Meng Changxi's Betrayal

"By decree!"

Blazing thunderlight struck the wall of flesh like a roaming dragon, bursting into dazzling azure radiance. An intricate, mysterious Eight Trigrams formation flashed and vanished, and dozens of violet lightning streaks spread like a spiderweb, racing outward in every direction!

A closer look revealed that the lightning followed almost exactly the same paths as the Eight Trigrams formation that had just flashed into view!

At the same time, countless resentful spirits within the wall of flesh, which pulsed like a heart, let out an unending chorus of piercing wails like living creatures on the brink of death.

The densely packed bloody handprints gave off blue smoke the instant they touched the lightning, frantically retreating toward the foot of the wall like maggots scorched by raging flames. Scarlet fluid seeped from the grain of the wood, and the fleshy temple wall wailed like a dying beast.

Crack—

The lightning pattern in Zhang Xuan's palm abruptly exploded, and web-like cracks spread along the Eight Trigrams formation. A night breeze swept through the hall, carrying rotten leaves, and the wildly pulsing temple wall crumbled to dust in the wind, blasted open with a breach half a person's height.

Almost simultaneously, the clay statue on the altar shuddered violently. The Headless Corpse Buddha's legs sank into the bluestone offering platform, while densely packed ocher roots gushed from his severed neck and coiled around the roof beams, slowly hoisting him up—that posture was unmistakably a tiger crouching low, ready to pounce on its prey.

A terrifying pressure descended like a mountain of iron, as though the air itself had solidified into iron blocks.

It seemed that shattering the "Ghost Domain" had thoroughly enraged this Wilderness Mountain God!

"Watch out!" the Monk's warning caught in his throat.

Five finger-shaped dents suddenly appeared in both Zhang Xuan's and the Monk's necks, and dark blue veins throbbed wildly beneath their skin. Their windpipes creaked under the strain, and a bloody haze began to cloud the edges of their vision—the clay statue twenty paces away was raising an incorporeal arm toward Zhang Xuan.

With life and death hanging in the balance, the Monk forced his neck around to look toward the Shrine. Sure enough, Meng Changxi was still standing beside the altar, his slightly plump body shrouded in the Corpse Buddha's shadow. He idly twirled the dagger in his hand, looking utterly relaxed, as though none of this concerned him.

"Meng—Chang—xi!" the Monk roared hoarsely.

Meng Changxi had not destroyed the Shrine as agreed. Unlike the Monk, who was torn between shock and fear, Meng Changxi wore the faintest suggestion of a smile on his plump face as he quietly watched Zhang Xuan and Monk Sanjie, who had already been targeted by the "Headless Corpse Buddha."

The corners of his mouth curled high with undisguised mockery, and he silently mouthed three words to Zhang Xuan and the Monk as their eyes met...

—Go and die!

The enormous Corpse Buddha leaped off the offering platform, landing less than three meters from him, yet Meng Changxi was not worried in the slightest. As long as he left the shrine untouched, the "Headless Corpse Buddha's" hatred would naturally remain fixed on Zhang Xuan, who had already broken the Ghost Domain.

Boom!

The offering platform collapsed, and the giant Buddha formed from heaps of putrid human heads leaped down with a thunderous crash. A foul-smelling, sinister wind struck like an iron hammer. Even from more than ten meters away, Zhang Xuan was forced to stagger backward.

Such might was truly horrifying.

Monk Sanjie's eyes nearly split with fury. The veins in his neck bulged like iron cables about to snap as he roared himself hoarse, "Meng Changxi! We saved your life, and this is how you repay us? Destroy the Shrine!"

Meng Changxi turned a deaf ear to the Monk's words, the smile at the corner of his mouth like an icy dagger.

He was waiting—waiting for this monster to chase the two fools at the entrance so he could escape with the Buddha Treasure!

Saved my life? That was only because Master Meng put on a good show!

I could cast aside even my fellow disciples without a thought. Would I destroy the Buddha Treasure over your petty favors?

Ridiculous.

This Buddha Treasure was his bargaining chip, his key to wealth and power. Whether he sold it to the powerful elite of West Ridge City or offered it to the Demon Suppression Bureau to secure a future for himself, either would be an excellent choice.

He watched as crimson light flared all over the great Buddha pieced together from countless rotting heads, deepening until it was nearly pitch-black.

As the Headless Corpse Buddha lunged at them with monstrous ferocity, Zhang Xuan shouted in a weak, hoarse voice, "Forget him... run!"

By now, Zhang Xuan was already an arrow at the end of its flight.

Innate Supreme Unity Divine Thunder was one of the Five Thunder Righteous Art. Its caster had to connect his qi to heavenly truth, using primordial qi, qi refinement, and qi circulation to kindle the body's Samadhi True Fire, resonate with the Thunder God, and invoke the orthodox arts of the Thunder Ministry!

Samadhi True Fire consisted of heart fire, lung fire, and kidney fire.

Also known as Sovereign Fire, Minister Fire, and People's Fire, these were the fires of human essence.

Zhang Xuan's face looked as worn as rusted iron. Repeatedly using Innate Supreme Unity Divine Thunder in such a short time had nearly exhausted his Samadhi True Fire. His head felt ready to split, as though countless fine needles were stirring inside his skull.

Meanwhile, the Corpse Buddha moved.

The Corpse Buddha's rotting foot suddenly crushed three heads beneath him. Gray-white brain matter sprayed like molten lead, and the vines on the roof beams splashed with it instantly surged in length, coiling around the Corpse Buddha's body like pythons. Amid the sound of splitting flesh, the distance of more than ten meters vanished, bringing him abruptly closer to Zhang Xuan and the Monk.

His right arm, twisted together from over a hundred heads, rose high. Every head's mouth had torn open as far as the ears, and black blood laden with maggots dripped between jagged teeth.

How was that an arm? It was plainly a spiked mace covered in backward-facing blades—one touch meant death!

His right arm swept sideways with the crushing force of thunder, bearing straight down on Zhang Xuan and the Monk.

"Roaaar—!"

The Monk's eyes nearly split. He clenched his teeth, his cheeks bulging, and was about to turn back to meet the attack.

"Don't stop! Go!" Zhang Xuan tugged at the Monk's robe.

The Monk hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and pulled a string of prayer beads from the cloth bag in his hand. There were thirty-six beads, forged from solid iron and weighing dozens of pounds, their surfaces coated in thick black dog blood.

He had taken the opportunity to smear it on while Zhang Xuan was breaking through the wall.

The foul wind raised by the sweeping, rotten arm overturned the floor tiles, and the stark white bones beneath them rose like living creatures. The Monk's eyes widened in fury, and the veins in his neck protruded like the gnarled roots of an ancient tree. He ripped open his robe, exposing bronze-colored arms, and as his muscles swelled, they creaked like bowstrings drawn taut.

The Monk bellowed, "Monster, taste this Buddha's relics!"

The instant he hurled the iron prayer beads, the blood-coated strand traced thirty-six crimson rainbows through the air. The black dog blood met the lingering lightning residue and ignited in the wind, turning into thirty-six fiery meteors that slammed into the Corpse Buddha's chest and belly.

As the chain of fire lashed the Corpse Buddha's torso, the clang of metal rang out through thick, foul-smelling smoke. Thirty prayer beads buried themselves deep in the rotten flesh, burning with eerie blue flames, and the stench of scorching flesh rose into the sky.

Dark light flashed through the hollow eyes of the dozens of hideous heads on the Corpse Buddha's chest. Hundreds upon thousands of black tendrils writhed out like maggots, frantically beating at the lightning fire on his body. Within a few breaths, all the lightning fire blasted into his chest and belly by the burning prayer beads had been extinguished.

Nevertheless, the Headless Corpse Buddha's enormous body faltered in its lunge toward Zhang Xuan and the others. Seizing the chance, the two quickly escaped through the breach in the fleshy temple wall.

The moment they left the ruined temple, they felt most of the invisible force constricting their necks disappear.

"My neck doesn't hurt as much!"

The Monk, who had followed Zhang Xuan out of the ruined temple, noticed it too. Delighted, he clutched his neck, which was no longer seeping blood.

Inside the temple, the Corpse Buddha flew into a rage when the offerings already at his lips managed to escape...

Over a thousand pairs of eyes all across his body fixed on Zhang Xuan and the Monk's retreating backs outside the temple. Every head opened its mouth and roared, sending a terrifying wave of sound sweeping in every direction, filling heaven and earth.