Chapter 280: You Animal, I've Come to Save You!

For Wang Ping, it took only the blink of an eye. His Divine Intent blared a sudden warning, and a fist flowing with golden light instantly eclipsed his vision.

In that fleeting instant, Wang Ping did not hesitate.

[Perfected Person]!

An instant later, the iron fist smashed Wang Ping's head to pieces. His body crumbled and scattered, but Wu Chi, who had launched the sudden strike, frowned.

'The impact felt wrong.'

He hadn't shattered this immortal cultivator with his punch. The man had disintegrated right before the fist connected, slipping away from the direct blow.

The collapsed flesh and blood transformed into a dark red storm that rapidly reassembled. It rose from the ground, ballooning in the blink of an eye into a towering body the size of a mountain that pierced the clouds. Thousands of arms fanned out from its back like a peacock's tail, each hand forming a spell seal before they all crashed down toward Wu Chi.

Tathagata Divine Palm!

Under the profound mystery of [Kindling Flame], Wang Ping had long since mastered every variation of this signature ultimate art belonging to Chan Master Longshu, a Great Grandmaster Rank of Shenlong Temple.

Unleashed now, its might was naturally magnificent.

Yet upon seeing this, Wu Chi merely patted his chest. Showing absolutely no intention of defending himself, he took the strike head-on with complete composure as the barrage of palms instantly buried his figure.

Smoke and dust surged into the sky like soaring dragons.

Soon enough, however, the dust dispersed to reveal Wu Chi walking out completely unscathed.

Staring up at the majestic giant Wang Ping had manifested, he showed no fear. Instead, he let out a loud laugh. "A dharma body of an immortal cultivator dares to wrestle with me?"

With those words, he refused to yield an inch.

Boom!

In a flash, Wu Chi's figure vanished from the spot. Taking his place was an enormous, sky-piercing dharma body equal in size to Wang Ping's—if not even larger!

[When I attain Buddhahood, if the sentient beings in my land do not all manifest the form of Yamantaka-Subduing, I shall never attain perfect enlightenment.]

Rolling thunderous voices echoed through heaven and earth, revealing yet another great vow. Wu Chi clearly possessed a decisive nature; he either didn't strike at all, or he struck with everything he had.

Wang Ping looked over and saw that the towering dharma body his opponent manifested possessed six faces, six arms, and six legs, and rode upon a white ox. Each of its six hands wielded a different weapon: a sword, a halberd, a staff, a cord, a bow, and an arrow. A grand profound mystery rumbled around every single weapon.

[Yamantaka-Subduing Vow]

"Come, come, come! Let's test this dharma body of yours!"

Wu Chi's laughter resounded through the world. One of his arms slowly rotated, gripping a Dragon-Subduing Staff in its palm, and swung it down at Wang Ping without any flashy tricks.

In that fleeting instant, Wang Ping narrowed his eyes.

A second later, he chose to clash head-on. The Great Law of the Azure Sky circulated as a one-million-layer heavenly magnetic field rotated. Hoisting a pill furnace, he fiercely smashed it right back!

Boom!

After the collision, the [Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart] remained completely intact. Though Wang Ping's flesh and blood body shattered and disintegrated, the protection of the [Perfected Person] ensured he was unharmed.

On the other side, Wu Chi remained as steady as Mount Tai. The striking Dragon-Subduing Staff was forced back, but he too emerged without a scratch. Only a hint of surprise surfaced in his eyes.

"No, that's not the dharma body of an immortal cultivator... What is this?"

Wang Ping naturally didn't answer.

In the blink of an eye, he withdrew his thousand-zhang fleshly body and reverted to his normal human form. He then hoisted the [Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart] and abruptly flipped the mouth of the furnace upside down.

Relying on your peerless dharma body?

"Perfect. Let's see just how peerless you really are!"

The furnace lid flew open. Blazing white thunderlight instantly flashed within the bottomless, dark mouth of the furnace. Immediately after, an extremely concentrated hue surfaced.

[Heavenly Thunder]!

The most vicious of the three heavenly calamities, its imagery was that of pure destruction. While it was no longer nearly as terrifying to a cultivator at the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer, once its quantity reached a certain threshold, its true damage properties as a cultivator's tribulation could still pose a definite threat.

Facing Wu Chi now, Wang Ping naturally didn't hold back in the slightest. He poured out the hundreds of bolts of [Heavenly Thunder] he had previously stockpiled inside the [Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart] in one breath. Unlike how he had dealt with Lian Shengyue, he didn't let them strike down one by one; instead, he condensed them all into a single point, refining them into one ultimate beam of thunderlight.

"Strike!"

With a shouted spell, the azure thunder's hue erupted outward. At first glance, Wu Chi assumed it was Heavenly Yang Wood—some method related to the [Thunder Sound Universal Transformation Azure Thunder Qi].

Brimming with confidence, he immediately raised another arm.

This hand grasped a dharma sword. Much like the [Heavenly Craft Creation Hammer], it required the injection of cultivation knowledge to generate a profound mystery capable of countering the target.

Wu Chi didn't hesitate to inject the relevant knowledge regarding the [Thunder Sound Universal Transformation Azure Thunder Qi].

He had it all figured out in his head: once this sword cleaved through the lightning, he would slide forward to close the gap, giving Wang Ping no chance to change his moves, and decide the battle in a single strike.

Immediately after, he swung his sword in a slash!

"Watch me—"

Boom!

The surging Heavenly Thunder smashed down, turning heaven and earth stark white. It completely bypassed Wu Chi's dharma sword and pierced straight through his body on the spot, freezing him in his tracks.

"Ah!!!"

The true damage of the Heavenly Thunder erupted with a bang, instantly blowing a hole straight through the chest of Wu Chi's manifested [Yamantaka-Subduing Vow].

Residual Heavenly Thunder continued to spark inside the cavity, burrowing like venomous snakes toward his remaining intact parts. This sudden twist left Wu Chi completely stunned in place. He had no idea why he hadn't been able to block that beam of lightning. Was it not Heavenly Yang Wood? Had he misjudged it?

Wang Ping, however, would not give him time to think.

His stockpile of Heavenly Thunder exhausted, Wang Ping roused his Divine Powers once more. He unleashed both the Bi Wind and Yin Fire together, coating the edge of the Battle-Victorious Demon-Quelling Blade.

Immediately after, he stepped forward.

With a single stride, the silhouette of the Mind Monkey Great Sage suddenly surfaced behind Wang Ping, merging into one with his main body. The profound armor on his figure radiated light inch by inch in response.

Blessed by the Manifesting Divinity's divine form, the profound mystery of [True Martial] circulated. Accelerating to the absolute limit, Wang Ping's figure abruptly vanished, only to appear right in front of Wu Chi in the blink of an eye!

Clang—!

The blade cleaved and slashed—three hundred and sixty strikes in a single instant, covering the celestial cycle. The Resplendent Crow let out a long cry as streams of golden fire and light blanketed the ground, drowning out Wu Chi's divine sense.

Heaven and earth merged entirely into a single slash.

Clang!

A second later, the blade came to a grinding halt. Although it had flawlessly struck Wu Chi's dharma body, it was forcefully clamped down just a hairsbreadth in, unable to advance any further.

Seeing this, the corners of Wu Chi's eyes twitched up into a sneer. To Brahma Cultivators, a great vow was just like a destiny form to an immortal cultivator—both were dao foundations tied directly to their lives. How could they possibly leave them unprotected? The dharma body condensed by his [Yamantaka-Subduing Vow] looked bare and empty on the surface, but its true profound mystery lay entirely in the Sanskrit characters covering its body.

That was because they had been personally inscribed by an Ascetic Monk!

The writing wasn't a scripture, but a single character—belonging to the Brahma Nation's Six-Word Mantra, which corresponded to the Immortal Gate's Nine-Word Mantra. This particular one was called [Chan].

Chan meant stillness!

With a still heart, the body became anchored, thus granting it the power to be unmoving, unshakable, undamaged, and indestructible. It specifically countered all manner of immortal cultivator spells; no matter how profoundly mysterious your techniques were, they would struggle to shake it.

Wang Ping piercing through it earlier with the Heavenly Thunder had been pure, blind luck. It had completely exceeded Wu Chi's expectations, as Heavenly Thunder was a calamity that fell outside the scope of Divine Powers and profound mysteries. It wasn't something a single [Chan] character could withstand, which was why it had left a hole in his chest. The Battle-Victorious Demon-Quelling Blade, however, was an entirely different matter.

'This immortal cultivator... he's a bit thorny.'

Amidst his thoughts, Wu Chi had already reached out and fiercely clamped down on Wang Ping's blade. At the same time, he raised another arm again, this time wielding a rope.

'[Heart-Piercing Cord]!'

As its name suggested, this cord could bypass physical defenses and plunge straight into the sea of consciousness to pierce the soul and lock down the spirit. Once it latched on, a light tug from Wu Chi would scatter a person's soul to the winds.

Yet, this very profound mystery, which Wu Chi usually treated as a trump card, slammed into Wang Ping's sea of consciousness only to shudder violently and shatter on the spot.

[Tyrant Will]!

The corners of Wang Ping's mouth curled up. Deep within his sea of consciousness, his soul was draped in the exact same [Heavenly Martial Campaign Profound Armor] as his main body, leaving him completely unfazed by any soul-targeting methods.

'A perfect opportunity!'

Wu Chi's two consecutive miscalculations had actually forced him onto the defensive. Wang Ping naturally wouldn't let this chance slip by. He instantly activated the [Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart].

Subduing Immortals and Demons!

Wu Chi suddenly felt his vision go dark. Although the profound mystery of the perfected [Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart] was simple, that simplicity made it impossible to defend against; it was purely a matter of raw stats.

Missing would have been fine, but once it hit, the target would immediately suffer a heavy blow. Now weighing down on Wu Chi's head, it instantly robbed his body of three-tenths of its magic power out of thin air. The might of the [Yamantaka-Subduing Vow] was weakened by a staggering seven or eight-tenths, its profound mystery plummeting drastically. Like a heavy shackle, it forcibly locked down his maximum limit.

'To think this could happen...'

Wu Chi struggled to look up, forcing his magic power to circulate. Not daring to hold anything back, the towering dharma body manifested by the [Yamantaka-Subduing Vow] abruptly raised two arms.

One arm held a bow, the other an arrow. Now working in tandem, the bow was drawn back into a full moon. The arrow was nocked, its deadly edge aimed sharply in Wang Ping's direction.

An instant later, it fired explosively!

Boom!

The ultimate sharpness was too fast even for divine sense to catch. Tearing through everything in its path, it surged against the current and ripped apart the suppression of the [Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart].

[Mahesvara Arrow]!

This was originally the killing blow Wu Chi had prepared to utterly annihilate Wang Ping. Due to his two previous blunders, however, he was now forced to unleash it early.

Consequently, this gave Wang Ping a chance to react.

'I can't block it...'

Circulating his Divine Intent, Wang Ping calmly watched the divine arrow inch closer to the spot between his eyebrows.

'Fortunately, he had no way to restrain my soul. If my soul were suppressed, leaving me unable to react, getting hit by this arrow would likely mean instant death.'

Now that his mind was clear, dealing with it was much simpler. Using the profound mystery of the [Perfected Person] to shed his shell like a golden cicada would give him a high probability of escaping. However, doing so would inevitably cost him a massive amount of Blood Qi True Gang. He wouldn't die, but winning against Wu Chi after that would be near impossible; the best he could hope for was a draw.

But that didn't matter. He still had his final trump card.

It was his greatest hidden hand for this trip to the Brahma Nation, and the timing was absolutely perfect to play it. Thinking of this, Wang Ping instantly withdrew his profound mysteries.

He dispersed his Blood Qi True Gang and reined in his Divine Powers.

Leaving himself completely defenseless, Wang Ping spread his arms. He looked up at the dazzling radiance of lamplight high above in the vault of heaven, a malicious smile curling the corners of his mouth.

"Are you going to save me or not?"

If you don't save me now, I'm going to flip out and actually die, you know.

Sure, I can resurrect afterward, but can you still extend your lifespan afterward?

Almost simultaneously, outside the [Eight Treasure Table], in the Cosmic Deep Space, Mingyou—who was in a standoff with Bukong and had already gained the upper hand—whipped his head around to look over.

'...Fuck!'

In the next second, he did not hesitate. Instantly abandoning all the advantages he had just seized, he forced out a streak of radiance and sent it plunging down toward Wang Ping.

Don't die, you animal of Biyang's... I've come to save you!