Yuwen Tai's body was like rotten wood torn apart, instantly splitting into two. Flesh, blood, and bones were utterly fragile before that supreme sharpness, exploding with a bang.
At that moment, a pitch-black strange stone roughly the size of an egg suddenly appeared from his shattered chest.
It was perfectly round, so deep it seemed capable of swallowing all light. Thick, ink-like patterns flowed across its surface, endlessly twisting and changing.
A terrifying demonic aura a hundred times denser and purer than the one on "Yuwen Tai" before erupted like a volcano dormant for ten thousand years, sweeping across the shattered palace.
This demonic aura carried the most primordial evil will, one that twisted souls. Its mere presence made Ye Chen, who was fighting bloodily in the distance, stagger and nearly lose his mind, while the Buddha Light around Venerable Monk Huineng shook violently like a waning candle in the wind.
"Now!"
A resolute light unlike any before burst from Venerable Monk Huineng's eyes. This was the very instant he had been waiting for—the instant the main body revealed itself! He formed seals with both hands, Buddhist chants rolling from his mouth like a great bell and grand music, shaking the void.
The holy Buddha Light amassed around him to its peak no longer radiated outward to protect his body. Instead, it transformed into a blindingly pure golden torrent and blasted with incomparable precision toward the floating black strange stone!
"Buzz—!"
The torrent of Buddha Light was not an attack. Instead, it instantly formed an incomparably intricate three-dimensional formation around the strange stone, composed of countless golden Buddhist inscriptions.
Every inscription contained the mighty power of the Great Sun Demonic Art to purify all evil. Layer upon layer, they formed a golden cage that locked the Heart Demon Main Body tightly within.
"Chichichichi..."
A violent sizzling sound rang out.
Buddha Light and demonic aura collided fiercely, gold and black intertwining as they annihilated one another.
The golden formation shone brilliantly, attempting to completely purify and seal the Demonic Stone.
However, the Demonic Nature contained within the Heart Demon Main Body was simply too vast and majestic, like a boundless sea of filth.
"Monk, I already told you. Your Great Sun Demonic Art has not been cultivated deeply enough."
The Inner Demon's contemptuous voice came from the surging demonic aura.
Then,
Even more terrifying demonic aura surged forth. The Buddha Light was visibly corroded, dyed black, and melted away, rapidly dimming like snow beneath a blazing sun.
Yuwen Tai's body, which had already been split apart, instantly fused back together.
Venerable Monk Huineng's face turned pale as paper.
"Hmph!"
Gu Mo snorted coldly, stepped forward, and casually struck out with his palm. The strike did not appear particularly powerful.
Yet in that instant,
Every inch of space touched by the palm wind collapsed.
Yuwen Tai's remaining body, along with several yards of surrounding demonic aura, bricks, stones, and even the warped air itself, was reduced beneath that palm to the finest dust, utterly erased by the violent force.
Only the black Demonic Stone remained, still desperately bound by the golden formation and trembling violently in the aftershock of Gu Mo's palm wind.
But,
It only trembled slightly.
This piece of Demonic Stone, the Heart Demon Main Body, looked like a stone, but that was merely the form it had manifested. Its true existence was a substance Above Ascension, solidified Origin Qi, just like the Ancestral Fire left behind after the Fire Kirin had been slain.
Such an existence could not be destroyed. It could only be sealed.
"Amitabha." Venerable Monk Huineng's gaze was calm as he said, "Great Hero Gu, this is the Heart Demon Main Body. This humble monk suppressed it at Feilai Temple for thirty years. Even the Great Sun Demonic Art could not destroy it; it could only purify it."
Gu Mo said, "But from the looks of it now, it cannot be purified either."
Venerable Monk Huineng pressed his palms together. "Amitabha. If I do not enter hell, then who will?"
He let out a low shout filled with boundless compassion and sacrificial resolve. His entire body turned into a stream of light burning with golden Buddhist flames, crossing space in an instant. He actually swallowed the black Demonic Stone, still wrapped in the Buddha Light formation, whole!
Gu Mo's heart jolted.
At that instant,
Venerable Monk Huineng's lean body suddenly swelled. Beneath his skin, it seemed as though countless black Giant Pythons were writhing and crashing about madly!
He circulated his power, and boundless Buddha Light flashed forth.
The Inner Demon said calmly, "Monk, you did not have to die. Yet you insist on courting death. You could not seal me even after thirty years, and you think swallowing me will let you seal me? What is your physical body worth..."
Venerable Monk Huineng ignored the Inner Demon entirely. He sat cross-legged on the ground. In that instant, the surging golden Buddha Light suddenly vanished, transforming into a violent, disgusting demonic aura.
This demonic aura had not invaded from outside. It was unlike the desire-filled demonic aura of the Inner Demon.
It was demonic aura bearing an Aura of Destruction.
The more holy Venerable Monk Huineng's Buddha Light had been before, the filthier this demonic aura was now. The more compassionate the Buddha Light had been, the more violent this demonic aura became.
It instantly turned the tables, becoming a black cage countless times stronger and sturdier than the previous Buddha Light formation, and began invading the stone formed from the Heart Demon Main Body instead.
This was not purification. It was using himself as a furnace, using the deeper essence of "demon" from the Great Sun Demonic Art—now fully awakened by the Heart Demon Main Body—as chains, to carry out the cruelest confinement between things of the same origin!
This upside-down, heaven-defying scene left Gu Mo deeply astonished.
Not only Gu Mo—even the Inner Demon was stunned. After all, the Buddha Light cultivated by Venerable Monk Huineng had been so holy it seemed beyond mortal power. Who could have imagined that such a holy eminent monk harbored such Demonic Nature within him, Demonic Nature strong enough to rival the Inner Demon's demonic power?
Demonic aura poured from Venerable Monk Huineng's entire body as he said in a deep voice, "Many years ago, this humble monk discovered that the power cultivated by the Great Sun Demonic Art had two opposing sides. Since this humble monk mastered the holiest Buddhist power in the world, it meant that correspondingly, this humble monk would also become the demon with the deepest Demonic Nature in the world.
"All these years, the reason this humble monk required his disciples to assist in sealing the Heart Demon Main Body was that this humble monk did not dare exert his full strength. He feared that once his Buddha Light was exhausted, even if he sealed the Inner Demon, a second demon would be born.
"Only now does this humble monk understand that he was wrong all these years. This Great Sun Demonic Art of mine appeared for the sake of sealing the Heart Demon Main Body. That means everything was born to seal the Inner Demon. Cultivating Buddha and demon together is the true Great Dao.
"Unfortunately, this humble monk awakened too late. But today, this humble monk shall ascend and suppress the Inner Demon!"
At that instant,
Holy Buddha Light rose once more from Venerable Monk Huineng's body. He actually became one body of Buddha and demon—one side Buddha, one side demon, existing simultaneously.
At that same instant,
Vast Nascent Soul Power containing both Buddha and demon surged outward.
The energy of the Ascension Realm appeared.
Venerable Monk Huineng had broken through to the Ascension Realm!
This was not forced ascension through a secret art. His realm had truly reached it!
"Roar—!"
A shriek filled with unwillingness, rage, and a trace of astonishment sounded.
It did not come from Huineng's body, but from the void!
A distorted, illusory black shadow that existed between reality and unreality shot up from the Bai Hui atop Huineng's head!
Without hesitation, it tore through space, becoming an ultimate black line as it fled toward the nine heavens!
This was the Inner Demon's Divine Sense.
It had abandoned its main body. Or rather, it had realized that the power erupting within Huineng's body had temporarily trapped the main body, and it had to seize this chance to escape this dangerous battlefield!
"Trying to run?!"
Gu Mo reacted with extreme speed. At the instant the Divine Sense left the body, his figure vanished from where he stood. The next moment, he appeared high in the air, teleporting after that black line as space was effortlessly pierced before him like rippling water.
However, just as he was about to catch up to the Inner Demon's Divine Sense, the thick demonic aura that had gathered from all across Wutong City—and from an even wider region below, like a vast ocean—seemed to receive an ultimate command and suddenly boiled over!
"Rumble—!"
The demonic aura filling the sky no longer rose. Instead, it plunged and condensed madly with the force of Mount Tai Crushing Down!
It transformed into hundreds of millions of massive black Shackles engraved with bizarre demonic patterns. Every one contained terrifying power capable of imprisoning space, defiling Nascent Souls, and eroding Physical Bodies. Like a Heavenly Net, they instantly sealed every inch of space within a hundred yards around Gu Mo, densely packed and layered upon one another as they twisted toward him to strangle and bind him.
"Is that all you have?"
Gu Mo snorted coldly. The Grand Void Sword was about to strike out and sever those annoying shackles.
But in that split second of lightning and flint, another change occurred!
The void above Gu Mo's head suddenly split open with a massive crack!
A thin piece, a full yard square, with incomparably sharp edges and a dark golden sheen flowing across its entire surface, extended from the void.
As its full shape was revealed, it was actually a scale.
The instant the scale appeared, Gu Mo's heart inexplicably trembled, for he felt an unexplainable sense of familiarity.
Then he sensed the vast Dragon Might radiating from the scale, pressing the very space around it into ripples. Like a blade of heavenly punishment, it slashed down fiercely!
Its target was incomparably precise: Gu Mo, whose movements had been slightly delayed by the demonic aura shackles!
"Dragon Scale?" Gu Mo blurted out as he sensed its aura.
The Inner Demon transformed into a wisp of demonic aura and instantly covered the Dragon Scale. In a deep voice, it said, "Gu Mo, the main body has never mattered to me. I gathered so much demonic aura not to drive the main body, but to kill you here!
"This is a scale left behind when the Azure Dragon was slain. Though it cannot compare to the Reverse Scale Blade's power to split heaven and earth, it can still kill every living being in this world, including a Physical Body Ascension cultivator like you!"
As the Inner Demon spoke to shake Gu Mo's mind, it had already driven the Dragon Scale down, slicing a crack even into the void.
It was an utterly unmatched force of slaughter.
Yet Gu Mo's eyes held no fear. Instead, they carried an inexplicable excitement and smile. In an instant, the Dragon God Skill within his body was pushed to its utmost limit!
"Aang—!"
A majestic, sacred Dragon's roar that shook the nine heavens and ten lands erupted!
"What is this?!"
At this moment, the Inner Demon was horrified, because it felt an even more majestic Dragon Might.
Meanwhile, Gu Mo's body changed rapidly within dazzling white light. In the blink of an eye, an enormous dragon covered entirely in dark translucent Dragon Scales, with imposing horns, sharp five claws, and endless majesty and immense power, stretched across the heavens!
Those enormous dragon eyes were like two burning golden suns, coldly watching the giant Dragon Scale blade slash down.
A massive dragon claw extended. It looked slow, but was actually faster than lightning, grabbing with incomparable precision at the Dragon Scale that contained terrifying might. White light flowed over the dragon claw, carrying supreme Dragon Might capable of suppressing all heavens and commanding all scales!
"Clang—!"
A deafening impact that pierced gold and split stone rang out, sending violent ripples through space!
That enormous Dragon Scale fell into the dragon claw at that moment, casually gripped as though it were an ordinary shard of tile!
No matter how the Dragon Scale shook or unleashed sharpness capable of slicing space, it could not move the dragon claw in the slightest.
"Using a Dragon Scale to kill a dragon, Inner Demon, you really are a genius."
Gu Mo's icy voice came from the dragon's mouth.
If it had been the Dragon God Skill from before, perhaps this Azure Dragon Scale could have affected him slightly. But the Dragon God Skill enhanced by the God of War Catalog had already allowed Gu Mo to escape his previous state of possessing only the spirit but not the form. He had become a dragon complete in both form and spirit.
A mere Dragon Scale meant nothing to him.
The Inner Demon's Divine Sense retreated in defeat. Within the black mist, human-like bewilderment appeared in those blood-red eyes before it cursed, "Master Chen, Master Qiu, you two lowly slaves have harmed me!"
At that instant, the massive dragon body swung violently. The dragon claw gripped the Dragon Scale as though wielding a giant axe that could split heaven and earth, smashing it with ten times the strength and speed of its incoming strike toward the black shadow of the Inner Demon's Divine Sense, which was about to flee into the rift in space!
"Lowly slaves have harmed me!"
The black shadow formed from the Inner Demon's Divine Sense let out a terrifying shriek.
It had not known Gu Mo could transform into a dragon. Right now, it hated Master Chen and Master Qiu to the extreme. In the heavens, one day was one year in the human world, and it usually had no reason to pay attention to worldly matters. It simply had no idea Gu Mo could transform into a dragon.
Of course, even if it had known, it would not have cared. After all, many martial arts in the human world could produce Dragon-shaped Qi, and with mental illusions added, they could appear even more realistic.
But it did not know normally,
Yet Master Chen and Master Qiu controlled Chu Kingdom and lived in the human world. They could not possibly have been ignorant of the truth. Some time ago, they had suddenly contacted it and even kindly sent it the Dragon Scale specifically.
"Lowly slaves, lowly slaves!"
At this moment, the Inner Demon was certain that those two had deliberately harmed it.
Its heart was filled with resentment.
But it had no time to think further, because the giant dragon was tearing through space toward it. In its haste, the Inner Demon gathered its strongest demonic aura shield.
"Boom—!!!!"
The giant dragon tore through space and arrived in an instant.
There was no deadlock, only destruction as effortless as rotten wood collapsing!
The shield formed by the demonic aura domain exploded like paper paste. Vast Dragon Might and surging divine dragon power poured forth without restraint, the overwhelming force of the dragon claw crashing down upon the Inner Demon's Divine Sense!
"Rip!"
A muffled sound like cloth being torn apart rang out.
That incomparably condensed black shadow of the Inner Demon's Divine Sense was forcibly torn apart and scattered by the collision and claw strike! It became countless tiny wisps of Black Qi, splashing in every direction like ink scattered by a violent wind!
"Ah—!! Lowly slaves have harmed me!!"
The Inner Demon's Divine Sense released a painful, venomous shriek. The sound seemed to come from Nine Netherworld Hell, filled with endless hatred.
But it had not been completely destroyed. The scattered Black Qi sensed something in an instant and, like all rivers flow into the sea, plunged madly toward the Northern Zhou Imperial Palace below, which had already become ruins and held the densest demonic aura. At the same time, the imperial city's protective formation activated.
Using the demonic aura filling the city, the Inner Demon hid itself in an instant.
"Trying to run!"
Gu Mo snorted coldly. His dragon body twisted as he dived down, instantly returning to human form and immediately activating the Dao Heart Seed Demon Great Technique.
A vast and invisible domain power instantly expanded outward from him, covering the entire shattered imperial city!
This was the Demon Immortal Domain, the enhanced Dao Heart Seed Demon Great Technique he had comprehended through the God of War Catalog. With it fully unleashed, the entire imperial city became a massive prison of spirit and energy.
Within the domain, the flow of demonic aura was greatly suppressed, space was reinforced and sealed, and even the slightest fluctuation of demonic thought found it difficult to hide.
Gu Mo's vast Divine Sense was like a precise Heavenly Net, instantly sinking into every corner of the ruins as it frantically scanned and searched for every trace where the Inner Demon's Divine Sense might be hiding after its collapse.
Meanwhile, in a corner of the Imperial Palace ruins.
Ye Chen leaned on his twin swords, panting violently. He was covered in blood, some belonging to enemies and some to himself.
The final few earth-shaking clashes between Gu Mo and the Inner Demon had unleashed torrents of energy and spatial tremors. Even he, the Chu Kingdom's Third Master, had felt like a lone boat amidst raging waves, exhausting all his strength merely to keep from being injured by the aftershocks.
"Good heavens... when immortals fight, mortals suffer disaster... This young master is exhausted, this young master is dying of thirst. This Chu Kingdom's Third Master has absolutely no dignity at all..."
"Forget it, forget it. I can't provoke them, but I can hide from them!"
Ye Chen wiped the blood and sweat from his face. His throat felt dry enough to smoke, and he quickly slipped away, afraid that he might accidentally get swept into the chaos again.
He looked around. Everywhere lay broken walls, rubble, and corpses wreathed in demonic aura. There was no clean water source to be found.
Suddenly, he spotted a relatively intact ancient well nearby.
"Water!"
Ye Chen's eyes lit up, and he dragged his exhausted body over.
The mouth of the well was deep and dark, releasing faint threads of cool air.
He untied the leather waterskin hanging from his waist, only to discover that it had torn.
Helpless, he found a half-broken wooden bucket beside the well, tied it to a length of rope lying nearby, and laboriously lowered it in.
"Plop!"
The bucket seemed to strike the water's surface.
Ye Chen worked the winch hard and pulled the bucket back up. The wooden bucket was heavy; it seemed to have filled with plenty of water.
Panting, Ye Chen lifted the bucket to the edge of the well.
He eagerly leaned over, wanting to scoop up a handful of water to quench his thirst.
However, what entered his sight was not clear well water.
On the murky surface inside the bucket floated a swollen, pale human head.
Its eyes were tightly shut, and its features were twisted. It had clearly been dead for a long time.
Staring at that head, Ye Chen was speechless. Knowing he could not drink the water from this well, anger immediately rose in his heart. "Brother, you made me lose my drinking water. It's only reasonable for me to kick your head around like a ball, right?"
"Of course it's reasonable." The head spoke.
"Ha ha ha, you said it yourself, so don't blame me..."
Before he could finish, Ye Chen's face suddenly froze. He slowly pulled back his hand and looked at the head with difficulty.
The head's tightly closed eyes suddenly flew open!
They were hollow eyes filled with deathly stillness, yet a strange black gleam flashed through them in an instant!
The corners of the swollen pale face's mouth stiffly curled upward bit by bit, pulling into a hair-raising, inhuman smile.
Ye Chen's blood seemed to freeze instantly, his scalp exploding with terror! A chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to the crown of the head. His stiff smile became uglier than a crying face as he said in mournful despair, "Why is it me again..."
At that moment,
The Inner Demon inside the head sensed Gu Mo's Divine Sense sweeping over. It immediately withdrew from the head and surged toward Ye Chen.
The next instant, an icy, evil, boundless Mental Torrent filled with endless demonic desires crashed brutally into the barriers of Ye Chen's Sea of Consciousness like the waters of an overflowing nether river.
Then,
It suddenly sensed two strange masses of "qi" above Ye Chen's head pressing down upon it like two mountains.
"What the hell are these things?"
Clearly, nothing in the human world could touch it, yet these two masses of "qi" crashed toward it like two great mountains. They slammed into the Inner Demon, which Gu Mo had already scattered, and struck it out of Ye Chen's Sea of Consciousness once again.
At that very instant,
Gu Mo's Divine Sense covered the area and immediately detected the Inner Demon.
"Buzz—!"
A sword cry that pierced souls and tore heaven and earth suddenly rang out above the shattered imperial city covered by the Demon Immortal Domain!
A sword light so vast and sharp that words could not describe it slashed down fiercely from the nine heavens!
It was not simple Sword Qi. It was a sword strike gathering the ultimate power of Gu Mo's current physical-body ascension realm, filled with the peerless sharpness of the Grand Void Sword and infused with the God of War Catalog's understanding of spatial laws!
It was not a simple slash. It was more like the heavens themselves splitting open, a waterfall of light formed purely from destructive will pouring down!
Wherever the sword light reached, space did not merely shatter—it was directly annihilated! It was not cut apart, but utterly erased from the level of existence by that unmatched sword intent, leaving behind a deep, empty black trail that seemed to lead to the end of the world, aimed directly at that strand of core Divine Sense the Inner Demon had just gathered within the demonic aura!
"Roar—!!!"
The Inner Demon released a roar of shock and fury, its demonic shadow more concentrated than ever.
The thick demonic aura permeating heaven and earth, together with the Northern Zhou Kingdom's dragon aura of national fortune, which had been corrupted and twisted by the Inner Demon for years, as well as the hidden fear, despair, violence, and other negative thoughts within countless Northern Zhou citizens infected by demonic aura, all boiled and gathered in an instant like all rivers flow into the sea!
An even deeper and heavier "Human World Power," carrying the faint thoughts of countless living beings and the fortune of the nation, was forcibly extracted and ignited!
"Rumble—!"
Endless demonic aura mixed with twisted national fortune and the wishes of the masses churned and gathered violently like a boiling cauldron of oil! At the core of the Inner Demon's Divine Sense, an enormous black Dharma form beyond imagination suddenly condensed!
This Dharma form stood between heaven and earth. Its face was indistinct, yet it carried the majesty of the Northern Zhou royal family and the twisted faces of countless demonic-corrupted beings.
It suddenly raised both palms upward. Dense demonic patterns covered its palms as filthy torrents like a tidal wave erupted forth. Within those torrents drifted phantoms of shattered mountains and rivers and lingering remnants of wailing beings, forming a pair of enormous hands mixed with national fortune, demonic aura, and the resentment of the human world!
"Clang—"
A tremendous sound as though heaven and earth were being split apart exploded!
The peerless sharpness of the Grand Void Sword slashed viciously into those giant hands.
The sound of gold and iron colliding echoed throughout the universe, while tangible shockwaves instantly swept in all directions.
The imperial city, already reduced to ruins, was plowed through once more by the aftershocks of this collision as though struck by an invisible giant plow. The ground was forcibly scraped away by several more yards! The remaining distant city walls silently turned to dust!
Gu Mo's sword strike had actually been forcibly held up by the Inner Demon!
The two powers collided and annihilated one another violently, releasing teeth-grating chiching corrosion sounds. Gold and black energy currents splashed madly in every direction, cutting the sky into fragments.
From within the demonic form came the Inner Demon's hoarse, venomous roar, tinged with crazed pride:
"Gu Mo! Today, I miscalculated. I underestimated you, and I trusted those two lowly slaves by mistake! I truly cannot kill you! But—"
The demonic form's arms shook violently beneath the sword's pressure, covered in cracks, yet they continued to support it desperately.
"You should not even think of completely killing me either.
"The entire Northern Zhou Kingdom—countless people can become my avatars! Can you kill everyone in this nation? Can you destroy this demonic kingdom formed from national fortune and the resentment of the human world?!"
As the Inner Demon roared, the entire territory of Northern Zhou seemed to answer!
"Woo—woo—woo—"
Above the heavens, wind and clouds changed color.
Countless enormous black tornadoes of demonic aura rose from every corner of Northern Zhou, gathering madly toward the sky over Wutong City.
Every tornado carried countless twisted fragments of consciousness, shattered national fortune, and Human World Power.
This converging demonic aura and Human World Power were no longer merely energy. Around the demonic form, they formed a massive, filthy, twisted domain.
Within that domain, countless miniature phantoms of cities could faintly be seen, along with endless numb or grotesque figures writhing and wailing within. They emitted a nauseating aura of decay. The sky was completely dyed dark red, like an enormous blood-colored demonic bowl turned upside down, trapping Gu Mo inside!
The demonic kingdom descended.
A nation as the source of demons, all living beings as kindling!
The Inner Demon's voice echoed throughout the entire demonic kingdom domain. "This is—Northern Zhou Demonic Kingdom! Gu Mo, this is the demonic kingdom I prepared for you over more than a year. In seven hundred years, you are the only person who has made me take matters so seriously. Yet even so, I still cannot kill you.
"But you cannot kill me either. Let our grudge end here. Today, we shall shake hands and make peace. I will let you ascend, and when we meet in the heavenly realm someday, we can still be colleagues. What do you say?"
Gu Mo's expression remained indifferent, but his eyes were as sharp as the rising morning sun, piercing through the layers of demonic haze. He said softly, "Inner Demon, you are afraid!"
The Inner Demon said coldly, "What do I have to fear? What could I fear in this human world? Here, I am Undying and Unperishing. No one can kill me, not even you. I simply see no reason to continue fighting you. Missing out on one Nascent Soul like yours will not affect me at all!"
Gu Mo said calmly, "What cannot be killed is your main body's Origin Qi, not you. You are only the Inner Demon. Strictly speaking, main body Origin Qi is main body Origin Qi, and the Inner Demon is the Inner Demon. Origin Qi cannot be killed, but you are merely the consciousness of Origin Qi. You can die!"
"How will you kill me inside the demonic kingdom?"
"Then I will give it a try."
Gu Mo spoke calmly. His voice was not loud, yet it clearly pierced through the clamor within the demonic aura.
Before his words had even faded, Gu Mo made a movement that instantly left the Inner Demon dumbfounded—he released the Grand Void Sword in his hand!
The Grand Void Sword possessed spirit. It gave an unwilling clear cry, yet still obediently hovered at Gu Mo's side.
Then Gu Mo slowly pressed his palms together before his chest.
An extremely simple movement, yet one containing great enlightenment and great majesty!
"Om—ma—ni—pad—me—hum—"
Ancient, magnificent, soul-cleansing Buddhist chants of the six-syllable mantra did not emerge from Gu Mo's mouth. Instead, they seemed to resonate from the depths of endless void, from the source of the river of time itself! The chants instantly drowned out the wails within the demonic aura, resounding through heaven and earth like great bell and grand music!
Boundless golden light erupted around Gu Mo! It was no longer the pure holy Buddha Light of Venerable Monk Huineng, but a brilliant golden radiance carrying the capacity to embrace all things, unmatched fierceness, and even a faint flow of chaos!
Within the golden light, one Buddha Phantom after another appeared out of thin air! Some sat, some stood, some glared wrathfully as vajras, some held flowers and smiled. Their forms differed, yet all possessed a dignified and majestic appearance, radiating vast power capable of suppressing all evil demons of the heavens. They filled the void behind Gu Mo in dense, overlapping layers, as though the Buddhas of all heavens and worlds had manifested their projections here at once!
This was the enhanced Great Vajra Divine Strength.
"Om!"
With a grander true word that seemed to split open heaven and earth, a Tathagata golden body that stood between heaven and earth suddenly condensed behind Gu Mo, far surpassing Venerable Monk Huineng's Buddha-demon Dharma form from before.
This golden body resembled flawless true gold and glass. Its face was compassionate and majestic, its eyes seeing through all ages. Golden swastika runes flowed across its body, each seeming to contain the power of a tiny world's birth and destruction!
The enormous Tathagata golden body slowly raised a golden Buddha Palm that Covered the Sky and Sun!
This was the enhanced Tathagata Divine Palm.
In the next instant,
The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas filling the sky all moved.
The lines upon the Buddha Palm were as clear as the mountains of Mount Sumeru. Within its palm was reflected a boundless Buddha kingdom formed from countless Buddha Phantoms! Within that Buddha kingdom stood forests of bodhi trees, golden lotuses covered the earth, heavenly dragons coiled through the air, and Buddhist chants boomed like thunder!
This was fusion!
Gu Mo used the God of War Catalog as the central outline, commanding all arts!
He used the boundless Dharma manifestations of Great Vajra Divine Strength to reveal the Buddhas of all heavens and construct the foundation of a Buddha kingdom!
He used the supreme mystery of the Tathagata Divine Palm as its driving force, granting it unparalleled power to destroy all evil!
Then, with the Domain Golden Core formed from Limitless Return to Origin Qi as its core, he perfectly connected his own power with the laws of heaven and earth, creating an independent realm that nonetheless crushed reality—Palm Buddha Kingdom!
Countless Buddhas formed seals, recited sutras, struck with palms, or glared in wrath... All their power and all their will did not fight separately. Instead, through the Tathagata Divine Palm that covered the heavens, they converged into one through an incomparably profound method.
When that enormous Buddha Palm bearing the boundless Buddha kingdom, carrying the vast mighty power of the Buddhas of all heavens, slowly and irresistibly pressed down upon the filthy Northern Zhou Demonic Kingdom below, upon the desperately supporting demonic form, and upon the Inner Demon at its core, consumed by terror—
The entire demonic kingdom domain released a wail of unbearable strain!
Space froze and cracked inch by inch beneath the Buddha Palm.
The filthy demonic aura melted rapidly like snow splashed with boiling broth.
The demonic kingdom formed from national fortune and demonic power upon the demonic form instantly filled with spiderweb-like cracks!
Before that pure, vast, all-embracing yet all-destroying boundless Buddha Light, the core of the Inner Demon's Divine Sense released one final shriek filled with ultimate terror and disbelief:
"What... what is this?!"
Gu Mo's joined palms did not move at all. His indifferent voice echoed amid the thunderous descent of the Buddha Palm like the judgment of the Heavenly Dao:
"Palm Buddha Kingdom."
One palm fell.
The demonic aura filling the sky dispersed. The Inner Demon screamed unwillingly, then was swiftly purified away and completely annihilated.
Before you continue