Stone Buddha, Stone Heart

Rumble!

It was as if an earth dragon had turned over, sending clouds of dust rolling skyward.

Cracks spread across the ground. Beneath the cover of the Eight-Armed Stone Buddha's eight arms, a beam of golden light shot into the heavens.

Crack!

With the sound of rock breaking, as though some switch had been triggered, dense cracks rapidly spread upward along five of the Stone Buddha's arms.

Right after that, the five Stone Buddha arms shattered into fragments that filled the sky, while the remaining massive arms were blasted away by a terrifying force.

The Eight-Armed Stone Buddha was now a Three-Armed Stone Buddha. Its enormous body swayed, and some of the clay coating its body shook loose.

Crack.

A neither-large-nor-small fissure split open across the Stone Buddha's blurred face, half Buddha and half demon.

Strands of pitch-black demonic aura seeped from that crack.

Meanwhile, Zhuge Yucheng, who had originally stood safely atop the Stone Buddha's shoulder—

Was now sprawled across its broad shoulder, as if endless resentment were ravaging his mind.

The pain made him wish he were dead.

Two trails of bloody tears slid from the corners of his eyes as he clutched his head and rolled about.

Within the dust ahead—

Luo Chen sat cross-legged in his Prison Suppressing Golden Body, unharmed apart from a little dust on him and the surging blood and qi within his body.

With no outsiders left to interfere—

Luo Chen had no more reservations.

He went all out!

Oh, right. The Greater Demon on him did not count as a person.

The Prison Suppressing Golden Body's power to suppress prisons and slay demons erupted at full force. In certain circumstances, the Prison Suppressing Golden Body was his strongest means of dealing with Demonic Beasts!

Golden Scale shimmered beneath the sunlight, its golden scales casting flickering reflections. Yin Yang True Gang and prison-suppressing power circulated over the blade.

From within the dust, he slashed out.

Terrifying True Gang erupted with a thunderous roar.

The ground between them was like papier-mâché, combed into a center part.

A deep ravine tore straight through it.

Zhuge Yucheng sat cross-legged atop the Stone Buddha's shoulder with his eyes shut. Pressing his palms together, he shouted.

The mud beneath the Eight-Armed Stone Buddha churned, earth and stone rolling. As huge boulders rose into the air, its eight arms were restored in the blink of an eye.

The eight arms pressed their palms together. Yet no Buddha nature emanated from the Stone Buddha; instead, demonic aura and resentful souls roiled before it, forming a skull.

Bursts of strange laughter drifted through the chilly wind.

Familiar faces seemed to emerge upon the massive skull—those were the Demon Suppressing Guards who had died today!

Killing intent flashed through Luo Chen's eyes at the sight.

Yin Yang True Gang, empowered by prison-suppressing force, crashed into the skull.

Prison Suppressing Demon Slaying!

There was no earth-shattering upheaval, only resentful souls dissolving amid shrill wails.

The skull of resentful souls failed to halt the True Gang's advance, only weakening its power somewhat.

The Yin Yang True Gang arrived before the Eight-Armed Stone Buddha in an instant.

Eight thick arms crossed before it in defense.

Yet they were instantly cut to pieces, unable to hold it back for even a moment.

The True Gang did not slow. It tore through the Eight-Armed Stone Buddha's body and stretched across the river, splitting the water apart and briefly creating a vacuum.

The clay coating on the Eight-Armed Stone Buddha's body exploded and fell away.

Amid repeated cracking sounds, its body split in two and collapsed to either side.

A notification sounded within Luo Chen's Spiritual Sea.

[You killed the Eight-Armed Stone Buddha (Mysterious Aperture) and plundered 450 years of lifespan.]

[Lifespan: 17/3039.]

With the Eight-Armed Stone Buddha dead—

Luo Chen's body went limp, and he nearly collapsed to the ground.

That slash had been his strongest attack yet.

He had fully unleashed both Yin Yang True Gang and the power of Prison Suppressing Demon Slaying, directly draining himself dry.

Fortunately, after giving it everything he had, he had finally defeated his opponent.

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Lying on the ground, he took a few shallow breaths.

After recovering a little strength, he climbed to his feet and walked step by step toward the shattered Stone Buddha.

Zhuge Yucheng was already dead, but the kill had not been credited to him.

His death was exceedingly miserable.

Half his head had exploded, while his body looked as if countless vicious ghosts had crawled over it, leaving behind one black handprint after another.

Luo Chen crouched down, removed a ring from Zhuge Yucheng's corpse, and put it away.

"Young friend, there is still a Buddha Heart within this Stone Buddha's chest. You may keep it."

Li Changsheng's aged voice drifted out leisurely.

Hearing that, Luo Chen directly chiseled open half of the Stone Buddha's chest with his hands and pulled a "Stone Heart" from the clay body.

Looking at the palm-sized Stone Buddha Stone Heart—

Luo Chen sensed the power contained within it and wore a look of disdain.

"Senior, this Stone Heart doesn't seem useful."

"It would be more appropriate to call it a Demon Heart."

Li Changsheng shook his head slightly and explained.

"The Eight-Armed Stone Buddha guarded the Water Eye for several centuries, after all. There are also some Fishing Villages downstream that worship the Stone Buddha.

"There is more or less some Wish Power stored within this Stone Heart."

"Wish Power?" Luo Chen murmured. It was his first time hearing the term.

Still, he had read plenty of novels in his previous life, so he could make some guesses.

"Wish Power can be used to raise one's realm and cultivate special divine abilities and wondrous arts.

"It is generally enjoyed by Buddhist disciples or divine officials appointed by imperial dynasties, drawing sustenance from the incense offerings and living beings of the mortal world."

Li Changsheng took the initiative to explain it to Luo Chen.

"There is no free lunch in this world!"

Luo Chen smiled and casually stored the Stone Heart inside his Spatial Secret Treasure.

Hearing Luo Chen's words, Li Changsheng fell silent for a long while before sighing.

"Yes, there is no free lunch in this world. That Old Dragon has lived for thousands of years, yet it does not see as clearly as a child!"

Luo Chen narrowed his eyes. There was quite a lot of information in those words.

The Old Dragon Li Changsheng spoke of should be the existence within the Dragon Palace.

A true dragon was a dragon, and a Flood Dragon could also be considered a dragon!

Just as he was about to ask for details—

Li Changsheng directly avoided the subject and continued.

"Wish Power is condensed from the wishes and faith of all living beings. Once you accept Wish Power, you also become entangled in karma with all living beings."

"Young friend, your martial path reaches the heavens, and the skills you cultivate hold vast promise. You can sell this Stone Heart; I imagine quite a few living beings would be willing to buy it."

Luo Chen nodded slightly and looked toward the corpse at the side.

His eyes gleamed with thought.

"Senior, you said this man was a Demonic Blood Martial Artist, yet why does he not have any Demonic Beast characteristics?"

Luo Chen was considering how to report what had happened here to Shangguan Changyue.

After all, the losses this time were too great. Several hundred Demon Suppressing Guards and one Deputy Director—nearly a third of Qingyuan City's Demon Suppression Bureau forces—had been lost.

"This man tried to refine the Eight-Armed Stone Buddha, only to suffer a backlash. Then you killed the Stone Buddha, and his Spiritual Sea was flooded with endless resentment. He committed suicide."

Li Changsheng had lived for several thousand years. Even though he was heavily injured now, he still had that much discernment.

Suicide!

Would Shangguan Changyue believe it?

Would his older brother Zhuge Xing believe it?

Luo Chen thought for a moment. Right, he still had an eyewitness.

Huh? Where had Xiao Xiuzhu gone?

Luo Chen looked all around. Suddenly, a large hand stretched out from the river at the riverbank, and a figure staggered out of the water.

Luo Chen showed an embarrassed expression and hurried over to Xiao Xiuzhu, helping him up.

Xiao Xiuzhu clutched his head, feeling as though his brain had been turned to mush.

He shook his head hard, trying to throw the Buddha chants from his mind.

After a long while, he finally asked faintly.

"Who am I?"

"Where am I?"

"..."

"Awesome!"