Chapter 47: Slaughter Through Vajra Temple!
After escaping into the Shadow Dimension, Yuan Zhu felt a sense of ease like a fish in water or a tiger returning to the mountain forest.
With every breath, Spiritual Energy continuously poured into his body. It was like the feeling of affluence after scanning a code to spend 10 bucks, only for the mobile phone to go ‘ding!’ and notify an incoming balance of 20.35 yuan.
Regardless of how much was earned, his ears were filled with continuous ‘ding ding ding!’ incoming notifications, filling his heart with boundless joy.
Moreover, this was not just money, but Polluting Energy recognized by default by the Immortal Scripture. He experienced the taste of passively getting stronger every moment. His Mana Points upper limit was skyrocketing at a visible speed. At this rhythm, I…
“Game Sprite, stop messing around. Change the measurement unit back for me!”
Yuan Zhu suddenly woke up. No wonder this Mana Bar was growing so fast. This wasn’t ordinary mana recovery, but a breakthrough of his own Mana Points upper limit!
As a result, the Game Sprite, to please (motivate) him, had adjusted the unit to the minimum value, so that for every portion of Shadow Power absorbed, the Mana Bar upper limit extended by 1 micron or 1 nanometer. When magnified to a visible scale by her, it created a sweet illusion.
At this rhythm, it wouldn’t be long before his own combat power broke through 1 million. He thought he would be invincible under heaven. But upon looking up, holy crap! After traversing Du Ling, it turned out he had ascended to the divine realm?
Even a random street-sweeping NPC old lady by the roadside had a pollution value starting at 10,000. Billion-level big shots were everywhere, and ten trillion Evil Spirits were less than dogs. It turned out the measurement unit was wrong.
In a world where the average human height was 1.7 billion nanometers, I was explosively strong! Like a Demon Lord descending from the heavens, akin to a Titan God in the human world, with every gesture creating and destroying endless nanoscale universes!
The Game Sprite sincerely admitted her mistake: “Sorry, I was presumptuous. I didn’t grasp the scale of this flattery well, but I just wanted Boss to be a little more confident and proud. I like seeing you full of vigor!”
The Tiger Demon’s mouth corners couldn’t help but curl up, his tiger whiskers trembling wildly.
The steady mindset in human stance quickly dissipated, replaced by the domineering confidence of the king of beasts: “Duck no need, my style has always been steady and confident in coexistence. No need for such self-deceiving tricks. Watch closely, Summon Wind!”
The increasingly joyful Tiger Demon, boosted by the Game Sprite, couldn’t help but want to show off some operations. So in the Shadow World, he activated the severely mutated unknown innate divine ability [Summon Wind???].
Mana Power in his body rapidly consumed. Yuan Zhu sensed that this supernatural ability lacked some soulful charm?
To be precise, it was missing his own exclusive [Wind]. So the supernatural ability stayed in basic mode, only able to exert the most ordinary destructive power. But even so, raging winds still whipped up in the shadow space-time around him.
Even mere ordinary Shadow Black Mist rolled up gusts of Shadow Wind, curling into a tornado out of thin air beside him. Sharp wind blades continuously sliced through Shadow Buildings and Shadow Trees, easily severing them.
With a thought, the Shadow Wind immediately switched from attack mode to absorption mode. The Shadow Wind tornado acted like a giant vacuum cleaner, continuously extracting the surrounding Yellow Springs Mist and pouring it into the Tiger Demon’s mouth.
The closer to Vajra Temple, the denser the Yellow Springs Mist in the Shadow World became. A soul-level sense of fullness and coolness came over him. His [Ghost Companion Divine Ability] was nearly filled up and couldn’t digest it fast enough.
He stopped [Summon Wind], and the consumed Mana Power quickly refilled. The Tiger Demon closed his eyes, carefully savoring his own changes. This continuous influx of Yellow Springs Aura into his body caused even his [Shadow Power] to undergo some qualitative change, becoming more eerie and possessing spirituality.
“This kind of change…”
It was as if from now on, every drop of Shadow Power he refined would carry a bit of Yellow Springs attributes. His art style became even more underworldly!
“Congratulations King, getting stronger again! One step closer to returning to the peak. Your current change is like a mobile phone system updating and upgrading to version 1.1. Installed [Yellow Springs Death Qi Patch 1.0], optimized the bloodline database of [Mutated Spiritual Root] ([Ghost Companion]), and upgraded the quality of Shadow Power.”
Kitten nodded, satisfied: “Simple and clear, I get it!”
At this time, the Tiger Demon also stopped, solemnly looking up ahead.
In the Shadow World, there was no projection of Vajra Temple. In the shadow space-time position ahead belonging to Vajra Temple, a huge and solid temple foundation that appeared as one body was directly embedded in the sky of the Shadow Dimension.
In other words, the base part of Vajra Temple embedded in the ground directly broke through space-time, appearing simultaneously in the soil of the Bubble World and above the Shadow World.
Not only that, in the gaps of the stone-block foundation in the sky, strips of ‘arms’ of varying sizes, lengths, and thicknesses grew out—both like flesh and root tendrils—waving their claws in the void, capturing something?
The Tiger Demon focused his gaze. It was Yellow Springs water vapor polluted into apricot yellow. Those large and small, long and short arms waved to capture the pale blue mist escaping in the Shadow Dimension, absorbed it, then converted it into Yellow Springs Death Qi polluted by Buddhist Magic Power, and released it again.
Just like plant root tendrils competing for moisture and nutrients in the soil, while secreting toxins to kill other competitors.
“This Vajra Temple doesn’t seem like a good place!”
The Tiger Demon crouched in the Shadow World, staring at the temple foundation in the sky for observation. In his eyes, Vajra Temple was a seamless whole, isolating and rejecting the Shadow Dimension. Sneaking in from the Shadow World probably wouldn’t work; he could only force his way in from the front.
In addition, Vajra Temple itself brewed vast and thick Polluting Energy, which was mutated Yellow Springs Death Qi eroded by Buddhist Magic Power.
After successively encountering Ku Cao Young Monk and Buddha Tomato, and remotely glimpsing Blood Kesa and Buddha Corpse Ghost, Yuan Zhu was familiar with the fluctuations of the Buddhist System.
Vajra Temple was now falling from Buddhism into Yellow Springs. Its Pollution Root was being eroded and covered by [Yellow Springs], yet it inherited some Buddhist attributes. In the Shadow World, it emitted dim yellow light (Buddha Light), radiating and eroding to transform the Shadow World.
“This is…?”
Vajra Temple’s behavior always gave him a strange sense of déjà vu, as if he had seen it somewhere before?
“Of course it’s Boss’s bloodline memory! This temple connects to [Yellow Springs], polluted and twisted by Yellow Springs power, then emits ‘Yellow Springs Buddha Light’ in the Shadow World, polluting and twisting the attributes of the Shadow Dimension, wanting to transform this place into an ‘affiliated little Yellow Springs’ of the Bubble World. No, it’s a Buddhist Hell belonging to Buddha Corpse Ghost. They seem to plan to forge the ‘First Level of Hell’!”
The Game Sprite simultaneously referenced the [Tiger Demon]’s inheritance, her cognition of Du Ling’s ‘Supernatural Pollution System’, and Yuan Zhu’s built-in Earth mythology knowledge, summarizing it into a explanation familiar and understandable to Yuan Zhu.
The Bubble World structure was simplistic, without its own ‘Underworld or Underworld’.
Thus, the Ghostly Creatures of Vajra Temple began spontaneously using Yellow Springs to erode the Shadow World, forging the Buddhism-affiliated ‘First Layer Yellow Springs Hell’. If it grew bigger and stronger later, it could stack ‘Second Layer Hell’… up to the ‘Eighteenth Layer Hell’.
“Boss, in the ultimate innate divine ability of [Tiger Demon], there’s a similar operation: connecting a human world mountaintop to Hell, forging a small City God divine position system. Collecting tolls and protection fees from the Yin-Yang Realms. On one hand raising Ghost Companions to become the behind-the-scenes Ghost King, on the other bribing judges in the underworld for a minor official position, and also eating human world Mountain God incense. Then starting cyclic farming of mountain delicacies and wild game, enslaving mortals to plant spiritual fields and Spirit Medicine… then upgrading to a vacation villa, pulling in enlightened experts, step by step whitewashing oneself… Ascend to Demon Immortal! Then ascending to Heavenly Court!”
Yuan Zhu nodded to show understanding. You’re overthinking it. “You were attracted here by this thing? But it’s useless to me!”
He hadn’t even mastered the [Tiger Demon] innate divine ability template, let alone settle long-term in the Bubble World. Coming here was at most for check-in to broaden horizons. He couldn’t occupy Vajra Temple and build a ‘Shadow Dimension. Underworld Cave Dwelling’ here, right?
This broken place didn’t even have any population, full of Buddha Tomato and mad beasts, way too filthy!
“I’m just curious if there’s any treasures in this Vajra Temple. I advised you to come here mainly to absorb ‘Yellow Springs Aura’ to complete the [Ghost Companion Divine Ability]. Now the goal is achieved, fleeing is fine. But I’m still unwilling. I just want to see what’s good treasure inside the temple? What if it can help Boss take another step forward and achieve immortality?”
The Game Sprite twisted her Skeleton Snake body, going crazy on the Tiger Demon, rubbing and scratching itchily. She was both a bit cowardly, thinking safety first and time to flee; and a bit reckless, so unwilling, so wanting to go in and see.
This conflicted mindset was felt by Yuan Zhu, who could monitor her at any time, and he also started feeling itchy. Not peeking at her thoughts was fine, but once monitoring, it became the Game Sprite continuously mentally harassing him, scratching at his heart and lungs, like a kid rolling in the toy area refusing to leave.
“Let’s do it! That Buddha Corpse Ghost took elites to trouble Buddha Tomato, Zhou Chu and the others dared to privately raid Buddha Tomato’s lair, I, the majestic Shadow Tiger Demon, why can’t I enter Vajra Temple?”
Yuan Zhu made up his mind, probed the temple, then leaped and turned into a black silhouette, slipping back to the Human World through the gap between shadow and reality.
The next second, that omnipresent wrapping and infusion of ‘Polluting Energy (Shadow)’ home ground advantage instantly weakened by 80%, making him quite reluctant.
Fortunately, it was night now, with shadows spreading everywhere, still allowing him to enjoy 20% home ground blessing.
“The benefits of this [Shadow Power] are obvious: at night, it amplifies by at least 20% out of thin air, with Spiritual Energy pouring in reverse, forcing me to get stronger. But the drawback is under broad daylight, strength is greatly discounted, only able to perform at normal levels.”
The Game Sprite hurriedly offered advice: “King no panic. Once you’re familiar with Tiger Demon Form, you can store extra Shadow Power in your shadow, opening a mana pool to enhance sustainability. However, under broad daylight, you can’t transform into Tiger Demon either, but must keep human body. So, just choose a legal system for the Human Body that can see light and travel bright roads.”
Yuan Zhu agreed: “Right, I overemphasized the Tiger Demon Body.”
Game Sprite: “No no no! The Immortal Scripture is your foundation, [Tiger Demon] is King your root. Not only was I born from ‘Shadow Pollution’ distortion and erosion, Boss you also relied on ‘Mutated Spiritual Root’ to successfully seize this physical body and rise to high-ranking. [Shadow] is our basic disk! Can’t neglect the root for the branches, overly pursuing local systems. Instead, learn, research, and digest local power and knowledge to secretly nourish and grow [Shadow]!”
“Well said!” In his heart, Yuan Zhu became more firm in the idea of dual-wielding and dual-cultivating Immortal Scripture and local systems. Can’t over-rely on Immortal Scripture. In the end, I, Yuan Zhu, rely on myself!
…
The Tiger Demon lurked in the shadows, breath restrained to the extreme, hunting instinct naturally triggered. The outside world couldn’t perceive any abnormality in the shadows.
Soon, a team of crooked Buddhist Corpse Ghosts patrolled past the street in front of Vajra Temple. Most of these Corpse Ghosts had an extra ‘Dharma Palm’ on their bodies. But there were exceptions, one Corpse Ghost had a coiled mantis forelimb growing from its lower back, very large in size, looking extremely awkward.
“This Buddhist Dharma Body cultivation, why is it all so weird?”
Creak…
Vajra Temple Door suddenly opened a crack, an old monk draped in a tattered kesa stained with blood and filth walked out from the door slit.
Its face showed Mummy characteristics, skin shriveled and slightly rotten, no extra limbs on its whole body. The strange part was missing eyes, with two pitch-black holes in the eye sockets.
It pressed palms together, head raised gazing at the starry sky. Tonight’s stars were exceptionally brilliant, with starlight occasionally falling toward the Plaza.
The blind Mummy old monk now stared intently at the starry sky. From the empty eye sockets suddenly extended two long, semi-transparent snail eyestalks secreting mucus, with conical eyeballs at the tips constantly wriggling, flashing with rainbow rings.
Not only the empty eye sockets, even from the nostrils extended a pair of shorter snail eyestalks, raised up, aimed at the stars.
The four eyestalks extended to the length of a small arm, continuously probing, measuring, perceiving the starry sky… Suddenly, the old monk’s body trembled, and that pair of rainbow-ring conical eyeballs suddenly turned direction, staring straight at the lurking Tiger Demon Yuan Zhu in the shadows.
??? Discovered?
The Mummy old monk couldn’t speak, so it opened its mouth in an angry roar: “Roar!”
The Corpse Ghosts around him all turned, charging toward the shadows, raising their respective Dharma Palms one after another. Turbid apricot-yellow Death Qi coiled at the palm tips, various Death Qi martial arts launched at him.
“Roar!”
The Fierce Tiger roared, Shadow Wind gathered from black mist rolled up yellow sand. The Tiger Demon leaped out like jumping a ravine, one claw whistling out. Shadow Power repelled the Yellow Springs Death Qi clean, the tiger claw heavily smashing onto the Corpse Ghost’s face, directly exploding the shriveled head, shattering into countless bone shards and flesh chunks that splattered.
“Eat my whip!”
The Game Sprite also shouted loudly, twisting her Skeleton Snake body, smashing headfirst into the shadow under the Tiger Demon, disappearing. At the same time, the shadows under that group of Corpse Ghosts began boiling. A massive black Shadow Snake Demon drilled out half its body, excitedly twisting madly, whipping like crazy, knocking over and sending flying nearby Corpse Ghosts one by one, then the giant python coiled and mercilessly crushed them.
Yuan Zhu tried activating [Ghost Companion] again.
Sure enough, his soul database had no complete ‘Tiger Companion data’. Instead, the [Universe Within The Belly] innate divine ability had been appended by the Game Sprite with a [Lightning Task Interface. Patch], showing 1 ongoing but distantly endless [Ghost Companion Refining Mission].
[Mission Progress: 1.01%] Over forty Mutated Demonic Creatures were packaged into one mission. No wonder there wasn’t a single usable Tiger Companion. If split into 40 missions, pausing 39, perhaps some Ghost Companions could already be herded.
Garbage Game Sprite!
Although the [Ghost Companion] interface had no fully refined Tiger Companions, this innate divine ability could be used like [Summon Wind], just in basic mode.
One by one ‘Shadow Silhouette Monsters’ generated from memory and subconscious emerged around him, each so grotesque and twisted. Yuan Zhu refused to admit they were created by his brain; it must be the stupid idiot Game Sprite again!
These silhouette cannon fodder, just born, spontaneously absorbed the escaping Yellow Springs Death Qi in the air. Since nearby Yellow Springs Aura was all polluted by Vajra Temple, these twisted Shadow Silhouettes couldn’t help but grow a ‘pitch-black Dharma Palm’.
“Is this polluted?” Yuan Zhu was slightly worried. If these silhouettes absorbed too much dim yellow Death Qi, would they defect to Vajra Temple?
“No fear, these cannon fodder are given temporary life by [Ghost Companion Divine Ability]. Once released, they collapse and dissipate.”
Yuan Zhu: “Then what are we waiting for? Smash them!”
Large numbers of silhouette Demonic Monsters pounced, engaging in slaughter. No sound was made during clashes, like someone hit mute. The silhouettes swarmed, exploded and shattered by various means, but quickly regenerated after Yuan Zhu continued infusing Shadow Power.
Hm?
As the melee began, Yuan Zhu discovered a bug. The spatial structure of this Bubble World was too simplistic; everywhere he looked were rifts of the Shadow World.
Not only that, continuous Polluting Energy surged from the rifts, replenishing his mana consumption. Thus he could sustain large batches of ‘disposable Ghost Companion silhouettes’ in fierce battle. His tail, under Game Sprite control, freely absorbed Shadow Spiritual Energy, cooperating in the rampage killing.
Thus, Yuan Zhu’s heart stirred, manipulating one silhouette Demonic Monster to pounce and hug a Corpse Ghost, not fiercely fighting, just locking limbs, flipping toward the Corpse Ghost’s shadow. A back slam to the ground, and both smoothly fell into the shadow rift, disappearing from the Human World.
Hm? Hm? Hm?!
This easy?
Suddenly, the melee mode at the temple entrance changed. Shadow Demonic Creatures twisted and deformed, net-like pouncing on one robust physical body Corpse Ghost after another, no longer entangled in fighting, but heading together to the Shadow Dimension. Like falling into a trap, disappearing one after another.
The Game Sprite saw this magical scene, twisted her body, drilling the giant Shadow Snake Demon’s head into the shadow world to peek.
Yuan Zhu synchronously shared vision, also seeing in the Shadow Dimension that the group of Corpse Ghosts were still full of vitality resisting, using Dharma Palm condensed power to smash and scatter silhouettes one by one.
This time, Yuan Zhu no longer infused mana to sustain the silhouettes, so the Corpse Ghosts lost targets, wandering blankly in the Shadow Dimension, eventually arriving under Vajra Temple’s base, looking up bathing in Yellow Springs Buddha Light, yet powerless to climb up or return home.
“Glitched?”
The next second, including that quite threatening snail eyestalk Mummy old monk, was thrown into the Shadow World by Yuan Zhu in one clash, unable to get out.
“Boss mighty! Boss domineering! Boss unparalleled wisdom!” The huge semi-transparent Shadow Snake Demon twisted and cheered excitedly beside the Tiger Demon. “I’ll open the door for Boss!”
With that, she whooshed and elongated a large section, arriving at Vajra Temple Door, biting the door with her mouth, twisting her snake body to push the door open. Thick Yellow Springs Death Qi hit the face, all secondarily polluted.
The Tiger Demon slightly frowned, inhaled a breath and exhaled it.
Such heavy corpse stench, far inferior to the fresh sweet blue mist! Garbage!
Received station message, on shelves on the 26th, everyone support more.
Begging for a wave of Monthly Tickets, Recommendation Tickets…
