Longevity, starting from being a chicken raising servant Chapter 2327: 76: Peerless (Part 2)
Previously on Longevity, starting from being a chicken raising servant...
Yet despite this, as he confronted the tear in the realm and the divine calamity raging above, a heavy gloom settled in his heart.
The apocalypse had descended, and the celestial clash pitting the Supreme True Buddha against the Cloud Sky Realm lay far beyond what any lone individual could halt.
Though he held Wang Ba in high regard and understood Wang Ba's strengths well, seeing the Cloud Sky Realm remain unresponsive at this critical juncture filled him with despair, leading him to murmur:
“Taoist Friend Taiyi, these demonic monks from the Supreme True Buddha have already breached the realm. If you can't hold against them, it's wiser to withdraw now.”
Those words jolted the aged, withered elder back to awareness, prompting him to glance swiftly at the green-robed figure beyond the barrier, before urging hastily:
“Wang Ba, should the tide turn, don't push back too hard—keep yourself safe for future use…”
Beyond the barrier, Wang Ba kept his composure steady, replying in a soft voice:
“I heed the Patriarch's counsel, yet... the plight we face isn't hopeless just yet.”
“Everyone, hold on briefly; I'll return in no time.”
With those words spoken, beneath the stunned stares of the assembled cultivators, his form shot forward at speed toward the breach in the heavenly canopy.
Right then, the realm's barrier atop the Sky Dome crumbled away, as monk after monk poured through the gap.
Gazing down upon the sprawling, majestic landscapes and the myriad lives teeming within, amid surging karma and boundless cause-and-effect, their gazes brimmed with delight.
“Cloud Sky Realm!”
The Four Great Realms of Duanhai Cliff, famed across the region.
Both Canlong Realm and the Void Demon Realm had fallen to invasion.
Among those Four Great Realms, though, the Cloud Sky Realm stirred their greatest eagerness.
It was no surprise, given how this domain offered an ideal setting, perfect for the growth of countless lives, and vast populations promised vast karma, while boundless karma in turn yielded them boundless merits...
“The Eastern Great Bodhisattva decrees!”
“Shatter every Great Array in this place! With compassion in our hearts, we cannot allow the creatures to plunge into sorrow and torment…”
Each monk chanted the Buddha's name, scanning the terrain beneath, yet failing to conceal the glee and avarice gleaming in their eyes.
As for the Buddhist triad of greed, hatred, and delusion, these monks appeared to embrace them without qualms.
But right at that instant.
The monks caught sight of a streak of blue light surging up from below, materializing abruptly in their midst!
At once, a figure emerged gracefully from its glow.
Clad in a plain, wide-sleeved green robe, his hair bound in a Dao topknot secured by a wooden pin, his features tranquil and his aura otherworldly.
Confronting the monks, his face stayed serene, one hand adjusting his sleeve while the other raised his palm in formal greeting, offering them a courteous bow.
“Esteemed ones, do enter.”
The monks, spotting this individual, froze in shock at first, then recoiled in terror!
“It's him!”
“That True Man Taiyi?!”
“How did he get here?!”
In an instant, their very spirits trembled on the brink!
The confident boasts from before rang hollow now, mere empty air.
Seized by panic, they scrambled to disperse and bolt away.
But they watched as the Taoist flicked his sleeve, plunging the heavens into shadow and dimming the sun and moon, unleashing a terrifying, unstoppable gale that barreled toward them!
Save for a handful who commanded the Immovable Vajra Divine Skill, anchoring their feet firmly to endure.
The others tumbled like chaff in the storm, scattered wildly, their senses overwhelmed.
Just three or so Bodhisattvas lingered near the rift, their golden forms flickering like candle flames, barely holding firm amid the raging blast!
Luckily, the ferocious gale arose in a flash and vanished just as swift.
Within moments, the wind faded, restoring brightness to the world, leaving only the surviving Bodhisattvas to peer about in bewilderment.
The immense Sky Dome, apart from distant echoes of fierce combat, lay serene as a gentle zephyr; the Arhats and Ascetics who had flooded in mere heartbeats earlier had vanished without trace.
Solitary stood the green-robed Taoist amid the breeze, his visage impassive, akin to a still, ancient pool.
Though they had beheld True Man Taiyi's overwhelming might from a distance before, confronting him up close now—witnessing how in a flash their ranks dwindled to scraps—these leftover Bodhisattvas saw their resolve crumble, and they hastened to retreat.
Still, they heard the Taoist let out a light chuckle:
“Where do you intend to flee?”
At those words, the three Bodhisattvas felt dread surge, swiftly rallying their golden forms and activating their Dao treasures.
But then the Taoist produced an Earth Yellow Treasure Bead, exhaling upon it.
A blast of yellowish wind surged forth at once, assailing the trio like feral hounds.
The yellow wind halted the three in their tracks, their movements grinding to a crawl.
The Taoist advanced, a hand pale as jade extending from his sleeve.
Stretching toward one of them, he delivered a strike.
The jade palm cleaved through space, slipping past the yellow wind's barrier and the Buddha light's glow to land softly on the Bodhisattva's torso.
Crack!
A deep imprint formed at once, caving in the Bodhisattva's chest.
The Bodhisattva's face drained of color in fright, then his gaze ignited with savage fury as he ripped open his golden exterior, unleashing a torrent of Demonic Qi that billowed outward. His eyes blackened completely, sclera lost to sight, infernal flames roaring, his shape no longer human!
In the space of a breath, the Bodhisattva transformed into a cataclysmic Demon Head, his eyes swirling with myriad dark impulses, straining to shatter the encircling yellow wind via his Dao treasure.
The Taoist showed no alarm or haste; instead, his eyes reflected a knowing 'just as anticipated':
“Buddha as facade, demon as core... truly no True Buddha, but a True Demon.”
“Yet how could the world harbor so many flawless Demon Heads?”
He mused.
For any soul, duality exists—virtue like Buddha, vice like Demon—yet typically these extremes balance, preserving one's humanity.
A genuine Demon Head, such as certain Innate Divine Demons, knows no ethics, no mercy, driven solely by primal urges, embodying unadulterated malice.
And to attain such unalloyed wickedness, even Demon Cultivators can merely approach it, finding it exceedingly rare to fully realize.
Much like the Xiahou Demon, ruler of the Void Demon Realm, who as a Mahayana Cultivator could have ascended through Cultivation upon the realm's ruin, yet clung to its downfall, allying with the Cloud Sky Realm to defy the Supreme True Buddha.