Below the Eighteen Levels of Hell.
There is no light here, only endless karmic fire and malevolent winds strong enough to freeze one's soul.
"Bang--!!!"
With a deafening roar, the incredibly hard black rock ground was smashed into a bottomless crater.
Smoke billowed and gravel flew everywhere.
Bottom of the pit.
Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva was lying in a "T" shape, his Brocade Kasaya had long since turned into strips of cloth, hanging on his body and making him look no different from a beggar.
pain.
Every cell in my body was screaming.
The pain wasn't physical tearing, but rather as if a rusty saw was pulling back and forth deep within his soul.
"Puff!"
Ksitigarbha suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with gold, and shakily propped himself up.
His eyes held not only anger, but also a kind of utter astonishment, as if he had seen a ghost.
Just now, during his fall, he tried to mobilize the Buddhist power within his body to protect himself and attempted to communicate with the laws of the Netherworld to slow his descent.
result?
No response.
The Earthly Dao Law, which was usually indifferent to him but still gave him face, now treated him like his father's killer. Instead of helping him, it turned into invisible shackles that tightened into his bones.
"It's broken..."
Ksitigarbha's face was deathly pale, and his eyes, which always seemed to convey compassion but were actually full of scheming, now had their pupils contracted sharply.
"My connection to the origin of the underworld... is severed!"
It's not just broken.
He could clearly sense that the rules of the entire Netherworld were being reorganized.
The gentle, inclusive, yet somewhat passive will that originally belonged to Houtu disappeared, replaced by a terrifying will that was extremely domineering, extremely tyrannical, and even carried a trace of chaotic and desolate aura.
That will was like that of an unreasonable tyrant.
It's proclaiming to the entire underworld: Here, Laozi in charge.
Even if a saint from the Western Teachings were to personally arrive, he would probably have to bow down before this will.
"This is impossible... absolutely impossible!"
Ksitigarbha grabbed his messy hair, his voice hoarse like a broken bellows.
" Houtu has only recently become a saint, and her foundation is not yet stable. How could she possibly possess such complete control over the Earthly Dao?"
"Even if she controls the Earthly Dao, it's impossible for her to erase my millions of years of planning in an instant!"
He lingered in the underworld for so many years, trying to convert evil spirits and planting his cronies, before finally managing to steal a sliver of the Earthly Dao's fortune.
Now.
Everything is gone.
The feeling was like having your hard-earned savings for a wife accumulated over decades burned to ashes, leaving not a trace.
"Waaah..."
A mournful whimper came from the side.
Diting Ksitigarbha his head and saw his mount, Di Ting, cowering in the shadows at the corner of the pit. The once majestic divine beast's head was now buried in its claws, and its body was trembling like a leaf.
Blood was flowing from all seven orifices.
Its once smooth fur bristled, as if it had just experienced some great terror.
" Diting!"
Ksitigarbha's heart sank. He grabbed Diting's ear and shouted sternly:
"What did you just hear?!"
"That man... the man who kicked this humble monk down, who exactly is he?!"
As the most skilled divine beast in the Three Realms at listening to the voices of all things, Diting must know something.
Diting by the roar, Di Ting shuddered, and two streams of bloody tears flowed from its terrified beastly eyes.
It doesn't want to remember.
I really don't want to.
When the man uttered the words "no-fly zone," it listened along the cause-and-effect path of the sound.
Just for a moment.
It almost died on the spot.
That's not a person's voice.
That was the roar of the Great Dao! The howl of Chaos! The supreme decree that transcends all heavens and worlds!
"Lord... Lord..."
The Diting trembled as it transmitted a thought, intermittent and filled with despair.
"The true ruler..."
"Not a saint... but more terrifying than a saint..."
" The Earthly Dao... I'm kneeling..."
"Even the Empress Houtu knelt down..."
"They... they all surrendered..."
Upon hearing these words, Ksitigarbha was struck dumb, frozen in place.
Did the Earthly Dao collapse?
Even Houtu knelt down?
This is absolutely ridiculous!
Houtu is a sage! All beings below a sage are mere ants—this is the ironclad law of the Primordial World! Who could make a sage submit? Even the Dao Ancestor Hongjun could not make a mere Earthly Dao Sage so humble!
"Absurd! Utter nonsense!"
Ksitigarbha abruptly flung away Diting, a flash of crazed red light appearing in his eyes.
"How could there be an existence in this world that surpasses even a saint? That's a variable that even the Heavenly Dao wouldn't allow!"
"It must be a smokescreen..."
"Yes! It must be that woman Houtu who's Houtu!"
Ksitigarbha seemed to have grasped at the last straw and began frantically trying to comfort himself with his imagination.
His thoughts began to race wildly in a bizarre direction.
" Houtu must have used some forbidden secret technique, or overdrawn her newly attained sainthood essence, to create this illusion of invincibility!"
"That man in white is nothing more than a puppet she put forward to frighten this humble monk!"
"Their aim is to disrupt my Dao Heart and ruin my grand plan for the Western Teachings!"
The more I think about it, the more reasonable it seems.
The more I think about it, the more I believe this is the truth.
Otherwise, how can you explain how an unknown kid could kick a Quasi-Saint?
They must have taken advantage of the underworld's home ground and used illusions!
"You cunning Houtu, what a deep scheme you have!"
"You almost fooled me!"
Ksitigarbha his teeth, the fear in his eyes gradually replaced by a twisted anger and resentment born of humiliation.
He, Great Vow Bodhisattva of the Western Teachings, was actually scared out of his wits by a mere bluff, and was even kicked into the Eighteen Levels of Hell!
Utter disgrace!
If this matter were to reach Spirit Mountain and spread throughout the Three Realms, how would Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva ever be able to maintain his Ksitigarbha again?
We have to get our revenge!
The true colors of this despicable couple must be exposed!
"Since you want to play, then this humble monk will play with you to the very end!"
Ksitigarbha a deep breath and clasped his hands together abruptly.
"Boom!"
A fierce golden flame erupted from his body.
That was his original essence and blood, the power of his merits accumulated through countless years of arduous cultivation in the underworld.
now.
He was willing to burn everything in exchange for a brief burst of energy to break through the blockade of this hell.
"Break for me!!!"
Ksitigarbha's face contorted, veins bulging on his neck, as he let out a roar that shook the abyss.
The Earthly Dao laws that had been firmly suppressing him actually showed a slight loosening under this reckless outburst.
It was like a person's last burst of energy in a desperate situation.
Even rules can be dangerous if someone is reckless and doesn't value their life.
"Whoosh--"
Seize this fleeting moment.
Ksitigarbha transformed into a mournful streak of blood-red golden light, carrying a resolute determination to perish together with his enemies, and soared into the sky!
The speed was extremely fast.
That speed was achieved at the cost of hundreds of thousands of years of cultivation.
Passing through the eighteenth floor... the tenth floor... the first floor!
In the blink of an eye.
The entrance to hell that had just closed was violently forced open by this raging force.
" Houtu --!!!"
The person arrived before the voice.
That roar, filled with resentment, anger, and a smug sense of self-assurance, exploded in the sky above the Netherworld.
"You traitor who has turned his back on the great path!"
Stop playing tricks on me!
"Even if it costs me my life, I will tear apart your pretense and show the Three Realms your true, weak nature!!!"
Golden light soared into the sky.
Ksitigarbha, holding a slightly bent Nine-Ringed Vajra Staff, with disheveled hair and resembling a fierce ghost, charged straight at the tallest underworld palace.
That dignified appearance—where was even a trace of a Bodhisattva in it?
It was even more ferocious than the most monstrous demons in hell.
And in the square in front of the main hall.
Qin Feng, who was about to show his wife around the new house, paused slightly upon hearing this noise.
He turned around, somewhat surprised.
Looking at the golden light rushing towards him with such ferocity, as if its parents had died, a very strange expression appeared on his face.
"This monk..."
Qin Feng stroked his chin and turned to look at Houtu Tu, who was also looking bewildered.
"Did you damage your brain from that fall?"
"I already let him go and let him reflect on his actions down below, why did he insist on coming up here to die?"
Houtu also had a furrowed brow at this moment.
She looked at the deranged Ksitigarbha, sensing the illusory power he gained from burning his very essence, and a hint of disdain flashed in her eyes.
Are these the elites of Western Teachings?
Aside from being stubborn and having a strong imagination, he's utterly useless.
"Perhaps... he doesn't want to live anymore."
Houtu said calmly, originally intending to raise her hand to suppress him, but after glancing at Qin Feng beside her, she obediently lowered her hand.
Since her husband said he wanted to meddle in "other people's business."
So, she naturally didn't need to worry about cleaning up the trash.
Qin Feng sighed helplessly as he watched the approaching, increasingly ferocious-looking Ksitigarbha.
"I was in a good mood today and didn't want to kill any animals."
"Since you're in such a hurry to go to the Western Paradise to see your Buddha..."
Qin Feng slowly raised his right hand.
It didn't involve any earth-shattering supernatural powers.
He simply made an extremely simple gesture towards the void.
It's like shooing away an annoying fly.
Backhand.
A slap.
"Then I'll grant your wish."