CHAPTER 660: 618 THE TWO LATECOMERS

I came to Fa Zheng’s battlefield and witnessed the end of the fight.

Above the ruins of the city, Fa Zheng’s ice magic power radiated outwards, freezing the defensive barrier of the Great Demon Ksitigarbha into ice blocks, which immediately shattered and turned into swirling snowflakes in the air.

Instantaneously, the spear-shaped Human Dao Divine Weapon pierced through the head of the Great Demon Ksitigarbha. The Great Demon Ksitigarbha stood an impressive fifty meters tall, the wound created by the silver-white spear seemed so tiny. Yet, centered around this tiny wound, ice instantly spread and enveloped the entire body of the Great Demon Ksitigarbha, then shattered like the previous ice blocks. The body of the Great Demon Ksitigarbha also met a fate of being smashed into pieces, dissolving into the air along with the snowflakes.

Initially, I intended to intervene halfway through, but it seems I didn’t make it in time.

The remaining Great Demon Yu Lei naturally posed no threat to Fa Zheng who wielded the Human Dao Divine Weapon.

Due to the high number of casualties in this battle, the Human Dao Divine Weapon greatly boosted Fa Zheng’s power. If we were previously equal, now Fa Zheng is slightly stronger than me. However, in terms of the speed of ending battles, Fa Zheng is evidently slower than I am. Although part of this is due to the earlier injuries inflicted by the Great Demon Qilin, it’s mostly because of the nature of the combatants.

The Great Demon Qilin and I are both offensive types, making it easier to determine victory. Fa Zheng is rare for being balanced in both offense and defense; even now, his attack power is weaker than mine, but his defense is much stronger. The attacks from the Great Demon Qilin did not significantly injure him. The Great Demon Ksitigarbha, on the other hand, probably stands as the unique defense-specialized type among all Great Demons. Thus, the battle inevitably dragged on.

From a different perspective, the battle on Fa Zheng’s side had no suspense. Fa Zheng’s combat style is obviously steady and sure. If there’s a chance of failure on my side, Fa Zheng’s victory is assured. It’s less of a battle and more like an engineering task. Everything is under control.

Yet his expression did not resemble one facing certain victory, full of gnashing anger that made him seem more like a loser.

The Great Demon Yu Lei, as if unaware of death, charged at Fa Zheng, but Fa Zheng swiftly appeared behind the enemy. A gaping hole emerged in the chest of the Great Demon Yu Lei, ice enveloped its entire body, then turned into countless powdery snow, vanishing completely.

Fa Zheng faced away from me, silently setting down his spear.

If not killed by True Spirit Power, Great Demons could potentially be summoned again by the Naraku Gospel in the future; Fa Zheng surely knows this. Since he wished to personally kill, I didn’t bother to remind him. If he wants to kill, let him; consider it an outlet for his anger. After all, I didn’t have time to intervene or advise on the Great Demon Ksitigarbha, so now if he kills the Great Demon Yu Lei, it’s just an additional task. Worst case, I’ll personally face those two Great Demons someday.

"...Zhuang Cheng, you’ve arrived."

Fa Zheng sensed my approach, casually greeted without turning around, while overlooking the city’s ruined aftermath.

Seconds later, he turned around, saying with a blank expression, "You mentioned before you have True Spirit Power, which can annihilate Great Demons completely, correct?"

As he spoke, he raised his hand, revealing two fist-sized ice crystals, each sealing a mass of black gas.

"I’ve intercepted the last souls of these two Great Demons," he said. "If they were Impermanence, they’d definitely be completely dead, but I analyzed their existential nature during combat; they are bizarre entities like moving natural disasters. They are aggregations of some kind of force rather than life.

"Though now they can’t recover quickly, they’re not entirely dead; you should give them the final blow."

Turns out, he hadn’t gone mad enough to forget this.

I did as he suggested, releasing flames to evaporate the ice crystals along with the souls inside, utterly destroying the Great Demon Ksitigarbha and Great Demon Yu Lei.

"Didn’t expect even Impermanence Ksitigarbha would appear as a Great Demon form," I said.

In fact, I had learned about the existence of the Great Demon Ksitigarbha from No. 7, but at the time, I found it somewhat unbelievable.

Impermanence Ksitigarbha is the prototype for the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva in Buddhism. Like Ming Zhuo, Ksitigarbha once made a pact with Naraku’s Will. He pledged to live solely for the salvation of all beings. The common saying "hell won’t be empty, I swear not to become Buddha" about Ksitigarbha originates from this vow. As long as Ksitigarbha continues practicing this vow, Naraku’s Will will endlessly provide him with power.

This is strangely similar to the Human Dao Divine Weapon held by Fa Zheng, and the manifestation condition of a Great Demon is "the prototype person holds a desire to destroy the world." It’s hard to imagine that Ksitigarbha, who made such a vow, also harbored impulses to destroy the world.

However, the Great Demon Ksitigarbha summoned by the Naraku Gospel obviously did not inherit the grand vow and oath of the Impermanence Ksitigarbha.

Even if it really had inherited, it probably wouldn’t have any effect. The Great Demon is a bizarre entity that exists to massacre all of humanity, and firstly, it would not gain the approval of Naraku’s Will. Such a reversal of actions would likely be seen as breaking a vow, thereby being punished by Naraku’s Will, actually further weakening it.

Regarding the conditions for the manifestation of the Great Demon, I had explained it to Fa Zheng last time, so he immediately understood what I meant this time.

"There’s nothing strange about it. Those who wish to save all beings always have to face the darkest parts of the human heart, and perhaps the past Ksitigarbha occasionally had some unknown thoughts too," Fa Zheng said. "Besides, even leaving that aside, it’s not surprising for the Impermanence to want to destroy the world. To be honest, I too occasionally have such crazy thoughts."

Although the latter half of his words seemed nonsensical, I quickly grasped the meaning behind them.

As the saying goes, "With a weapon in hand, murderous intent arises," or to put it more simply, "When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail." For the Impermanence, the surface world is too fragile, especially the civilized world where humans gather. A slight move on its part would destroy everything around it, even just existing here would form Fatian Xiangdi, affecting the natural and social order.

Even living in what seems like a desolate wilderness far from human habitation feels constrained because the impact of its serious actions is so immense that it’s impossible not to damage the civilized world. The more one doesn’t want it to be so, the more they have to shackle themselves with countless heavy chains.

Such a degree of lack of freedom, even breathing freely is impossible, stretching out one’s limbs becomes taboo. A gentle breath, or a slight touch, would shatter and destroy the civilized world. The vast wasteland before us starkly illustrates the consequences of a God acting recklessly on earth.

Fa Zheng stared in a trance at this barren landscape. Suddenly, he froze and then showed an expression of extreme astonishment.

"...What is going on?" he said incredulously.

Upon hearing this, I immediately followed his gaze to observe the front, but noticed no changes. Everything was exactly the same as before, the surroundings were unchanged. What exactly was Fa Zheng surprised about?

I was about to open my mouth to ask, but having been reminded by Fa Zheng, I reacted before speaking out.

——The Fatian Xiangdi of the Great Demons had not disappeared.

Fatian Xiangdi is like a dent formed by a lead ball thrown onto the bed. Wherever the lead ball moves, the dent moves, and if taken away, the dent would disappear. Therefore, in theory, if the Impermanence that deployed Fatian Xiangdi was killed, its Fatian Xiangdi would automatically vanish from heaven and earth. And the Fatian Xiangdi of the Great Demon should also follow the same principle.

However, the Doomsday Space-Time surrounding us had not receded. Time and space were still in chaos, even deepening. At this rate, the spread of the Doomsday Space-Time to the outside had not yet ceased, and the real world would soon be completely covered by the hue of the Doomsday Era.

At this moment, a figure dressed in white, carrying a long sword, suddenly appeared nearby, it was Jian Feixian of the Impermanence.

"Jian Feixian...where did you go just now?" Fa Zheng asked coldly.

The other party should have come to support us immediately after we started the battle with the Three-headed Great Demon, yet for some reason, he delayed until now. Such negligence was indeed unacceptable. If Jian Feixian didn’t provide a sufficient reason, Fa Zheng wouldn’t easily let it go.

Faced with the implicit anger of his friend Fa Zheng, Jian Feixian merely shrugged and didn’t offer a word of defense.

Just as Fa Zheng was about to erupt, an elderly voice leisurely spoke from the side, "Do not blame Jian Feixian, it was I who intercepted him before."

Following the voice, we saw a figure with white hair like a crane and a child’s face, dressed in a gray Taoist robe, appearing in this place.

"Gua Tianshi, what’s going on? Why did you intercept him?" Fa Zheng asked with a frown. "No, the most important thing right now is to stop the spread of this Fatian Xiangdi, otherwise, the world will be destroyed..."

"No need to worry about this issue..." Gua Tianshi said leisurely, "While you were battling the Three-headed Great Demon, Jian Feixian and I have already temporarily contained this dangerous Fatian Xiangdi from the outside."