Chapter 277: Buddha and Demon as One
"Then, as you wish!"
Boom!!
Li Hao's eyes, as dark as the depths of the universe, blazed with intense fury. His entire aura surged to its peak.
After the ten layers of domain, another five layers of domain emerged and slaughtered out!
In an instant, all the domains Li Hao had mastered erupted simultaneously, stacking atop each other. The two previously opposing forces were instantly covered and crushed!
The Buddha Lord's domain was abruptly torn apart. Under the suppression of the fifteen-layer domain, the robes of the Buddha Lord, which emanated a hazy Buddhist light and Dao force, enveloped his body, protecting him from harm.
Seeing this, Li Hao's fury intensified. In the Buddha Lord's moment of shock, Li Hao seized his robe, his body radiating brilliant crimson and gold light, and he lifted the Buddha Lord's enormous form, then slammed him hard onto the purple-gold lotus platform!
With a resounding crash, the entire lotus platform shattered.
This lotus platform was originally a top-tier divine weapon, capable of withstanding domains. But under the crushing force of fifteen layers of domain, it was pushed to the brink of collapse and now broke into pieces.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Li Hao, clutching the Buddha Lord's robe, repeatedly slammed him, smashing the floor of the spiritual Buddha hall, creating deep pits, and causing the entire spiritual mountain to tremble and quake.
The towering divine mountain seemed as if a deity was hammering it with relentless blows. The tremors transmitted from the mountain's summit downward, shaking the entire mountain. The structures and steps atop it began to loosen, crumble, and turn to dust.
Buddhist experts on many distant peaks heard the earth-shattering commotion and were all terrified, looking towards the spiritual mountain where the Buddha Lord was seated.
Boom! Li Hao raised his fist and struck fiercely at the Buddha Lord's head embedded in the ground. The entire ground cracked, and the Buddha hall was utterly destroyed, collapsing entirely.
However, amidst the dispersing smoke and dust, the Buddha Lord's body remained unharmed. His robes, a supreme treasure, radiated Buddhist light and Dao force, shrouding his body. Golden light circulated, providing protection with a great power of the Dao.
Li Hao's eyes turned cold. He flipped his palm, and a sharp divine sword appeared—the Ten Extremes Sword, looted from Qingzhou City.
The moment Li Hao drew the Ten Extremes Sword, the Buddha Lord seemed to regain his senses. His eyes turned grave and calm. He clasped his hands together, and an immense pressure exploded from within him. Layers of domain erupted from his body.
In an instant, it soared to thirteen layers! Simultaneously, his entire appearance transformed into a golden hue, as if bathed in Buddha's light, and his eyes shone brightly, reaching the extreme realm of divine power, just like Li Hao!
"Merciful Buddha's Hand!"
He chanted softly, suddenly striking out with a palm. Though his thirteen-layer domain was inferior to Li Hao's, it allowed him to regain mobility within Li Hao's domain. A colossal Buddha's hand, like a divine mountain, pressed forward to crush Li Hao.
The pressure from the Buddha's hand, combined with the thirteen-layer domain, pushed aside Li Hao's domain, pressing down relentlessly. The power of this hand was no less formidable than Jiang Lichen's sword.
"Die!"
Li Hao roared in fury. Facing the radiant Buddha's hand, he slashed fiercely with his sword.
Spring and Autumn Sword!
It was like endless spring rain drifting and autumn leaves swirling, intertwining the breath of birth and death, embodying both life and death, yin and yang.
With a deafening crash, the spiritual mountain shook. The Buddha Lord's body was again plunged into the depths of the mountain. The surroundings cracked and collapsed.
Li Hao was forced back several meters by the Buddha's hand. Before he could strike again, he saw the Buddha Lord leaping into the air. The radiant golden hand, which had been cleaved open, was rapidly healing.
"Fifteen layers of domain. I didn't expect you had so much reserve strength after slaying the avatar of the Wilderness God in Qingzhou."
The Buddha Lord stood there, his robe billowing. He gazed deeply at Li Hao, then softly said:
"It seems your fate can only be redeemed by me. Your sins are too great. You killed the meritorious Bodhisattvas of my Buddhist sect and slaughtered innocent nobles. Do you know those nobles were descendants of famous generals?"
Li Hao didn't respond. His aura, however, continued to climb. Golden strands in his hair slowly turned silver.
Transcending into Immortal!
Li Hao had anticipated that the Buddha Lord might have hidden strength. After all, the Buddha Lord had dared to provoke him even after he had displayed his power in Qingzhou City, so he must have been fully prepared. But he hadn't expected the Buddha Lord's hidden strength to be so profound.
At this moment, Li Hao had no mood for words, only a killing intent condensed to the extreme.
Seeing Li Hao's rising aura, the Buddha Lord's eyes grew more serious. He too fell silent. At this moment, aside from the sword-crazed Ninth Prince, no one else could approach. Words were unnecessary.
"I have practiced for over two thousand years. Do you think you are the only prodigy? What can you use to make up for the two thousand years' gap?"
The Buddha Lord clasped his hands together. His gaze turned cold and stern, and his aura also surged. Behind him, a semi-transparent outline of heaven and earth's veins appeared, representing the extreme realm of the cosmic cycle!
He had opened all his major veins, refining the heavens and earth's veins!
This was a top-tier prodigy level, even among the ancient holy tribes. He had once been a prodigy in his youth, and with two thousand years of cultivation, he had a deep understanding of all martial realms!
"Primordial Spirit!"
With a soft chant, the Buddha Lord's spirit emerged, radiating infinite blazing light like a blazing sun, absorbing endless solar essence power, vast and majestic.
Another extreme realm! With his primordial spirit revealed, the Buddha Lord clasped his hands together. Meanwhile, his primordial spirit surged out, directly attacking Li Hao's spirit.
Primordial spirit surpassed ordinary souls, possessing a crushing difference. It was superior for both defense and attack.
As the Buddha Lord's primordial spirit approached, a primordial spirit also emerged from Li Hao's head. But Li Hao's primordial spirit, recently condensed, had absorbed less solar essence, making it less radiant.
Boom! Li Hao's primordial spirit suddenly punched, while the Buddha Lord's primordial spirit pressed down with a palm. The solar essence fire emanated from his palm. For an ordinary soul, this fire would incinerate them instantly.
However, Li Hao's primordial spirit was unafraid of the solar essence fire. The clash of punch and palm sent his primordial spirit back behind him, but it immediately absorbed the solar essence fire on its arm, enhancing its own power.
"Hmm?"
The Buddha Lord's eyes showed surprise. He hadn't expected Li Hao to have refined divine power to the extreme, opened the heavens and earth's veins, and also possessed a primordial spirit! This boy, only sixteen, had traversed the path that took him two thousand years to complete?! Realizing that his primordial spirit's attack had failed, the Buddha Lord's spirit retreated. Simultaneously, he noticed that Li Hao's rising aura seemed limitless and showed no signs of stopping.
He seemed to understand something, and his face changed abruptly.
At this moment, Li Hao had already seized all the nearby energy from the heavens and earth.
Transcending into Immortal, fifty percent!
In the depths of Li Hao's golden eyes, an extreme silver radiance shone.
He raised his head, and his surging aura poured into his domain. The initial fifteen layers of domain expanded violently. With the influx of vast energy, the Buddha Lord's domain was forced back step by step.
"You, shall, die!!"
Li Hao suddenly stepped forward. The heavens and earth shook. The entire spiritual mountain beneath him seemed to crack, with massive fissures appearing in the mountain.
Ferocious pressure roared through the heavens and earth. In an instant, Li Hao reached the Buddha Lord, and with boundless force, he punched down. The seven-colored halo of Buddhist light from the Buddha Lord's robe splattered, and his body shot out like a meteor, crashing into a distant peak.
Li Hao pursued, entering the mountain's body, and his wild fists repeatedly smashed down, pounding the Buddha Lord's robe, scattering the Buddhist light.
Boom, boom, boom! The peak trembled, collapsing from halfway, the entire mountain crumbling.
The Buddha Lord saw the seven-colored halo on his robe fading, his eyes showing rage. He suddenly struck back, once again using the Merciful Buddha's Hand.
But Li Hao caught his hand and twisted it violently.
Crunching sounds filled the air as bones shattered.
Li Hao seized his wrist, slamming his body repeatedly, creating deep pits in the ground.
But the Buddha Lord's robe, like a tortoise shell, protected his body without harm, though the Buddhist light was now thin and dim.
Li Hao's eyes widened in fury. The heavens and earth veins rapidly absorbed energy from all directions. Transcending into Immortal, seventy percent!
Boom!!
A fierce punch came down, as if a mountain was being smashed down.
The Buddha Lord's body was driven hundreds of meters into the ground, the violent impact thinning the Buddhist light on his robe.
"Didn't you want me to turn into a demon?"
Li Hao plunged into the depths, lifting the Buddha Lord into the sky. Staring into the Buddha Lord's darkened expression, he softly said:
"If I become a demon, the first to be exterminated will be the Buddha!"
The Ten Extremes Sword flew into Li Hao's palm. With one hand gripping the Buddha Lord, his eyes filled with icy killing intent, Li Hao slashed out with the other hand.
The Extreme Sword Light, combined with Li Hao's strength, fiercely struck the sacred robe. The seven-colored halo appeared once again but was rubbed with a grayish dark current.
"I underestimated you, everyone underestimated you."
As the sword light intensely rubbed against the Buddhist Dao force of the robe, the Buddha Lord's expression remained unchanged. He merely stared at Li Hao:
"To force me to this extent, to shatter my grand vow of saving the world, I will eternally suppress you beneath me, never allowing you to reincarnate!!"
As he spoke, an unprecedented killing intent flashed in his eyes.
The calm Buddha light in his eyes dissipated. Simultaneously, an extreme and sinister demonic energy suddenly emerged from the back of his robe, surging out.
From within the space in the back of his robe, a mass of black demonic energy emerged.
This energy was thick, deep, sharp, and sinister. As soon as it appeared, the air was filled with the wails and howls of countless aggrieved souls.
A figure enveloped in demonic energy, with disheveled hair and icy eyes, emerged, exuding a fierce brutality, a stark contrast to the Buddha Lord's previous demeanor.
"Heh, in the end, you still have to rely on my strength. I always said you weren't up to the task."
"To save the world, only by sacrificing with slaughter can the path be paved. The world is so foolish, and you, trying to save them, are even more foolish!"
"What a pity, you shouldn't have provoked this kid, forcing us to act prematurely. The incense hasn't accumulated enough, and we couldn't become a saint in one step. What a pity!"
The disheveled figure spoke mockingly, his voice filled with sinister laughter as he addressed the Buddha Lord.
Their bodies began to merge together, intertwining and gradually becoming one!
Watching the sword light rubbing against the Buddhist light of the robe, Li Hao's expression grew even colder.
Based on Jiang Lichen's earlier words, it was clear that the Buddha Lord and the demon, initially thought to be collaborators or a disguise, were actually one and the same!
Undoubtedly, with such overwhelming demonic energy and as a state of peace realm, this was the demon called Mo Luo mentioned by Jiang Lichen.
When breaking through from the Three Immortal Realms to the Four Standing Realms, some would practice the division technique to refine their Dao heart. This Buddha Lord had chosen that path.
His main body and his split body both refined their Dao hearts, one becoming the heart of the Buddha and the other the heart of the demon, now merging into one.
"So this is your biggest secret?"
Gazing at the continually merging Buddha Lord, Li Hao's killing intent surged. He fiercely slashed again with his sword!
Boom!
The Buddha Lord within the robe suddenly opened his eyes. Although his body and Mo Luo had not fully merged, his eyes were already filled with icy killing intent.
He abruptly raised his hand, stretching it out from the Buddhist Dao force of the robe, directly grabbing Li Hao's Ten Extremes Sword!
"I intended to leap directly into the Saint Realm from the State of Peace Realm, and you ruined my plans. You deserve to die!"
His eyes were dark and cold, surrounded by demonic energy. The golden light within the robe was no longer pure. As Mo Luo's body gradually overlapped with his, a majestic pressure exploded.
With a deafening crash, the violent aura knocked Li Hao flying.
A palm print, combining Buddhist light and demonic energy, followed, carrying the force of the Dao Law Realm, slamming Li Hao into the spirit mountain.
The spirit mountain shook, and a massive handprint appeared at the summit, pressing down continuously, burying it dozens of meters deep.
A violent sword intent suddenly tore through, cleaving the merged Buddha-Demon palm. Looking up, he saw the Buddha Lord had silently arrived above the spirit mountain.
The Mo Luo behind him had completely disappeared, fully merged. Pure golden light once again radiated from his body, resembling an unparalleled ancient Buddha, exuding infinite pure Yang Buddhist light. But in his eyes, there was no emotion, as he gazed down at Li Hao.
"Die!"
He softly chanted, as if murmuring a Buddhist prayer.
With those words, boundless Dao force rules suddenly gathered in the heavens and earth.
The Dao force swept in, following his words, as if the word was law, an inescapable and unshakable death sentence descending upon Li Hao from all directions.
With a resounding boom!
With a single word, Li Hao's body exploded.
Fifteen layers of domain were powerless before this word of the great Dao.
He burst into a mass of blood mist!
At this moment, the Buddha Lord had not only reached the Dao Law Realm but was also within the Dao Law Realm!
The great Dao becomes law, his word as law, killing with a single word!
Seeing Li Hao's body explode, a trace of regret appeared in the Buddha Lord's eyes. If only he had more time to accumulate more incense power, he could have become a saint in one step with the Buddha-Demon merge!
He was also a peerless prodigy, his pursuits far beyond those of ordinary warriors, disdainful of slow cultivation to the Dao. But all his plans had been exposed prematurely, making the path to sainthood more difficult.
As his thoughts turned, a wind rose from the ground, growing stronger, becoming a violent hurricane.
"Hmm?"
The Buddha Lord looked down, eyes filled with shock.
The endless hurricane coiled and gathered, strands of energy converging.
These energies compressed almost into substance, resembling strands of silver light!
Behind these silver lights, a half-transparent web-like structure of the heavens and earth veins appeared, frantically drawing the energy of the heavens and earth.
And at the center of the hurricane was the blood mist of Li Hao, even his bones shattered, reduced to pure blood mist.
But now, this blood mist was coiling and gathering, with blood water accumulating in the middle. As the blood water gathered to the size of a fist, it rapidly grew, and in an instant, Li Hao's body reformed, glowing with crimson and gold, like a deity.
Witnessing this scene, Jiang Lichen's eyes bulged from the remnants of the ruined Buddha hall.
The reborn Li Hao's hair, previously golden, now gradually turned silver.
The exploded flesh had instead pushed his transcendence into the immortal realm to near perfection.
"Dao Law Realm…"
Li Hao slowly raised his head, his silver eyes filled with cold killing intent:
"Have you heard the saying, 'If one understands the Dao in the morning, one can die in the evening'?"