Seeking Truth with a Sword

Chapter 375 - 326 Liberation

BUZZ—

Countless ink-colored filaments embedded themselves into the Demon Buddha’s skin and flesh. Each filament was surfaced with neatly arranged barbs. When Mo Si operated, these barbs sliced through skin and bone as cleanly as a chainsaw blade.

Under the intense pain, the Demon Buddha struggled fiercely, slapping Li Ang on the shoulder and scattering a large amount of Mo Si. The residual force from the palm blast also tore a large hole in Li Ang’s wings.

Li Ang didn’t retreat a single step, allowing the wounds on his shoulder and wings to heal on their own, while he continued to intensify the cutting of the opponent’s body.

The evolved Mo Si was simply the bane of the Demon Buddha. It was not only highly resistant to Demonic Qi but also capable of rapid self-healing. Even if it meant trading injury for injury, Li Ang could outlast his opponent.

Demon light shone brilliantly from the Macaque’s eyes on the Demon Buddha’s back as it tried to use the ropes to strangle Li Ang. However, Mo Si could change shape freely, rendering any so-called vital points or weaknesses non-existent.

Suddenly, the Demon Buddha ceased all movement.

He gave Li Ang a deep look. The surrounding Demonic Qi, like wind sweeping up fallen leaves, flowed back into his body. His limbs and torso inflated like a balloon, swelling swiftly.

A strong sense of threat surged in Li Ang’s mind. In the blink of an eye, the Demon Buddha’s body had swollen to several times its original size. His elbows and knees were nearly bursting from the constricting Mo Si, yet he continued to absorb the surrounding Demonic Qi relentlessly.

Without a doubt, realizing he had no chance of survival, the Demon Buddha chose to self-destruct.

Alarm bells sounded loudly in Li Ang’s mind. Without needing Mo Si to perceive it, he could sense the terrifying Spiritual Energy fluctuations brewing inside the Demon Buddha.

If he threw the opponent into the air, Li Ang himself could certainly remain unharmed, but the escaping Demonic Qi would inevitably spread for a hundred miles around the Mountain of Mind and Heart.

This was no joke. Given the Demon Buddha’s former realm and demonic attributes, the Demonic Qi released upon his death could completely transform any wild animals or living people it touched into monsters. The true area of contamination could even expand twofold or severalfold.

That was why the Jialan Ancestor, as well as the sages in the books of the Academic Palace, commonly sealed and suppressed Great Demons. They feared this very thing.

And if the Demon Buddha were buried underground, the outcome wouldn’t be much better. The escaping Demonic Qi would drift along the groundwater, wreaking havoc far and wide. It would endanger distant State Mansions, turning innocent common people who drank the spring water into demons.

Even though this was actually the Central Plains three hundred years prior, not the era Li Ang lived in, he still didn’t want to see this happen.

Therefore, only one option remained...

A cold light flashed in Li Ang’s eyes. He stomped heavily on the ground, flapped his wings, and leapt into midair, maintaining an upside-down position. Simultaneously, he changed the form of Mo Si. The chainsaw-like filaments cutting into the Demon Buddha transformed: their interiors became cage-like, while their exteriors turned into drills. The middle section, pulled by the filaments, rapidly bored underground.

RUMBLE—

The drill bored downward, finally reaching a great depth underground.

At that moment, Li Ang stood on the surface. He transferred large amounts of Mo Si through the central filaments to the underground drill’s structure, incessantly reinforcing the Demon Buddha’s cage.

Finally...

BOOM!!!

The Demon Buddha’s remains exploded within the cage. The massive energy dispersed through the surrounding Mo Si into the soil, causing the entire stratum to quake and shake.

The remaining buildings of the Jialan Sect on the surface once again sustained heavy damage. The few remaining ruined walls collapsed, leaving only the Grand Hall standing undamaged.

As the dust gradually settled, Li Ang remained standing in place.

Due to transferring too much Mo Si, his body had become... quite gruesome. His torso was reduced to bone, his wings to skeletal frames, making him look more like a ferocious demon than human.

RUSTLE—

The large amount of Mo Si that had been previously blasted away crawled out from the ruins, bloodied water, and sand, flowing back into the body of the Nameless Demon.

This included the part deep underground that had acted as a cage. The Demon Buddha’s final self-destruction was indeed too powerful, shattering a large portion of the previously indestructible Mo Si.

Fortunately, the contained nature of the explosion led to ninety-nine percent of the Demonic Qi being mutually annihilated. The trace amount that remained was insufficient to cause large-scale pollution.

This time, it really was over.

Li Ang looked around at the tragic sight of ruined walls and broken ramparts, silently withdrawing the Mo Si.

Inside the hall, the old scholar surnamed Lv still leaned against the Buddha Altar table, lying on the ground.

Under the dual influence of the Sumeru Hourglass and the Time Sand, at times, the wrinkles on his face deepened, his hair turned white, and he appeared aged. At other times, he would appear in his prime, brimming with youthful vigor.

But ultimately, he was still aging continuously.

And because he had personally released the Demon Buddha and come into close contact with Demonic Qi, his limbs had also begun to mutate.

His limbs swelled grotesquely. On both sides of his head, large, ear-shaped fleshy tumors grew, resembling the true form of the Demon Buddha’s Macaque.

TAP. TAP. TAP.

The sound of footsteps approached from afar.

Li Ang climbed the steps and stood outside the Grand Hall. He gazed at the old scholar, whose form fluctuated between aged human and mutating demon, and took a deep breath.

He had wanted to ask the old scholar if it had all been worth it.

To become a demon, gradually lose one’s sanity, and be doomed after death to have one’s soul scattered, never to reincarnate.

Yet the words reached his lips, but he couldn’t speak them.

He silently raised his hand, tossing two bloody, mangled objects into the hall.

They were the remains of Lian Nan and Liao Wu.

They had not survived the aftermath of the battle between the Demon Buddha and Li Ang, dying with the other monks amidst the ruins.

The once-grand leaders of the Zen sect met such a dismal end. There was no Golden Body ceremony, no Water and Land Dharma Service. They died with their kasayas torn and their bodies mutilated.

Thus, the Jialan Sect ceased to exist in the world.

The old scholar looked at the two corpses on the ground, slowly raised his head, and glanced at Li Ang.

Relief, then hesitation, flickered in his eyes.

He opened his mouth, trying to say something, but his body, wracked by demonic transformation, prevented him from forming coherent speech. With great difficulty, he managed only to raise his palm and wave it before his neck.

Deep within his eyes, a silent plea flickered.

The price for a mortal to activate the Sumeru Hourglass was far too great; not even Time Sand could reverse it.

Li Ang understood the old scholar’s meaning and strode boldly into the hall.

The temporal Domain of the Sumeru Hourglass rippled like water, yet it failed to hinder his advance.

He walked straight up to the old scholar. Mo Si extended from his palm, solidifying into the shape of a Longsword.

He swung the sword and beheaded him.