In the dense woods, Banruo leaned close to a night-vision scope, observing Gu Yechen as he conducted his auction in the valley. (Book reprinted from Wenxue Website .6.) He watched Andre storm out of the valley with his subordinates, and saw a large contingent of the Church's clergy emerge from their hiding places, falling into neat formation to follow Andre toward the two transport shuttles anchored nearby.

Banruo’s expression instantly shifted, his heart giving a painful lurch; he suddenly sensed that Maha was undergoing some catastrophic change. The coarse cloth robes on Banruo’s body silently disintegrated into dust. Like a leopard suddenly launching an attack on its prey, Banruo sprang into the air, his toes delivering a vicious stamp against a massive tree, his powerful frame shooting like an arrow into the vast, unbroken forest.

Siren leaped up with a jolt, barking a low command: “Alert!”

In just a few swift bounds, Banruo covered over three hundred meters. He vaguely sensed Maha’s life force growing weaker, knowing Maha was at the very brink of death. Anxiety clawed at Banruo. Within his eyes, a faint, ghostly blue Swastika mudra began to condense, while a barely perceptible, milky-white aura radiated out from within him, swirling beneath his feet to form two blossoming lotus flowers.

A figure, entirely shrouded in black, materialized abruptly before Banruo. Banruo’s eyes narrowed; the mudra in his pupils flared brilliantly, and Banruo roared, “Lotus Vase, shatter!” His right fist pulsed forward, a milky-white lotus blooming over the knuckles, and a vase-shaped surge of energy exploded forth.

The black shadow slowly turned. It was a young girl, clad in a black kimono, as delicate and fragile as a magnolia blossom. The girl possessed long, flowing black hair, and her wide eyes held not a spark of vitality. Her hands remained hidden within the voluminous sleeves of her kimono, her pale lips parting slightly as she whispered, “Excuse me, is anyone here?” Her vacant eyes scanned dryly; the girl appeared utterly blind.

Startled, Banruo slammed his left palm hard against his right fist. The vase-shaped energy roared past the girl’s face. With a deafening crack-snap, the blast severed a thick lock of hair near the girl’s ear, sending a flurry of dark strands dancing across the air. The girl shrieked in fright, her frail body trembling as she collapsed to the ground. The divine light in Banruo’s eyes intensified. He fixed the girl with a profound look and boomed, “Do not fear, I am no villain. Wait here, I will attend to urgent business and return!”

Banruo’s towering silhouette swept over the spot where she lay. He could already feel Maha less than a hundred meters ahead; Maha’s life essence was fading like a candle flame in the wind, on the verge of being extinguished. All of Banruo’s focus was zeroed in on the minute fluctuations emanating from Maha. His heart boiling with urgency, he completely overlooked the young girl on the ground.

A strange, sinister, cerulean light flashed in the girl’s eyes. She murmured a quiet chant, “The lineage of the Yakushiji sect, servant clan of the Three Witches, enters—Yakushiji Sakura reporting!”

Two fair, pale hands shot out from her sleeves. These delicate, porcelain hands instantly turned mottled blue-black, with tendrils of greenish energy winding around her fingertips, vaguely forming the illusory image of two three-tailed scorpions. Yakushiji Sakura smiled faintly and struck out with lightning speed, pressing both hands firmly against Banruo’s Dantian point.

A dull sound, like tearing leather, erupted. The skin around Banruo’s Dantian suddenly burst open, splattering blue-black blood. A lethally venomous and sinister miasma surged directly into Banruo’s viscera. Wherever it passed, the vital essence within his muscles and bones withered rapidly, like flowers burned by fierce flames. In the span of a single breath, Banruo’s face, once luminous as white jade, became overlaid with a thick layer of dark miasma. Yakushiji Sakura’s palm strike was incredibly potent; Banruo’s massive body was sent soaring twenty meters high by the impact of her two hands. Banruo felt a gut-wrenching, knife-twisting pain, and he spat a mouthful of blood a great distance away.

Blasted into the air, Banruo glared down at Yakushiji Sakura, who lay on the ground with a cunning smirk. Banruo roared in fury, activating all thirteen of his primary meridians to their fullest extent. Ignoring the poison raging through his system, the Yuan Power of the Zen Gate—from the Soul Wheel, Life Wheel, and Qi Wheel—surged forth like a massive river and ocean. He formed the External Binding Lion Seal with both hands, shouting a Vajrayana mantra, and a white lion, three feet long with a golden bell dangling from its mouth, materialized between his palms. With a sweep of his hands downward, the white lion, imbued with all of Banruo’s might, was ready to crash down upon Yakushiji Sakura.

Just as Banruo launched his full-force attack, a piercing sword-light, sharp as the sickle wielded by a reaper from hell, tore through the air from the dense foliage of a massive tree beside him. The sword-light was blindingly bright, yet as it flashed, the moonlight in the vicinity abruptly dimmed; this single strike had stolen all the essence of the light cast by the three full moons in the sky. The bitterly cold, malevolent sword qi whistled toward him. Several meters from Banruo’s body, the qi had already shredded his inner garments into powder.

“The lineage of the Guanyin Temple, servant clan of the Three Witches, enters—Oni-Ninja Guanyin Temple Qigui reporting.” The one who unleashed this strike was a dwarf, standing less than three feet tall. The dwarf’s voice was hoarse and dry, like two stones grinding together, imbued with rampant malevolence and emitting an oppressive aura of death.

Banruo strained to turn his body, directing the lion-shaped energy from his hands with great difficulty toward the incoming torrent of sword energy. Forcibly diverting the momentum of his full-power strike threw his thirteen meridian wheels into chaos, the stabbing pain causing his vision to blacken. Great gouts of blood spewed from all seven of his orifices.

Yakushiji Sakura on the ground pursed her lips into a smile. She slowly drew a black stiletto, two feet long and thinner than half a finger. Her graceful body leaped up as lightly as a willow catkin in the wind, the point of the sword aimed viciously and obliquely toward Banruo’s vital spot between the shoulder blades. A faint, blue-green shadow flickered on the blade, and a faint, sweet fragrance drifted into the air—it was clearly coated in potent poison.

In an instant, Banruo was plunged into a fatal predicament.

Maha lay on the ground, his body trembling spasmodically. The evil woman had drained nearly all the vital essence from him; only a single strand of soul-flame within his Soul Wheel clung stubbornly to its position. If this wisp of soul-flame were sucked from his body, Maha’s life would instantly end, and in the most horrific manner possible—his soul scattered, never to attain rebirth.

Jizo-ji Keiko gracefully swayed her hips, the suction force emanating from her body growing stronger. Her pretty, youthful face leaned close to Maha’s ear, and her smooth tongue slowly licked his earlobe. “Uncle, your Zen Gate divine skills are so powerful, hehe! They are at least equal to Keiko’s decades of hard practice! This last little bit of innate soul fire, won’t you bestow it upon Keiko? With this tiny bit of innate soul fire, Keiko’s Spirit-Possessed Three-Tailed Fox Immortal will become even mightier!”

Maha’s body shook violently; he sucked in long, ragged breaths, feeling his body and spirit on the verge of collapse. His elder brother, Banruo, was nearby, rushing with all speed, but if he were even a fraction slower, Maha was doomed to perish by Jizo-ji Keiko’s hand. Yet, Maha suddenly sensed that Banruo, too, was in extreme danger. Maha’s eyes snapped wide open, and he strained to turn his head toward the direction from which Banruo was coming.

If Banruo died, Maha’s death was certain. Thin rivulets of water streamed from Maha’s eyes.

A clump of earthy-yellow ground energy suddenly erupted from the soil behind Jizo-ji Keiko. Xin Jia, carrying a high-energy cannon, burst forth from the earth. As soon as he surfaced, Xin Jia saw a Three-Tailed Demon Fox radiating a sinister aura directly in front of him. The Maha he knew lay on the ground, desperately being exploited of his innate essence by a delicate young girl, so emaciated he resembled a mere skeleton frame. Fierce killing intent blazed in Xin Jia’s large eyes; he roared, “Evil spirit, how dare you harm people here!”

A shaft of earthy-yellow lightning, as thick as a human wrist, slammed down from the sky. The Three-Tailed Demon Fox, writhing behind Jizo-ji Keiko, let out a desperate screech before being reduced to ash within the searing light. The violent lightning utterly annihilated the demon fox’s primal imprint, and the massive energy condensed within the fox surged like a tide into Jizo-ji Keiko’s body.

Jizo-ji Keiko had been exerting herself to the maximum, draining Maha’s essence, spirit, and mind. Her own cultivation was limited; she could not possibly accommodate the sheer power flooding from Maha. Consequently, ninety percent of the energy she absorbed had been stored within the Demon Fox. When the fox was suddenly obliterated by the celestial thunder, the massive energy rushed back, causing her to swell to the point of near-explosion.

Xin Jia grabbed Jizo-ji Keiko by the neck, roaring like thunder, “Evil spirit, reverse your wicked technique and feed the true essence back—quickly!”

Xin Jia’s voice exploded in Jizo-ji Keiko’s Sea of Consciousness like colossal thunder. Having cultivated evil arts, Keiko’s three souls and seven spirits were nearly blasted to powder by the purely Yang and fiercely potent roar imbued with the Demon Subduing Secret Arts. Coupled with the surging energy within her, Jizo-ji Keiko could no longer bear such immense power. Instinctively, she obeyed Xin Jia’s command, reversing her cultivation method to feed the vast energy back into Maha.

Pure energy, like massive rivers and vast seas, poured into Maha’s body. Maha, who moments before was as withered as a skeleton, regained his normal appearance in the space of a single breath. Maha threw his head back and roared. Within his eyes, two spheres of ghostly blue Swastika mudras condensed fiercely. The mudras spun rapidly, and Maha, teeth gritted in fury, began to operate the dual cultivation Zen method of Esoteric Buddhism he had mastered!

A suction force several times stronger than Keiko’s own pull erupted from Maha’s body, swirling outward. Evil light flashed wildly in Jizo-ji Keiko’s eyes as she shrieked in terror, “Heavens, spare me!” The pulling force within Maha was not only frantically reclaiming his own lost essence, spirit, and mind, but it was also aggressively plundering every scrap of vital essence belonging to Jizo-ji Keiko. Especially since Keiko had corrupted countless martial artists through her wicked techniques, the immense vital energy stored within the Three-Tailed Fox now rushed into Maha’s body.

Xin Jia’s thick fingers struck Jizo-ji Keiko’s Jingcu acupuncture point three times heavily. Xin Jia roared sharply, “Wicked cultists deserve to die!”

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Ugh, this pig head finally caught his breath... Typing, typing, striving to type... Comrades, keep smashing those votes...