War on the Saint, Yo-yo

"The first time I've seen a jerk more shameless than me."

Mo Tianxiao grumbled, waving his hand. The giant Buddha's alms bowl turned into three streams of energy, returning to his palm and reforming into a five-colored bowl.

"Little lady, I see that you too are fated with Buddhism. Why not join our Buddhist sect and comprehend the Great Way together?"

A heaven-covering Buddha palm descended from above, accompanied by deafening chants of scriptures. If that palm landed, it wouldn't just purify his thoughts—it would probably purify Mo Tianxiao right out of existence.

"ROAR——!!"

"You bald bastard!! Dare touch my big brother? Come and die!"

With the binding array gone, Ao Dalong broke free instantly. His ferocious aura exploded, and his massive body charged straight at the giant palm, smashing the Buddha hand into pieces.

Although Ao Dalong was still only at the initial Saint realm, his combat power was nothing to scoff at. If those bald monks hadn't schemed against him, he wouldn't have been so cornered. Now that he was free, the rage bottled in Ao Dalong's heart could barely be contained.

But despite his endless fury, now wasn't the time to vent. After smashing the Buddha hand, he turned and flew toward Mo Tianxiao.

"Beast, don't run!"

The giant Buddha wasn't about to let him go. Raising his hand, he conjured a vast divine realm in his palm, enveloping Ao Dalong and blocking his path.

"Seize that person immediately!"

The giant Buddha barked an order, and the other two bald monks, also at the initial Saint realm, instantly locked their gazes on Mo Tianxiao.

"Damn it! These bald bastards are so dirty!"

Mo Tianxiao quickly put on the Thousand Illusion Saint Robe, clutched the Five Elements Bowl, and racked his brain for ideas on how to stall these two Saint-level powerhouses.

The Saint-grade talisman could still hold out for a while and delay one of them. Ao Dalong was already pinned by that mid-Saint realm bald monk. Damn it, what was he supposed to do about the other two?

"Big brother!"

Ao Dalong pulled out a battle axe and slashed fiercely, shattering the divine realm. But the next second, a string of Buddhist prayer beads flew at him.

Mo Tianxiao glanced at Ao Dalong's situation and shouted, "Kill that guy first! Don't worry about me!"

If Ao Dalong couldn't break free anytime soon, he might as well focus on taking the enemy down first.

Hearing that, Ao Dalong stopped hesitating and turned to charge at the giant Buddha. "Old bald monk, die!"

"Little lady, do you think having a Saint artifact is enough to hold off both of us?"

The two bald monks closed in on Mo Tianxiao from front and back. With hands clasped and Buddha light blazing, they attacked without hesitation.

Mo Tianxiao could only keep defending with the Five Elements Bowl and the Thousand Illusion Saint Robe.

"You've got plenty of good stuff. Little lady, you're truly fated with us!"

The greed in their eyes grew even stronger.

These two had only barely managed to advance to the Saint realm not long ago. They didn't have this many treasures. But here was this guy—barely at the Tribulation Transcendence stage—loaded with so many good things. How could they not be tempted?

"I've got way more than you think!"

With that, Mo Tianxiao tossed out another handful of top-grade talismans. Although against Saint-level experts these were about as useful as firecrackers, a whole bunch of firecrackers could still blow someone up.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

A series of explosions kicked up clouds of smoke, but it didn't slow down the two Saint-level monks even a little.

They waved their hands, dispersing the smoke, faces expressionless. "Don't embarrass yourself with such cheap tricks."

But just as they finished speaking, a three-colored lotus appeared in front of them.

BOOOOOOM!!

The lotus exploded instantly, tearing several cracks in space itself. The two Saint-level bald monks were caught off guard, their blood churning and a trickle of blood oozing from the corner of their mouths.

"So it's strange fire!"

And three kinds, no less.

The two exchanged glances, eyes glinting. "There are even better things. We're about to make a fortune!"

Mo Tianxiao clicked his tongue, then shot off into the distance, playing hit-and-run with the two monks.

The battle line stretched farther and farther, gradually drifting away from the center until he could no longer see the fight between Ao Dalong and the mid-Saint realm monk.

Fortunately, Mo Tianxiao had plenty of elixirs on him. Otherwise, being relentlessly hunted by two Saint-level powerhouses would have worn him out long ago.

"We can't drag this out! I'll restrain her Saint artifact—you take her down with one full-power strike!"

Having been toyed with by Mo Tianxiao for so long, one of the bald monks had clearly lost his patience. He decided to use some of his own origin energy if necessary to finish the kill.

The other bald monk was about to nod when Mo Tianxiao suddenly spun around. "You idiots! Welcome to your doom!"

He had been running all this time just to secretly lure the two of them into his massive array.

Instantly, a radius of a hundred miles transformed into a forbidden zone. An ancient, eerie array roared to life. The Souls Banner of Mankind rose high, dividing into several banners that surrounded the array. A sinister, demonic aura enveloped the two Saint-level monks.

The sky darkened instantly, and the surroundings changed as if they had descended into hell. Countless ghostly souls rose from the ground, terrifying and ghastly.

Outside the Soul Refining Array, Mo Tianxiao had earlier set up multiple layers of concealment arrays. Even a Saint-level expert wouldn't notice the commotion inside without careful inspection.

"What kind of array is this?!"

The two bald monks' expressions shifted. Frowning, they immediately sensed something was wrong. The array was actually refining their bodies—even their souls!

"Such a vicious, heaven-defying evil method! How are you worthy of being an elder of the Righteous Qi Sect?!"

When Mo Tianxiao heard that, his face froze, and he looked at them with disbelief. "You actually have the nerve to say that to me?"

"Old Man Yun! Kill them! I don't want their souls—use them as your supplement."

These two bald bastards had seriously grossed him out.

"In that case, this old man won't refuse."

The remnant soul of Old Man Yun, a former Emperor-tier powerhouse, appeared. Under his control, thousands of ghostly souls arranged a special formation, trapping the two Saint-monks inside. They madly began refining the monks' souls.

Mo Tianxiao even spotted Xiao Fan's ghost soul charging into the fray. But from the look in its eyes, it had already been stripped of its consciousness, granted eternal life within the Souls Banner of Mankind.

"AAAAHH!!"

"What the hell is this?! An evil cultivator! You're an evil cultivator!"

The two Saint-level monks found themselves completely helpless inside the Soul Refining Array. All they could do was sit cross-legged, chant scriptures, and let Buddha light protect their bodies.

"Impressive. As expected of an Emperor-tier remnant soul."

Inside the Souls Banner of Mankind, Old Man Yun finally exuded some of his old Emperor-tier majesty, unlike before when he was stuck humbly inside Xiao Fan's body.

Mo Tianxiao sat cross-legged, recovering his spiritual energy, calmly waiting for Old Man Yun to finish refining the two. He figured it was about time Zhou Muxi would be bringing reinforcements.

With Old Man Yun taking charge, the two bald monks who had just entered the Saint realm didn't last long. They were refined, their consciousness lost.

Two Saint-level souls floated out of their bodies. Old Man Yun sucked in one of them with a twist of his breath, absorbing it into himself. As for the other, he didn't hoard it. Instead, he distributed it among the thousands of ghostly souls.

Watching this, Mo Tianxiao silently admired how the old dog knew what he was doing—careful and considerate toward his subordinates. That's how you play the long game.