Chapter 349: Chapter 174: He Ran Away Again, Henceforth Venerable Mahakala

"My grandmaster is in good health. I thank the Sect Leader for his concern."

Master Qingyang formed a sign with his hands, a Magic Technique that dissolved the Panshi into nothingness. At the same time, he pointed a finger, and another boulder materialized out of thin air, crushing down on the Saint Lotus Sect Leader once more.

Thanks to the two delays caused by the Panshi, Zhao Rui had already caught up.

"Not bad, not bad."

The Saint Lotus Sect Leader gave a carefree smile. He reached out and, with a pulling motion, grabbed a corner of the Shi Gandang. Then he squeezed hard, and a tremendous force instantly erupted.

The force was so great it even dragged Master Qingyang’s Dharma Body forward with it.

Master Qingyang was horrified. He hurriedly swung his palm, sending out streams of invisible True Qi toward the Saint Lotus Sect Leader.

The Saint Lotus Sect Leader drew a circle in the air with his right palm, absorbing all the True Qi into it and reducing it to nothing.

Then, he clenched his five fingers into a fist, pulled his arm back, and thrust it forward, his fingers instantly snapping open.

The True Qi he had just absorbed transformed in an instant, becoming a blast of formidable True Qi several times more powerful than what Master Qingyang had unleashed. It boomed toward Master Qingyang.

Master Qingyang frantically conjured the Shi Gandang to block in front of him.

The immense force sent both the Shi Gandang and Master Qingyang flying nearly a thousand meters before they could stop.

In that brief moment, Zhao Rui had already closed the distance. With his right hand wreathed in ice and his left in fire, he struck at the Saint Lotus Sect Leader with both palms.

"What a mix of Martial Arts!"

"What incredible comprehension!"

A flicker of surprise crossed the Saint Lotus Sect Leader’s eyes. His figure blurred as he began to exchange blows with Zhao Rui.

"The Sect Leader isn’t so bad himself!"

Zhao Rui glanced at the system message that appeared in his mind: "Replicable Martial Arts discovered: Great Sumeru Buddha Hand. Replicate?"

He replicated it without hesitation.

’It’s actually Buddhist Martial Arts. This Sect Leader’s background is a bit strange.’

The two of them exchanged several hundred blows in the blink of an eye. Master Qingyang charged back into the fray, joining forces with Zhao Rui to fight the Saint Lotus Sect Leader.

Although this battle wasn’t as earth-shattering as the one between Cang Zhenzi and Cangwu Zi not far away, it was even more perilous.

The Saint Lotus Sect Leader appeared calm and unhurried, but every one of his techniques was lethal. An ordinary Grandmaster Realm practitioner likely wouldn’t be able to withstand a single blow.

There was more to his techniques than met the eye. A seemingly ordinary move would have a powerful follow-through, its True Qi carrying a continuous, lingering offensive force.

Without the power of a High-Tier Dharma Realm expert, it was impossible to contend with him.

The three of them fought from the sky down to the ground, from the mountaintop into the very earth.

The onlookers watching from afar couldn’t see the trio’s figures at all.

Aside from brief moments when they reappeared, their speed was so extreme that it far surpassed the visual reaction time of ordinary Martial Artists.

"They’re so strong! Is this the Dharma Realm?"

The spectating Martial Artists turned pale with fright. Just a moment ago, they had been planning to get closer for a better look.

’If we had, we probably wouldn’t even have known what killed us.’

"Who is that young man who arrived later? I don’t recognize him."

"I thought I heard ’Zhao’ something from a distance. Could the Taishan Sect have sent a prodigy?"

The crowd buzzed with speculation.

Just then, a sudden change occurred on the battlefield. Cangwu Zi, who had been in a daze and acting purely on instinct, suddenly had his pupils turn black, and his body began to shrink.

Zhao Rui, having seen this before, was startled and quickly shouted, "He’s regaining consciousness! The Demonic Thought is reawakening!"

The reawakening of the Demonic Thought meant that the Heart Demon and Cangwu Zi’s consciousness were merging into one. At this moment, Cangwu Zi would become a sentient, self-aware titan of the Demon Dao.

No longer a witless fool to be toyed with.

When he fled from his previous fight with Zhao Rui, it was because the Demonic Thought had reawakened, granting him a moment of clarity.

For some unknown reason, he had fallen back into chaos, which led to the current situation.

Cang Zhenzi grew frantic. He hurriedly chanted True Words, his figure flickered, and he began to unleash a Secret Technique upon Cangwu Zi.

Unfortunately, before he could get close, the Saint Lotus Sect Leader’s Dharma Body had already manifested, shielding Cangwu Zi tightly behind it.

The Dharma Body that appeared this time was not exceptionally tall, only about ten to twenty meters high.

But its nine ferocious snake heads still looked enormous and were filled with a tyrannical aura.

"I’ll handle Cangwu Zi! You guys hold him off for a bit!"

Seeing this, Zhao Rui quickly used the Dipper Step, flashing across the distance toward Cangwu Zi.

Master Qingyang and Cang Zhenzi exchanged a look and charged at the Saint Lotus Sect Leader with everything they had.

BANG!

BANG!

After a few dull thuds, Cang Zhenzi’s Dharma Body was sent flying. It struggled for a moment before stabilizing.

Before he could charge forward again, Master Qingyang’s body came flying over as well.

’He’s actually this powerful?’

Cang Zhenzi’s scalp tingled. Only now did he realize that Zhao Rui and Master Qingyang had been able to fight the Saint Lotus Sect Leader for so long not because they were evenly matched...

...but because Zhao Rui had been carrying Master Qingyang through the fight.

The moment Zhao Rui left and he took his place, the gap in their power became immediately obvious.

’Senior Brother Cangwu, what kind of monster did you provoke?!’

Cang Zhenzi felt his scalp go numb.

As the two were knocked away, the Saint Lotus Sect Leader’s snake heads swayed and struck out at Zhao Rui in unison.

Seeing this, Zhao Rui let out a great roar. Boundless True Qi surged from his body, and then a massive Dharma Body, over a hundred meters tall, materialized.

"This is..."

The Saint Lotus Sect Leader glanced at Cangwu Zi, then back at Zhao Rui, and said in astonishment, "The Purple Mansion Primordial Venerable Body? You actually know this ultimate technique of the Qingcheng Sect?"

"You truly are full of surprises."

As the Saint Lotus Sect Leader spoke, he sent four of the snake heads to pincer attack Zhao Rui.

Meanwhile, he himself moved closer to Cangwu Zi and suddenly began channeling Demon Sound.

In response, Zhao Rui grabbed one snake head with each hand and squeezed abruptly, directly crushing the True Qi constructs.

At the same time, a long cry erupted from his lips as he unleashed both the Six Yi Charm Immortal Technique and the Illusionary Sound Technique to their fullest extent.

A formless wave of Soul Power washed over both the Saint Lotus Sect Leader and Cangwu Zi.

The Saint Lotus Sect Leader’s movements paused, and a flicker of stupor crossed his eyes, but he regained his clarity in a mere instant.

A flash of shocked anger appeared in the Saint Lotus Sect Leader’s eyes. He hadn’t expected this person named Zhao Rui to possess such powerful Soul Power.

It was actually able to affect his mind. Even if it was only for an instant, that was already extremely deadly.

In a battle between experts, a single instant can often decide the victor.

Moreover, his Sound Wave Skill was actually able to counter the Demon Sound Piercing Ears.

This caused ripples of uncertainty in his heart, which had just been certain of victory.

He looked at Cangwu Zi, then at Zhao Rui, who was now right in front of him.

All nine snake heads instantly lunged, biting at Zhao Rui’s True Dharma Body.

Zhao Rui blocked left and right, grabbing the snake heads with his hands and twisting them violently.

Not to be outdone, the Saint Lotus Sect Leader’s massive, serpent-like Dharma Body coiled directly toward Zhao Rui’s Dharma Body.

Zhao Rui dodged aside, unleashing powerful Palm Force to strike at the snake heads.

The massive fluctuations of True Qi blasted one crater after another into the ground.

Just then, Master Qingyang and Cang Zhenzi returned.

The three of them each manifested their True Dharma Bodies and attacked the Saint Lotus Sect Leader in unison.

The Saint Lotus Sect Leader had many snake heads, but even he couldn’t withstand the combined assault of three High-tier Dharma Grandmasters. In just a moment, six of the heads were destroyed.

However, they were just manifestations of True Qi. If they were destroyed, they could be manifested again.

While the two sides were locked in a stalemate, Cangwu Zi, who had been slowly succumbing to the darkness, suddenly sat down cross-legged, placing his hands flat over his Dantian.

Then, a nameless pressure emanated from his entire being.

His eyes crackled like lightning, a sharp glint flashing through them.

"The Three Corpses as my carriage, the Five Skandhas as my steeds, I cross the sea of greed, anger, and ignorance. Only by ascending the shoreless I see the True Abyss!..."

The Demon Sound from his mouth rang out like a great bell, reverberating across the land.

Even the four combatants stopped fighting in unison, each one standing still in mid-air.

"Mahayana Infinite!"

Cangwu Zi rose to his full height. He glanced around, then at the four people beside him, Cang Zhenzi among them, who had all retracted their Dharma Aspects.

Then he spoke, "Today, I am I. True clarity sees the True Void. I depart not yet a Venerable, but shall return as Mahakala!"

"Everyone, thank you for your company on this journey!"

After speaking, his figure flashed and vanished from everyone’s sight. In the blink of an eye, he had reappeared beside the woman from the Holy Lotus Sect.

Cangwu Zi extended his hand and made a slight pulling gesture. Song Ziwen’s body flew from the woman’s hands into his palm.

Then, with another flicker, he sped away toward the east.