Chapter 767

The entire heavens and earth suddenly fell silent.

Just as the Twelve Heavenly Stems were puzzled, a beam of Jin Guang pierced the sky from afar.

The next instant, more Jin Guang appeared.

Under the glow of these Jin Guang, a radiant golden Buddha slowly descended from the dark clouds.

After the Jin Fu settled upon the lotus throne, it clasped its hands together and spoke to all:

"The Western Pure Land has arrived—the Buddha himself is here! Bow before him!"

The Twelve Heavenly Stems exchanged uneasy glances.

They were disciples of the Xuanxinzheng Sect, venerating the Three Pure Ones—not the Buddha.

Even if they claimed to revere the Three Pure Ones, since their sect master Jin Guang, no one had ever established contact with the Three Pure Ones, let alone engaged in face-to-face dialogue.

So how could this sudden Jin Fu claim to be the Buddha?

"What are you, to dare play tricks here?"

One of the Twelve Heavenly Stems, sensing something amiss with the Jin Fu, shouted a curse—

then used his sword as a brush, his true qi as ink, and drew a talisman in midair.

With a forceful shove, the talisman shot toward the Jin Fu.

"Audacious mortal, how dare you desecrate the Buddha?"

Seeing the talisman fly toward him, the Jin Fu slammed his palms together.

A beam of Jin Guang shot from between his hands and struck the talisman directly.

The talisman shattered explosively in midair.

As everyone stared in shock, the Twelve Heavenly Stems disciple who had cast the talisman let out agonized screams.

Black water oozed from every pore of his body, and in an instant, he melted into a pool of black water before their eyes.

"Th-this this…"

The Twelve Heavenly Stems were utterly stunned—they could not fathom how their companion had died.

After all, their companion had been hiding within Yan Chixia's defensive sword array, just like them.

He had only exchanged blows with the Jin Fu through the talisman, from afar.

How had he suddenly oozed black water and turned into a pool of black water?

"You wicked monk—not only do you spread heresy, but you dare impersonate the Buddha!"

Yan Chixia erupted in fury, leaping into the air and commanding countless flying swords to strike the Jin Fu.

"Mortals who show disrespect to the Buddha shall descend into the Eighteen Layers of Hell!"

The Jin Fu spoke, and behind him erupted countless hands—some fingers, some palms, some fists—

unleashing countless Wu Gong techniques to clash with Yan Chixia's storm of flying swords.

Both were top-tier masters of the age; their battle left the remaining Twelve Heavenly Stems frozen in awe.

After watching only a short while, all of them could not help but wonder:

Could the Twelve Heavenly Stems formation truly contain Yan Chixia?

The fierce battle between Yan Chixia and the strange Jin Fu darkened heaven and earth.

By the end, it shook the ground and shattered the heavens as if the world itself were cracking apart.

At first, the Twelve Heavenly Stems had watched the duel calmly.

But later, they realized the Yu Bo grew increasingly violent.

It did not merely stir up dust and stones or rupture space—

even a Tianren-level Twelve Heavenly Stems member, if unprepared, would be injured by mere Yu Bo.

They remembered that the Lanruo Temple behind them was a key seal point for the Yin Yue Cave Heaven.

Helpless, the Twelve Heavenly Stems formed the Twelve Heavenly Stems Great Formation.

Enveloping themselves and the Lanruo Temple within its barrier.

Though three were missing, the formation's power had greatly diminished.

But now their goal was not to fight anyone—only to defend themselves and the Lanruo Temple.

Thus, once formed, the barrier held with difficulty.

Yet the battle between Yan Chixia and the Jin Fu seemed endless.

Besides feeling boundless terror, fearing they might be torn apart by the Yu Bo at any moment—

they also felt as if the battle had already lasted ten days or half a month.

Gradually, it felt like months, even years.

The longer the stalemate dragged on, the more their true qi seemed to drain away.

"Senior brother, what's going on? Why haven't our sect master and others come to investigate after so long?"

At ten days or half a month, they still thought it normal.

But now, it felt as if years had passed.

"Younger brother, in my view, time hasn't truly passed this long—it's a technique in Yan Chixia's or the Jin Fu's cultivation that creates illusion!"

After long thought, the leader of the Twelve Heavenly Stems offered a relatively plausible answer.

"Then what should we do? I feel my true qi can barely hold out another day or two…"

"Same! I can't even last a day or two—maybe two hours at most…"

"I'm down to half an hour…"

As each reported how long they could endure, they realized their perceived endurance shrank further.

Hearing their companions' words, everyone grew even more terrified.

Just as the crowd was beginning to panic, high in the heavens, that golden Buddha suddenly let out a great shout.

From the spot between his brows, a beam of incomparably magnificent divine light shot forth.

This divine light was not only extraordinarily thick, but the energy within it was even more shocking.

The Twelve Heavenly Stems felt that they had no need to actually face this beam of divine light.

They feared that even being grazed by it would mean the destruction of body and Dao.

With such terrifying divine light, could Yan Chixia actually receive it?

They saw Yan Chixia, facing this beam of divine light, also form a hand seal.

Then, under his command, his flying sword roamed unceasingly across the sky.

When the divine light was about to strike, the flying sword suddenly formed before him like a shield.

The divine light happened to strike the very center of the flying-sword shield, then unexpectedly refracted upward, shooting unerringly toward the golden Buddha's brow.

Pfft!

As the divine light struck the golden Buddha's brow, the golden Buddha crumbled with a roar, and the entire heaven and earth gradually dissolved.

When they came back to their senses, the Twelve Heavenly Stems discovered that they and the others were still at the center of Yan Chixia's flying-sword sword formation.

Outside Lanruo Temple, the fierce battle between the Yuan army and the Xuanxinzheng Sect was still continuing.

"What… exactly happened?"

The Twelve Heavenly Stems sensed for a moment and discovered that the shift in time they had just perceived had actually never occurred.

Judging from the state of the battle outside Lanruo Temple, in fact less than the time of a single incense stick had actually passed.

But the several years they had just experienced — what on earth was that?

"Enough! That demonic monk certainly will not resign himself to failure here. Hurry to Granny Yue Lingshan's side and lay down the formation.

This final battle will surely be the fiercest one!

I can't look after you any longer."

Yan Chixia had clearly first used his flying sword to slay Pudu Cihang, and then fought that suddenly appearing golden Buddha for several years.

Yet at this moment, his words were instead filled with worry.

The Twelve Heavenly Stems did not know what exactly was going on, but since Yan Chixia had spoken thus, they could only comply.

Even Yan Chixia was in such an urgent state; clearly the fierce battle to come was not one they could watch.

Immediately, the Twelve Heavenly Stems hurried to the depths of Lanruo Temple, arrived at Granny Yue Lingshan's side, and directly laid down the grand formation.

They enveloped both Granny Yue Lingshan and themselves within the grand formation.

Once the Twelve Heavenly Stems' grand formation had risen, they all discovered that the true essence they had thought was about to be exhausted —