At that moment, Meng Xiyue, who had already run far away and successfully escaped the encirclement, stood atop a wall with her hands cupped like a megaphone and shouted, "Hey, you two, get over here! Something's not right over there—there's red light flying in from the sky again! Run!!!"
Yuan Zhu and Zhou Chu looked up at the same time. Sure enough, a deep, dark-red blood glow was rapidly approaching from the western skies above Buddha City. As the dark-red blood cloud drew nearer and nearer, an icy, deathly still aura devoid of all life began to spread, accompanied by the sound of cursed Buddhist scriptures—wails of grief and venom, their contents foul beyond measure...
A hoarse, low voice rang out from the sky. "Duowen, you thieving dog, give me back my life!" Then dense waves of evil ghosts chanting cursed scriptures resounded across the area, making for an imposing spectacle.
Only when the dark-red blood cloud approached did they see clearly that it was an enormous, ragged, blood-dripping kasaya, rolling forward through the air and trailing billowing bloody mist behind it. When the kasaya blotted out the stars filling the sky and descended above the plaza, its tumbling scraps of cloth began to twist, sketching out a shriveled human face looking down below.
The face opened the huge mouth outlined by the kasaya and howled like ghosts crying and wolves baying, "Duowen, you thieving dog, tonight you can forget about becoming a Buddha!"
On the ground, quite a number of Foul Bone Demonkin who still retained some sanity instinctively knelt and worshipped upon hearing that hoarse, hate-filled voice. "Dragon Sound Buddha! Dragon Sound Buddha! Kill, kill, kill! Buddha, in your mercy, grant us flesh and blood! Hungry, hungry, hungry... Ah!"
"Good, good, good! You still recognize me. You are the true believers. All of you, take refuge in my Buddha!"
The enormous blood-colored kasaya face opened its mouth wide and swooped viciously down from the heavens, biting into the densest part of the crowd. Then the tattered, ragged blood kasaya split into countless strips of cloth that wrapped around the Foul Bone Demonkin one by one, tightening and twisting them, squeezing them apart like wringing towels until they burst. Their remains splattered onto the blood kasaya and were absorbed...
The next moment, strips of mottled red-and-green tattered cloth broke away from the enormous kasaya and became smaller kasaya ghost faces. They too opened their mouths and released demonic voices, bewitching, "Why do you not swiftly take refuge in the Dragon Sound Righteous Dharma?"
For a time, Duowen Buddha Tomato remained hidden within the hemisphere of green vegetation, holding still; the Yellow Springs kasaya ghost descending from the sky began bewitching the Foul Bone Demonkin and gathering its old followers. It turned civilians into miniature Kasaya Ghosts by squeezing them apart, grinding them to mush, and smearing them evenly across the cloth, sending them flying chaotically through the sky.
"The old Abbot ghost was killed by the tomato Buddha?" Yuan Zhu gossiped.
"Do you have a death wish? You still have time to care about that?" The two had already been enveloped by the edge of the blood kasaya. Zhou Chu grabbed Yuan Zhu, who still wanted to go collect corpses, and dragged him away at a run. "Run already!"
Meng Xiyue, who had run even farther and was climbing onto the roof of a two-story building, once again cupped her hands into a little megaphone and pointed wildly at Yuan Zhu and Zhou Chu. "Hey! You two, change directions! You can't go that way! Change directions! Run faster!!"
Boom, boom, boom!
A faint tremor came through the stone-paved ground. With their backs to the plaza, they could vaguely make out a huge swaying figure across the street ahead.
Strands of starlight pierced through the huge blood kasaya that shook and danced wildly, illuminating Na Ye City once more.
Under the red glow, Yuan Zhu saw what stood opposite them: a gigantic warrior monk over three meters tall, with powerful, thick limbs and an obese, bulging belly. The monk's face was full of brutal flesh, a string of skull prayer beads hung around his neck, and he looked as if he had been dead for a very long time. He was clearly a gigantic corpse ghost.
Besides the two arms a human should have had, a pair of fleshly Buddha Cocoons bulged from behind each of his shoulder blades, sprouting another pair of enormous Buddha Palms. Then, at the center of his massively protruding belly, an especially huge fifth limb had grown as well.
This fellow had a full five arms! His Buddhist Dharma was unfathomably profound. Comparing this with Little Novice Ku Cao's testimony, this should have been Ye Country's first Yellow Springs Ghost King, the Vajra Temple Abbot—the Five-Armed Heavenly King. A Buddha Corpse Ghost! The blood-kasaya Dragon Sound Buddha floating in the sky had been meant to suppress him, but it had exhausted itself in a fierce battle... and died a miserable death. Yet judging from the victim's own account, he should have been secretly murdered by the Much-Learning Abbot?
Then the Much-Learning Abbot gained the power of an otherworldly being—a tomato person—which led to tonight's ritual. He planned to use the starlight to complete his evolution, become a Buddha, and then wipe out the two Ghost Kings.
Now, the Ghost King had personally come to settle the score!
"Run this way!"
Feeling the Immortal Scripture send out one super alarm after another, Yuan Zhu did not dare linger around courting death. He seized Zhou Chu's arm, found an alley, and ducked into it, avoiding the melee between the Buddha Corpse Ghost, the blood kasaya, and the Buddha Tomato as much as possible.
"My children, subdue the heavenly demons and save them into Buddhahood!"
The Five-Armed Heavenly King, a mountain of flesh, took a single step and shrank the earth into an inch. Behind him surged a great mass of corpse ghosts that cultivated their physical bodies.
The enormous palm on the Vajra Ghost King's belly clawed and tore at the air, ripping apart the Ghost Realm projected by the blood kasaya from afar. He shouted, "Dragon Sound, you old dog, get out of this Buddha's way at once! These are all my children! Such powerful qi and blood—natural warrior-monk material! This Buddha shall save you!"
The giant palm on the Buddha Corpse Ghost's abdomen made another grasping motion through the air, seizing a robust Foul Bone Demonkin from afar and trapping it within the massive Buddha Palm in the blink of an eye.
Then the pair of Dharma palms behind the Buddha Corpse Ghost aimed at the demonkin's head. The hands came together, twin peaks striking the ears—Smack! With a single blow, they exploded its skull, leaving behind a violently trembling headless corpse that was not yet fully dead.
"Hahaha, my Buddha is merciful... What vigorous vital essence! What wonderful Buddhist sons and grandsons! This Buddha shall save you!"
The Dharma palms behind him grabbed his right forearm, bent and yanked hard, and with a tearing sound, ripped off his right hand at the elbow. Held within the Dharma palms, it was aimed at the headless demonkin's neck and thrust in with force!
A foreign object—the severed arm—invaded the flesh-and-blood body. Filthy blood gathered frantically, resisting the invasion in reverse. At the same time, the Buddha Corpse Ghost's severed ghost hand began pouring death qi into that vigorous body.
A great deal of life force flowed into the severed arm and began transforming it, trying to revive it. Nourished by life, the severed hand truly began to grow. It gradually turned green, its palm swelling to twice its original size, as large as a human head and vividly green. A slit opened along the lines of its palm, revealing one huge eye.
As the filthy blood invaded and transformed the palm, the severed palm also released vast quantities of death qi, little by little strangling the life from that body and turning it into a new corpse ghost.
In the end, a corpse-ghost warrior monk with a green Buddha Tomato for a head—a palm serving as its head, with one enormous green eye opened within it—trembled as it joined the chaotic battle.
"Damn, another new hybrid species has been born! What kind of green, grotesque version of Wang Lingguan is this? Sister Zhou, what do you think it should be called: Buddha Tomato or Buddha Eggplant?"
Zhou Chu, who had climbed onto the roof of a building, paid no attention to Yuan Zhu. Instead, she stared gravely at the plaza, where chaos and slaughter raged.
The meditating Buddha Tomato, utterly unmoved by the outside world; the many civilians polluted by mad blood—some were transformed into ghosts by the blood kasaya, while others were turned into Buddha Palm Ghosts by the Buddha Corpse Ghost...
At that moment, Buddhist Dharma, Yellow Springs, starlight, filthy blood... all sides fought in a chaotic melee, devouring one another and giving birth to one bizarre, malformed product after another. They were born only to be destroyed and consumed moments later. Then, after devouring large quantities of Pollution Fruit, they erupted into another round of mutation—stronger and even more grotesque.
It was practically an enclosed asura arena for nurturing venomous creatures.
Yuan Zhu sighed regretfully. "Tsk... How are we supposed to make money now? Going near them means death. Those two Ghost Kings don't look weak at all."
Zhou Chu stopped watching the plaza and instead turned to survey all of Na Ye City. Suddenly, she said, "Let's go take a look inside the temple!"
Yuan Zhu clapped his hands in approval. "Good idea!"
At that moment, not only was Duowen becoming a Buddha, but the city's two strongest Ghost Kings had also been drawn out to block his path. This meant the lairs occupied by both sides were at their emptiest right now—a perfect opportunity to explore and loot.
"Let's go!"
Yuan Zhu took out Mousey, broke open the insect limb corresponding to Meng Xiyue, then extended the mouse-head antenna and began fiddling with it.
"Hello, hello, hello? Hello, hello, hello? This is Yuan Zhu. Please respond if you receive this."
Very quickly, he contacted Meng Xiyue and learned that she was fleeing together with Mai Lili. Not long ago, Lü Rang had been attracted by a luxurious mansion and climbed over its walls in search of gold, silver, and jewels. As for Granny Yu, after escaping danger, she had led the little goat away in a chosen direction, seemingly with plans of her own as well.
So, through Mousey, he briefly explained his and Zhou Chu's plan. Meng Xiyue readily agreed, and both sides arranged to meet at the inn entrance.
When they met again, only four people remained in the group. Yuan Zhu suddenly furrowed his brow, looked at Meng Xiyue and Zhou Chu, and said, "You three act together. Go raid the temple. I have other important business to attend to."
"What are you going to do?" Zhou Chu's gaze sharpened as she stared at Yuan Zhu. They had clearly agreed to loot the temple together, so why was he suddenly abandoning it halfway through?
Yuan Zhu did not explain. "I have another opportunity waiting for me, so I won't compete with you for the temple's resources."
"Alright, alright, Little Brother Yuan, just go in peace. But I have to remind you, Na Ye City is getting more and more dangerous. Once you've finished your business, leave the city as soon as possible. We'll gather outside the city. If you run into danger inside, contact us. If we still have the strength, we'll do our best to pull you out." Meng Xiyue waved her hand, signaling for Yuan Zhu to leave.
They had only met by chance in the first place. There was no need to die together.
Zhou Chu also warned him, "Absolutely do not feed the demon cocoon to your clothes! I'll be watching you."
Yuan Zhu said, "Don't worry. I'm not interested in that piece of junk. Even if it's a Buddha Cocoon, I don't plan to feed it to my clothes. Enough talk. See you!"
With that, he adjusted his direction and sprinted toward Vajra Temple, where the Buddha Corpse Ghost was entrenched.
As the strength of every muscle in his body erupted and he ran with all his might, his Uniform changed slightly as well. With Yuan Zhu's frequent use and manipulation, coupled with the thoughts lurking in his subconscious, the Uniform gradually took on the appearance of a racing riding suit.
It was the style he had often worn while street racing on Earth in his previous life. Other than the helmet, which could not be manifested, every other piece of equipment was present, including racing gloves molded over both hands. It looked extremely safe and life-preserving.
The feeling of being completely sealed up and wrapped from head to toe gave him a sense of psychological security, as though he were cut off from outside pollution. Moreover, a racing riding suit truly had greater defensive power than ordinary clothes, matching the desire hidden in his subconscious: staying alive while looking cool!
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