Ye Wen's intention to take the Monkey's life was hardly surprising. Though he held no past grievances or recent enmity with the Victorious Fighting Buddha, this was a national war between two factions, devoid of personal vendettas; in such a theater, exerting maximum effort to eliminate the opponent's fighting strength was simply the correct course of action.

By rights, Ye Wen was neither a Heavenly General nor an active deity of the Celestial Court, so there was no compelling reason for him to strike so ruthlessly. In a way, as the foremost master of a major sect, he ought to have maintained a degree of neutrality in certain matters, playing both sides and offending neither! This way, even if the Buddhist Realm conquered this world, his sect could easily continue its legacy.

In reality, many sects within the Eastern Immortal Realm harbored this exact sentiment. Consequently, during these great wars, one would rarely see disciples from other factions; even those whose members held posts in the Celestial Court would find various excuses or pretexts to evade this battle!

Simultaneously, the Jade Emperor also mistrusted these individuals, fearing they might stir up trouble on the battlefield, and thus never dispatched them to the front lines. In this regard, both sides seemed to have reached a tacit understanding.

Compared to these others, it seemed Ye Wen had no need for such severe measures... However, the situation of the Shu Mountain Sect was different. The Shu Mountain Sect was still a sect sustained by the Celestial Court; it wouldn't be an overstatement to say the Celestial Court had nurtured it. While other sects could stand on the wall and observe, the Shu Mountain Sect could not!

There was also a personal factor for Ye Wen. He inherently despised those who straddled the fence. To put it bluntly, the Arhats and Buddhas of the Buddhist Realm were an entirely different civilizational system. As the ancients always said: "Those not of our kind must have different hearts!" This proverb applied perfectly to these monks. He certainly didn't believe that even if he ingratiated himself with the Buddhist Realm now, they would treat him kindly once they gained the upper hand.

Now that he had already made his move, and such a heavy one at that, letting the enemy go would be tantamount to releasing a tiger back into the mountains. He was not capable of such folly. Rather than retreat and constantly worry if this Monkey would seek revenge later, it was far better to settle the matter here and now, once and for all!

The moment his killing intent arose, it naturally did not escape the notice of those few powerful figures. The Immovable Wisdom King was greatly startled to see this Shu Mountain Sect Master possess such terrifying power and strike without mercy. Ignoring his existing injuries, he immediately raised the Wisdom Sword and charged forward.

At the same time, the Peacock King also activated his Five-Colored Divine Light, sweeping directly toward Ye Wen. Even if he couldn't capture Ye Wen, he intended to force him to pause; if he could compel Ye Wen to dodge and retreat, that would be even better.

Yet, Ye Wen was already well-informed about the Five-Colored Divine Light—Hua Yi’s version, though a knock-off, was still based on the Five-Colored Divine Light, providing excellent reference material.

Thus, as Kong Xuan's divine light swept toward him, Ye Wen didn't even bother to evade. He channeled the Profound Universe Qi, and with a casual wave of his hand, unleashed an extremely bizarre sword aura that forcefully cleaved a fissure in the space before him. When the Five-Colored Divine Light reached its proximity, it suddenly vanished, causing even Kong Xuan, watching from afar, to jump in alarm.

"What in the world is that?"

He knew the Shu Mountain Sect Master possessed the art of commanding ten thousand swords, but he was unaware of this man's other capabilities. His previous battle with the Victorious Fighting Buddha had primarily involved using flying swords to engage the enemy; at most, he had only displayed his close-quarters combat prowess—Kong Xuan did not fear this, as his own close combat ability was extremely formidable; he wouldn't shrink from a brawl even with Yang Jian.

Moreover, at close range, his Five-Colored Divine Light was even more inscrutable and hard to defend against. But the sword qi Ye Wen had just displayed sent a spike of caution through him. Only now did he realize Ye Wen possessed many abilities he was completely ignorant of. Rushing in recklessly, he suspected the one who would suffer was himself.

While he was calculating his options, the Immovable Wisdom King was thinking less complexly. He knew that if the Victorious Fighting Buddha were also killed by the Heavenly Court's forces, this entire battle would be over. The Buddhist Realm would be completely disadvantaged, and whether they could hold on would depend entirely on how determined the Heavenly Court was to eradicate them.

Although the Buddhist Realm still had many Buddha-level masters who hadn't made a move, the Heavenly Court still had the Old Master and the Jade Emperor who hadn't entered the fray. Typically, beings of that stature would not appear easily unless it reached a life-or-death crisis!

And for the battle to reach that stage... based on the current situation, it would mean the imminent annihilation of the Buddhist Realm!

Therefore, regardless of the situation, the Immovable Wisdom King had to save that Monkey. Even if the Monkey was gravely injured and unable to fight further, it was still better than being dead. Furthermore, losing two of the Five Great Wisdom Kings, followed by the Victorious Fighting Buddha, would deal too severe a blow to morale.

Wielding the Wisdom Sword rapidly, he unleashed streams of flame qi first toward the many flying swords Ye Wen had arrayed around Sun Wukong, aiming to shatter the sword formation and carve out a passage. As long as a single route was opened, the Monkey could use his Somersault Cloud to escape to safety.

But were the sword formations Ye Wen had deployed so easily broken? More importantly, these formations did not require a person to preside over them, nor did they need one to maintain the array. Only the weapons occupied specific positions and launched various assaults. The advantage was that these weapons did not need to concern themselves with their own safety!

Moves designed to result in mutual destruction within the formation were now treated as common responses. Thus, the Immovable Wisdom King's few strikes posed no real threat to these flying swords—even if you blast them, so what? The surrounding swords would simply fill the gap, sacrificing those few blades, allowing him to attack freely!

Moreover, Ye Wen had already charged forward. Seeing the Immovable Wisdom King summoning torrents of flame, he flipped his hand, channeling the Earth Kunlun and Indigo Sea Qi, and struck out immediately with the move, 'Overwhelming Power of the Mountain and Sea!'

This was originally a move devised for jest, but since Ye Wen's mastery of the Primordial Chaos Sutra had advanced, various techniques could be employed at will. Even techniques that did not originally exist could be simulated through the wondrous Qi of the Primordial Chaos Sutra, which almost encompassed all things in the world.

Just like the 'Galaxy Starburst' he used earlier, and the 'Overwhelming Power of the Mountain and Sea' he unleashed now!

The Qi erupted—earth-yellow peaks like mountains being shoved aside, and indigo-blue, churning, roaring seawater—intertwined and surged toward the flames released by the Immovable Wisdom King, forcibly making the flame Qi, which the Wisdom King prided himself upon, dissipate.

Upon seeing this, the Immovable Wisdom King gritted his teeth and cursed, "If this King were not already heavily wounded, how could I allow you to be so arrogant!"

Ye Wen paid him no mind and seized the opportunity to taunt, "Five against one, and not only did you fail to win, but the one who ended up heavily wounded dares to shout threats?"

The Immovable Wisdom King flew into a rage upon hearing this. He immediately activated the Immovable Wisdom King Flame Curse, with fire qi swirling around his body. Coupled with his ferocious expression, the Wisdom Sword in his hand was also coated in blazing flame. When swung, it no longer resembled a longsword but rather a long staff engulfed in fierce flames.

At this point, he no longer cared about saving Sun Wukong; his sole focus was to cleave Ye Wen to death! Of course, if he truly killed Ye Wen, Sun Wukong's crisis would naturally be resolved—it could be considered a sound strategy of attacking the enemy's rear base to relieve the front.

But what he never expected was that his arrival to rescue was entirely within Ye Wen's calculation. Ye Wen merely glanced from afar at the Peacock King, who was cautiously observing him from a distance, only willing to assist with spells. He sighed inwardly, "It's a pity that Kong Xuan is too cautious and didn't charge forward, but earning the Immovable Wisdom King's defeat is still a good outcome!"

He slightly closed his eyes, completely ignoring the colossal flaming sword hacking toward his head. Instead, he focused on sensing the rapid flow of True Qi within his body. Simultaneously, Ye Wen mobilized a wisp of purple Qi hidden deep within him, deploying his ultimate killing move, the Myriad Swords Return to One, once again. This time, what set it apart from the previous two deployments was that the number of observers had increased by several levels, and those trapped within the purple domain were no longer the Eight-Headed Serpent disguised as the Fiery Dragon Lord of the Heavens, but the renowned Immovable Wisdom King and the Victorious Fighting Buddha from the Immortal Realm.

Vast swathes of purple appeared almost instantaneously, completely engulfing that portion of heaven and earth. Although no one knew what this purple represented, the innate sense of dread it evoked stopped them from attempting to investigate further.

Kong Xuan, who was closer, retreated several hundred meters the moment the purple light appeared, putting distance between himself and that purple region before calming slightly. "What is this? This feeling... fills me with immense fear, yet it is somehow familiar?"

Meanwhile, Yang Jian, standing nearby, looked astonished. After carefully sensing the purple light, he observed it intently with the eye in the center of his brow for a while longer, finally exclaiming words that stunned everyone around him: "Chaos Sword Qi? Immortal Slaying Sword Formation?"

Those near the True Lord Erlang were his most trusted subordinates, figures of some standing in the Celestial Court, so they were naturally somewhat aware of the Immortal Slaying Sword Formation.

But according to their knowledge, the Immortal Slaying Sword Formation was composed of four immortal swords, reputed to slay all immortals; anyone trapped within it, even a Golden Immortal, could not escape!

However, the four immortal swords used to set up that formation were supposedly held by the Old Master in the Tushita Palace. How did Ye Wen obtain them?

"Could it be that this Sect Master Ye has a deep connection with that one in the Tushita Palace?"

Just as he was thinking this, he saw Yang Jian regaining his composure. After observing for a moment longer, he shook his head. "No, this is not the Immortal Slaying Sword Formation!"

The divine eye on Yang Jian's forehead was not merely for show. Although he had only witnessed the Immortal Slaying Sword Formation once, implying he shouldn't know if the formation had variations, he could still discern that the move Ye Wen displayed was not the Immortal Slaying Sword Formation—there was one fundamental difference: although Ye Wen's move was terrifying, it was still not as overwhelmingly powerful as the Immortal Slaying Sword Formation!

But this did not mean Ye Wen's move was easy to deal with. Yang Jian observed the array and roughly understood the situation of Ye Wen's technique. Let alone the people around him, even if he himself were accidentally trapped within those patches of purple, he likely wouldn't meet a good end.

At this moment, his evaluation of Ye Wen rose by immeasurable degrees. Setting aside everything else, with this single move alone, Ye Wen could basically stride unchallenged throughout the Immortal Realm. This was because there were very few beings in the Immortal Realm capable of withstanding this move—they were all among the most supreme entities in the Immortal Realm, and those individuals rarely ventured out or sought trouble with Ye Wen unnecessarily.

With such a powerful Sect Master presiding over the Shu Mountain Sect, who would dare cause trouble for them in the future? Leaving aside others, even the Celestial Court would likely have to show Shu Mountain a degree of respect from now on!

Having displayed such means, Ye Wen had cemented his status in the Immortal Realm—with this single move, it was likely that no one below the Golden Immortal level would dare challenge him. This wasn't to say Ye Wen was truly invincible below the Golden Immortal rank, but rather that even those close to his power level would be unwilling to risk the danger of falling out with Ye Wen.

This evaluation, for Ye Wen, who was virtually unknown just a few decades prior, was incredibly high. However, the Immovable Wisdom King and the Victorious Fighting Buddha, trapped within the vast swathes of purple, certainly did not think so. They discovered with astonishment that even exerting their full strength, they could not move an inch.

It felt as if the entire heaven and earth were working against them, or perhaps, it was simply impossible to move within this realm. This sensation was deeply uncomfortable, accompanied by a sense of awkward frustration from being unable to use one's strength.

And a few seconds later, they would no longer care about these sensations. After Ye Wen trapped the two with the Myriad Swords Return to One, he did not hesitate but launched his attack immediately.

Instantly, the two trapped within the purple experienced what it meant to have ten thousand swords pierce the heart, what it meant to be subjected to slow slicing, what it meant to be utterly flayed...

This sensation was truly difficult to describe to an outsider, as if every inch of skin had been sliced by countless sword edges. The Immovable Wisdom King practically dissolved into fine dust at the first moment, while the Victorious Fighting Buddha, rumored to be Vajra-Indestructible and whose physical body could withstand swords and blades, suffered far more pain. He endured an attack ten times greater than that received by the Immovable Wisdom King, primarily because he was uninjured and his physical body was inherently tougher.

But no matter how tough, it could not withstand this near-endless onslaught. After half a minute, the dignified Victorious Fighting Buddha also disintegrated into dust and vanished completely from this world, leaving behind only his Ruyi Jingu Bang, which shimmered with brilliant golden light!

The purple dissipated, and when everyone looked up again, the figures of the Immovable Wisdom King and the Victorious Fighting Buddha were nowhere to be seen in the sky. Even the slowest to react now knew what had transpired—some members of the Buddhist Realm considered that the Victorious Fighting Buddha had escaped using his Somersault Cloud, but as soon as this idea surfaced, they saw Ye Wen lift a hand, and the Monkey's Ruyi Jingu Bang, almost never separated from him, landed precisely in his palm, calmly radiating a soft golden glow. Simultaneously, in his other hand, he held the Immovable Wisdom King's Wisdom Sword. Compared to the perfectly intact Ruyi Jingu Bang, the Wisdom Sword looked far more tragic. Besides being inherently less sturdy than the Ruyi Jingu Bang, Ye Wen had deliberately spared the staff from attack—after all, within that purple domain, choosing who to strike and who not to was merely a thought, even if an object was pressed tightly against the target.

Only half the blade remained, shattered and ragged, having lost all its former brilliance and majesty. The handle was relatively intact, but it was barely enough to grip. The ornamental piece at the end of the handle was gone; Ye Wen certainly wouldn't know what it was now, as that section had been completely annihilated.

Seeing the sword in such a miserable state, Ye Wen lost interest in looking at it further. He tossed the ruined sword casually; under the gaze of everyone present, it spun in the air before falling to an unknown location—the manner of its descent seemed to foretell the demise of the Buddhist Realm’s Immovable Wisdom King. The expressions of the Buddhist Realm forces as they watched the sword fall from the high heavens were too complex to describe to outsiders.

Yet, not a single person dared to rush out of the formation to retrieve the weapon. Even the Immovable Wisdom King and the Victorious Fighting Buddha could not survive a single move against Ye Wen; if they rushed out, the man likely wouldn't even need to move his fingers before they were severed: the scene of Ye Wen standing motionless moments earlier, hands hanging at his sides, as flying swords emerged one by one to force the Victorious Fighting Buddha into constant retreat, was still vivid in their memories.

The Heavenly Court side was also dead silent. They had thought they had sufficiently raised their estimation of Ye Wen after reassessing him, but when the fact that the Immovable Wisdom King and the Victorious Fighting Buddha had been reduced to nothing remained before their eyes, Yang Jian realized he had underestimated the Shu Mountain Sect Master.

"Perhaps... the assessment that no one below Golden Immortal could defeat him was not an overestimation..."

Ye Wen casually sparred twice with the Ruyi Jingu Bang. He was a martial artist by origin, and his physical body had been tempered multiple times. Although the Ruyi Jingu Bang was incredibly heavy, it wasn't so much that he couldn't wield it—it merely felt slightly cumbersome; it wasn't a lack of strength, just that it felt awkward and unfamiliar.

After swinging it a couple of times, he tucked the staff away. Ye Wen took one step, and though he was facing the Buddhist army, everyone's vision blurred, and suddenly Ye Wen was standing before Yang Jian.

"Ultimately, I did not fail the mission—I took down the Victorious Fighting Buddha... and incidentally gained a bonus..."

Yang Jian's smile at this moment could hardly be called pleasant; he could even feel how forced his smile was. After acknowledging the accomplishment, he noticed the Buddhist army slowly retreating, yet displaying no panic under the command of the Peacock King, and thus ordered a withdrawal.

On the journey back, Ye Wen felt the atmosphere was strangely subdued. Victory should bring joy, yet Yang Jian remained silent, making Ye Wen wonder what he was thinking.

"Did I overdo it?"

His performance today was partly intended to display his abilities before the masses. His Shu Mountain Sect had survived in the Immortal Realm for quite some time; while they hadn't gained a great reputation, they had just begun to accumulate a small one. Now, positioned at such a sensitive juncture, it was bound to attract gossip.

His earlier thousand-mile pursuit of the Fiery Dragon Lord was aimed both at eliminating a future threat and at raising the fame of the Shu Mountain Sect. This battle today also harbored that very intention.

But now it seemed he might have... created too much of a stir.

"Why worry about it now? The fame is established, and the strength is displayed. Anyone who wants to cause trouble for me needs to seriously weigh their own capabilities first!"

If nothing else, these people would surely need to consider whether they could withstand the Myriad Swords Return to One, right?

In fact, quite a few people pondered this very question that night. Even after receiving the battle reports, the strongest few figures in the Immortal Realm began analyzing Ye Wen's technique.