Chapter 371: The Oath of Brotherhood is Formed, Merit and Luck Arrive

"What immense strength!"

As soon as Fang Longye and Niu Mowang locked hands, both sides felt a surge of wild, immense strength rushing toward them, and they simultaneously thought to themselves.

Compared to Fang Longye, Niu Mowang was even more astonished.

One must know that this was a strong suit he had specifically chosen, precisely because this Yuanlong Jun looked refined and handsome, not at all like an expert in this field.

Even when the other party had defeated Shituo Wang back then, he hadn't taken it to heart; after all, what that Yuanlong Jun had displayed more of at the time were divine abilities and Spirit Treasure.

His attainments in physical body and force were only a fleeting glimpse, and he had assumed that this Yuanlong Jun, like most of the Dragon Clan today, was not skilled in this path!

Never would he have thought that he had misjudged; this Yuanlong Jun, looking fair and clean like a pretty boy, was actually an expert in this path~

After a brief probing, the two naturally began a true contest, their hands locked together, wild, immense strength erupting from each and colliding with the other.

In an instant, it produced the sound of metal and stone clashing.

It was only because the two were evenly matched for the moment, and both were experts in force, that their power was condensed as one, directed solely at the other.

Otherwise, this collision of power alone would have been enough to shake a group of Golden Immortal to death.

This fellow really has some tricks! Seeing Fang Longye remain completely motionless, Niu Mowang snorted coldly in his heart and began to get serious, his internal tendons stretching and his great dragon turning over.

With every twist, immense power was derived, transforming into a force like a mountain collapsing or a sea overturning, surging toward Fang Longye layer upon layer.

It collided head-on with the wild, immense strength surging over from Fang Longye, the aftershocks becoming almost tangible, suddenly exploding and generating circular sound rings.

Spreading out in all directions~

After a round of contest, Fang Longye immediately chose a strategy of arriving late but striking first, letting Niu Mowang take the initiative to exert force while he met every move with a counter, remaining as steady as a mountain~ Let him be strong, the clear breeze brushes the mountain ridge; let him be fierce, the bright moon shines on the great river.

No matter how rigid and violent the wild, immense strength Niu Mowang emitted was, he was like a bottomless abyss, absorbing it all without showing the slightest movement.

Seeing this, Niu Mowang knew that he had indeed underestimated this Yuanlong Jun before, and he immediately stopped hesitating, mobilizing the Li Zhi Fazhe he had comprehended.

Within his flesh and blood, tangible-like law patterns suddenly emerged, twisting and spiraling, suffused with a mysterious and inexplicable luster.

Flesh, bones, acupoints, skin,... and so on, every inch and every fraction of his entire innate Savage Bull True Body was not left out.

Dense and intricate, thick and numerous.

With the Li Zhi Fazhe added to his body, it immediately connected everything, resonating in the dark with everything in heaven and earth, bringing forth unimaginable, wild, immense strength~ The arm locked with Fang Longye's had skin that turned a bronze color, with blue veins bulging like snakes or dragons, twisting back and forth.

"Li Zhi Fazhe? Truly extraordinary!"

Fang Longye only felt a wild, immense, heaven-and-earth-like peerless brute force rushing toward him through their locked wrists.

This Li Zhi Fazhe was like a fulcrum, through which one could pry up all the power in heaven and earth governed by the concept of "force"~

The power of the sun and moon, the power of the stars, the power of the earth, the power of mountains and rivers, the power of flames, the power of water currents, Yin and Yang, Five Elements,... and so on.

These, whether metaphysical or physical, were all pried up, transformed into pure power, commanded by the Li Zhi Fazhe, and brought infinite brute force to Niu Mowang.

Yet he did not panic; any law, when taken to the end, has similar effects, it is just that the Li Zhi Fazhe has a simpler start.

Of course, the most critical point was that although the brute force brought to Niu Mowang by the Li Zhi Fazhe had no upper limit, Niu Mowang himself had an upper limit.

Niu Mowang could not sustain this state of infinite brute force for too long~

Boom! The "Yuanlong Dao" that Fang Longye cultivated also empowered his own body, bringing forth magnificent, great power, colliding with the wild, immense strength emitted by Niu Mowang.

Additionally, his Inner World slowly opened,

swallowing the power he could not withstand and dissolving it one by one.

No matter what kind of brute force Niu Mowang exerted, it was like a clay ox entering the sea, unable to shake him in the slightest.

The two continued to contest, their locked wrists remaining motionless, with no winner or loser for the time being.

"Hey, who do you think will win?"

Sun Wukong, who was watching from the side, patted Jade Dragon King on the shoulder and asked in a low voice.

He was very focused on the contest between Fang Longye and Niu Mowang, watching without even blinking.

It was just that his realm was limited; no matter how he looked, he couldn't tell who was higher or lower, so he had to run over and ask his fellow clansman in a low voice~

Jade Dragon King's eyes were deep, with strange seal characters spiraling inside, as if shadows were imprinted on them, but they were blurry and unclear.

"Currently, the two are evenly matched," he organized his words and continued: "The two are one attacking and one defending, with Niu Mowang being the one taking the initiative to attack~"

"In other words, Brother Niu Mo has a better chance of winning?" Sun Wukong glanced at Fang Longye and Niu Mowang and muttered in a low voice.

He understood the principle that after long defense, there must be a loss; this was also his own style when fighting others, often using attack as defense.

"That's not necessarily true~"

Hearing Sun Wukong's words, Jade Dragon King shook his head and expressed his own opinion, saying:

"Although it is said that long defense leads to loss, an army that attacks for a long time will inevitably become exhausted; it still depends on the strength of both sides~"

Hearing this, Sun Wukong curled his lips, but although he had objections, he didn't say anything more.

After a while, he heard Jiao Mowang beside him chuckle and say: "Brother Yuan, you were actually right! Niu Mowang is about to lose~"

Hearing this, Sun Wukong looked at Niu Mowang and Fang Longye; their wrists were still tightly locked, remaining motionless, with no sign of a winner being decided.

Just as he was about to ask,

he saw Fang Longye suddenly exert force, and in an instant, he pressed Niu Mowang's wrist onto the boulder.

The winner was decided!

"I took advantage!"

Fang Longye smiled at Niu Mowang.

"A bet is a bet, you are the boss!"

Niu Mowang said in a muffled voice.

Force is straightforward; if it works, it works, if it doesn't, it doesn't, there is nothing to argue about~ Yes, later this Yuanlong Jun used his Inner World, which did look a bit like a violation.

But he had also used the Li Zhi Fazhe he had comprehended, and it was no longer a pure contest of his own strength; the big brother shouldn't criticize the second brother, it was all the same~ "Brother Niu Mo is magnanimous!"

The crowd on the side applauded and cheered, smoothing things over and pulling him and Fang Longye back to their seats~ "Ahem~" After a round of wine, Fang Longye put down his Wine Cup, cleared his throat, and said:

"Since you brothers have shown me such regard, I shall be the eldest brother from now on. Does anyone have any objections?"

"No objections!"

Having agreed beforehand that one's word is as good as gold, and given that even Niu Mowang, who tried to "use his own strengths to attack the other's weaknesses," failed to win, naturally no one had any objections.

"Then, does anyone have any objections to Brother Niu Mowang taking the second spot?" Fang Longye, knowing Niu Mowang was feeling awkward after his defeat, simply spoke up for him.

"No objections!"

Everyone had seen Niu Mowang's abilities, so they were naturally convinced by him taking the second spot. "Then I shall take the third spot; I assume no one has any objections to that?" Jiao Mowang said.

During this time, everyone's abilities had been revealed; apart from Niu Mowang, the two fellow disciples Jiao Mowang and Peng Mowang were particularly eye-catching.

Because these two fellow disciples were clearly only Taiyi Loose Immortals, yet in terms of strength and other aspects, they firmly suppressed Shituo Wang, who was ranked as a Taiyi True Immortal.

"Then I shall be the fourth!"

Seeing no one object, Peng Mowang followed up.

Next, the one ranked fifth was, without a doubt, Shituo Wang, who was ranked as a Taiyi True Immortal.

Only the three monkeys remained, their order yet to be determined.

It was not that Sun Wukong wanted to fight for a position, but mainly because the strengths of Yurong Wang and Mihou Wang were difficult to distinguish.

And this order of brotherhood also involved Merit and Luck to a certain extent; no matter how good their relationship was, they could not ignore it, so there were naturally some disagreements.

Mihou Wang had a restless nature and still possessed the personality of a child; he was the first to lose patience and jumped out, saying:

"My other divine abilities might be on par with Brother Yu Rong, but my ability to catch the wind and discern Aura is quite useful; compared to the Clairvoyance and Clairaudience of the Heavenly Court, it is not inferior at all."

He was not tall, and he tilted his little face, looked at Yurong Wang and Sun Wukong, and said: "In the future, if there are any fun things in the Earth Immortal Realm, I can tell you all about them. I will be the sixth brother; you shouldn't have any objections!"

Fang Longye's heart stirred; this was truly a bit like the Six-Eared Macaque in the words of Rulai.

"Good at listening, able to perceive principles, knowing the past and future, all things are clear." As far as he knew, apart from not having six ears, this Mihou Wang fit the description in every other aspect.

"Forget it! I'll let you have this one~"

While Fang Longye was pondering, Yurong Wang also made a choice, no longer competing with Mihou Wang over who was older or younger.

Mainly because the implication of Mihou Wang's words was too shameless and lacked martial virtue.

He was actually implying that if anyone dared to object, he would peek at their entire family and expose all their ugly secrets. This was a huge threat—especially since Yurong Wang had been walking quite closely with him recently and knew the extraordinariness of this innate divine ability of Mihou Wang; it was truly impossible to guard against.

No matter how one tried to conceal things, whether by using a Spirit Treasure or setting up an array, this sneaky fellow would still unexpectedly peek at a thing or two of one's secrets.

As a result, this caused Yurong Wang, who originally had objections and was prepared to compete with Mihou Wang, to give up the idea. Who the hell wants to be targeted by a peeping tom? Just like that, Mihou Wang, who had the most youthful appearance and a personality as restless as a child, ended up ranked above Yurong Wang, becoming Sun Wukong's sixth brother.

And Yurong Wang naturally ranked before Sun Wukong, which meant Sun Wukong went from being the seventh in the original timeline to the eighth~

"I thought my arrival would cause some butterfly effect! It turns out that apart from me becoming the eldest, the other order hasn't changed at all."

It just shifted down by one place~ Fang Longye picked up his Wine Cup, looking at the group who had settled their ranking and were now drinking and laughing, his eyes deep, revealing a faint, imperceptible strangeness.

After much clinking of cups, the auspicious time had arrived.

The eight of them left Water Curtain Cave and came to the altar that had been set up long ago; the incense table was in place, the offerings were atop it, and curling smoke rose, permeating the surroundings.

Solemn, grave, and austere.

Monkeys from Huaguo Mountain came up, lined up eight large bowls on the incense table, and poured eight large bowls of wine.

This was to pledge with blood~

"Ding-dong~"

Fang Longye did not need any knife; he simply flicked his finger, a sharp edge passing over the middle finger of his left hand, and dripped a drop of blood into each wine bowl.

Subsequently, the other seven, including Niu Mowang, Jiao Mowang, Peng Mowang, and Shituo Wang, also stepped forward in turn to shed their blood.

After all eight had shed their blood, they each picked up a wine bowl. Fang Longye, as the eldest brother, stood at the very front, with the other seven standing behind him, praying to Heaven and Earth: "Today, there is... Sun Wukong, brothers by oath, from now on we shall support and help each other, with Heaven and Earth as witness, mountains and rivers as our alliance, keeping our word for a lifetime, never to violate this oath!"

Naturally, the oath did not contain "sharing joys and sorrows together," nor did it contain the words "not seeking to be born on the same day, but seeking to die on the same day."

This is the Journey to the West, not the Three Kingdoms; if you really swear to live and die together, and the Heavenly Dao goes crazy and actually makes you live and die together, then that would be...

Never mind these fellows who had ulterior motives for swearing brotherhood with the monkey, even Sun Wukong himself would not be happy!

Don't look at you fellows, each one of you is more magically powerful than me, but who knows how long you old brothers can live!

I have just started my career; if I really have to live and die with you, wouldn't that be asking for trouble! In short,

After the eight of them stood on the altar and took their oath, they drank the blood wine in one gulp and bowed eight times to Heaven and Earth together, officially becoming sworn brothers.

"Boom—"

As soon as the ceremony was completed, a thunderclap suddenly rang out in the clear sky for ten thousand miles; it was Heaven and Earth sensing the response to the oath of the eight brothers.

When Heaven and Earth confirmed the brotherhood of the eight was established, after the thunderclap exploded, in the darkness, an indescribable Aura immediately descended~

Fang Longye only felt that a vague, indescribable connection had formed between him and the other seven, and he felt they were much closer for no reason~ "Luck, Karma, or the future?"

Before he could think it through, he saw that by virtue of this connection, a vast, unimaginable amount of Merit and Luck, purple-blue with gold, was surging toward him~

"The Merit and Luck of the Brahma sect~"

He saw the reddish-gold light interweaving, forming banners and canopies, spinning continuously, with the sound of Brahma chants and Buddhist singing.

Golden light floated in the air, and auspicious clouds condensed.

Thousands of Brahma sounds rang out, and hundreds of Buddhas scattered fragrance.

One after another, bucket-sized Buddhist characters circulated, leaped, and shone brilliantly within this unimaginably vast Merit and Luck.

His entire mind was occupied by a vast, irresistible Buddhist principle.

Fortunately,

This Merit and Luck only used him as a transit station; as soon as it arrived, it continuously disappeared, not staying with him at all.

As the Young Lord of the Dragon Clan, he could feel that this Merit and Luck, carrying a thick Brahma sect mark, was heading toward the luck of the Dragon Clan.

"Sure enough, the Merit and Luck given by this Brahma sect is not so easy for a 'tool' like me to seize and absorb~"

The Profound Spirit Hidden Armor spun ceaselessly within his sea of consciousness, casting off incomparably profound Dao implications to resist the encroachment and distortion of the Brahma teachings...

Fang Longye cautiously intercepted these Merit and Luck; if not for the many Merit Spiritual Treasures suppressing his sea of consciousness, he would have long since been "unable to stomach it"—before long, this stream of seemingly endless Merit and Luck flowed dry and ceased to surge.

"Whew—"

Joy emerged in Fang Longye's eyes, not only because the harvest was not small, but more because information appeared in the ethereal void indicating that this was not all of the Merit and Luck.

There would be several more rounds in the future—

"I was wondering why there wasn't as much as I imagined! But does this thing even do installment payments?"

Fang Longye's thoughts fluctuated; come to think of it, this was actually a good thing for him personally.

After all, if it had all come at once, he truly would have been "unable to stomach it" at present and would not have been able to intercept much.

However, thinking that this Merit and Luck was compensation and benefits given by Brahma to the forces behind them for the flourishing of the Fomen, his heart couldn't help but skip a beat—by doing "installment payments," could it be that Brahma wants to welsh on the debt? (End of chapter)