This demonic transformation reeked of unreason everywhere.
First, Master Kuzhu had birthed a demon from his corpse. Then the demonic upheaval's duration had shortened dramatically. Now, with the demonic domain vanished, only the Golden Body Buddha remained seated in the city, sporting a massive mushroom cap on its head.
The blue-robed musician gazed at that Golden Body Buddha, a look of wariness crossing his face.
Even he wouldn't dare provoke a fully mature demon lightly.
The demon seed had taken root and sprouted, absorbing every scrap of nourishnt.
The demon was complete.
In the city, the eyes of loose cultivators one by one fixed on that Golden Body Buddha, burning with eagerness.
A mature demon was a rare prize for them, sothing worth collecting and studying.
Yet none made a move first.
Acting now would paint a target on their back, inviting attacks from the others.
Loose cultivators had no leaders, no hierarchy—just a bunch of folks sharing the sa philosophy. Good and evil, right and wrong didn't matter. Rules didn't matter. They followed their hearts, acted on whims. That's why fights often broke out among loose cultivators.
Even infighting leading to deaths and injuries was commonplace!
Right now, no one wanted to be the one ganged up on.
Especially not against a demon and a horde of loose cultivators.
The giant mushroom wheels scattered on the ground had fully rotted away, dissolving into black water.
Countless human skulls piled up like a small hill, black water still oozing from their eye sockets, nostrils, and mouths.
At that mont, suddenly black water began trickling from the mushroom head of the Golden Body Buddha, sliding down its massive form.
Then, one by one, enormous eyeballs tumbled out from beneath the cap, scattering everywhere as they rolled.
The Golden Body Buddha's mushroom head was rotting too, collapsing and crumbling!
The blue-robed musician slamd his tea table and shot to his feet. He stared wide-eyed at the Golden Body Buddha, disbelief etched on his face.
Madam Huali hurried to the window as well, staring incredulously at the decaying, collapsing Buddha.
They knew sothing inconceivable had happened to it, but wary of the other loose cultivators, they didn't dare approach to check.
On the other side, Old Beggar, Young Master Xiao, and the many other loose cultivators stared dumbstruck at the scene, equally incredulous but held back by the sa wariness.
Suddenly, a blue goat lifted its head and trotted lightly down the street.
Its hooves clicked on the stone slabs, clop-clop, as it made straight for the Golden Body Buddha.
The blue-robed musician clenched his fists and took a step forward, but sothing made him hold back.
"Those bad-seed brothers of Five Lakes Loose Cultivator!"
He exhaled heavily, his face souring as mories flooded back of the days when Five Lakes Loose Cultivator had bullied him.
The other loose cultivators recognized the blue goat too, their expressions turning hostile.
Back when Five Lakes Loose Cultivator was wreaking havoc everywhere, the blue goat and the nine-tailed fox often trailed right behind him, showing up at cri scenes. Plenty of loose cultivators had been schooled by them.
Sotis two other villains—the stele engraver and the beekeeper—would appear at the scenes too.
So loose cultivators survived and held grudges but didn't dare act.
Others weren't so lucky, beaten to death by the five brothers.
So called them the Bully Quintet.
"Five Lakes Loose Cultivator may be dead, but he left behind these four brothers. They're all nasty pieces of work."
The blue-robed musician murmured,
"That lewd goat's here. The other three must be lurking nearby, right?"
The blue goat reached the Golden Body Buddha, then reared up on its hind legs. It planted its front hooves on its hips and scanned the crowd with a grin.
"Gentlen, I'm no loose cultivator. I don't have your hang-ups. Let
take a peek for you.
"Don't hit !"
The bearded burly man hiding not far away clenched his fists nervously and whispered,
"Little lewd hoof, don't stir up trouble!"
The blue goat's body shimred and grew taller and taller until it matched the Golden Body Buddha's height. It extended its claw-like front hoof and prodded gently at the flaw in the Buddha's dantian.
It was fine until it poked.
The goat's claw was sharp—one jab and a huge hole gaped in the Golden Body Buddha!
The goat froze as the Buddha, like a pig's bladder inflated to bursting and now punctured, began spewing foul, rotting gas!
The blue goat retreated in a hurry, but the Buddha's towering form deflated like a punctured leather sack, shriveling up!
No one had seen this twist coming.
The blue-robed musician leaped from the window in a flash. A streak of blue light accompanied a plucked string, and he appeared before the Golden Body Buddha.
At the sa ti, Young Master Xiao and Old Beggar raced toward it too. By the ti they arrived, over a dozen figures had erged from nearby alleys and streets—so familiar, so strangers—all loose cultivators lurking in Gongzhou City.
So exuded power surpassing even the blue-robed musician, no weaker than Master Kuzhu at his peak, their steps carrying imnse pressure.
One scholar carried a book chest on his back, with a young boy perched inside. Old Beggar spotted the boy and paled in terror, quietly stepping back.
The crowd reached the Golden Body Buddha to find most of the foul gas already vented from its body, the stench still pouring out.
The Buddha swayed unsteadily, unable to hold its seat, its mushroom head flopping wildly in the breeze.
Peering through the hole in its chest, they saw the Buddha's flesh completely hollowed out, leaving only white, translucent mycelium—and those filants led straight underground!
"We've been played for fools!"
The boy in the book chest scowled and raised his hand sharply. The Buddha's mushroom head flew off, yanked clean away.
He floated above the Buddha and peered down its neck. No blood or flesh remained inside—mycelium had devoured it all as sustenance, leaving only Master Kuzhu's skin!
The blue-robed musician flicked his finger—zheng!—and a piano note rang out. The Golden Body Buddha flipped away, revealing mycelium everywhere beneath it. Filants connected to the earth, burrowing deep to form a tunnel!
The passage plunged into the depths, wind whistling from within, carrying a chill.
Everyone's faces darkened.
Wind ant another exit!
Whatever lurked below had already escaped through it!
The blue-robed musician waved his sleeve. A piano note shot into the mycelium tunnel, echoing underground with lodic strains that traveled miles deep!
The notes turned to palace, rchant, angle, sign, and feather tones, racing miles underground before surging upward over ten li away.
"Shoo!"
Far off, west of Gongzhou City by the Min River, a piano note blasted open a lung vein in the earth.
The lody lingered as a heavenly maiden strumd a qin midair, ethereal as an immortal.
The blue-robed musician dispersed the spell, and the apparition faded.
Everyone's faces soured.
Madam Huali bead excitedly and whispered to Ding Ding beside her,
"The Golden Body Buddha wasn't the demon's true body. It was just more fodder for the demon.
"This one fooled us all, making us think the Buddha was its main form while it quietly drained it dry and slipped away.
"Funny how we loose cultivators thought ourselves clever enough to handle it. Turns out it was all for naught."
Ding Ding asked,
"Where will its true form flee to? A demon loose in the world spells chaos!"
The little girl fretted, none of Madam Huali's thrill rubbing off.
Madam Huali laughed.
"Who knows.
"Now that the demonic domain's gone, it can go wherever. Who can track it?"
Ding Ding worried more.
Madam Huali nudged her shoulder and grinned.
"Just an immature demon. Nothing to sweat.
"If it were mature, it'd be trouble.
"But it bolted too quick—didn't fully turn the land for miles into its domain or absorb all the demonic energy within. Fine if it stays hidden, but show its true face and soone'll nab it."
Her voice wasn't loud, but the area had fallen quiet. Every loose cultivator listened.
"Suppressed and refined for millennia by Great State-Protecting Monastery, it's gotten smart. Knows to dodge the gaze of otherworldly true gods, knows how treacherous the human world is, and knows plenty of powerhouses can take it down before maturity."
Madam Huali mused,
"Still immature, it'll wander the human realm, absorbing mortal malice to fully demonize.
"Not a bad form of cultivation, really.
"Who knows? It might even beco a loose cultivator."
Ding Ding blinked.
A demon in human skin, pursuing the demonic path amid mortals?
What would it beco?
She couldn't help imagining.
The loose cultivators scattered, off to hunt the immature demon.
The blue goat rolled up Master Kuzhu's skin into a bundle and chuckled,
"Still good for refining treasure."
Ding Ding eyed the goat curiously, but Madam Huali grew alert and whispered,
"Stay away from it. Those brothers are no good."
The blue goat spotted her, tucked the Buddha skin under its arm, and laughed,
"If it isn't little sister-in-law. Long ti no see."
Madam Huali flushed beet red and stord off with a sleeve flick.
Ding Ding hurried after, thinking,
"Madam really did have a thing with Young Master Chen's grandpa.
"So doesn't that make the young master call her little grandma? Right, where'd the young master go?"
The blue goat dashed to the bearded burly man with the Buddha skin and handed it over.
"Little Bright, we got the biggest prize.
"This Buddha skin's sothing else—pri treasure material.
"Pity about the missing head... Where's Granny?"
The bearded burly man took the skin.
"Off looking for Little Ten."
anwhile, Chen Shi stood atop Granny Kunjiang's head, hurtling through the air toward Gongzhou City. He shouted,
"Blackie Pot, can you ss with those powerhouses' minds?"
Blackie Pot glanced back to see Prefect Fei, Governor Yan, General Xia, and others riding the wind in pursuit, still miles away but already channeling spells.
It could influence the thoughts of Divine Descent Realm or Void Refining Realm cultivators, but too far and it failed. A few li was enough for Prefect Fei and company to blast them away with one spell!
Just then, Chen Shi spotted two figures on the distant shore: Monk Wuchen and a lovely young girl standing prettily beside him.
A blue gauze coronet crowned her head, veiling her face just so.
Monk Wuchen pressed a single palm to his chest and bowed distantly to Chen Shi.
In his haste, Chen Shi returned the gesture. A gust lifted the girl's veil.
Chen Shi caught a glimpse and froze, heart pounding wildly.
"How can there be such a beautiful girl in the world?"
The girl smiled faintly and reached out to wipe the gleaming bald pate of Monk Wuchen, as if dusting it off.
Chen Shi tore his gaze away and kept fleeing.
Monk Wuchen withdrew his eyes too, face grave.
"Martial Aunt, let's go."
The girl laughed.
"Since you call
Martial Aunt, you won't have to die.
"Your master was Kuzhu, so what should your Martial Aunt be called? I won't settle for sothing miserable."
Monk Wuchen kept his eyes on his nose, nose on his heart, not daring to look at her.
"Martial Aunt, I'm the junior here. How could I na you? You'd be too kind."
The girl tilted her head, thinking.
"You bald asses chant sutras at
all day, yet your heads are full of crooked sches.
"The Diamond Sutra says all conditioned phenona are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows, dew, lightning—observe them thus. I'll take one character each and twist your scriptures: call
Dreamlike."
Dreamlike said,
"Let's go.
"Before soone catches up.
"So of those guys I can't beat."
Monk Wuchen led the way ahead, though really coerced by this witch, with no choice but to obey.
As for the direction, he had no clue, but a persistent urge in his mind guided him where to go.
"Wuchen, who was that boy just now?"
Dreamlike asked.
"Chen Shi, a scholar heading to the exams.
Monk Wuchen didn't dare lie.
"He died ten years ago but was world-famous then—top of all fifty provinces, granted the supre innate dao embryo by the true god, called Child Scholar.
"My master ca for him this ti, tested him lightly, and planned to make him the reincarnation spirit child.
"He's extrely dangerous."
Dreamlike said softly,
"Steer clear. Sothing inside him terrifies even ."
Monk Wuchen blinked in surprise and glanced back at Chen Shi's receding figure.
"Child Scholar's that dangerous?"
Dreamlike said,
"Your master was surely eaten by whatever's in him."
Monk Wuchen's eyes bulged.
He'd suspected Master Kuzhu died at Chen Shi and company's hands, but not how. To think Chen Shi ate him!
"I glanced at the black dog beside him earlier. It t my eyes and tried twisting my mind."
Dreamlike murmured,
"I ant to take it down, but spotted the thing in Chen Shi and felt deep dread."
Monk Wuchen stood stunned.
What could frighten even this immature demon?
"Hoo—"
Spells rippled with world-shattering force overhead, streaking toward Chen Shi!
Then Prefect Fei, Xia Chuli, Yan Jiuling, and the others flew past.
One high official spotted Dreamlike and Monk Wuchen and moved to silence them—a spell ca crashing down.
"These idiots—I should absorb them first!"
Dreamlike flicked her sleeve casually, and the spell vanished. She eyed the spell-storm surging along the Min River toward Chen Shi, her face changing.
"This is no place to linger! Hurry—we won't escape otherwise!"
End of chapter.
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