Chapter 738: The Awakening of the Demon Buddha

Thump, thump, thump!

With every beat from the colossal mountain of flesh below, a deafening tremor shook the very heavens.

Every living thing within billions of kilometers heard the hypnotic Buddhist chant laced with maddening power, clutching their heads as they howled in pain. In the depths of their minds, blood-red mantras began to take form.

As these bloody curse sigils solidified, whether they were blood-flesh lingzhi or countless members of the Evil Buddha Clan, their bodies would wither to dust in just a few breaths. All the blood essence devoured by the Buddha’s curse would then rush straight to the heart of the mountain—a supermassive mound of flesh.

In mere moments, the core of the Evil Buddha Continent transformed into a true hell on earth.

The endless wails were just the opening act for the apocalypse that was unfolding.

High above, the Heavenly Ruin hovered silently, watching everything unfold, unmoving.

Compared to these fiendish invaders, Song Chi’s eyes were fixed on the true instigator behind it all.

Endless rivers of blood-red Buddhist curses kept flooding in from all directions, surging into the super-flesh mountain. Yet as this unimaginable power merged together, the flesh lingzhi—already at the peak of eighth rank—did not push to ninth. Instead, its pulsations grew faster and stronger.

Thanks to the warship’s airtight defenses, the inside of the Mirror Warship remained unaffected. Still, even controlling things remotely, Song Chi couldn’t shake off the growing sense of danger.

He did not hesitate. The Mirror Warship tilted its hull downward. The barrels at its prow, black and menacing, glowed with gathering white light, all aimed at the meat mountain below.

When the charge was complete, beams of light roared forth in a thunderous explosion.

Boom! Boom!

As the shockwaves faded, Song Chi’s face suddenly changed.

Unlike all previous assaults, once the smoke cleared, what met his eyes wasn’t a mangled heap of flesh, but a bright ring of blood-red mantra shielding the mountain.

That bloody barrier coiled tight around the super-flesh mountain, chills and chanting resonating from within. The monster, once purely grotesque, now actually carried a twisted sense of divine majesty.

With this probing attack completely blocked, it was clear they’d done no real damage.

Song Chi immediately issued a second command.

Whoosh—

The Mirror Warship’s hatch slid open. The Ashura Emperor and the Eighth-Tier Starsea Giant Ape charged out once again.

Soon, the Ashura Emperor, blood-red sabre in hand, and the Starsea Giant Ape, swinging a massive warhammer, dove straight for the mountain.

“Ashura Chronosaber!”

“Demonic Ape Heaven-Shaking Hammer!”

Armed with terrifying Eighth-Tier power, sabre and hammer struck the formidable mountain one after the other.

To Song Chi’s surprise, the crimson mantra shield was tougher than expected, actually enduring the direct blows from both sabre and warhammer.

But the glow around it quickly faded. One more barrage and that shield would shatter for good.

Thump, thump, thump!

But before the Ashura Emperor and the Starsea Giant Ape could strike again, the blood-mountain reacted first.

Maybe it had absorbed enough blood. Its pulse sped up in a frenzy, the Buddhist chanting pounding like thunder. Even the two Eighth-Tier monsters faltered, their minds rattled.

Under the chanting’s assault, both enslaved creatures froze up. Even as Song Chi called out to them with his mind, he only saw the struggle deepen on their faces. Neither could fully break free from the spell.

At that moment, the pulsing meat mountain abruptly stilled, the thunderous chanting weakening by a hair. But this only made Song Chi tense up more, his anxiety mounting.

Crack!

A tiny sound rang out, snapping his focus completely.

And Song Chi’s expression turned grim.

The sound came from the surface of the super-flesh mountain. After its rhythm halted, the outer layer began to tear apart.

At first, Song Chi caught just a thin crack, but in a blink it spread across the entire mountain.

Just as the Ashura Emperor and Starsea Giant Ape were about to break free of the chant, the mountain split wide open. From within, a pair of pitch-black arms burst outward. Even separated by thousands of light-years, Song Chi’s pupils shrank in shock.

Those black arms ripped the flesh mountain from within, and when the figure emerged fully, Song Chi recognized its identity immediately.

Shizhu!

And not just any Shizhu, but an advanced one gone down the demonic Buddha path.

Only now did Song Chi form a complete theory about the Evil Buddha Continent’s real origins.

If he was right, this entire land had once been nothing but a floating isle in the Sea of Stars. Untold millennia ago, a powerful Shizhu fell here by accident. Over endless years, its demon Buddha body was slowly swallowed and assimilated by the land. Through that high-rank body, the Evil Buddha Continent was promoted to level seven at once. The island was saturated with that Buddha’s corrupt source power and gave birth to the unique Evil Buddha Clan.

As for those lingzhi flesh mountains, he was almost sure they were connected to that ancient demonic Buddha body too.

The Shizhu Civilization, rulers of the Shattered Sea of Stars, had two sects: the Holy Buddhas, who championed compassion, and the Demon Buddhas, who accepted all taboos.

The demon path promised rapid advancement, but at a cost—it was far too easy to fall from grace. Becoming a demon was as easy as a single stray thought.

The Shizhu who fell here was clearly one who had already become corrupted. While the power locked in its body was immense, it also brimmed with the taint of madness and mutation. Even fused with the land, its nature was unchanged.

If that was all, Song Chi wouldn’t have been this rattled.

What mattered was the entity now stepping out of the blood mountain. Judging from the constant aura of Speech Law swirling around it, this wasn’t just some mutant—it was a true, pure Shizhu, not an Evil Buddha descendant born from chance.

“Reincarnation Dharma, huh…”

Song Chi’s face darkened further as he realized the truth. If it were only a fallen Shizhu, even one who’d hit peak eighth or ninth rank, he would not have worried much. But reborn through reincarnation, this was an orthodox Shizhu—one who’d come back even more terrifying than before.

A completely corrupted, bloodthirsty, peak-eighth Shizhu.

As overlords of the Sea of Stars, the Shizhu Civilization was every bit as formidable as the Witcher Civilization. Their individual power was legendary; it was said nothing could stand against the Buddha’s true body.

The Heavenly Ruin might’ve been strong, but even to it, fighting a peak-eighth Shizhu would be a heavy task.

Before he could think further, the hollow eyes of the reborn Demon Shizhu turned entirely black. It had just emerged, yet its first act was a surge of killing intent toward the Ashura Emperor and the Starsea Giant Ape.

“Come back!”

Song Chi was just about to shout for them to return when his heart suddenly skipped a beat.

He’d assumed the Demon Shizhu would target his enslaved beasts. Only now did he realize its true aim had always been him.

Wummmmmm!

A near-imperceptible ripple in space passed by. The next instant, the Demon Shizhu appeared right in front of the Mirror Warship high above.

If Song Chi hadn’t personally cultivated the Law of Space to a high degree and kept his wits, the warship would’ve been doomed. The moment the Shizhu appeared, he made the ship flicker away in a flash jump.

“Impossible!”

But as Song Chi’s vision found the Shizhu again, all he saw was shock and disbelief.

The enemy seemed to anticipate his every move and was blindingly fast. The warship had barely finished its jump when the Shizhu reappeared by its side.

Even Song Chi couldn’t react in time. The Shizhu pushed a black palm forward, summoning a giant demonic Buddha apparition. Its palm slammed down, unleashing a monstrous blast against the ship’s energy shield.

The blast sent the Mirror Warship flying.

Seizing the chance, Song Chi signaled his enslaved beasts to activate the Market Projection Token.

Apart from the Song Family, no other Torch Kingdom forces remained on the continent anymore. Song Chi had no reason to hesitate.

Wummmmmm!

Boundless energy in the form of purple mist began swirling together at breakneck speed.

But in the blink of an eye, the Demon Shizhu appeared again, right up against the warship. Its palm swung out—another demonic Buddha ghost’s strike. The purple mist hadn’t finished condensing for the Omniverse Market Projection before it was smashed apart.

The Projection’s summoning had failed outright.

Worse yet, this burned through one precious use of the Market Projection Token for nothing.

But Song Chi had bigger concerns; his mind raced for a way to call the Market Projection forth successfully.

Wummmmmm!

Another flash jump. This time he pushed the Mirror Warship to its furthest limit and vanished from sight.

But it did no good.

The moment the warship materialized, the Demon Shizhu was already there waiting.

Same story—once again, all the purple mist was blasted apart before it could finish forming.

By now, Song Chi was certain.

“This can’t go on. That has to be one of the Shizhu’s Six Divine Arts—Supernatural Footwork, Starsea Lightning Speed. Trying to outrun a Shizhu who’s mastered it is like trying to show off your sword skills in front of a legendary general.”

Song Chi’s mind worked fast, and a deeper suspicion took root.

He realized it wasn’t just Supernatural Footwork at play. The Shizhu might also have the Heavenly Eye. That would explain how it always anticipated the Heavenly Ruin’s every move, then used Supernatural Footwork to close in—even preventing him from summoning the Market’s projection.

With every shattering blow from the Buddha’s giant phantom, Song Chi pushed the Mirror Warship to its limits, fleeing as far as he could.

But just as he feared, it didn’t matter how fast the ship moved or how many engines he relied on. One thought, and the Shizhu appeared again, right beside him.

But this time, Song Chi’s eyes sharpened. He activated a module he’d long prepared.

“Black Hole Evolution Layer: Black Hole Domain!”

Suddenly, torrents of black hole energy erupted. The specialized Black Hole Domain was just about to form.

But this wasn’t an ability that could appear instantly. It needed time—though in actual practice, its speed was usually blinding. He’d never had it interrupted before.

But this enemy was just too fast. The Black Hole Domain didn’t even finish forming before it was forcefully cut off.

For a moment, Song Chi wanted to curse out loud.

Yet a habit of self-control honed over two thousand years kept him calm.

“Warning: External high-intensity attack detected. Warship energy shield is damaged. Remaining shield value at 62%. Immediate repairs are advised!”

The crimson Buddha light clashing with the Mythic Pulsar Shield only made the damage worse.

At least, the enemy had not yet broken ninth rank. Each attack was still barely within what the reinforced Ninth-Tier Mythic Pulsar Energy Shield could weather.

But that could only be temporary. Without a new strategy, overloading the shield was only a matter of time.

He tried everything: the True Spirit Guard of the Angel King, Zen Seal: External Time Stop, even Divine Oracle: Chaos Aura (Internal). All were interrupted before completion or simply couldn’t land a hit. Even the last-ditch Chaos Aura effect had barely any impact.

The Chaos Godhood module had long since been strengthened to level 90. It boosted the ship’s ability to dodge attacks with its Chaos Aura, but it could only help the ship itself—the purple mist for the Market Projection was still destroyed every time.

After so many failed attempts, his cache of Silver Oddities was running dry. Song Chi couldn’t help but feel some irritation bubbling up.

He hadn’t wanted to activate the ‘Outside the Three Realms, Not Within the Five Elements’ ability. Its cooldown was a thousand years, and even after tweaks it still took two hundred. The wait was just too long.

But now, he had no choice.

Instant abilities worked differently. The moment Song Chi decided, the Mirror Warship vanished above the clouds, moving too fast for even the peak Shizhu to stop.

Seconds later, when the ship reappeared, a fully-formed cloud of purple mist hovered overhead.

The aura of nearly Ninth-Tier might spilled out. Instantly sensing mortal danger, the Demon Shizhu reacted the way only an ancient lord would—without hesitation.

Feeling the Market Projection’s fatal threat, the Shizhu’s Supernatural Footwork kicked in again. This time, though, it wasn’t to chase—it was to flee.

Its rebirth had taken hundreds of thousands of years. Faced with a real chance of death, it refused to gamble.

But, of course, Song Chi had no intention of letting it go so easily. In that instant, another hidden module on the warship came to life.