Chapter 366: Falling into Demonhood, Mad Sands

The Rebirth Salvation Finger — its current enhanced version.

As the finger burning with Glazed Flame descended, Sha Wujing felt an extreme threat.

"Roar!"

With a deafening roar, the Yellow Spring water around Sha Wujing began to rise and surge, forming a gigantic humanoid figure.

The surging Yellow Spring, identical in appearance to Sha Wujing, roared and charged toward the finger descending from the sky.

The two collided, and a vast amount of white mist rose up, instantly completely enveloping this area.

"Ah."

Ao Yulie let out a strange cry and fled with reckless abandon, to avoid being caught in the aftermath.

The white-mist-shrouded area appeared calm on the surface, but was actually the collision ground of Yellow Spring water and Glazed Flame power; entering rashly would only result in death and dissipation of the Dao.

As quickly as the white mist appeared, it vanished just as fast.

It dissipated completely in short order, leaving only faint flashes of firelight visible.

The giant Sha Wujing formed of Yellow Spring water vanished, but the Rebirth Salvation Finger did not disappear.

Sha Wujing raised both hands to the sky, desperately bracing against it; above his head was the Rebirth Salvation Finger, now much smaller but still like a small mountain peak, descending bit by bit.

"Foolish child, still not enlightened?" Tang Luo sat high on the cloud ends, his finger pointing remotely, and spoke.

It was said before that casting the Rebirth Salvation Finger would, for Tang Luo who had recovered to 3.4 tenths of his uninjured limit, have more or less some impact.

It was not a move that could be used casually.

Therefore, Tang Luo simply consumed the bulk of the merit power he had gained during this period, using it all to heal his injuries.

His current uninjured limit had already reached 3.6 tenths; casting the Rebirth Salvation Finger had become somewhat easier — at least he no longer needed to worry about being unable to restrain his power after pointing and accidentally pressing Sha Wujing to death with a single finger.

Sha Wujing let out a low roar; his robust body began to turn emaciated again, yet his power began to surge violently.

The white bones and flesh-and-blood ground beneath his feet instantly cracked open.

Forcefully bracing against the finger, he began to lift it upward inch by inch.

Tang Luo sighed; his suspended, motionless finger suddenly plummeted.

The upward trend that had just arisen instantly halted; the Rebirth Salvation Finger crashed down with a boom!

A huge deep pit appeared on the "ground"; the finger slowly dissipated.

The battle between the two had turned mountain ranges into a basin — and a special "flesh-and-blood mountain" at that — seemingly fragile, yet actually incomparably sturdy.

Sha Wujing lay at the bottom of the pit, hands twisted, skin and bones, his crimson hair turned incomparably withered; he had clearly completely lost the ability to fight.

Tang Luo landed, standing beside Sha Wujing, reached out and grabbed, and the distant Broken Demon Cold Ice Spear returned to his hand.

However, cracks could be seen on it; it had been damaged considerably in the battle between the two.

An ordinary god or demon walking the path would probably be heartbroken to death over it.

Tang Luo did not care in the least; he stowed it away, crouched down, and asked: "Awake now?"

"Master..." Sha Wujing spoke, "Right now you are the stronger one; then, please become the World-Saving True Sutra once more, and save the world again!"

"..."

Tang Luo shook his head helplessly and said to this disciple whose mind was broken, "Can't save them. The heaven-and-earth Qi of this world is twisted and malicious; even using the Merit Jade Lotus, it would be hard to reverse."

"Wrong!" Sha Wujing's tone was intense, "You are that strong, you definitely can become the strongest..."

"No saving it." Tang Luo said, "You can treat it as the cycle of life and death; this world has basically entered another kind of 'deathly twisted' state. After millions of years, it might fall completely silent, or it might regain vitality."

"Buddha saves those with affinity; this world has no affinity."

"Hahaha!" Sha Wujing suddenly burst into wild laughter, "Master, when it comes down to it, even you aren't strong enough, so you can't save them?"

"Mm, that can be said too." Tang Luo said, "Some things cannot be forced; even if this master exterminated all the ghosts, before long they would reappear — they are originally a part of this world."

Sha Wujing did not speak; the red light in his eyes dimmed.

From disappointment to hope, then to despair.

"Wrong, wrong!" A moment later, the red light in Sha Wujing's eyes blazed, "The power isn't strong enough! The World-Saving True Sutras aren't enough, aren't strong enough! As long as the Ginseng Fruit Tree exists, I can create an endless stream of scripture-fetchers, endlessly create World-Saving True Sutras; eventually the strongest World-Saving True Sutra will be born! Master, you can become a Holy Monk again! Save the world."

"Cough." Tang Luo coughed, feeling a bit like he had lifted a rock only to drop it on his own foot.

Back during the journey west, he would constantly chant "There's no problem one punch can't solve; if there is, use two punches," and as a result he led Sha Wujing into this pitfall.

After twisting and falling into demonhood, it formed a demonic thought.

Yes, Sha Wujing's situation is actually exactly falling into demonhood.

The Yellow Spring is his demonic thought manifested externally; even after returning to his main body, he is still a demon.

Similar to the situation of the Ksitigarbha King's demonic thought Tang Luo encountered, but the Ksitigarbha King only had a wisp of demonic thought appear; his actual situation is hard to judge.

He might have consciously expelled and separated the demonic thought but failed to suppress and destroy it, letting it escape.

Or he might have completely fallen into demonhood himself, and the demonic thought is just a wisp of a split soul that scattered.

Sha Wujing's situation belongs to the latter; the demonic thought split soul discarded all scruples and memories, madly carrying out the "great undertaking of fetching scriptures."

"In the end, he still repressed it until it broke..." Tang Luo sighed.

Why are there quite a few high monks in Buddhism who fall into demonhood, and after falling into demonhood sink deep into the mire, unable to "turn back from the sea of suffering" for a lifetime?

That's because they repressed it too hard!

They repressed it too fiercely before, so when it finally erupts it's very severe.

If it were another disciple — take Ao Yulie, no need to say more; that guy would slash himself with a knife, weaken his cultivation to guarantee his injuries wouldn't worsen, and hide away happily running his harem.

For Pigsy, the situation would probably be not much different.

Sun Wukong would wave his staff and smash the universe; if there's truly no salvation, then smash it completely — no breaking, no standing.

Only Sha Wujing, upon discovering the Western Pure Land was not a gateway to another world but a pure land created by the Ginseng Fruit Tree, and seeing hope, would make such a choice.

Once the choice is made, it is hard to turn back.

"Speaking of which, the mission is to obtain the World-Saving True Sutra; by the definition of 'World-Saving True Sutra', if I stuff Wujing into the Cursed House, would that count as completing the mission?" Tang Luo looked at Sha Wujing lying on the ground unable to move, and thought to himself.

The mission is to deliver the scripture-fetcher to the Western Pure Land; this condition has already been fulfilled. What comes after is obtaining the Transcendence True Scripture.

But there is no requirement to save the world's people.

The Transcendence True Scripture's essence is "distorted power" — whether Sha Wujing, the former scripture-fetchers, or even the Ginseng Fruit Tree, in a certain sense, all count as the Transcendence True Scripture.

"Whether the Ginseng Fruit Tree was destroyed or uprooted, let's see if there's any possibility of recovery," Tang Luo thought.

The Ginseng Fruit Tree was polluted and distorted because it was "planted" in a "heavily polluted" place.

Not dead, it would inevitably grow crooked.

Change the environment, and there is a certain possibility it could grow back properly.

Of course, given the Ginseng Fruit Tree's grade, the greater likelihood is it becomes a source of distortion, spreading that malice and distorted qi outward.

If placed in the real world, the situation is ninety-nine percent the latter.

Tang Luo didn't have a must-get attitude toward the Ginseng Fruit Tree; his gaze swept casually.

The terrain and topography had already completely changed, and then... Tang Luo did not see the Ginseng Fruit Tree.

"Little White Dragon, where's the Ginseng Fruit Tree?" Tang Luo asked.

"Don't know, Master. It disappeared the moment the Yellow Spring Blood Sea appeared," Ao Yulie said. "Could it have been destroyed by the aftershocks of your fight with Third Senior Brother?"

"Possible," Tang Luo said.

The Ginseng Fruit Tree isn't some shield or sturdy magic treasure; it's merely a spirit plant.

"Wrong!" Suddenly, Tang Luo realized it wasn't so.

Without a doubt, the Ginseng Fruit Tree is a major source of distortion and malice.

If it had truly been destroyed just now, it would definitely have yielded a considerable amount of merit power, absolutely no less than when Tang Luo ended the Resentful Spirit Snow.

"Shit!"

At this moment, a loud shout from Ao Yulie came from the sky.

Tang Luo looked up and saw a root — or a branch described more accurately — drill out from underground, sweeping toward Ao Yulie.

Carrying distorted malicious power, it formed an invisible cage, tightly binding Ao Yulie's movements.

Making him unable to escape.

The initial Enlightenment power had been completely exhausted. Ao Yulie transformed into a white giant dragon, roared, and entwined with the branch that coiled like a venomous snake.

The two entwined; dragon claws raked the tree trunk, tearing open the trunk's bark.

Like the Corpse Mountain, inside was entirely flesh and white bone.

Fresh blood and shattered bone flew everywhere, a scene like hell. Black hollows on the branch opened and closed, absorbing the power on Ao Yulie while releasing large amounts of malice.

The gold in Ao Yulie's dragon eyes rapidly turned crimson.

Ferocity and majesty in equal measure; the godly, prison-like dragon body began to change.

White dragon scales began turning black, protruding outward, forming sharp rhomboid scales.

The slender body began swelling; the dragon head's mouth protruded further, the whole dragon developing somewhat toward a crocodile's shape.

Ferocious flames soared to the heavens, but within this ferocity, a hint of outward-strength-but-inward-weakness showed through.

Tang Luo frowned, leaped up, the Drill Wind Bone Sword appearing in hand, arrived beside the branch, and slashed down with one sword.

A dull sound; the white sword shadow flashed past, and the bizarre flesh-and-blood branch was forcibly "smashed" apart by Tang Luo.

The severed branch instantly turned into fine, dense fragments falling down.

Waving a hand, Enlightenment; the mutation on Ao Yulie rapidly stabilized, beginning to revert to his original state.

Tang Luo turned his head to look at where Sha Wujing had originally been lying.

That place was already covered by a large number of branches, dense and crisscrossing, thoroughly impossible to see Sha Wujing's figure.

The flesh-and-blood earth trembled; the Ginseng Fruit Tree drilled out from underground again.

But unlike before, the originally lush leaves had completely vanished, leaving only branches interlocking like sharp swords, stabbing toward the vault of heaven.

Yet these branches were still swaying eerily, like living things.

On the tree trunk, three faces were embedded.

One belonged to Yu Kongyuan; the left one, not particularly clear, could be made out as Tian Hejin.

The right one was the mutated Fei Yuan Shisan.

Yu Kongyuan opened her eyes, looked at Tang Luo, and shouted loudly: "Venerable Xuanzang, become a part of me, save the world's people!"

"..."

Tang Luo frowned, right hand spread open, a flame tongue emerged in his palm, dancing, rapidly forming a ball of flame.

Unlike the usual Glazed Flame's pure amber pale gold.

This time the Glazed Flame was a ball of white-gold flame, emitting blinding light, as if Tang Luo held a tiny sun in his hand.

"You survive first, then talk." Tang Luo pressed down with a backhand motion.

The flame fell into the flesh-and-blood earth; a sea of fire, instantly dense everywhere!

"Hahaha!" Yu Kongyuan laughed wildly.

She felt this flame not only failed to harm her, but became part of her power.

She felt she was a vortex, endlessly devouring everything around her; power rising, roaring, boiling!

... Out of control?!