I Have Companions Walking With Me

The moment the first umbilical cord snapped, it was as if a line of dominoes had begun to topple.

The originally indestructible vow power shield developed a tiny crack.

Chen Zhou struck while the iron was hot. "Keep going! Don't let him breathe!"

Jian Huaishuang took a deep breath, suppressing the surging qi and blood within his body. His gaze grew increasingly clear.

That last strike had allowed him to glimpse a higher scenery of the sword path.

The greatsword in his hands danced, its sword qi surging like a dragon as it slashed toward the second umbilical cord.

This time, Chen Zhou keenly perceived that the vow power attached to this cord was mixed with a dense calamity venom gas.

Crack!

The sword light descended. The moment the umbilical cord snapped, a plume of purple toxic mist erupted. However, it did not attack Chen Zhou or the others; instead, as if it had found an outlet for release, it frantically backfired against the meatball itself.

Chen Zhou smiled.

"Just as I thought."

He closed his eyes, his spiritual sense directly piercing through the thick walls of the Wolf Court to see the tragic battlefield outside the city.

In an anonymous village of the Northern Region, Poison-Wing extended wings that were festering from the corrosion of Buddhist light. He pushed his own Calamity Venom-Fire to its absolute limit, and as the Plague Rat fiendish qi surged, he bit and tore at the umbilical cords connected to the earth veins without regard for his own life.

Piao was devouring the Buddhist light, while Su Xue supported everyone with a Life Orchid domain.

They could not enter this core battlefield, yet they were fighting with everything they had on the outside in their own way!

"Breaking vows with vows, attacking poison with calamity."

Chen Zhou snapped his eyes open and looked at the phantom in the sky that was beginning to distort from pain. He let out a loud laugh.

"Great Vow, did you think you had calculated every living soul and controlled the entire board?"

"Did you think you were the only one in this world acting for a 'greater righteousness'?"

"You were wrong!"

"Even if they reside in darkness, even if they are demons raised in filth, they are still the auspicious ones of the Way of Humanity. My divine path is not lonely."

"I have companions walking with me. Do you?!"

With the empowerment of vow power, Chen Zhou's voice was like rolling thunder, echoing throughout the entire Wolf Court.

"Break!"

As Chen Zhou uttered that one decisive word, his coordination with Jian Huaishuang became seamless.

Death qi corroded the surface while sword qi severed the core, supplemented by the frantic destruction from Poison-Wing and the Plague Rat on the outside.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A series of dense snapping sounds rang out as the umbilical cords exploded one after another.

The meatball trembled violently, letting out a sharp, shrill cry like a wailing infant.

Eventually, only one umbilical cord remained, no longer able to support the weight of the meatball.

The massive meatball suspended in mid-air smashed heavily onto the ground, splashing blood everywhere.

The giant phantom in the sky dimmed instantly and finally dissipated without a trace.

"Is it over?"

Wu Hai wiped the puss and blood from his bald head, staring nervously at the sky.

"It won't be that easy."

Chen Zhou stood with his hands behind his back, his eyes cold. "The real player is about to come out."

Just as his voice fell...

Crack... Crackle...

A crack suddenly split across the surface of the meatball.

A hand as white as jade reached out from the bloody crevice, slowly tearing open the thick membrane of flesh.

Subsequently, a young monk wearing moon-white robes walked out somewhat disheveled, his feet bare.

His face was handsome, his features refined to the point of being almost eerie. Between his brows was a single cinnabar mark, crimson as blood.

Even if his clothes were currently a bit untidy, if he had not appeared in such a shura field, anyone who saw him would have mistaken him for a high monk of great attainment.

Great Vow Ksitigarbha.

The demon monk who had terrified the Southern Region five hundred years ago had finally revealed his true form.

He stepped into the air, looking at the collapsing Wolf Court around him and the corpses covering the ground. His expression showed neither joy nor anger, only a profound confusion.

"Why?"

Great Vow Ksitigarbha tilted his head, his eyes as clear as an infant's as he looked at Chen Zhou. His voice was warm and his tone sincere.

"This seat is saving them."

"All beings suffer in the mortal world—birth, aging, sickness, death, the parting of loved ones, and the inability to attain what one desires."

"It is too pitiful, truly too pitiful."

He let out a sigh, his face showing a look of sorrow for the fate of mankind.

"So, this seat thought of a solution."

"Why not kill everyone and merge all their souls into a single whole, integrated into this seat's body?"

"That way, everyone will be together forever. No separation, no pain, neither birth nor death."

"Is this not the greatest mercy?"

"Why must you stop this seat?"

Looking at this lunatic, Chen Zhou could not help but laugh.

"Killing people and turning them into cured meat is what you call mercy?"

"Then why don't you go ahead and die first?"

"This seat cannot die." Great Vow Ksitigarbha shook his head earnestly.

"This seat is the vessel, the ferry boat. If this seat dies, where will all beings find a place to rest their souls?"

"Madman."

Chen Zhou couldn't be bothered to waste words with him. Hatred Fire ignited in his hand.

"Since you don't want to die, this deity will give you a hand."

As the Hatred Fire surged forth, Great Vow Ksitigarbha pulled the meatball in front of him, transforming it into a cassock that blocked the burning flames.

Seeing this, Wu Gou sighed and slowly stood up from the ground.

He no longer kept his back hunched, and he no longer wore a playful, smirking face.

Step by step, he walked through the air until he stood before Great Vow Ksitigarbha.

Facing this terrifying demon monk, there was not a trace of fear on Wu Gou's face. Instead, there was a sense of mockery, as if he were reuniting with an old friend.

Great Vow Ksitigarbha looked at the mud-covered beggar and uttered a name: "Wu Gou."

The voice was as smooth as jade, tempting one to surrender to it.

"You have rolled around in the red dust for so long. Are you still unwilling to return?"

"Look at you, how dirty you are."

"Come back. Return to this seat's body. We were originally one."

"As long as you return, this seat will be complete and can become a Buddha on the spot."

Wu Gou suddenly threw his head back and laughed wildly.

"Hahahaha!"

He reached out to grab his wine gourd and tilted his head to pour the last bit of wine over his face.

The crisp wine washed away the grime and oil from his face, revealing a countenance that was almost identical to the Great Vow Ksitigarbha before him.

Equally handsome, equally eerie.

The only difference was that Great Vow Ksitigarbha's face bore a detached sense of mercy, while Wu Gou's face was filled with a vibrant, raw madness.

Wu Gou wiped the droplets of liquid from his face, his laughter sounding desolate.

"Return?"

Wu Gou pointed at his own nose. "If I go back, there really will be no hope left for this world."

He turned his head to look at Chen Zhou and pointed at Great Vow Ksitigarbha.

"Demon lord, haven't you always been curious about who I am?"

"I am the conscience he threw away, the greatest weakness on his path to becoming a Buddha."

"Five hundred years ago, in order to cultivate the Infallible Golden Body and discard all weaknesses..."

"This old bald ass cut out the only bit of conscience he had left and threw it into a trash heap."

"That trash heap... was me."

Looking at these two identical faces, there wasn't the slightest bit of surprise in Chen Zhou's eyes.

"I already guessed as much," Chen Zhou said calmly. "I might not have been clear on your origins before, you lunatic."

"But when you shed your patchwork robe and your body ignited with the golden light of vow power, intending to use your own life to break the deadlock..."

"I had a rough idea."

Chen Zhou raised a bone spike and pointed it at Great Vow Ksitigarbha.

"By comparison, this monster who only knows how to hide in a turtle shell and eat people to cultivate his Buddha path..."

"Looks much more like a dirty thing."