Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Might of the Black Tortoise (Bonus Chapter)

Zhang Xiao’s expression changed. Sitting upright in the Buddha wheel behind his head, his avatar summoned the Heavenly Sound Bell and struck it once.

Dong!

A surge of sound rolled out like a wave, blocking the steel whip in the Vajra Arhat’s hand. Seeing this, Lazan smiled coldly and suddenly roared, reciting a harsh, tangled scripture in a torrent from his mouth.

At once, the Vajra Arhat behind him, which had been only a shadow until then, gradually turned solid. Its steel whip shattered the sound wave and lashed across Zhang Xiao’s body.

Bang!

Zhang Xiao was blasted sideways, and even after he hit the ground, the force did not fade. It dragged him more than ten meters across the earth, kicking up dust and碎 stone everywhere.

Seeing the Chinese man sent flying by Lazan, though the dust now obscured the corpse, the other monks still laughed loudly.

“Hahaha! Senior Brother Lazan’s Dharma is profound. One blow and he annihilates this demon. What boundless merit!”

Hearing their words, a trace of satisfaction also appeared on Lazan’s face. But then his brows suddenly twitched. Although his divine sense here was restricted by a seal, he could still inspect the scene within a hundred meters. The dust greatly hindered him, yet it was not hard to see that Zhang Xiao’s life force was still intact.

“Hmph. I have to admit your strength is indeed formidable. If you were at the early stage of Nascent Soul cultivation, I would have turned and fled at once. Pity. You will have no such chance now. Once you die here, one soul and one spirit will be dragged away. Then, even if you were a genius, I will turn you into an idiot.”

As he spoke, the fully materialized Vajra Arhat behind him lifted its steel whip and smashed toward the place where Zhang Xiao lay. Lazan was certain that no matter how hard Zhang Xiao’s flesh body was, he could not withstand this second blow.

It would surely beat Zhang Xiao into a mass of rotten flesh.

Yet just as Lazan was feeling triumphant, his expression suddenly changed. His eyes filled with disbelief as he stared fixedly toward Zhang Xiao’s position.

Roar!

A roar erupted from within the dust where Zhang Xiao had fallen. The powerful sound wave burst apart instantly, and aside from Lazan, the remaining monks were struck so hard by the blast that they coughed up blood. The surrounding dust was blown aside as well.

Only then did everyone clearly see what lay beneath the haze.

Thud!

A giant claw struck the ground, making the earth tremble. Horns, fangs, and a turtle-like head appeared before their eyes, while behind it stretched a crimson shell.

Xuanwu!

This time, not only the monks, even Lazan himself nearly bit his tongue off. How had this strike failed to kill the enemy and instead brought out Xuanwu?

Suddenly, Lazan recalled that the scales on Zhang Xiao’s body were the same color as those on Xuanwu. He immediately pointed at Zhang Xiao and cried out in shock, “It’s you... but how... Xuanwu...”

He was so astonished that he could not even speak properly.

At that moment, the Xuanwu glared at Lazan and sneered.

“Heh. Surprised, are you? Didn’t you say you would turn me into an idiot? Then let me see what you’re capable of.”

With a cold shout, Zhang Xiao lashed out with a claw. Lazan did not dare receive it head-on. He sprang away and in an instant leaped a hundred zhang backward. Boom! The place where he had stood was smashed into a pit more than ten meters deep by Zhang Xiao’s strike.

Do not underestimate those ten-odd meters. This was an ancient cavern abode, and the bricks and stones on the ground were all covered in restrictions. Even Lazan’s full-force strike could only carve out a pit about five meters deep at most.

Seeing the might of Zhang Xiao’s blow, Lazan’s face turned green. He had seen monsters before, but never one as monstrous as Zhang Xiao. A late-stage Golden Core cultivator was actually forcing him, a Nascent Soul expert, to flee in panic.

Though Zhang Xiao’s body was enormous, his speed was astonishingly fast. Especially after transforming into Xuanwu, he possessed a natural command over the earth beneath his feet. Each time Zhang Xiao struck downward, countless stone spears and earth spikes erupted from the ground.

Unlike the stone spears thrown up by the bronze-armored corpse, Zhang Xiao’s were infused with a fierce earth spiritual energy. Earth gives rise to metal, and once that spiritual force adhered to the stone spears, they became razor-sharp. Lazan was caught off guard and driven into a flurry of retreat.

Though somewhat passive, Lazan could still hold on. After all, he was a monk at the realm above ordinary cultivators, and one specializing in physical cultivation; the toughness of his body was not far below Zhang Xiao’s.

The foreign monks who had come with Lazan, however, were not so fortunate. Their strength was nowhere near enough to withstand these spears steeped in abundant earth spiritual power.

The spears shot out from every direction without even giving them time to summon magical treasures for protection. In an instant they were pierced into bloody skewers.

Lazan was both shocked and furious, yet he had no way to deal with Zhang Xiao. No matter how powerful his attacks were, they could barely even break Zhang Xiao’s scales, let alone injure him.

“Pah.”

Zhang Xiao spat at Lazan, and round cannonballs condensed from the air shot from his mouth. Each air bullet carried the force of a full-strength strike from a late-stage Golden Core cultivator, raining down on Lazan like a deluge.

Seeing so many air bullets crashing toward him, Lazan could not dodge in time and could only grit his teeth and shout, “Amitabha! Lado Moha Kaba...!”

A stretch of Buddhist scripture poured forth. Lazan’s aura suddenly surged, instantly shattering the air bullets overhead. Even then, his aura continued to rise rapidly.

Zhang Xiao froze, naturally understanding that Lazan had gone all out. What he used must be a forbidden technique of immense consumption. His eyes shifted, and he suddenly smiled.

“Bald monk, play by yourself. I’m leaving.”

As soon as the words fell, Zhang Xiao instantly dismissed his Xuanwu transformation and vanished nearby with his divine footwork.

Seeing how shameless Zhang Xiao was—how, upon realizing he was about to use a forbidden technique, he immediately turned and ran, and at such speed at that—Lazan was both furious and frantic. His face darkened as he slowly guided the secret art to a close. Fortunately, he had not fully unleashed it yet, otherwise he would have suffered a tremendous loss.

Looking over the wreckage strewn across the ground and the corpses of his nine fellow disciples, Lazan’s face turned even darker. Since he had taken to the world, this was the first time he had suffered such a crushing defeat. Even more hateful was that his opponent had only been at late-stage Golden Core cultivation.

Just thinking about it made Lazan feel stifled. Gazing at the corpses on the ground, he let out a long sigh, then turned and continued deeper in.

At this moment, Zhang Xiao was sitting cross-legged in a secluded corner, swallowing several medicinal pills. He could not help cursing in his heart: that damned monk was truly hard to deal with. He had forced him to expend so much spiritual energy, and this accursed place had almost no spiritual qi at all. Zhang Xiao could not help wondering why an ancient cultivator’s abode would be built here.

Although he still had many medicinal pills in his bone ring, recovery was not quick. After all, treasures like Life-Giving Pills were not common.

If he had a Life-Giving Pill in hand right now, he would already have found a way to smash that damned monk to death.

With a turn of his palm, he summoned the Crystal Demon-Subduing Staff into his hand. At this moment, the once unbreakable staff was covered in cracks, like shattered glass. Zhang Xiao could not help sighing. The Crystal Demon-Subduing Staff was only an eighth-rank treasure, and it had faced a master who had already reached the realm above ordinary cultivators, whose strength was on par with a Nascent Soul expert. At their level, everyone refined their magical treasures into life-bound weapons, only then able to unleash their full power.

That foreign monk’s monk’s staff was probably his life-bound treasure. No wonder the Crystal Demon-Subduing Staff could not hold up.

So be it. When he returned, he would see whether he could forge a new weapon.

Zhang Xiao did not draw the Crystal Demon-Subduing Staff back into his body. After all, the true spirit inside it had already been shattered. Even if repaired, its grade would fall by another rank. A seventh-rank treasure was not worth his attention. He could only throw it into the bone ring.

After sitting for a long while, Zhang Xiao stood and continued onward with divine footwork. As time passed bit by bit, he had already reached the fourth section of the area. The number of corpse-fiends here had greatly decreased, but whenever he encountered one, it was always at the early stage of Golden Core.

He had been wandering in this area for a day or two, yet no matter how he turned, he could not get out. Instead, he only managed to make himself dizzy and disoriented.

Looking down at the mark beneath his feet, Zhang Xiao could not help smiling bitterly. He had made that mark not long ago, yet now he had somehow wandered back to it in a daze. The restrictions around him were far too strong in suppressing his divine sense. In a moment, Zhang Xiao felt his head spinning.

And just then, a strange sound suddenly came from afar.

Zhang Xiao’s brows moved. He thought, Didn’t I just clear out the corpse-fiends nearby? How has another one appeared so quickly?

Following the sound, he walked onward. Then, at the very moment he turned a corner, Zhang Xiao suddenly froze.

Several corpse-fiends, pitch black all over and dripping drops of corpse-water, were standing on a narrow path, jostling one another. Their strength had already reached the late stage of Golden Core.

Zhang Xiao’s face immediately lit up with joy. It seemed that, following the sound, he had unknowingly walked out of the maze of the third section. This made him quite delighted. He summoned the Heavenly Sound Bell and hurled it toward those corpse-fiends. Though they were at late-stage Golden Core strength, how could they compare with Zhang Xiao?

The Heavenly Sound Bell vibrated, and a wave of sound exploded outward, immediately sending those corpse-fiends flying to the side.

At the same time, Zhang Xiao pressed one hand upon the Heavenly Sound Bell and smashed it fiercely into the corpse-fiends, instantly pounding them into a heap of blackened flesh paste.

Before the other corpse-fiends could rush in, Zhang Xiao’s brow flashed, and his avatar transformed into a streak of golden light, flying out from his true body. Opening its mouth, it spewed a mass of golden Buddha flame, enveloping the remaining corpse-fiends.

In truth, it was the band of monks who had given Zhang Xiao inspiration. These corpse-fiends were filthy and full of evil miasma, and Buddhist methods were the best at restraining them.

As the avatar’s Buddha flame burned, those corpse-fiends were instantly sent hopping and screaming in agony, yet they could not die right away.

Seeing this, Zhang Xiao simply spat out a mass of pill fire.

Ever since he had transformed spiritual energy into pure yang qi, his pill fire had taken on a silver-white color, pure to the extreme and bright with yang essence. Once the silver-white pill fire merged with the avatar’s Buddha flame, the flames surged violently. Gold and silver alternated in flashes, and the remaining corpse-fiends were soon burned to ash.

Seeing that the corpse-fiends had been dealt with, Zhang Xiao retracted his avatar and strode into the narrow path. He did not know how long he had walked when a jade gate finally appeared before him.

A bonus chapter first, for my dearest readers. Although the collection count and red votes have not reached the heights I had hoped for, I am already more than satisfied. Thank you. Thank you all.