Kiss of Death Returns

I'm done for! Dead meat!

Li Baiyi drove all the energy in his body into the sword in his hand, trying to break free of the indescribable law suppressing his body.

But he could do nothing. He could only stand there blankly, frozen in the act of striking with his sword.

In that instant, he thought of his life: happiness, wealth, power, and beauty.

What a wonderful life, Li Baiyi thought. Just as he was preparing to welcome death with a smile,

a clear but very low voice reached his ears, instantly restoring his ability to move.

"Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, while practicing the profound prajnaparamita, perceived that the five aggregates were empty and passed beyond all suffering. Sariputra, form is no different from emptiness, and emptiness is no different from form. Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form. The same is true of feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness. Sariputra, all phenomena are marked by emptiness. They are neither born nor destroyed, neither defiled nor pure, neither increasing nor decreasing."

That's Xu Chunliang's voice. He's reciting the Heart Sutra! So that works too?

Li Baiyi did not look at Xu Chunliang. He too opened his mouth and recited the Heart Sutra loudly alongside him!

"No realm of sight, and so on, up to no realm of consciousness. No ignorance and no end of ignorance, and so on, up to no aging and death and no end of aging and death. No suffering, its cause, its cessation, or the path. No wisdom and no attainment. Because there is nothing to attain, the bodhisattva relies on prajnaparamita, and the mind is without hindrance. Without hindrance, there is no fear."

At the same time, sword qi crisscrossed the air, slashing toward the Buddha Maiden's head.

When Xu Chunliang decided to destroy the light, he had already considered every problem he might encounter.

That included the possibility that once he made his move and the girl's Buddha chant stopped, he would lose his ability to move.

So the instant he drew his knife, he had begun softly reciting the Heart Sutra he had long since memorized, in the lowest voice he could manage.

Sure enough, when the girl's Buddha chant stopped, everyone lost the ability to move,

but he, reciting the Heart Sutra under his breath, did not!

Eerie Tiger Descends the Mountain! He used the momentum of his blade to carry himself high into the air, but his target was not the girl!

"Fuck you!"

Before the sharp edge of the brass knife, a three-headed eerie tiger took shape in an instant and lunged at the Buddha statue's hands.

Boom! The Buddha light exploded. Darkness fell in an instant.

A sudden flash of insight struck Li Baiyi. He stopped his attack on the Pearl Buddha Maiden and flipped to the side.

A strand of black hair arrived silently, passing by his cheek and piercing the pearl girl's eye.

"Hiss!!!"

An indescribably eerie scream rang out. Xu Chunliang could tell it came from the ugly face on the back of the Buddha Maiden's head.

Then the scream vanished. Darkness shrouded everything, swallowing it all.

Heaven and earth fell silent. Not a single light remained.

Li Baiyi rolled about wildly, dodging the black hair that appeared and vanished without warning...

Xu Chunliang shattered the golden relic with one slash, then climbed upward through the darkness without hesitation.

Since this great Buddha had been carved out of the mountain, he might be able to reach the summit by climbing along it. Perhaps the way out was there.

In the darkness, the black hair shot toward him,

driving into the back of his head and pinning his fine head to the Buddha statue's hand.

The enormous Buddha statue sat in the darkness, holding his head as though it were a relic that gave off no light.

Xu Chunliang died.

In the giant Buddha's hand, Xu Chunliang shattered the relic with one slash. As the indescribable scream rang out, he leaped quickly to the left, dodging the black hair's attack.

Then he climbed upward.

The giant eye hidden in the darkness stared fixedly at him, no one else remaining in its sight.

Without a sound, the black hair withdrew again, then shot toward Xu Chunliang.

Xu Chunliang died.

Once, twice, three times, ten times, fifteen times...

Xu Chunliang was trapped in the tedious cycle of death once more.

The one hundred and forty-third reset!

Enough!

Xu Chunliang let out a loud shout. The frequent deaths had stirred a frenzy in his formerly untroubled heart.

He shattered the relic with one slash.

As the Pearl Buddha Maiden's eerie scream rang out, he gripped the knife in both hands and closed his eyes.

Silently feeling the intent of death in his heart, he recalled the mysterious being he had seen above the high heavens that day.

He opened his eyes, and nothing but darkness remained in them.

A pure darkness countless times blacker than the darkness around him.

And so he saw the blue eye hidden deep in the darkness, and the black hair above it shooting toward him.

"Die." Xu Chunliang opened his mouth and uttered a hoarse word.

He brought his knife down, and a variegated darkness slashed forth from its edge.

"Hiss! Roar!" A mental sound wave came from the blue eye and reached Xu Chunliang's mind. He could tell

it was begging for mercy.

It was begging the one above the high heavens for mercy. It had taken Xu Chunliang for the representative of an indescribable being above the high heavens.

Xu Chunliang made no response to its pleas, simply bringing his knife steadily down on the strand of hair.

The impure [death], originating from Xu Chunliang's own intent, struck the hair.

Kiss of Death.

Though impure, the power of death was still unmatched. The blue eye gave a mournful cry and became utterly enfeebled.

Xu Chunliang pressed his advantage and struck again.

Awoo!

The intent of death in his mind was no longer strong, so this Kiss of Death became Eerie Tiger Howls at the Heavens.

Xu Chunliang gave a helpless, bitter smile and could only give up.

Damn it, how did this killing move turn into Duan Yu's Six Meridian Divine Sword? It works one moment and not the next.

He looked up at the pitch-black night sky, then stopped climbing and jumped down from the Buddha statue.

He seemed to step on something round and hard. Bending down, he reached out and felt around on the stone slab.

He found an icy-cold bead, about the size of a cherry.

Is this the one from the Pearl Buddha Maiden's mouth?

Without thinking much of it, he put the bead in his pocket, put away the brass knife, and continued forward at that same strolling pace.

He was as relaxed and at ease as if he were walking through his own courtyard.

He had already struck the giant eyeball until it was enfeebled and frightened out of its wits. There should be no danger in the darkness for the time being.

After walking a little over twenty paces, he heard the constant sound of robes cutting through the air ahead of him and followed it.

Only when he drew close did he see the dashing young master in white tumbling laboriously across the ground.

Energy surged throughout his body as he flipped left and rolled right, seemingly employing some exceptionally sophisticated movement technique.

It was as if he were fighting an invisible enemy.

Knowing that he was struggling against an imaginary strand of black hair, Xu Chunliang did not try to stop him. Folding his arms, he watched Li Baiyi curiously as he kept shifting position.

The movement technique was superb. He would secretly learn whatever he could.

Li Baiyi finally sensed that something was wrong.

Though the darkness around him was so deep he could not see his own hand, his natural sensitivity to energy still told him that there seemed to be someone beside him.

How does he dare stay still?

Doesn't that black-haired eerie attack him?

Puzzled, he rolled toward the figure he had sensed and finally saw Xu Chunliang's face.

"It's him?"