Chapter 283
Chapter 283
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 0
Chapter Title: I Too Advance
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"Can't fight any longer!"
Vimalakirti Venerable One's heart filled with dread. Streams of blood now rolled from his shattered golden body, while blazing profound flames slithered across him like countless serpents.
These fire serpents, born from Lu Yang's Dharma body, were utterly relentless. They burrowed straight into his five viscera and six bowels through the cracks in his broken golden form, igniting a ferocious blaze within. On top of that, the eerie soul-devouring force kept relentlessly yanking at his soul.
By any measure, he was completely on the back foot.
Vimalakirti Venerable One hovered in midair, hands pressed together in prayer, his face twisted in agony as if he had no strength left to fight. Yet his mind remained crystal clear.
"Time to unleash that spirit sword?"
He waited.
He waited for Lu Yang to strike first and cleave out that sea-splitting sword beam. But after a long wait, Lu Yang held back, content to maintain the deadlock.
"Hah!"
At last, Vimalakirti Venerable One exhaled deeply. Far from joy, regret clouded his features.
"I truly underestimated you."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the Pure Land Venerable shook himself. It was as if he were simply shrugging off a garment—he shed the layer of skin covering his body. It peeled away, carrying with it every wound Lu Yang had inflicted, every profound fire serpent and arcane wonder, all sloughed off with that human hide.
This was his secret ace, held in careful reserve.
Had Lu Yang unleashed [Calamity Wave], he could have used this technique to shed flesh and skin, taking the fatal blow in his stead and nullifying Lu Yang's decisive strike.
But Lu Yang did not move.
Enduring further under these conditions would be like a frog in warming water—pointless and costly. He had no choice but to play this card early.
Still, doubt gnawed at him.
"How did he know?"
The Pure Land brimmed with wondrous arts, and this [Burning Body Offering to Buddha] he had scarcely ever shown. Lu Yang should have had no counter prepared.
"Did he divine it?"
"But he's only nominally a Great Realman. How could he divine *me*? Unless... he carries a supreme heavenly secret treasure. That would make my odds even worse."
Vimalakirti Venerable One's heart sank.
And truly, Lu Yang had pierced his ploy through the [Illumination] marvel of [Calamity Wave], tracing cause and effect.
The next instant, Vimalakirti Venerable One sighed deeply and clasped his hands. Endless light-shadows bloomed behind him—row upon row of Buddhist mages seated in solemn temples, gathered in Zen groves. They chanted sutras in unison, their voices rolling like thunder, each word a pearl of wisdom empowering Vimalakirti Venerable One.
"Amitabha!"
The grand invocation echoed, instantly scattering Lu Yang's soul-seizing power. Vimalakirti Venerable One's form vanished, supplanted by an ancient monastery.
[Immaculate Pure Land Temple]!
Lu Yang's eyes narrowed at the sight. His mind raced.
"He's even deployed his Pure Land temple Dao foundation. He's ready to fight to the death!"
Vimalakirti Venerable One had little choice.
Beyond the [Immaculate Pure Land Temple], he summoned a lifetime's hoard. Dozens of exquisite spirit treasures gleamed amid the Buddha light.
Prayer wheels, wooden fish drums, flying knives, command banners, golden begging bowls, jeweled canopies, jade vases. Most were lesser or mid-tier artifacts, yet they merged into a flowing river of spirit light, weaving with a handful of superior treasures to encircle the temple and shield him tight.
[Ten Thousand Treasures River]!
Many Treasures Child had pledged to the Pure Land first, offering this art—which Vimalakirti Venerable One now wielded.
Lu Yang paid it no mind.
A thought stirred, and divine radiance sparked at his fingertip, laced with uncanny primordial magnetism that shattered the five elements. It slammed into the Ten Thousand Treasures River.
[Lost Harmony Magnetism]!
This innate divine ability crushed all five elements. Any treasure brushed by its primordial magnetism divine light lost all potency at once.
Bathed in the glow, the Ten Thousand Treasures River melted like spring snow. Its spirit light crumbled, unable to hold. Vimalakirti Venerable One's face twisted in helpless surprise—he, a Great Realman, forced to this by Lu Yang, his defenses teetering!
"Retreat for now?"
Pure Land Buddhists prized adaptability. Cowardice stirred in Vimalakirti Venerable One; clashing to the death here was a fool's bargain.
"I'm not at my peak!"
"Were it not for Hong Ju's prior slaying leaving hidden wounds—and this brat's divine ability triggering their flare-up—I'd never be this cornered."
"I'll recover, then fight him anew."
Decision made in a heartbeat, he drew a deep breath. The [Immaculate Pure Land Temple] behind him ballooned outward!
In a flash, the majestic monastery yawned like a gaping maw of blood, engulfing Lu Yang whole to trap him. Vimalakirti Venerable One rode an escaping light straight out of the Foundation Establishment Realm toward the present world—no chance for the kill.
The temple sealed the void, solemn and unyielding.
Even Lu Yang's [Determining Closeness and Distance] had been accounted for and locked down.
"Hmph. Trying to flee?"
Lu Yang's gaze sharpened. He blurred—and profound flames erupted. Out came the [Empyrean Subduing All Phenomena Dharma Body] once more!
Atop the treasure hall in the temple's heart loomed a fiend-god, majestic and dire.
Three heads, six arms, green-faced with fangs. It kicked at Buddha images, cursed forebears, toppled Zen groves. Its six arms flexed full might and hammered the temple with a cataclysmic blow.
Boom rumble!
A deafening crash yielded to utter silence. The [Immaculate Pure Land Temple] buckled inward from the center.
Within, myriad monk-shadows chanted sutras, summoning karmic fires onto the Dharma body. Yet they halted it not—instead fueling its fury. Six fists flew in ceaseless barrage, pummeling the temple's every corner.
"Pff—!"
Vimalakirti Venerable One spewed blood.
"What a fiend!"
The [Immaculate Pure Land Temple] was his Dao foundation manifest. Meant to hold Lu Yang briefly till he escaped and recalled it remotely.
A delay at worst, minor harm at best.
But Lu Yang ignored his wounds, driving the Dharma body in savage assault—leaving him trapped between advance and retreat. Watch his Dao foundation shatter? No.
Vimalakirti Venerable One wasted no time on hesitation.
Lightning-quick: "Never mind! Flee first! The present world's a blink away—he can't breach my Dao foundation!"
He streaked forth on escaping light, breaching the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Yet the next instant plunged him into icy abyss.
For there, in the present world, stood a Lu Yang lookalike youth-Daoist, [Calamity Wave] in hand, gazing calmly.
But Lu Yang's true body remained trapped inside!
"That clone!?"
Instant recall: the immortal fetus clone he'd pulped before, somehow reformed?
"Damn."
Had he fought on instead of fleeing, the fight hung in balance. But fear had doomed him!
No time for rumination.
Inside the [Immaculate Pure Land Temple], Lu Yang's true body halted, mind locked on the sword-wielding immortal fetus clone.
Ceasing attack, he dropped his protective auras, letting the temple crush down mercilessly. Wounds worsened in a surge—but the graver they grew, the mightier the Dharma body's empowerment, peaking in heartbeats!
Clang-clang—!
[Calamity Wave] in the clone's grip sang shrill. [Proclaiming Might], cooled from sea-cleaving, stood fully restored.
Vimalakirti Venerable One steadied now.
"Slay me, Benefactor, and the Pure Land offers no return. The Bodhisattvas' mercy ends—they'll hunt your life in truth."
"Seek eternal doom?"
No need for Lu Yang to truly relent—a moment's doubt let him weave escape.
But answer came as unrelenting sword gleam.
[Proclaiming Might]!
Sea-cleaving beam reborn, drowning Vimalakirti Venerable One. Inch by inch it rent him, dissolving to skyborne dust.
Eternal doom?
I too advance!