Chapter 619 The Two Who Arrived Late

I arrived at Fazheng's battlefield and witnessed the end of the battle.

Above the ruined city, Fazheng's icy magic radiated outwards, freezing the Great Demon Ksitigarbha's defensive barrier into ice blocks, which then shattered completely, turning into a sky full of snowflakes.

In the blink of an eye, the spear-shaped divine weapon pierced through the Great Demon Jizo's skull. The Great Demon Jizo was a full fifty meters tall, and the wound inflicted by the silver-white spear appeared incredibly small. From this tiny wound, ice instantly spread and enveloped the Great Demon Jizo's entire body, then shattered like the ice before it. The Great Demon Jizo's body followed suit, its remains pulverized and dissolved into the air along with the falling snowflakes.

I originally wanted to intervene halfway through, but it seems I missed it.

The remaining Great Demon Yulei was naturally no match for Fazheng, who wielded the divine weapon of humanity.

Because of the large number of casualties in this battle, the Divine Weapon of Humanity greatly enhanced Fazheng's power. If he was roughly equal to me before, he is now even stronger. However, in terms of the speed at which the battle ended, Fazheng was significantly slower than me. While the Great Demon Qilin's earlier injury had played a part, the main reason was the nature of the conflict between the two sides.

Both the Great Demon Qilin and I are offensive types, making it easier to determine a winner. Fazheng, on the other hand, is a rare balanced type in both offense and defense. Even now, his attack power is slightly weaker than mine, but his defense is much higher; the Great Demon Qilin's charge didn't inflict particularly heavy damage on him. And the Great Demon Ksitigarbha from before is likely unique among all the Great Demons, specializing in defense. As a result, the battle is bound to drag on.

From another perspective, the outcome of the battle on Fazheng's side is even less suspenseful. Fazheng's fighting style is immediately apparent: a steady and methodical approach. While there might be a chance of an upset on my side, Fazheng's victory is assured. It's less like a battle and more like an engineering project. Everything is under control.

However, his expression did not resemble that of someone who was certain of victory; his face was filled with a furious, clenched-teeth expression, which made him look like a loser.

The Great Demon Yulei, seemingly oblivious to death, charged towards Fazheng. Fazheng flashed and appeared directly behind the enemy. A massive hole appeared in the Great Demon Yulei's chest, and ice enveloped its entire body before turning into countless snowflakes and vanishing completely.

Fa Zheng, with his back to me, silently lowered his spear.

If it weren't killed with true spiritual power, the Great Demon could still be summoned again by Naraku's Gospel in the future, something Fazheng is certainly aware of. However, since he so desperately wants to kill it himself, I won't be so tactless as to remind him. Let him kill it if he wants; consider it a way for him to vent his anger. Anyway, I didn't even have time to intervene and warn the most troublesome Great Demon Jizo. If he kills Great Demon Yulei now, it's just a bonus. At worst, I'll personally deal with those two Great Demons in the future.

"...Zhuang Cheng, you're here."

As if sensing my approach, Fa Zheng greeted me in a detached tone without turning around, while looking down at the ruins of the destroyed city.

A few seconds later, he turned around and said expressionlessly, "You mentioned before that you have the power of true spirit, so you can completely kill the Great Demon... right?"

As he spoke, he raised his hand, and two fist-sized ice crystals appeared in his hand, each sealing a ball of black gas.

“I managed to preserve the last vestiges of the souls of these two great demons,” he said. “If they were the Great Impermanence, they would be completely dead by now. But I did a simple analysis of their nature during the battle. They are strange beings, like mobile natural disasters. Rather than being life forms, they are more like aggregates of some kind of power.”

"Although there's no hope of them returning to normal in the short term, they're not completely dead yet. You'll have to deliver the final blow."

So he wasn't so crazy as to forget about this.

As he instructed, I unleashed flames that evaporated and destroyed the souls within the ice crystals, completely annihilating the Great Demon Jizo and the Great Demon Yulei.

"I never expected that even the Great Impermanence Ksitigarbha would appear in a demonic form," I said.

Actually, I had heard about the existence of the Great Demon Jizo from Number Seven, but I found it somewhat unbelievable when I first heard about it.

The Great Impermanence Ksitigarbha is the prototype of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva in Buddhism. Similar to the concept of "life defilement," Ksitigarbha also made a pact with the will of Naraku. He vowed to dedicate his future lives solely to saving all sentient beings. The common saying about Ksitigarbha, "I will not become a Buddha until hell is empty," originates from this great vow. As long as Ksitigarbha continues to fulfill this vow, the will of Naraku will continuously provide him with strength.

This is actually similar to the humanistic divine weapon held by Fazheng. The condition for the manifestation of the Great Demon is that "the person who is the prototype has the desire to destroy the world." It is hard to imagine that Ksitigarbha, who made such a grand vow, also had the impulse to destroy the world.

However, the great demon Jizo summoned by Naraku Gospel clearly did not inherit the great vows and oaths of the Great Impermanent Jizo.

Even if one were to inherit it, it would probably be of no use. The Great Demon is a monstrous being that exists to slaughter all of humanity, so it would never gain the approval of Naraku's will. Such perverse actions would likely be seen as breaking the precepts, leading to punishment from Naraku's will, which would only further weaken it.

I explained the conditions for the Great Demon's manifestation to Fazheng last time, so he immediately understood what I meant.

“There’s nothing strange about it. Those who wish to save all sentient beings will always face the darkest parts of people’s hearts. Perhaps Ksitigarbha in the past also had some unknown thoughts occasionally,” Fazheng said. “Besides, even setting that aside, it’s not surprising that the Great Impermanence himself would want to destroy the world. To be honest, I also have those crazy thoughts from time to time.”

The second half of his sentence sounded nonsensical, but I quickly understood its meaning.

As the saying goes, "He who possesses a sharp weapon will naturally harbor murderous intent," or, in more colloquial terms, "He who holds a hammer sees everyone as a nail." For the Great Impermanence (the concept of impermanence), the surface world is far too fragile, especially the civilized world inhabited by humans. Even the slightest movement by itself could destroy everything around it; its mere existence would create a celestial phenomenon, disrupting the order of nature and society.

Even living in what seems like a remote, uninhabited wilderness can feel restrictive, because the scope of one's influence when serious is so vast that even living in such a place cannot prevent damage to the civilized world. The more one tries to avoid this, the more one ends up putting countless heavy shackles on oneself.

What a profound lack of freedom! Even breathing freely is impossible, and stretching one's limbs is forbidden. A gentle exhale, or a slight touch, and the civilized world would crumble and be destroyed. This endless expanse of ruins vividly illustrates the consequences of the gods' unbridled activities on earth.

Fa Zheng stared intently at the desolate landscape. Suddenly, he paused, then his expression turned to one of utter astonishment.

"...What's going on?" he said incredulously.

Upon hearing this, I immediately followed his gaze and looked ahead, but noticed nothing amiss. Everything was exactly the same as before; the surrounding scenery remained unchanged. What on earth was Fazheng worried about?

I was about to ask, but after being reminded by Fazheng, I realized what was going on before I could even ask.

—The great demons' laws of heaven and earth have not disappeared.

The Dharma of Heaven and Earth is like the indentation formed by a lead ball thrown onto a bed. Wherever the lead ball moves, the indentation moves there; if it's removed, the indentation disappears. Therefore, logically speaking, as long as the Great Impermanence, which manifests the Dharma of Heaven and Earth, is killed, its Dharma of Heaven and Earth will automatically disappear into the world. The Great Demon's Dharma of Heaven and Earth should follow the same principle.

However, the apocalyptic spacetime surrounding us has not receded. Time and space remain in a state of chaos, and the chaos continues to deepen. At this rate, it seems the apocalyptic spacetime is still spreading outwards, and the real world will soon be completely covered in the colors of the apocalypse.

At this moment, a figure dressed in white and carrying a long sword suddenly appeared not far away; it was none other than the Great Impermanence Sword Immortal.

“Jian Feixian…where did you go just now?” Fazheng asked coldly.

The enemy should have arrived to support us immediately after we started fighting the three-headed demon, but for some reason they've delayed until now. Such delay is unacceptable. If Jian Feixian doesn't provide a sufficient reason, Fazheng probably won't let him off easily.

Faced with his friend Fazheng's suppressed anger, Jian Feixian merely shrugged and offered no words of explanation.

Just as Fa Zheng was about to lash out, an old voice slowly came from the side: "Don't blame Jian Feixian, I was the one who stopped him earlier."

We looked in the direction of the sound and saw a figure with white hair and a youthful face, wearing a gray Taoist robe, appear in the same place.

"Master Diviner, what exactly is going on? What do you mean by intercepting him?" Fa Zheng asked, frowning. "No... that's not the most important thing right now. We must hurry and stop the spread of this 'Heavenly Manifestation,' or the world will be destroyed..."

"Don't worry about this..." the Divination Master said leisurely. "While you were fighting those three great demons, Jian Feixian and I temporarily contained this dangerous Dharma Heaven and Earth from the outside."

(End of this chapter)