Thunder?" Jian Dun and the rest of the Buddhas looked toward the sky, only to see that the moon had disappeared. The entire night sky was covered in dark clouds, rolling and rumbling. The sound of thunder could be heard from time to time, but it was odd—it didn't sound like thunder at all.
"Cough-cough..." Li Huowang coughed a few times as his breathing turned ragged, and he fell to the ground. When he turned to look at the sky while lying down, he once again saw his Master amidst the dark clouds.
He was still as ugly as ever.
Black feathers sprouted from his bloody body, while three different faces replaced what had once been his head. In addition to his normal human organs, his burgeoning body was also riddled with many non-human ones. His body was nightmarishly black; his eyes were filled with a mysterious liquid, while his pupils were mere slits. Tentacles covered parts of his body.
Everything about him was vile.
Even so, a mysterious veil made from white smoke hung around his body, as if he were something divine. His body was in a constant state of shifting and turning—his organs moved around and his faces changed position.
Li Huowang had only been staring at Dan Yangzi for a short time when his eyes started bleeding and veins bulged on his head. He felt like his head was going to explode.
No! I cannot stare at him anymore.
Li Huowang shifted his gaze away, feeling slightly better. His body had weakened considerably in just this short while. However, even if his life was no longer in danger from looking at Dan Yangzi, his blood loss might soon end up killing him.
He weakly patted his waist and fished out some Blood Nourishing pills, consuming them with his last remaining strength. The rate at which blood flowed from his wound gradually slowed down.
But this was not enough.
Li Huowang then took out some pills meant to reinforce his energy before eating them.
At that moment, the sudden sound of muscles being torn caused Li Huowang to look up once again. He saw that his Master, Dan Yangzi, had started attacking and had attached himself to one of the Buddhas' heads like a lizard, his three mouths easily tearing off its ears.
Bellowing in rage, the numerous arms on the Buddha's back tried to claw at and capture Dan Yangzi. But Dan Yangzi shifted all of his organs and forcefully expanded them, using them to block the Buddha's attacks.
Then, Dan Yangzi used his three mouths to tear an even larger hole in the Buddha's face before shoving his head right in.
"AAAAAH!" the Buddha shouted in despair as its body started deflating. Soon, it collapsed to the ground, blood seeping from all seven of its orifices.
When the bloodied Dan Yangzi reappeared in front of the other Buddhas, Jian Dun no longer dared to underestimate him. Jian Dun immediately took out a parchment and started chanting the mantra written on it. Rather than using ink, the words of the mantra had been formed using an uncountable number of moles pulled from human skin.
"AnNiMi" As Jian Dun sat cross-legged and spoke these six words, the mantra on the parchment flashed red and disappeared before appearing on Dan Yangzi's body.
As soon as Dan Yangzi was covered in the numerous words, his body began trembling and growing wildly. He grew larger and larger before suddenly withering. He withered so fast that he disappeared completely.
Jian Dun's face was drenched in sweat as he let out a relieved sigh. Fortunately, he had prepared that mantra just in case something unexpected happened. Had he not, he would have died.
Then he chanted the mantra in reverse, causing the words to start reappearing on the parchment in his hand.
After confirming that all the words were there, Jian Dun was just about to close the parchment when it exploded. Then, amidst the "words" that flew out, Dan Yangzi crawled out from the parchment.
No one had expected this. Jian Dun gasped in surprise, allowing Dan Yangzi to shoot himself into Jian Dun's mouth like a drill and travel down his throat.
Soon, the sound of tearing could be heard as Jian Dun's throat started to bulge. However, this was only the beginning.
The pain became unbearable as Jian Dun started hearing a chewing sound from within his body!
"NOOO!" Jian Dun cried out in despair as Dan Yangzi burst out from his chest.
Meanwhile, the other three Buddhas continued to struggle to no avail. In just a few moments, the sound of bones cracking and flesh being torn resounded through the forest. Within minutes, all seven Buddhas had disappeared, leaving behind only steaming puddles of blood.
When Li Huowang finally had the chance to gaze at Dan Yangzi again, he saw his Master turn around and show a horrifying smile on all three of his mouths as he said, "My dear disciple."
Poof!
With a soft sound, Dan Yangzi's body disappeared like smoke in the wind.
Time slowly passed, and soon, the moon reappeared, covering the forest in a soft silver veil. Everything had ended.
Li Huowang grabbed his neck and forced himself to sit up. He saw the others who were still trapped within the crude cage made by Jian Dun. All of them were shocked and didn't even dare to speak.
Li Huowang had an idea as to what they were thinking and weakly explained to them, "No need to be afraid. Dan Yangzi is well and truly dead. He won't use all of you as guiding drug ingredients anymore."
However, Li Huowang's words did not reduce their fear. In fact, some of them even started crying.
It was Bai Lingmiao who broke the silence first, her face even paler than usual. "Senior Li, what Dan Yangzi? We didn't see anything."
Li Huowang struggled to swallow his saliva. "Did you not see Dan Yangzi killing the Buddhas? Was he invisible to all of you?"
Li Huowang thought it might be a possibility.
But just then, Puppy's entire body started trembling from fear and shock. He didn't dare to look at Li Huowang as he closed his eyes and shouted in a trembling voice, "Senior Li! There is no Dan Yangzi! It was you all along!"
"What?" Li Huowang endured the pain and touched his face; there was some sticky goo covering him.
He continued touching his face and found that both of his cheeks had been torn open, as if he had opened his mouth to an impossibly large size.
But none of that was important.
What was important was that he felt full. Really full.