Vajra Subdues Demons, Seizes Body and Reborn

"Turn back, and the shore is at hand? Hahahahaha!"

Li Mingyuan seemed to have heard the funniest joke under heaven; his wild laughter shook the ghostly qi in the sky until it churned.

"You bald donkey, you certainly know how to make pretty speeches!"

"In This Seat's eyes, these mortals are nothing more than resources for cultivation. How are they any different from wild grass in the mountains or livestock in the woods? This Seat takes and uses them—it is the principle of Heaven and earth!"

The young monk Wuxiang gently shook his head. The trace of sorrow in his eyes gradually faded, replaced by a touch of golden fury.

"Benefactor, you have slaughtered several cities in succession. You have sunk far too deeply into the demonic path!"

Within the golden light, the young monk Wuxiang gently shook his head and said no more.

Behind him, a Vajra Dharma Image a hundred zhang tall, with three heads and six arms, its wrathful eyes wide open, rose up from the ground!

Sacred, solemn, and filled with destructive power!

"Playing at gods and ghosts!"

Li Mingyuan's mouth was full of disdain, but alarm bells were already clanging in his heart.

He abruptly shook the third-tier Ten Thousand Soul Banner in his hand.

"Ghost King, come out for me!"

From within the banner, a Ghost King whose aura had reached the early Golden Core stage roared as it charged out. Its enormous ghostly body turned into a black shadow and pounced straight at Wuxiang.

At the same time.

Several thousand li away from Anyang Market, seven li deep underground.

In a cramped cave dwelling that had only recently been opened up, Zhao Hao recovered from concealing his aura.

Ten days had already passed.

As he saw it, that little disturbance from before should have long since settled.

What he did not know was that because he had erased the Soul-Chasing Seal and fled in the opposite direction to mislead the other party, he had completely enraged a Golden Core mighty figure, who had already stirred up a bloody storm across the Northern Lands by slaughtering several cities in succession.

Out of habit, he looked at his system panel.

The next moment, his entire body went rigid.

[Status: Entangled in Karmic Cause and Effect]

A line of small blood-red words abruptly appeared in the status bar, exuding an ominous aura.

Cause and effect? Karma?

Zhao Hao's head buzzed.

He was clearly hiding deep underground, isolated from the world. How could he have been tainted by this kind of profound and mysterious thing for no reason at all?

The only possibility... was that Ten Thousand Soul Hall disciple he had killed ten days ago!

He had clearly handled everything cleanly, and had even used the system to destroy the Soul-Chasing Seal. How could it still have turned out like this?

Why would killing a Demonic Sect disciple cause him to be stained with this thing?

A chill shot from the soles of Zhao Hao's feet straight to the crown of his head.

This feeling of something beyond his control was more terrifying than any visible enemy!

In the sky above Anyang Market.

Facing the Golden Core Ghost King whose savage might surged to the heavens, Wuxiang merely formed a simple dharma seal before his chest with one hand.

"Om mani padme hum!"

As he recited the mantra, the hundred-zhang Vajra Dharma Image behind him also raised one arm at the same time and struck out with a palm!

At the center of the enormous golden palm, a dazzling "swastika" Buddhist seal appeared out of thin air, golden light bursting forth!

Szzlaa—

That insufferably arrogant Ghost King was struck squarely on the head by the Buddhist seal, letting out a roar of ultimate agony!

Its ghostly body, condensed almost into substance, melted away in great swaths under the illumination of the Buddhist light. It was as though hot oil had been poured over snow, sending up billowing black smoke; the fierce flames of that ghostly body were instantly reduced by more than half!

"What?!" The savage grin on Li Mingyuan's face froze.

This Ghost King of his had been refined from tens of thousands of living souls and more than a hundred years of painstaking effort. If an ordinary early Golden Core cultivator encountered it, they would only be beaten alive!

Yet before this monk, it could not even withstand a single move?

"The Great Sun Vajra Sutra?! You're not an ordinary monk—you're the Buddhist Son of Thousand Buddha Temple?!"

Li Mingyuan finally recognized the origin of the other party's cultivation method, and not the slightest bit of confidence remained in his heart that a mid-stage Golden Core could fight an early-stage one.

This cultivation method possessed an innate suppression over a pure ghost cultivator like him!

There was no need to fight to the death. Leave!

Only this one thought remained in Li Mingyuan's mind. He made a feint, his figure turning into a streak of black qi as he prepared to use a secret art and flee far away.

"Benefactor, why not return to the temple with me and discuss the Dao for a while?"

Wuxiang had long since seen through his intentions, and his hands suddenly pressed together.

The Vajra Dharma Image behind him made the same motion.

A lesser divine ability, Vajra Demon-Subduing Seal, thundered forth!

A golden palm print larger than a mountain instantly sealed off every inch of space within ten li. There was nowhere to dodge as it came crushing down toward Li Mingyuan's head!

"A lesser divine ability? You really are a Buddha Son!!!"

The aura of death rushed into his face, and endless madness surfaced in Li Mingyuan's eyes.

"Explode for This Seat!"

At the critical moment, he roared and actually detonated the Golden Core Ghost King that had been severely wounded by the Buddhist light!

Boom—

Terrifying energy comparable to the self-detonation of a Golden Core cultivator exploded beneath that enormous golden palm print in an instant!

The Ghost King's soul scattered on the spot, utterly annihilated, while Li Mingyuan was also struck hard by the aftershock of the divine ability. He spat out a great mouthful of blood, his aura withering to the extreme in an instant.

Wuxiang was just about to drive the Dharma Image and follow up with another strike, thoroughly slaying this devil.

But at that moment, Li Mingyuan gave Wuxiang a venomous look, and a flash of grim resolve crossed his face.

He actually hurled the third-rank magic treasure, the Ten Thousand Soul Banner, whose main Golden Core soul had already been lost, down toward Anyang Market with all his might!

The spiritual power fluctuations on the banner were extremely unstable. He was actually going to self-detonate the magic treasure!

Wuxiang's palm strike toward Li Mingyuan could not help but pause slightly, and the force of the palm also weakened by a level.

It was precisely that pause!

Li Mingyuan exhausted the last shred of his strength and barely blocked the strike.

But his already grievously injured flesh could no longer endure it. With a thunderous blast, it cracked apart inch by inch and exploded into a cloud of blood mist!

At that very moment, a dimly gleaming Golden Core wrapped around a storage pouch shot out from the blood mist, transforming into an almost imperceptible blood-red line that vanished into the horizon in an instant.

Seeing this, Wuxiang frowned. The giant hand of the Dharma Image reached out, grabbing directly toward the Ten Thousand Soul Banner that was about to explode.

Rumble!

The might of the magic treasure's self-detonation directly blasted that enormous Dharma Image palm to pieces, but Anyang Market was ultimately preserved.

Looking in the direction where the blood-red line had vanished, Wuxiang sighed softly.

Several thousand li away from Anyang Market, in a remote mountain range.

A young cultivator who looked only about twenty years old and possessed a ninth-level Qi Refining cultivation was moving swiftly through the forest.

Suddenly, a blood-red line rushed into his body. His body went rigid, and an icy will, cold to the extreme, brutally charged into his sea of consciousness!

"No..."

The young cultivator's consciousness only had time to let out one cry of grief before it was completely devoured.

He fell straight to the ground, convulsing violently.

A moment later, he slowly climbed up from the ground.

Yet on that young face appeared a towering hatred and venom utterly at odds with his age and identity.

"Pfft!"

Li Mingyuan spat out a mouthful of rebellious blood. Feeling this pitifully weak Qi Refining-stage body, and that Golden Core whose spiritual light had dimmed from the forced escape, he could not suppress his hatred no matter what!

He gnashed his teeth, forcing out each word, his voice hoarse like an evil ghost returned from hell.

"Zhao!!!"

"You bald donkeys of Thousand Buddha Temple!!!"

"Just you wait!!!"