile on Liaoyin Buddha's face froze instantly, replaced by unparalleled shock and terror!
His Buddhist heart, honed over a thousand years of cultivation, screamed warnings in this moment, as though it had encountered some supreme natural predator!
He wanted to retreat, to defend—yet he found that his Buddhist light, his laws, even his connection to heaven and earth, had all become fragile and brittle before this single finger!
"Crack!"
The seemingly indestructible swastika seal, upon contact with that invisible finger force, dissolved and dispersed without so much as a ripple—like snow thrown into a blazing fire!
The finger force did not stop. It crossed space in an instant and drove toward Liaoyin Buddha's brow!
"No—!"
Liaoyin Buddha let out a despairing howl. At the precipice of death, he unleashed every last drop of his potential!
His essence blood burned madly, his lifespan was fed into the flames like kindling, and several Buddhist treasures he had nurtured for a thousand years flew out one after another, blooming final blossoms of light to shield him!
Yet before that seemingly faint force, laden with the rule of severing origins, everything was futile!
"Puff! Puff! Puff!"
With a few soft sounds, like a hot knife cut through butter, those treasures—enough to make sages' eyes turn red—dimmed one after another, cried out in mourning, and shattered on the spot!
The finger force only paused for a fraction of a breath, then continued along its destined path toward his brow—bringing annihilation in its wake!
Liaoyin Buddha's eyes were already filled with the ashen hue of utter despair!
In that final, critical moment, he bit his tongue hard and spat out a mouthful of golden blood—blood infused with his very nature as a Buddha—and roared hoarsely:
"I beseech the Patriarch's blessing! Buddha relic—manifest!"
A low hum filled the air!
A relic the size of a pigeon's egg, its luster dull yet pulsing with Buddhist power, emerged with immense difficulty from the acupoint between his brows!
Upon the relic, the faint phantom of an ancient Buddha sat cross-legged, emanating a trace of imperial might—thin but supreme!
This was an ancient relic tainted with the breath of a Buddhist Emperor!
It was Liaoyin's final, deepest card of survival!
"Dong!"
The Finger of Severing the Dao finally struck that Buddha relic!
A note like an ancient primordial bell resounded!
The relic shuddered violently; its radiance dimmed by more than half in an instant, and the phantom of the ancient Buddha let out a soundless sigh as it dissolved.
A fine crack appeared upon the relic's surface!
And the unstoppable finger force of Ling Xi, at last, was expended—slowly dissipating into the air.
"Pfft!"
Liaoyin Buddha was crushed as though by ten thousand mountains. His body flew backward, blood pouring uncontrollably from all seven apertures, countless bones shattered throughout his frame, his aura dwindling like a candle in the wind—tumbling into the abyss!
But thanks to that heaven-defying artifact, he had managed to preserve a sliver of life!
And in the corner, Fakong—who had been waiting to claim his share of the spoils—never even understood what had happened. A single, inconsequential wisp of the residual force from Ling Xi's finger grazed him.
"Master, save—!"
He couldn't even manage a full scream. In endless terror, his body and spirit were extinguished, reduced to ash!
Liaoyin Buddha stared at the pale-faced woman who still stood proudly, his eyes filled with boundless fear and lingering dread, and let out a hoarse, unwilling challenge.
"Who, in the hells, are you?!"
Ling Xi showed no emotion. She withdrew her trembling finger, swallowed back the bitter sweetness rising in her throat, and swayed almost imperceptibly.
Executing this finger—one that exceeded the limits of her current realm—had nearly drained every ounce of her power. But she still stood straight, her cold, clear eyes looking down upon Liaoyin like a deity gazing upon an ant.
She did not answer. She had no need to.
Liaoyin Buddha cast one last, venomous glare at Ling Xi and Xiao Ruobai, then crushed a blood-red talisman with every last shred of strength.
"The Buddhist sects will not let you go!!"
A streak of blood-light wrapped his broken body, tore through the void, and vanished in the blink of an eye!
He actually used a secret technique, fleeing at any cost!
The great hall fell into dead silence instantly.
Only the thick smell of blood and the heavy breathing of those who had survived remained.
Ling Xi stared at the direction where Liaoyin had vanished, her brows slightly furrowed. Her cold, clear voice carried a hint of regret and icy murderous intent:
"A pity. My cultivation is still too low—this 'Severing Dao Finger' couldn't unleash even ten-thousandth of its full power. To completely keep a Saint King Realm expert here, I'm still lacking."
She paused, her gaze sweeping over the ashes of Fakong on the ground, and her tone turned frigid:
"The Western Regions Buddhist Sect. Very well, very well indeed. This debt is noted."
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
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.
