Toward Death, Toward Life—A Fierce Tug-of-War
Crunch.
A bite was taken from his cheek.
Gurgle, gurgle.
A powerful sensation of a foreign object came from his esophagus.
Crunch.
His belly split open.
His large and small intestines were dragged out.
Ning Xuan's constitution was strong. Even with his organs ruptured, he wouldn't die that quickly.
He could still keep drawing on his remaining strength. Though it wasn't enough to cause any harm, it was enough for him to make himself pass out, sparing himself some of the pain of being eaten.
This demon was different from the bear demon before. It seemed to have no qualms about what it ate, nor did it need food to stay alive.
He should make himself pass out as soon as possible.
But he didn't.
He was still laughing, laughing until his tears turned to blood, laughing like a wind-broken sack.
He hadn't passed out because he was trying to figure out what the demon was by analyzing the way it gnawed at him.
A Bodhisattva couldn't possibly have a mouth that small.
Even a human didn't.
Those tiny bites felt like the gnawing of some very small beast.
His cheek prickled with pain, as if a hard-bristled toothbrush were scrubbing it. A long tail pierced his eardrum and burrowed into his brain...
"A rat! It's a rat!!"
Countless "close encounters" had sparked an insight in Ning Xuan, and he suddenly reached a conclusion.
But the very next moment, the slender tail gave a slight twist, and an unimaginable sharp pain stabbed through his mind.
He... lost consciousness completely.
The veins in his arms bulged like earthworms, and his fingers kept twitching, along with his toes, legs, neck, and teeth.
Ning Xuan's teeth chattered, snapping together again and again. It was an instinctive spasm brought on by nerve pain pushed to the extreme.
At last, after the final chattering click, he panted heavily and slowly opened his eyes.
The forest loomed dark and dense.
He slowly lifted his head.
A black moon hung overhead.
The towering mountain looked like a hunched, uncanny creature staring straight at him.
The night wind blew. The creature breathed on him, its breath cold and bone-chilling.
"A rat! Even if it isn't a rat, it's something much like one."
"That thing is hidden inside the Bodhisattva's golden body! But it isn't the Bodhisattva eating people. It's that thing!"
"The thing I need to deal with isn't the Bodhisattva, but what's inside it."
Ning Xuan had endured the agony of being eaten, but in return, he had gained valuable information.
He sat for nearly half an incense stick's time before he came back to himself. Then he stood up.
[9-2]
He took Four Generations Together with practiced ease, slung Many Children and Grandchildren over his back, and continued the unfinished task from before—measuring the area.
He needed to measure the size of this nightmare zone.
Four li.
Five li.
Six li.
As he ran, his amazement grew.
Though he had already left his original camp far behind, he still hadn't been transported back.
He pushed himself to run faster. Even when he had covered nearly fifty li, no "boundary" appeared.
But dawn was already near.
Ning Xuan was now in Manfeng Mountain, surrounded by peaks.
He glanced around, quickly climbed a mountain, then sat on a cliff and squinted into the distance.
Dawn... had come.
The pallid sunlight "ignited" the forest and mountains in an instant, turning everything white.
This time, the demon didn't appear immediately.
Only after a full incense stick's time did he see a gigantic Golden Body Bodhisattva walking between the mountains.
Its eyes were full of greed, and foul saliva dripped from its lips. Yet it gleamed with golden light. Its sacred body and grotesque face formed a jarring sight that sent chills down one's spine.
When it met Ning Xuan's gaze from afar, the Bodhisattva opened its mouth and spoke in a voice like rolling thunder. "Little fellow, I finally found you."
Without a word, Ning Xuan turned and ran with Many Children and Grandchildren on his back, sprinting with all his might.
The Bodhisattva gave chase.
Yet in these mountains, its movements were greatly hindered.
One man and one demon, one fleeing and one pursuing, maintained their distance. Neither could close in on the other.
Ning Xuan's regular training was paying off.
He sprinted at full speed for half an hour before he began to tire. Just then, he found a narrow cleft in the mountain, with a waterfall thundering down through it.
He sprang forward, turning into a gust of wind as he rushed into the cleft and hid inside.
He was astonished, because he had still been running deeper into Manfeng Mountain.
He had covered at least several hundred li, yet he still hadn't reached the "boundary."
Could this "nightmare zone" cover all of Manfeng Mountain this time?
As the thought passed through his mind, he felt a shadow approaching, just as he'd expected.
Boom!
Boom!
Two hands braced against either side of the cleft.
The sunlight falling through the waterfall outside was completely blocked.
A huge face slowly drew near, gradually filling Ning Xuan's entire field of vision. A mocking expression appeared on the Bodhisattva's face.
"Little fellow, cont—"
Boom!
Before the Bodhisattva could finish speaking, a world-shaking explosion rang out. Ning Xuan unleashed Swallow Strength, poured all his might into his body, and charged into the Bodhisattva's mouth with Many Children and Grandchildren on his back, moving faster than he ever had in his life, a streak of light.
Ning Xuan's eyes were cold and sharp, filled with absolute calm and madness.
The moment he entered the Bodhisattva's gaping mouth, he drew the Beast Slaying Saber. He channeled Swallow Strength through both hands and unleashed Flying Swallow Mountain Collapse, slashing down the Bodhisattva's esophagus...
After their previous battle and this pursuit, he had already gauged the Bodhisattva's strength to a large extent.
Its power was unfathomable, but it wasn't very fast. In fact, it was strangely sluggish.
Then there was its habit of "talking too much"...
Things like "Little fellow, are you looking for me?" and "What are you doing?"—what was that if not talking too much?
And so, this was what he'd come up with.
A path through death to life!
A foreign object had entered its esophagus, and the powerful coughing sent a rush of air outward.
But Ning Xuan's saber cleaved through the airflow.
He kept going down.
"Cough!!"
"Cough, cough, cough!!!"
The Bodhisattva's coughing grew more and more violent.
Ning Xuan's hair was blown straight up, whipping wildly in the wind.
Squinting, he stopped halfway down the esophagus and changed his slash into a spinning strike. Powerful force crashed against the esophagus, leaving flecks of damage and a ragged wound.
There was no blood, but it was still a wound.
During that brief pause, the airflow had swept Ning Xuan a little way back up.
But he had already noticed something: the Bodhisattva's insides weren't nearly as hard as its exterior!
He plunged the Beast Slaying Saber into the wound and, with all his strength, braced himself against the esophagus. Then, in the pause between the Bodhisattva's coughs, he sent Four Generations Together hurtling down from his arms.
Clink, clink, clink, clink!!
Four Generations Together bounced rapidly along the esophagus, splitting apart.
Ning Xuan then triggered the mechanism on Many Children and Grandchildren, aiming the entire box down the esophagus.
Countless hidden weapons shot out, surging all at once into the depths of the Bodhisattva's body.
Ning Xuan saw the hidden weapons fall like a sudden downpour, while the inside of the Bodhisattva's body was like muddy earth. Soon, one cratered wound after another appeared.
He could feel the Bodhisattva growing noticeably weaker. Even the airflow from its coughing had weakened considerably.
He stomped hard on Many Children and Grandchildren.
Clang!!
The huge black box plummeted like a dark meteor.
He fell with it.
And his saber followed.
The Beast Slaying Saber!
He twisted his body slightly, gathering all his strength at a single point on the blade tip, and plunged down without hesitation.
He would seize the moment while the Bodhisattva was at its weakest, burrow into the depths of its body, and find the demon within.
The Bodhisattva was merely putting on a show with its body and had no other supernatural powers. Its true form should be weak!
At that moment, a burst of light suddenly exploded before Ning Xuan's eyes.
A pallid light.
As it washed over him, he saw the wounds caused by his blade and hidden weapons heal almost instantly, becoming even better than before. He even felt that the Bodhisattva was stronger than it had been before the injuries!
"How is this possible?!!"
Ning Xuan couldn't believe it.
Then he heard a strange inhalation, as though it were gathering strength.
"Hmmm~~~"
The next instant, an unimaginable boom rang in Ning Xuan's ears.
He felt the sound shake him until all seven orifices bled. Streams of blood ran from his eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouth.
In a daze, he heard a single sound.
"Ha!!!"
His entire body went limp.
He felt himself blasted into the air by a terrifying rush of wind, then landing on something soft and yielding.
The Bodhisattva held its hands palms-up before its abdomen, its right hand resting on its left, the tips of its thumbs touching. This was the Buddhist Dhyana Mudra.
Ning Xuan lay in the middle of that mudra.
The Bodhisattva suddenly changed its hand seal.
Ning Xuan felt his body rotate involuntarily along with the hand, then get slammed heavily against the ground.
He passed out.
The Bodhisattva laid its right hand over its right knee, touching the earth with its fingers, and crushed the little boy into the ground.
This was the Buddhist Demon Subduing Seal.
Seeing Ning Xuan unconscious, the Bodhisattva picked him up and shook him, then tossed him into its palm and prodded him twice. Only then did it lower its head and slowly draw close, like a hungry beast approaching its prey in its palm.
When it was close enough, it curled its tongue around Ning Xuan, who could no longer resist, drew him into its mouth, and swallowed him.
Before you continue