Chapter 29: The First Battle of Generals
"Amitabha Buddha!" After chanting a Buddhist phrase, a monk stepped forward from the ranks and said, "I wish to seek some guidance from you, master!"
"Monk, you have already understood the emptiness of the four elements. Why do you still involve yourself in worldly matters?" asked the Great Roc.
"My six senses are not yet pure. Since the Buddha does not save me, I can only sink in the secular world and refine myself through worldly experiences before ascending to the Western Heaven to see the Buddha."
"Good. It's just the right time for you to sober up. Cultivating martial arts relies on cultivating the heart. One who clings to martial strength will ultimately die by the hand of another strong person."
"Then let's see what you can do! Observing the Bodhisattva's practice of deep Prajñāpāramitā, seeing that the five aggregates are empty, one transcends all suffering…" The monk suddenly began to recite the Heart Sutra of Prajñāpāramitā. At first, no one understood why he was chanting before the battle, but after he recited a section, it became apparent that his voice was everywhere, growing louder and louder, shaking the very soul.
The Great Roc hastily channeled his energy to resist, and a thin layer of red light appeared on his body. The Queen was surrounded by a blue glow. The High Priest placed his hands on Ma Xiaoling's shoulders, and the energy of the Demonic Blade flowed backward into them both, enveloping them in red light. Others were also resisting the assault of the Buddhist chant.
At this moment, as the Great Roc was channeling his energy, the monk swung his staff toward him.
"You bastard!" the Great Roc cursed, urgently swinging his sword to block the strike.
The monk remained unmoved. Each chant of the Buddha's name was like thunder, while the clash of the ring on his staff produced a crisp sound that continuously disturbed the mind. He swung the staff like wind, attacking the vulnerabilities of the Great Roc, leaving him no opportunity. Though the Great Roc had lost the initiative, he proceeded cautiously, defending steadfastly and waiting for a chance to counterattack. The two exchanged blows, resulting in a stalemate.
From the Western team, two figures leaped out and rushed toward the Queen. "Now let's see who can help you!" It was the Holy Warriors Jack and Pia.
"You two alone?" With a wave of her magic staff, the Queen shot the red ruby atop it at the duo, allowing a net-like electrical halo to ensnare them.
Jack and Pia dodged left and right, continuously hurling energy spheres at the electric net. When it had no effect, they stood side by side, clasped hands, and unleashed a combined blast, breaking through the net and escaping. Unexpectedly, the Queen waved her staff again, and an ice stream froze them both.
"Lin Yina!" the Great Roc became somewhat anxious.
"No need to worry about me, focus on attacking the enemy."As soon as the words fell, the icicle shattered, and Jack and Pia broke through the ice, but the two did not immediately attack the Queen; it was obvious that they had not yet fully recovered from being frozen and moved sluggishly. Seeing this, the Queen waved her wand again, unleashing a blazing fire at them.
In a panic, the two cursed loudly, "*#! What kind of move is this! Ah, it hurts so much." They staggered out of the flames, smoke and steam rising from their bodies.
"Ice and fire as one!" The Queen launched her attack again, one ice, one fire, aimed at Jack and Pia.
"*#!" After feeling the effect, the two shivered in their hearts, and desperately leapt elsewhere to avoid the attack. Dodging was not a solution; they had to strike back! The couple, thinking alike, seized an opening and launched a coordinated strike together, attempting to knock down the Queen.
Not to be outdone, the Queen waved her wand, raising a nine-layer ice mountain to block the strike. The ice shattered, but the force of the blow dissipated entirely, only rustling the Queen's sleeves a few times. "Still want to fight?"
Jack and Pia stopped their attack, and so did the Queen. Both sides now knew that neither could defeat the other, especially with the High Priest and Ma Xiaoling nearby who had not yet acted. To change this situation, there was only one possibility: the Red Sun faction joining the battle. Feeling tempted but hesitant to act, indeed someone from the Red Sun rushed forward to attack the Queen. Ma Xiaoling and the High Priest immediately merged together, swinging their weapon to meet Jack and Pia, blocking their assault. White Rose leapt forward to engage because that person was her enemy. In the midst of the fierce battle, the Queen, sensing an opening, shot two beams of light from her eyes that struck that person.
Struck, the person immediately writhed in pain. "Queen, you are the Queen, the great Queen, please forgive my rudeness and stupidity, I beg for your pardon!" he said, kneeling down with snot and tears streaming. Suddenly he trembled and said: "What about the Queen? The Demon Ancestor has commanded to capture the divine being. Those who disobey will die!" Hahaha, the person suddenly stood up laughing, "Queen, obediently come with me, or don't blame me for being ruthless! I will gain merit!" Unexpectedly, the situation took a sudden turn; he held his head and shook, saying, "No, she is the Queen," then his eyes flashed with ferocity, staring at the Queen. "Since she is the Queen, she must be captured even more." Ah, he started shouting wildly: "Bitch! You bitch, what forbidden curse have you placed on me?"
"I just unlocked the deepest memories in your mind as a human!"“How could this happen?! My head is about to explode!” the man screamed in pain.
“Since it hurts this much, death is the only relief.” A voice said without any emotion, and a shadow passed through the man's chest.
“Th-thank you!” The man fell to the ground with a crash, turning into a trail of golden shooting stars before disappearing.
“Who are you?” the Queen asked.
There was no answer, but a jade hairpin shot toward the Queen's feet. “Dark Pearl!” With a swoosh, the hairpin retracted and vanished into thin air. “So you've been here the whole time! Hahaha, Dark Pearl loves to stay in the shadows to kill people!” the Queen suddenly shouted loudly.
The crowd immediately stirred. The Queen's words made everyone check their own shadows in fear of Dark Pearl striking!
Dark Pearl's sudden appearance disrupted the plans of the Demon Ancestor and the Western group, but it gave the gods confidence. The Great Roc took advantage of the monk's hesitation, seizing a gap to shift from defense to offense. If his defense seemed a bit passive and his true strength couldn't fully manifest, his attacks clearly revealed his full potential: several half-moon linked moves forced the monk to split his focus from chanting scriptures to guarding himself, unsettling his mind, and the straight sword slashes made the monk dodge left and right. Despite this, the monk fought back with all his might, ignoring Dark Pearl. He knew that even if he didn't die at Dark Pearl's hands, a single careless moment could cost him his life against this madman. Every clash of their swords and staffs produced massive gusts of wind, stirring up dust all over the ground; every strike and contact made deep, dull impacts—it was truly a fierce battle.
“Damn, Monk, who are you? Your hand-and-foot skills aren't bad!”
“Same to you. But if Dark Pearl weren't around, you would have died under my staff several times already!”
“Well then, I'll break your staff!” With that, the Great Roc's staff blazed with a thunderous red light, transforming into a milky-white glow. “Watch the sword!” A sharp blade swept from the monk's waist to his feet.
The monk was shocked; it turned out that his opponent wasn't putting in full force—the sword's transformation proved it. Before he could react, he channeled power into his staff, blocking the sword slashes. He wanted to test just how formidable the sword was. With a clang, the staff's head separated from the shaft, flying away due to inertia.
“My Heavenly Divine Staff!” the monk cried in anguish, “I'll take your life! Tathagata Divine Palm!”The monk swung out a palm fiercely, a huge golden light palm resembling the shape of his left hand while sitting in meditation, pressing down hard on the Roc.
The Roc was greatly surprised, thinking to itself that this monk really had many tricks; this palm was truly like a tsunami crashing against the shore, or Mount Tai falling from above. As the saying goes, skill breeds courage, and strength serves as a backing. The Roc united with its sword, transforming into a massive lightning bolt, rapidly charging toward the giant palm.
With a crash, the golden palm shattered and scattered, shaking the monk into vomiting a mouthful of blood, while the Roc also stumbled back several steps, its clothes in tatters.
“Monk, who exactly are you?” The Roc thought that since its debut, its opponents had never been this strong. Even facing a Yellow-Bead General-level zombie was never this exhausting.
“I won't tell you! I am a failure, completely unqualified to register a Taoist name.”
“Monk, with your cultivation, you must have been a highly achieved monk in your previous life. Why did you choose to turn yourself into a zombie?”
“We are opponents. Why are you asking this?”
“We are opponents, but in the battle, you mostly rely on your own cultivation rather than the power of a zombie, which is why I respect you!”
“You respect me? I thought you said I was strong and fond of martial arts?” The monk was somewhat surprised.
“At first I really thought so. I thought you turned into a zombie to take shortcuts in pursuit of supreme power, ultimately to satisfy personal desire. But through fighting, I realized you are actually very restrained with the power of a zombie. You must understand, those who cultivate martial or Taoist strength, the strong first strengthen themselves!”
“The strong first strengthen themselves?! Amitabha! Thank you, benefactor, for your teaching!” The monk's face showed the ease and excitement of someone who has achieved enlightenment.
“Monk, where are you going?” The Roc asked when it saw him going far away.
“I have some insights and need to meditate to understand the Dao.”
“Until we meet again!” The Roc said regretfully.
“Farewell!” The monk flew off and disappeared.
Some of Hongri's group wanted to stop him, but before they could finish saying “Monk...,” he had vanished. Now, with one person dead and another gone from Hongri's group, their strength instantly diminished. The remaining people looked at each other, and no one dared to charge forward to compete with the Roc, especially with the seemingly eerie queen and the Dark Pear hidden in the shadows.
Meanwhile, over there, Ma Xiaoling (Chief High Priest) was engaged in battle with the Holy Warrior Jack and Pia.It ended quickly, not because Ma Xiaoling was very powerful. Although the combined strength of the two increased significantly, they still lacked coordination, just like two people with their legs tied together trying to play football—exerting a lot of effort but unable to use their strength effectively. On the other hand, Jack and Pia automatically withdrew from the fight. The reason was simple: the opponents were numerous and formidable, and they could easily risk their lives, just like the Heavenly Warrior Tomte, who went to see the Supreme God and entered heaven. They did not want that yet; life is more important than the honor of the gods. "Be careful, we will meet again. Next time, you won't be as lucky as today." Of course, he had to withdraw face-first, leaving the battle with dignity.
“Hmph, next time? Fine, I'll see then what strength you have!” Ma Xiaoling also decided to quit while ahead. After speaking, she separated from the Grand Priest in the same manner.
“Kuang Tianyou, are you still playing?” asked Anzhu.
The few people surrounding Kuang Tianyou were shocked—after so long of fighting, it turned out the other party was just playing!
“Who said that? My husband is fighting desperately!” Ma Xiaoling said irritably.
“Husband, husband, calling so intimately?! Stop fighting, everyone, stop!” shouted Anzhu.
Those who were in the middle of the fight, hearing Anzhu's shout, thought something had happened and unconsciously paused. Although Anzhu was hiding in the shadows, everyone still followed Kuang Tianyou's gaze to locate her.
“Don't you think their love alone can defeat anyone? Don't you feel exhausted fighting like this? Love is so great, it moves heaven and earth!”
Ah! Thump, thump—both the Great God Envoy and the Heavenly Warrior Toti fell to the ground, partly due to being dragged down and partly because Anzhu's words literally made them spit blood!
Hongri and Tang De were stunned as well—where did this poet come from, and why did he come here to be sentimental?
“Get to the side!” shouted the Great God Envoy, charging at Kuang Tianyou again. The other three also realized and launched a fierce attack on Kuang Tianyou.
“Who cursed? Kuang Tianyou, if you don't vent this anger, you're not keeping your promise!”
“Got it!” thought Kuang Tianyou. Who dares hit me with a bamboo stick at this time?! Fine, this Great God Envoy has too low morals anyway—time to deal with him! Thinking quickly, he took action, accelerated, and as those few hit Kuang Tianyou's illusion, they exposed a large gap themselves and were flung away by an invisible force.The Divine Envoy, God Warrior Tuoti, and Tangde were injured and too weak to continue fighting, while Hongri's fists were tightly restrained by Kuang Tianyou. Looking at Kuang Tianyou's cunning smile, Hongri displayed a woman's instinctive reaction: 'You... what do you want to do?'
'Where is the Demon Ancestor?'
'I already said, I won't tell you even if I die!'
'All right then! I'll take offense.' Kuang Tianyou increased his strength, causing Hongri to cry out in pain. She wanted to pull her hand back but couldn't move.
'Kuang Tianyou, are you trying to assault me? Still won't let go?' Anzhu shouted.
Kuang Tianyou nearly fainted! How could they not distinguish friend from foe? Nevertheless, he instinctively loosened his grip, allowing Hongri to seize the opportunity and escape. She gratefully glanced at Anzhu, even though she couldn't see her.
Just as he tried to grab Hongri again, a thunderous sound suddenly rolled in from afar. Focusing, he saw a ball of red cloud tumbling toward them.
'The Demon Ancestor is here!' someone in Hongri's group shouted.
'Kuang Tianyou, be careful, the Demon Ancestor has arrived,' the High Priest reminded.
'Kuang Tianyou, fight with all your strength!' Anzhu encouraged.
'Tianyou, come back!' Ma Xiaoling watched as Kuang Tianyou actually went straight...
