Chapter 241

Just as Mu Yi was preparing to confront the difficulty, at the moment he was about to pierce this giant with a strike...

Lily beside him had already begun to concoct her spell.

The barrier shattered, the heavenly and earthly essence came back online, and Lily's spell was also unsealed again.

「Boom—」

Only hearing a tremendous roar, a bright blue column of light surged upward from below, straight into the heavens.

The dark clouds that had gathered due to the law of heaven and earth suddenly surged tumultuously, overcast clouds spread, and thunder rumbled continuously.

Lily held a divine artifact staff in one hand and the grimoire of the great mage she had attracted at the previous Fate Convention in the other, quietly chanting the magic incantation.

「Thunder Judgment! 」

As Lily's voice fell, the thunder stored in the thick clouds began to tumble, and under the spell's guidance it rolled down toward the earth.

The entire heaven and earth were illuminated by the lightning.

Countless lightning pillars, like waterfalls, poured down obliquely from the rolling dark clouds.

Watching the sky-full of lightning pillars, the Snake Immortal brandished the double-bladed sword in hand and launched an attack against the falling thunder.

「Boom—」

With the roar exploding, the position where the Snake Immortal stood was instantly submerged in the pervasive thunder.

Mu Yi watched in astonishment as the falling thunder submerged the Snake Immortal's massive form.

By drawing on the power of heaven and earth with her spell, Lily's move seemed simple, but its difficulty coefficient was extremely high.

Summoning the thunder of heaven and earth is no easy task; it's prone to backlash from the heavenly thunder, yet Lily not only drew down the heavenly thunder but also condensed part of it to increase its power.

Mu Yi looked at Lily, who hadn't even caught her breath, and suddenly realized that perhaps Lily also possessed half-step Legend strength.

Accompanied by the roaring, violent pillars of lightning on the ground, the dark clouds above the firmament not only did not dissipate, but became even more violent.

Wave after wave of lightning poured down frenziedly.

Blue-white light illuminated the entire expanse of heaven and earth.

Mu Yi even couldn't help but close his eyes; the Thousand-mile Eye gave him keen perception, but this ability, after all, is an attendant effect of a divine power, not the strength of his own eyes, and is easily harmed by external things.

"Miscalculated!" Lily frowned, using her magic to gaze at the Snake Immortal within the sea of thunder.

The consumption of this spell is actually not great for her, less than that of the previous Doomsday Judgment she released.

It was actually the Snake Immortal who first provoked the heavenly and earthly anomaly; she merely borrowed the flower to offer to the Buddha, appearing fearsome in power but mainly serving as a guiding effect, with her own consumption not being severe.

But precisely because of this, the attack is uncontrollable; although it appears the Snake Immortal is submerged in the thunder sea, the opponent cleverly shrank back, almost evading most of the attack.

Although the remaining attacks split its skin and flesh, ultimately its life was unharmed.

Seeing this, Lily involuntarily shook her head, putting away the great mage's grimoire in her hand; the great mage's research is quite good, but she still needs more time to integrate theory and practice.

「Hiss—」

With a sound of the snake spitting its tongue, the shockwave from the two double-bladed swords directly dispersed the clouds above the sky; the incense power burned on the Snake Immortal's massive body, dispersing the thunder entwined on its surface.

Skin and flesh scorched black, waves of stabbing pain came from the flesh, causing the Snake Immortal to go berserk, whirling the double-bladed swords and charging toward Mu Yi and them.

「Unmoving like a mountain! 」

The army, with its formation already set, tightly huddled together; the Cloud Energy circulated faster within the formation, and if one did this on the battlefield, it would be courting death.

But when dealing with such a huge opponent, only such a sufficiently dense formation can have resistance.

The formation itself is a carrier, a channel; the true foundation is the amalgamation of the essence, energy, and spirit of all the soldiers within the formation, which, under the formation's guidance, interacts with the heavenly and earthly essence, ultimately forming Cloud Energy.

And Cloud Energy is the energy measured by the army as a unit; at this moment, under Mu Yi's control, with the conviction of being unmoving like a mountain, it transformed into a towering mountain.

Only see the Snake Immortal raising its double-bladed sword, faint purple energy coiling around it, dyeing the sword wholly purple and emitting an eerie fluctuation.

As the double-bladed sword fell, it kicked up a howling gale; visible vortices, like substance, swept toward the mountain, and the temples around the mountain collapsed one after another.

But the scene of the giant blade cleaving the mountain peaks did not occur; the double-bladed sword got stuck on the mountain peak, round and whole as if it were truly the mountain itself, and the giant blade could not split the mountain in two.

The double-bladed sword was lodged within the mountain formed of Cloud Energy, unable to move downward even an inch.

Moreover, the mountain was re-healing under the influence of heavenly and earthly essence, with the double-bladed sword trapped inside the mountain body.

The Snake Immortal strained to pull out the double-bladed sword, swung it round again to chop down, but the result remained the same: the giant blade could not cut through the mountain body.

The shockwave from their clash formed wave after wave of immense air pressure that crushed outward; aside from the Snake Immortal's temple, which stood unmoving with its incense power, all other snake spirit temples collapsed.

Even the mountain and the ground beneath the giant could hardly withstand such impact; suddenly it sank, the area of their clash subsiding by several units, extending out dozens of vast and deep gullies.

Caught in the aftermath of the battle, the resentful spirits imprisoned within the sculptures broke free of their bonds and, under the pull of the Six Paths of Reincarnation, began to surge toward the reincarnation deep within the barrier.

The Hell Path activated at full strength, stripping the resentment and hatred from these vengeful spirits, then sending them into the reincarnation of this world; their souls were purged of impurities and returned to heaven and earth, while the resentment and obsession they left behind underwent the turning of the Six Paths, becoming Mu Yi's power.

The mountain formed from Cloud Energy became increasingly substantial, to the point that even the Snake Immortal's whirling serpent-blade could not sink into its body.

Mu Yi's understanding of the Immovable as a Mountain grew ever clearer.

As the Immovable as a Mountain was perfected, Mu Yi, in a moment of reverie, grasped another aspect of it.

When Yin reaches its extreme, Yang is born; when Yang reaches its extreme, Yin is born.

When the Immovable as a Mountain reached the pinnacle of defense, it naturally gave rise to the ultimate of attack.

"I never expected to gain a boost in a place like this!"

Mu Yi stood atop the mountain peak, watching the Snake Immortal roar and launch a desperate attack at him, trying to cause the army to collapse, a cold smirk appearing at the corner of his mouth.

"Battle formations are interconnected; if the Immovable as a Mountain is meant to meet myriad changes with unchanging steadiness, then it is also time to launch a counterattack!"

Mu Yi slowly raised his palm, the military flag held in his hand lifted high, then descended with a solemn, killing intent.

"Move like thunder!"

The towering mountain rose from the ground, as if a giant hand had seized it as a weapon and hurled it at the Snake Immortal.

The best method of defense is naturally to attack!

The serpent-blade in the Snake Immortal's hand had just been rebounded by the mountain's recoil, and before the numbness in his arm could fade, a vast shadow loomed overhead and began to fall.

The heavy mountain crashed down; the Snake Immortal raised his serpent-blade to block, but under the terrifying force, such futile defense was nothing but a joke.

The mountain peak, with the posture of withering and breaking, destroyed all resistance of the Snake Immortal and directly smashed heavily onto its face.

Just one blow—the Snake Immortal, which had only been slightly injured even when shrouded in the sea of lightning—had its huge body instantly covered in cracks.

The Snake Immortal's heaven-earth encompassing form, ultimately a dharma-image constructed from incense, may seem like flesh and blood when bearing ordinary harm, but the moment its dharma-image is truly destroyed, its nature is fully exposed.

"Crack!"

As the sound of shattering glass rang out continuously, the Snake Immortal's huge dharma-image began to collapse, while Mu Yi paid no heed, raising the military flag in his hand again and then letting it fall.

The massive mountain peak rose again and then crashed down with a boom; the Snake Immortal's already-collapsing dharma-image could not withstand such a heavy blow, instantly shattering into incense power and heavenly-earth essence, which began to dissipate.

"Boom!"

Mu Yi's merciless attack came crashing down, shaking the entire land.

"Oh?" Mu Yi looked at the Snake Immortal's temple struggling to hold up beneath the mountain peak, his expression showing astonishment; he hadn't expected the Snake Immortal to flee into the temple and still be able to activate its defense relying on incense aura.

At this moment the temple seemed like a single, unified mountain range, making his attack appear futile.

"Crack..."

The next instant, the sound of shattering rang out from nowhere, causing Mu Yi's mouth to curl into a cold smile—it was merely a desperate hold; then die.

Without further words, the heavy mountain peak fell again; the sturdy temple began to collapse instantly, and although it had been strengthened by a level through the influence of incense power, after all it was merely a temple, utterly unable to withstand Mu Yi's peerless ferocity.

"Zongwang Prompt: Your squad slew the Qing Court-Jia Xian-Snake Immortal chieftain; based on your contribution, you gain 20,000 points of slaughter experience, Jia Xian Treasure Chest (Epic)"

"Eliminate Five Harms task progress update: Slain Jia Xian (1/5)"

"Zongwang Prompt: Your squad destroyed the Snake Immortal's temple; based on your contribution, you gain 20,000 points of universal experience, Jia Xian Treasure Chest (Epic)"

"Eliminate Five Harms task progress update: Destroyed Jia Xian's temple (1/5)"

"Zongwang Prompt: You have already been regarded as a mortal enemy by the Jia Xian forces!"

"Zongwang Prompt: Your relationship with the Qing Court faction has turned into mortal enmity!"

He glanced at the rewards; after all, they were team rewards, so it's understandable that no one's share is particularly lavish.

Although La Ge Na and Ailianna were slacking, the little fox and Princess Lily had exerted great effort, so the rewards would naturally be shared out a bit.

Just as Mu Yi was thinking about the rewards, the information on his retina refreshed again.

"Zongwang Prompt: Your legend level in this world is 1!"

"Zongwang Prompt: Reputation with the Rebellion Army faction increased, favorability with He Luo God rose, and reputation with the Buddhist Sect faction increased."

Seeing the Buddhist Sect faction's reputation rise, Mu Yi's face showed a baffled expression—what was this, why would slaying the Snake Immortal increase the Buddhist Sect's reputation?

The news about the Rebellion Army and He Luo God is easy to understand, but this Buddhist Sect, Mu Yi genuinely cannot comprehend.

Recalling Li Tianhai's earlier anomaly when condensing the Diamond, Mu Yi fell into contemplation; it seems the Buddhist Sect's entanglement with this world is unclear.

The worst case scenario is that the Buddhist Sect has already completely mastered this world?

Um… if that's the case, the Buddhist Sect might perhaps become his able assistant?

After all, the departure of the Heavenly Gods and Earth Deities has left the Buddhist Sect room to maneuver.

If the world is destroyed and heaven and earth replay, then when the history of Jiuzhou cycles repeats, the Buddhist Sect will still be an outsider, only able to get a share.

But if they maintain this world, slay He Luo God, thereby letting the world continue, then the incense faith of this world will wholly belong to the Buddhist Sect.

In that calculation, his slaying of Jia Xian also counts as removing a competitor for the Buddhist Sect, so it's no wonder his reputation with the Buddhist Sect faction would increase.

Although there had been some minor friction before, there are no eternal friends, only eternal interests.

At least in this dungeon, they appear to be grasshoppers on the same rope.

"What are you thinking about?" Lily saw Mu Yi's brow not unfurrowing with worry and took the initiative to ask.

Mu Yi thought it over, then told Lily all his conjectures and the situation; as he had already told him about the Wen Ren incident earlier, leaving matters to smart people to handle is far more effective than him brooding alone.

"If that's the case, we can indeed obtain some help from the Buddhist Sect!" Lily, being half-versed in Jiuzhou culture, naturally understands the twists and turns here.

Moreover, as an actual power-holding princess of an empire, Lily's intelligence is clearly far superior to Mu Yi's.

"Don't rush, the Buddhist Sect should proactively contact us! Right now, the ones who should be anxious are them!" Lily analyzed the situation.

After all, the Snake Immortal and these Jia Xian are still the vessels maintaining the seal; if Mu Yi were to kill them, perhaps He Luo God would emerge prematurely, which nobody wants to see.

Given the current situation, the Buddhist Sect, Qing Court, Jia Xian, Rebellion Army, Mu Yi… this series of forces actually all stand on one line: that of preventing He Luo God from destroying the world.

However, each has its own calculations; just like the Buddhist Sect, Mu Yi does not believe they have any designs on He Luo God as a ready-made enforcer.

The Buddhist Sect's capability is beyond doubt; if He Luo God were truly targeted by the Buddhist Sect, he might very well be ferried into the Buddhist Sect and become a dharma protector god.

After all, he too has the blood of mountain-and-sea exotic beasts, has already reached the Legendary level, and his future is also very secure.

"Then what should we do next?"

Mu Yi pondered for a moment, feeling Lily was right; no matter what, their goal this time is He Luo God.

"Go find the next Jia Xian; they'll surely come knocking on our door!" Lily made the judgment, and in fact she was not mistaken.

Just as Mu Yi and his party, based on the ruined walls of the Snake Immortal's temple, made a divination and found the next Jia Xian's temple.

"Everyone, wait! Everyone, wait!"

A monk in white robes, holding a staff and a golden bowl, pierced through the wind and snow filling the sky, running toward them.

"I am the disciple Zhitong of the Boundless Temple; I have greeted you, exalted deity!"

"Boundless Temple… are you the Venerable of Boundlessness?"

Mu Yi glanced at the monk's harmonious and upright aura, nodded; though his impression of monks wasn't great, it didn't prevent him from respecting a true high monk.

"Speak, what are you here for!"

Mu Yi thought a bit, then still gave the monk a chance to speak.